"He takes what he wants but gives something in return? What kind of code is that?" Logan said in disbelief. "Does he give back something equal? How does he even determine equality? It's all so vague!"

Logan felt overwhelmed and stretched thin. First, he was hit with the fact that he might not join this S-rank's team, then with the proposition that an S-rank Camper was the strongest in the world, and now, he was hit by this absurd, meaningless code.

"It's vague to you but not to him," Zachary said. "His moral compass is direct. He doesn't falter or doubt his next moves. He's like a blade in his own hands, cutting what he wills and protecting what he wills."

Logan looked disbelievingly at Zachary. "How do you know all this?" Logan asked.

"I've experienced it firsthand," Zachary replied. "A friend of mine, one of the camp's guards, was once tasked with delivering a package to Abyss Eye's apartment. He was the weakest on duty, so the others pressured him to go. He was scared, so he begged me to help him. That day, I delivered the package, and it was the first time I saw him up close."

Zachary reached for his chest as if he was gripping an invisible pendant. "I had a ring that my dead parents supposedly left for me. It had been with me from a young age. It was my companion through war, death, and bloodshed. I could do anything because it comforted me."

He laughed. "It's pathetic, I know, but the pendant... It made me feel like they were there with me, supporting me in everything I do."

Logan's mouth went dry. "You mean... Are you saying he... took your ring?"

Zachary nodded. Logan sucked in a breath.

"He glanced at me that day, and his eyes fell on the ring. I remember being restrained by his aura, unable to breathe properly. The novelty of meeting an S-rank filled me with anticipation, but when I got a hold of myself, I saw him scrutinizing it closely.

"My blood ran cold as I watched him caress the ring. It felt like he had taken my heart right out and squeezed it in his hands. I wanted to object, to tell him to give it back, but I couldn't even open my mouth. I stared, shocked, until the door shut in my face, leaving me outside with the package in my hand."

Logan shot up angrily, ignoring his sore muscles. "What? He took your parents' ring? That's... That's..." Logan couldn't find the words to express his anger. He settled for grimacing and tightening his fists.

"Yet you want to join his team," Eldon said cooly. "Don't you hate him?"

Zachary laughed bitterly. "Of course, I hate him. I hate him so much. I don't hate the President, despite all he has done, but I hate him. I want to kill him. He's the only person in the world I want to kill with my own two hands, but... I can't."

"He gave you the package," Eldon said, and Logan's eyes widened with realization. "He gave you the package in exchange for the ring?"

"Yes," Zachary nodded. "It was exotic beast meat, the likes of which I've never seen or tasted before or since. But it was not enough. It was not enough in the least to exchange for my ring."

They fell into silence. The S-rank had taken Zachary's ring, but he could do nothing about it. Zachary could seethe in anger, even spit blood, but he would not dare to go against the S-rank overtly. He could only bide his time, hiding, holding it all back.

Logan sat back down, deflated. He hadn't expected something like this to have happened to Zachary. He could see just by looking at Zachary exactly how much the ring meant to him. Zachary's expression was solemn, his anger nowhere to be seen, but Logan could sense it. It was palpable, and the tension in the air was contagious, infiltrating Logan's body.

"I'm sorry about your—" Logan started to speak to alleviate the situation, but Eldon interrupted him.

"That doesn't explain why you were confident he'd take us in," he said. "If 'I take what I want but give something in return' is his code, he has repaid you by giving you the exotic meat. I understand it's not an equal trade to you, but the situation remains the same. How, then, were you planning to convince him? Is there something he desires that you can offer?"

Aiken, the chubby boy, laughed at this, his voice echoing through the woods, echoing in the eerie silence of the trees.

Zachary also smiled—a bitter smile that conveyed perfectly to Logan the depth of his self-deprecation.

"There is only one thing he could want from us, and it is not something any of us is ready to give."

"However," Aiken continued for him. "That doesn't mean he hasn't taken anything from us! Get that perfectly fucking straight. He owes us! He owes every single inmate from the Robin Camp, alive or fucking dead!"

"We don't need to offer him anything," Zachary said. He looked between Eldon and Logan. The others bowed their heads. "Because he already took something from us."

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"It was during the Great Robin War—or Fire as you know it," Zachary began. Eldon tilted his head questioningly, but Zachary signaled him to wait. "What happened back then was not as simple as I told you before, Eldon. I did contribute to the fire, but I could never have caused a fire of that scale on my own.

"It started as a regular war, a beast tide where the monsters of the Great Robin Forest came out in droves. We were dispatched, as usual, all the Campers but one—Abyss Eye. As the strongest, he was not to move unless the Monster King did, so he was never summoned to battle, and it never occurred that the Monster King made a move. Even we had never seen him before in all the years we were there. We never knew of its true form, whether it was truly a beast akin to a lion with a mane of flames and a scorpion's tail, as one old guard said, or if it was a snake with seven heads, as we heard from another. All we knew was that it was the Monster King, and as the king, it would not join the fray. It had never done so."

Zachary paused, and the continuation was obvious.

