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Chapter Text

The Behemoth lets out a loud roar when the silver-haired Hero strikes him with his magical sword Moonslayer.

    “Tougher than I thought”, The Living Legend grumbles, which lets the green-eyed Chimera cackle before he slices with his paws at the monster, “Told you so, old man!”

    “I am not that old!”, the Hero complains, jumping back as the Dragon Warrior blocks an incoming attack with his broad sword.

The dark-haired man with an undercut smirks, “But your hair is grey.”

The silver-head gasps, “It’s platinum! And my forehead isn’t that big!”

A Warrior Elf giggles amused at the Hero’s dramatics while shooting his arrows at his target, “If you say so!”, then he jumps aside shrieking, “Incoming!”

    “Got it!”, an Incubus throws an Energy Ball at the enemy, stopping the upbuilding attack in its roots, “Victor, cheri, I know that you are very sensitive concerning your hairline, but please we are in the middle of battle here. Please consider a more appropriate time and place.”

    “But Chriis! This is important!”, The Living Legend pouts at his best friend, while Yurio the Chimera rolls his eyes in annoyance at the stupidity of this conversation. Beka the Dragon Warrior just shrugs and the Elf Phichit just starts giggling again, because this is all so fucking funny.

Yurio attacks the Behemoth again with his allies blocking the relentless counterattacks of the monster. When he lands a hit, the Chimera jumps back, shouting loudly, “Katsudon, your turn!”

Yuuri sighs, grabbing his scythe harder with both of his hands, jumping high to join the battle against their enemy.

Weeks ago, he wouldn’t have dreamed of ever being summoned to another world by a fucking egomaniacal goddess or being involved in an epic adventure.

He was just plain and boring Yuuri Katsuki.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Now, he is called 'The Dark Reaper' and together with his new-found friends he is going to survive in this world.

Chapter Text

This is not how he has imagined this going.

It was supposed to be a normal five-day and four-nights school trip.
Nothing more, nothing less. A boring school trip to spend some quality time with his friends Takeshi and Yuuko, drabbling about nothing in particular, enjoying the change of scenery and lazing around under the starry sky doing nothing grand.

Instead he got this. Well, Yuuri isn’t even sure about what ‘this’ is exactly.

He has just woken up in his seat, cosy and still warm from his nap with strange silence filling the atmosphere. The teenager rubs his eyes lazily and puts his glasses on, yawning loudly to take in his surroundings before he freezes.

The sixteen-year-old boy blinks once. Twice. Thrice.
And a couple more times just to be entirely sure.

The other bus seats are totally empty.

He looks left and then right again, still nobody in sight.

Are they playing a prank on him?
Did he oversleep and his class just left him behind?

The boy shakes his head.

No, they wouldn’t do that… Probably…
Well, some would maybe prank him like that, but Yuuko wouldn’t join them.
She is too kind a girl for that stuff.
And Takeshi…
Well Takeshi is Takeshi.
He wouldn’t do anything when Yuuko disapproves.
His crush was just too strong for going against her.

Yuuri hums to himself.

Well, if this isn’t a prank, then there must be a reasonable explanation for his situation.

The teenager stands up, stretching his limbs carefully.

Then he runs his gaze carefully over the seats.

The luggage is missing from all rows, except his backpack. So he deducts that his classmates really have left the bus. He takes his things, thinking that everything will clear itself once he exits the bus.

Yuuri makes his way up to the front, where the bus driver should normally be seated, starring outside the front window in disbelief.

Various shadows fly over the landscape.

He pinches his cheeks once. Twice. Thrice. And a couple more times just to be entirely sure.

Well, fuck! If his eyes aren’t playing any tricks on him and he isn’t dreaming this up, then there are dragons in the sky, flying over an unknown plain consisting only of short grass.

Yuuri lets go of his large camouflage backpack, which then lands on his toe and he screams in pain, “Ouch… Shit that hurts.”

He seats himself in the front row and rubs his poor toe.

He shouldn’t have brought so much stuff with him on this trip.

When the pain subsides the boy nibbles on his lower lip, deep in thought.

What should he do? Should he wait for his classmates to come back?
Will they come back? Why haven’t Yuuko and Takeshi woken him up?
The pain from his toe was too real for this to be a dream.

Yuuri lets out a deep sigh. He hates dealing with this on his own.

He stands up to clear his head by voicing his concerns out loud. At least his therapist has told him in his last session that he should come clean with himself to avoid his anxiety.

His anxiety! Why isn’t he anxious? Normally he would be an anxious mess right now! Quivering and breathing like crazy, but he is totally calm. There is no fear. No panic. Just nothing!
What the hell is going on?

He fumbles widely with both of his hands and touches something in front of him, which makes a pinging noise. Yuuri furrows his eyebrows as a status plate appears out of nowhere before him.

What is this? An RPG?

He puts his right thumb in his mouth, pressing his teeth on the finger in suspicion and distrust, while studying the strange status plate.

He reads the information carefully:

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: Human

Age: 16 years

LV: 1

Class: Black Bubble

Active Skill: Shadow, Appraisal

Passive Skill: Stamina, Charm, Miracle, Language Comprehension

HP: 16/16

MP: 24/25

EXP: 1

Next Level: 49 EXP

Equipped Gear: Backpack

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: none

0 G

He clicks hesitantly on the plate and it changes to further information:

ATK: 8

DEF: 11

MAT: 8

MDF: 11

AGI: 12

LUK: 15

Seems like an RPG.

The problem is now that Yuuri doesn’t know much about the standard concerning levels in this world. And he has never ever in his whole gaming life heard of a class called ‘Black Bubble’.

What was that even?

He furrows his brows, then switches again to the first status plate, tapping on his skills to get more knowledge about them. Yuuri clicks on his skills and some pop-ups appear one after another.

Shadow – Turns the user into a shadow (cost: 1 MP)

Appraisal – Helps the user check a status (Free Skill)

Stamina – Raises the body’s endurance (Free Passive Skill)

Charm – Charms other living beings (Free Passive Skill)

Miracle – Survival of critical attacks with 1 HP if the
user has more than 1 HP to begin with. (Free Passive Skill)

Language Comprehension – Translates languages (Free Passive Skill)

He hums to himself, concluding in his head that this is definitely not a well-balanced status plate. And for a beginner, his stats seem pretty weak when he compares them to his games at home. He doesn’t have any special weapons or money and he has no map of the area concerning his whereabouts. At least the boy knows that he is still human.

Yuuri scrolls a little up and down, his nerves starting to spiral in a circle.

Okay, so he probably ended up in a different world along with his classmates, who kind of left him behind… or forgot about his existence, while he slept like a babe. And he doesn’t have any way of contacting them or knowing where he is to begin with or what he is supposed to do in the first place! So what? Everything is great! Everything is under control!

Yuuri’s arms start shaking and he begins to sob.

Oh fuck it! Why must his anxiety come up now!

The student tries to take deep breaths, while making himself as small as possible.

In and out. In and out.

After two minutes he finally succeeds in calming his nerves, holding his head in his hands to reprimand himself that this is no situation to lose his head.

The 16-year-old rubs his heavy eyes and startles at another pinging sound. A pop-up-field opens automatically with the message ‘Title received’. He clicks on the ‘Menu-button’, then on his status overview and furrows his brows again.

Title received:

Nervous Wreck

Mind Calmer

Yuuri looks up the explanation for his new acquired titles:

Nervous Wreck – A person who has his mind spiraling in circles very
often during uncomfortable situations.

Mind Calmer – A person who knows how to calm his and other’s minds.

The dark-haired boy with warm brown eyes snorts at the first title. As if he wouldn’t know that already. However, the second title confuses him a little. Well, he does know how to calm his own mind, but soothing the minds of other people, he hasn’t got a clue about that. The young man decides to put this new information aside to focus on more important things like:
What the hell he should do now?

Yuuri looks out the front window and his mind supplies him with the fact that he shouldn’t stay here for long if he doesn’t want to become dragon food or food in general. He doesn’t know if the bus is a Safe Zone like in the games or if it just gives shelter without any guarantee on his life.

The bespectacled man weighs the pros and cons of leaving and staying.

Well if he stays, his food supply in his backpack won’t hold his hunger for long. And then there is the question mark concerning his safety in general. If he leaves the bus, there will probably be monsters trying to hunt him down and with his great skill board, he only really has the option of fleeing and running away. But if he goes outside, he can search for his classmates and get food supplies in a city. Well that is, if he can convince the inhabitants of this world to trade his stuff for some money, because according to his status plate he is totally broke as he has no gold (G) at all.

At least he understands their language with his Language Comprehension skill.

The Japanese student sighs. What to do? What to do?

He plays with his backpack’s cords for a while, letting his thoughts run empty.

Well, he always loved the idea of playing role-play-games or having his own Isekai-experience someday, but now that he has it, he would like a total refund please with a train ticket to his hometown Hasetsu in Japan immediately without trouble and total guarantee on his life.

However, getting a direct ticket home to his planet seems not as easy as he would like it to be.
Yuuri swallows hard at the realization. Normally, he would have to find a god or goddess to send him back home and that is if they even can do that in this world.
He read plenty of books and manga, where the summoned hero party never gets back to their original world. He also knows too many stories about summoned school kids, who get disposed of after being condemned as useless by a deity. Yuuri shudders.
The boy hopes that both of these versions don’t apply to his situation.
At the very least, man can hope.

The Japanese citizen takes a deep breath, focusing his mind again.
What is the first step to take in such a situation?

Well, considering that he checked his status plate already, had a small panic attack and reminded himself of how Isekai-stories normally go in literature, he should probably think about some goals before setting out.

Because really, if reading fantasy books and manga told him one thing then it is ‘never stay too long at one place if it isn’t safe’. And now that he properly examines the bus, it is definitely not a Safe Zone. They are always marked with a big sign in games, screaming to players ‘you are safe here’ with all they’ve got.

Okay. He wasn’t found by monsters until now, even though some dragons are flying over the plains clearly searching for edible food, so a few minutes more before his departure from the bus won’t hurt him. Probably.

Coming back to his goals, well…

First of all, he should probably look for his missing classmates. Because well, if he didn’t get an introduction speech from something to this world, then he must have slept through it. And that means that he wasn’t the only one summoned to this planet. The bus as a whole is also an indication for his whole class being teleported here, wherever this place is. And there are no bloodstains, so all should have left the bus alive. Probably.

Then secondly, Yuuri thinks that he has a right to know, why the fuck he was left alone to deal with everything, which will come his way in the near unforeseen future, on his own.
Was he abandoned? Forgotten? Overseen?
He will as sure as hell ask them, when he finds his classmates again.
If  he finds them that is.

The teenager doesn’t know, how big this planet is and in which direction the other students went in the first place. They could be wherever for all he knows… together… split into smaller groups… dead… injured… Damn it! What a pain…

Well, at least he wants to find Yuuko. And Takeshi. Right, Yuuko and Takeshi. And maybe his teacher Ms. Igarashi. He has homework due Monday. And he is a good kid, so he can get into college and help his parents with business administration concerning their Onsen.

Ah and he shouldn’t forget about the bus driver. Because how would he even drive a bus himself, when he doesn’t have a driving licence. And Yuuri isn’t one for illegal things. So, he will wait to drive a vehicle until he has his own licence like a good citizen.

And thirdly, he should find a way back to their original world. So, either he has to find a god or goddess, who possess dimension travel powers or he has to find the original perpetrator of their summoning or … something. He shouldn’t mind the details for now. They can come later, when he has gained more knowledge about his situation.

Okay, sounds good. Yuuri claps his hands together.

Then all that’s left is leaving the bus and going on a journey to achieve his three new goals.

He checks his luggage once more, just to be on the safe side and also because he doesn’t remember, what he or his mother stuffed in there to begin with. After some rummaging the young boy finds his wallet, some gum, sunglasses, a lot of snacks because Yuuri always gets hungry between meal times, his bento-lunchbox – cause ‘I love you, mum’, two water bottles, his two phones – yeah he has two, one for work and one for private use – with one charger for both, some tissues, two pens, a notebook and his diary, change of clothes for five days, his toiletries and other necessities, a small portable cooker, a compass, his health care set – because there is always someone injured on their field trips and he can’t stand the moping, a flashlight and batteries, a swiss knife-tool-set – cause ‘thank you dad’, then a blanket, his favourite sleeping pillow, a pepper spray – cause ‘why not, better safe than sorry’ according to his sister Mari and the thing he can’t live without: his most favourite fantasy novel.

He hums to himself in approval.
No wonder his poor toe hurt so much after being squashed by his backpack.
He fastens his luggage on his back, feeling ready to take the plunge into the unknown.
Yuuri stretches his hand to push the button for opening the bus doors, when a pinging sound interrupts him again and he clicks on the display.

Title received:

Adventurous Soul

That sounds not bad, he guesses. Tipping with his fingers eagerly on the explanation button.

Adventurous Soul – A person who loves adventures.

Okay, wasn’t hard to guess.
Yuuri determinedly pushes the button for the doors and they open with a light “wush”.

Warm sun rays kiss upon his skin and he takes a clear breath of fresh air of the plains into his lungs. No traffic, gas or other disturbing smells tickle his insides.
Everything smells of flowers and grass and sunshine.

Yuuri takes a look around the area. There are few places to hide from predators. The grass is short and the trees are scattered around the open field. He directs his gaze to the sky. It’s a sunny day without any clouds, instead there are dragons flying merrily around, ignoring his existence.

The young boy turns to the bus, inspecting it's outer shell. The vehicle doesn’t have any scratches nor is it bloody or covered in mud. Yuuri sighs in relief to only groan with realization.
The bus wheels are totalled.
He can tick using the bus after finding the bus driver off his list for the future. Just great.

He hears a loud roar above him and swears, while ducking under the bus for cover. A grand dragon seems to have noticed him during his small distraction. Yuuri grips the stripes of his backpack, holding his breath.

What should he do? Should he run? Where to?

What if he stays hidden and the dragon loses interest?

His mind turns in circles again, when he hears the flapping of wings getting more distant by the second. The teen breaths out a sigh in relief. That could have gotten ugly. He shouldn’t stick around any longer. Who knows if the dragon will come back or others are interested in checking out the bus for who knows what reasons dragon can have.

Yuuri slowly climbs out of his hiding spot, looking left, right and above him. The coast seems clear. He breaths in and out and starts running like a madman. He runs and runs until he finds a tree and hides under the leaves, observing the dragons for sudden attack movements. But the beasts just fly in the sky, seemingly undisturbed by his reckless sprint.

The highschooler hums to himself. Maybe dragons aren’t as observant as he thought them to be.
Or he was just lucky. Well, either way he doesn’t particularly care as long as he comes out unscathed.

Yuuri turns around, looking ahead of him. He makes out a small travel path some kilometres away from him and decides to follow it. A man-made path means civilization at the end of it.
So it’s a good start for his search.

Before he leaves his hiding place under the tree, he checks again for predators and the dragons.
He recognizes no immediate threats and starts walking down to the road ahead of him.

The path is bumpy and uneven, but clearly well maintained for travellers and carriages.
It leads further north according to his compass.

The plains are vast and beautiful. A sight to behold and perfect for picnics on a free day with your family or friends. He would love to invite Yuuko and Takeshi to spend some time just gazing at the different flowers with him.

Yuuri picks up one blue flower and takes a deep breath to only start coughing loudly.
His vision blurs instantly and his body tumbles to the ground paralyzed.
He curses internally, his muscles still not allowing him to voice his opinion out loud.
Dammit, he shouldn’t have been so careless!

His whole body is itchy and doesn’t respond to his commands. He lies on an unknown road in an unknown country by himself with hungry monsters probably all around him, just waiting to eat him. The Japanese man would like to slap himself right in the face.
At least he can breathe normally.

Yuuri tries to move, but he knows that he is stuck.

A notification pops up after he resigns himself to his fate.

Notification:

You have been paralyzed by the Blue Flash.
The status ailment will either end after 1 hour
or can be cured by specific potions.

After he finished reading the notification closes and a countdown starts immediately.

Great. He doesn’t have any magic potions on him. So either he survives this one hour of lying paralyzed on the ground or someone comes by and takes pity on him or well, the third option is a grim one. So he doesn't dare think about it.

Yuuri stays put – as if he would have a choice – singing some songs in his head to pass the time, hoping that he will survive this ordeal.

He has just started singing 'Die Young' from Ke$ha, when he has to sneeze very loudly.
Does he have allergy now as well? He grumbles to himself when he hears a growling sound coming his direction.

The Japanese eyes go wide. Fuck! Should he even have been able to sneeze?

The footsteps of the predator come closer and Yuuri wants to feint. He tries to move his body, but only his head is movable. He looks at the countdown and slumps down his head.
Still half an hour to go.

    “Dammit!”, he exclaims.

Why now? It is only half an hour to go!

Then he freezes. Wait, he can talk again! Maybe his skills could help him with the situation!

    “Status open”, he mumbles, trying to be as quiet as possible and his status plate appears before him. Seems to function with that as well, who would have thought.

He scans through his skills. The only active skills he has is Shadow and Appraisal. The other skills are all passive ones and not really useful in his current predicament. Appraisal, he concludes, is also useless in defeating or hiding from a monster. He eyes Shadow. It says in the description that it makes the user a shadow, whatever that means. But it is his only option of survival.

Oh Kami-sama, please let him come out unscathed of this and he will never not eat spinach or complain about his sister stealing his dessert ever again.

Well, here goes nothing!

    “Shadow!”, Yuuri says desperately and closes his eyes.

When he opens them again, he stares up at a grey-blue monster wolf sniffing the air in confusion. It remains there for a few minutes, before it turns tail in disinterest.

Yuuri is grateful and perplexed. Why didn’t it notice him? He is right there, still lying on the ground – he looks around himself – or not. His body isn’t lying on the path anymore. Instead it is hiding in the shadow of the perpetrator of his current predicament.

Oh. So Shadow means becoming the shadow of something or someone else.
He is impressed. He never would have thought it to be an effective hiding technique against enemies.

The black-haired man tries moving around and pouts, when he realizes that he is still paralyzed.
He looks at the countdown again. Twenty minutes to go.

He bristles and decides to stay as shadow until the ailment has reached its expiration.
The next time he should use Appraisal before touching anything, he reprimands himself.

The teenager scrolls through his status, looking for any changes after the use of his skill.
Maybe he received some experience points?

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: Human

Age: 16 years

LV: 1

Class: Black Bubble

Active Skill: Shadow, Appraisal

Passive Skill: Stamina, Charm, Miracle, Language Comprehension

HP: 16/16

MP: 23/25

EXP: 2

Next Level: 48 EXP

Equipped Gear: Backpack

Blessing: none

Status: Paralyzed

Title: none

0 G

ATK: 8

DEF: 11

MAT: 8

MDF: 11

AGI: 12

LUK: 15

Okay, experience went up and magical or mana points went one down. And his status states paralyzed. No big changes then.

He broods about the experience points he needs for reaching his next level.
Is it normal to need so many to just level up? And he is just Level 1 at the moment?
Shouldn’t the numbers be much lower?

At this rate it will take him a long time before gaining a proper level-foundation for his lone-wolf adventure.

Yuuri is frustrated. Why can’t anything be easy for once?

He hears rhythmic pings and looks up to see the countdown hit zero. He smiles, when his body starts responding to his inner commands. He is finally rid of the status ailment.

Yuuri decides that he is ready to leave the shadow of the flower. He stretches himself, being in a rather good mood. He survived the encounter with the beast and learned something good about his skillset.

The Japanese citizen crouches down and takes the blue flower into his hands.

    “Never underestimate the force called nature”, he grimaces, but tucks the flower into his left pocket. Maybe it can be used for other purposes.

He gets another notification immediately.

Received: Item Storage (Active Skill)

Item Storage – Can deposit up to 100 items.

Current Storage room 99/100

Yuuri clicks his tongue. So now he receives a storage ability.
He already wondered silently, if there was such a skill in this world or if he would have to go through the pains of carrying everything by himself.

He takes his backpack and tips on it to add it into the Item Storage. Without it he would have more agility and wouldn’t tire that fast. The storage count goes down to 98 of 100 free spaces and the schoolkid hums in approval. Time to move on!

He wanders down the road, wary of potential threats, picking up more flowers and analysing them, while staying on his toes and hiding in the shadows, when unavoidable monsters cross his way. He doesn’t want to repeat the incident with the Blue Flash.

Yuuri starts to wonder how long the road will still go on before he reaches a village, city or anything. Just when he is about to start complaining out loud, he stands before a crossroad with a sign indicating the destination of the different route’s directions.

The brown-eyed teen tries reading the names of the destinations, but only remains scowling in disbelief. He has no idea what is written on the wooden plates. It seems that his passive skill Language Comprehension doesn’t apply to written texts. What a shame.

So what should he do? He doesn’t know, which direction leads to safety or further danger. Moreover, he hasn’t got a clue about his whereabouts and how far away he is from civilization in general.

Yuuri nibbles on his thumb, trying to come up with a solution.

It is still sunny outside, but night will fall sometime and his MP are depleting faster than he wants them to. But as he doesn’t have any attack skills, he has to avoid monsters no matter what. And he is still left in the dark of how to regain MP and restore them. In games, the player has to sleep or drink potions or rest in specific places. But here in the wildness, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to take a nap. He could be robbed or mugged or killed by a monster coming by.

No, the risk is too high. He has to find an inn or someplace safe first.

