"I can't accept this!" a tall woman dressed in the robes of the Chruch of the Primals, screamed as she slammed her dainty fist down onto the round table she and three others were seated at.

One of the other three people - a man in a silky vestment lined with silver and gold - frowned. "Liza, I know how you feel. Trust me, I truly do. But what would you have yourself and your fellow Seekers do? Seek revenge?"

Liza arched her eyebrows up defiantly. "Exactly! What else does a dog who not only stood against an innocent woman, but also murdered Cross in cold blood, deserve?!"

One of the other two men who had been silent thus far sighed grandly. His wavy blonde hair fluttered in sync with his breath. He raised his heavily armoured hand and wore a sympathetic expression on his gorgeous face. "Liza, please, calm yourself. Listen to Archbishop Samson for once, yes? He speaks sense while you only speak of certain death."

The man with hair as black as sin nodded. His white gambeson shuffled slightly as he got up and walked towards Liza. He put a firm hand on her shoulder and squeezed it hard. "You will do as ordered, Liza. Cross was the second strongest of us, only faltering behind Johnathon. Do you really think it would be wise to go against the demi that somehow managed to fell him in a single blow?"

Liza winced in pain. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes. "I know that, Micah! Of course I know... It's just... I can't accept it... This whole situation is fucked beyond measure."

The archbishop wore a complicated expression. "How about we propose a compromise?"

"A compromise?" Liza was interested, but her anger was still being fiercely displayed on her face.

Archbishop Samson smiled faintly. "I heard he has possession of Cross' body. He is also on his way to perform two local S-ranked quests for The Adventurer's Guild. I propose that you intercept him on his way back from completing those quests and then ask for Seeker Cross' body to be returned to the Church."

Liza's eyes flashed dangerously. "And if he refuses to cooperate?"

"Then request a fair duel where whatever skill or technique he used to end Cross' life is forbidden. From his interaction with Richard Lithmon, I've concluded that this 'Lone' character is arrogant, overbearing, but still, mildly reasonable and fair." The archbishop stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"Okay. I can agree to that much... I wish I could tear his spine out and make him eat it, though," Liza complained as she shook off Micah's hand.

Johnathon stood up. "I shall accompany you to ensure that you do not needlessly escalate things. Should worse come to worst, I shall have your back."

"Very well," Archbishop Samson said. "You may both leave now. Remember to be careful above all else. Micah, stay with me. I have news from the holy land."

"Of course, Archbishop Samson," the three Seekers said in unison.

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"So we have to wipe out a group of bandits that somehow have three S-rankers amongst them, and after that, we've to clear out a Mishkohn nest that's suspected to have an Elder Mishkohn in it," Lone said as he headed for Mystopolis' southern gate with his and Hazel's groups in tow.

"Bandits?!" Alisa was worried. She wasn't sure if she could kill another person.

Lone shrugged. "The request is to wipe them out, not capture them. Don't worry about it. I'll have you guys fight 'em, but I won't make you kill people if you don't want to."

Alisa breathed out a sigh of relief. "I'm not looking forward to fighting, but, um, so long as I don't have to kill, then, em, I'm happy."

Scott smiled as he looked at his girlfriend. "You're such a wimp, Alisia. But that's what I like about you. It's cute."

"My name's Alisa, you idiot..." The small girl punched her boyfriend's ribs a few times for good measure as her face was flushed with a shade of scarlet.

Emma tapped her chin thoughtfully. "By the way, What's a Mishkohn?"

"Swind, explain, please. You know more about monsters than I do anyway," Lone requested.

"Of course, Mr Immortus," Swind replied. He turned his head to face the teens and started his explanation. "A Mishkohn is a powerful type of shamanistic eekthorian. An eekthorian - if you're curious - is a type of demon that primarily sustains itself with the blood of others. They're wild and rabid creatures with almost no intelligence."

"'Almost no'?" Hazel asked. Instantly, she had her answer via the Lemurian's thoughts, but he still chose to answer for the sake of the other teens as well as for Breena who was no doubt listening from within the shadows. She never did like studying, but since this was important information for the coming quest, Swind knew she'd be all ears right now.