"This time, it joined the fray. I later realized that the Monster King intentionally orchestrated the beast horde because it wanted a large amount of abnormal flesh for whatever godforsaken reason. We, the Campers sent out to war, were its prey. We weren't expecting it, and we were caught completely off guard. A good chunk of us died before they realized it."

"It was so close to me," a whisper interrupted. Logan turned to the speaker. It was Ray. "Nina died right in front of me. I watched as that beast tore her in two right before my eyes, chewing her legs before throwing her torso into its mouth. I could only watch in horror, unable to do anything."

His eyes were hollow. It was like he was reliving a nightmare that haunted his every dream.

The girl beside him laid a hand on his shoulder reassuringly, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Too many of us died right there," Zachary said. "Many of whom were my close friends. We were shocked into stillness when it arrived on the battlefield, and the beasts we were fighting even stopped and cowered in fear. Even when our distracted attacks blast them to pieces, they didn't move a muscle."

"It was fucking huge," Aiken said. "Insanely huge."

"It looked like a caterpillar, with countless small hands, which it utilized to promptly grab hundreds of Campers as soon as it appeared, gobbling them while we watched.

"At some point, we realized what we were watching and immediately abandoned the fight." Zachary closed his eyes. "They tried to help us escape. Their deaths helped us get further. It was cruel to leave them, but there was nothing I could do. I could only believe our S-rank would soon appear to combat the monster.

"However, even when the Monster King caught up to us, eating us one by one, he still hadn't appeared. It was not the bloodiest battle I ever experienced, but it was the one where I felt most powerless. Many others and I lost control of our strengths that day and the destruction we caused by fleeing led to the Great Robin Fire. It wasn't just our strengths over which we lost control either.

"Few of us could think straight. The Monster King was also proficient in manipulating and influencing the human mind. It tortured us, beguiled us, exhausted us. Some walked into its hands of their own accord. Some laid on the ground, sobbing as it plucked them up."

"It was only when almost half of all of us, of all the Campers in the Robin Camp, were dead that he appeared. And when he appeared, his first thought was not to save us. His first thought was not to combat the Monster King. No, his first thought was to devour."

"Devour..." Eldon murmured.

"He hovered over the Great Robin Forest, which was already in ruins and flames, and what looked like a black hole appeared under him, exerting a strong sucking force.

"I remember it clearly because I almost lost my abnormality that day. It reacted to react to the pulling force, struggling to get out of my head. It was excruciating. I fell weakly to the ground, and then I saw it.

"Countless ethereal globes floating up from the surroundings, from body remnants and blood, being sucked into that black hole where it merged with Abyss Eye with a cacophony of colors. The ordeal lasted only a moment, but it felt like an eternity as I lay there, watching as my friends' last remnants were devoured by the one who was supposed to save them."

Zachary clenched his fist. "It was there that I decided. With these hands of mine, I will definitely kill Abyss Eye with my own hands and avenge the deaths of every single Camper he devoured that day."

"Well, let's not jump to conclusions..." Logan said, trying to reason it out. "He might have been held up by something. Maybe something else happened. I don't know; it just might not be how you imagine it."

"He devoured my friends. Regardless of the reason, I can't condone it." Zachary spoke with an intense gaze. It was the first time Logan had seen Zachary so worked up. His eyes seemed to emit fire as he swore. "In time,... No matter how long it takes, I will definitely kill him."

Silence descended. The truth was out. The Great Robin Fire, which had been said to involve a great battle between two legendary figures, was a distasteful betrayal by the S-rank that was supposed to protect them. It was a difficult pill to swallow.

"And then," Zachary said after calming down. "He faced the Monster King. The Monster King didn't attack him during that instant when he was devouring my friends because he was busy doing the same. The battle was short, far shorter than I earlier implied, Eldon. It started and ended in an instant.

"None of us saw what happened, but after a silent staring contest, the Monster King was instantly split almost completely in half, with blood, guts, and hundreds of its legs falling to the ground in a splatter of rain. It shrieked in anguish and left the battlefield, retreating as quickly as it had appeared. Abyss Eye didn't give chase. He stared after the beast, watching as it fled."

Logan gasped in shock. "What... What did you just say? He split the Monster King in half?"

"Nobody saw what happened. That was how the battle ended. The intense slaughter before had caused the flames, as the cacophony of spells and attacks trying to defend against the beast's attacks had set the forest ablaze, alongside several other devastating effects."

"Why did none of this ever get out?" Eldon asked.

"None of us were interested in reliving that day. Until this moment, I had locked it away, intentionally avoiding thinking about it." Zachary breathed deeply, and when he opened his eyes again, he returned to his usual self. "Well, that's why we don't have to convince him to invite us. He will surely add us to his team."

"But the bastard didn't," Aiken said through gritted teeth, leaping to his feet. "The fucking bastard didn't!"

Rocks, soil, and dust arose around him as he threw a heavy punch at the giant boulder nearby. His fist connected with a loud thud, followed by cracking noises as the rock crumbled.

Logan's jaw dropped. Holy fuck! Is that how strong he is?!

However, Zachary frowned. "Aiken, did you use your power to scatter the rock?"

Aiken himself looked startled, looking from his fist to the pile of rock. "I... didn't."