Nighttime arrived and they still sat atop the grasslands, with Marcel crying and Emperor Kardia patting him on the back as he hugged him tight and wailed tearfully, when suddenly, Marcel stopped. Uh-oh, he had a lot of questions brewing in his mind. 

He continued hugging Emperor Kardia as he asked, “So, could I return to the human world, one day?” 

“Yes, if your intent is to break it, that is!” The man answered. 

“What?!” Marcel shook himself away from the hug to look Emperor Kardia in the face, “Really?!” 

“Yes! The human worlds are a place that you were always meant to leave. They are terribly fragile compared to the rest of the worlds; although, not entirely by design. You, heroes... your true potential can only be unleashed when you enter the Demon Realms. It has to do with the fact that this world has some absurd power standards. 

“You might already know this, but as you are now, you would be considered a god-like entity in the human world. Add that to the fact that you, heroes, are loved by the universe and we have a recipe for a world-collapsing disaster. The reason why Vitalis sealed the worlds off and made it a one-way entrance affair for you heroes is because the first of your kind proved how disastrous you are for the worlds. It’s to protect them, from you!” He explained. 

“Haa... I see!” Marcel sighed dejectedly before suddenly, he gave Emperor Kardia a pleading look and asked again, “Not even if we suppress our abilities?” He really wanted Kardia to say yes. 

Emperor Kardia defied his expectations once again, “What can be suppressed anyway? Magic Power, skills and abilities, Souls? I don’t think so! You know what happens when a Guardian assumes human form, right?” 

Marcel remembered what he saw in the Demon Lord’s memory of the Guardians of Seasons once upon a time. He nodded. 

“It’d be like that! By taking human forms, they give up their immense physical strength and natural immunities in exchange for more magic power and influence. I’m not saying it’d be exactly the same, seeing as you are heroes, but if a hero suppressed all their abilities to enter the human realm, what they’d gain in exchange would be better control over that world’s fundamental order. Your luck is no joke!” 

Marcel continued for him, “And that would lead to their every whim being granted. Even their emotions would influence its entire system. We’d be walking disasters!” 

“It’s good that you understand! That’s why you guys are only allowed to interfere with the human world on a grand scale once in your life: when you’re entering the demon realms. You are able to interfere with the world’s boundaries to open and connect rifts between the two worlds while you are at your weakest. Think about it! You trample over the spatial laws between the two worlds.” 

Woah!!! Whatever created heroes must be awesome! Now, speaking of what created the heroes... 

“The Creator of Heroes, they must be awesome?” Marcel asked. 

“Yes, a force like no other! He’s the epitome of heroes; beloved by all forces, the one true indomitable spirit. Knowing him is the multiverse’s greatest honor!” Emperor Kardia ended the explanation. He didn’t seem to want to say any more about ‘that person’. Marcel was seriously beginning to wonder what it was about the Creator of Heroes that warranted his existence and even knowledge of him to be kept such a secretive matter. 

Unfortunately, Emperor Kardia didn’t give him the time to ask that question, 

“It’s getting late! You should have some rest. There’s a lot we need to do tomorrow now that you’ve managed to solidify your achievements in spatial magic. We can work on finetuning your control of the space around yourself and explore more ways in which to use it outside of traveling, like in combat.” Emperor Kardia teleported him back to the building he was to sleep in before he disappeared as well. Looks like he really doesn’t want to talk about the Creator of Heroes.  

Marcel was left by himself, filled with all these thoughts and questions he was coming up with by the minute. He really didn’t think he could sleep at all. 

 

*** 

 

Marcel laid in bed for hours, unable to get some sleep. He had been constantly thinking about the day he’d had; what he’d learned about himself, the power he possessed, the heroes, and whatnot. All these thoughts left him feeling fidgety and impatient, like he could explode at any minute if he didn’t find something to do aside from letting them roam free in his head. 

