"Man, it's crazy that we ranked up so easily today," Scott said as he flung himself onto one of the many sofas in his and George's diamond suite.

The lanky teen who was stood next to the hovering Saturn nodded his head. "It is... I never thought it would be possible to just have us fight extremely powerful bandits and monsters and have them controlled so that they wouldn't kill us. Lone is so... unpredictable. He was a lot more careful back in Milindo."

Scott raised an eyebrow. "He was?"

"Yeah. I remember when we first met," George said as he found a seat of his own. "Lone thought I was bothered by him because he was a demi, so he apologized to me when I asked what was wrong. He, uh, had this really strange expression on his face? It was like a mix between worry and confusion."

Scott laughed. "That sounds a lot more like Mr McCullen, not Lone Immortus. I was never taught by Mr McCullen, but he was a real pushover apparently."

"He was? Hazel never talks about what Lone was like back on your original world, and you know that Alisa doesn't care enough about stuff like that to talk about it," George said with a very light sigh.

He was incredibly interested in who Lone was as a person both now and before his arrival on Altros. To George, Lone was something of a role model. He deeply envied Lone's seemingly unending confidence and convictions which he was convinced he was lacking in.

"Yeah, Man. He got treated like dirt all the fuckin' time. Teachers would give him their students' tests to grade for them, and a bunch of douches nicked his bike once. Ah, right, apparently some kids would make themselves throw up so they could get sent home, but they'd do it specifically in Mr McCullen's classroom. The janitors hated him since he was always calling them to clean up the vomit." Scott paused for a minute to order the room's spirit to go get some food for them.

"He also had a pretty nasty nickname," Scott claimed. "Since he never had a girlfriend and he accidentally pissed off Mr Black - the English teacher, Mr Black called him Mr McCuck to his face once. Some of the students overheard that and it stuck for ages. All the way up until he disappeared, I'm pretty sure."

George was disgusted initially until that disgust morphed into confusion. "But... why does Lone still have a soft spot for kids if his life was so horrible back on Earth?"

Scott gave the biggest 'I dunno' face imaginable. "I'm not him. Maybe Soph made him like kids again? Maybe he didn't label all children as mean cunts? I don't really know. I also don't really care. He's a cool bastard now. I dunno how he changed so much, but I'd never met him up until last month, so all of that stuff is just stories to me."

"I... I see," George replied as his well-featured face wore a ponderous expression.

A few minutes passed before there was a knocking at the door.

Scott's eyes lit up as he got off of the sofa. "That must be the room service!" He strolled on over to the door and swung it open without a second thought.

Immediately, his arm was grabbed roughly and then twisted behind his back before a knife found itself to be pressed against his throat, resulting in some blood dribbling down onto the carpeted flooring.

His attacker - a figure dressed fulling in a dark navy outfit that covered everything save for their finger-tips and their eyes, stared at George coldly. "Come with me, or your friend dies. I only need one of you, really."

They then glanced at Saturn. "Move an inch, Divine Artefact, and I'll kill them both. I know that your master ordered you to protect them."

Sweat covered George's brow as Saturn spun in place furiously. Sneaking his hand into his rear trouser pocket, he crushed the small orb that was in there before he raised both of his hands slowly. "I'll come. P-Please don't hurt him."

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Lone didn't even bother asking for another key to Scott and George's room once he'd returned to their hotel. Instead, he simply rushed as quickly as he could up the stairs.

The second he reached the diamond level, he stood in front of the teens' room and pulled back his fist. Almost as if on instinct, he shrouded pure and raw lightning magic over his hand as he punched the heavily enchanted door with all of his might.

Congratulations! The host has developed the active lightning magic skill: Crude Lightning Shroud.

Right now, he couldn't give two flying fucks about this new skill. He scanned the room with his eyes as quickly as he could.

Two things of note entered his vision; first, Saturn who was furiously spinning in place in the air a few feet into the room, second, there were a few drops of blood that had barely dried on the ground at the room's entrance.

"Motherfucker... If they're hurt in any way, I swear to fucking God, I'll shatter the soul of whoever did this," Lone growled in fury.

"Saturn." The orb being called stopped moving immediately and gave its full attention to Lone. "You're getting some upgrades to prevent this from ever happened again in the future... Whatever the fuck 'this' is, but for now, can you still feel the soul or souls of the person or people that took George and Scott?"

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While he was furious beyond belief, Lone wasn't an idiot. He'd find out who had forced George to use his communication orb before he jumped to any wild conclusions as to who the culprit might have been. 'It's my fault they've been kidnapped. I guess whoever did this thinks it was dumb of me to keep some weak kids for company, huh? I bet this is all about me. Think you got me by the balls, do you? Trying to get revenge, maybe? Extort me? We'll fucking see who's got who by the fuckin' balls.'

Saturn excited bobbed around Lone's head and hummed.

Lone smirked in response to that. "Perfect. Take me to them. Now."

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"Really, what the hell are they thinking at a time like this?" the masked assailant who had forcefully taken George and Scott with him muttered to himself.

He glanced at the two knocked out teenagers and then sighed. "To be so elaborate when the enemy is just a single lowly being... They must be out of their minds..."

He slowly got up out of his chair and walked through the dimly-lit room towards George and Scott.

"You, the thin one. You're just pretending to be unconscious, aren't you? I didn't expect a D-ranker to have a will that can resist my compulsion magic, at least somewhat," the kidnapper claimed.

