Lucian pressed his hands together, his teeth clenched tightly. The hot spring's steam swirled around his handsome face.

"Preposterous. Absolutely outrageous." He shook his head with a disgusted expression. "Mortelli thinks he's royalty, even though he's only scum not even worth licking the sole of my shoes."

Munirp's Prince slammed his fist against the ledge of the hot spring angrily. "I shall bring this matter to my royal father and send the King's Blade to him! I refuse to let him participate in any more atrocities!"

Milena rubbed her chin, pondering. "Lucia—Your Highness, you mentioned having doubts about Mortelli's integrity for a while already. What made you think that?"

Lucian rolled his eyes at the 'Highness'. "Well, in my previous quality as the 'hidden' Prince—my Father never presented me to noble society—I was able to look around the middle and higher circles of aristocracy."

Sahro spat to the side. "Damn nobles. They're all scum who deserve a blade through their hearts." He glanced at Lucian and shrugged. "Aside from you. But you're not a noble, you're higher than that."

Liara patted the tiny head of her bird, wondering what she should name it. A white, small bird... 'Snowflake? No... Birdy? Hmm... Whitey? Yeah, Whitey sounds right!'

The bird chattered happily in her palm, blissfully unaware of her horrifying naming sense.

"Haha, you know well, Brother Sahro." Lucian tilted his head respectfully in the Black Heir's direction. He turned back to Milena, serious once more. "But to return to your question, thanks to my discreet investigations, I learned of some sort of noble circle, the Nosferatu Club."

Glenn flinched in his sleep but didn't wake up. The young man had succumbed to exhaustion and was currently napping comfortably in the hot spring. Nelg also returned to Glenn's soul during the discussion to help fix the holes in it.

Sahro frowned. "I'm almost certain that Baron Howard, a eubayd—sorry, a vampire, was calling himself a descendant of Nosferatu. Or something like that. For sure, he was connected with Nosferatu."

Lucian nodded slowly. "I came up to that same conclusion, but the only evidence I found was a letter from an unknown sender to Count Mortelli. The Count himself doesn't seem to be a vampire, but he certainly appears to be connected with these bloodsuckers. Add to that what you're telling me, and it's more than evident that Mortelli is preparing something nefarious!"

Milena smiled weakly as she rubbed Pebble's scaly head, carefully avoiding his single, jade-colored eye. "It feels good to have the higher powers on our side, for once."

Lucian looked at her confusedly. "What do you mean, Milena? Aren't you from the Dela Lune noble family? I believe your parents are Dukes, correct?"

"Ah?" Milena coughed as she slipped deeper into the hot spring, shocked. "Y- You know my identity?"

"I am Munirp's Crown Prince," said Lucian. "If I didn't know the ducal families, my father would disinherit me. Magic portraits were quite helpful in my studies, believe it or not."

Milena hid her face as the colors flushed out of it. "C- Could I ask you to keep that to yourself, Your Highness?"

Lucian shrugged. "Sure, but only if you stop calling me that. Lucian, or...no, Brother will do perfectly!"

Milena paled even further. "Please stop joking with that, Your H— Lucian."

The Prince sighed and leaned back. "At least I tried. On another subject, don't you think we should be waking him up?" He pointed at Glenn who was slowly but surely sinking into the water. Liara glanced at him and shook her head silently.

"I think we can let him rest a bit more," Sahro grunted as he took Raijin, his fox, and dropped him in the water, grinning at the beast swimming in a panic. "He died and returned to life. I think he deserves to sleep in."

Milena hugged her knees as Pebble teleported and saved Raijin from the treacherous waters of the hot spring. "Should we do anything about that? The situation with Diamanes, I mean."

Liara's expression darkened while Sahro clenched his fists tightly. Lucian looked at them all with unveiled surprise before chuckling.

"I apologize, but what can you even do?" He ignored their death glares and continued. "Diamanes, when he took control of Glenn's body, had a presence more powerful than even my father. Do you know what that means?"

