A starry night and a beautiful forest were always a part of a camper's dream. There was often very little that could usurp such beauty in their minds. Very little.

Drax stared at the sky above and just couldn't bring himself to smile at it. As beautiful as the Nastild sky looked, he couldn't bring himself to appreciate it. He couldn't call himself a camper, but he had been out camping enough times to appreciate nature. Tonight, however, he was not in nature, merely close to it.

A sigh left his lips. It was sad, pitiable.

What had he become?

What was a man who couldn't appreciate the beauty that he had once been capable of? The bright pinpricks of starlight seemed dull tonight. They had seemed dull for a handful of nights now. The moon looking down at him didn't even look as if it would follow him if he turned to walk away as it had done when he was a child.

There is no beauty. The thought cried in his mind.

He would've said that Nastild had no beauty if he hadn't appreciated it once upon a time. Shaking his head, Drax rested his arms on the balcony railing in front of him. The balcony extended outside the mansion he was currently in, overlooking a patch of forestry that didn't seem so large from as high up as he was.

The night air was gentle against his skin. It caressed his eyelids but did nothing to get in his eyes. He breathed it in and let the air out.

It calmed his melancholy, but only a little.

Behind him, within the balcony doors and inside the large mansion settled at the top of a hill, people sang and were merry. One of the lords of Bandiv was throwing a party, a ball, they had called it. Drax's group was inside, dancing and making merry.

It had been almost a month since King Brandis had announced their existence to the lords of the kingdom. The rest of the kingdom still knew nothing about him and the others. But the lords, they knew now, and they were vying for their attention. Drax had lost count of how many lords and emissaries to lords had come to him with offerings of support and assurances.

The rising darkness was coming, a disaster that could push the entire world of Nastild to ruin, yet the nobles continued to play at their games, to coerce and persuade. To seduce.

Drax shook his head just thinking about it.

Right now, they were in a manor belonging to the House of Vilion. It was currently being hosted by one of the sons of the lord since the lord was currently off in battle in some place in the kingdom's borders. The boy had introduced himself as Jen. Letto had cracked a small smile. One of the very few genuine smiles Drax had seen on his friend's face in over a month.

Looking back, Drax took in the scenery behind the transparent glass doors that led back into the manor. People danced as bards and minstrels played flutes and pipes and harps and lutes. Drinks were plenty, strong enough to give even those with a class a steady buzz. The nobility were civilized about it, though. Each one took their time, sipping and displaying superiority in how they held their goblets and twirled their contents.

While watching, Drax caught the eyes of someone. The lady stopped on her stroll across the hall, followed behind by the young lord of the House, Jen.

She paused, looked at him, then turned in his direction.

Drax fought the small smile of pleasure that sought to settle on his lips. Princess Elaswit had always been beautiful. She still was. She looked like an athletic lady endowed with ass and hips. Her bust wasn't as large but it certainly was not something most men would look at and ignore.

But looks were not all that he appreciated about her. Beautiful and powerful, she was humble. She liked to leave people alone and be left alone.

Getting to the door, Elaswit pushed it open with her free hand, holding a golden goblet casually in her other hand. Drax turned his attention back to the night sky as she strolled onto the balcony.

Jen was right behind her.

Jen bowed gracefully at the head as he strolled in behind Elaswit.

"Lord Li…" he began to greet, only for his words to trail off.

Drax turned to look at them.

He bowed to Elaswit. "Princess."

"Drax," Elaswit replied, returning his bow with one of her own. "How is the night air?"

"Well," Drax shrugged. "As good as we can expect."

He looked back to Jen, waiting for the lord to settle on what he was trying to say even though he knew exactly what it was.

In the end, Jen sighed with a defeated look.

"Lord Vilion," Drax said amiably.

Jen looked up at him. The young lord was shorter by an inch or three. He didn't have to tilt his head to meet Drax's gaze.

"You can just call me Drax," Drax told him. "It's easier for everyone."

Jen nodded, but didn't hide his disappointment in himself for not remembering Drax's last name.

"So…" Elaswit moved over to lean on the balcony, staring down at the forest. "How has it been, Drax?"

Drax's brows settled sadly. "Have you taken up my offer?"