Also, he wanted to master Spatial Magic as soon as possible. He was sure that [Dimension Door] wasn’t going to be the only skill he could manifest out of his understanding of what Emperor Kardia called True Spatial Magic. He had way too much extra pent-up energy from today. His excitement and impatience were uncontrollable, so he did the only thing he could do... 

He left his room that night to train. Yes, like the training freak he is, he used [Dimension Door] to escape the building, apparently unnoticed. He used [Teleport EX] to leap outside to find someplace where he could release the extra pent-up energy he had. This was going to be hard though because he knew that every part of the floating island that he found himself on was under Emperor Kardia’s surveillance. That should have stopped him, but... 

Like some fool, he decided to make his grandest teleportation attempt ever: teleporting to another floating island. 

Using his honed senses, he performed a feat that was only possible thanks to his acquisition of the [Dimension Door] skill. He used the main ability of the skill to hide away from the space around him, apparently making himself undetectable before he used [Teleport EX] and [Switch] to move away from his original location, with his overall field of vision acting as his next spatial switch destination.  

Unfortunately, he hadn’t accounted for the fact that he could sabotage himself. He’d already arrived three to four floating islands away from his original location, where he should be, when, amidst teleporting and switching with objects he saw, he encountered a 200-meter-tall waterfall that appeared out of nowhere in his field of vision. He was surprised and his reaction speed took a hit.  

Before he realized what was happening, he’d made the waterfall he was seeing his apparent destination? Anyway, he found himself there, at the very top. He plummeted down into the water, falling down the waterfall into its plunge pool. How unfortunate indeed! 

Falling into the pool of water, the only thing he could say, after falling from such a great high was a simple ‘Ow!’  

Unbelievable! I know his body is strong and all now, but really? Ow!? He could have done so much better. Anyways, what happened next was him plummeting into the pool’s deepest depths, staying underwater for a while, exactly 3 minutes, before swimming up and exiting the water. 

Great! Now, he was wet, had a slight tingling pain in his left elbow, and admitting that this was all his fault. At least, he could dry himself off with some fire magic or water manipulation and heal his elbow with a simple recovery spell, so he did! He had just finished drying himself and healing when he sensed that he wasn’t alone. 

He immediately drew Sigurd from his spatial storage space and took a stance, alert and prepared for any situation.  

Suddenly, an attack came, from above! Luckily, his eyes were fast enough to grasp its motion, despite its unprecedented speed.  

He unleashed Sigurd’s ‘Frozen World’ attribute at the presence behind the attack above him. Unexpectedly, it didn’t freeze, surprising him. 

The presence counterattacked him with a spear, releasing an energy blast at point-blank range. 

Marcel absorbed the energy blast with a Spatial Orb from Sigurd, then attacked back. Marcel and the figure began attacking each other; this time, acknowledging the other as an enemy to defeat. 

Marcel attacked it, its eyes glowing red in the darkness. It was night, but still, his eyes could see everything.  

It was a man. The man oozed a throat-choking bloodlust. He attacked with such ferocity and unrelenting power, but strangely, his attacks were somewhat predictable. He had a fighting style that he could only describe as crazy and reckless, intent on injuring the enemy at any cost. He was being slightly cautious enough to prolong the battle if without any advantage to exploit.  

This man... his body was tough, his skin unscathed despite how much Marcel struck at him. Luckily, they were both built tough. They continued.  

Amidst the battle, the man suddenly switched fighting styles. He began attacking like a vicious snake, thrusting forward with flexibility like no other. Marce could, fortunately, adapt thanks to his vast swordsmanship arsenal. He chose a style perfect for countering this ‘snake’. He too was flexible, he thought. 

 

And, just like that, they continued to fight each other, from when they began, all the way into the morning. 

When morning finally came, Marcel and the man were both injured. They could also finally see each other’s faces. 