Determined Yuuri takes a fallen tree branch into his hands and uses the infamous stick method to solve his crisis. The stick falls pointing to the left.

He hums in appreciation and puts it off the road, so that it won’t hinder other travellers.
Then he journeys on, which he regrets half an hour later.

Yuuri runs with all his might down the path, trying to avoid newly appearing monsters, dying to join the crowd behind the poor teenager in pursuing him relentlessly.

Why did he decide on that route again? Ah yes, because a branch told him so.
He could slap himself again for choosing that stupid method of decision making.

He only wanted to pick one flower. One simple flower. And now he has an entire battalion of beasts behind him, trying to have him for dinner.

He looks down at his status plate in desperation.

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: Human

Age: 16 years

LV: 1

Class: Black Bubble

Active Skill: Shadow, Appraisal, Item Storage (80/100)

Passive Skill: Stamina, Charm, Miracle, Language Comprehension

HP: 16/16

MP: 1/25

EXP: 24

Next Level: 26 EXP

Equipped Gear: Backpack

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: none

0 G

ATK: 8

DEF: 11

MAT: 8

MDF: 11

AGI: 12

LUK: 15

He only has one time left using Shadow before he is out of MP. Damn it!
The day couldn’t have gone any worse. His Stamina skill glows lightly and Yuuri is very grateful for it. If it wouldn’t be for that Passive Skill, he would already be dead meat.

Maybe he could use Charm as well… Does it work on monsters?

Yuuri glances behind himself, while still running at full speed down the bumpy road.
He would like to try and find out, but what if it would intervene with his Stamina skill and then he would tire out completely.

It wasn’t worth the risk or was it?

What does he have to lose anyway? Ah yes, his life.

The Japanese highschooler sighs. He must be really stupid or brazen.

    “Charm!”, he commands and the monsters immediately freeze, studying him with renewed vigour and purring strangely.

Okay? They stopped. He eyes them curiously and they eye him with a strange gleam in their gaze.
The purring gets stronger and louder.

Yuuri is confused. Why do they purr? And what’s with their heated gazes? They behave as if they are… Oh shit! He pales immediately at the realization.

The teenager takes a few steps back, then turns around and runs again at full speed, the monsters immediately joining him with their eyes full of hearts, clearly in mating mood.

Maybe he shouldn’t have tried that one or he has overdone the effect with adrenaline fuelling his body. Yuuri breathes heavily.

How does he undo the Charm skill, when he has to concentrate on breathing?
He tries to take a look at his status plate again and finds out that his Stamina skill was never interrupted. So he must either will or voice a command to stop a skill from being active.

Yuuri screams on top of his lungs for the Charm skill to cease its function and it does so immediately. The purring stops and turns to growling again.
And with that the pursuit of Yuuri goes into the next round. Hallelujah!

The Japanese man has always wondered, why he has so much stamina, when he doesn’t really work out that much at home, but now he is really grateful for his ability.
Tears run down his flushed cheeks.
What wouldn’t he give for this to be a normal day or dream he can wake up from. Ah pure irony.

Caught up in his thoughts with his eyes still glassy, Yuuri doesn’t notice that he advances a forest at neck-breaking speed. He just runs into the covert with his up-build pace and wonders, when the air suddenly turns more humid and colder.

He runs and runs until he doesn’t hear any following sounds from behind anymore. Then he risks looking back only to find no monsters in pursuit any longer. The student takes a deep breath. Elation and exhaustion crashing down on him at the same time. He survived.

His mind turns hazy and when he tries to take another step, he stumbles on his feet, falling over some roots and tumbling down the forest ground by the sidewalk. His breath is pushed out of him a few times, before his body comes to a stop somewhere in the covert.

Yuuri is tired and exhausted. His body doesn’t want to move any longer.
He hears rustling from the near bushes and a huffing noise like a “Wuff!”

He tries to focus on the newcomer, but his eyes stay glazed.

Footsteps sound from the ground and he hears a soft accented voice, “Makka wait up! What’s the rush?”

A silver-glimmering person appears out of nowhere, looking at Yuuri with his cerulean-blue eyes in wonder and confusion, “What do we have here?”

Then Yuuri loses his consciousness and everything goes black.

Chapter Text

Yuuri’s POV

The sound of his alarm snaps Yuuri out of his dream. He groans, when he looks at the blue round clock, indicating that it’s time to get out of bed and prepare himself to go to school.

Urgh school! He totally forgot to do that assignment the previous day.
Maybe he can copy the answers from Yuuko at lunch.

Yuuri shuffles out of his bed, stretching his body before starting to dress himself in his dark blue school uniform. He puts on his blue-rimmed glasses, brushes his teeth and combs his unruly hair into submission. Then the 16-year-old grabs his black schoolbag and rushes down the corridor and stairs to the Katsuki’s private family room in their onsen.

He greets his cuddly brown-haired mother, who is merrily bustling around the kitchen, preparing their breakfast, and turns to his smiling father for another “Good morning", who is now reading the daily newspapers in tranquillity. The highschooler seats himself at his usual place, taking a sip from his morning tea.

His sister Mari comes back from her smoke outside, ruffling his hair before taking her place beside him. She has brown eyes like their parents and short brown hair that is partially bleached. She is a little taller than her younger brother, which gives Yuuri some kind of complex because he desperately wants to outgrow her. His sibling has a very mischievous side besides her cool exterior and she loves to pick on Yuuri. But she is also his greatest protector and supporter besides his parents and the Japanese student won’t admit it, but he really loves her dearly.

    “Mari! I just combed my hair!”, Yuuri exclaims mortified.

His big sister just chuckles, “Oh shut it, lil’ bro. You can’t even see the difference anyway.”

He pouts, trying to straighten out his hair again, but gives up shortly.

Well, so much for trying to not look like a whirlwind.

His mother Hiroko brings over their traditional Japanese breakfast and the family starts eating.

    “Did you sleep well today?”, Hiroko inquires, addressing Yuuri.

    “Well, I had that very strange dream about my classmates and I being transported to another world”, the dark-haired boy blushes.

Mari starts laughing, “That must have been quite the adventure then. Do tell, lil’ bro, I’m all ears.”

Yuuri punches her softly against the upper arm, “Mari that was no laughing matter! I was left behind by my classmates and then pursued by dangerous and blood-thirsty monsters and…”

    “Isn’t it time for school, son?”, his father Toshiya interrupts his retelling and Yuuri stares at the clock.

Oh shit. He will be late if he doesn’t hurry! And he doesn’t want to get scolded and be doomed with detention the whole week.

    “I’ll tell you later! Bye Mum! Bye Dad! Bye Mari! Have a nice day!”, he rushes out of their private family room, taking the bento box his mother prepared for him with him and scrambles out of the onsen, running down the bustling streets to school.

Yuuri thinks he is flying to school or at least trying to.

He doesn’t want to be late.

He arrives in time before the school gate closes, rushing to exchange his street shoes for his school slippers and makes haste to his classroom. The young teen slumps down on his seat, out of breath from all the rushing and running.

Yuuko and Takeshi greet him with amused smiles.

    “You’ve cut it close”, his friend with a stocky build, tan skin and short-cut black hair waves at him in greeting, “Did you oversleep? Or was the bed just too warm and cosy for you to part with it, Yuuri?”

    “Takeshi, don’t be mean!”, the girl with large chestnut brown eyes and reddish-brown hair scolds the other boy.

Yuuri shakes his head, “No, I just had a very disturbing dream and I wanted to tell Mari about it, so I forgot to watch the time.”

    “Ah dream?”, Yuuko asks interested, taking the blue flowers in her hand to deposit them in a white vase.

Since when did she have flowers in her hand?

    “Yeah. Ah very weird one at that. We all got transported to another world and I was left behind. And then I wanted to go search for you all, but I was only Level 1 and then I got pursued by bloodthirsty monsters and I got also paralyzed because of a flower and–”, Yuuri elaborates, when recognition hits him, “… Em, Yuuko? What’s this flower called?”

Yuuko hums, “Hm… It’s called Blue Flash. Why do you ask?”

Yuuri startles horrified, “That’s the flower! Yuuko that’s the exact same flower, which paralyzed me!”

His friends look at him incredulously, when the bell sounds again to announce homeroom. They shake their heads and return to their seats and their teacher Ms. Igarashi enters the classroom.

Yuuri’s thoughts go haywire and he can’t concentrate on homeroom at all.

Why is the Blue Flash in his classroom? He never heard of that flower before his dream! He must talk to Yuuko about it. Maybe he misheard her, when she told him the name of the flower.
That must be it!

The Japanese boy takes some of his notebook paper and writes down: ‘Can you tell me again the name of the flower?’ He folds it into a small paper frog and shoots it onto Yuuko’s desk.

She stares at him and at the frog and gives him a thumbs up, concentrating again on her teacher’s morning speech.

Yuuri wants to facepalm. Maybe he shouldn’t have folded origami art.

He takes another paper from his notebook and writes the same question down again, but this time he just crunches the paper together to form a ball and throws it at his friend again.

Yuuko sends him a pointed stare. She hates being interrupted during class. Yuuri feels bad for only one short second. This is important, he justifies his actions in his mind.

The teenager points at the paper ball in front of her to highlight the significance and she huffs in resignation, starting to entangle the paper to read Yuuri’s message. When she is done reading, she just furrows her eyebrows and writes him back a little bit annoyed.

When Yuuri receives her message, his confusion hits full force. On the white paper Yuuko had written down in her elegant handwriting: ‘It’s called Blue Flash. I already told you that, dummy!’.

He bites his bottom lip. He knows that it was that flower, which paralyzed him in his dream.
He is sure of it!

He writes after Yuuko’s answer: ‘It is the flower from my dream. From Isekai. But that can’t be!’

The dark-haired boy throws it up to his friend again, who sighs and opens his second message.
She writes him back immediately.

Yuuri reads her message after opening the paper ball: ‘Give it a rest, Yuuri.’

Give it a rest? That is rude! He is just concerned!

He wants to give her his response, but then thinks better of it. She would probably ignore him, starting now. He scowls. Screw paper messages. He has to talk about this now!

He leans forward and whispers, trying not to draw the attention of the teacher to them, “I swear. It is the hellish plant, which nearly killed me in my dream!”

    “Yuuri. We have class now. We can discuss your dream during break if you want, but now focus on the teacher!”, she scolds him.

But Yuuri isn’t having anything of that.

    “I… But it’s important! What if monsters attack us?”, Yuuri can’t believe his own ears.
Why should monsters attack them? Why did he even say that?

His body shivers with a foreboding feeling.

Yuuko studies him for one second before she just says, “Look, Yuuri. You just–“

But he never finds out the end of the sentence as sudden screams fill the classroom. Yuuri snaps his head in the direction of the noise and his eyes grow incredible wide.

A pack of raptorlike monsters are attacking his classmates.

He wants to say something, wants to help, but his body is frozen solid.

When the Japanese blinks again, he is suddenly in a black hallway, running as fast as he can, trying to shake off his pursuers. He looks left and right, but everything is dark and his classmates and both of his friends are gone. He only hears the breaths and growls behind him, catching up to him at a fast pace.

What happened here? Where are Yuuko and Takeshi? Where are his other classmates?
He thought that it was just a dream?

He sees a light at the end of the hallway and knows that he should run towards it.
The young man tries his hardest to gain speed, but the monsters are closer than he had thought them to be. Yuuri feels as one of them opens his jaw to grab and eat him in one go. He lets out a scream.

Yuuri wakes up startled and screaming at the top of his lungs. He has tears in his eyes, which cloud his vision and he tries to stand up, which leads to him tumbling out of the bed and hitting the floor with a loud and painful “thump”.

He curses and rubs his aching butt. Man, that hurt!

He tries to get his bearings and remember how he ended wherever he is now, but comes up blank. Where is he? What happened? Was he eaten by the monsters?
Was that a dream? But he isn’t at home, so where is this place?

Before he can further sort out his thoughts, he hears the door to the room open and a big brown fuzzy something tackles him to the ground, pinning him with its fluffy paws to the floor, while attacking him with sloppy doggy kisses.

At first the student wants to scream, but then he notices through the doggy kisses that it’s a dog. But not just a normal dog. It’s a fluffy and beautiful standard poodle.

He pats the dog gently, relaxing after his revelation that his attacker is no threat to his life and well-being. He has nothing to fear. At least for the moment.

He coos softly at the animal and the doggy kisses become relentless. He gasps for breath, but the poodle seems to not get the hint and Yuuri is still pinned down, unable to move and help himself out of his current predicament.

Well, if you can even call it that. Because being slobbered by an adorable pooch is more one of Yuuri’s dreams than his nightmare.

He hears some footsteps outside of the room and gets startled when a soft, but accented voice says, “Down, Makka!”

The poodle immediately lets go of him, whining at the mystery man, who only chuckles amused and pats her gently on the head.

Yuuri finds his glasses and focuses his eyes on the owner of the mesmerising voice after his vision clears. He gets jaw slacked.

Before him stands the most beautiful being he has ever seen in his life.

He has short silver hair with one patch hanging slightly over one of his eyes.
Oh, his eyes: they are an artwork in itself! The cerulean-blue colour gives them the soft touch of the sky and the enigmatic light of the waves of the ocean. He has soft and plush lips and a muscular body. His limbs are long and slender and Yuuri thinks that he must be in his early twenties. His skin looks incredible smooth and the Japanese wants to glide his fingers over these incredible abs.

Yuuri flushes bright red, when he finally notices that he is staring and drooling embarrassingly over a mysterious stranger, he doesn’t even know the name of. Because he really wants to know the name of this hunk, this god, this celestial being gracing him with his presence in this Mortal Realm.

He should stop being dramatic and not make this anymore uncomfortable as he has already ruined his first impression and is probably stamped as some foreign weirdo, who drools over people he doesn’t even know without even introducing himself. God damn it. He is being incredibly rude to this amazingly handsome man in front of him. Who even seems to have a pooch! Every dog lover counts as ‘good people’ in Yuuri’s book. Can he get more perfect? And Yuuri is back to starring again. But he just can’t help it.

The mysterious man smiles kindly at him and Yuuri turns more crimson in his embarrassment.
The silver-haired hunk hands him a bowl of soup and a spoon – since when was that there? – and Yuuri takes it gratefully as his stomach starts rumbling.

There is an awkward silence between them. The stranger just watches Yuuri eat the soup, only smiling gently at him, but not saying a word, waiting for him to finish his meal.

And Yuuri remembers, remembers that the dream in his nightmare wasn’t a fantasy.
He really got transported to another world and fought for his survival.

But how did he end up here? He remembers running away from the monsters chasing him.
But what happened afterward?

Yuuri tries to collect his thoughts.

He ran. Then charmed them. Ran again. Stopped his Charm skill and… tumbled into an unknown forest, stumbling on a root on some sidewalk and… fell unconscious somewhere in the covert.
Just great.

He eyes the handsome man secretly, while enjoying the warmth of the meal. Then that must be his knight in shining armour, saving him gallantly from his predicament in the forest.

Well, Yuuri isn’t one to complain about beautiful people saving his day, even if Yuuri himself isn’t the personification of a damsel in distress or a princess worth saving from the dragon’s den.
He takes what he gets. And it seems that fate has granted him a joyous encounter with a godlike being, soothing his worries through some very delectable eye candy. He can live with that. Even if it’s only for a short while.

He takes another spoon full of soup.

But what if that is all a trap and the handsome man in front of him is a witch in disguise, just waiting for him to get fat enough to be grilled and eaten.

But can such a beautiful being even be anything but pure and innocent?

He shakes his head, remembering that a lot of beautiful things can be deadly.

Yuuri decides to use his Appraisal skill to check the status of his enigmatic benefactor, while he pretends to be focusing on his meal.

He tries to focus his mind, whispering “Appraisal” and a status field opens before his eyes, seemingly invisible for the other man.

Name: Victor Nikiforov

Race: ??? Human

Age: ???

LV: ???

Class: ???

Active Skill: ???

Passive Skill: ???

HP: ???/???

MP: ???/???

EXP: ???

Next Level: ??? EXP

Equipped Gear: ???

Blessing: Chrysanthemia’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: The Living Legend

??? G

ATK: ???

DEF: ???

MAT: ???

MDF: ???

AGI: ???

LUK: ???

Wow. There are a lot of question marks. Is his skill broken?

He feints a careful movement with his spoon, so that he can click on the ‘??? Human’ with his finger.

??? Human – This person belongs to the human race, probably.

What does that mean?!? How can someone probably belong to a species?
This gets weirder by the second.

With the next spoon swing he clicks on ‘Chrysanthemia’s Blessing’.

Chrysanthemia’s Blessing – A Divine Blessing from the Head Goddess of this world.

Aha. It seems that in this world gods and goddesses can grant people their blessings. Then his saviour must be really a lucky bastard to receive one from the Head Goddess herself.

Yuuri takes a look at his own status, grumbling internally, when he reads the ‘none’ on his side.

No, he doesn’t feel worthless and inferior at all. He also isn’t jealous because who wouldn’t bless some divine being like this man in front of him.

Even Yuuri would choose him over himself.

He returns his attention to the status plate of the other and clicks on the title of his benefactor with a smooth hand movement.

The Living Legend – A unique title bestowed upon Victor Nikiforov,
honourable warrior and saviour of the world, who lives in the
tales of the people for his great deeds and legendary exploits.

Wow. That sounds important. So his saviour is not only a total handsome hunk, but a kind of hero as well. Count him impressed.

Yuuri takes another spoon full of soup to hide a whistle.

But still the question marks are rather disturbing. Maybe he should appraise something else to see if his skill is really broken or if this is just Victor Nikiforov hiding his status.

He scans over the room. A simple bed, one night-table, two cupboards, a comfy chair, two bookshelves… nothing out of the ordinary. He turns to the floor and looks at the tongue-lolling poodle, who tackled him earlier.

He could give this a try.

He whispers “Appraisal” again and a status field opens. Makka eyes him warily for a second and Yuuri tries to make a not obvious apologizing gesture after which the pooch just starts lolling her tongue again.

Yuuri furrows his eyebrows. Was he just lightly scolded by a poodle and then forgiven after apologizing? No, that must have been his imagination.

He turns his attention to the status field and furrows his brow again.

Name: Makkachin (Makka)

Race: Beautiful Dog?

Age: never ask a Lady that!

LV: omitted

Class: Poodle

Active Skill: Rolling around, Puppy Dog Eyes

Passive Skill: Being lazy

HP: a lot

MP: more than a lot

EXP: doesn’t count anymore

Next Level: omitted EXP

Equipped Gear: ???

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: Best Dog Ever

doesn’t need it G

ATK: definitely stronger than you

DEF: don’t need to tell you

MAT: being powerful is awesome

MDF: you ever heard of The Great Wall?

AGI: like the wind

LUK: the best of all

Okay, his skill is definitely and without a doubt totally broken. And he hasn’t got any idea how to fix it. But just for reference sake he has to agree with the title.
The pooch must be the best dog ever.

Yuuri glances at Makkachin, whispering a “Thank you” and the poodle woofs adorably in response. She is just too precious.

He tries to take another spoonful of soup but notices that the bowl is empty.

Oh, he hadn’t even realized that he finished his meal.

His focus shifts to the still silent man besides the cute dog and Yuuri startles. The silver-haired stranger is still staring at him in a kind of endearing way and the Japanese man blushes again.

Has he watched him this whole time?

Yuuri places the soup bowl to the side on the night-table and tries to make eye contact with his saviour.

Well, they couldn’t just have a silent starring contest the whole day. Maybe his benefactor will finally say something again with this wonderful voice of his, when he notices that Yuuri is done eating? Or should he just introduce himself?

He gets released from the decision, when his handsome saviour clears his throat.

Is he blushing? Must be Yuuri’s imagination.

The handsome man holds out a hand for him to shake, “Hey. I am Victor and this pretty lady is Makkachin or Makka for short. Sorry that the introduction comes a bit late, but well, I thought that food should come first before the talk. So yeah…”

Yuuri gulps, taking the outstretched hand and pressing their hands together for a greeting shake, “I am Katsuki Yuuri. Oh, I mean Yuuri Katsuki. You probably say it in that order.”

    “Yuuri Katsuki”, Victor enunciates warm and soft, like it is something precious. And Yuuri is a goner. If he could, he would be swooning right now.

Gods, does this voice do things to him.

He slaps himself mentally.

Get a grip, Katsuki!

    “Well then, Yuuri. How about a question for a question”, Victor decides to take up the conversation and Yuuri nods. The silver-haired man smiles, “How does someone like you end up in the Forest of Evergreen by yourself?”

The highschooler bites his bottom lip, grimacing.

His benefactor frowns, “I don’t mean to insult you with that, but it is rare for a Level 1 person to travel on his own so far away from civilization. It’s pretty dangerous, you know. In a normal scenario, it would mean instant death by default. But you seem to be a lucky one.”

Yuuri nibbles on his lower lip, contemplating.

Should he tell the truth or lie about his circumstances? Can he trust Victor to believe him?
But this is his saviour. If he can’t trust him than he won’t be able to trust anyone in this world.
He settles for the truth.

    “Well, I…”, he takes a deep breath. This will sound so ridiculous. “Okay, this will sound really ridiculous. And I can’t fault you if you don’t believe me after hearing this and want me to leave immediately, but I swear to you that it is the utter truth.”

Victor furrows his eyebrow, his eyes turning distant, then warm again, “Try me.”

