[AN: Lilith 'Lily' Loki

Lilith (from Hebrew) means female night demon. Words of power: "Night" "Demon". Lily came from the demon race who in Flow are known to be powerful beings. One of demonic characteristics is their weakness to Contracts, if demon agrees to a Contract he has to follow it's every single word without fail. Lily's special 'blessing' is 'Omen of Deceit'. Though it takes many forms like making her illusions undetectable, or reinforcing her mind attacks, the most important is the ability to break any Contract she forms without suffering any  penalty.

Announcement: I just started my 2nd part time job, that plus college and I'm quite sure I won't be able to keep up a pace of one ch per day as I thought.

But today I'll try to get a second one later as an apology for missing one yesterday xD

I think this will be my standard format:

Legend:

[???: dialogue]

[???: "thoughts"]

[???: *sounds/effects*]

[--???--: talk in consciousness/telepathy]

[: any sort of communication method]

***

Just as Vorst opened his eyes, the figure of Marc disappeared from the throne room. Lily immediately opened her eyes and turned her head to the side. A black figure was leaning on one of the huge pillars. Her eyes were closed, but Lily knew that she was totally awake.

[--Lily--: Hello there Ragna-nee.]

The left obsidian eye opened for a swift moment then closed.

[--Lily--: Ah, are you jealous maybe? Hehe.]

Seeing a strange atmosphere she joked. Yes, Calla was quite taciturn but it wasn't this bad, something must have happened.

[--Calla--: A Hero huh?]

A bomb was suddenly dropped.

[--Lily--: W-wha! You were listening?]

[--Calla--: A Hero might not be a bad choice.]

[--Lily--: So... will you support me?]

[--Calla--: Hmm.. Very well...]

[--Lily--: Hm. Thank you Ragna-nee.]

[--Calla--: *nod* But... 'she' won't accept that.]

A fearless smile appeared on the face of ex-Lord of Betrayal.

[--Lily--: The war has just started, I'll just have to win.]

***

Meanwhile Marc was seriously depressed...

Who would have thought...

Over 40 thousands years...

Yes.

During those nights...

Right...

From a certain day he NEVER spent a single one alone...

To think that it would develop into something like this...

***

CRASH.

A big body was sent flying.

A boy leisurely walked as he approached the beast. The monster was terrified. What the hell was happening?

Black wolves were quite intelligent and attacked in groups, and this one was a King type, the strongest of them all. Though an average level of their power was only 2-3 LST in the cave there were hundreds of them.

But this boy...

Vorst was in no hurry. After all... This one was the ONLY one left standing...

To understand what's going on we need to go back several days in time.

***

[--Lily--: These terminals are very handy.]

[--Marc--: Indeed.]

Right now Vorst was sitting peacefully inside the Heran's Library...

This morning he was informed that in few days he will be transferred to Athena's Institute. That's right, they informed him, they didn't ask. Though Principal did sit down with him and carefully explained the whole intent behind all of this and about the threat that Mersa was in. There was no reason to refuse so he easily agreed, but... At the end of the meeting, just as Vorst was about to close the door behind him, he heard Principal mumble those words: "Thank heavens, it seems like he doesn't remember..."

[--Marc--: ...]

Inside and outside the alliance everyone knew the name of the most prestigious cadet academy of Kollos Alliance. It is even said that Athena's Institute and her sister(brother?) school, Mars' Cadet Academy, are foundations of the Alliance. In fact it boasted enormous influence inside the nation. Furthermore most of the Rankers of Alliance graduated from those two schools...

The fact that Athena was  an all girls school was a common knowledge. So much that even in the official introduction site of the academy it was omitted. Not seeing anything suspicious Marc browsed further looking through a lot of stuff.

For the first time he stumbled on the subject of Crystals...