George didn't move nor respond, so the man kicked him in the chin and grabbed him by his hair. "Playing unconscious won't do you any favours. I was ordered not to hurt you two, but really, I think I'll manage with just one of you, so don't test my patience."

George groaned and opened his eyes before he spat out a tooth and a mouthful of blood. He glared at his captor before saying, "You're dead. Lone's gonna kill you for sure."

He was scared out of his mind, and quite honestly, even George didn't know why he was antagonising the powerful man in front of him. 'I... I want to see Emma...' It took every ounce of his willpower to prevent tears from spilling out of his eyes.

"Hah, like that beastkin can do anything to me. For a start, he has no idea where we are. I've no intentions of letting him know either. Not until a few days have passed at least." A wide grin filled the man's expression underneath his face wrappings. "We'll have plenty of time to get to know each other until then. I was thinking that I should introduce myself to your fingers first, oh, maybe an eye too? I could use some entertainment."

George was physically shaking, but somewhere, deep down, he found the courage to smile. "Do your worst. I know that Lone will return everything that you could possibly do to me several-fold."

"Lone this, Lone that. This is your problem; you're putting too much faith in one man. What is he to you? A Primal? Trust me, Kid, an upstart like him trying to throw his weight around here? In Felron? Hah. I'll bet good money that he's dead in a ditch in six months." Oh, how he wished he could lick his lips without being forced to taste the fabric of his face-wrappings. "Anyway, let's start having some fun, shall we?"

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"This is the place?" Lone asked Saturn as he stood atop the Divine Prison perfectly.

A light humming noise was the orb's signal of affirmation.

Lone frowned. Currently, they were in the noble district of Mystopolis which sat right next to the long bridge that led to The Academy. On the outskirts, there stood a derelict mansion. This mansion was where Saturn claimed George, Scott, and their kidnapper, all were.

"Forty-one souls are loitering about the mansion... An average strength of S-rank while the ones the basement are... two D-rankers and a triple-X-ranker? The boys and the culprit, I suppose." Lone's ability to sense souls wasn't nearly as powerful nor as detailed as Soph's Mana Sensing was, but he could still tell that both Scott and George's souls weren't damaged or fading, which was a great sign.

"They're not dying, at least. That's good." Lone sighed as he folded his arms across his chest. A sudden hint of killing intent washed through the entire mansion. "Saturn, almost kill everyone who's not in the basement. I'll kill them myself when I'm done with that triple-X-ranker. Breena, don't leave my shadow no matter what happens," he ordered as he used his Sky Walking to step off of the shiny ball of death.

A happy humming greeted Lone's ears as The Primal Swordspear of Immortal Slaying made itself known. Saturn then flew into the building at a speed that was difficult to track with an ordinary level of eyesight.

Lone ignored this as he made his way straight to where George and Scott were being kept. He seemed to be moving at a reasonable pace, but every wall that stood in his way crumbled after a simple finger flick. He was taking the path of most resistance so he could relieve himself of some of his rage.

'Thank fuck Sky is working to keep Void in check while Darkness and Radiance recover. I've got a bad feeling that I won't like what I find when I reach the boys. It'd be a real fuckin' shame if I lost my cool and Void ended up killing the wanker down there too soon,' Lone thought to distract himself as he continued to vent on the poor mansion.

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This is so boring. Why doesn't he scream more? I mean, c'mon, even the demi maids back home put up more of a fight than you are right now, Kid.

"Should I take out your other eye too? Maybe take a leg? Then again, I only have so much healing ointment that I'm willing to waste on a lowborn noble of a backwater kingdom like you," I said to him as I straightened my back and cracked it.

"Urrg..." Ah, right. I cut his tongue out. Still, can't he scream even without one of those?

Hmm... Maybe he'd scream if I cut up his friend? But no, I can't do that, now can I? I need at least one for the trade, or my compulsion magic won't work.

Damn it. I wish I didn't have to wear these damned face-wrappings. I really wanna pull on my hair... What? There's an SS-ranker coming in here?

Wait a second... I can't feel any of my men? Did they get killed?

Is that the Golden Foxkin? What a scary glare... Oooh, I'm getting goosebumps!

"How'd you find this place? I wasn't going to contact you until at least three days had passed. I wanted to break this one by then and have him convince you that this was a great idea, but anyway, this'll work too," I said as I chuckled a little. It was honestly really hard to hide my excitement.

The foxkin ignored me and looked between the two boys slowly before he finally rested his gaze on me. That's right, look right at me, you filthy animal.

"Did you do this on your own, or were you ordered to kidnap and mutilate my friends like this?" the foxkin asked in a very serious tone.

How cute. He thinks he's in control? "Let's say that it was all me. The second part definitely was, at least," I taunted him. Come on, show me a good reaction. Resist.

The foxkin clenched his fists tightly. "I don't know who you are nor why you did this, but trust me, I'll find out. I'll find out just after I beat you within an inch of your life."

Perfect! "Is that so? Well, I don't quite like the sound of that, so how about you kneel for me?"

"What? You don't seem to realise that you've fucked youse-" the foxkin's words were cut short as his body moved on its own and placed itself on one knee before me.

Smiling beneath my face-wrappings, I walked up to the foxkin and slapped him across the face with the back of my hand. "No one is immune to compulsion magic, it would seem, hmm? Now, let's start the negotiations for the baby Golden Foxkin, shall we?"

Ahh... that look of unbridled anger... yes, that's it. Show me your true colours, you useless lower species!