Yuuri fidgets with his hands, “I am not originally from this world. I am from Japan. That’s a country on planet Earth, my home planet”, he avoids the gaze of the cerulean-eyed man, “My class from school had planned to go on a trip that’s why we rented a bus to drive us there. If you don’t know what a bus is, it’s a big vehicle with many seats for passengers. Maybe you can compare it with a coach. Whatever, I woke up in the school bus yesterday and all my classmates were gone. And I was completely left alone. When I looked out the window, I couldn’t grasp my location. And then there were dragons circling in the air and I decided to go search for my classmates as the whole bus seemed to be transported to this new world, to Isekai. And then there was that blue flower, which paralyzed me for an hour and I was nearly killed if it weren’t for my Shadow skill. Then there were the crossroads and I couldn’t read the signs, so I used a branch to help me decide on my path and it brought me to a horde of monsters, who pursued me until I reached the forest. After realizing I was no longer chased, I stumbled over some roots and tumbled down. And that’s how you and Makkachin probably found me. Thank you by the way for saving me. I don’t know what would have happened without you rescuing me”, Yuuri takes a bow of gratitude.

Victor doesn’t say anything at first. Yuuri glances up to see his saviour pointing a finger at his own lips, lost deeply in thought and a frown covering his forehead.

The Japanese student gulps. He can only await the verdict.

    “Well”, The Living Legend smiles at him kindly, “You seem to have been through a lot, Yuuri. And I am sorry that all of this happened to you. Please take your time to rest up properly. You are safe here. I have a ward that keeps monsters away from my house and my garden.”

    “You believe me?”, Yuuri asks incredulously.

Victor chuckles lightly, “Should I not?”

The 16-years-old freezes up, waving his hands in panic, “No, I mean yes. I mean, it’s normally not wise to believe a complete stranger with such a strange story. Not that I don’t want you to believe me. But well, wouldn’t you be normally more on your guard and…”

    “And what Yuuri?”, the silver-haired man inquires.

Yuuri blushes, “Not so kind and welcoming.”

Victor hums thoughtfully, “Well, normally you also wouldn’t eat the food made by a complete stranger or would you?”

The teenager turns crimson. Right. He should have been more on his guard. But well, Victor was his saviour. Why shouldn’t he trust him if he already saved him once?

His benefactor chuckles again, “Well, whatever. I think you should rest up a bit more. Your MP were nearly fully drained and you exhausted yourself greatly. However, before that I still owe you a question for before. So, what do you want to know?”

Yuuri’s mind starts spiralling. Oh, he wants to ask so many questions, but he thinks that Victor has a point in him still being exhausted and needing to rest. So what question shall it be?

He swallows and feels thirsty, so he blinks at his caretaker, “Em… Can I have something to drink, please?”

The other man looks at him surprised, then starts laughing, “Of course. Wait a sec. I bring you some water”, Victor stands up and vanishes for a minute before coming back with a big glass of water, handing it over to Yuuri.

The world traveller takes big gulps from the glass. He didn’t know that he had been that thirsty. After finishing he feels refreshed and blissful.

    “So, your question?”, Victor startles him out of his bliss, Yuuri looks at him confused and the cerulean-eyed man snorts, “You don’t think that that was a question of equal measure, do you?”

The brown-haired teen blushes again for no apparent reason, “Well, then… Is your hair colour natural or bleached?”

Victor stares at him speechless for a minute before he bursts out in laughter again, “Of all the things you could have asked, you ask if my hair is bleached?”

Yuuri covers his face in his hands, his cheeks flaming.

Smart question, Katsuki. Very smart. Man, he must think you an idiot.

His benefactor tries to reign in his amusement and answers, “It is natural. I was born this way. I’ve got it from my mother, it’s the same platinum colour.”

Yuuri hums, still caught up in his embarrassment.

    “I think I should let you sleep some more now. We will talk about the other things later. Sleep tight and rest well, Yuuri”, Victor adds, taking the soup bowl with his hand and gesturing to Makkachin to go outside the bedroom with him.

He waves at the Japanese teen before he closes the door and Yuuri drifts back into dreamland.

Victor’s POV

Victor closes the door to his bedroom, Makka trailing behind him. He turns around and sits down on the first stair of his staircase leading down to the first floor. He sets the soup bowl aside and stares at a now whining Makka. He pats her head gently and lets out a deep sigh.

He is at a loss of what to do.

Is this a trap or just pure coincidence?

The silver-haired man wishes to know the answer to that one.

Did he wish for too much? He just wants to live his life in solitude, not going back to those tiresome and draining days from his past. But he also knows that he can’t just let Yuuri leave after that. He doesn’t want him to leave… at least not that quickly. But then again, is that a wise choice?

His head starts aching. How did it come to this again?

A few hours earlier…

It starts off as another beautiful day in the Forest of Evergreen.

Victor wakes up to the birds greeting the new day at sunrise. He hums to the song of the animals in the forest. He always has been an early bird since his childhood days and he loves those harmonious mornings very much.

He changes into his work clothes, simple black trousers and a white button-down-shirt with a small purple vest as overcoat. After finishing his morning beauty care routine, he goes down into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for Makka and himself.

Makkachin wakes up to the smell of delicious pancakes and they both dine together. Then Victor goes through his list of chores and training to do for the day and starts just doing that.

At lunch, he prepares something to eat for both of them and then goes back to his planned chores, while Makka goes about her business.

At around 5 o’clock in the afternoon Makkachin comes to get him for their evening walk together. She always chooses their routes through the forest.

This time Makka leads him northeast.

They pass the Lake of the Nymphs and the Cave of the White Unicorn, the Spirit Guardian of the Forest, enjoying the beautiful nature and wildlife around them. His companion leads him further into the covert and they soon find themselves on an undiscovered trail.

Victor wants to turn around and head back, but Makka insists that they follow the path up north. She doesn’t elaborate why and the silver-haired man doesn’t question her decision. They wander around for some time, when Makkachin suddenly gains speed and rushes through the bushes.

    “Makka wait up! What’s the rush?”, Victor chases after her and stumbles, when he sees a man on the ground. He looks at the stranger in wonder, not knowing what to do with him, exclaiming, “What do we have here?”

Then he turns his gaze at Makka for any indication of why she had led him to this stranger, but she just nods at said mystery man as if she was saying ‘do something’ to him.

Victor turns his gaze again to the man on the ground, who seemed to have lost his consciousness just a moment ago. Just great.

He uses his Appraisal skill to get more information about the mysterious person before him.

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: Human

Age: 16 years

LV: 1

Class: Black Bubble

Active Skill: Shadow, Appraisal, Item Storage (80/100)

Passive Skill: Stamina, Charm, Miracle, Language Comprehension

HP: 16/16

MP: 1/25

EXP: 24

Next Level: 26 EXP

Equipped Gear: Backpack

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: none

0 G

ATK: 8

DEF: 11

MAT: 8

MDF: 11

AGI: 12

LUK: 15

He checks warily through the information before him.

Hm… Yuuri Katsuki.

He chuckles softly.

Another Yuuri. Yura won’t like it one bit.

He eyes the family name.

Katsuki is definitely foreign. He never heard of such a family name before.

He is human and oh… how cute. How long has it been since he himself has been sweet sixteen!

When Victor reads the Level of Yuuri, he gets shocked.

He is only Level 1?!? How could he be travelling on his own? That is not only just being reckless, it's plain suicide! How did he even survive to get to the woods? Not that the forest wasn’t any more dangerous than the plains. But that must have been some luck on his side to survive that long on his own.

Victor continues studying the status plate.

His class is… Black Bubble? What is that? Sounds bubbly. But the man in front of him doesn’t look like a bubble one bit, even if he is a bit on the chubby side.

Interesting, Victor thinks, his lips curling up.

His HP and MP are normal for a Level 1, but his EXPs and Next-Level count are strange.
They are way too high for a beginner. Normally he should be nearing Level 3 to 4 with his already gained EXP. Very strange. And why does he have his backpack equipped as gear?

Victor furrows his eyebrows. Yuuri’s status plate tells him that he has no blessings received.
But the specific information emanates a dull light and the silver-haired man turns to Makka in question.

    “Can’t you give him a blessing, Makka?”, he asks without thinking about the consequences.

The poodle raises an eyebrow at the suggestion, shaking her head, “I can’t, there is already someone, who has his eye on him. See the light, he is already a claimed person, just in pre-blessing state.”

    “Pre-blessing state”, Victor repeats, then he adds more interested, “Do you know which god or goddess has chosen him?”

Makka smirks at him, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He scowls at her and she laughs in amusement.

    “Fine, forget it!”, Victor knows she won’t tell him. It’s not her style.

He clicks on the light emanating from the title-field on the status.

The person hasn’t currently chosen a title to represent himself.

So he has a few titles, huh…

The cerulean-eyed man views his other stats, humming to himself again.

Well, the stats could be a little higher, but he is in the average category.

He looks at the skills and frowns in confusion. The mystery guy really has a lot of strange skills. Why does someone need Language Comprehension as passive skill? The combination is indeed very interesting. He never knew a Level-1-guy having Stamina, Charm and Miracle as start-out skills. The active skill Shadow sounds interesting as well. And his Item Storage is very strange. How can he be that low in level, but have so many goodies? He clicks on it.

The current Item Storage free room is 80/100.

So he has it the other way around then. Yeah, having 20 items seems more credible than having 80 in your pocket. At least for someone who has 0 Gold with him. But still, that storage count is incredibly confusing. Maybe Makkachin can fix the item count somehow.

He turns to Makka and she sighs, “Yeah, I can change that. Just wait a sec.”
She surrounds herself and Yuuri in a glittering light before everything turns normal again and Victor takes a look at the status plate again.

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: Human

Age: 16 years

LV: 1

Class: Black Bubble

Active Skill: Shadow, Appraisal, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Stamina, Charm, Miracle, Language Comprehension

HP: 16/16

MP: 1/25

EXP: 24

Next Level: 26 EXP

Equipped Gear: Backpack

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: Adventurous Soul

0 G

ATK: 8

DEF: 11

MAT: 8

MDF: 11

AGI: 12

LUK: 15

Victor laughs, “Makka, I never said that you should also choose a title for him! What if he doesn’t like it?”

Makkachin huffs, “Then he can change it if he doesn’t like it. I just took one, he already had anyway. And I think it suits him.”

Victor pats her on the head before he tips lightly on the title to get information about its meaning.

Adventurous Soul – A person who loves adventures.

He starts laughing again, patting her head in succession.
Well, he can’t deny that it indeed suits the unconscious man.
To go at Level 1 on this kind of journey alone – he must be a true adventurer at heart.

Victor turns again to the poodle, “What shall we do with him?”

Normally he is very wary of foreigners and tends to mind his own business, but there was something about the stranger. Something he can’t quite place.

    “I think you already made your decision, sweetheart”, Makka just states, looking him knowingly in the eyes.

Well, there she goes again. Reading him like an open book.

He starts humming to himself, a smile latching onto his face.

Yakov, his former mentor, would have a field day with him and Yura would call him a big idiot for taking in a stranger without a second question after all he has been through in his past.

But still he wants to help the stranger. No, he wants to aid Yuuri. Selfish, prideful and dramatic Victor Nikiforov wants to take care of someone else after all this time.

Well, he will take care of him and get rid of him as fast as he can, he supposes and then he can have his life in solitude with Makka again.

But still, it’s incredible that he wants to take care of someone again.
He still can’t believe it himself, but what should he do.
His gut feeling tells him, it’s the right thing, so he won’t question himself further.
Or at least not for the way home. And just as he told himself before, after Yuuri has rested up, Victor will get rid of him as fast as possible.

That’s a plan, he guesses.

He bends down to the unconscious foreign man, taking him bridal style into his embrace and standing up with him in his arms.

    “Let’s head home, Makka!”, he declares confidently.

They walk quickly through the forest back to their house.

When they finally arrive, Victor immediately goes up to his bedroom to deposit Yuuri in the bed to give him a better resting place than his arms.

He puts the covers over Yuuri, the movement waking the dark-haired man, his eyes full of sleep and wonder. Victor freezes, when slender fingers touch his left cheek softly.

    “So beautiful. Are you an angel?”, Yuuri asks with a silky voice before he collapses again and starts snoring.

Victor’s cheeks turn a pink hue from the words and his heart skips a beat before beating uncontrollably against his ribcage. His world explodes in colour – he doesn’t know what’s happening, but somehow, whatever this is, it feels right.

He feels alive for the first time in a long while.

He takes some sheepish glimpses at the sleeping beauty in his bed, feeling warm and fuzzy.
Maybe it is the Charm skill? He views Yuuri’s status plate and huffs.
The Charm skill isn’t active at all… So what could it be?

Makka whines questioningly at him, when he just stands there staring stupidly.

Victor turns to her, a wide grin forming on his lips, “Well Makka, my dear. It seems, we have a guest to take care of.”

Makka buffs her agreement and the silver-haired man laughs heartily.

They exit the bedroom and go downstairs into the kitchen. Victor thinks about what to prepare for someone, who was out in the forest, probably having escaped from a near-death situation.
Yuuri would need something nutritious then, he concludes and decides on a simple vegetable soup with mushrooms and some soothing herbs. While preparing the dish, Victor hums his favourite song to distract himself as his mind catches up to the events from the day.

He had hoped that the second-guessing would have waited a little longer before nurturing his now screaming mind. He hums louder, trying to drown his mind, which is telling him that this is dangerous and probably a trap to lure him out. He thinks about the words of the sleeping man upstairs and instead of his mind screaming, his heart starts beating harder and he feels something like euphoria and … is that anticipation?

He ignores his thoughts and emotions completely, concentrating on his task.
He stirs the pot, taking a sip with a spoon to taste test the soup and hums in agreement, when he hears a painful “thump” from the upper floor and Makka rushes up the stairs, her tail wailing in excitement.

Victor chuckles. That definitely was a rude awakening. Poor Yuuri. He takes a bowl and puts the soup in it, then grabs a spoon and goes up the stairs to greet his ward properly this time. Here goes nothing, he thinks, when he enters the room, trying to be confident and non-threatening.

The first thing he notices, is that the foreigner is buried under Makka, who drowns him in doggy kisses.

To have Makka doing that…

Yuuri gets more interesting by the second.

Victor’s lips curl up and he says, “Down girl”, to rescue the poor man. Makka obliges and lets go of Yuuri, whining. He chuckles amused and pats her gently on the head.

He knows that she means well, but sometimes she is just a little bit too overwhelming.
Not that he is any better. He knows that he often doesn’t have a filter at all.

Victor directs his gaze to his ward and meets the warmest chocolate-brown eyes, he’s ever seen in his life. It’s like everything starts lighting up around him, a fuzzy but comfortable feeling settling over his heart. It feels like magic, but it isn’t. But it’s strong, that he can feel for sure.

The young man was a sight to behold, when he was unconscious, but awake he is a million times more handsome. Victor wants to indulge himself and squish these slightly round but soft cheeks and caress Yuuri’s beautiful face with his fingers.

Okay, something is definitely wrong with him. And if it isn’t Yuuri’s Charm skill playing tricks on him than he has no clue of what is happening to him.

Victor focuses on his guest again and sees that Yuuri is staring starstruck at him, flushing bright red, when the dark-haired man notices that he is staring.

He is a cute one, that’s for sure.

Victor smiles kindly at the foreigner, which lets the other only turn more crimson and embarrassed.

The Living Legend could look at Yuuri his whole day and wouldn’t get bored.

The silver-haired man hands the 16-year-old the bowl of soup and the spoon, which the other takes gratefully and with a rumbling stomach.

Victor has to suppress his urge to laugh. He doesn’t want his guest to feel uncomfortable. He also thinks that Yuuri should eat before they talk and well, maybe Victor is just as speechless as the other man at the moment. Not being able to produce anything coherent. He doesn’t know why, but it seems that the cat caught his tongue.

There is an awkward silence between them, while Yuuri slowly eats the soup with Victor just watching him, mesmerized because of his every movement. He feels like under some kind of strong magic spell again. A spell, which doesn’t let him take his eyes off the man. So he just stands there, watching entranced and studying every inch of Yuuri, waiting for him to finish his meal.

The silver-haired man watches Yuuri structuring his memories and thinking about various things until he hears a whispered “Appraisal”.

Oh, he is getting appraised!
Does he want to be appraised though? No, he doesn’t.

So, he actives his Hide Status skill, but gives Yuuri still some info like his name, a half-truth of his race, his blessing and his most favourite title.

He apologizes internally, but experience taught him that caution is his greatest ally and friend.
Not that Victor often heads its council though. Still, he wasn’t ready to open himself up to Yuuri. He doesn’t even know the man. But they can get to know each other later perhaps if Yuuri would even stay that long.

He watches Yuuri again, his cute nose scrunched up in confusion.

Oh, how adorable! Has he never seen a hidden status before? By the looks of it, he seems to think something like ‘is my skill broken?’. He is just too precious.

Victor thinks that he has found a new and very entertaining past-time.

Oh! Now he seems slightly disturbed and surprised. His furrowed eyebrow is just too cute!

The silver-haired man stares at the younger one, waiting in anticipation for another reaction.

Why is Yuuri grumbling now? Is he pouting?

Victor leans forward, trying to get closer, but holding himself back at the last second.
Yuuri’s expression changes into an impressed one.
And Victor wants to know what had impressed him!

Was it the blessing or his title?

He is very proud of both. But this guessing is killing him! Should he just ask?
But then he would be discovered. No, he can’t.

Yuuri takes another spoon full of soup, trying to hide a clear whistle and Victor’s heart skips a beat at the sound.

He takes a breath before he stares at his ward again. Yuuri seems to be looking for something? Victor is confused. What does he need? Is it urgent? Does he need his help?

He wants to ask Yuuri, when the teen seems to have found what he is looking for.
But why does he look at Makka?

Yuuri whispers “Appraisal” again and Victor’s bewilderment is cleared.
Oh! He wants to check if his skill is really broken!

Victor has to hold back his laughter, knowing how Makka defined her status today.
Poor Yuuri would be left even more confused than by Victor’s status.
He’s totally chosen the wrong being to appraise.

The silver-haired man wants to facepalm. He notices Makkachin eyeing their guest warily and the dark-haired beauty making an apologizing gesture, which touches Victor as well.
How can someone be so cute?

Yuuri furrows his brows checking the status board, clear confusion on his face again and … is that resignation?

The Living Legend watches the foreign boy as he whispers a “Thank you” to Makkachin and the poodle responding with an adorable woof.
They are both so precious.

Yuuri tries to take another spoonful, but the food bowl is empty.

Oh, so it’s finally time for a conversation, Victor concludes. How to best go about this?

He stares absentmindedly straight at Yuuri and the young man looks up from the finished dish, their gazes meeting each other. The foreigner startles and blushes.

Victor’s heart starts speeding up again. Maybe he shouldn’t have stared that directly?
His cheeks dust pink from having been caught.

His guest places the soup bowl to the side on the night-table and looks at him waiting.
The older man clears his throat, willing his cheeks to cool down. Then he holds out a hand for the other to shake, “Hey. I am Victor and this pretty lady is Makkachin or Makka for short. Sorry that the introduction comes a bit late, but well, I thought that food should come first before the talk. So yeah…”

Hopefully, that wasn’t too awkward, but it should do.

Yuuri makes a gulping noise, taking his outstretched hand and pressing their hands together for a greeting shake, “I am Katsuki Yuuri. Oh, I mean Yuuri Katsuki. You probably say it in that order.”

    “Yuuri Katsuki”, Victor enunciates warm and soft. It’s nice to read it on a status board, but hearing it in person is so much better. Moreover, he likes the name very much, even if he doesn’t know why. But it rolls of his tongue perfectly, like it’s meant to be, like it’s a precious secret Yuuri has given him to hold dear to his heart. Strange, so very strange.

    “Well then, Yuuri. How about a question for a question”, The Living Legend decides to take up the conversation and the dark-haired teenager nods. The silver-haired man smiles, knowing that he will get some answers now, “How does someone like you end up in the Forest of Evergreen by yourself?”

His conversation partner bites his bottom lip in a grimace and Victor wants to whine.
Yuuri shouldn’t damage his soft plush lips with his teeth! Maybe he can give him some lip balm later! He has a nice self-made one with cherry taste!

When Yuuri doesn’t answer, he frowns.
Maybe he has been to forward in popping the question?

Victor tries to smooth out the situation, “I don’t mean to insult you with that, but it is rare for a Level 1 person to travel on his own so far away from civilization. It’s pretty dangerous, you know. In a normal scenario, it would mean instant death by default. But you seem to be a lucky one.”

Was that better?

Yuuri nibbles again on his lips and the silver-haired man vows that he will gift Yuuri one of his self-made lip balms because he can’t endure the self-induced torturing any longer.

    “Well, I…”, the foreign guest takes a deep breath before continuing, “Okay, this will sound really ridiculous. And I can’t fault you if you don’t believe me after hearing this and want me to leave immediately, but I swear to you that it is the utter truth.”

That sounds not so good. Victor furrows his eyebrow. Hm… Well, what could sound so ridiculous that he won’t believe Yuuri and want him to leave immediately when that was the plan from the start after he has recovered. Could Yuuri be an assassin? A spy? A monster in disguise? Hmm… that could explain his class… But then again, can someone so adorable be a real threat?
Victor doesn’t want to answer that one, his experience telling him already enough.
Well, he is The Living Legend, so even if Yuuri tells him about something dangerous, he should be fine.
And handsome hunks get the benefit of the doubt until proven guilty.