In this world Crystals are one of the most important resources. There are two methods of acquiring the Crystals. First and most common was the Crystal Mine, those appear in the planets with Solid Crystal Core. From those the Color Crystals are mined, which are powering most of the universe. Color Crystals are unique material that is commonly used in the Alchemy and Engineering to make modern weapons, armors and other common equipment.

The second method is the Crystal Cave, and those appear on planets with Liquid Crystal Core. Vorst and Mersa were on one of those planets right now. One of the main reasons was that Crystal Cave generate monsters. The black scorpion is the prime example. As mentioned before normal attacks are completely useless against beings with Photon Core, but there is no perfect defense - attacks charged with nano-photons are capable of penetrating Photon Defense. Fight fire with fire! Monsters possess the Photon Core and are capable of such moves. The main difference between them and humans is that their crystal core starts as liquid, and after death it solidifies!

Furthermore killing a monster will not only allow you to harvest the valuable Color Crystal, or even find a rare Energy Crystal and provide valuable alchemy materials, but it also speeds up the Power gain! Every being that possess the Photon Core release an high density wave of natural nano-photons at the moment of their death, and that can be easily absorbed by the killer. On the other hand artificial nano-photons are totally useless in that aspect, the high density of those even slow down the Power gain!

So far all of the attempts of humanity effort to artificially create natural nano-photons have failed...

[--Marc--: Pfff. Of course it's useless, this is a rule of the universe - no matter how much efforts you will spend, what can't be achieved, simply can't be achieved.]

Marc's Insights on the rules of the universes surpassed all of the current living beings in this New World. He could even fully utilize the Runic Magic which was powered by the understanding and knowledge of magic equations.

That's all dandy, but what really caught Marc's attention was one article of the Engineering Section...

[--Marc--: We need Crystals. Loads of them. Lily, make preparations.]

This sight was really common. Marc never did any serious planning, he was simply too lazy, in fact he already formed the 'ultimate, perfect, infallible' plan. Usual. Raid. Just raid everyone around until you get enough. Simple. But in the past such acts of barbarianism was poorly received among his girls so from that moment he let them do the planning. There was no need to hurry, he had all the time in the world.

[--Lily--: As you wish Lord Marcdrak.]

Demoness glanced at the black haired girl that was sitting across the room. Their made an eye contact, they both understood his intention...

***

[Time: After several hours of browsing through Athena's site.]

[--Marc--: No idea, nothing suspicious here.]

[--Lily--: Yes, I couldn't find anything either.]

In the end they came back to the original purpose.

[--Calla--: ... There are no boys in any photos.]

[--Lily & Marc--: ...]

[--Calla--: But please don't misunderstand m'lord! I have no interest in any other males! I just wanted to see if there will be any insignificant ant that would try to lay their hands on miss Mersa.]

Vorst quickly typed a new inquiry. When they knew what they were looking for results came instantly... All girls school...

Looooooong silence.

[--Marc--: ...... apparently... I have a sudden urge to kill... something.]

Such words escaped the mouths of young innocent looking 11 years old boy.

[--Lily--: ... There are Cave Crystals near the academy, not far from here, do you want to try?]

[--Marc--: That might not be so bad... Lets go then.]

Vorst stood up and moved in the direction of his lodgings. For others to suit up they would need to enter garrisons, but as he shared the VIP treatment with Mersa his room was located in a special building where everything was right under the hand...

***

[Time: Around 1h later]

Right now wore the protective Armor that he was provided and exited through the main gate. No one was allowed to leave the school grounds without it. Guards just briefly glanced at him and let him pass. Inside Armor no one could recognize him as the 'powerless' one without an [Inspection] and Guards didn't have to check students.

You left school grounds. Armor offline. Activating Armor.

Normally students would activate right after equipping it, but Marc forgot...

Welcome Vorst. Measurement of your core indicate 2nd LST. Change in rank noted. Congratulations!

It dropped though...

Map updated. Please register party members. When finished please issue command End.

[Vorst: End.]

Your party has one party member: Vorst. Enjoy the Hunt.