"If an Elder is born or if one of the regular Mishkohns evolves into an Elder, while still incapable of compassion or basic speech, it will gain the ability to order the other Mishkohns. A very dangerous phenomenon," Swind claimed.

George stroked the hilt of one of his many daggers as he questioned, "How strong is an average Mishkohn?"

Swind tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm... Roughly as strong as a B-ranked monster. An Elder is equal to two A-rankers."

Alisa's eyes widened. "How many of them are there for this to be an S-ranked quest?"

Lone was the only one who knew that, so he chimed in by saying, "The quest said roughly thirty have been seen. That's a high-A-rank quest without an Elder. Probably a low or mid-S-rank one if there is an Elder. It should be a good exercise for you kids to learn how to fight against crazed monsters. Although, they'll be slightly less crazed and a lot more precise if there's an Elder. Either way, it'll work wonders for you lot."

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The teens were certainly far less excited about the whole thing than Lone was. Only Hazel was somewhat accepting of the situation. She had seen the hell that was training under Sophie via Eolande and Breena's thoughts, so she was content with Lone's extreme methods instead of the ones of his lover's split personality.

Soph tugged on Lone's sleeve. "Lone..."

"Yeah. I know," he replied.

Eolande cocked her head to one side in confusion. "Know what?"

"There are some 'friends' waiting for us outside of the city gate," Lone answered.

George was immediately worried. "I have a feeling that by 'friends', you don't mean the 'haha' or 'let's have some fun' types of friends, do you?"

Lone grinned. "No. More like the 'please be assholes so I can eat your lovely stats' type of friends."

The young ex-noble sighed heavily. "Perfect."

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Lone was waving happily towards the small robed girl and the man next to her who looked like a doppelganger of Cross except for the fact that his hair was blonde, not white. He had the sword and armour and everything. Lone had to wonder if they were mass produced. But in that case, why would XXX-rankers use them if they were standard-issue?

"Yo! You two were waitin' for us?" he asked as he came within ten-feet of the two Seekers.

"As expected of a soul oracle who has been recognised by Master Millisa. To think you'd detect us so soon. We had initially planned to follow you and watch how you handled your quests before we revealed ourselves," Johnathon said with a big smile on his handsome face.

'Hmm... This guy is giving off a completely different feeling than Cross was. This woman though... Is she Liza? The Seeker that the merchant's mentioned? Boy does she look pissed. I can feel her thirst for blood from here. I'm getting goosebumps,' Lone thought as he laughed a little bit internally.

"Is she Liza?" he asked.

Johnathon nodded. "Indeed. And I am Johnathon. Johnathon Bright. We, as Seekers of the Chruch of the Primals, greet you, Nine-tailed Golden Foxkin Lone Immortus, the future disciple of Headmaster Erion, gold-silver-plate adventurer, Master-rank soul oracle, Saint-ranked healer, and a participant in the slaying of the Ancient Darkness Dragon, Ythmagobla."

Lone whistled in admiration. "Wow. Someone's done their homework. If you guys knew all of that, then why was Cross being such a cocky asshole? I didn't want to kill him you know, in case you're here for revenge."

Johnathan shook his head regretfully. "Many of these achievements of yours are mere rumours, or at least, were mere rumours. With my twin's personality, It did not surprise me to hear that he eagerly attempted to kill you and your friends to pay back his debt to Richard Lithmon."

'His twin? That explains the uncanny resemblance. He's awfully unphased by his brother being murdered though. Also... the chairman's first name is Richard? Well, fitting, I suppose. he was a right dick, after all,' Lone joked to himself. "Well, whaddya you two want to say? Are you going to apologise, or what? I'm happy if we just go our separate ways and we forget about that god-complex idiot. It was his fault, after all. I did warn him."

Liza bit her lower lip hard enough to calm her rage. "His body."

"Pardon?" Lone gave her a friendly glance.

"Cross' body. Return it," she demanded.