Victor turns to the dark-haired man, “Try me.”

His conversation partner fidgets with his hands, “I am not originally from this world. I am from Japan. That’s a country on planet Earth, my home planet”, he avoids the gaze of the cerulean-eyed man, “My class from school had planned to go on a trip that’s why we rented a bus to drive us there. If you don’t know what a bus is, it’s a big vehicle with many seats for passengers. Maybe you can compare it with a coach. Whatever, I woke up in the school bus yesterday and all my classmates were gone. And I was completely left alone. When I looked out the window, I couldn’t grasp my location. And then there were dragons circling in the air and I decided to go search for my classmates as the whole bus seemed to be transported to this new world, to Isekai. And then there was that blue flower, which paralyzed me for an hour and I was nearly killed if it weren’t for my Shadow skill. Then there were the crossroads and I couldn’t read the signs, so I used a branch to help me decide on my path and it brought me to a horde of monsters, who pursued me until I reached the forest. After realizing I was no longer chased, I stumbled over some roots and tumbled down. And that’s how you and Makkachin probably found me. Thank you by the way for saving me. I don’t know what would have happened without you rescuing me”, Yuuri takes a bow of gratitude and Victor just stares at him.

He hadn’t imagined such a story. So Yuuri is a world traveller then. Interesting and very believable by his behaviour. It would also explain why he is only Level 1 and had such luck in his survival. However, the summoning of a whole mass of people is rather disturbing. Especially when there is no prophesized world end scenario recorded.

He peeks at Makka, who also looks upset and confused.

So she had no idea about it either. That is bad. Very bad.
And totally not his problem. Hopefully it won’t be his responsibility in the future as well.

He looks at Makkachin again from the corner of his eyes and knows that there will have to be a discussion with her. Later that is.

Right now, he turns his attention to Yuuri again, “Well”, The Living Legend tries to smile at the world traveller, “You seem to have been through a lot, Yuuri. And I am sorry that all of this happened to you. Please take your time to rest up properly. You are safe here. I have a ward that keeps monsters away from my house and my garden.” That should be a good answer for now.
But Yuuri surprises him again.

    “You believe me?”, he asks incredulously.

Victor chuckles lightly. He truly is very innocent, a delight from all the pests he had to deal with in the past. He responds, “Should I not?”

The 16-years-old freezes up, waving his hands in panic, “No, I mean yes. I mean, it’s normally not wise to believe a complete stranger with such a strange story. Not that I don’t want you to believe me. But well, wouldn’t you be normally more on your guard and…”

Oh, this could be interesting.

    “And what Yuuri?”, the silver-haired man pushes, wanting to know the end to his sentence.

The dark-haired beauty blushes adorably, “Not so kind and welcoming.”

Interesting. So even he knows that you shouldn’t trust strangers that easily. But why is he only concerned about Victor and not himself. He is as kind as he is reckless. What a handful.
But an entertaining and charming one, so he is forgiven.
Maybe Victor should remind him to be more cautious himself in the future at least.

Victor hums, “Well, normally you also wouldn’t eat the food made by a complete stranger or would you?”

The man on the bed turns a deep shade of red.

How can you be so cute?, Victor dies internally, eyeing Yuuri with a totally smitten look.
If you would be candy, I would eat you up right here!

Victor blinks at his own thoughts. Where did that come from?

Maybe caring for Yuuri isn’t that good of an idea. He could turn into a cannibal and hurt him.
Okay, now he is just plain stupid. Yuuri needs rest and not whirlwind Victor, who doesn’t know what’s going on with him.

He chuckles to hide his own embarrassment, “Well, whatever. I think you should rest up a bit more. Your MP were nearly fully drained and you exhausted yourself greatly. However, before that I still owe you a question for before. So, what do you want to know?”

Anticipation is rising again in his chest.

What will he ask? Something general? A personal question? Something indecent?

He watches as Yuuri’s Adam’s apple bobs, “Em… Can I have something to drink, please?”

… Wait what?

Of all the questions he could ask, he asks for something to drink, like seriously?

Victor starts laughing heavily. Yuuri really is a never-ending chain of surprises. Of all the things Victor thought him to ask, this was not a question he would have anticipated.

He tries reigning himself him and succeeds shortly, “Of course. Wait a sec. I bring you some water”, he stands up and vanishes to get down to the kitchen for a glass and some fresh water. After climbing up the stairs and entering his bedroom again, he hands it over to Yuuri.

The world traveller drinks in big gulps. His Adam’s Apple bobbing up and down.
Victor stares in fascination.

When Yuuri lets out a blissed sigh, Victor raises his voice again, “So, your question?”

The foreigner looks at him confused. And the silver-haired man snorts ungracefully.
Did the man really think that such a question would count as equal to his previous one?

He smiles, asking in disbelief, “You don’t think that that was a question of equal measure, do you?”

The brown-haired teen blushes again, thinking about his true question. After a moment he answers, “Well, then… Is your hair colour natural or bleached?”

Victor stares at him speechless, before he bursts out in laughter again. He holds his stomach to support himself, “Of all the things you could have asked, you ask if my hair is bleached?”

Yuuri covers his face in his hands, his cheeks flaming from embarrassment, while Victor still laughs not believing what just happened. When he gains control over his body and stops wheezing, he rubs the tears from his eyes and tells his guest grinning widely, “It is natural. I was born this way. I’ve got it from my mother, it’s the same platinum colour.”

Victor is a strong believer of balance. So one question for a question. An answer for an answer.
A truth for a truth. And Yuuri has only been truthful from the start, so he deserves the same treatment.

Victor turns a little melancholic. Besides himself and Makka, Yuuri is now the only one, who knows that he has the same hair colour as his late mother. Everyone else, who would have known, was long lost to history.

He shakes his head, focusing on Yuuri again, “I think I should let you sleep some more now. We will talk about the other things later. Sleep tight and rest well, Yuuri”, he adds, taking the soup bowl with his hand and gesturing to Makkachin to go outside the bedroom with him.

Victor waves at Yuuri before he closes the door.

And now he sits here on the stairs with Makka, doubting his every choice up until now.
He caresses Makka’s head still deep in thought.

If this was a trap, then how did they find him? He has been careful to not leave any trails behind. The only visitors are Chris, Nikolai and Yuri at times…

Victor’s head hurt and he turns to his most loyal friend.

    “What if this is a trap, Makka? A trap to bring me out into the world once again?”, Victor presses his lips into a thin line.

To get him to care about a person and have the urge to support and nurture… unbelievable for him, but still if it’s Yuuri...

    “What do you think, Makka?”

    “I don’t think it’s a trap…”, she says, “He sounds genuine and earnest. I am rather more interested in what this ‘god’ or ‘goddess’ did”, she sighs tiredly, “I have not even spent 50 years of vacation and people are screwing up already. I am not paid enough for this.”

    “You are not paid anything as far as I know”, Victor adds.

    “Yeah, as I said ‘not paid enough’ for this shit!”, Makka huffs.

The Living Legend laughs heartily, “I still don’t want to leave our hideout though. Do you think we can maybe just ignore everything and turn a blind eye?”

Makkachin grunts, “Well, if it would only be one person being summoned or three, I would have said, yes we can, but…”

    “Yeah, I know…”, Victor sighs tiredly.

He stands up, goes to the kitchen to deposit the soup bowl and then opens his Item Storage to take his sword into his hands.
It has been some time.
He swings it carefully, checking the blade. Moonslayer is still as sharp as the day he first took it into his hands.

    “It has been some time…”, Makka says quietly, observing his movements.

    “Indeed…”, he studies the sword in nostalgia.

This blade holds so many memories. It was a gift from the goddess Chrysanthemia herself, which was presented to him at the age of 8 during his ‘Revelation Ceremony’.

Even though he wishes to forget, he remembers how everything started vividly as if it would have been yesterday:

Victor was born a noble’s illegitimate child, his father was the Duke and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Rusza, Alexei Leonidovich Nikiforov. His mother was the only daughter of a travelling merchant, Ekaterina Ivanova. His parents met under problematic circumstances as Alexei was already married to Lady Elisabetha Kuznetsova and had mistresses in Lady Natalia Smirnov and Lady Anastasia Turgeneva. He was the youngest out of all of his four half-siblings. Victor was blessed with magic and sword abilities, even though he was bullied by his other siblings except his oldest brother Evan, who taught him how to survive on his own in this cruel world. He lived together with his mother in a small townhouse in Robinia, the capital city of Rusza, as they weren’t welcome in the Nikiforov household.

When he was 8 years old, he had his Revelation Ceremony, where children found out about their class and abilities.
Some even received a blessing from a god, giving him or her a better value in society.
Sometimes fortunate children were even adopted into powerful houses because of their stats and talents.
That was why a lot of noble families were present to search for hidden geniuses.
Even the Nikiforovs attended with the whole family.

Victor has hoped to make his mother proud and maybe get accepted into the Nikiforov family as an officially accepted son.

When he went to stand before the priest and touched the magic sphere, a bright and blazing light filled the whole church and his status was presented to society.

Name: Victor Nikiforov

Race: Human

Age: 8

LV: 13

Class: Hero

Active Skill: Raging Blow, Air Strike, Barrier, Prayer, Ice Magic, Water Magic,
Wind Magic, Lightning Magic, Search, Appraisal, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Self-Recovery, Endure, Angelic Ward, Haggling,
Charm, Mediate, Sixth Sense, Premonition

HP: 500/500

MP: 430/430

EXP: 470

Next Level: 55 EXP

Equipped Gear: Iron Sword, Moonslayer, Brown Belt, Brown Boots

Blessing: Chrysanthemia’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: Little Genius

256 G

ATK: 372

DEF: 348

MAT: 359

MDF: 343

AGI: 362

LUK: 339

But that wasn’t all. In his hand a divine sword had manifested. It was titled ‘Moonslayer’ and blessed by the Goddess Chrysanthemia as symbol of their bond and belonged to Victor alone.

Victor remembers being impressed that he got blessed by the Head Goddess herself.
The young child was grateful to the Goddess for granting him a gift as well and he swore to always cherish it with all his heart.
He was euphoric that he was of the Hero class as well and had such good stats.
Maybe he wouldn’t be a disgrace to the family any longer. He had hoped that his mother would be proud of him and that he would finally get recognition and acceptance and would have a steady foot in society and that his mother would never be treated horribly ever again.

But a child’s wish is nothing but a fluke in the eyes of greed and power and the job of a hero is nothing but a bitter lie, fed to young and oblivious children through well-spun bedtime stories.
But that Victor would start learning slowly, starting with the tears of sadness his mother shed, while the other people shouted in joy for the ‘Hero’s Coming’.

He thinks that he started to comprehend a little when he was separated from his crying mother by the king’s soldiers. “For training”, they had told him. His father was giving him a proud nod and pat on the right shoulder, while the wife, the mistresses of his father and his elder brothers, except Evan, scowled at him.

Victor remembers the look Evan gave him, when he congratulated him, whispering to him, “If you ever need me, please contact me!”, then telling him to stay safe and care for his health.

Then he was escorted out of the church by the knights with King Raymund patting his left shoulder, saying, “From now on you will live with my family in the castle. We will help you train yourself and nurture your talents. If you ever need something, young lad’, don’t hesitate to come to me!”

And Victor had been ecstatic. The crowd was cheering for him. His father had finally acknowledged him as his son and the king would look after him.

Everything seemed perfect until it wasn’t.

It started slowly with the little things.
He wasn’t allowed to play with the other kids of different social standing any longer. He was forbidden from leaving the palace grounds.
He was put on a specific diet “to provide his growing body with the necessary nutrients”, they said.
Victor was entitled to study diligently under his various tutors and train under the greatest sword masters of the kingdom. Never having a single rest day.
He was never allowed to visit his parents privately, only being able to speak to them shortly on social occasions. Victor wrote many letters to both of his parents and Evan to make up for the limited contact.
He got groomed into the perfect gentleman by a great number of instructors. Never being allowed to show an unbecoming mood like anger or sadness.
He was instructed to always put on a smiling face in public and elaborate himself in a way becoming of his social status.

And then at the age of 14, he was granted an audience with the reigning king in which he got instructed to deal with certain struggles of one of their allied kingdoms and he set out with a small group of knights to aid them in their troubles.

This repeats itself over and over again with Victor always travelling around the world helping people, fighting monster and solving conflicts. He tries to keep up with his letters, but very often he can only send one in a month.

Over the years he got to be pretty famous and was worshipped as ‘the Great Hero and Saviour of All with long and silvery hair’. Upon one of his arrivals to Rusza he was titled ‘Ambassador’ and solved many more conflicts, defeated a great number of monsters and made friends internationally.

He also met Yakov, King of the Oceans and his wife Lilia and Nikolai, a shapeshifter, who would become one of his most dependable allies over the years.

When Victor was just sweet seventeen, Yakov decided to become his mentor and take him under his wing and after meeting Nikolai during a sparring match with some Mer Knights, they became the best of friends. Yakov had a lot of anger outbursts due to Victor and his extra antics. His mentor always scolded him at the right times and treated him like his own son in private. Lilia always corrected his posture and trained him in the fine arts with ferociousness.
His rivalry with Nikolai in combat and training fuelled the ambition to reach greater heights and surpass his limits.

Nowadays the Hero thinks that this was one of the greatest times in his long life, but he will never say it out loud because Yakov, Nikolai and Victor would be too embarrassed afterwards.

But everything, good or bad, had to come to an end.

During a cold winter night, the current Demon King Zephryr got assassinated by a supporter of the anti-royalist faction and a civil war broke out before the coronation of the new ruler. Demon King Randolph was an ambitious ruler.
He implemented many new rules and invested in his military to enhance his fighting power in the name of security.

Victor and Yakov were wary of his actions, not trusting him on bit after meeting him in person. But no country wanted to hear their warnings and soon after they paid the price for their ignorance.

In only few years’ time, Demon King Randolph instigated many terrorist attacks in various countries and declared war to one after the other with the goal of world domination. His winning streak was legendary.

It was at the age of 21 that Victor got sent a Royal Degree from the Kingdom of Rusza, demanding of him to return to his home country and have a meeting with the king about an emergency.

He parted heavily with his mentor. The Hero hated the idea to leave Atlantis, the capital city of the Ocean Kingdom Saphira. But he had a duty to fulfil.
Lilia reminded him of how he would always be welcome to return and Yakov patted him gently on both shoulders, taking his own pendant from his neck to gift it to Victor.
It was a ‘Nymph Tear Pendant’. A very rare item, granting its wearer magical protection, luck and the ability to breathe underwater.
The silver-haired man didn’t have any words to describe his emotions, so he just jumped Yakov and kissed him on both cheeks, crying in gratitude.
Yakov had been the closest he ever had in a caring father.
Nikolai was furious with him, he ranted and ranted and then boldly declared that he would accompany Victor on his next mission to the surprise of the Hero.
But he was grateful that his friend would be there to have his back.

They travelled back to Robinia and met with the king and his advisors.
Victor was given the task to set out with four pre-arranged people to defeat the havoc-raging demon king and bring back peace to the realm.

Victor accepted the mission under the condition that Nikolai would join their party. His wish was granted and they met up with the four other teammates.
There was the Knight and lance wielder Sir Roland (Level 72), the Archer Lady Christine (Level 65), the Saint Lady Maribelle (Level 61) and the Mage Lord Bernard (Level 69). Victor himself was Level 99 at this time and Nikolai Level 98.

Together they set out to bring peace to the world once more, confident in their abilities and talents. They all fought side by side to get through the fronts and into the demon territory. With each day they got closer to the Demon King Randolph and his castle, but not without taking any sacrifices.
Many lives were lost in the battle to get the heroes through the front line and hide them in enemy territory.

Victor doesn’t want to remember how many demons had to die by his hand. He still feels guilty for these unnecessary deaths.

The silver-haired man still can’t grasp how, but his party made it through the castle and fought against the tyranny of the reigning demon lord.
It had been a tough fight with his allies falling to the ground one after another, unconscious or wounded deeply, but luckily still alive. Even Nikolai was no match against the Demon King Randolph and went down unable to move, but conscious. And Victor was left alone to stand against their enemy. He was also deeply wounded and near the end of his energy reserves.

The Hero remembers how he had started smiling, when he made his decision.
He remembers how Nikolai was shouting at him, tears streaming down his face as Victor used his last energy to activate a Hero’s ultimate skill ‘Hero’s Sacrifice’. It is a 100% deadly skill, which is known as not being able to counter, learned at Level 50.

After that he comes up blank in his memories, knowing that he must have died after using the skill to defeat the demon king. And then there was a Goddess before him. She was smiling gently at him and Victor knew that it must be Chrysanthemia, the one from whom he had received his blessing.
He concluded that he had truly lost his life in his last battle if he was allowed to meet the Goddess. But what does one say to a holy being, when you meet them? Victor was at a loss of what to say, so he just stared and waited for her to speak.

They stared at each other for a while, before Chrysanthemia started laughing and Victor was totally lost about what to do.

After calming herself, the Head Goddess grinned widely, “I never thought that you could be so quiet, my dear. You always had such a way with words, so why the silence now? Has the cat caught your tongue, sweetheart?”

The recently deceased Hero blinked a few times before he started laughing as well, “I deeply apologize my insolent behaviour, my Goddess. But I was never told how to greet a divine being, when it grants me with its presence. How can I serve you, my Goddess.”

Chrysanthemia curled her lips in amusement, “First, I beseech you to stop this formal address, my dear. I have known and watched you long enough to know that this kind of speech is reserved for business and not for a private discussion.”

Victor raised his eyebrow in helpless confusion and the Goddess snorted, “I mean to tell you, sweetheart, that you can address me casually and stop with the bullshitting.”

The silver-haired man nodded in understanding, “Then how may I call you?”

What would come next, he would never forget in his entire life.

Chrysanthemia thought about his question for a short moment, before her eyes gleamed mischievously, “How about a name for a service of mine?”

    “What do you mean?”, Victor asked suspiciously.

The Goddess sent him a blazing smile, “Well, you choose a name to call me, I will measure its worth for myself and I will give you a service of equal value in exchange. How does that sound?”

Victor still remembers how he had frowned at Goddess and asked her why a deceased man should play such a game with her, when he was already dead.

Chrysanthemia smirked at him, answering with “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

It was infuriating. But Victor complied with her suggestion because what could he loose anyway? He was already dead.

After some thinking, he looked the Goddess in the eye and said, “Your name will be Makkachin or Makka for short.”

    “Makkachin?”, Chrysanthemia blinked at him in surprise and then smiled warmly at him with a gentle light in her eyes, “Then so it will be. Until next time then, dearest Vitya.”

With that light swallowed him whole and he was woken up by the sobs of his teammates gathered around his human body. They gasped, when he opened his eyes, not believing what they were witnessing. Victor blinked a few times, confused why he was lying on the ground and not being led to where the dead belonged. He realized that he was back in the realm of the living, when Nikolai threw himself at him, squeezing him tightly while sobbing hard.

He had survived? How? Why? He should be dead. He used the skill and… he shouldn’t be alive and breathing! What was going on?

Victor remembers how they sat there, crying and in disbelief before a pinging sound echoed through the throne room. The source was his own status plate.

He remembers how a notification popped up with the title ‘Complete Status Change received’. He also remembers the faces of his comrades when he opened his status plate for all to see and all of their shocked faces.

Name: Victor Nikiforov

Race: Ancient Immortal Human

Age: 21

LV: 99

Class: Hero

Active Skill: Raging Blow, Air Strike, Double Slash, Charge Slash,
Arc Slash, Wild Slash, Gale Slash, Lightning Blade,
Hero’s Sacrifice, Astra, Exodus, Luna, Elemental Slash,
Hundred Swords, Moon Blast, Ragnarök, Barrier, Prayer,
 Refresh, Area Heal, Ice Magic, Water Magic, Wind Magic,
Lightning Magic, Earth Magic, Fire Magic, Illusion Magic,
Bind, Poison, Blind, Burn, Sleep, Freeze, Search,
Appraisal, Alchemy, Track, Hide Status, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Self-Recovery, Endure, Angelic Ward, Haggling, Charm,
Mediate, Sixth Sense, Premonition, Chantless Casting, Immortality

HP: 1.683.926/1.683.926

MP: 1.439.879/1.439.879

EXP: 6.469.530

Next Level: 3.469 EXP

Equipped Gear: Moonslayer, Warrior Shield, Nymph Tear Pendant,
Hero Robe, Blessed Cloak, Magic Belt, Knight’s Gauntlet, Knight Boots

Blessing: Chrysanthemia’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: Saviour of the World

89.065.962.683 G

ATK: 25.832

DEF: 24.573

MAT: 24.982

MDF: 23.654

AGI: 25.653

LUK: 23.267

Victor will never forget the day Makkachin granted him immortality.

Everything that happened afterwards was a blur to the Hero. He knows that he healed his teammates shortly after they recovered from shock and that they returned to the Kingdom of Rusza before long.

His party was worshipped as the ‘Saviours of the World’.
And Victor had laughed the first time he heard it, because Makkachin had granted him a similar title.

His team got handsomely rewarded and Victor got appointed as advisor to the crown for all his marvellous deeds to the country. His eldest brother, newly appointed Prime Minister as their father had died during Victor’s absence, awarded him with a medal as middleman to King Raymund. Before Evan stepped back from placing the medal over Victor’s neck, he whispered to him, “Thank you for coming back safely.” And the silver-haired man knew in this moment that he was finally home.