The man had wavy, dark hair at shoulder length with a bloody-red pair of eyes and a stubble beard. He had a tall build, almost equally tall as the Demon Lord. He looked unkempt, his black shirt and pants stained with blood, dirt, and various small particles. He also wore muddy leather boots that were in terrible shape, like he hadn’t been outside the floating island in a long time. In his hair were broken twigs and what looked like some bird’s broken claw, but he didn’t seem to care. He held a spear in his hand. 

Marcel, looking at him in the daytime, could see something he’d missed during the night when they fought. With the rise of the sun, came what seemed to be a golden round shield with what seemed to be a sharp, spear-like tip at the bottom around the man. It looked faint like it existed in a dimension like the spirit realm. The shield’s diameter was large enough to cover half the man’s entire body. 

After morning came, the man finally said something, “I… tired~!” He said abruptly before letting go of his spear, the weapon disappearing into thin air. Luckily, Marcel could see where it went thanks to his eyes. It just joined the golden shield phantom that appeared to follow the man. The shield and spear were both probably retrievable weapons. 

After the man let go of the spear, he walked towards the water and drank some. He felt terribly parched. He looked towards Marcel afterward, who also seemed to be tired from fighting him all night long.  

When the boy looked at him, curious about what he might do next, he lost some of the hostility he displayed earlier. The man took in a deep breath, soaking in the fresh, cool morning breeze that brushed across his face before, he exhaled and did something that would surprise Marcel. Apart from that person, he never thought he’d see… 

Marcel watched as the man stripped his various articles of clothing, which weren’t much. He then entered the water to wash up. Marcel found himself shocked at how he ogled this man.  

“So, well-built!” He thought, looking at the man’s beautifully sculpted back muscles that pulsed with power. He couldn’t quite keep his eyes off the man’s firm, well-defined buttocks either. He liked the Demon Lord’s body and all, but, this ragged man was grabbing his attention. He watched as the man ‘performed’ a bathing session in front of him. When the man turned around, the first words that popped into Marcel’s head were ‘perfect sculpture’. Yes, he had a perfect sculpture in front of him.   

The man’s chest was slightly scratched from Marcel’s earlier battle with him, his face, carrying a scratch and bloodstain or two as well, but hey, the moment he brushed some water across his face, it all seemed to just, disappear! The scratches vanished like the water contained some kind of high-grade potion, at least A-class. It was strange because Marcel definitely knew that the water didn’t heal because of the ‘ouches’ he sustained in the brief moments after he fell into it yesterday. So, it was the man! He had some kind of mysterious power that allowed him to heal like that.  

Just as Marcel was contemplating what caused the scratches he made to disappear, he found himself looking downward at the man, only to catch a glimpse at something that almost caused his heart to jump out of his chest.  

Moving from his breast to the very muscly, bumpy board of abs that could be equally described as perfect, Marcel looked down, to the man’s powerful thighs then at the man downstairs. All he could think was, “Wow…” His mind was blown again, “So… thick…”  

Seriously, whoever makes the dangling members between men’s legs, why do you make them in those sizes?! Are you trying to break someone’s back?!! The Demon Lord’s got a long Excalibur and this man’s got a thick cannon.  

Marcel was so distracted by the thick member that he didn’t even have time to feel disappointed or even self-conscious. He just stared at ‘it’ in a trance, not even noticing when the body carrying it moved closer until he was practically staring at it from almost point-blank range.  

The man didn’t mind at all that he was being ogled by this young one in such a manner. He simply asked,  

“Do you have any large clothes I could borrow?” By borrowing, he meant, ‘wear until I borrow someone else’s clothes next time’.  

“Sure!” Marcel snapped out of the trance, embarrassed for the first time in a long while. Why did that thing grab his attention so much? He hadn’t thought about sex in ages. This man’s ‘thing’… is dangerous!  