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Though it was the first time he used it, Marc already memorized whole textbook about Armors, so there were no problems. He quickly found a suitable Cave. It was a 3rd LST sized Cave and there was no other Parties nearby. He promised to stay low key after all.

***

A dense killing intent poured out of a small body of a boy.

Several black wolves hesitated... Right now they were surrounding their 'prey', but somehow that small thing had that terrifying feeling about it. Beasts shook off the unease, they could easily identify the power level of the opponent through smell, and the one before them was weak.

HOWL!

One of the wolves released an loud voice to encourage it's comrades, several of them lunged together towards the child.

Alert! Black Wolf 3rd LST - retreat recommended.

Alert! Enemy numbers: 12.

Alert! Danger crossed acceptable numbers. Activating ENDANGERED signal.

Alert! ENDANGERED signal failure. Hardware malfunction.

Right now inside the Helmet of Vorst tens of red warnings popped up. Normal person would be scared out of their mind seeing those signals, but for Marc just let out a sigh.

[Vorst: Those things, so annoying...]

Of course, he sabotaged his ENDANGERED signal himself.

A mocking smile appeared inside the helmet. His killing intent was so thick that it even created an illusion of being solid. If he retained his previous power, just his aura alone would be capable of finishing off those small fries. But right now they dared to attack him!

Just as his head was about to be crushed by big jaws, he instantly dodged by throwing his body to the ground. Left hand hit the ground, and as he shifted his center of gravity, his body turned and his right leg using the centrifugal force crashed into another wolf's head.

Instantly recovering the balance he swung his fist at another...

***

[Vorst: Hmpf. Ha. Ha. Small fries. Ha.]

12 bodies lay still before him. Little boy's breath was quick, irregular, but on his armor there was nearly no mark of damage. He took another deep breath.

[Vorst: This body is too weak.]

The system finally became silent. The 2nd LST beating dozen of 3rd LST monsters is a miracle in itself but Marc complained. Though he lost his powerful body, one thing he didn't lose was his experience. During the last battle he his mind was serene, with decisive movements, immediate response and impeccable timing he easily defeated wolves.

[Vorst: Not only that... my reaction was way too low... This body is not used to fighting... That kid, what he was doing all the time? Was he really training?]

Marc found out that the body lacked the battle experience... There is a thing called 'procedural memory'. Thanks to it body 'remembers' actions. Reflexes are trained, there is no other way. No matter how much one 'visualize' things, body has to 'experience' them to learn. Automatic, trained movements in the battle are essential!

The body reaction has to be immediate, any tenth of a second wasted could mean a difference between death and life, between victory and defeat!

[Vorst: From tomorrow... It's time to start special training...]

Marc then suddenly remembered the old days. Long, long, long time ago he trained as hard as hell. Various god's apostles were looking for him, dragonlings were chasing him and demons popped once in a while too. Not to mention the regular beings of the same plane also wanted his head. Death could come any second. Nostalgia washed over him!

Inside his soul Lily was nodding extremely exited. Weak body of Marc, though quite cute, couldn't get her going, though she was attracted to his soul radiance, his body was such a turn off. If she wanted a cute soft thing to hug she had thousands of plushies in her room but there was no Marc!

That night he was aching all over since he pushed his body past it's limits.

***

It was a day before the transfer to the Athena's Institute. A special Battleship is scheduled to pick them up next morning, there will be several Destroyers that will escorting it too. Also there are rumors that even three Rankers will show up to ensure their safety! Just that shows how much they valued the White Wolf Princess.

To be accepted into the Athena's was a dream for every single cadet girl! Just imagine how shocked they were as they found out about Vorst's transfer, not only a 'male' but also the 'powerless'. From that day number of 'death glares' Marc received was increasing every day.

[Mersa: Aaan~. Vor-chan, where are you disappearing after lunch these days?]

[Vorst: Aa.. *Nom Nom* Special training.]