There were a lot of festivities during the next few weeks, as well as a lot of changes. His mother left after Victor’s return and medal ceremony to travel the world and be finally free from all the bullying. Nikolai went back to his home to settle down with his childhood friend and his teammates split up in different directions, going about their own lives.

It was sad at the beginning, especially parting with Nikolai. Victor couldn’t even imagine how his life was before him, but he had to deal with it. His friend deserved his happiness and the war was over.

The years passed one after another. At first, it seemed like there wasn’t any difference to before the start of the war. Victor worked and travelled, travelled and worked, until changes made themselves visible.

Victor doesn’t age anymore.

All the people he loved, grew old and fragile around him, but he stays the same.

His mother never returns to the capital city, only writing letters occasionally and even the letters stop after some time. And Victor doesn’t question it.
He doesn’t want to know why, afraid of the answer or the rejection.

He often visits Yakov and Nikolai as he knows that Merpeople and Shifters have a very different life expectancy than normal humans.
They live longer and age slower, but still they age.

On one of his travels to the new named Demon Kingdom Crownwell he met his future BFF Chris, a cunning and funny Incubus, who joined him on his travels because he didn’t have anything better to do.

Together they travelled to the edge of the world, climbed deathly mountains, fought against ferocious beasts, hunted for long lost treasures, ran from aggravated housewives or husbands when Chris couldn’t control himself again and saved villagers from danger. There was never a dull moment with Chris.

Still, Victor had his duties as advisor to the crown, which he fulfilled admirably. The more so when a plague fell over his home country, taking various lives of the citizens as well as the royals, King Raymund included, because a cure couldn’t be found. One of the victims was his beloved elder brother Evan.

Victor still aches when he remembers the promise he gave to his brother on Evan’s deathbed, swearing that he would protect the country in his stead as long people wish for it. He remembers how pale and sickly he had looked, but how kind he had been. He always had been a kind soul.

However, the silver-haired Hero would have never thought that such a promise could turn out to be a real pain in the ass.
Still, he fulfilled his end of the bargain for many years to come.

The Hero cut his long silver hair as symbol of his mourning.
He did the clean-up duty, when other ‘heroes’ messed up and failed their missions. He was used as emergency weapon by the successor King Hector and many other rulers to come as the plague still couldn’t be cured.

After some years, people started calling him ‘The Living Legend’ due to all his deeds and adventures, as well as all the historic events he has witnessed.
The nickname got so popular that one day he received a notification on his status.
He clicked on it and a pop-up opened.

Title received: The Living Legend

He will always remember reading the description of his new acquired title for the first time.

The Living Legend – A unique title bestowed upon Victor Nikiforov,
honourable warrior and saviour of the world, who lives in the
tales of the people for his great deeds and legendary exploits.

From that point on life went on like nothing had changed.

Battles were fought, monsters defeated, peace talks were held and endless meetings attended. He visited the countries as ambassador to the Kingdom of Rusza, lived through Chris’s shenanigans and spent time with Yakov and Lilia training. He also visited Nikolai and his family.

Victor witnessed the birth of baby Yuri, who got abandoned by his own blood-parents shortly as he was a sickly child. Nikolai was enraged that his teenager-daughter and his potential son-in-law abandoned his only grandchild and he took little Yura into his own home, raising him while caring for his sick wife.

When he received word about Nikolai’s situation, Victor decided to help his old friend in raising a new-born, which totally set a humper on his already non-existing romantic relationships but gave him some time away from his duties to the crown. However, caring for an infant was a very challenging experience in itself. Victor had his hands full with diapers, regular mealtimes and a bloody-murder-crying Yura.

That was also the point when Chris decided to go back to the Demon Kingdom, taking over his father’s position as Viscount of his territory, knowing that their adventure days were over for quite a while.

Even though, Victor was officially excused from his ambassador duties, he still had to aid his country in providing advice to the ever-changing rulers, who grew more and more ungrateful, arrogant and bratty through the generations, through letters or short-term visits to the capital city.

When Yura hit 15 years, he had to return to Rusza as the new dickhead on the throne had no understanding for raising children to adulthood, when it’s not even your own blood-child.

From that point on, Victor’s life grew dull and grey without his ‘son’ and friends in his life to lighten it up. Everything started feeling the same and The Living Legend became tired of society and royalty with their every growing greed.

Other nobles also started whispering behind his back, when he raised arguments against their proposals. Hell, he had to prevent wars from breaking out due to misinterpreted information. His efforts weren’t appreciated because ‘no, the taxes can’t be raised any higher or the citizens would suffer from starvation’ or ‘no, they can’t just claim demon territory’ or ‘no, talks with international ambassadors are important for trade and peace’. And ‘no, the assassination of this person is a bad idea’. And ‘no the prince should learn to be more reasonable and not spend so much of the royal treasury for his own leisure’.
Like really, how stupid and ignorant can someone be?

There were also some weekly to daily attempts on his life, some instigated by the rulers themselves, which by the way couldn’t succeed because ‘Hey, Immortality’.

Sometimes Victor wondered, why he had to stay and endure ‘all of this shit’ like Yura would call it. But then he remembered his promise to his long dead brother and sighed in resignation. Were assassination attempts enough to say that they don’t want his guidance anymore? Victor shook his head, knowing that now wasn’t the time for his retirement or they would have various wars coming up.

Victor remembers trying his best for the country over the years following until 35 years ago. 35 years ago was the first time his patience reached its end.

He remembers being invited to a royal banquet, when he finally had enough.
He was depressed, tired and in despair. Yura and Nikolai had said that he should take some well-deserved vacation in their last letter, but Victor knew better than to let the nobles have free reign over the government. Still, he wished for a change of pace. Some light in his life. Chris had raised through the ranks over the years and was now one of the advisors to the crown himself as well as a popular ambassador, famous for his eccentrics. Nikolai and Yura lived a quiet life in the village of Tasmere in Seronia, the Kingdom of the Beastfolk. And Yakov and Lilia had divorced over the years because of an unknown argument.

He took a sip of his champagne glass, when he overheard some nobles and merchants badmouthing him about how The Living Legend thinks, he is so important for this kingdom because of his deeds in the past and that he should get off his high horse.

At first, this had Victor enraged, but then a calm thought popped into his head. It told him, ‘They don’t want you anymore. They don’t need you any longer. You are free from your promise.’ And he smiled, placing his glass on an empty table and vanished from the ball room, the castle, the city into the unknown.
Finally free after a long time.

He travelled as far as his feet took him before searching for a small town to rest for the night, enjoying his freedom.

However, the effect of his sudden disappearance is immediate. The country is plunged into a national crisis and search troupes were sent out to find him and bring him back. Victor got the news the second day he woke up and ate his breakfast by the innkeeper. The info, which spread like wildfire around the kingdom and beyond was like this:

The Living Legend has been kidnapped at the Royal Banquet,
hosted by His Majesty the King of Rusza. Now the country is in a
state of crisis and searches for Lord Victor Nikiforov,
Royal Advisor and Ambassador with all their might.
Every useful hint to the Hero’s whereabouts will be
appreciated and his discovery rewarded.

Victor snorted heavily at the ridiculousness of this whole situation, planting his face into his hands. Should he return? He knew the answer to that, even if his desire was of a different kind.

After finishing his breakfast, he paid for his stay and took the road back to the capital. That was also how he met Makka again. She had waited for him on one of the crossroads on his walk back, lolling her tongue in her poodle form in innocence and childish mischief. Victor had shaken his head, but patted her on the head because her new form was adorable. They journeyed back together to Robinia with the hope that maybe they had changed their attitudes.

Fun fact, they didn’t.

He held up for another five years, before he decided that he couldn’t do it any longer. He had heard enough of the badmouthing and the stupid arguing. Victor didn’t want to be used anymore.

It was at another ball that he made his decision.
The people were badmouthing him again behind his back and even the king had some interesting thoughts on the Hero called Victor Nikiforov.
And he had enough.

Shortly before he decided to vanish for good this time, a small boy of five years came up to him and said to him with big trusting eyes, “You know, they are just jealous of you because you are incredible and wise and so much greater than they will ever be.”

Victor looked at him, humming.

Nothing had ever really changed.
But it was cute how this kid wanted to console him.

The boy studied him fidgeting, “You are still going?”

Victor looked him straight in the eyes, saying softly, “Yes.”

The boy hummed sadly but in acknowledgement, “Then take care please.”

What a cute boy. Victor had patted him on the head.
He reminded him of Yura, just a little.

    “Thank you. You take care as well, young man”, Victor had smiled at the boy, before he turned around and vanished with Makka, leaving only his letter of resignation in the royal office.

He also sent various letters of his retirement to his friends and other international relations to inform them that things would change.

Victor laughs at the memory.

Yakov had a meltdown, when the Hero retired.

He pats Makka again on the head, still chuckling from the memory of Yakov’s tantrum, gets thoughtful the next instant, thinking about his current situation and how to best go about it. The thing with a whole bunch of people getting summoned to another world, is rather worrying and really has to be investigated.

Maybe they could still stay in their hideout and Yuuri could do the deed for them? But first Yuuri has to be trained properly…
What would be the best way to support Yuuri?
He can’t leave him alone just like that, not when he hasn’t got a clue about anything…
Then again, this all can be a ploy to sniff him out of the woods…
Even then, how deeply should he get involved in the first place?
Would it be possible for him to win Yuuri’s heart for himself?

He shakes his head.

These are no times for such silly thoughts! Or are they really silly?
It is the first time in his life that he feels so alive…

He furrows his eyebrows and huffs.

Fact remains that he should help Yuuri train because running around the world as a Level 1 is more than just dangerous. It’s suicidal in every aspect.
And then his class sounds rather interesting and surprising.
Victor loves surprises.

“It’s decided. I will train him. I will become his coach and mentor him in how to survive in our world. Maybe he can get to be the hero of the story this time.”

Makka woofs in excitement and Victor puts his sword away, going through the necessary preparations in his head before he makes himself a bed on the couch in the living room and turns in for the night with Makkachin joining him to cuddle.

Yuuri’s POV

Yuuri wakes up with sunrays shining on his face from the open window.
He feels refreshed, warm and cosy. He blinks a few times, scrambling for his glasses on the night-table. When everything comes into focus, he is a little disoriented before he remembers everything.

The Japanese teen gets out of bed, exits the bedroom and goes into the hallway. He searches for some signs to where his host is located and hears some noises from down below. Yuuri takes the stairs down, which lead him to a living room with an adjourned kitchen. In the kitchen he finds Victor and Makka preparing breakfast and playing around. They are both very adorable.

Victor greets him with a friendly “Good Morning, Yuuri! Did you sleep well?”

And Yuuri smiles, “Good Morning, Victor, Makka! Yeah, I slept dreamless, thank you. How was your night?”

The silver-haired man grins widely at him, his mouth turning heart-shaped and Yuuri’s heart beats into overdrive.

    “Thank you for asking. It was fine. I slept on the couch in the living room. It was quite comfy.”

    “You did what?!?”, Yuuri asks incredulous.

    “Well, I only have my bedroom and a guest room. Oh…”, Victor clicks his tongue, “I totally forgot about the guest room.”

His host hums to himself, Yuuri stifles a laugh and Makka snorts? The silver-haired man shoots the dog a sharp look, but the pooch just turns around, waggling her tail in an innocent manner.

It was an awkward exchange.

Yuuri tries to focus his mind, “Can I help you with something? Like cooking the eggs or whatever you have planned for breakfast?”

Victor turns and beams at him, “Yeah, thank you. Come here.”

They work like clockwork together in the kitchen and their breakfast is prepared in godlike speed. The two men take the plates to the dinner table and start eating after seating themselves. Makka joins them on her own poodle chair, digging very elegantly into her food, which is definitely not dog friendly.

Yuuri remembers his maybe broken Appraisal skill and uses it on Victor again to see if maybe it was just a glitch yesterday.

Name: Victor Nikiforov

Race: ??? Human

Age: ???

LV: ???

Class: ???

Active Skill: ???

Passive Skill: ???

HP: ???/???

MP: ???/???

EXP: ???

Next Level: ??? EXP

Equipped Gear: ???

Blessing: Chrysanthemia’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: The Living Legend

??? G

ATK: ???

DEF: ???

MAT: ???

MDF: ???

AGI: ???

LUK: ???

Yuuri huffs annoyed. It is still the same as yesterday. He turns to Makka, who just ignores him in favour of her food and uses his Appraisal skill on the pooch.

Name: Makkachin (Makka)

Race: Great Dog

Age: don’t be rude!

LV: a lot of numbers

Class: Pooch

Active Skill: Doing nothing, Being spoiled

Passive Skill: Being mischievous and intelligent

HP: more than a bit

MP: a lot more than you think

EXP: too many numbers

Next Level: ??? EXP

Equipped Gear: ???

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: Innocent Angel

not important G

ATK: strong and brave

DEF: like a brick in a wall

MAT: call me queen

MDF: like a magic knight

AGI: ninja level

LUK: like a rainbow

Okay, he definitely has a bug in his skill. But still, this stat board is so strange. Hasn’t it been different the previous day?

He studies Makka’s status again. Maybe he was just so out of it that he misread the day before. Yeah, that must be it.

He turns to a staring Victor and turns his gaze away immediately. His host just hums thoughtfully, “So Yuuri, I think we should have a talk about your situation, this world and what you want to do from now on.”

The Japanese turns to him again, “Yeah, I think so too.”

    “Well then”, Victor starts, “Maybe I should start with the name of our world. It’s called Aegis and not Isekai. There are many continents on the planet with various countries and races inhabiting the soil. There are the Humans, the Elves, the Merpeople, the Beastfolk, the Demons and the Shifters, if you don’t count them to the Beastfolk. Our world is one of swords and magic. We have a lot of gods and goddesses, who rule over this realm and bless some special people with their protection. As you already experienced, Aegis is a tricky world, full of monsters and mythical beings. And not everyone is kind to strangers, so please be more on your guard in the future.”

Yuuri nods, “Thank you for explaining. If I may, where exactly am I now?”

Victor smiles at him, “Oh, I totally forgot about that. My apologies. You are in the Forest of Evergreen. It is an enchanted forest and near the border between the Kingdom of Rusza, a country of mostly humans, and Seronia, country to the Beastfolk. You said yesterday that you were paralyzed by a flower. Do you know what it was called? Or do you know where you woke up to Aegis?”

The 16-years-old takes out one of his blue flowers, he had gathered while travelling, “Here but be careful and don’t get too close.”

Victor only hums in recognition, “It’s the Blue Flash. So you were in the Plains of Harmony then.”

    “Sounds ironic. There were a lot of monsters, so where is the harmony?”, Yuuri grunts.

His saviour snorts, “Well, you have a point. Seems that the name giver didn’t have much naming sense. Hm… there is a crossroad which leads either to the capital, the mountains of Berg or to the Plains of Flying Colours.”

    “I think, you mean flying dragons”, Yuuri facepalms.

Victor puts a finger to his lips, “Yeah that seems about right.”

The world traveller groans. Victor chuckles amused, “I think, your best option to finding your classmates is going to Robinia, the capital city of the Kingdom of Rusza. They will probably end up there one way or another. Especially if they get directions from a god or goddess. It’s also easier to gain information about people who might have seen them. There is also the Adventurer Guild and the church who may have more knowledge about your summoning.”

Yuuri jumps excitedly in his seat, taking Victor’s hands in his, squeezing them tightly but gentle, “Thank you Victor! At least I have a lead now!”

    “You are welcome, darling”, the heart-shaped smile appears again.

The dark-haired man lets go and stands up from his chair, “I should be on my way then. The sooner I find them the better!”

He wants to take another step, but Victor grabs his arm and pulls him back into his seat. Yuuri is confused. Is he dangerous after all?

The silver-haired man sighs deeply, “Yuuri, darling. I would let you go find your friends right now, but you are Level 1.”

    “Yeah?”, the teenager answers, still not knowing where this is exactly going.

Victor huffs, “You are Level 1. It is suicidal for you to travel on your own without any protection. Your chances of survival are near zero. I even ask myself since yesterday, how you even survived that long!”

Yuuri hangs his head, “That I want to know as well. But I have to find them and find a way back to our world somehow…”

Victor pats hid head gently, “Well don’t threat any longer. Starting today, I will be your mentor and coach! I am going to help you accommodate and train you up to at least Level 5 and give you a head-start on your journey!”

The Japanese looks at him with big eyes, “You know, you don’t have to…”

    “I know, but I want to”, The Living Legend smiles at him.

The intimate moment lasts for one minute before Makka woofs and Victor claps his hands together, “Right! You need some proper gear! Let’s start with that and then we will begin training immediately!”

Yuuri just nods, still mesmerized by the other’s smile.

They finish breakfast shortly then and Victor leads the teenager up to his study on the first floor, where Victor shows Yuuri how to remove and add gear.

There he also hands Yuuri a Traveller’s Robe, a Moonlight Coat, Ebony Boots, Gloves of Learning, an Iron Dagger and after some thinking a Mythril Sword. Then he leaves the dark-haired man to change into his gear.

The world traveller clicks on each item to read the information about its abilities and is stunned.

Traveller’s Robe – A sturdy robe that enhances all stats by 50.

Moonlight Coat – A coat imbued with HP and MP Regeneration.

Ebony Boots – Reduces physical exhaustion and lets the user jump far.

Gloves of Learning – Gloves that speed up the levelling process.

Iron Dagger – A dagger made from simple iron.

Mythril Sword – A mid-rank sword made from Mythril.

Victor comes back shortly, presenting Yuuri with some accessories: a Ring of Courage and a Rune Bracelet.

Ring of Courage – Gives the user a courage boost.

Rune Bracelet – Heals all status ailments.

Yuuri doesn’t know how to ever repay him.

The rest of the day is spent with Victor tutoring him in common sense, geography, the races living on their planet, gods and goddesses, social hierarchies and a bit of each Kingdom’s history, not leaving out the common tongue. Showing Yuuri the alphabet and how to write his name in the common language. His host is a very throughout teacher, patient and always explaining things when Yuuri doesn’t understand.

He also gives the teen homework to practice his writing and read through three thin books on magical introduction, classes and swordplay.

Yuuri goes to bed late on this day, tired and exhausted from all the studying but grateful for having an ally, who helps him in accommodating himself to this new world. He worries about Yuuko and Takeshi not having someone like that and swears that he will do his best to help them soon. After that, he drifts off into a dreamless sleep.

On the next day, he wakes up and goes down to help prepare breakfast with Victor, enjoying his meal and deciding to try out his Appraisal skill again.

Maybe the bug has removed itself over night? Hope dies last, they say.

He whispers “Appraisal” and hopes for the best.

Name: Victor Nikiforov

Race: ??? Human

Age: ???

LV: ???

Class: ???

Active Skill: ???

Passive Skill: ???

HP: ???/???

MP: ???/???

EXP: ???

Next Level: ??? EXP

Equipped Gear: ???

Blessing: Chrysanthemia’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: The Living Legend

??? G

ATK: ???

DEF: ???

MAT: ???

MDF: ???

AGI: ???

LUK: ???

Yuuri should have known better than to think something would have changed.
He wants to facepalm, but decides to look at Makka’s status as well.

Name: Makkachin (Makka)

Race: Happy Go Lucky Dog

Age: not telling!

LV: very high

Class: Puppy

Active Skill: Puppy Dog Eyes, Bark

Passive Skill: Innocent, Fluffy

HP: the warrior of the warriors

MP: wizard master level

EXP: a lot of zeros to count

Next Level: secret EXP

Equipped Gear: Pearl of Existence, Flower
of Life, Tear of the Mermaid

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: Yuuri’s Supporter

can you eat that? G

ATK: like a super knight

DEF: strong as mythril

MAT: the master of the masters

MDF: as high as the sky

AGI: call me speedy

LUK: fairy-tale level

Yuuri reads through the status and frowns. He gives up. He tips at the ‘Yuuri’s Supporter’ title and smiles lightly. She is sooo adorable. Then reads the other stats and furrows his brow in confusion. He remembers her class was Pooch just yesterday. And if what he read in that one book last night is true than a class change is mostly impossible. Furthermore what’s with her items. He tips on them and gets more confused.

Pearl of Existence – A pearl which controls the existence of this world.

Flower of Life – Grants the ability to create life.

Tear of the Mermaid – Grants the ability to change fate.

What the hell… These are some badass items if his Appraisal skill shows him the truth. But Makka should be more careful with them! What if they get stolen by burglars! They seem important to her.

He bites his lip and contemplates.

Should he tell Victor that he should be more careful around strangers with Makka’s treasure so out in the open? Also, what about her changing class. Is it a curse? A blessing? He decides to go for it and bring it to his hosts attention.

    “Em Victor?”, he asks the other man, who hums in response, seemingly trying to suppress a grin.

Yuuri points to Makkachin’s Pearl of Existence Pendant, his cheeks turning red, “Em… Is it normal for her to be able to change classes like every day and what’s with the strange items? Maybe you should–”

Victor covers his mouth with one hand and whispers in his ear, “Don’t ask and don’t take it either, she gets pissed when you touch her things or ask stupid questions. Trust me, I speak from experience. And it’s not a funny one!”

Yuuri tries shaking his head and his host removes his hands, “No, I mean, I won’t. I just wanted to bring it to your attention that you should hide … certain things when strangers are around. What if the…these certain things get stolen. And I was just confused about her status change… I know that it was different yesterday.”