Marcel grabbed the largest pair of pants he could find that could fit the man’s godly thighs and a tight-fitting, high-quality shirt that could sustain some damage of an A-ranked existence. Add a better pair of leather boots to the list of things he gave him. He simply gave them to the man, paying no heed to how expensive the things he gave that man were worth a B-rank adventurer’s six-month earnings from working almost every day on the clock. How nice it must be to be a little rich boy who lives in a castle?  

  

A few moments later, the man dressed after he let the water naturally dry off, giving Marcel even more time to eye him. Now that his face was washed and his scratches were healed, Marcel found this wild man he met just yesterday to be very um, “Hot!”  

He wasn’t a beauty by the definition he’d give it, given what he’s seen; you know, the Demon Lord, Alverona, Silva, Kardia, etc., but he had his own ‘wild’ charm. He looked like the type of handsome man he’d settle down with if he’d discovered that he was gay back in the human world.   

On this day, Marcel discovered that he had another type in men: wild-looking, dark-haired guys with blood-red eyes, wielding mystical, probably S-class or upward weapons, that filled his clothes completely with all their ‘assets’. Sorry, Demon Lord! You have actual competition now! Marcel might actually take this man as a husband if he was only judging from how he was ‘looking’ so far. Also, who knows how strong this man really is? Marcel, quite certainly, can’t tell! He was very ‘interested’!  

Now that he was engrossed in contemplating a whole new possibility, he found it hard to just snap out of it. The man helped him.  

“Little man, where did you come from?!” He asked, his tone brash and uncivilized like there was no need for even basic manners.  

“Ah…” It worked, “…right! I came from one of the other floating islands. I was just training at night when I made a mistake and fell down here. Did I perhaps bother you?” He asked, worried that he might have done something bad earlier by fighting him.  

“Hmm… no? It’s just, I have been alone on this island for millennia that the sudden presence alerted me. Your aura didn’t tell me anything about you, so, naturally, I attacked.” He answered.  

“Why?” Marcel found himself asking. He does that—a lot!   

“Because it meant that you were a master of deception. You could keep your aura the same all the way throughout our little exchange. You must be an expert at hiding your feelings.” The man answered seriously.  

Marcel found himself almost laughing when he heard the man’s words. Did he, the guy whom others call predictable, naïve, and easily manipulated, get called an expert at hiding his feelings? Just priceless!  

“Haha! You must be joking, right?” He asked, laughing.  

“Nope! With that talent of yours along with your sword-wielding techniques and adaptability, if I wasn’t honed for battle, I would think you were some kind of battle master.” The man said.  

“Well, I’ll take that as a compliment!” Marcel answered, showing a genuine smile.  

Huh? What just happened?! This guy… he… he’s blushing. His cheeks burned red and his ears tinted lightly with red. So cute!  

Marcel, noticing his blush, felt more at ease. He found this guy to be very charming. He was liking this guy more already. He stretched out his hand and spoke, “I’m Marcel! You?”  

“Um...... Enya? I think my name is Enya!” That was quite the pause, “I haven’t used it in so long that I almost forgot it.” He chuckled slightly, scratching his head. What an adorable man! Seriously though, forgetting your name is a serious matter. You shouldn’t joke about it! 

“Well, then, I’ll make sure to use it so you don’t forget. That sounds like a nice name… also, very easy to remember! I like it~!”  

The man smiled slightly upon Marcel’s comment. Suddenly, Enya seemed to like his name a lot more than he probably should.  

“Do you perhaps have some kind of surname?” Marcel asked.  

“No, just Enya! If the gods don’t have it, then why should I?” He spoke adamantly with pride.  

“Haha, true! Oh, I just remembered...” Oh no, “I promised Emperor Kardia that I’d be there to train with him in the morning. I will be late!” Marcel said in a panic, almost rushing off.  

The man grabbed his hand just before he ran off, “Don’t! I-I’ll come with you! Emperor Kardia’s an old friend of mine. I haven’t seen him in a very long time. If I explain to him that I kept you here, he might maybe not punish you for not being on time.” Hmm, why did he say that last sentence with his eyes looking in a completely different direction? Suspicious! 

