New Game+

"Danny!" Meryl chastised.

"What? If his fake name is Small Willy, it must mean something, right?"

"It's a strategy. Make the other person think something else, only to be something else entirely. It's the opposite of what you are doing. Overcompensating is the term, I think. This is usually the tactic of the weak." Lanterk gave a cruel smile. His innocent facade vanished as the desire to prove himself to Meryl surfaced.

Danny laughed and smiled at Lanterk. His laughter wasn't sarcastic or contained any form of hatred at all. Danny truly laughed.

The battle against Lynd in the water made him and Dara face such terrors. Both of them fought and acted, assuming that each other would die. They had seen Lynd's power and resolve, and the way they were able to take the step to challenge him was a life-changing experience.

When the two woke up, they were actually surprised to be alive and were informed of what happened.

Lynd later appeared to them and apologized. Lynd even cried as he could sense the great hatred that the pair had on him. But in that sincere moment, the two found it easy to forgive Lynd. The Covenant grew stronger that day. Titan, John, Dara, and Danny trained all the harder and were excited about the next mission.

Seeker and Cliff soon praised the group. This was because, of the many Unlocked, they were the few people who forced Lynd to take action and became necessary elements for the mission to complete. That battle was the key that allowed them to finally have the will to reach the higher stages of the Unlocking. Danny and Dara were the first in the Covenant apart from Arthur and Kristine to have reached the Surmounting Unbecoming stage. 

And so, Danny was beginning to shift his mindset from common humanly thinking to that of Inhumans. 

And right now, this strange Aragarian was calling Danny weak. Danny was so unbothered that he found it cute.

"Oh? Interesting. How about we compare it! You show yours, and I show you mine!" Danny dared.

Lanterk was stunned.

"Wha-what?!"

"What?" Even Meryl was caught off guard. The truth was, she never got the opportunity to communicate in length with Danny due to their distance. Aside from the expensive cost of energy to create a link, it was dangerous as it was possible that they would get noticed by the Aragarians. The few means that they had were reserved for Overcomers. 

And so, Meryl had no idea how much Danny had changed. To Danny, as they were intentionally trying to make Lanterk jealous, he decided to go all out. It was also one of the few moments that Danny had in which he could reason with Arthur why he did it.

"How do you want it to go? Should we just show it? Or do you want to compare both through touching?" Danny sneered.

An ugly look surfaced on Lanterk. 

This challenge was reaching the limits of his tolerance.

Even Meryl was frightened at Danny's challenge.

"Well?" Danny asked as he approached.

"Da-Danny!" Meryl was stunned at Danny's sudden approach.

"Do you want to go first?" Danny grinned as he stood only inches away from Lanterk's face.

"I will... KILL YOU!" Lanterk said with his teeth gnashing.

"Oh? Isn't that your friend?" An old, serene voice asked.

Zeraphine was horrified at the scene. They had just turned the corner, and she could see the devastating power rising. This was the same Universe Energy that surfaced during the battle was being condensed. 

Danny also felt it as a strange Realm appeared nearby. But instead of looking at Lanterk, he was looking elsewhere and frowned.

"Isn't that the Old man that was with the Realm a week ago?" Danny wondered. After the battle with Lynd, the Realm King took and trained the Covenant along with Git Godlike. But this man was also present. Their final training was to try and stay conscious against the old man in a two-minute battle. 

The experience once more an eye-opener as the group faced the horrors unimaginable. The Overcomer Seeker had to use two souls to withstand his force, and Danny and the team weren't even Inhumans.

The voice triggered the horror, but at the same time, this eccentric old man was extremely likable.

"Master-" 

"Don't call my name so casually, Danny. We are among... uncertain people." Nogard smiled.

When Lanterk turned to the side, he stumbled down.

The horrifying sight of the man was clearly seen. It was a Dragon. A large and magnificent dragon of shining gold skin. It looked down on him, and the four pillars stood by Lanterk to create the form of the Goat.

And there, in his shock, Lanterk unconsciously uttered a word...

"Principal..." Lanterk's voice was so soft that normal people wouldn't hear it.

Even the inattentive Danny didn't hear it.

But somewhere in the underwater seas, Seeker stood up in shock.

Lynd, who was on his way to Seeker, was also startled.

Those words were the best possible result that they could hope for.

When Seeker decided to make Nogard meet with Zeraphine, it was to intimidate her and understand more of the mystery regarding Zeraphine. But the meeting was so great that Seeker urged them to head towards Lanterk's location.

The short meeting Nogard had evidently shocked Zeraphine. The expressions that Lara had on her face proved that there were things that she could not fathom about Nogard Meng. And with this success, Seeker hoped to add more arsenal in successfully proving to Lanterk that the Progenitor was not something he could casually mess with.

As of this moment, they were assuming that Lanterk was stronger than Zeraphine. But the startle and sudden slip that Lanterk made was an important revelation for the group.

If they could fake the power of a Presider, they could delay the coming battles and scare the Presiders to stop interfering!

"Are you alright... Kid?" There was something strange in the old man's answer.

But Lanterk knew what this old man was saying.

Lanterk abruptly stood up.

"Ye-yes. Greetings, Emperors." Lanterk gave a respectful bow. He pretended that it was that sight of several Emperors that shocked him.

"That is Alexander Small Willy. He is a family that is associated with the Diamons. At your father's orders, we were to put a hold... in investigating him." One of the Emperors reported.

"Small Willy? Four small horns...? Interesting." Nogard wondered.