The silver-haired man looks at him surprised, then he smiles again, “Oh that. She changes her status every day. Don’t sweat it. It’s a normal occurrence.”

Victor shrugs and Yuuri nods still having questions but letting them slide into oblivion. He doesn’t want to inconvenience his saviour anymore, so he just responds with, “Okay?”

His benefactor chuckles, before he smirks at the other, “By the way, why are you even checking our status so often, darling?”

Yuuri turns crimson for being caught. He knows how rude, he has been. So he tries to explain his reason, “Well, to tell the truth, I think that my Appraisal skill is broken or has a bug or something. Whenever I check your status, there are so many question marks and…”, then he realizes that Victor must have known somehow that Yuuri used Appraisal to see his status and he pales.
How long has he known? He voices his question instantly, “Wait, since when have you known?”

Victor chuckles again, “Darling, I’ve known since you’ve woken up and ate my soup. And no, your skill isn’t broken. I just hid my stats from you. So ease up. Your skill is fine.”

The 16-year-old stares at him for some time, before letting out a deep sigh of relief, starting to giggle relentlessly, “Oh! That makes sense. Thank you for clearing my doubts.”

Victor eyes him carefully, an unasked question on his lips. He seems to be in conflict about something, but then raises his voice, “You won’t ask?”

Yuuri startles and responds, “Ask what?”

Ask about today’s schedule? Some question from his homework? Why Makka writes her stats in words? But he shouldn’t ask stupid questions about as Victor told him.
The Japanese highschooler is confused.

Victor looks at him perplexed and kind of wary, “So you don’t care?”

Yuuri is so lost, “Care about what, Victor? I can’t quite follow you.”

But the silver-haired hunk just hums thoughtfully as response and says after some time, while grinning widely, “Never mind then. So today’s agenda will be about …”, and then he goes on and on about magic lessons, sparring practice, a repeat of yesterday’s writing practice and so on and so forth.

In the end the whole day is spent very productively from Yuuri’s perspective. He even got to his first sparring sessions with Victor trying to motivate a very reluctant Yuuri.
After the fifth match with the Japanese being on a loosing streak, his mentor says smirking, “Let’s make a bet, darling: If you can make me feel pain from one of our fights in the days to come, you can choose freely from my treasury.”

Yuuri wheezes, exhausted already, “And what do you get from this?”

Victor stares at him surprised, thinking about his answer, “How about some entertainment? Furthermore, I don’t really think that you will manage to win this bet, so the joke is merely on you, darling.”

    “You are the worst”, the dark-haired man groans, then smiles accepting the challenge, “Well, maybe I will make you eat those words.”

His tutor whistles, “Wuhuu. Never thought, you could get this bold so quickly, darling. I like that.”

They both had various duels after that, which Yuuri naturally lost, but he swore to kick Victor’s ass at least once in his life, may it be someday in the future.

When the two men start packing up to return to the house. Victor says that he kind of forgot which direction they came from and Yuuri telling him that they came from the North. But his saviour just shoots him an innocent look and the Japanese student promises that he will lead them back after scolding his host that it is dangerous to be so oblivious to his situation.

However, Victor just shows him his heart-shaped smile and all is forgiven.

When they have all of their things together, the silver-haired man makes an inviting gesture and says overdramatically, “Lead the way, darling.”

Yuuri just snorts and takes Victor’s hand to tug him along to waste no more time as Makka is waiting for them.

The evening passed very quickly with Yuuri practicing reading and writing in the common tongue. Before he went to bed this night, he thought to himself that he was looking forward to his future training as it wasn’t as bad as he had thought in the beginning.

He will change that statement the next day as the two days before were only the beginning of harsh two weeks to come.

Because even though Victor is one the most hospitable people the student has ever met, he is kind of a spartan as teacher.

He drills Yuuri through various parkours, sends him monster hunting, lets him meditate under a waterfall, lets him run until he drops, does surprise exams on all kinds of subjects, instructs Yuuri to recreate potions and analyse herbs until he knows them in his sleep and has relentless and brutal sparring matches in between all of that.

He often collapses in his bed, not even caring to change his clothes. He is just that tired and drained. But it is worth it, Yuuri is getting stronger and stronger.
His level rising steadily and his stats getting higher and higher.

His harsh spartan training goes on for two whole weeks. When he reaches Level 5 during a monster hunt with Victor as his observer and supporter the joy is great in both Victor and Yuuri. They hug and Yuuri nearly kisses him, but stops himself at the last second, going for a hug instead.

Yuuri didn’t nearly notice the notification popping up as he was still high on adrenaline from his fight, getting some feedback from his mentor after the fight, but the pinging noise and the screen caught both of their attention.

Level-Up received:

Congratulations you have reached Level 5!

Class change received:

Black Dust

New skills acquired:

Disperse

Dust Storm

Paralyze

Blind

Search

Yuuri and Victor look at each other in surprise, when they let go of each other.

His teacher is the first to recover, “Yuuri, I think you should open your status.”

And Yuuri does.

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: Human

Age: 16 years

LV: 5

Class: Black Dust

Active Skill: Shadow, Disperse, Dust Storm, Paralyze,
Blind, Appraisal, Search, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Stamina, Charm, Miracle, Language Comprehension

HP: 66/66 +50* à 116/116

MP: 75/75 +50* à 125/125

EXP: 400

Next Level: 120 EXP

Equipped Gear: Mythril Sword, Iron Dagger, Traveller’s Robe*,
Moonlight Coat, Gloves of Learning, Ring of Courage,
Rune Bracelet, Ebony Boots

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: Adventurous Soul

0 G

ATK: 78 +50* à 128

DEF: 89 +50* à 139

MAT: 78 +50* à 128

MDF: 89 +50* à 139

AGI: 90 +50* à 140

LUK: 85 +50* à 135

Victor furrows his eyebrows, “I’ve never heard of a class changing due to a Level-Up. How surprising. Furthermore, your stats are not bad. I think, they are suitable for your journey to the capital. But we can train further if you want to.”

Yuuri looks at his teacher with wide eyes.

Right, he was supposed to go look for his classmates. He had nearly forgotten his original purpose over the weeks. Maybe it really is time for him to leave or he would never start his journey. He is too comfortable with Victor and Makka at his side.

The Japanese man bites his lips, his decision made, “Thank you, Victor. For everything.”

Victor frowns, “That sounds like you are going to leave.”

Yuuri nods, even though his heart is bleeding inside, “I am. I have to or I will never find them. Two weeks are already a lot of time to travel around.”

His tutor studies him, before he sighs sadly, “Yeah, you are right. When do you plan to…”, he can’t finish his sentence. He doesn’t want to. This feels so wrong.
Victor doesn’t want to part with Yuuri. He’s come to like him quite a bit over the past days. Maybe he’s even starting to crush on him.
What is Victor saying, of course he is crushing on Yuuri. He should have read the signs, but then again, he never was crushing that hard on someone before.

Is this even legal in Yuuri’s country, when Yuuri is only 16 years old? Well, in Rusza it is, but he can’t take that standard when the man in question comes from another world.

He hears Yuuri saying something, but Victor was too caught up in his own thoughts to catch it.

    “Pardon me, but what was that?”, the silver-haired man asks.

    “I said, I will leave tomorrow morning”, Yuuri repeats.

    “Oh”, escapes Victor’s mouth. That was soon. Too soon. He doesn’t know what to do, so he decides to suppress his feelings of hurt, sadness and anger. Instead he just says, “Then lets head back. Makka is waiting and you’ll need the rest for the journey.”

Yuuri looks at Victor disappointed. He had hoped that his tutor would maybe suggest joining him on his travels. But is that too much to ask for. He stays silent, leading the way back to the house in the woods, he has come to love and think of as his home. He doesn’t want to part with Victor and Makka. Doesn’t want to be alone again. But what can he do? He doesn’t want to push his secret crush into something he doesn’t want to do. So he just stays silent. Maybe he will find the courage to ask Victor sometime tomorrow before his departure. But for now, he is swallowed up by sadness and hurt that his feelings are not reciprocated.

They have dinner together, talking like usual about some plants, attack variations and other trivial matters. Then they part for the night, wishing each other sweet dreams.
The two men stare at each other for a while, wanting to say something but deciding against it, they just wave at each other and turn to their respected rooms.

Yuuri cries himself to sleep that night.

Victor, however, paces in his room as Yuuri has been given the guest room at the start of their training. He can’t sleep. Yuuri is still on his mind and he is torn.
He knew from the start that Yuuri would leave. It has been his goal to get rid of him as fast as possible, but now… Now he doesn’t want that. But he doesn’t want to leave his hideout either. Then again, how can he live his life without Yuuri again? It feels wrong.

Makka looks at him concerned.

    “What should I do?”, Victor asks in earnest.

Makkachin wants to respond when a magic letter deposited itself on the bed.

The poodle and the silver-haired man look at each other in surprise. Victor then reaches out and reads the name of the sender of the letter.
It was from Yura. He smiles lightly. It has been some time.

He rips it open and starts reading.

Hey old man!

Been a while. How are you doing?

Why do I even ask, you are doing fine anyway.

Whatever, Dedushka and I are doing fine.

Not that I miss you, but he does.

So, I am writing to you to invite you to visit us.

So come by soon or you will regret it!

Love or some shit,

Yuri

Victor starts laughing. Typical Yura. He shakes his head. It has truly been a while since his last visit.

He looks at Makkachin, who smirks at him, pointing with her nose at the letter and Victor has a breakthrough.

The letter is the answer.

    “With this I don’t have to part with Yuuri so soon!”

He kisses Makka’s face at which she shakes her head in fake disgust and laughs at her antics, “Let’s prepare for tomorrow to set out!”

No, Victor doesn’t cry himself to sleep, he packs his bags and prepares for his upcoming journey before going to bed that night.

The next morning, Yuuri wakes up with puffy eyes, feeling very heavy. He checks his items before going down to eat his last breakfast with Victor and Makkachin.
But maybe Victor will say ‘yes’ to his suggestion and they could travel together. At least for a little bit more time. He hopes, even though he knows that it is futile.

He finds the silver-haired man and the poodle in the kitchen, merrily preparing their breakfast. And Yuuri feels sick and angsty. But he has to do this or he will regret it his entire life.

    “Victor?”, he starts nervously.

His host turns to him with his heart-shaped smile, “Good morning, Yuuri! Have you rested well? I have to talk to you about something! You see, I got this letter last night from a friend and he asked me to visit him soon, so I was thinking about why not now! The only problem is my sense of direction as you know. Would you be maybe so kind as to accompany me to my friend, before you resume your search?”

Yuuri blinks at his mentor a few times, trying to process what he had just heard, then a wide smile appears on his face, his heart pounding in delight, “Of course! That is the least I can do for all the things you helped me with. It would be my pleasure!”

Victor’s smile turns endearing, “Thank you. They live in Tasmer. A village in Seronia. I know that it is a detour for you, but Nikolai has a lot of connections, so maybe it would be still helpful in the end…”

    “Even if it is a detour, I don’t care”, Yuuri declares boldly, too high on his delight about being able to spend more time with Victor to care, “I want to spend a little more time with you.”

    “I want that too, Yuuri”, Victor answers honestly, his eyes sparkling. Then he turns around and hands his mentee a map, pointing with his index finger on Tasmer.

Yuuri studies the map for some seconds and nods, “Got it.”

Victor beams at him, “Then lead the way, darling. I’m right behind you.”

Chapter Text

The walk through the forest is a charming one. The birds are singing, wildflowers are growing everywhere and a gentle breeze graces over the trees. Yuuri is entranced by the beauty of nature around him.

Everything seems charming to him as he is flying high on happiness.
He gets to spend more time with Victor. He is ecstatic.

The dark-haired man glimpses from the sides of his eyes at his handsome companion. Victor hums to himself in a pleasant tune, distracted by the charm of the forest around them, patting Makka on the head a few times.
His silver hair sparkles in the sun and his cerulean eyes seem more alive and filled with joy.

Yuuri has the feeling that he will never get bored from looking at his saviour.
Everything about Victor is just ethereal. And the 16-year-old wonders how someone can be so beautiful.

    “Isn’t it beautiful?”, Victor asks all of a sudden and Yuuri stares entranced at the way his lips move.
His mouth murmuring a response without sparring a second thought, “Ethereal.”

    “Well, I wouldn’t go that far, but if you like them that much…”, Victor picks something from the ground and turns to him, holding something for Yuuri to take, which he does, still unable to avert his gaze from the otherworldly being in front of him. His benefactor looks at him strangely for a second before he starts laughing loudly at some apparent revelation.

Still giggling, Victor says to a still entranced Yuuri, “You know that I meant the flowers, right?”

And Yuuri blinks a few times, awakening from his mesmerized state, shifting so that he gets a look at the flowers in his hand, before he turns crimson, “Y-Yeah… Of course, I knew that.”

Victor raises an eyebrow at him, suppressing more laughter, but drops the issue.
Yuuri is just too cute.

They walk past many caves and some clearings full of various flowers and arrive at a small, but incredible light blue lake.

As Yuuri takes in the scenery, he is suddenly stricken with the need to take a dip in the refreshing water.
Having made his decision, he walks closer to the water and reaches out a hand to cool himself.

However, before he can touch the watery surface, Victor snatches his arm and stubbornly drags him away from the inviting water, a stern expression on his face, “No, Yuuri.”

Yuuri is confused. Why is Victor so serious all of a sudden?

The lake calls out to him and the Japanese man wants to struggle out of his saviours hold and run back, embracing the coolness of the clear water.
But Victor’s grasp gets only stronger when he notices what Yuuri is about to do and the black-haired teen has to resign himself to following the other in silent protest.

When the lake vanishes from their sight, the urge to take a dip vanishes as fast as it has come.

Yuuri turns to Victor for an explanation and his companion lets him go after realizing that Yuuri is clear in his head again.

    “What was that?”, the world traveller asks perplexed.

    “A very close call, I would say”, Victor answers, sighing in relief, while Makka whines distraught.
The silver-haired man points in the direction of the lake smiling lightly, “That my dear could have gone very badly for you. That was the Lake of the Forest Sirens.”

Yuuri gulps, turning pale.

Sirens are always bad news in sailor’s tales. He remembers reading stories about how they charm their prey to join them in their territory to play and then mercilessly drown them, when the water gets to deep.
That could have really gone very badly for him if it wasn’t for Victor.

He searches for Victor’s eyes before taking a Japanese bow of gratitude, “Thank you, Victor for saving my life again.” Yuuri turns crimson as the ‘again’ rings in his head. It is a wonder that Victor hasn’t got fed up with him already!
He always had to step in to save Yuuri from his own stupidity and carelessness.

The silver-haired man pats him gently on the head, his mouth forming a heart-shaped smile, “Every time, darling. Now, let’s get a move on. We don’t want to arrive at sundown.”

Yuuri blushes again and takes the map out of his Item Storage, “Let me just take another look at the map. Maybe there is some kind of shortcut to Tasmer.”

He studies the map diligently again, trying to not be distracted from Victor’s staring. Yuuri folds the map back to its original state and points northwest, “Well, if we passed the lake already, we should change our direction to northwest and then there should be a path leading us to Tasmer. It should be just a little further.”

Victor hums delighted and takes Yuuri’s right hand in his, dragging him excitedly forward, “Good. Let’s go.”
His saviour starts picking up his pace and the dark-haired teen follows, his cheeks dusted with a pink hue as Victor doesn’t let go of his hand. Makkachin just follows, her face drawn into a smirk.

They carry on, Victor humming to himself again, Makka sniffing around, lolling her tongue and Yuuri caught up in his thoughts about telling Victor to let go or just leave it be as he enjoys the warmth of the others hand.

He is just about to come to a decision, when the two man hear a roaring noise and they find themselves surrounded by a grand group of monsters. Victor lets go of Yuuri’s hand to his great displeasure.
Yuuri uses his Search skill and whispers to Victor, “There are sixty”, while he readies his sword as his companion just steps a few feet away from him with Makka following.

    “Won’t you join the fight?”, the world traveller asks, while focusing on the monsters.

    “I think, you should be able to take care of them on your own”, his mentor says, “Or do you think, you need help?”

Yuuri snorts, “I think, I will be fine.”

He draws his Mythril Sword, pointing it at the biggest monster, ready to fight, “Never take your eyes off me.”

    “You have my word”, his trainer responds and then the fight begins.

Yuuri points at each enemy after the other, “Paralyze.”

Many monsters get afflicted with the status ailment and remain unmoving.
Yuuri swirls around, slashing at the still moving beasts, ignoring the pinging of a Level-Up notification and fighting on. Level-Ups didn’t matter to him as long as there was no new skill acquired.

When he gets surrounded by the ones who weren’t affected by his Paralyze skill, he smirks and murmurs, “Dust Storm.”

A grand storm of dust builds up and whirls around him, knocking his enemies out of his way.
He uses the confusion of the monsters to defeat them one after the other with his blade, not caring about the notification of him levelling-up.

    “Twenty more to go!”, Victor shouts from a distance, jumping excitedly around like a little bunny to avoid incoming attacks.

When Yuuri takes a glance at him, his mentor strikes a kiss-blowing pose at him, before dodging the attack of a Silver Wolf with ease.
His graceful movements are not lost to the dark-haired youngster.
Yuuri turns red but tries to stay alert.

His mentor is always beautiful to watch and a real distraction on the battlefield.
Maybe he should tell him that some time.

Yuuri focuses again on his fight.

The paralyzed monsters have recovered over the time he took with the others and are charging at him aggravated from all directions.

At the very last second, he murmurs, “Shadow” and the beasts get pinned down in their movements by shadow arms, originating from Yuuri’s own shadow.

He remembers how he and Victor had discovered during his training that his Shadow skill can be used in indefinite ways, only restricted by his very own imagination. Yuuri smirks at the memory.

He finishes up with elegant executed sword cuts and jumps to the side to avoid an incoming surprise attack from a Grey Wolf. A Levelling-Up notification popping-up, which he clearly swipes aside to give his full attention to the aggressor. He snips his fingers, while saying, “Disperse.” And the Grey Wolf vanishes into thin air, only tiny atoms remaining from his existence. The wolf would need some time to recover his prior form.

Yuuri eyes the remaining enemies, noticing that Victor is still dancing around the beasts like this is all a dance floor at a royal ball instead of a serious battlefield. He shakes his head. He never fails to surprise him.

Yuuri then swirls around one more time, dancing with his blade, defeating the rest of the monsters with swift, but precise movements.

After the last enemy has fallen, he sheathes his sword, letting out a sigh.

Makka woofs at him excitedly and approving. Where had she been all this time?

The 16-year-old furrows his brow when Victor re-joins his side by jumping at him in pure elation with Yuuri nearly losing his stance, “Greatly fought, darling! But that could have been faster. Maybe we should increase the training while walking!”

Yuuri buries his face in his hands. Yeah, typical Victor.

They continue to journey on after collecting the gained raw materials from the beasts, Victor talking about what Yuuri should improve and practice.

They have a few sparing sessions as they don’t encounter any monsters with Makkachin as their judge.

When they reach the path leading to Tasmer and the sign boards to give directions it’s around 10 o’clock.
The fight with the monsters and the walk through the forest had taken them longer than they had expected.
But still both men and the poodle are in good spirits.

They follow the traveller’s walk and enter Seronia the Kingdom of the Beastfolk. Yuuri had thought that something special would change after crossing the border, but nothing extravagant happened.
They are just going down the road surrounded by the Fields of Reminiscence as Victor tells him.

After a while, Yuuri gets a little bored and he is reminded of a game, he played sometimes with his friends. Furthermore it is a good opportunity to find out more about Victor in general. And he doesn’t want to waste it.

He turns to Victor and asks, “Do you know the game ‘Twenty Questions’?”

His companion pats Makka on the head, then looks at him questioningly, “No, but I guess, it has something to do with twenty questions.”

Yuuri laughs, “Yeah, but the limit mustn’t be twenty questions. The game goes like this: we each ask the other a question and after answering, it’s the others turn to state their question and so on. It’s a game to pass time and find out more about the other person. Like hobbies, favourite things… Yeah…”

    “Oh, I get. Let’s do that!”, Victor claps his hands together in excitement. Not restricting his need to learn more about Yuuri and being charmed that the world traveller wants to learn more about him as well.
Makka smirks at him deviously and he gives her a pointed stare. She just huffs and walks on.

Yuuri hums a little embarrassed, but then clears his throat, “So, what’s your favourite flower?”
Nice and easy, a good first question. Not too awkward and forward, but still very personal. Great job, Yuuri!

Victor smiles at him endearingly, “Blue roses, of course. Yours?”

Yuuri stares into Victor’s blue eyes, before he answers, “Blue flowers.”

His travel companion hums in acknowledgement and waits.

What is he waiting for? Yuuri is confused. Then he remembers that it is his turn to ask a question again. Upsi!

    “Why Makkachin?”, his mouth lets out before he can stop it.

Victor stares ahead for a moment, his gaze distant, replaying an old memory, “I guess, the name just felt right at the time…” His spirit remains somewhere else, ghosts haunting Victor’s eyes and Yuuri wants to ask, if he shouldn’t have asked that question as it seemingly made his mentor remember uncomfortable memories, but the silver-haired man turns to him again in a flash and smiles stunningly at him, so Yuuri remains silent.

Their game resumes from that point on without a hitch.