Elaswit shook her head. There was no hesitation in the action. "I have my own path, Drax. Just as you and your companions have yours."

"It will only be for a while."

"I am traveling with you people for a while, am I not?" She gave him a smile before returning her attention to the forest once more. "Your group is good company. I will admit that. Lord Jen might even want to join you."

Drax turned to look at the young lord who was clearly older than him. The man stood to the side, quiet. Anyone would mistake him for the princess' bodyguard.

"It was my father's idea," Jen said in explanation.

"I see." Drax rested against the balcony railing. "And what is your idea?"

Jen paused for a moment before shrugging. "I have nothing against it. It would be a breath of fresh air from my father's territory and his disappointments. At least, that is as long as your group is nothing like Lord Lacheart."

Drax's mood dampened at the mention of Aiden.

"You have met Lord Lacheart?" he asked.

Jen nodded, but it was Elaswit who answered.

"They met at a ball held by the Naranoff family," she said, staring with a forlorn look into the forest below. "It was an eventful meeting."

Drax looked from her to Jen, slightly confused. He was aware of the party, but only that there was a party. Considering the fact that Jen remembered Aiden's last name, the meeting must have been quite eventful.

"I feel like I am missing something," he said, looking between them.

Elaswit smiled. It was the smile of someone lost in an old memory. "You are."

She didn't seem inclined to explain further, so Drax turned to Jen.

"Have you heard the story of the Hand of Mercy?" Jen asked simply.

Drax nodded. There had been a point where you couldn't walk into a tavern without hearing one version or the other of the story. It had been on everyone's lips for a long while. It had died down now, though. But you could still hear it once every few nights.

"The man who killed a woman during a duel with nothing but slaps," he said. "It was an impressive feat. The stories claim that he was…" Realization settled on him and he turned to Elaswit. "That was Aiden?"

Elaswit nodded. "In the flesh. But he was not truly responsible for her death."

"She was still alive when the church took her away," Jen confirmed, nodding. "I believe they simply did not give her the necessary treatment required for her to survive her injuries."

Drax could not believe what he was hearing. Aiden had inflicted enough injuries to prove deadly to another human being with nothing but slaps to the face. It was terrifying to think about. And this had been a month ago.

"Still," Elaswit said. "It was no small feat to achieve what he did. The woman had been armed."

"With a freaking axe to boot," Jen added.

His words earned him a raised brow from Elaswit.

He bowed apologetically. "My apologies for the language, Princess."

"It's fine." She waved his apology aside. "It was, in fact, a freaking axe."

"For a while I thought he was the king's bastard son trained in secret for a long time by the royal family," Jen continued. "A lot of people did. With him traveling with the Princess and a [Knight of the Crown] it was hard not to think so."

Drax watched Elaswit discreetly. She did not seem bothered by the suspicion of her father's honor.

"But now that I understand that he was… is, one of you, his strength makes so much more sense," Jen finished.

A small smile touched the edge of Elaswit's lips, but it was a faint thing. Almost wraith-like.

Drax tilted his head back to look up at the sky.

"Sometimes I tell myself that they've gone off somewhere to live a simple life," he said to no one in particular. "Aiden would've found some simple girl and they would be dating. Ted would probably be having whatever fun he wants. Sometimes I tell myself that they disappeared to be away from the world of violence that we find ourselves in."

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Elaswit snorted at that, and Drax looked at her.

"You don't agree?" he asked her.

Elaswit's lips pressed into a thin line. "I have seen Lord Lacheart fight, Drax. We have become something of friends, you and I," she said. "So I will tell you this. I have seen him fight. I have seen how he fights. I have seen the look in his eyes when he fights. Lord Lacheart fights for a reason that no one knows. Sir Valdan even said so himself. So no."

She shook her head. "Aiden will only rest when he has achieved what he seeks to achieve. He's most likely out there, punishing those that cross his path and killing monsters as if he was born to do it. Sometimes I imagine what his manifesting skill looks like."

Jen blinked at that. "Not if he has unlocked his manifesting skill? There are great men who go years without unlocking their manifesting skill, Princess."