Lone frowned a little. He wasn't fond of orders, but he saw no reason to hold onto the man's corpse. "Sure." He waved his hand and the armoured man appeared, blood still flowing from his facial orifices. 'Well... This is a bit gruesome. It's a shame I can't toggle the time-stopping effects of my Dimensional Storage.'

Liza's expression distorted the moment she saw Cross' face. With force, she ripped off one of her gloves and threw it at Lone's feet. "I demand a duel! I can't let you go unpunished after all! Not after seeing his body like that!"

Lone scratched his head. "Do any of you mind?" he asked as he looked at his and Hazel's groups.

"I think you really shouldn't..." George was the only one to offer any opposition. Everyone else was either indifferent or curious to witness Lone in action.

"Well, then, sure. I accept," Lone said with a shrug.

Johnathon looked very disappointed in Liza, but at the same time, he was relieved that Lone hadn't taken any offence. "Would you mind if I acted as the judge for your duel?"

"I don't care. It'll be over in a few seconds anyway," Lone replied.

Liza wanted to retort, but a glare from Johnathon shut her up pretty quickly. "Thank you, Nine-tails. The rules are simple. If you could, please do not use whatever you used on Cross. Also, this is not a fight to the death. Remember that, Liza."

"You know I can't fully control my magic," the sole female Seeker claimed with a devilish grin on her lips.

Johnathon wanted to say something in response to that, but Lone didn't seem to care in the slightest, so he moved on. The sooner this was over, the better. "The winner shall be whoever incapacitates or forces their opponent to surrender first."

Seeing both Lone and Liza nod in agreeance, Johnathon continued. "On one, you may start. Three. Two. One. Fight!"

"Ascending Aura."  Lone focused the entirety of the skill on Liza. He did not hide any of it. He forced his soul to reinforce the skill to boot. This was a sloppy method to strengthen his aura since it wasn't an official skill, but it still worked, so it was good enough in his books.

Instantly, Liza fell to one knee and began sweating profusely.

"Surrender," Lone ordered.

"H... How... This... This is-"

"Surrender, or I will forcefully knock you out. The choice is yours," Lone stated.

"N-N-Never!" She was shivering like a leaf and couldn't move even an inch, but Lone had to admire her tenacity.

He walked over to her and whacked her on the back of her head, rendering her unconscious. Lone looked at Johnathon coldly. "If she approaches me again with the same level of bloodlust, well, let's just say that I wouldn't mind a few free level ups."

"Thank you for showing mercy, Nine-tails." Johnathon himself was covered in perspiration. Never in his long life of over six-centuries had he ever seen nor heard of an SS-ranker being able to subdue an XXX-ranker with but a gaze and a single word.

Of course, since Lone was concentrating the entirely of his Ascending Aura on Liza, no one else had been able to feel it except for Swind. he was an Ascending himself, so he could naturally sense the waves of Ascending power rippling around Liza until she was knocked out by Lone.

Shrugging, Lone said, "I'm all about second chances. By the way, Cross' soul is mine. You can have his body, but I need his soul, so I can't return that. Not unless the Chruch of The Primals can offer me something of equal value to a triple-X-ranker's soul."

Johnathon wore a shocked expression. "I... I shall look into that for you, Nine-tails."

Lone smiled. He reached into his Dimensional Storage and pulled out Cross' sword. "Here. You never asked for it, but I have no use for it since it's made of dyed-alterion, so take it back as well."

"Thank you, Nine-tails." Johnathon picked up the sword and Cross' body with one hand while he carried Liza with the other. He made his way back into the city with heavy steps.

George, Hazel and Alisa were short of breath after watching something so insane. Scott and Emma, however, were filled with admiration.

Lone laughed. "Well, with that distraction out of the way, how's about we go thwart some bandits and kill us some monsters, huh?"

Soph ran up to him and threw her arms around his waist. "You were so cool! Sophie thinks so too!"

Lone grinned and picked her up by her shoulders before he kissed her softly. "You bet I was. No one will ever walk all over us again, no matter what. You can count on it."