    “What is your favourite food?”, Victor asks grinning.

    “Katsudon. It’s a Japanese pork-cutlet bowl! It’s very delicious! I can cook it for you sometime…”, ‘before I have to go’, goes unsaid.

Yuuri pushes that thought into the depths of his brain, “What’s yours?”

    “Beef Stroganov! We’ve already eaten it together, during practice!”, his mentor says, “What hobbies do you have?”

The Japanese man smiles, “Well, I like to read in my free time and to ice skate.”

    “Ice skate?”, Victor inquires.

Yuuri chuckles, “Well, we have these shoes with which you can skate along frozen ground or lakes in winter or in halls.”

    “Ah!”, his trainer seems to recognize the sport, “You mean ice dancing! We do that in Rusza every winter and if you know ice magic some other time during the year! I love it as well! We could do it some time together!”

Yuuri nods, hoping that somehow someway they will.

He turns his head ahead and sees the shape of a village and knows that they will arrive soon. Victor follows his gaze, his expression turning complicated and unreadable. They are both silent for a few steps, only Makka barking from time to time in a very commanding tone.

Then Victor looks at Yuuri a little nervous and unsure, before he starts to ramble, “That was quite a journey on foot. … Em, would you like to rest up for the day? I could introduce you to my friends and you can replenish your resources and Nikolai won’t have anything against you staying and I could train you a little more and–“

Yuuri puts a finger to his mentor’s soft lips, nearly gasping at the softness of the other’s lips, “You don’t have to try and convince me so hard. I would love to stay with you a little longer if you let me”, his cheeks turn red, his embarrassment gaining the upper hand. But he doesn’t regret it. He wants to just stay a little longer. And what is one more day before starting his journey.

After some more meters they enter the village Tasmer.

It is a peaceful and quiet rural town, a lot like the sleepy Hasetsu, his hometown. Yuuri feels instantly at home. He lets his gaze wander around the small but lengthy buildings and takes in a deep breath.
It smells like flowers, fresh baked bred and hay.

The villagers look at them interested but reserved.
Some of them recognize Victor, others don’t. Some even whisper behind their hold up hands.
Yuuri doesn’t know how he should feel.
It’s kind of uncomfortable to be stared at and whispered about, but then again, he is used to it.

Victor takes his hand and squeezes it, then starts walking down the town square, pointing some stores out to Yuuri, Makka trailing behind them. The teen tries to concentrate and take everything in, ignoring the people, staring down his back, and his flaming cheeks because Victor holds his hand in public.

They turn left at some point and walk to the end of the street, coming to a stop in front of a cosy looking old house with flowerpots in front and a small garden full of growing vegetables and fruit bushes.

They take the steps up to the front the garden door, before Victor turns to Yuuri smiling from one ear to the other, “Here we are! I am so looking forward to introducing you to Nikolai and Yura! I am sure, you will like them!”

Victor is about to ring the bell to announce themselves, when he freezes and lets go of Yuuri’s hand, only to grab both of his upper arms and lift him into the air to deposit him on his other side, next to Makkachin.

Yuuri squeaks and wants to get an explanation for the unforeseen action, when something crashes down exactly where he had been standing one second ago. He turns his head and has to blink. He has to correct himself, not something crashed down, someone did. A blond-haired teenager with emerald eyes glances at them both, a deep scowl on his face. He must be a little younger than Yuuri himself.

Victor shines at the stranger brightly, “Long time no see, Yura!”

The teenager’s scowl only grows in intensity, “Long time no see, my ass! It’s been years, you dumb old man!”

But the silver-haired man just giggles in amusement and the blond teen rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed at the older man’s behaviour.

Victor clears his voice and addresses Yuuri, “Yuuri, may I introduce to you the grandson of Nikolai Plisetsky, one of my best friends. His name is also Yuri.”

Yuuri smiles at that, opening his mouth to introduce himself as well, but gets interrupted by an angry noise, coming from the blond.

    “Why does he have to be Yuri too! There can only be one!”, Yuri complains, crossing his arms in protest.

Yuuri is speechless, why can’t there be two Yu(u)ris? He doesn’t have a problem with that.

Victor hums, putting his finger to his lips, “Right, this will get confusing.”
The silver-haired man snaps his fingers when he finds a solution and points to Yuri with an excited grin, “To avoid further confusion, you will be Yurio from now on! Problem solved!”

Yurio turns red from rage and screams, “The FUCK! Why do I have to get a nickname and not the pig? I was here first!”

Yuuri holds his ringing ears, trying to come up with a friendly truce, but fails.

Victor shakes his head, waving his finger in a ‘No-No-gesture’ at the other like a parent scolding his child in a friendly manner, “Now, now! That’s not how we treat our guests, Yurio! I taught you better! Be friendly!”

But that only seems to enrage the blond more, Yurio bristles, “YOU!”
The younger man seems to prepare himself to jump Victor and do whatever to take his revenge, when another older man appears from inside the house.
He looks like he is in his early forties with dark hair, but some crinkles around the eyes.

The man grins widely when he sees Victor and opens his arms in a friendly welcome, “Vitya! It has been ages!”

    “Kolya!”, Victor raises towards his friend and envelopes him in a hug, “How have you been? I am sorry, it took me so long.”

    “No worries! It’s just great to see you after so long! Oh! Nice to see you too Makkachin! How have you been?”, Nikolai replies warmly and Makka boofs in return, then the older man turns his attention to Yuuri, “And who is this good-looking young man? Is he your new boyfriend? Whatever, welcome to the Plisetsky household. My name is Nikolai Plisetsky and the young angry child, you’ve already met, is my grandson Yuri! It’s nice to meet you.”

Yuuri and Victor both turn red at the indication, Makka snorting loudly.

    “I am not…”, Yuuri splutters.

    “It’s not like that, Kolya! Stop your teasing!”, Victor shakes his head, trying to hide his embarrassment.

    “Hm… Is that so? Shame! He is a great catch, Vitya!”, Nikolai replies and Victor stares at him pointedly, “Fine, I’ll drop the matter!”, a ‘for now’ goes unsaid. Instead he just winks at his friend and starts laughing loudly.

He then holds out his hand for a handshake and Yuuri takes it, shaking it before he responds, “I-I am Yuuri Katsuki. It’s nice to meet you too, Sir!”

    “Please, call me Nikolai or Kolya! Any friend of Vitya’s is mine!”, the older man grins at Yuuri in a welcoming manner. And the dark-haired teen smiles in response. He feels at ease and knows that both Yurio and Nikolai are good people.

Yurio huffs impatient, “Can we go in now? I’m starving! And Makka wants food too!”
Makka whines to underline his statement.

They all turn to the youngest and the dog with a bright grin and Nikolai chuckles, “Of course! I made Pirozhki for today! And there is enough for everyone! So come in before the food gets cold!”

They head into the house and into the dining room, Yuuri seating himself next to Victor with Nikolai and Yurio sitting vis-à-vis and Makkachin getting the head chair.

At first Yurio scowls at their guests, but then the food arrives and he stuffs himself with his favourite food to the brim.

The Pirozhki are truly delicious and Yuuri lets out a pleased moan. It is nearly on the same level as his mother’s Katsudon, getting the second place immediately on Yuuri’s Secret Gourmet List.

Yuuri voices his feedback immediately, “It’s otherworldly delicious!”

He looks around the dinner table with renewed vigour: Nikolai thanks him for his praise, Yurio seems pleased with his comment, Makka boofs friendly and Victor… What is Victor doing?

The Japanese man furrows his brow at his mentor. His trainer has both of his hands pressed against his face. His hands cover up everything, his mouth, his eyes, every possible opportunity to read his expression.

The world traveller nudges his saviour slightly, before asking, “Are you okay?”

Victor just nods in agreement, not saying anything. Makka snorts.

Yuuri then turns to Nikolai and Yurio. Yurio has a disgusted look on his face and Nikolai just shrugs his shoulder in nonchalance, “Believe me, he is more than alright. I think, he will just need a few seconds”, he smirks like he would hide a delicious secret, “Maybe we should just continue with the conversation like normal. So Yuuri, how did you and Vitya meet?”

The Japanese student fumbles with his hands a little, before retelling his story, “Well, how should I start. … Well, I’m not originally from this world. I am from a planet called Earth from a country called Japan. I was somehow transported to this world with my classmates by a god or goddess. I don’t know who exactly did it. And I travelled alone to search for my classmates as I was left behind in a vehicle – we call it bus – without any clue. I got pursued by monsters on my travel and somehow ended up in the Forest of Evergreen, where Victor rescued me together with Makka. He gave me a place to recover and even trained me to help me get stronger. And well, I promised him to accompany him to his visit here before I…”, Yuuri turns a little sad, knowing that their parting will be sooner than he wants it to be, “Before I have to start my search again…” He doesn’t want to leave Victor. He knows that his crush is near to impossible to be reciprocated but still his heart tells him otherwise.

He shakes his head, “Victor told me, I should start my search in Robinia, because of all the connections there. I hope that I will find them sometime in the near future. And after I found them, I will have to look for… a way to return to our original world.” That’s his reality. Even if his crush would be reciprocated, Yuuri would have to leave sooner or later. And if parting is that hard already, maybe he should do it sooner than later. He turns quiet.

Nikolai hums, “Well, that’s quite a story. And as your status says that you are only 16 years old and Level 8, I have to recommend you for staying so calm in your situation.”

Yuuri blushes at the comment and Yurio starts scowling again, mumbling something to himself in anger.

    “What did you say?”, the Japanese highschooler asks, trying to catch the blond’s words, but failing.

    “I said, I am older”, Yurio huffs in annoyance at having to repeat himself, even if he is a little pleased that the other wants to know, what he said. But he would never admit it.

Yuuri shakes his head, “No, I am clearly older than you. I am sixteen years old and you look like fifteen.”

Yurio grits his teeth, glaring and opens his status for everyone to see, “Say that again after checking my status, you pig!”

Name: Yuri Plisetsky

Race: Shifter

Age: 75 years

LV: 299

Class: Chimera, Ice Tiger

Active Skill: Scratch, Slap, Strike, Slash, Bite, Slam, Claw, Head Butt, Head Charge, Head Smash, Jump Kick, Kick, Toss, Knockout, Slam-Tackle, Spin Kick, Sweep Kick, Blaze Kick, Takedown, Wrestling Hold, Body Slam, Quick Strike, Drain Punch, Double Hit, Double Slap, Dual Strike, Dual Punch, Quick Punch, Quick Attack, Speed Punch, Shuriken, Throw Weapon, Bone Rush, Close Combat, Shadow Claw, Wind Slash, Sonic Slash, Sonic Beam, Impact, Plasma, Galeforce, Astra, Tempest, Hurricane, Lightning Magic, Wind Magic, Hidden Power, Bind, Poison, Blind, Burn, Sleep, Freeze, Mist, Ward, Magic Shield, Heal, Cure, Prayer, Spirit Sense, Appraisal, Search, Track, Locktouch, Chantless Casting, Hide Status, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Beastform, Resist, Acrobat, Drain, Avoid,
Insight, Wrath, Glare, Renewal

HP: 5.051.297/5.051.297

MP: 4.765.394/4.765.397

EXP: 19.408.590

Next Level: 4.485 EXP

Equipped Gear: Hell Riser, Metamorphism-Robe, Tiger-printed
Vest, Golden Vessel of Rage, Eye of the Tiger, Scorpion
Bracelet, Beast Belt, Sturdy Boots

Blessing: Tigressia’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: Warrior Soul

456.987 G

ATK: 60.368

DEF: 59.546

MAT: 85.793

MDF: 85.786

AGI: 59.764

LUK: 59.387

Yuuri’s mouth opens in disbelief, “But you look like fifteen!”

Yurio splutters and Victor finds his voice again, “Yura is only in his teens as a Shifter. They have a different life expectancy than humans. Even though, he was as cute a child as every other human baby! You should have seen him! He was so adorable! Those squishy cheeks!”

Yurio turns a deep shade of red and barks, “Shut up, old man! Nobody needs to hear that!”

Victor winks at the blond teen, who only scowls in response.

Yuuri blinks at the young shifter, “Why do you call him old man all the time? That’s pretty rude.”

Victor puts a hand to his heart, touched, “Oh thank you, Yuuri!

Yuuri feels his cheeks flaming up again. Why is he always such a blushing mess? He tries to collect himself and continues talking, reprimanding the youngest a little for his lack in manners, “Moreover, Victor is clearly in his early twenties, so he isn’t an old man.”

Yurio splutters, eyes growing wide at the words he had just heard, “Have you seen his status? He’s clearly an old man!”, he turns to the silver-haired man in disbelief, “Don’t tell me, you haven’t shown him?”

The Hero shrugs nonchalantly, “He wasn’t interested.”

Yuuri facepalms, “Victor, I checked your status very often some time ago because I thought my Appraisal skill was broken. To say I wasn’t interested is kind of the wrong choice of words.”

Victor raises his hands in defeat, “Fine, fine. I’ll show you.”

He swipes a few times with his fingers before a status plate appears for all of them to see. Yuuri tries to not let his anticipation show, but he feels it failing.
He would finally get to see his mentor’s stats. He scans over them slowly and is dumbstruck, having his expectations shattered to the brim. The Japanese man would never be able to look at his trainer with the same eyes as before.

Name: Victor Nikiforov

Race: Ancient Immortal Human

Age: 222

LV: 999

Class: Hero

Active Skill: Raging Blow, Air Strike, Double Slash, Charge Slash, Arc Slash, Wild Slash, Gale Slash, Lightning Blade, Hero’s Sacrifice, Astra, Exodus, Luna, Elemental Slash, Hundred Swords, Moon Blast, Ragnarök, MP Surge, Holy Night, Barrier, Prayer, Refresh, Cure, Area Heal, Magic Shield, Physical Shield, Attack Boost, Magic Boost, Defence Boost, Agility Boost, Support, Drain, Ice Magic, Ice Horn, Ice Missile, Ice Coffin, Freeze Prism, Frostbite, Diamond Dust, Ice Prison, Snow Cover, Water Magic, Downpour, Waterstorm, Tsunami, Siren Song, Wind Magic, Wind Slash, Tornado, Tempest, Typhoon, Plasma, Impact, Lightning Magic, Blue Bolt, Ray, Thunderclap, Astral Blast, Earth Magic, Odyssey, Gaia, Briar, Annihilation, Avalanche, Fire Magic, Inferno, Stardust, Starbust Stream, Supernova, Volcano, Eruption, Planet Diver, Planetary, Serpent Fume, Dragon Fume, Beam, Fire Bomb, Epicenter, Magma Storm, Fiery Abyss, Dire Inferno, Illusion Magic, Weather Magic, Familiar Summoning, Creation Magic, Original Magic, Household Magic, Holy Magic, Holy Sword, Holy Light, Judgement, Crown’s Blessing, Weapon Grace, Fairy Dance, Roaring Dragon, Limit Break, Bind, Poison, Panic, Blind, Burn, Sleep, Freeze, Search, Appraisal, Alchemy, Stealth, Teleport, Track, Speed Writing, Speed Reading, Hide Status, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Self-Recovery, Endure, Angelic Ward, Haggling, Charm, Flirt, Insight, Patience, Mediate, Intimidate, Sixth Sense, Premonition, Multitasking, Antigravity, Chantless Casting, Spirit Sight, Immortality

HP: 9.998.587.396/9.998.587.396

MP: 9.975.683.798/9.975.683.798

EXP: 8.941.757.812.500

Next Level: 1.953.125 EXP

Equipped Gear: Moonslayer, Shield of Sol, Nymph Tear Pendant,

Hero Robe, Blessed Cloak, Ancient Belt, Magician’s

Gauntlet, Dragon-Leather Boots

Blessing: Chrysanthemia’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: The Living Legend

88.976.896.720.892 G

ATK: 99.969.689

DEF: 99.968.567

MAT: 99.968.769

MDF: 99.968.523

AGI: 99.969.493

LUK: 99.968.368

Yuuri stares at the status in front of him, speechless and unmoving. Victor looks at him concerned, not knowing what to do or how to act and Yurio smirks, trying to imagine what goes on in the other’s head.

After a long while the shock passes and the Japanese student clears his throat, trying to sound confident and strong, but his voice only comes out as a soft mumble, “You have some pretty high stats”, he concludes.

Victor looks at him a little guilty, “I am sorry for hiding it. But I made the experience that it’s better to be cautious. Furthermore when I asked if you were interested, you didn’t seem too thrilled.”

Yuuri tries to go through his memories. When did Victor ask him that? He is one step before asking, when a small memory hits him. His mentor probably questioned him for it after telling him that he hid his status.
Yuuri sighs, how should he have guessed from a simple ‘You won’t ask?’ and a ‘So, you don’t care?’.
He wants to facepalm.

    “How should I have guessed, you were talking about that when you only scratched the topic with a ‘You won’t ask?’ and a ‘So, you don’t care?’ I don’t think that anyone would have connected the dots”, Yuuri laughs at his trainer lightly.

    “Well, it was right after telling you that I hid my status and that your skill is not broken… So, I kind of thought that the implication was obvious”, Victor shrugs his shoulders.

Yurio studies them both with a look of incredulity, “So he really didn’t know?”, the young one blinks a few times, before anger seems to cloud his cute face again, “Why do you even train the piggy then, when it wasn’t because of your status? You didn’t even train me as you promised, when you left for the castle decades ago! You just went and came back for an occasional visit, before you vanished for good. I thought you were dead for some time! And then you just wrote stupid letters and we had to track you down!”, the shifter rubs his forehead, trying to calm down, but failing, “I swear, Victor! Sometimes you are so…”, he struggles for words and settles for a loud groan to show his frustration.

Yuuri feels sympathy for the Chimera. He wants to comfort him, but Victor beats him to the punch.

    “I am so sorry, Yura! I was caught up very badly in my own mind at that time…”, the silver-haired man shakes his head, shaking of his memories, “Moreover Nikolai and you always wrote me such supportive letters and it never crossed my mind that maybe you weren’t as fine without me as you always told me in your writings. I should have been a better person, I can only apologize…”

Yurio clicks his tongue, crossing his arms and sighing in acceptance. He tries to burry his head in his arms on the table, murmuring quietly but gently, so that it’s nearly inaudible, “I know. And I am also sorry for not being there for you properly.”

Yuuri’s lips tug into a smile, touched by the words.
Yurio is a good kid after all, he concludes.

Victor blinks at the blond in confusion, “What was that?”

Yuuri wants to facepalm, his mentor just missed one very cute moment.
He wants to groan but holds himself back. It isn’t his place to give a comment to that question.

The shifter glares at him as he straightens his posture, “Nothing, old man! So are you gonna train me now or not?”

Victor puts a finger to his lips to think about it, then his mouth turns into a mischievous grin and Yuuri knows that first, yes he will train the Chimera and second, he has a devious plan for today’s schedule or something else up his sleeve, which seems to elate him and that’s rarely something good for Yuuri.

The Hero snips his fingers and points at both Yuuri and Yurio, “You will both be training buddies for the day then!”

The Chimera’s mouth opens in protest, but Victor ignores him, turning to his first apprentice, “You learned a lot during the two weeks. So now it’s your turn to instruct Yura! And don’t worry, he will have some good tips for you too. I will check on you periodically and give you new exercises”, he turns to Yurio now as well, “I don’t want you both to get bored after all!”

Yuuri nods, knowing he shouldn’t protest or the training will get harsher after losing the argument battle with Victor. And well, maybe it will be fun training with someone else. He directs his gaze to Yurio, who seems not pleased, but doesn’t protest either. Oh, so he also knows that Victor in coach mode is no one to be trifled with.

    “What will you be doing then the time you aren’t training us?”, the dark-haired student addresses his mentor, curious how he will spend the time.

Victor’s smile turns melancholic but gentle, “I think, Kolya here wants to talk to me a little and catch up”, he gestures to the quietly smiling Nikolai. And Yuuri has to berate himself. He had completely forgotten that there are four people in the room and not three. Upsi.

He turns to Nikolai to apologize, but the man just waves him of, “Don’t worry, son. I was having a lot of fun following your conversation. And I am really happy that Yuratchka finally gets his wish fulfilled”, he gives Victor a pointed stare. The Hero rubs his neck embarrassed.

Nikolai chuckles, “No worries, Vitya. I am not mad. It just has been a long time and Yura isn’t one of the patient types.”

Yurio’s cheeks dust in a pink hue, he quietly stares at his hands, not saying a word. And Yuuri is surprised at the obedience and vulnerability he displays.
It seems that he has been really eager and concerned about Victor for all these years. What a cute child.

    “And yes, I think, we should catch up on some things”, Kolya smiles secretly at his friend and Victor nods.

The silver-haired man turns to his two students, “So then, up you go! Training is starting now!”, he thinks for a few seconds before adding some pointers, “Yuuri, start with the running as usual and then some stretching and afterwards show Yura some of the muscle training we did back in the forest. Next should be energy meditation and last but not least, you should have various light sparring matches. I think, it will do you both good to have a new opponent and relief some of your tensions. I will talk with Kolya during your warm-up, crash in a few times and then join you later for some exercise after dealing with some business.”

They both stare at their trainer for a second, then nod, eyeing each other in reluctance but acceptance and Yuuri smiles, thinking that it will be more fun doing the exercises together. Yurio huffs but doesn’t look as aggressive.

