Sand. Clouds of sand swirled over a vast desert. In the storm, the giant figure exerted all its strength to plant one foot after the other, slowly advancing.

The figure was covered in scarves and layers of clothing. Their massive body had an extra pair of arms that made them look more like some unnatural demon.

'Rose... Lancey...'

Before she entered this desert, her companions had died—one of old injuries, the other of an illness. To begin with, Rose and Lancey were near the end of their lifespans.

Connie vividly remembered digging the hole on the edge of the Dead Zone and holding a small ceremony afterward. She knew this practice from her hometown.

Huoggs had long lifespans. When one of them died, it was rare and sad. The whole tribe would gather in remembrance and hold a celebration. But Connie couldn't celebrate; she had to move forward.

'I'll find him... I'll get my answers.'

The wind died down, and Connie removed the excessive headwear from her face, continuing her journey through the harsh desert. The cool moonlight bounced off her smooth skin. It was obvious she had recently gone through her shedding.

'Now is the perfect time to practice my people's Path of Power. I never did it because the elders forbade us from using it, but I have to if I want to grow in strength!'

What Connie was referring to was the Huogg people's Legacy Path of Power. Originally, the Huogg did have their ancestral homeland's Path of Power, which was the controlling of earth. However, this path ended with the Huogg's destruction and takeover by hostile forces.

Although rare, races also had access to their own personal Paths of Power. Almost every race except humans, that is.

Human scholars guessed this was the reason their forefathers killed other races and took everything they had. Even so, not many races knew of this legacy, Connie was lucky her race was few and united, allowing them to hold onto this secret deep within their blood.

More importantly, Legacy Powers could be awakened as long as the user was a part of the said race. These powers weren't terribly powerful like powers from cores, but they were unrestricted when it came to traveling to different territories.

For this reason, these Legacy powers were heavily sought, or at least slaves that could use the powers for bodyguards. 

'I already know the ritual required to awaken my blood, but it requires multiple different beasts' blood. I will have to find substitutes. This shouldn't be too hard since the requirements for the beasts in the first place is they have to be tremendously powerful but mindlessly bloodthirsty.'

On the horizon, Connie finally saw something other than the desert.

Far off in the distance, a massive mountain blotted out the sky. Around it, large beasts flew and ate each other without fear.

'The mountain of titans... it still exists. I'm so glad I made this journey! I did it, guys!'

Seeing her goal in front of her, Connie couldn't help but remember her other companions.

'I wonder how they're doing? I hope everything's going well! We will all meet again! They each should have a few decades left in them!'

...

"Get him! Don't let the time-mancer escape!"

Soldiers stormed the streets as they hunted their target, a mancer who had been causing problems throughout the Capital of Kiok.

'Keke, catch me if you can, losers. I have time on my side!'

Using small tricks, Marko distorted time by the minute details. Doing this allowed him to disappear for a moment or seemingly teleport behind the guards, allowing him to escape.

'I got really lucky after that ejection thing. I can't believe I found the inheritance of a time mancer!'

Marko was the second in command of the Red Titan, Connie's prized ship when she sailed in the Ocean of Deep Ones. But now, Marko ended up in the Kingdom of Kiok. Currently, he had the whole territory against him because of his fortuitous encounter and was currently escaping the Capital City after being found to have a "close" relationship with one of the Princesses.

Although Marko was originally older, due to his time inheritance, he returned to his teenage years! Not just in body, but mind as well!

With a green jewel dangling from his neck, he felt almost invincible. Holding the ancient carved stone tightly, he made his escape through the sewers and made his way out of the City.

"Hah, I still need more knowledge and experience with time, but there's nothing to learn left! Master's notes detailed he died because there was no path forward! He had to make his own path but failed! What should I do!?"

Standing near the grate of the sewers, holding his hair in frustration, Marko could not help but remember the past.

'If it was that guy, he could've solved all my current problems... I wonder where he is? Hmm... maybe I should try to find the rest of the crew, Captain is definitely alive and kicking, but the others must've grown old.....'

Marko thought for a while, and in the end, he clutched the green gem tightly.

'I don't have to worry about losing my powers because of Master's preparations to head out of the territory... maybe this is for the best.'

Ruminating a little while longer, Marko let out a long breath and took a step forward.

"Goodbye Kiok, goodbye Princess. May we meet again in another life; this one isn't going to work out."

With that, he disappeared from sight, traveling a hundred miles in an instant.

"Maybe one day I'll also properly control space as well. Oh well, slowing down time to move long distances will work for now."

...

"Wait wait wait! I hired you! I gave you so much! Why ruin it all and kill me? I never took advantage of you like that giant beast that called itself a woman! Please! I beg you!"

The Young master of the Meiers family begged on his knees which were long planted on the ground.