Lanter's stomach turned. How was it that this figure took one look at him and immediately realized who he was? He looked at Zeraphine, who was now giving him a meaningful look.

"What are you up to, Danny?" Nogard asked as he turned to Danny and ignored Lanterk as if seeing and discerning such things were useless. 

"You know this man, Progenitor?" The Emperors asked.

"Danny Haze is one of the minor experiments of my father. Of course, I know him. Be thankful that I am sharing this information with you." Nogard answered without any qualms.

"Progenitor." Danny bowed after seeing how Nogard behaved.

"Don't kill yourself with these reckless actions, Danny. You better move along. I expect to see the Covenant soon. Let's us move, Emperors. How goes the status of my relative?"

"Seeker Carlean is stable. He managed to summon three different elements after worship. The third was a strange acid-like element that had the potential to melt."

"Oh... That's new. At least he hasn't aged from using it. Otherwise, he won't be able to fulfill his role to Miss Diamon over here." Nogard chuckled. 

Nogard and the Emperors moved along. Charm and Lara's eyes lingered on Danny and Lanterk.

Meryl had haughty and arrogant eyes as she sneered at Lara.

This made Lara frown and turned a cold look towards Meryl.

The group moved on.

"Danny. I have to check up on Seeker. Stop fooling around! And it looks like you have a new session with that old man. Who is he?"

"He's a... descendant of the Progenitor." Danny heard Nogrd Meng's conversation and knew that this was directed for him.

"That's all we know. He has this tremendous power that we don't understand."

"Phallium Body. What envy. If we get that..." Meryl's voice trailed off.

"Then... I won't have to suffer those immense pain every night."

"You heard him. He ages every time he uses it. I heard he's not more than forty years old! Yet look at him..." Danny sighed. With such apparent giveaways from Nogard, Danny knew what the intentions were.

"Let's go, Danny. We have several more things to do. Let's finish our mission." Meryl smiled at Lanterk and pulled Danny away.

Despite the shock of Lanterk, Meryl's smile drew him out. Lanterk turned and gazed at the beautiful smile of Meryl and couldn't help but smile back.

"See you around, Small Willy!" Danny laughed as he left.

"Sorry about that! He's just very overly protective of me!" Meryl chuckled as she waved, and the two left.

As the pair disappeared, Lanterk remained with a strange expression returning.

"A Principal? How has a Principal traveled here?" Lanterk cursed. But then he realized that things weren't as impossible as it seems. Unlike Presiders who do not have the means and resources for Interstellar traveling, Principals could easily do this.

"Suit Devourer? If the Lost Primordial was here... And someone managed to use the Suit Devourer on it... Then it's possible. Regardless... They have to go here. The Four Pillars must be one again!" Lanterk decided.

In another room...

Seeker and Lynd had met together and were discussing the possibilities.

"Lanterk voiced that word out. So he has mistaken Nogard as something that has Principal power. This means Principals are naturally soul cultivators..." Lynd immediately spoke the crux of the matter.

"Yes. And because Lanterk said that and identified Nogard as such..."

"It means that Lanterk is a Principal. This makes sense. Even Lara or Zeraphine didn't cause any reactions from Malang. Yet his strange image..."

"Yes. Malang couldn't use his Path for two months! Luckily, Charles is here and should heal him right in time to travel to the Underwater City, Day06. I've already commanded the Emperors to flood this entire area with their Origin power. If Lanterk can sense it, he would be more cautious of trying to communicate outside."

"But Zeek... This changes things. If we are to make it look like the Progenitor is a Principal, then we'd have to-"

"Make the Lost Primordial that is challenging the Progenitor appear to be a Principal as well. I know. We have to inform Arthur! They should have reached the lands of Egypt right now, but hopefully, they haven't attempted to move inside yet. Their entry must be shocking that the Presider in Egypt would think it's a Principal level!"

"How will they enter Xenophobic Egypt with tricks that will make the Presider assume a Principal is after him?"

"It's quite tough. On one level, we can't let the Presider inside Egypt be wary. When Lennox attacked Egypt and defeated the Presider living there, it came with such great cost. That Presider has an army. Although Lennox succeeded, we found out that Arthur's sister has been killed long ago. The Presider somehow valued Arthur's sister so much that he couldn't afford to give it to others. So their entry can't use heavy military forces. And they have to assume that everyone in Egypt is an Aragarian."

"They have Lowengren, Vender, and Gardo. We can only imagine what crazy means they will use to enter it. With lies, trust, and vexation, they could easily waltz in as if they owned the place. It doesn't matter if they are Aragarians. They'd just get bamboozled or annoyed to death. But that's the problem! It's not enough to be Principal level!"

"Yes. We have to contact them now!" 

Cliff suddenly entered the room.

"You guys were talking about Arthur?" He asked.

"Yes."

"They're on the news." Cliff took out a comm device and displayed a news article that was posted just a few minutes ago.

"We're too late!" Lynd cursed.

"We can only hope they did something crazy. Something crazy enough to make it look like a Principal is behind the attack!" Seeker hoped before checking the comm device of Cliff.

"An audio interview is said to go live shortly. Charles said that we should wait for him before listening to it as he's still heating the popcorn." Cliff said.

Seeker and Lynd read the news article.

"Four robots from the future escort time-traveling Egyptian Pharaoh and attacked Egypt's Borders."

Lynd and Seeker looked at each other with strange expressions.

"I guess... that'll work." Seeker mumbled.