GUARDIAN OF THE END

"Yeah, we know that. Tell us something that we don't know." Risa muttered, surprising both Zilan and Kerwin.

Neither of them had been expecting such a response from Risa.

"What do you mean by that?" Zilan questioned, his eyes flickering from Risa to Kerwin and back.

But before he could reply, a new voice interrupted them.

"You should definitely enchant this room with stronger runes or formations. The defenses are so weak." Issac's voice entered the room as the door opened up moments later.

Karna and Issac then walked inside the room with curious expressions as Issac's gaze fell on Kerwin.

"How are you doing, little puppy?" He asked with a grin while approaching Kerwin. "How does it feel to be put on a leash?"

"You…" Kerwin was at a loss of words as he didn't know how to counter Issac. The demi-human prince could only grit his teeth and listen to the insults casually tossed his way.

Issac grinned at this as he had been wanting to say the same things to Kerwin back when he had appeared at their home in Duphia.

"Issac, you can do this later on. For now, we have to question Kerwin." Risa reminded as she knew that her husband would spend too much time insulting Kerwin.

Issac sighed once after hearing her words, his eyes turning serious as he stared at Kerwin. The latter felt slightly intimidated by Issac, something Issac could easily do if he was serious.

"We heard your entire conversation with Nero and Kerwin. Kerwin is standing right here and as for Nero, I am sure that you shipped him off, didn't you?" Issac raised an eyebrow while looking at Zilan/

"I…" Zilan brainstormed the best thing to say. He could say that Issac was bluffing, something he was well known for, but the old man looked too serious.

Zilan also knew that the runes embedded around the room weren't at a level which would prevent someone at Issac's level from hearing things.

Furthermore, Issac had Karna traveling alongside him and the latter could easily mask their presence. Both of them could've easily heard the entire conversation and left silently without Zilan sensing their presence.

"Yeah I had that conversation," he sighed. "Though I never planned to let them do anything."

"Thought so." Issac and Risa said simultaneously as Jason decided to take a seat and watch everything progress.

His theory was turning out to be true but there was a twist he hadn't expected.

"You do know that what you are trying to do is bound to fail? The demon king this time is too smart." Issac gave Zilan a sidelong glance as the prime minister sighed.

"Sit down first." He suggested before taking seat himself.

The room had a huge amount of shuffling as almost everyone sat down, except for Amber and Ariana.

"We will be taking our leave now." Ariana announced and before anyone could say anything, she vanished alongside Amber.

"I guess we can start now." Risa sighed as Zilan stared at Kerwin.

"I didn't actually want to do this but it was brother who requested me to do this. You three must be knowing how persuasive he can be."

Issac, Risa and Karna nodded in agreement, each of them having met the current king of the kingdom and having talked to him.

'This is turning out to be quite interesting.' Jason silently thought. 'There are so many plots going on around the kingdom and the general public isn't aware about that.'

Jason then remembered that he was still ten years old, something that the system reminded him frequently.

"He asked me to invite both Kerwin and someone from the demon kingdom here while telling them that I could help them kidnap both of your grandchildren.

At first I was reluctant but once he managed to convince me, things became difficult. I sent the letter to both of them and after the response, Nero showed up yesterday while Kerwin only appeared today."

Zilan then went ahead to explain the details of their meeting to them. There meetings had been short yet involved a whole lot of things.

Jason had already zoned out from the conversation, having heard everything of importance to him.

He was now looking at his skills and recounting the fights he had today. It was the first time he had fought against other kids his age.

The only challenging fights had been those against the twins, especially the one with Amber. Jason had managed to test his skills to a great degree while fighting Amber and had also managed to get a guardian.

The fight with Nora would've been more interesting as well if they had more space and Noah knew how to fight cunningly.

'From what I know, a guardian is someone who protects something or someone. Does that mean that Feta is my protector?' He questioned himself as there was no one he could talk to.

'Or maybe it doesn't literally mean a protector. Maybe it means something like a power sharer. Ugh, I need to know more about this.'

After going around in circles, Jason decided to sigh and listen to the conversation again.

"I can't do anything about it," Zilan admitted in a slightly frustrated tone. "I know that this won't end the way brother is expecting but I am helpless."

"Then don't follow his orders." Issac declared firmly. "You've already sent Nero to his palace but don't do the same with Kerwin. Say that the Syrward family took him with them."

"I…" Zilan's voice trailed off as he tried thinking about his options.

Jason on the other hand wondered what kind of person the king was to have such kind of influence on Zilan's actions.

The prime minister looked like someone who didn't like to follow orders and do what looked the best to him.

The king must be someone with either a threatening personality or a person who could convince you to march to your suicide.

"I will see what I can do." Zilan sighed in the end as Issac and Risa nodded.

The two of them then stood up, Risa approaching Jason while Issac went beside Kerwin. Karna too stood up and created a magic circle below them in less than a minute.

The group took one last glance at Zilan before the magic circle activated and they vanished alongside the demi-human prince.

'I wonder what brother will say about this…' Zilan wondered silently as he too left the room with a grim expression on his face.

Zilan knew that after the ceremony was done, he would have a hard time explaining things to his brother.

But as long as he didn't reveal the truth about where Kerwin was, he would be fine.

The Syrward family on the other hand appeared back at the Bloodthorn family mansion, specifically inside Issac's room.

Issac tossed Kerwin down on the floor before discussing things with Risa.

"We should leave him here for the time being and ask Alfred to take care of him." Risa suggested as the two men nodded in agreement.

Alfred somehow appeared inside the room in the next second and bowed to both of them.

"How can I be of help?" The butler inquired as Issac pointed at Kerwin who still had all of his limbs paralyzed by Risa.

"Make sure he doesn't leave this room or tries to contact anyone. His limbs are paralyzed and he can't use his mana." Issac gave a quick run down of the situation as Alfred nodded.

"Leave that on me then." The butler replied confidently as Risa, Issac, Jason and Karna teleported again.

All of them appeared inside the glass box this time, getting many surprised gazes from those around them.

Though the surprise quickly passed away as the people in the box were used to sudden appearances.

He sudden flurry of events had also left Jason a bit tired, making him wonder whether teleportation caused mental as well as physical strain on one's body.

'Ugh, why doesn't time pass quickly?' Jason groaned internally as he waited for the system to be back again.

Not having the constant voice of the system inside his head was leading to him feeling a bit lonely.

'If this was a system novel, I can imagine the amount of people spamming 'weakling' in the comments.' Jason mused as he suddenly saw Zilan appearing in the arena, making him wonder whether the break was already over.

It didn't feel as though that much time had passed.

"The prize distribution ceremony will now begin after which we will start with the fifteen years old age group." Zilan announced in a loud and clear voice as Jason, Amber and Zeke appeared down at the arena floor.

While wondering about what he would receive, Jason curiously stared at the time remaining until the upgradation of his system.

'Fifteen minutes remain.' He sighed mentally.

Jason then looked at Zilan again who was now standing on the arena floor.

"The award for the winner is…"