"Aiden has since unlocked his manifesting skill," Elaswit said matter-of-factly. "Of that, I have no doubt. In fact, I would dare to say that he is most likely on his way to level one hundred by now. That is simply the kind of person that he is."

Drax looked up to the sky. Was Aiden really so powerful?

He himself had just crossed level forty a few days ago.

Was Aiden simply fast at leveling up somehow or was he just so strong that he fought the kinds of monsters that he needed to fight to level up so quickly.

"Regardless, I do not mind joining you and your group, Lord Drax," Jen said.

Drax looked at Elaswit. "And you?"

"Your group is fun, Drax." She shook her head. "But no. The things I have been doing and intend to continue doing will either get me killed very quickly or make me strong very quickly. Following you all will slow me down. And having you all follow me will get one of you killed."

She stared back off into the night.

Is that what gave you your scar? Drax thought, but didn't say the words.

Scars were rare in Nastild from his experience. You only found them on veterans, people who had lived the truly violent life, fighting against long odds.

Elaswit had one running down the side of her neck. It started from just behind one of her ears. It was thin and white. Someone had done their best to heal it and it had left behind a scar.

Drax could only wonder how bad it had been. Even when he'd been stabbed through the stomach by a monster's claw as large as his head a week ago, he had been left without a scar after a few healing spells.

"Anyway." Elaswit stood up straight, downed what was left in her cup and placed the cup on the railing. "Make sure you enjoy the rest of the party, Drax."

With that, she turned and returned to the party.

"She will steal away into the night and be gone before the party is even over," Jen said sadly.

"You are sure?" Drax asked, watching her walk off inside the mansion.

Jen nodded. "This is not her first party in the last month. She attended a party thrown by her best friend and did the same. I am not so arrogant to think that she would not do the same at mine."

Drax wasn't so sure about that. She had come here with him and the others after all. He doubted she would just up and leave them like that.

"She has been different for a long time now," Jen continued. "Distant, lost in her own mind. I am not the only one who has noticed it. Whatever she is doing, it is not healthy for her mind."

"Fighting against monsters is not healthy for any mind," Drax said.

"I hope it does not make a monster of her." Jen shook his head. "Or worse, drive her to the kind of battle hunger that holds my father."

Drax did not have a response to that.

…

Ted watched with a touch of interest in his eyes as Aiden fought. He weaved signs with his hands and achieved interesting feats. The only reason he knew that Aiden was weaving signs was because he already knew how Aiden's skills worked. To him, all he saw was his brother clapping then doing the most outrageous things.

Carefully, he watched and waited. His manifesting skill was more unique than it even described itself. As a summoner, he had to actively give his summons instructions on what to do even if it was done mentally. With [Gates of Hell] everything was bypassed. Each familiar simply knew what he wanted from them and acted accordingly.

He didn't have to think. It was like controlling a limb. If you didn't want someone dead, they didn't try to kill them. He didn't have to inform the familiars.

So he had been calm and patient, turning his anger at Aiden as Aiden fought against a horde of monsters that would not finish. He was angry, but not to the point of killing his own brother. He would never reach that point of anger.

His annoyance was simply the annoyance of an older brother. Right now, he was only going harder on Aiden because Aiden was fighting back harder. It was that simple. Ultimately, Ted was simply determined to win.

Then something happened. It was a change. Ted felt his familiars turn their attention to Aiden's blackened arm. It was red now. The long sleeves of his coat showed only his hand. It stared at the world, red as blood.

When they shrank away from the presence of the hand, Ted felt their fear. All his familiars had the way they sensed living things. It didn't matter what species it was, they sensed them in their own individual ways. Among his familiars, there were some that sensed living things as food. Things to be eaten by them.

Right now, however, all his familiars sensed Aiden's arm as the reverse. It was something that was designed to eat them. Ted did not understand the feeling, but he knew it. Aiden was not the threat. His reddened arm was the threat.

Ted frowned, annoyed at the feeling. Reasserting his will over it was simple. His familiars reacted immediately. They rushed after Aiden once more.

Still, their sense of fear over his arm did not disappear. It remained, lurking in the background as if waiting for Ted's will to fade.

