GUARDIAN OF THE END

In a place situated behind the thrones…

"So, have you located that family?" A demi-human with tomato red hair questioned Zilan.

Both of them were sitting opposite of each other while trying to guess the other's motives. Though both parties had shared their opinions, they were not ready to trust the other fully.

"Don't worry, Kerwin. Nora Syrward is present here though I have no idea how you are going to get him," Zilan replied, indicating that he wanted to know Kerwin's plan. "Issac will rip your arms and feed them to you before letting you even touch that child."

The demi-human prince looked the least bit interested in sharing his plan on capturing his nephew.

"What I need is a distraction. Also, I am not the only one who is here to kidnap a child." Kerwin muttered as both of them turned to look at the third figure in the room.

A familiar demon commander was sitting on a couch in the room. He lifted his head to meet the other two's gaze before smiling.

"I guess I am the only one who can create a distraction big enough for the two of us to take Jason and Nora away." The demon commander replied.

If Jason saw him, he would of course just glance over him as he had never met the demon. Risa on the other hand would be cracking her knuckles.

The demon was none other than Nero. He was the one who had led the investigation ion Duphia years ago and was once again back at the place to kidnap Jason.

He had been ordered to do so by the demon king, using the Crystal ceremony as a distraction. Though considering the amount of security, it was kinda impossible to do that in front of so many eyes

'Who knew that the demon king rummaging inside my head wouldn't count as breaking the oath I swore back then.' Nero mused while remembering the past.

Immediately after returning to the demon continent, his memories had been searched by the demon king. He had seen everything that had happened back at Duphia alongside Nero's other memories.

The demon commander patted himself on the back later on as he thanked himself for not indulging in any activity that the demon king hated.

However, despite seeing his memories, the demon king hadn't made a move until currently.

Nero had no idea what the demon king was thinking but for him, following orders correctly was enough.

After all, he had reached his position by following orders only.

"Then you can start your plan moments after the finals are over," Zilan replied in an emotionless tone. "I believe you should see Jason's progress before that."

Both Nero and Kerwin were suddenly interested in seeing the finals after hearing that the half-demon.

"When you call to give them the awards, we will strike." Nero muttered as Zilan nodded and asked the two of them to go the opposite side of the arena so that they would directly be facing the glass box.

Though it initially sounded stupid, there was another hidden glass box there so that a few people could watch the battles in the arena without any interruptions.

It was usually used by royal family members if they wanted to avoid the public eyes. However, it hadn't been used since a long time and many people had forgotten about its existent.

'Well, getting them to believe that I'm on their side went smoother than expected.' Zilan thought silently knowing well that he had managed to convince Nero and Kerwin that he was on their side.

He still had his guard up as he knew that Nero and Kerwin were no kids. Both of them would expect a betrayal yet not on that Zilan had planned for them.

Unknown to all three of them, two men were lurking right outside the supposedly secret room.

"Oh Zilan, why are you trying so hard to play both the sides…" Issac muttered from right outside the door.

He and Karna had been eavesdropping on the entire conversation from outside.

Issac knew that Zilan secretly planned to get both the prince and Nero captured and ask the kings of their respective kingdoms for some kind of gifts to get the two of them back.

Though the plan sounded nice in theory, Issac knew that it was bound to fail. The current demon king was nothing like his predecessors.

Even if the demi-human king was fooled a bit, the chances of the same thing happening with the demon king were dead zero.

Furthermore, Kerwin was the son of the demi-human ruler so the chances of his father agreeing to something like that were high.

As for Nero… his chances were less than zero, according to Issac that is.

"You think warning him about this would work?" Karna asked curiously as Issac shook his head.

"If I know anything about Zilan is the fact that no matter how hard you try, you can't make him change his decision. Also, he didn't decide to warn us about this thing so there is no point in warning him."

Issac then stood up and stretched his body a bit.

"Let's go back to the box." He declared before grabbing Karna's shoulder and vanishing from their place.

However, he still felt a bit doubtful.

'There is no way that Zilan doesn't know the truth. Could he be doing this due to his brother's request?' he thought silently.

Issac and Karna then appeared right in front of the glass box.

"Issac, what did you tell your family before leaving the glass box?" Karna inquired curiously as Issac paused in his steps.

"I told them that I was going to get Ray…" he muttered while trying to find an excuse.

Issac knew that Ray had gone to the Kamizel forest to do some more research on the phantom of the forest.

Issac decided to just tell his family the truth as he knew that Jason and Risa hadn't believed him in the first place.

What Issac didn't know was that Alex had went alongside Ray as he had wanted to help the family.

Risa had also contacted Ray so Issac's plan had flopped either way.

Issac and Karna then stepped inside the glass box before making their way towards Risa and Jason.

Karna attracted little to no attention as he was back to his old form.

But those who knew him looked at him in surprise as they knew what the old man could do. After staring for a few seconds, they averted their gazes since Karna wasn't there to do anything to them.

Jason and Risa were calmly sitting in their eats and were eating chocolate ice-creams. Though as soon as they felt two familiar auras around them, they turned to look at Issac and Karna sitting right beside them.

"Karna, what are you doing here?" Risa immediately inquired while looking around with narrowed eyes.

She could tell who knew about Karna's real identity and due to his old form, the others didn't recognize him.

Otherwise, it might have led to some awkward situations.

"It doesn't matter why I am here. There is something that all of you should know." Karna replied as Issac summoned Zara and Nora closer to them with a hand gesture.

After all of them gathered around, Karna created an invisible noise proof bubble around them to prevent any information from leaking outside.

Though they got a few weird looks, everyone seemed to decide that they had better things to do than stare at a group of family bringing chaos with them.

Issac then launched into an explanation of the recent events as the expressions of the Syrward family members became grim.

[ You don't need to worry too much about the kidnapping since its guaranteed that you will be safe. ] The system pointed out.

'Yeah but I'm more worried about the future. Grandpa is saying that there might be a war taking place in the future. My progress is way too damn slow to be of any use in a war.' Jason pointed out.

[ Host, you are ten… ] The system sighed. [ Also, that's brings me to your reward. Open your quests section and claim your reward. ]

Jason did as told and collected his reward for the completed quest. He was still curious to see what rewards the question marks were holding.

DING!

< After observing the status of the people of the world as well as the power system, the system will be undergoing a complete rework. >

< Some features available after rework: System shop, simplification of progression. >

< Time required for the rework: 1 hour

Note: You can use all of the system's abilities during the rework. >

< Start rework? >

A barrage of system windows hit Jason in the face. It took him a minute to read all of them but after he was done, he immediately agreed to start the rework.

He cared about his progression a lot but the unlocking of system shop seemed more important to him.

If Jason remembered correctly, system shops were usually the storehouse for some of the most important and powerful items.

He would only need to wait for an hour to confirm whether it was true or not.

[ In the meantime, you have the finals to look forward to. ] The system pointed out as Jason looked out of the glass box.

Zilan was already floating in the air in front of the box. Simultaneously, two golden halos appeared above Jason and Amber's heads.

"Now that the break is over, it is time for the final battle. Please welcome Amber Feuer and Jason Syrward with loud cheers!"