Authorian paced around in his room, drinking some hot tea as he looked out the window. His eyes were laid at the stage where his son\'s crowning ceremony was held.

"Damn it, Mordros. It\'s just as my grandfather said. You would eventually betray me, but I didn\'t think you would do it by offering our most blessed power to him!"

He slammed his desk, shattering the cup into countless pieces. He then stormed out of the room but then stopped. Standing in the moonlight pouring in from the giant windows was the Twilight Queen.

"Ada-, T-Twilight Queen."

"Looks like your son is dead. I know you must be mourning for him."

Though she said that, she only wore a smile on her face which ticked Authorian off. He knew that the Twilight Queen was an emotionless god-like being that only cared about her own and anyone besides her family was not worth her time. That even included him.

"So now what? The Inept Hero has already killed my son and robbed our power of kings! Do you know what our power can do if it is placed in the wrong hands?!"

"Yes, of course, I do. After all, I was there when your ancestor first received it. If only he had known his son was going to kill him. Anyway, you should be glad that no one can kill you... for now."

Authorian felt a chill run up his spine. He gulped before opening his mouth.

"S-so why are you here? One of the two disciples of an ancient god must have a reason for visiting me in my castle."

"Nothing important, I just came to watch over him." The Twilight Queen said as she pointed forward, prompting Authorian to turn around.

Once he turned around, he saw four figures approach him. He noticed that three of them were heroes: Kai, Murai, and Jessica. However, something was different about them.

They all had a dark aura around them and their eyes glinted purple and blue.

"Y-you three. Why are you three not resting? You have a battle to fight tomorrow!"

Then it all came to him once he saw the fourth figure.

"Hey now, Authorian. You wouldn\'t mind if I borrow three of your pawns, would you?" Said the man wearing a mask covering only his eyes. Once he noticed his attire, he knew who the man standing in front of him was.

"Omen! What are you doing in my territory!?"

"Nothing much. Just getting myself some help of course." He said, shoving a brainwashed Murai away to get through.

"I\'ll just be borrowing these three for a few days. I\'m pursuing your Inept Hero myself. Just don\'t expect me to bring them back alive."

"What!?"

Omen smirked before shattering the windows. The three heroes jumped out before him and as he was about to leave, he turned and started to taunt him.

"You should host a funeral for your son. Oh, wait, you can\'t. You don\'t even have his body since it was consumed by him. Well, you probably don\'t even care, do you?"

Omen left, laughing as he flew away.

Authorian was furious and he turned to the Twilight Queen, shouting:

"Why are you just allowing him to do whatever he wants!? How can you be so oblivious to his actions!? Is this really the treatment you are going to show him and not the rest of the Enigmas!? Do you perhaps favor him over your own husband!?"

Hearing that, the smile on the Twilight Queen\'s face turned upside down.

"No, of course I\'m not oblivious. I know everything he is doing." She said in a frighteningly calm voice.

"Everything Omen does is part of the plan. He has free reign to do whatever he needs to do just like you and the rest of the members. He follows my directions and he won\'t break them. You know what those directions are, correct?" She said, approaching Authorian.

He gulped, beginning to take back what he said.

"I do not favor anyone. I only favor my husband and my children. They are the only people that I would care for. The only others would be..."

The Twilight Queen stopped and she turned around.

"You know when the next meeting is. I hope you can make it on time if you are not busy. Besides, don\'t you have other matters to attend to?" She said, changing the subject.

Authorian tilted his head in confusion as the Twilight Queen vanished. He held his chin in suspicion, thinking.

\'Others? Who are these... others?\'

Authorian tried to figure out what the answer was but he was shortly interrupted when an advisor approached him from behind.

"My king! There is bad news!"

"Huh? What is it? Speak."

"Th-the Vuria kingdom... their summon... has gone horribly wrong!"

"Vuria!? What happened!? What went wrong with their summoning!?"

The Vuria kingdom was a nation that was supposed to summon the third batch of heroes. It is said that the heroes summoned by the Vuria would end up with extremely bad luck. Hence it was natural if something bad had happened to them.

"It... it... no, the entire kingdom has been razed and decimated to the ground by..."

Authorian\'s eyes widened and grabbed the advisor by his collar.

"Who is it!? Spit it out!"

"I-It\'s th-th-the Slayer Hero!"

"What!?"

Outraged, the king sent several of his men to the Vuria kingdom and it was true, the entire kingdom was destroyed and not a single person was left alive.

***

...

...

...

I was woken up by the sound of the door knocking.

I got up, stretching my arms as I approached the door and opened it.

It\'s been about four weeks, almost a month, since the prince\'s coronation. I\'ve been hiding out in an outpost owned by my associates. It was on an island just near the continent where Paragon is located. The weather here was a bit stormy. There has been nothing but thunder and heavy rain.

I kind of hated it.

Well, there were some good things. The place I was given to stay was a cabin with a comfortable bed and we have plenty of fish since fishing was pretty easy where we were.

Now then, where was I? Right, I was answering my door.

"What is it?" I said to the man standing at my door. I noticed he was shaking and there was a hint of fear in his eye. I wondered if it was directed at me but everyone on this island was friendly and I had no reason to be hostile towards them, so I knew something was up.

"Th-there is an intrud-, I mean, someone at the dock that wants to meet you."

...

He just stopped himself from saying intruder, didn\'t he?

To be honest, he didn\'t really need to tell me. I could sense hostility coming from the dock\'s direction anyway.

"I\'ll be there in a few minutes. You and the others can flee from the other side."

"Y-yes sir."

Once I had worn my clothes, I went towards the docks. When I arrived, there was a man sitting in a small sailboat. Once the man turned around, I almost lost my footing.

"Took you long enough." The man said.

I know this guy... He was the Enigma I met in the dungeon! What is he doing here!? No, wait, how did he even find me!? The last time I confirmed, there was no one around me when I fled Paragon. The only person was Brigen, but it was obvious where he had gone.

"You are wondering how I found you, right? Let\'s just say you shouldn\'t leave traces of your own energy around, otherwise, you can be tracked down. I just had to... return it to its rightful owner."

So that\'s how he found me...

Tch.

"What are you doing here?" I began, "I know you are not here to kill me."

"Of course not. Your death would do me or anyone no good. You have plenty of uses, after all."

"Huh? What are you on about?"

"Isn\'t it obvious, Nero?"

The Enigma stood up and began to approach me.

"I want you to join me."

.

.

.