The Byoshur City, Island of Demons, Neo.

The Demon soldiers were restless in search of him. Neo had seen several of them intimidating anyone suspicious on the street. His plan was half successful though.

After the blue portal dropped him near the last remaining few trees other side of the island, Neo had travelled quite a lot. Seen how the island of Demons, called Malveria, functioned. Changed quite a few faces and learned their ways.

Finally, he had met up with the followers of Chaos, and they helped with the ship arrangements and other minor issues.

Today was the day.

Neo and the group of demons had boarded one of the ships going out for a regular dungeon run. Halfway through, they overpowered the few first-rankers and took control of the ship. All unnecessary demons were killed and thrown into the sea.

This was the only way, he reminded himself as the ship moved towards their destination.

He had no illusions of loyalty from the god of chaos that had randomly chosen Neo to be his spokesperson in this world. But it was that thing that had helped him unlock this unique esper job of his. Neo was powerful, not monstrously powerful like transcendents of the mainland yet, but as a peak-level second-ranker, he held promise.

A potential of becoming a transcendent himself. If he became one, the god of chaos had promised him a piece of his divinity. Even without that, Neo knew he would be a fearsome individual. Finally, they could come out of the shadows.

The dark god had his own schemes that Neo had unknowingly taken part in, but the deity wished for the same thing as Neo did. Of that he was sure.

A place for their people.

Neo could not fight against other kingdoms of the mainland with his organization, even with the resources they had managed to gather and the large numbers of beastmen and humans that had joined them over the years. Not without outside help.

'Hm.. What a mixture of a country we would be.. Beastmen, demons, humans.. All the misfits of this world.'

He had done unspeakable things for this goal of his. He may not live to see the fruits of his labour, but he could give the beastmen something that future generations will remember all their lives.

A hope of tomorrow.

Neo looked at the distant blue horizon standing at the edge of the ship. His eyes captured the view, but his mind was wandering off somewhere else. What he was going to do might unleash something unbelievably disastrous for the whole world, but only in this chaos was there a chance to ascend for his people.

'Sometimes a warrior stands at the edge of the village, protecting it from dangers no one in the village will ever know about, doing his duty in silence. But sometimes, a warrior has to roar to wake the village, to make them take up their weapons and fight.'

Kazak and his damned lessons. It haunted both his sleeping and waking hours.

'You were the last Beast Guardian. It was supposed to be you, Damn you. You were supposed to lead us!'

Neo knew he was anything but a leader. He was too unstable to lead, to give hope. But opportunity had landed in his lap, and he would be dead and buried ten times over before letting this one chance of returning greatness to beastmen tribes.

It wasn't just their bodies that were chained. The history has carved a too bloody a wound to the beastmen's pride. Nothing could heal it. While their physical chains were broken, their minds remained bound.

Only after showing them.. all of them, what a true beastmen could do will his people learn to believe in themselves again.

'I may not win this battle, but I can show them we can still fight!'

It took half a month's journey filled with bloody battles and terrifying storms, but they had made it. The place that the demons called a sacred temple for their organization. It looked like any other rock island they had passed by, only this one had one clean cut on one side as if a massive sword had cut out a piece of it.

Something was wrong, Neo could sense in the foreign language exchange of his demon companions.

The demons that had come with him were freaking out, confused, angry, and too shocked and tired to function rationally. They were shouting, arguing, and pointing towards the rock island in between.

"What is it?" Neo asked the group of black robed demons.

"The divine cave, herald! Someone has destroyed it!"

'What the fuck is this now?'

Neo heard the god of chaos curse in his mind like a common sailor. Looks like their plan had just received a major setback.

———

The Streets of Sanctum City, Damian.

He walked at a leisurely pace through a less crowded Sanctuary street. Torwin, some of his House of Lords friends, Lucian's father, and other Dawnstar nobles made up the group.

They were observing the city's structure and cleanliness. Damian had plans for doing better city planning and creating an improved wastewater and sewage system. His presence was not necessary, but he wanted to stretch his legs after spending all night in his office. The warm morning light was inviting.

He also needed to survey the land and buildings himself to have a better understanding of the city. The plans would remain just plans otherwise, and he would never get to it. People froze and gave way when the group passed by, even though sanctum guards were walking ahead, announcing that people should not crowd the street and to keep doing their jobs without stopping.

Members of the House of Lords visited various locations, reminding residents to keep the streets clean. They explained the benefits of doing so and referenced relevant laws when necessary. Damian and Torwin observed the structure and stuff while making small talk and returning smiles as they passed by shops and houses.

"They feel guilty because they can't do anything to help. At least that's what I see, I'm familiar with the feeling." Torwin said.

Damian glanced at the old man and exhaled. It wasn't the warmly smiling man's first time sharing his wisdom with the other sanctum heads. Damian had noticed before how easily the man could talk to anyone. For the High Table of Sanctum, he often used this skill of his to bring everyone closer.

Resolving small and big internal issues while smiling, so they do not grow into anything ugly. One of the very few people Damian didn't need to pick careful words to have a chat with.

"I am afraid they lack invaluable lessons that only time could teach. We become too powerful, too fast. They have never lost in life. Never seen or lived through a great mistake originating from their choices.

Paradox of life. Hard life creates good characters, but it cannot be passed on to the next generation, and they are fated to repeat history."

"You are scared of making a wrong choice.." Torwin said in his usual calm voice.

"It's like sacrificing your goats to please a lord in hopes of some reward. While there is always a choice of doing the work, taking care of goats, so you can reward yourself without owing anyone any favor." Damian replied as they continued walking.

He could see people were finding it novel to see him in a casual white shirt and breeches with a gold and black cloak on his back. In official settings, he never wore anything other than black.

And then there were people here and there with thin mana threads attached to their heads. It was mostly red and gold, but there were occasional blue and sometimes black as well.

'Looks like the Chaos Bastard finally got the news of the battle.'

Damian did not miss the fact that most of these people with black mana threads were beastmen. There were some humans as well, but the beastmen made up the majority.

He could not have them openly followed or take any actions against them. He did take a note of their mana signatures though, and he will know where they were at all times. There is no way Chaos God gives away his blessings to random people without any reason.

These people had to be related to a shadow organization or at least part of the beastmen communities that were back in old Ashenvale land, in control of Eldoris now. But.. some of these people were children and non-warrior women. Some of them, Damian knew, were here way before even he arrived in the city.

The hold of the Chaos God on beastmen communities was not small at all. All the things that the shadow organization still does on the mainland and had done in the past, some of those things had to be part of Chaos God's schemes.

Why was that bastard playing with these people?

Damian remained smiling for the people, but the rage against the gods in his heart burned even brighter now.

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