He cleared his throat to insist on his point. "My royal father is an Eight-Circle True Ruler, and the only reason Munirp is the strongest nation of the West. Even if the Celestial Gods and their allies all attacked Munirp together, they would all be defeated in front of the might of my Father."

Lucian pointed at Glenn's left hand dejectedly. "And that was stronger than my Father."

Silence fell onto the hot spring as nobody could find something to retort. Eventually, Sahro perked up and turned to Lucian.

"That makes me wonder, why didn't your father intervene in the war if he was so strong?"

Lucian grimaced, hesitating. "Well, it's pretty much a secret of state, but my father staying in the King's Tower is the only reason other individuals of similar strength don't bother with Munirp. The Limbo is a large world, and Munirp only rules half of a single continent. Well, we're still the best kingdom, but you know what I mean."

"Frogs in a well..." Milena shook her head in disbelief. "You're telling me there are monsters even stronger than Laurance roaming the world...and Diamanes is stronger than them?" She chuckled in awe. "This is insanity."

Liara nodded in silent agreement. Sahro grinned widely, his eyes gleaming with a flash of red electricity.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"That only means higher goals to achieve! One day, I shall be the strongest swordsman under the heavens, and even Diamanes will fear me!"

"Sure, sure, if you say so, Sahro." Milena laughed lightheartedly. The atmosphere relaxed slightly as the threat of the entity contained in Glenn's left hand left everyone's mind. That peace didn't last long as it was soon disturbed by the Guardian coming out of his cabin. He pulled the unconscious Glenn out of the water and threw him on his shoulder.

"I'll be starting the treatment of his soul, but..." The knight hesitated for an instant. "...Be aware that he might suffer from, hmm, an incongruous behavior for a little bit of time once I'm done with him."

Sahro raised his eyebrows. "I'm not sure how more 'incongruous' Glenn can get."

Liara chuckled, her laugh as clear as crystal. The Guardian didn't say another word as he brought Glenn back into the cabin and closed the door behind him.

***

"Hmm. Hmmm. Triple hmm." Glenn rubbed his chin as he looked at the crumbling parts of his soul. The fissures in the darkness surrounding his Milky Way were still as wide as when he found them. It looked like they were healing, but sadly, it appeared that they only looked like so.

"I can't see any progress, no matter how hard I look. This is a problem..." muttered Glenn, his voice echoing in the depths of his soul. A black sun approached the fading light of Glenn's Mana Heart. Nelg strolled in the air and came up next to Glenn.

"I don't have a clue as to how to help you," admitted Nelg. "But I think the Guardian is going to fix you up."

Glenn's eyes lightened. "He will?" He then frowned and took a step back. "I still don't get why he would help me for free. 'Because it's right' isn't good enough for an answer to me."

Nelg shrugged as he curiously passed his hand in one of the fissures and promptly pulled it right back. "Maybe it's as simple as that. Maybe he's just a poor guy trying his best to protect and help others out of the kindness of his soul."

"Even you don't believe that," sneered Glenn. "We're not in a fairy tale. I should wake up and check out what he's trying to do."

The young man willed to get out of his Meditation, but, for the first time in his life, he failed.

"...This is ridiculous." Glenn's expression hardened as he concentrated harder, trying his best to wake up from his Meditation to no avail.

Nelg clicked his tongue. "Seems like you're stuck there. Well, I'll be waiting outside with the others. I can't be bothered to wait in here."

"Wait—" Glenn's stretched-out hand passed through nothingness as Nelg phased out of his soul, returning to reality.

"Ungrateful bastard..." he muttered as he paced around his soul, searching his mind for ways to fix these damned holes. He couldn't tell how much time passed until a bright white light suddenly entered his Mana Heart and began to glue the fissures together.

"What sort of sorcery is this...?" Glenn questioned aloud, his hands on his waist as he watched the Guardian working on his soul in a live performance. There was something a little disturbing in seeing someone tinkering on his Mana Heart, the most private place he knew.

