“Hmm, it seems the fugitive didn’t make it?” a mocking voice sounded from the crowd followed by laughter.

"Well, he was fucking weak after all! I do wonder about the Guardian of the elves..." a voice trailed off but was swiftly interrupted by another.

"Shush! Don't annoy the elves more than they already are fool!"

Genad slightly frowned at these mutterings as he observed his surroundings in a bid to calm down, they were confined within a dark room, petite but huge enough to contain the hundreds of them. As magical beings even though it was dark it was still easy for them to see through the darkness and the room they stood in was a plain room with nothing notable.

Their arrangement was plain as well with each race huddling up to each other and the kings staying at a side monitoring their actions.

Among the elves, some were busy showing off their spirit animals while others were mourning their lost friends, the humans were more sympathetic as they hung their heads low in honor of the lost warriors while the angels, similar to them, prayed together to honor their lost brethren to the disgust of the demons who were the most apathetic of the races, chattering freely without a care, they never really cared for each other in the first place.

‘He seems fine,’ Genad thought subconsciously sensing his link with Feral was still intact, he couldn’t tell his physical condition but as long as his soul was good then he wouldn’t be in any dire situation.

Genad wondered why he even worried in the first place but quickly brushed it off to the fact that if Feral was to get hurt, then he would be in danger as well.

‘Hopefully, the bracelet’s energy doesn’t run out before the end of the trails or this will be difficult.’

The bracelet was after all an expandable item and a one in a million at that, if it did end at this critical time it’d be very problematic.

“Hey, Gen!!” a fiery voice called out to the purple-haired demon lost in thought successfully snapping him out of his daze.

Genad looked to see a bunch of flustered demons approach him and with no explanation he could tell that these were his annoying tag-alongs (fans) who wouldn’t let him be. Just thinking about their nuisance made him frown heavily and he, without as much as a glance, turned his face away.

“Oh, come on!” a blonde demon whined, “Don’t be so mean! We were just curious where you’ve been all along, you were nowhere to be seen!”

“Yeah, where did you disappear to Gen? The human nation? Still, no one could find you! My brother wanted a spar so he searched everywhere for you but man did you suddenly varnish!”

The chatter went on with Genad mostly ignoring the chattering demons filled with both genders, one saddened they couldn’t meet him and the other taunting if he had been too scared to show himself.

Popularity was no new thing for Genad, ignoring it, although not helpful, was the only approach he usually took. It was even worse among the demons because of their stubborn nature which meant no matter how much you ignored them they would always be there to bother you, even more so just to rub it in that you could never get rid of them.

As Genad stood still in boredom as the chatter around him worsened with more and more demons magnetically approaching the group surrounding him, he decided to change locations when a whisper caught his attention.

“Why is the angel lord coming over here?”

The kings had been in one corner watching over their flocks as they babbled among themselves so it was odd when the angel lord began approaching them and even more when his target seemed to be the demons!

“Do you have any issues with my people angel lord?” the demon king who had noticed earlier on moved faster, blocking his path.

“YOUR PERSON?” the angel lord retorts with a fierce look, he snapped up his head in an angry manner as he spoke, “Maybe he could first learn to retrace that saintly energy around him, it doesn’t suit the demonic stench he’s wearing!”

Gasps immediately envelop the surroundings and all eyes are suddenly on Genad who seems oddly calm about the entire thing. The demon king peers and is shocked at the discovery and just like every other demon stepped backwards with a look of disgust in his yellow eyes.

All interest is hooked at this sudden turn of events and even the demon lords watch in anticipation.

“What kind of disgusting creature are you to possess both the aura of an angel and demon?” the demon king asks warily while reaching for his weapon as everyone around him gasps.

The aura of a demon and angel at the same time?! Was that even possible?! If it was then wasn’t it an abomination?!

But before Genad could say a word a voice interrupted, “Leave that child alone.”

The human king said calmly as all eyes fell on him, he walked up to Genad who stared at him blankly and with a sigh repeated, “This child is my person now, I doubt that any of the kings would want him anyways?”

“What do you mean?!” The elf king who had been silent all the while suddenly erupts, “Isn’t he the fugitive that not only stole the guardian, but destroyed the gnome ruins and stole from the angel realms? Do you truly think we have nothing against him? The most wanted personality?! Now listen, King Abbott, if you do not want trouble please step aside.” King Artalio concludes as he reaches for his sword in rage but is stopped by the angel lord.

“We cannot, the rules forbade it but I would like to confirm King Abbott, do you truly want to face our wrath collectively for this child?” the angel lord said with a frown enveloping his strict visage.

The human king faltered slightly as a bitter look flashed across his face before a determined look covered it right up as he steely said, “A fight just for this child might be too much don’t you think Hezekiah?”

More gasps as everyone could tell this was an indirect challenge, after all the angel lord abhorred it when others spoke his name.

“So it’s like that… Well then, suit yourself,” King Hezekiah said with murderous eyes.

As the kings stood at a stalemate, everywhere had become tense as whispers filled the entire area.

A being with a demon and angel bloodline... was that even possible? Not only that but he was wanted by two kings but why was the human king protecting him? What was going on?!

The demon king having contemplated enough suddenly spoke “However… as his king should I not be left with the decision of what I want to do to him?” he concluded with a daring smile challenging all the kings who stood there.

