Present in the grey world, Nik simply readied himself for battle, but at the back of his mind, he understood the fact that there would be no battle.

After all, if this Brian, the Blue-haired, smirking youth wished to fight, there was no need to present himself in such grand fashion, not to mention that this wasn't the first time that the both of them came face to face with each other.

So, this only led Nik to three possibilities— 

First, this Brian was a miserable and egoistic fool.

Second, the Fiend in front of him had enough confidence to defeat him in a face-to-face battle.

Third and the most likely when considering his behaviour till now, Brian had something to ask of him.

Seeing the tense state Nik was in, the gradually paling Brian raised his hands and chuckled.

"Woah, I didn't mean to interfere with your battle... well, considering your Bloodline, those two might be quite 'interested' in you.

But *cough* *cough*!"

Brian suddenly started coughing as his expression looked a little tired. Still, with a grin, the Fiend looked at Nik and smiled.

"I always wanted to try stopping time for a moment... guess, I am still too weak to stop it forever."

Shrugging at Nik's unresponsiveness, Brian bowed politely.

"Let me officially introduce myself. I am Brian. For security reasons, my homeworld will not be stated, but just like you, I belong to one of the Pillars of hell— The Fiend Society.

A Temporal Fiend to be exact.

An extinct race, just like yours."

Nik's eyebrows rose in astonishment as he looked at the grey space with a new wave of enlightenment.

He finally spoke up, but not retaining to the topic.

"So this must be..."

"My exclusive skill, yes."

Brian nodded as Nik suddenly chuckled.

"Now I can understand why your race also got extinct."

Shrugging at his words, Brian finally spoke up.

"To be honest, my mission is already completed and I am just staying here for the sake of gaining as much source as I can. Right now, there may already be two factions— To Kill the Avatar and to save the Avatar.

I side with neither of those, and due to our almost similar situation, I extend an invitation."

Gazing at Brian with a grim smile, Nik retorted.

"Unlike me, your existence must be known to everyone within your society, right? Now that I think of it, the reason your specific variation was forced to extinction was due to your unnatural affinity with time.

What's more, the person who squished to last and the strongest Temporal Fiend was none other than your own progenitor."

"That's right." Brian nodded and gave Nik an appraising look. "But my situation is a bit different. Due to system, I gained the heritage of the last Temporal Fiend and got listed in the Fiend Association. But the truth is..."

He hesitated lightly and Nik connected the dots for him.

"Most likely, you are already being hunted, right?"

Brian nodded.

"And that's why, I require as much help I can find. Not to mention, if we join up, there at least may be a fighting chance. 

After all, until we both are stuck in the most basic evolution of our kind, finding about our identity is quite an easy task."

Nik couldn't help but agree with Brian's words. But still, his natural cautiousness against Brian failed to fade away.

"Let's get back at your offer— invitation— was it? What did you mean?"

Nik narrowed his eyes as he was already counting within his head as he watched Brian's face grow paler by the second, by now, other effects like the slight tremor of his body was also visible to the naked eye.

"By invitation, I meant that we should join hands. I know things... a lot of which happened during the war of societies. In fact, I also have a way to break free from the original evolution chain of our bloodline.

But of course, before I actually share those stuff with you and lin my hope on you for my survival, I suggest that we form a guild after returning back to the system."

Taking in his words, Nik's expression grew a bit thoughtful. It would be wrong to say that he wasn't the least bit tempted by the offer. Till now, he still had no way to evolve, much less evolve into a completely different variation.

"Forming a guild requires 70000 SO."

"Leave that to me. Just answer me this, are you interested?"

Brian looked at Nik and waited for his answer.

"Well... I suppose, there is no harm in joining a guild." Nik frowned then slowly spoke up once again.

"But if you fail to present anything beneficial for me after I join your guild, I will immediately leave it."

"Fair enough."

Brina smiled as he spoke up once again.

"What's your host ID?"

Nik sighed and finally spoke out.

"567893"

Nodding and remembering his ID, Brian's eyes seemed to be in a daze, probably checking his own system interface.

"Alright. I'll send the invitation on that ID. Now that I met you, I don't think there is a need to continue the further collection of source.

I hope that you do accept my invitation."

Brian smiled as his figure grew blurry while the surrounding greyish space started to retain its color.

***

"What... did you say?"

Bhiman felt quite strange, and yet, he only recalled the part where Nik just insulted him and his upbringing.

Not minding the strange loss of memory, Nik gazed at four beastmasters who were quite relaxed, as opposed to the tense Bhiman.

"Yue!"

Nik spike loudly, snapping Yue and Karna from their daze as he smiled.

"This will be my last lesson as your teacher... after that, there will be a substantial shift in our position."

He spoke as a violet-silver glimmer touched his body's surface as Yue couldn't help but frown. While Nik helped Karna stand up, he gently wiped her tears silently and turned back to Yue.

"Yeah. From now on, I will also get to enjoy your laps... both of your laps, in fact."

Despite the situation, a touch of crimson on her cheeks pleased Nik as he looked at Bhiman.

"I don't like repeating insults. Since you won't let the matter pass, then-"

Raising his hand, a blood-curdling pressure suddenly fell over Bhiman and the four masters as Nik's energy was being spent at a quick pace.

Thud!

Crackle!

The pressure came too suddenly and they weren't even able to react when the heavy ceiling cast out of ice fell over them, burying them in one place.

"You—"

"What—"

Karna and Yue stammered as Nik shrugged. 

"Fighting Bhiman would mean that the other four beastmasters won't stand by for long. Burying them together is the most efficient method I could think of.

Now, pack your stuff, we are leaving!"

He smiled cheerfully, only to find Karna frowning and then shaking her head. Biting her lips, she spoke a bit hesitantly.

"I— I cannot leave— Eh?"

Before she could speak, her chin was seized by Nik's thumb as he immediately planted his lips on hers, ignoring Yue who had smoke coming out of her ears as her nostrils started to bleed in tandem.

The kiss remained short, yet, in that much time, Nik fully appreciated Karna's full lips while ravaging her inexperienced mouth.

With his gaze boring deep into her dark eyes, Nik didn't mind the bridge of saliva connecting their lips as he finally spoke up with a charming smile.

"I don't recall asking your permission, my dear student. I am going to take you out of this prison and let you enjoy the world.

So, as I said, get ready to get your mind and body rocked."

His words hid nothing as he gently took the stunned Karna's lips once again while pulling her waist towards himself, his other hand resting on her cheek, caressing her face gently.