'But it's not like I can stop it, anyway...Sigh, I really don't like this lack of agency. This sucks. Even if he's helping me, it still sucks.'

Glenn sat in the void and rubbed his face tiredly. "I need to push myself harder and get stronger faster. I can't rely on Diamanes to resuscitate me from the dead every time I meet a Newborn Ruler or an ancient evil god. Archmagi...It can't possibly be that hard to reach, right?"

Eventually, the white light was done patching up the holes in Glenn's soul. A weight lifted off his chest.

'I can get out.' Glenn grinned as he realized. Without a second thought, he extricated himself from his Meditation. The process was more difficult than usual as if trying to walk through sticky goo. The world felt...strange.

'Something is weird...' Glenn blinked his eyes open, finding the concerned face of Nelg inches from his own.

"Is it gay if I like my own face?" Glenn questioned aloud.

"It is only vanity, a very human emotion," replied the Guardian as he stored some tools in a small coffer. Glenn frowned and hesitantly took a step forward. The world appeared distorted in his sight.

"Be careful. Working on the soul can cause some...unpleasant side effects." The Guardian warned. He crossed his arms as he watched Glenn come out of bed, helped by his doppelganger.

"I can taste colors..." Glenn muttered before poking his tongue out as if to lick the air. Nelg sealed his lips shut and hurriedly led Glenn to the door. The young man stumbled drunkenly, holding himself on whatever he could.

"Feels like that time I survived Corruption..." He grumbled, squinting through the myriad of lights blinding him.

"If only you could see yourself," Nelg smirked.

Glenn frowned confusedly. "What do you mean? I can see myself perfectly, thanks to you."

Nelg refused to elaborate. He led Glenn out of the cabin and to a hastily raised table of stone, where everyone else was sitting. It seemed like they were done with their baths in the hot spring. Glenn carefully sat next to his teammates.

"By Onnea..." Milena's eyes widened. "So that's what he meant by incongruous?"

"Incon-what?" Glenn's frowned and he rubbed his forehead. "Why can I feel sounds? Did I become a bat or something? Ultra-sounds? No, am I just..." His eyes widened exaggeratedly. "Was I drugged? Is that why I feel funny? Shit, Guardian of my ass, come back here! What did you put in my...my...how did you drug me?!?"

Sahro slapped his thigh with a broad laugh. "Hahaha, Glenn, you look like you ate a forest-worth of magic mushrooms!"

Glenn looked at him pensively. "Do I?"

Lucian cleared his throat. "I don't want to ruin the mood, but you do realize we should return to the Limbo as quickly as possible, right?" He discreetly pointed at Glenn and whispered: "How are we supposed to do that with the strongest in our team turned into a dumbass?"

"I heard you, you royal, handsome bastard!" Glenn shouted back, clouds blocking his vision.

Liara grimaced while she patted Glenn's back reassuringly. The young man mumbled some incomprehensible nonsense before hiding his face in his hands.

"Don't worry too much, he will be better with a day of sleep," said the Guardian as he came out of his cabin. "It won't be too late then to return to..." He turned to the side of the cave, silent.

"...Shit," cursed the knight. "Prepare yourselves. We have uninvited guests."

Far, but close at the same time, thundered an unfamiliar voice.

"Glenn, the Devil's Hand! You killed our friend, Laurance! Come out with your hands up and we won't hurt your friends!"

Glenn looked up confusedly. "...Since when can caves talk? Oh, shit, I'm really down in the gutter, aren't I?"

Liara nodded with a complicated expression as she prepared herself. Glenn's other teammates did the same, ready to fight once again. The rest in the hot spring had done wonders to fill up their batteries, and they weren't scared of another fight.

Well, aside from Lucian, who was staring in the same direction the Guardian was. A cold sweat drenched his back as he gulped heavily.

"M- My friends, it might be the end of the royal lineage today..." He glanced at the others as the colors drained out of his face.

"Three of them," said the Prince slowly.

"There are three Newborn Rulers outside."