As for his connection to [Gates of Hell], it was like a connection to infinity. The moment he used the skill, he understood what the effect meant when it said that his mana would remain at a hundred percent. With all the combat and the dying familiar creatures that kept on coming back, his mana percentage had not moved an inch.

The power was infinite. Unending.

Then Aiden crossed the distance between him and one of the resurrecting creatures as it pulled itself out of the darkness. He struck it in the chest with a firm hand, and it crumbled to dust.

Everyone froze. Everything froze. Ted felt the loss like a physical thing. He doubted that anyone present truly understood what had just happened. Not even Aiden, who had done it, understood.

[Gates of Hell] felt like tapping into the infinite, but Aiden had proven himself to be an antithesis of the infinite.

If Ted was to explain what had just happened, it would be difficult. Once upon a time, in order to explain the infinity of something, somebody somewhere had coined the term 'infinity plus one'. It explained that even if infinity was infinity regardless of the addition of one, there was still infinity plus one.

Aiden had just taken away a part of infinity. It was still infinity. What Ted felt from [Gates of Hell] was still infinite, but he could not ignore the fact that a part of infinity had been lost.

If there was infinity plus one, Aiden had just shown him that the opposite existed. Ted was still tapped to infinity, but now it was infinity minus one.

Aiden turned as the familiar crumbled to the ground as ash. He let his gaze pan across everything, panning over Ted as if he was simply a part of the mob and not the head of it.

When he spoke, Ted felt the disrespect in the air with the single word as his voice undulated as if he spoke with three different tones.

"Next."

The night was loud with the crackling of fire. The campfire Ted had interrupted was since dead, trampled upon by countless summoned creatures during the fight. However, the night was still illuminated. Aiden had used enough lightning skills. At some point, lightning had struck a few trees. Those trees burned at their hearts now, ignited by lightning strikes.

The fire from the trees licked against the air, casting dancing shadows across the forest floor. They painted Aiden in a warm glow—his face lit gently from one side, revealing the empty expression on his face. The edges of his form seemed hardened by the pulse of the light. Aiden's features shifted in and out of the light, caught between the warmth of the flames and the deep, trembling darkness of the night.

It showed the empty wrath in the stories Ted had heard of Aiden in the taverns. The Hand of Mercy. Ted saw nothing in his brother's eyes in this moment.

There was at least no mercy there.

Only nothing.

The familiars moved by Ted's will, rushing after Aiden. When the first met him, Ted missed what happened with the pop up of his interface.

[Mana 99%]

He frowned, knowing that the duration for his skill had not ended. Did what Aiden do to the familiar affect him directly, too? Had it shaved a percent off his mana?

By the time Ted dismissed the notification, two familiars had gone into the void. There was an emptiness in Aiden's eyes now, something hollow.

Aiden ducked his head to the side without moving. A claw slashed where his face should've been. With his eyes fixed on Ted, his sword flashed out to the side. It gleamed under the touch of moonlight and the fire burning from trees struck by the lightning from attacks he had used so far.

The familiar's head dropped just in time for Aiden to bat the hand of another aside. The familiar, humanoid in nature, spun from the deflection, showing Aiden its back. Aiden kicked it behind the knee, forcing it down, so that its head was now at the height of his chest.

With a swing of his reddened hand, he shattered its head in one blow.

Brutal, Ted thought, watching it all happen.

What was more curious, however, was the fact that Aiden now had his eyes fixed on him. But Aiden wasn't watching him. It was as if he was looking beyond him, looking over his head.

Ted felt a tug from his skill. He knew it for what it was. A familiar was trying to gain his attention. It was reaching beyond the void, seeking.

No, Ted thought, dismissing it.

He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but he knew it was only allowed to come out if he wanted his opponent dead.

A frown creased his lips. Ted hated knowing things without knowing how he knew them. It grated at his nerves and pressed on his anger.

Beside him, Elkan, a wolf standing taller than him with one eye and a horn where the other eye should be, stood. It was calm, quiet. It was wary of Aiden's arm but not terrified of it.

Aiden cut through four more creatures and Ted watched. His red hand flashed against two creatures and they crumbled to ashes.

Infinity minus two, Ted noted as he felt the loss.