Wolf girl wasn't totally surprised. She treated this as one of the Vorst's usual outburst of hype that he had in the past that passed as quickly as they appeared. Though now he had those alluring green eyes that emitted his rock solid determination.

[Mersa: I see.. Aaan~ Well it's fine to be motivated, but don't overwork yourself though.]

[Vorst: Aa.. *Nom Nom* Got it.]

If glares could kill, Marc would be turned to dust by now.. Several hundred times over.

***

[Vorst: Last day huh.]

Right now Marc was on his 'routine' solo special training that included black wolves as sparing partners. Those sparing partners died in the process too. Right now his level increased to 4th LST which was an incredible pace. Just to compare, to get from 1st LST to 4th LST original Vorst spent 5 months, Marc achieved that result in less than a week!

Right now beating dozen of wolves didn't even make him sweat. The main improvement was caused by the new technique he invented. He found out that he could redirect the 'impure' nano-photons directly into his muscles to reinvigorate them, it made his stamina recovery at least double. His overall body strength improved too, and his honed his reflexes were incomparable to those 'dull, forced' reactions from several days ago.

[Vorst: *Bow* Thank you for your time. Now, next... Since it's the last day lets just go all out and enter the cave!]

Three collection bots were moving around busily dismantling the bodies of dead monsters. To enter the cave, one would need a 10 man team with soldiers at 2 ranks higher than that cave's rank. If anyone heard that a single 4th LST entered the 3rd Low Step Tier Crystal Cave alone they would definitely treat that case as a suicide. That's what the 'powerless' did.

***

Vorst stared down at the lying Wolf King. The annoying red message were still popping.

[Alert! Black Wolf King 6th LST - Retreat recommended.]

Alert! Danger crossed acceptable numbers. Activating ENDANGERED signal.

Alert! ENDANGERED signal failure. Hardware malfunction.

Blood tickled down the wolf's head as it entered it's eye, but that one didn't dare to blink as it's world was colored in red. The enemy before him was 'weak' but he was incredibly strong. The smell sense was telling wolf that the small boy before him wasn't a threat, but the pressure that the 'weakling' emitted wasn't a joke, what's more the wolf king himself just got totally trashed several seconds ago...

Totally confused it couldn't comprehend what was happening. as the boy entered the main room of the cave over three dozen of Black Wolves immediately jumped at him... And they all perished...

Boy moved...

The Wolf King found himself flying again.

He squealed pitifully as he crashed into the wall again.

[Vorst: Heh.]

Yup, Marc was playing around. Before entering the cave he released all of the runic formations that were inside his Photon Core allowing him to utilize 100% of his Power. Right now he was enhancing his speed to the utmost levels, while only casting a bit of defensive powers on his fists and feet.

The Wolf King jumped to the side only to find itself crashing into the wall again.

The most effective method against huge numbers of enemies was speed. As long as you are fast enough you can avoid being surrounded fighting only against two or three enemies at most. What's more speed was closely related to strength. The faster something moved the higher damage it will inflict, but it works in both ways, that's why Marc had to use protection on his hands and feet.

Another crack appeared on the wall as Marc performed a kick.

[--Calla--: A Hero huh...]

[--Lily--: ... I-I'll make him! ... I'll definitely make him a hero! ...]

[--Calla--: I see...]

With another punch Wolf King again crashed into the wall. This time it remained motionless.

[Vorst: It was a good stress reliever, but I guess funtime is over huh?]

Marc waited for a while then he brought out his sword to dig out the crystal. In fact he used the sword to kill most of the things in the cave, he only sheathed it to play with the big wolfie.

[Vorst: Hand over crystals. Sell the rest.]

Boy gave commands to bots.

The fangs, teeth and leather were good materials for alchemy while the meat could be consumed. After collecting the Crystals he was on his way back to his dormitory. Tomorrow they will move to Athena's Insitute...

[AN: Sorry for mistakes in advance xD

P.S. If you have any good syntax method for boxes (for alerts) please share it with me!]