As he slid down Carus's arm, he finally landed in front of the white beam of light that was shot down from the sky. He smiled, putting his hands in his pocket, as the tower of white light finally vanished, leaving behind ten humanoid figures. They all had different heights, body shapes, and even different statures, but they were all humans nonetheless. It wouldn't be an overstatement to say Jack had honestly forgotten what staying with humans was like before the test match. But now he felt more confident than ever, looking at his new work force and arriving with a smile on his face and hands in his pocket.

The person who caught his eye first was none other than the one he almost killed during the games. It was the duke; honestly, he was interested in the trait the guy had and just how much potential it held. Duke was a wild card in this game, and if Jack used him properly, he might as well be able to turn his position from 5 to 1. Not that he needed that much power, but someone else being ranked higher than him was rather concerning; he was both selfish and greedy when it came to that.

The next person to catch his eye was the woman wearing blue-tinted glasses and long white hair walking behind him. He didn't notice before, but she was damn tall, and her face was no joke either. To put it simply, he doubted she would have any problem debuting as a model if she already wasn't. But the way she carried herself, she had pride. Not that he hated it, but he would rather not have that in people working under him. Her name was Ikami.

Next was, oh her... His gaze shifted down to a little girl hiding behind Ikami's legs. The tall woman seemed annoyed for a second by this, but just sighed as he noticed the girl. She was the one who caused him so much trouble out of nowhere. He didn't know whether it was really Dustin or not making the request to take care of his sister, but it didn't matter. She was indeed his sister, and it was not a bad deal since she had some abilities he found useful.

Right behind Izen was a man in a lab coat. It was a long coat going to his feet, well buttoned down at that. At first glance, anyone would consider this man a distinguished scientist, but Jack knew better. As soon as you looked at the face of the man, you realized. The dark circles covering his eyes only made the non-expressive look on his face look more psychotic, like that of a mad scientist who had gone crazy over his research in the past few days. His name was Pyotr.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The next person who walked out was rather young compared to the rest. A young boy in his early twenties, he was rather tall for his age, honestly, and he seemed to carry a sword on his back and two on his belt. He was a swordsman through and through, and honestly, Jack could respect that. He was someone who was passionate about something, even in the apocalypse. It was refreshing. Anyhow, what made him stand out more was the fact that while everyone else just walked past the scared Izen, he stopped and kneeled next to her. He talked to her, and he made sure she wasn't scared or crying. He was compassionate, a quality Jack severely lacked, according to others at least, as Jack thought that the image of Hana did appear in his mind, which was weird. Regardless, he could use at least one person who was compassionate; having just emotionless monsters might make things go south. He needed someone who's sympathetic to the public image, you know. His name was Tumo.

There were the remaining people in the group as well, but the important ones were these. These were the people Jack was going to use in order to make sure his kingdom flourished, and he would make sure to stand at the top in the end.

As they all stopped in front of him, Jack simply sighed and looked at Izen, who was hiding behind Tumo. He walked towards her as Tumo moved his hand over to the hilt of his sword. Jack was honestly surprised, not sure if by the heroism or the stupidity. 'You're in my kingdom, dude. If I say kill yourself, you will have to do that. No choice. What are you trying to prove here?' Jack thought, but decided it was better to ignore him for now. As he stood next to Tumo, he squatted down on his knees and looked at Izen, who was still hiding behind Tumo. He sighed as his hand slowly moved over to the top of her head as he caressed her hair and spoke.

"Your brother wasn't a liar. He tried his best to come back; he didn't abandon you. He was a very great brother."

The look in her eyes changed just within a second as soon as her brother was mentioned. All the emotions the little kid was holding in came flooding out as she looked up at him with teary eyes as she asked.

"You knew my brother?"

He smiled and spoke, "Yeah, he was... a huge pain in the ass."