[Mana 98%]

[Mana 97%]

His interface seemed to be in agreement with him. Whatever Aiden was doing with his red hand, each time he did it, Ted felt the loss.

It seems they will not be enough, he noted as Aiden drew nearer. There was no rush in Aiden's steps, no hurry as had been the case when this entire fight had started.

Has he achieved it?

Ted squinted, watching Aiden as if he would be able to tell the answer to the question by just looking. There had been the thing that he was doing with the summoned creatures.

Is that it? Ted wondered.

Ted shook his head. It did not matter. Not anymore.

He held his hand out to the darkness to his side. The hand that had taken his sword when he'd gained his manifesting skill reached out. It was a single hand. It had no fingernails, yet it tipped like a claw. It held the hilt of his sword out to him.

Gently, it placed the hilt of his sword on his hand.

Ted wrapped his hand around the hilt. "Thank you."

Surprisingly, while he knew the wolf's name, he did not know the name of the hand.

"Alright," Ted declared, holding the sword out to his side just as he had learnt. "Let's get this over with, Aida."

His voice carried through the darkness. All the summoned creatures around ceased their movements. None attacked Aiden, none moved. The few stepping out of the darkness once more returned.

Aiden cocked a brow at Ted as if something was amusing.

"Are you for real?" he asked.

Ted gestured around. "They can't stop you, so I have to."

Aiden chuckled. It was a soft thing, a gentle thing. With the undulation of his voice, it was a terrifying thing, like a man going mad. As if it was not terrifying enough, Aiden dipped into laughter. It was heavy, a deep rumble.

Then he stopped.

"Time Mage."

It was a simple statement, but Ted knew what it meant. Aiden had never won a fight against him before. Now, Aiden was telling him that the younger brother he knew was not the one currently standing before him.

Ted nodded, sword still in hand. "How far forward?"

"Far enough," Aiden said simply. "Far enough."

"I see." Ted did not truly see. "It is still my job to teach you when you have to learn."

It was Aiden's turn to nod. "Perhaps it is," he agreed. "Perhaps it is not."

"Then let us see."

Ted gave the wolf, Elkan, a gesture to stay where it was, then he charged forward. [Dash] carried him, but not Aiden. Aiden ran like any person would.

When they met Ted's sword shot out in a flash of steel. He heard the sound of steel clashing, the rush of air followed it, a sharp pain slithered along his wrist, quick and immediate, the weight of his sword left his hand, the air rushed to meet him as the world turned upside down.

Something hard struck his back and the air rushed out of him.

It all happened too fast. In the blink of an eye.

In the end, Ted found himself staring up at the starry night sky.

Ted could guess what had happened. In the blink of an eye, Aiden had disarmed him and thrown him on his back.

The exchange had been quick. The loss, flawless.

Aiden was suddenly on top of him, straddling him in place. With his normal hand he took Ted by the neck while his reddened hand flashed out.

"Call it off," he commanded simply.

Ted tilted his head upward and looked. The tip of Aiden's sword rested calmly against the neck of Elkan. The wolf stood in place. It had charged forward, stopping at the tip of Aiden's sword.

With a shrug of will, Ted made the creature step back.

"Did you reach it?" Ted asked, turning his attention back on Aiden. "Have you passed the threshold?"

Aiden shook his head.

Ted sighed. "Was worth a shot."

Frowning, Aiden gestured around with his sword. "What was all this Ted?" he asked, the undulation in his voice dying out. "What is this?"

Ted shrugged. "Two brothers fighting?"

"That's too much chaos for two brothers fighting." Aiden looked around at the burning trees and scorched dirt. Then he looked back at Ted. "Don't you think?"

"Two super powered brothers fighting?"

Aiden took a moment before nodding reluctantly.

"I guess that's true," he agreed in the end, then got up from him. Hand outstretched to Ted, he added: "I think it's finally time we talk."

Ted took his hand and allowed Aiden to pull him up while Aiden looked around.

"How about we start with this," Ted began. "What's my relationship with the rising Darkness?"

Aiden released his hand.

"That one's easy," he said simply, sheathing his sword. "You were the [Demon King]."

Ted paused.

"Oh."

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