Michael simply stared at the System windows in front of him, dumbfounded.

Majesty?

His first reaction was to deny the notion. He was no king. He was simply a young man who had been thrown into a fucked up situation and had been forced to struggle against it with all his might. As he read the ability's description, however, understanding dawned upon him.

…Defiance.

The Majesty seemed to be aware of even his innermost feelings. He'd asked himself countless times, 'why me?' and 'why do I have to fight?' but had come to the conclusion that there was no other way. Even now, he agreed with that notion, but that didn't mean he was satisfied with it. In response, the System had granted him an ability that seemed to represent his rage.

…I think something related to protection would have made more sense.

Still, he wasn't going to question the System's insight. Not yet, when he was still so weak and small compared to it. He couldn't even begin to comprehend its workings in his current state. Michael shook his head and straightened his body, casting Heal to mend the damage from Veilthar's punch. No other attack came. He looked at the Umbra. Veilthar was staring intently at him with a shaking gaze, his enormous hands clenched into fists and trembling in a surprisingly human fashion.

"A Majesty," Veilthar suddenly said, his voice filled with wonder and elation. It was the first time Michael had heard so much emotion in the entity's voice, making him blink. "I can tell. So you can truly be our savior."

Michael furrowed his brow, carefully choosing his words in his mind.

"What is a Majesty?" he replied. "And what does it mean, exactly? Why do you think I can be your savior?"

Veilthar waved his hand, beckoning Michael over, and sat down in mid-air like before. This time, he was smiling. His teeth shone in the same white color as the light coursing through him, making the smile almost dazzling. Michael grinned to himself and approached the Umbra.

"Majesties are one of the two systems of power unique to the Dragons, the other being Heritage," Veilthar started once Michael got closer. "The whole purpose of this was to find out whether you were capable of awakening it."

Michael tilted his head, still catching his breath and healing his wounds.

"I assume not every descendant can do it?"

Veilthar nodded, still smiling.

"The odds are extremely low. It's less about natural talent and more about what the descendant goes through, as well as how they react to those events. That was why I decided to push you to your limits for this long."

Michael narrowed his eyes.

"And if I hadn't been able to do it?"

Veilthar only looked into his eyes with calmness.

"You would have died here. Forgotten by all, in a land removed from everything you know."

A chill went down Michael's spine as he stared at Veilthar.

"…Do you want me to tell you what my Majesty is?"

Veilthar shook his head.

"There's no need. It would be pointless."

Michael nodded slowly, understanding why. Was Veilthar planning to give him the Rune, after all? Then, he belatedly caught on to the latter part of one of Veilthar's previous sentences.

"Wait, what do you mean 'this long?' How long have we been fighting for?"

Veilthar kept his stare.

"First, explain your time measurement system."

Michael blinked before starting his explanation about humans on Earth and time. Once he was done, the Umbra nodded.

"I see. In your terms, we've been fighting for over a year. If we take the rest periods into account, it was two years."

Michael jumped in place, his expression twisting into one of pure shock.

"What the fuck!?"

A million thoughts ran through his mind, each speeding past in the shape of a question with no answer. Wasn't the Tutorial over? What had happened to his mother and friends? What about Tairy? How were things now that the Tutorial had ended? What had changed?

The questions were endless.

This is impossible.

Michael's first instinct was to deny it. There was no way he had been fighting for more than one year straight. Lightspeed's burden and his mana reserves should have long crippled his ability to keep fighting. And with the rest periods, it was two years? He gritted his teeth.

I don't fucking know.

Because of the relentless, life-threatening pressure, he had barely thought at all while trying to survive Veilthar's onslaught. No matter how much better he became at using his Skills and how much his battle experience grew, the fight had never gotten any easier. Every single moment, he had been a hair away from death. The time he had spent while uninjured likely added up to only a few minutes. How was he supposed to have room to think about anything else? And now, he paid the price. He had no idea what had happened to the people he cared about.

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Lost in his thoughts, Michael barely even noticed Veilthar raise his giant hand.

"But in this place, time flows differently," the Umbra said. Michael suddenly snapped to attention like he had been slapped. "Which is why I asked. Outside, there is one day left to the Tutorial."

Michael let out his life's biggest sigh of relief, feeling his body almost relax in place. A moment later, he let himself collapse and lay his back on the dark 'ground,' smiling. No sentences formed in his mind; he was only glad to have been disappointed.

For an unknown amount of time, Michael merely reveled in the sensation and in his sense of relief. Eventually, he raised his body to look at Veilthar.

"What now?" he asked.

The Umbra, who had been watching him with a grin, smiled.

"Now, before I give you what I promised, we should have one last talk."

Michael nodded and stood up. As he thought, Veilthar would soon erase his own existence to help him.

"First, I would like to tell you more about the nature of Majesties and what they mean," Veilthar continued. "Regardless of what yours is capable of."

"Is it related to why you needed me to awaken to one?" Michael asked in reply.

Veilthar nodded and raised his index finger, drawing a circle of white light in the air.

"There is a reason why the Dragons, great as they were, only had two unique systems of power," the Umbra started his explanation. "And that is because of the power of each of them, as well as their synergistic nature."

Michael tilted his head, but let Veilthar continue. The giant pointed at the circle of white light.

"The gods have access to Divinity, which grants them a variety of abilities. Still, they need to operate within certain 'rules.' The gods are not omnipotent. However," Veilthar moved his finger outside of the circle and drew another one, this time made of darkness and smaller than the light one. "Majesties and Heritage, when combined, allowed the Dragons to work outside those rules. In that sense, they were similar to the Transcendent."