Ah, right~! Marcel learned that the hard way on the first day of his official training with Emperor Kardia. Being late is simply not acceptable to that guy! That smack he received from him really showed him. Luckily, he heals fast.  

“But, what about packing? Don’t you need to—”  

“I have everything I need. I spent most of my time walking around and sleeping, then occasionally left and returned. I have nothing here worth taking with me. Now come on!” He said before dragging Marcel along with him, hopping into the sky with Marcel in hand, and then off they went.   

As they moved above the earth, Enya seemed to occasionally kick the air whenever it felt like they’d drop from the sky. He seemed to treat the air like he owned it. Marcel didn’t quite know if he did that thanks to a skill or not but soon, they got back to the main island and... Emperor Kardia was already waiting. Oh no! 

 

“I see that you went out, and oh? Is that Enya I’m seeing?! I thought you said that you preferred to be alone.” Emperor Kardia acted suspicious of the two, as if he didn’t already know that this day would come. Besides, did Marcel really think he didn’t know that he left because he did everything the right way? So naïve! He forgot to account for not being in his room, um... you know, where he should be? 

He stared again at Marcel, “I see that you went out in the middle of the night, impatient and unable to rest properly like I said to do in preparation for today. You seem exhausted, so… go to sleep now.” Emperor Kardia pointed in the direction of Marcel’s room. He spoke so calmly too.  

“Really? Thank you!” Marcel excitedly pranced off. He was excited to learn that he wouldn’t be doing any training today before,  

“You get today off, but just know that you’ll have to train tomorrow and the day after that to make up for this.” Emperor Kardia’s eyes lowered and he smiled slightly. His voice sounded completely calm. Marcel thought that this was fine until…  

“Also, after today, you won’t be able to sleep until the end of the day after tomorrow. You should catch up on a lot of sleep. You’ll need it, hehe~!” Oh no, he, Emperor Kardia, evil grinned!  

Those last words from Emperor Kardia sent shivers down Marcel’s spine. He could feel the suffering in his future. He’s doomed! Why did this usually kind man sometimes turn into a terrible monster?! He ran away to do exactly as instructed without delay. Looks like becoming a B-class capable of staying awake for weeks without end won’t be enough to survive whatever Alverona’s brother has planned for him. Can he call this abuse, though this certainly is his fault? 

Seriously, why did he forget that Emperor Kardia was Alverona’s brother again?! He seems to easily forget how terrifying the Dragos family members can be, especially because of how kind they are to him. First, it was Claude’s hellish training and ideas, then it was Alverona’s trickery and power and now, Emperor Kardia's gentle and kind nature that disappeared whenever training was involved? Just why?!  

  

“Now you…” Emperor Kardia shifted focus to Enya, “…use any one of the rooms you’d like. It’s good to see you again, though, I would have liked it if you’d come earlier.” He treated him cordially. 

Enya scoffed, “Haa, I live on an island very close to you. You could have visited but, no~. Instead, you decided to stalk me whenever I was awake, then act like you haven’t seen me in a while?” Enya spoke in a half-joking manner. His eyes, however, were very serious.  

Emperor Kardia shrugged, “Hey, I wanted you to stay here but you wanted to be alone, insisting that you’ll only return when you find what fills the ‘hole inside’. Now that you’re actually here, I wonder? Did you find it yet?” He asked, his eyes eager to hear Enya’s response. He’d hoped that this old friend of his would finally be whole. He knew that Enya had already taken the first step, but he wanted to hear it from him.  

“Hmph, not telling!” Enya showed indifference to Emperor Kardia’s eager eyes, walking in the same direction that Marcel had taken earlier.  

Emperor Kardia could only watch Enya leave, already having the answer to his earlier question, “That’s…”   

Emperor Kardia was amused.