"You may have been my employer before, but what you did that day..." The man winced at the pain of remembering, tears beginning to flow, and emotions erupting from him. "So many of my men died, people I knew! I met their families, I stayed in their homes! Yet... yet they were so easily thrown away by you and those other Nobles and Rich Tycoons! I'll kill you, I'll kill all of you! We will no longer work for you, we will work for ourselves!"

"Wait, Dolion!"

A bolt of electricity streamed out of a handheld pistol, creating a small but precise hole in James Meiers's chest. The young master who was no longer young reeled over dead by the weapon's sheer power.

"Hah... hah..."

Dolion took deep breaths over the corpse of the Meiers Family Master. The dead bastard had this a long time coming.

Getting ejected back to the Republic, Dolion terminated his employment and slowly gained power by augmenting himself with experimental weapons and augments. Luckily, he got to know a revolutionary scientist and was able to live this long.

He had gone through so many battles; most of his organs were replaced over and over again.

'Hah, I'm an undying monster more than ever. But why do I feel I still can't compare to him... that devil.'

Fragments of that day replayed in Dolion's mind, the blood, the mist. He had never witnessed such carnage, such unpathetic slaughter. No, he may have seemed unpathetic but their was madness in it all, a madness of arrogance towards all life, towards the rules all living being follow. 

'After I'm done here, should I hunt him too?'

Dolion thought deeply as he left James's corpse in the alley, and he quickly joined the streets of Fume, disappearing into the crowd.

...

"Master, when will I reach the Founding stage?"

A white-bearded sage looked down at his disciple; it took a lot of effort, but he got him off alcohol and lost lots of weight. Finally, his body was in prime condition for cultivating. Only... his age was questionable; he wasn't young, but he still seemed to have some talent.

"Hah, cultivating takes time, my apprentice; you are only in the Mid-tier of the First stage. It will be a few more months to a year. If only you were a bit younger..."

Thomas sighed; he sometimes wished he was back on the Red Titan drinking with everyone. Alas, he found himself in this mystical place.

"Yes, Master..."

...

In a dark bottomless cave, a young man was encased in the obsidian walls.

"To think I, one of the Three Great Beings of the Subconscious, made a detour just for a young boy. Keeping your energy has been tough. I had to spend a lot of my stored strength just to make you regress to your prime. Good thing this will be worth it. Soon I can meet up with my siblings, and we can plan our revenge on the One."

Jaxith struggled, yet he couldn't escape.

"B-Bastard, what do you want with me!"

Death laughed; he came out from the shadows, his body that of a rotting skeleton. He no longer looked as grand as he was in the Dream Realm, only existing barley as an embodiment of death, bending the rules of life. 

Nightmares shouldn't exist in Reality, yet the Three long removed this barrier. 

"I need you as a vessel; who would have thought you are a descendant of Death? Although we are not the same Death, the symbolism remains, and that is what's most important!"

Quickly after, the skeleton seemed to die as its bones fell into a pile on the ground. From the bones, a great, vast shadow shot up and entered Jaxith.

The young man tried to resist, but he had no hope.

'Captain, Mister Cain, Marko, Lancey, Thomas. Help me! Anyone, please save me!'

The boy's pleas went unanswered; his body turned pale and gray as if it had died. From there, Jaxith's eyes once again opened, this time holding a deep blackness inside them.

An influx of information entered Death's mind. 

"Oh? He also had contact with that guy? Hmmm, Fate seems to have plans for him. Or is he destined in a way of his own? Perhaps there will be another Manus, defying whatever he wished."

Death chuckled; he then escaped the Dark Cave and once again entered the world. Free to roam.

...

Making their way over a massive cliff, a tall hooded man stood, followed by his many followers.

"My Lord, why do we travel this way?"

The hooded man replied, his voice rustic and mechanical, yet uncannily human, "Fret not; we are going to a place of importance. In the coming days, many great heroes and evils will travel there. We will travel there first and prepare, increasing our chances of getting the prize that will soon be born."

Lowering his head, the subordinate became enlightened, "That place is your homeland, my lord? The place you came from?"

Lifting their hood, a head made of metal and flesh unveiled itself for all the followers to see. It was half-machine and half-flesh. It was the God of the Savage Tribe, Ation. The one who sealed part of Cain's mind when it first split. 

It now looked more grotesque, as if a hundred faces of terror were etched across its cold steel, every movement would make the mouths open causing a horrific scene. 

"Yes, it is my home. I did some things... which is why changes are taking place. I fiddled with a far greater power, but that's not bad. As I said, there will be great fortune to grow in that land."

Ation turned back to overlook the cliff; the flesh on his face stretched into a terrifying smile, slipping across the steel plating.

'Soon, I will return for what is mine. I will take all that fate bestowed.'