King Hezekiah and King Artalio glared at him ferociously as well as King Abbott while he heartily laughed without a care. What an interesting scenario!

He wasn’t the only demon who thought so as another chaos-loving fellow decided to rile up this argument,

“Hmm,” the lord of babal who had been surveying the situation for quite a while asked “A person capable of moving the human king so much? Are you perhaps... the son of Eugene Edward, that damned scientist?”

Instantly, the temperature fell degrees lower as the kings’ auras spilled all over. Eugene was a forbidden name, no one was allowed to speak that name under any circumstances for it had a heavy impact on every single king who stood or once stood in the Styr kingdom.

The lord of babal stumbled slightly from the pressure that suddenly overwhelmed him, all the kings were glaring at him and for a split second, he regretted acting so recklessly. As if to answer his cry for mercy, Genad who had been silent for a while finally spoke.

“Perhaps,” he muttered under his breath, smiling rather daringly and with a pair of brilliant glowing golden eyes brazenly stared up, “You’re to be the judge of that.”

!!!

***

"Impossible!"

Chaos broke out as roars, gasps, and shrills erupted heavily and everyone who stood in the room was equally astonished. A demon who was an angel! You really could see all things if you lived long enough! Incredible!

“How is that even possible, don’t both bloodlines cancel out each other?!” a voice echoed incredulously.

“Amazing! There really is nothing impossible, what now? A god is born as a mortal? A baby capable of fighting from the womb? A demon with a heart of gold?!” an audacious fellow roared in awe.

“Dude, that’s a bit too much don’t you think…”

“I mean look at him… a half demon, half angel! He’s a living evidence anything is possible.”

And truthfully, Genad was.

Disregarding the incredulity that an angel actually had laid with a demon, there was the fact that the angel actually birthed the baby, it survived both bloodlines, grew up safely, and could use both bloodlines, what the actual fuck?!

“Hah…!” the demon king muttered in pure shock as he stood speechlessly watching the atrocity before him in awe,

“I never thought that such a day would come that our bloodlines would eventually mix. Something as filthy as an angel… Indeed, Eugene has to be the devil himself. He created an even bigger abomination than himself, tell me son of Eugene how does it feel? To have the blood of something so icky run within you? To be a living atrocity?”

“Better than ever my king. So much that the only thing that could ever be more pleasing will be YOUR BLOOD ON MY SWORD,” Genad answered murderously erupting another crazy reaction from the crowd.

“Kill me? Your king?” the demon king asked in shocked laughter.

“I digress, from the very day you killed my father and your foolishness unraveled, you ceased to be my king,” Genad answered confidently without missing a beat, all could see just how serious he was.

The stage was cleared and all of a sudden all attention was on the duo and their ongoing confrontation.

“Ha, you’re a ridiculous youngster.”

“Then prepare to be humored more my king.”

Murmurs erupt within the demon race at this blatant bravery, for someone to issue a challenge at the demon king even before the portal closed just how confident could they be? Even the demon lords dared no such thing, because they all knew, that even though King Tempest was a horrible ruler, his great strength was undeniable.

“I can’t believe this!” a silver-haired angel who had held it long enough suddenly burst out, “How could a saint appear as a demon after all these years? A saint who is a demon? Has the heavens truly abandoned us?!”

“You’re one to speak, imagine how grossed out we are that our blood is even remotely near yours!” a redhead succubus screeched. “How can someone so hot turn so… so... atrocious?”

With that, a verbal battle ensued among the demons and angels with them cursing out at each other and the heavens for letting such a creature exist. Was it mockery? Were the heavens so willing to mock their existence that it made such an abomination?!

“Useless wastes,” Genad said in a clear tone as he faced the arguing group, “Abandoned? Hasn’t it been clear even without the gnomes’ collapse that your god had abandoned you ages ago? Faithless and pathetic creatures, when something beyond your control occurs then you remember a god you never truly cared or held even an iota of respect for!”

Everyone immediately shut up as they all stared at him. In that moment he was dazzling, standing brilliantly before the crowd as he made known their stupidity, he was called an abomination but seemed to care less, and as he stood defiantly before them unveiling their sins they could only stand rooted as they soaked in the blatant insults, for they were nothing but stifling truths.

“Listen you pungent beings. Within the kingdom of Styr, there is no such thing as god, there is only power and till the end, only the one who holds power will prevail!” Genad faced the demon king who stood in awe of his words as he spoke directly to him, “And you, ‘my king’ will be the beginning that portrays these words, ONLY THE BEGINNING.”

For some odd reason, maybe due to his language or the audacious manner in which he spoke, brimming with unusual confidence all who stood before him felt shivers run down their spine. They all collectively had a feeling that this male wasn’t joking, that he could and would follow through with this threat of his, and when that time came he truly would turn the Styr kingdom upside down.

“You abominable madman!” the demon king having had enough roared in rage as he drew his axe, he would at this very moment slice this motherfucker into bits!

Genad completely unaffected drew his sword shocking everyone who stood there at the level of his weapon, it was… a spirit-grade sword. One that hadn't ever been seen since the disappearance of the gnomes!

He truly could see through his threats!

All kings became alert at this sudden turn of events and just as the pressure they were emitting was to begin suffocating the weaker ones, a huge tremor tore through the room, and without as much as a sign, screams erupted as they were all sent tumbling down into the next stage of the trails.