Michael blinked as he tried to understand the full ramifications of what he had just been told.

So that's why he's called the Transcendent. It isn't a matter of just being super strong.

"Are Majesties unique? Like the Dragons," Michael asked.

Veilthar nodded.

"They are, but they can also change and evolve over time, especially when taking into account Heritage. Each Dragon had only a single Majesty, and it represented what they truly were. Only the Dragon King had more than one Majesty."

Michael blinked, then widened his eyes.

"…Dragon King."

For some reason, the possibility that the Dragons had a leader had never crossed his mind. Did that really make sense?

"It was the term that the strongest Dragon, Bahamut, was called. In truth, he was no king or ruler. He was simply the most powerful. Until the Transcendent appeared."

Oh, I see.

Michael nodded.

"So I can train my Majesty?"

"In a way, though it's not simple at all, from what I know. What I know is that it can evolve, and that is, unfortunately, the extent of my knowledge. To begin with, my race was blessed by the Light Dragon, but that doesn't mean we knew much about the Dragons' unique systems of power. I'm sorry, Michael Gray."

Michael smiled at the Umbra.

"You've been very helpful already. Thank you for training me."

Veilthar smiled back.

"It was only my duty. I do not deserve your gratitude. I would have killed you if you hadn't met my expectations."

Michael felt a chill go down his spine as he looked at the giant's kind smile.

"…I know that all too well. But there's something I wanted to ask you," Michael started, tilting his head. "You told me one of your racial traits was being exploited to create the Curse of Darkness. If you're here because you fought back against the Gods of War, then what are the Forgotten, and why do they exist?"

Veilthar shook his head.

"Each kind of Mythical Beast has a unique system of power. As I've already told you, once the opportunity presented itself, the Gods of War sought to enslave all of us and exploit our abilities. In the case of us Umbras, we were chained down, and our darkness was forcefully drawn out for a variety of purposes. The Curse of Darkness is only one of the results."

Michael furrowed his brow.

"…How did they even manage to do that? Did Erasil help them?"

Veilthar nodded.

"In a way. They learned about the possibility by watching him. His abilities allowed some of the greatest geniuses among the gods to create ways to try and mimic them. As for the Forgotten, they're merely warriors who came too close to dying within the Curse's range and were consumed by it, as our darkness always does. Once everything they were was devoured by the darkness, as well as everything they could have ever been, they were forgotten by all. They became the Forgotten."

Michael rubbed his chin as he nodded slowly. The truth was pretty close to what he'd already guessed back when he first entered the Consumed Territory.

"How long have you been here?"

"In your system, many millions of years," Veilthar replied with a deadpan expression.

Michael blinked with a gaping mouth. Then, he recollected himself.

Of course. They're all god-like entities. I'm surprised it hasn't been billions of years or something crazy.

He sighed deeply, scratching his head. After a few seconds, he looked back at Veilthar.

"Do you know anything about the Dragons and Mythical Beasts that you haven't told me? Or about the gods?"

Veilthar slowly shook his head.

"Nothing. I've told you all I know. As long as you remember what you're fighting for and who your enemies are, it will be enough."

Silence. Michael furrowed his brow as he realized what the discussion being over truly meant.

"…I guess this is goodbye, then."

Veilthar nodded with a smile.

"Yes. Now I will give you what I promised. What you deserve. I will give you a way to hide yourself from the gazes of the Gods of War."

Michael stood up and looked at Veilthar with a conflicted expression.

"Thank you, Veilthar."

The Umbra had been explicit about what this choice would entail. Even for such an entity, it was likely that true death was still a scary concept. Yet, Veilthar had chosen to do this, even though it would mean his complete destruction.

In response, the giant only extended his legs and threw another smile at Michael.

"It was good to meet you, Michael Gray. You have proven yourself as a worthy one. You are our last hope, but above all, I hope you can keep those you care about safe."

Michael gave the entity a bittersweet smile.

"…Yeah. It was nice meeting you too. Thank you for your belief in me."

The two of them didn't exchange any more words, as they were unnecessary. Veilthar extended his arms, spreading them wide, as if he were trying to hug a giant even larger than himself. The darkness around them roiled, starting to spin around them like they were the eye of a hurricane. Michael only stared at the Umbra.

In the end, I didn't even manage to get him to use his Blessing's abilities.

The gap between them had simply been too large, but he was determined not to let this situation repeat itself. From now on, he didn't want to be so outclassed again.

After some time, Veilthar's dark skin started to merge into the darkness itself, as if he were turning into a mirage. The lines of white light glowed brighter, but his outline continued to get blurrier, like paint flowing upon a canvas or a reflection in rippling water. Michael could feel utterly titanic amounts of mana moving around them, to the point where he couldn't even comprehend them, alongside mysterious types of energy that reminded him of Veilthar's darkness and Clyranth's light. Simultaneously, it made him aware of how truly large the gap between himself and the Umbra was. Michael clenched his fists and waited.

The darkness roiled and shifted. At one point, a chill went down his spine. Michael looked at Veilthar's hazy outline.

Goodbye.

In the next moment, the darkness rushed at him from all sides, swallowing him up in an unavoidable attack. However, not a single part of him was damaged. After some time, Michael was left only with a cold feeling on his chest, right over his heart. He looked around. He was at the bottom of a ravine, but there was no darkness to be seen. For all intents and purposes, it seemed to be an ordinary chasm, though one that was very, very deep. Two System notifications appeared in front of him.

[You have received the Rune of Shadows.]

[The shadows have covered you completely.]

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