Standing between the north and south part of the stadium, through the gigantic hallways that seemed never ending, were Quinn and Nathan. The Cursed faction leader was waiting for his guide to start speaking, however, the other hesitated. It was so silent, that all Quinn could hear were the sounds of his own and mostly Nathan's body.
"You know I can force the information out of you, right?" Quinn pointed out. "However, you've earned my respect that I would rather not do that. Back at school, when Duke used to be in charge, and all the students were being mistreated by him, you were the only one who stood up to him. Back then, it felt to me like you always wanted to do something about it, but you just lacked the power to make a change.
"Which is why I don't want to believe you're entirely a bad person. I know unlike the others you don't have that strange Qi surrounding your head, if you did Leo would have spotted it. As such, I know that you're at least not forced to do what you're doing." Quinn's eyes started to glow red, he wasn't using his Influence skill just yet, but he knew how to channel the red aura, so his eyes would have this effect.
Seeing them, and feeling the power coming out from Quinn in this proximity, Nathan hesitated. In his eyes, he wasn't just seeing a young man.
"I'm sorry Quinn…. I hate having to do this." Nathan finally spoke up. "You're right, at the school I was weak, but I had risen to my position due to my hard work, and my unique powers, but I couldn't do anything then, and now… I seem to have ended up under an entirely different 'Duke'.
"I wasn't always part of Pure… I mean…I still am not sure if I technically am one, but it's true that I have been helping them for a while now."
While Nathan was speaking, Quinn made sure to listen to his heart to see if there were any changes. Honestly, he had no clue what reaction a heart would make when one was lying, or whether one's heart would start beating differently just due to the situation. All of those words had been a bluff, but his instincts were telling him the other wasn't lying.
"Are you willingly helping them, or not?" Quinn asked for clarification. Maybe he wasn't part of Pure before but what about now? When did it all start? There were times when his people, the Cursed faction, had greatly relied on Nathan.
"In a way, but not outright." Nathan replied, the look on his face being one of pure guilt. "Quinn, all I can say is that you will understand once you see him. Pure… they have been involved in everything from the start without any of us even suspecting anything.
"I don't know what their end goal is, all I know is that they wanted me to take you to them. I honestly don't know if this is a trap… no, I guess it's pretty obvious it can't be anything else. What I mean is, I have no clue what they have in store for you."
This was the end, Nathan had failed his task, and he thought there was no way that Quinn would follow him now. Knowing it was a trap, and because of his actions today, there was a good chance that a big war would soon start.
"Who's 'they'?" Quinn asked.
"The person who organised this whole event." Nathan replied. "Zero."
Nathan didn't know why he was telling Quinn everything, but it just felt like that he should know everything now, even though he was sure that it was all over.
"Take me to him, and pretend that this conversation never happened." Quinn requested with a smile. "Once all of this is over, you'll have a lot of explaining to do."
Hearing this, Nathan didn't know how to feel, but there was a growing pain in his chest that couldn't bear the situation that he had been put in. He continued to walk and as Quinn said, he resumed walking behind him. However, the distance between the two of them had grown.
'Huh… well, I guess that's only to be expected.' Nathan thought, clenching his fists.
The actual reason why Quinn had distanced himself, though, wasn't because of Nathan. It was due to him getting in contact with a certain group that had been left behind. Quinn had been given an update on what Sam and the others had learned and asked what he wanted them to do next.
They had a ship prepared and were ready to leave at any moment. Just in case, Quinn asked for them to be prepared to come at a moment's notice. If they could perhaps start to move a bit now, yet they would have to make sure they would remain unseen.
'Zero… so I'll finally get to meet you. Were you the one that was using Qi drain on all of those people? Are you responsible for the Qi command? Because if you are… I don't think we'll be able to reach any common ground.'
————
On the human side, the hooded man had entered his VR game. He was one of the many Unranked that had arrived. In all honesty, a lot of the Unranked were less impressive than others had imagined.
They had been told stories of their strength, being compared to that of the Big Four, but it seemed to not be true at all. Perhaps these were rumours spread by their rich employers, hoping to scare off any attackers.
They were strong, but not at the level of someone like Sil or Owen who they had seen fight so far. Which was why, no one had expected anything from this figure. That included those from the vampire leaders.
"Will he be okay?" Sunny asked.
"He has our King's body. Although he may not have his ability or Blood control, you've also trained alongside him. He was more impressive than any of us." Jim replied.
The stage started to materialise once again, yet this time there didn't seem to be anything noteworthy about the arena. The ground was hard and dry, giving off an orange or brown look. There were no trees or water, just an empty surrounding.
It meant, unlike the last fights, that these two wouldn't be able to use the area to their advantage. In other words, they would have to resort to their skills, and everyone was looking forward to a good display.
Finally, the Unranked appeared, and so did Vincent.
"It should be a walk in the park for Quinn, right?" Hermes asked.
"Perhaps, but we don't know how much of his powers had been transferred in the game. On top of that, he might not use his full powers. If I was him, I wouldn't reveal my full strength here, instead I'd rather use this as a training opportunity by limiting myself. Of course, that depends on whether that Unranked guy can keep up."
Laughter came from one of the Unranked, and it was the young man with a bow on his back named Albad.
"You guys really don't know any of us Unranked, do you?" Albad asked. "Look, I saw the video you all of you guys did, but trust me when I say this, that man is different from the rest of us. No matter what happens or who he has fought, he always comes out surviving no matter what."
The others thought that maybe he was just bragging due to them being friends, but if that was the case they would find out soon anyway, so what was the need to brag. Perhaps his friend really was that strong.
Hearing this as well, Sil assumed that the strong power that he had been given, the large amount of MC cells, had to have come from him.
Back on the field, the two stood opposite each other and the match had started, but neither one had made their move.
"You!" The Unranked man shouted. "What's your name? I always like to greet those I face in battle."
Vincent found this request strange… why would the Unranked be unaware of Quinn's name? At this point the whole world practically knew it, had he been living under a rock. Either way, Vincent replied.
"Quinn Talen, and yours?!" Vincent replied out of respect.
It was then that the man pulled down his hood, revealing his face…
"My name is Sera…"
Albad stood up in the glass container room to get a closer look at the match.
"There's another name that we have for him between us, Unranked… usually we just call him the 'God of War.' "
*******
My Werewolf System has finally arrived on Webnovel!
If you want to support me, you can do so on my P.A.T.R.E.O.N: jksmanga
You will get access to the MVS + MWS webtoon for only $3 dollar a month.
For MVS artwork and updates follow me on Instagram and Facebook: jksmanga