Rauros was catching up on the anomaly’s progress. With the mess the demonic invasion scenario was causing, Rauros had forgotten that he had asked Charles to keep track of Marcus Blank.

As he read through Marcus’ progress, Rauros smiled. Marcus was doing well as an adventurer. After the fight with Mára, Marcus had formed a team with the water nymph, Kyrie Shiningstar. Rauros remembered her. She was a special case too. Two special cases together. How charming.

After forming a team, they had stopped the demon invasion in Sosquatch forest. Rauros was impressed with what the two adventurers had achieved. Even with the help of non-adventurers, the nymphs, it should have been near impossible to kill Cthulhim. Yet Marcus and Kyrie had managed to do so.

Then Marcus had gone to Opulential with his teammate, joined the Librarian faction, investigated the demons and had played an instrumental role in stopping Cthulhu.

“Well, well, well”, muttered Rauros, “The fucking anomaly is actually doing good. Who would have thought. Yes, that’s right. Me.”

Rauros continued to read the file and his expression soured. The last part was added by Leyda. Leyda discovered that the demon Marbas was planning to give out information to Marcus which would be outside the realm of their deal with the demons. Leyda had tried to put a stop to it but she had been unsuccessful. According to Leyda, Marbas had still told Marcus a part of the truth. That had sent Marcus into an unconscious state.

Rauros read what Leyda had written; what Marbas had said. He frowned. He was sure Marcus was not a Game Destroyer. An anomaly on his planet, yes, but not a Game Destroyer. Rauros suspected what Marcus was, but it seemed that Marbas knew definitely what Marcus was. Did Leyda know too?

No. Leyda did not know. Rauros remembered the discussion with his wife. Before Rauros had read Marcus’ file, Leyda had had a short discussion with Rauros about Marcus. She shared her suspicion of what Marcus could be and it lined with what Rauros suspected.

That made Marbas’ statement to Marcus all the more interesting. You are what they call a Game Destroyer. Who was this ‘they’ that Marbas spoke of? Was he in contact with someone outside of Una. Rauros needed to investigate this. He would take help from Leyda. They would together break Marbas and find out what he knows.

Rauros continued to read. Marcus had been unconscious for three days and then he had woken up. Then his teammate and he had joined the champions of Una on an expedition the champions were going. Rauros smiled. It seemed that their champions had started to use their brains after all.

Rauros had looked at the team that Tamara and Tanniv had formed. It was formed of hard hitters. There were no thinkers or strategists in their team. And Marcus had proved his investigative powers. He had shown quick thinking ability and according to the report Rauros was reading, Marcus spent a lot of time in libraries.

Rauros laughed at that behavior. He knew where the base instinct came from. Research till you have no weakness to incorporate. A perfect game. That is what you strive for. That was the training that Rauros himself had undergone and Marcus was showing all the traits that he had undergone a similar training. Rauros could have easily mistaken Marcus for a Game Master except that Marcus did not have the mana reserves a Game Master had.

Rauros finished reading the file. The last update about Marcus was that he was in Filinile as of the day before yesterday. The next update would come in a week. If what Rauros had read about Marcus was correct, then the next update would show that Marcus had spent the week in the library.

Only time will tell how the situation with Marcus would pan out. For now, Rauros got up. He went in search of Leyda. They had a demon lord to torture.

***

Leyda hovered among the clouds and looked down. Melancholia looked so tiny from this height. She smiled. A beautiful sight lay in front of her, a sight she had helped create over the years. And now, her planet was in danger because of the stupidity of her husband.

No, thought Leyda, I promised not to think about this. Not tonight. Tonight, I enjoy. Tonight, I relax. Tonight, I meet my ace.

It was a decision Leyda had taken. It was time to meet her ace and guide them. She knew Rauros may not be happy, but Leyda was doing this when Rauros was busy with something else. Moreover, Leyda wanted her ace to be alone when she visited them. She did not want anyone else to be a part of the discussion.

Leyda sighed and teleported. Her ace was not in Melancholia. Her ace was on Filinile. Leyda was now floating above the landmass of Filinile, about some kilometers away from the capital city of Florianne. From the clouds she could see a small stream running through the forest which was in and around Florianne.

Florianne was after all a city inside a forest. The forest then extended for quite some distance from all the sides of the city. There was a river flowing through the city and that river branched into many streams.

Leyda knew that her ace was at the stream which was the farthest from the city. Leyda looked at the time. It was almost one o’clock. It seemed that her ace had woken up at zero hour to get to the stream. Her ace had not gone with anyone. Leyda smiled at the thought that her ace was confident in their abilities to defend themselves.

Leyda dropped down. She could have teleported, but she wanted to experience the sharp winds blowing around her as she fell freely towards the ground. Before hitting the trees Leyda stopped suddenly with a jerk and remained hovering. Then she gently hovered down to the ground.

Leyda walked the remaining distance to the stream. She walked without making a noise. She had also masked her presence. She would reveal herself at the right time.

As Leyda watched her ace come out of the stream, their bath finished, Leyda thought of something. Leyda cast a spell and mist rose all around her and her ace. Her ace looked confused, Leyda could see that.

Leyda stepped through the mists and greeted her ace.

“Hello Kyrie Shiningstar”, said Leyda, “We have much to talk about.”