Victor grins widely, waiting. He claps his hands together, “Up you go, my pupils.” His trainees turn to him, Yurio with a disgusted face and Yuuri just blinking at the word ‘pupils’. Victor’s face changes from sunny to serious, “Or do I have to make you?”, his voice including a dangerous note.

A shiver runs down their spine.

The dark-haired and blond teenager scramble up and quicken their pace with a “See you later” mumbled over their shoulders, before they exit the room and then the house altogether. They only hear Nikolai’s laughter getting quieter.

When they walked a few paces from the entrance of the Plisetsky’s household, Yurio turns to Yuuri, “Can he get anymore overbearing? Hey, I’m Victor Nikiforov and I can just order you what to do and then threaten you to leave the room?!”

The Japanese chuckles, “I know what you mean. But we are both at fault to asking him to train us in the first place”, he shrugs.

    “Yeah… But he still can be a little nicer about it”, the blond crosses his arms, while complaining, before he sighs, “Well, whatever. We should start training.” Yurio starts jogging, readying himself for a run, “Try to keep up, piggy!”

    “Yuuri”, the world traveller answers pointedly.

    “What?”, the shifter furrows his eyebrows.

    “No. I meant that my name is Yuuri and not piggy. Since I started training with Victor, I don’t have my pudgy stomach anymore”, he tries to explain patiently.

    “And do you think that I give shit about names. When I say piggy, I mean piggy”, Yurio exclaims with depth, before putting his finger over his lips, deep in thought about something. Yuuri has to stifle a laugh. It is the same pose Victor always shows, when he thinks about a matter very deeply.

He trails off, when Yurio starts humming and then continues, “But you are right, it’s not the best nickname for you. But don’t worry, I’ll work on it. Now let’s start practice!” And with that he runs off, the Japanese student left behind speechless. Yuuri snorts. This kid is just hilarious.

    “Are you coming?”, Yurio shouts at him, turning smug, his lips curling in a challenge, “Or am I too fast for you?”

The dark-haired man huffs. What a capricious child. He feels a smile tugging again at his lips.
Yuuri is never one to back down from a challenge.

    “You wish! I was just giving you a head-start!”, he shouts at the blond and then starts running, catching up to the shifter.

Yurio scowls, his eyes flashing fiery, ready for a competition. He increases his pace, “Dream on! I am so totally gonna beat your ass!”

Yuuri laughs loudly, “We’ll see about that! But the challenge is on!”

They sprint round after round around the outskirts of the village, often side by side, trying to outrun or outwit the other with strange manoeuvres.

Meanwhile inside the house

When Yuuri and Yurio exit the household, Victor turns to his friend, his eyebrows drawn into a thin line, “Shoot, Kolya.”

Nikolai hums, his smile wavering a little, “Vitya, relax! I don’t bring you abysmal news and I don’t want to distress you any further as you already are.”

The Hero sighs, “Okay, I believe you, my friend. But what is it that weighs so much on your mind?”

The Ice Tiger hums sadly, “Can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

Victor’s eyes turn into slits, “Is it that serious? You know, if you ever have a problem, I can always–”

His friend grasps his hands, interrupting him with a touched gaze, “I know, Vitya. Thank you. But no, it’s not that serious, but still serious. It’s about Yuratchka.”

The Living Legend stiffens. What could have happened that Yura was concerned? Should he go, beat some people up again? Is it something about forgetting his promise? His thoughts go wildly in every direction.

Nikolai hides a laugh behind his hand, “You still look like a concerned parent, my dear friend.”

Victor huffs, “Well, I had part in raising him for quiet a while as you know! Of course, I consider him as my own son. Don’t you remember my eyebags from all these sleepless nights?”, he groans, “These years did great damage to my handsome face. I was never that ugly before”, he looks at his friend in horror.

Loud laughter pours out of Kolya, he can’t hold it in anymore, the memories are just too hilarious. He will never forget Victor’s face when Yura had painted on the wall with his excrements and the silver-haired man had to clean it for hours to get the stench away. He also remembers when little Yura puked all over the Hero during one of his illnesses. And the time when his friend had to learn how to change diapers. The first time he did, his face was dusted in white baby powder and he had some sprinkles of poop on his cheeks. Victor had been so excited that he managed to change a diaper that Nikolai couldn’t bring himself to tell him for some time how hilarious he looked.

Victor smiles at him genuinely, “But these were also one of the best days in my life. And they still are, when I meet up with you two.”

Nikolai nods, knowingly and happy, “Thank you, that’s a big compliment.”

    “It’s the truth”, the Hero insists, then changes into a concerned expression, “So what is this about Yura?”

The Ice Tiger takes a sip from his water glass, “It’s about his parents.”

Victor raises an eyebrow and Nikolai sighs, “No, they haven’t come to see him once and I don’t think that they will in the future either. It’s just that Yuratchka is already 75 years old, but still gets bullied by the other teens in the village because his blood-parents abandoned him. Furthermore they pick on him because his shifterform is that of a Chimera and of an Ice Tiger. You know, that most shifter only have one specific form. And his Chimera-form various from time to time as well. So he also gets mocked for his irregular shifting abilities as well. I am talking to the parents about the behaviour of their children, but they can only help so far. And then every time I try talking to my grandson about it, he just shrugs me off, saying that he is fine as he has me and you and that’s all he needs. But in truth, I want him to have more friends than just his family. I want to see him go playing or going on adventures with others. I just think, he misses out on so many things. But you know how Yura is, without his approval and willingness nothing will change.”

    “Yeah…”, Victor sighs knowingly as well.

Nikolai smiles, “Thank you for listening to my troubles, I feel a little lighter now. And maybe everything will work out in good time.”

Victor exhales slowly, “I hope so.”

The shifter stands up, going to the kitchen, “Do you want some tea? I think, I need a cup.”

The Hero nods, “Thank you…”, he studies his friend before asking, “But that weren’t the only news you want to deliver to me, isn’t that right, Kolya?”

Nikolai stays silent, while preparing the tea, returning to the table with cups and pours him the hot liquid. He seats himself, starring straight at his friend, “You are right. So, I will get straight to the point: Yakov wants to see you.”

Victor blinks at him.

Yakov wants to see him? For what reason?

He crosses his arms in front of him, “Does he? It’s been a while.”

The shifter hums in agreement, “He told me through various letters that he wants to talk to you. He is currently residing in the Elf Kingdom for some business. And he asked me to deliver his message to you as soon as possible. Seems like something big is going on. He didn’t tell me more, but from his words, I can deduct that. Do you want to see the letters?”

Victor shakes his head, “No, thanks.”

This wasn’t good. Even though Yakov didn’t have any idea where Victor was hiding himself over the years, he still knew that writing to Nikolai is an option to get in contact with him. And it’s not like he has anything against Yakov himself. It’s just that this sounded like a great pain in the ass and if Yuuri wasn’t the trap to sniff him out into the open again, then this is definitely it. But then again, if it is that urgent, he can’t refuse. It would leave a bad aftertaste to turn his back on his own mentor. And maybe he could go see him and afterwards vanish again into oblivion. He takes a look at Makka, who buffs in response to his inner turmoil. Right, he has Makka. She would clearly help him with his escape.

The Hero lets out a breath before he continues, “Where in the Elf Kingdom?”

Nikolai takes a sip from his tea, looking at his friend in surprise, “Don’t tell me, you plan on going?”

    “What if I do?”, Victor says lightly, “Don’t you want me to?”

The Ice Tiger facepalms, “Victor, that’s very reckless from your part. You have been hiding for years! That could destroy all of what you worked so hard for! And no, it has never been my intention to make you heed his plea. I was just the messenger. I don’t want you to suffer more than you already have.”

Victor smiles, Kolya really is one of his greatest friends, “Thank you, my friend. But when Yakov says it’s that urgent, I can’t turn him down that easily. I don’t want to disappoint my mentor too hard.”

Nikolai huffs, “You know, he isn’t disappointed. Nobody, who holds you dear, is. And we know about the risk… But I understand your feelings. I wouldn’t be able to turn my back on him either.”

A deep sigh is exchanged between them and both of them start laughing.

    “It’s like the good old times, buddy!”, Kolya exclaims.

    “Yeah!”, Victor agrees, “When Yakov calls, we follow.”

Their laughter goes on for a long time, getting echoed by the walls.

When they calm themselves again, Nikolai’s grin turns sheepish and mischievous with a sly undertone, wiggling his eyebrow, “So, Yuuri then.”

The silver-haired man furrows his eyebrow, confusion showing on his features, “What is with Yuuri?”

    “Nothing much. I am just surprised that someone got you out there again to travel with them. Not forgetting about the fact that you nursed him back to health, trained him and gave him gear for free. Sounds not really like you or does it, my dear friend?”, Nikolai studies him with interest.

Victor’s cheeks colour a light pink and he scratches his scalp, trying to come up with a good response, “Well, I couldn’t have just left him to die at Level 1 in the forest and–“, he tips his forefingers together a few times before resuming his argument, “And… I don’t know. I just had a feeling of trust concerning him and still have it. He is so genuine, without a façade. His smile is beautiful and his eyes are glimmering like stars in the light and his sleeping face is just so adorable. He looks like an angel! And–”, Victor chances a look at his friend and stiffens at the soft and kind gaze Nikolai directs at him, “And I should stop telling you all of that. Since when were you even interested in my love life?”

Kolya bits his lower lip, stifling a chuckle, “Hm… your love life? I never said anything along those lines in connection with your Yuuri, though. It was you, who brought that up first, my friend”, he smirks at the crimson-faced Victor.

Nikolai snorts, laughter pulling out of him and his friend pouts. The shifter swipes his tears away, talking in his parent voice, “Believe me, I am happy for you, my dearest friend. But I must warn you, Vitya! The boy is just sixteen and a human. Furthermore he isn’t even from this world. And as he told us, he searches for his fellow companions and wants to return to his original planet. So either, you let it all go now or you enjoy the time with him and resign yourself that you will have to let go of him sometime in the future. I am sorry.”

Victor’s face falls, knowing his friend is right. He shouldn’t have even dragged Yuuri along to visit Nikolai and Yura in the first place.

The plan had been perfect: letting the world traveller recover, train him a little and then send him out into the world again to find his comrades and a way back to his world. And Victor and Makka would continue their lives together in harmony, far away from the greedy eyes of the nobles and never-ending responsibilities. That was the plan. What did change?

At that exact moment he remembers Yuuri’s smiling face, they way his eyes sparkle when determination fills them, his stubbornness during their mock-battles, his sleeping face, the way he asked if Victor is an angel.

And he knows exactly what changed over their time spend together.
For the first time in his life, Victor knows without a doubt that he is starting to fall in love.

On Yuuri’s and Yurio’s front

When they reached the Plisetsky’s for the sixtieth time, they both fall down on the ground, panting and ringing for air, their faces red from the strain, but both are smiling in content at the other.

    “You are not half bad”, Yurio manages to say in between his pants.

    “You aren’t either”, Yuuri answers. Man, he is beat. That was one hell of sixty rounds around the village.

They stare silent into the sky for a moment, before Victor appears out of thin air, startling them both.

    “Ohhh! Already tired? But you haven’t even really started your real practice! How disappointing!”, he grins at them with amusement, seemingly knowing what had transpired between them, “You are both very out of shape, if you only managed to finish sixty rounds and not at least hundred. Maybe we should focus more on cardio before coming to the real fun!”

Yurio splutters at that, trying to even his breathing, “I can do that with my eyes closed, old man! Don’t underestimate me!”

Yuuri resolves his determination and fighting spirit as well, “I can do it too! Just watch!” He gets up, brushing the dirt from his clothes and starts running again, Yurio trailing behind him before catching up.

Victor just waves at them with a merry expression and returns to Nikolai inside the house to resume their talk and maybe have some of the cookies his friend must have stored somewhere.

Yuuri and Yurio run alongside each other, breathing in a steady rhythm.

    “He got us good”, the blond teen breaks the silence between them.

    “Indeed”, Yuuri agrees, “But we will be wiser this time. Let’s have an nice jog together instead of the competitive sprint from before.”

    “Got it”, Yurio nods.

They complete the first round, only 39 to go.

    “Was he like that while training you?”, the Ice Tiger asks curiously.

The Japanese student chuckles, “Yeah. Sometimes even worse. He always has a way with encouraging people to push their limits, I guess. It’s how I got this far in only two weeks and a few days.”

Yurio stares at his companion, “But you are only Level 8 now?”

    “Yeah. But when I arrived, I started with Level 1. And you’ve probably already looked at the unfair amount of experience points I need to reach the next level”, Yuuri sighs.

    “You were only Level 1? How did you survive that long? And yes, I’ve seen it and it’s a really shitty growth rate… But don’t worry, experience can still help you and The Living Legend is training you personally and you are not bad in general…”, Yurio turns a little flushed, “But don’t misunderstand me, I am not praising you or anything.”

The world traveller smiles, “Thank you, Yuri. And Victor asked me that question as well, kind of.”

    “Yurio or Yura”, the Chimera responds, averting his gaze from the other.

    “Hm?”, Yuuri asks, not understanding what this meant.

Yurio huffs annoyed, “I give you permission to call me Yurio or Yura. And in exchange I will come up with a nickname for you! Clear, you slowbrain?”

Yuuri has to chuckle, “Yeah, thank you. I feel honoured.”

    “Whatever”, the Ice Tiger responds, his cheeks dusted from his embarrassment, then he asks, “How many rounds do we have left?”

The Japanese counts in his head, “35, I guess. That will take a while.”

The blond teen smirks mischievously, “Not if we speed up a little. I wonder who will finish first. I call dips on my victory!”

    “We’ll see about that”, Yuuri speeds up and Yurio protests but catches up to him immediately, “I haven’t said ‘start’ yet, you idiot!”

    “Haha… Then I say ‘start’”, the 16-year-old winks at the shifter, who grumbles at him in response.

They try to one-up each other and push themselves to the limits with their competitiveness. When they finally complete the hundredth round, they can’t feel their feet any longer and their lungs are burning.

    “Victor will so gonna pay for this!”, Yurio swears to the sky and Yuuri laughs breathless. They rest up for a while, stretching and drinking some water from the well, before continuing with muscle training.

As both have an already proven competitive streak, they try to outdo each other in sit-ups and push-ups and other exercises.

When they both take a break to stretch again, three figures appear in front of them. Yuuri doesn’t know any of the other villagers, so he is surprised to see three teens positioned in front them with their hands crossed and a superior look on their faces. He turns to Yurio for an explanation, but the other just grits his teeth in annoyance. So no good news then. The Japanese addresses the other teenagers in front of him, “Can we help you with something?”

The burly one in the middle with brown hair and blue eyes focuses on him, “No. We don’t need any help from you, stranger. We are here to have a chat with the ugly Chimera.” The other two teens besides the burly one giggle. They were both blond-haired and from a beanstalk-like stature.

    “Shut up, Tyler and leave us alone. Don’t you see that we are busy? Go with your lackeys and get on someone else’s nerves”, Yurio bites his lips.

And everything falls into place. These three kids are not friends with Yurio. They are his bullies.

    “Oh?”, Tyler raises an eyebrow and the other two cackle, “Talking back now? Wanting to save face in the presence of your friend? It’s a wonder that an abandoned kitty like you even has some!”

Abandoned? Abandoned by whom? As far as Yuuri knows, Yura has his grandpa Nikolai and Victor and ...

    “Why did your parents leave you again? Ah yes, because they didn’t want an ugly Chimera like you as their son!”, the brat taunts.

    “Shut up! Just shut up!”, Yurio’s body is trembling and Yuuri knows that it’s enough. They have gone too far.

He steps forward between the bullies and Yura, who blinks at him unbelieving and then horrified. Yuuri holds his head high and faces them with a determined expression, “Are you done?”

The three village children eye him surprised, but defiant, “What do you want, Level 8?”

Yuuri takes in a breath, “I asked you a question first and it’s decent manners to politely respond or have your parents not taught you well enough?”, he raises an eyebrow.

Tyler huffs confused, “Yeah, I am done. So now, respond to mine!”

Yuuri sighs, a tranquil smile forming on his face, “Good. Then here is your answer!”, he balls his right hand into a fist and punches Tyler right in his face.

Tyler goes down with a “thump”, holding his bleeding nose, staring petrified at the still gently smiling Yuuri, “W-What the–? Why did you–?”, he stammers.

The Japanese kneels down, smiling pleasant and kind, “I don’t like it when my friend gets insulted, you understand, don’t you?”, Yuuri balls his fist again, his calm smile still remaining on his face, but his eyes screaming bloody-murder.

The burly village boy shakes his head up and down, scrambling away from the Level 8. He gets up on his feet, pointing at a pale Yurio with his forefinger and stutters, “Y-You w-will r-regr–“, Yuuri sharpens his gaze and the other squeals in fear before fleeing like a dog, caught with his tail between his feet. His friends follow him without a word, dread written all over their young faces.

Yuuri clicks his tongue, “All bark, no bite! Such children”, then he turns to Yurio, “You really shouldn’t let him bother you that much. He is just shouting for attention and wants to be the lead alpha, but he has more complexes and confidence issues underneath his surface than you can believe. He is one of the more harmless bullies though. Yura?”

The Japanese studies his friend, who just stares at him in wonder and disbelief. Yuuri steps closer to the shifter, waving his hand before the other’s face, “Are you alright, Yurio?”

The Ice Tiger scowls at him, his cheeks a little red and his eyes glittering suspiciously, “Yes, I am alright! And stop waving your hands in front of my face, I am not blind, you idiot! You enormously dumb and stupid idiot!”, he covers his eyes with his hand for a short second before glaring at his training partner, “That could have been dangerous, you brainless idiot! Tyler is Level 35 and he is years older than you! What if he had gotten serious and you… And you!”

Yuuri blinks, “I am sorry if I worried you. That wasn’t my intention. I just couldn’t stand it any longer how they treated you and then I kinda…”

    “You kinda what?”, the teen asks.

    “… I kinda snapped. I’ve never hit a person before in my life”, Yuuri is horrified. Shit, shit, shit. What if they tell his mother. She would be so disappointed at him for getting violent and raising a hand against other teenagers. Then again he did for a friend. Maybe that would lessen her let-down.

Yurio stares at him incredulously, taking in the other’s horrified expression and starts laughing wholeheartedly.

Yuuri gazes at him sheepishly, rubbing his neck in an abashed manner, joining the blond with uneasy laughter.

    “You are so ridiculous!”, Yura states, “But thank you for sticking up for me”, the top of his ears turns an adorable red.

    “No problem. I would do it again. I am not unused to such situations. I had similar experiences back in my world. Sometimes they were easier to bear, sometimes harsher and more violent. But now I can at least protect myself and other people”, the world traveller explains, starring into the afternoon sky.

The Chimera hums thoughtfully before speaking, “I was abandoned by my blood-parents when I was just a babe.”

Yuuri stays silent, staring at the clouds in the sky, just listening.

    “I was a very sick child and I don’t know. They just didn’t want me. My mother was a teenager when she got pregnant and she probably wasn’t ready to take responsibility. My grandpa took me in, while caring for his sick wife, who died after some time. And Victor decided to help him raise me. For me Victor always was and still is my father figure. Don’t tell him that by the way”, Yurio clears his throat, “He taught me a lot from reading and writing to fighting and a lot of other things. He was always there, supporting me and dedushka. And I want to support him as well… But he doesn’t let me do much.”

The Japanese ruffles through the blond’s hair, the other protesting a little and squirming away, “What was that for, stupid?”

Yuuri pats the shifter gently on the shoulder, “Thank you for telling me, Yura. I know, it’s not easy for you. I know that words can’t change everything, but you are a special being and not ugly at all and if others don’t see how badass and talented you truly are then it is their loss. At least know that you are loved plenty.”

Yurio turns crimson, his words failing him. When he collects himself again, he eyes the 16-year-old warily, “Is that how you charmed the old man?”

Yuuri chokes on his own spit, his cheeks flaring up in colour. Say what now?

    “I don’t know what you mean!”, he stutters out, trying to calm himself down.

The Chimera just hums, drawing his own conclusions and lets the topic rest, “What was the next step of our training again?”

The Japanese highschooler is glad that they returned to a safer topic. He just wants to respond to the shifter, when another voice answers for him, “Sparring practice.”

They both turn their heads in the direction of the voice and see a smiling Victor with a grinning Nikolai behind, waving at them in glee.

    “I don’t know what I should think about my students idling around and skipping their practice. Do you have any suggestions, Kolya?”, Victor’s lips tug into a mischievous line.

Nikolai snorts, but tries playing along, “Hmm… Maybe some combat with two veterans at Level 999 and Level 583 would do them good.”

Yuuri and Yurio gulp. They wouldn’t stand a chance if they were up against both of them.

Victor claps his hands together in an excited manner, “What a good idea, my friend! We should start immediately!”

The two Yu(u)ri’s look at each other in horror. They are sooo fucked!

The matches go as predicated with Yuuri and Yurio utterly defeated each time, they face off against the two battle veterans. They fight until the sun is setting, both trainees utterly drained and tired. Yuuri reached Level 9 without any skill changes, but his stats increased greatly. However, he is too exhausted to really care. The Black Dust and the Ice Tiger slump into each other, Victor and Nikolai stifling a laugh at the adorable sight.

    “And tomorrow I want more commitment. Especially from you, Yuuri! How long have you been slacking off anyway? You weren’t that inflexible when we trained together in the forest!”, Victor complains.

Yuuri groans, “I also didn’t need to run hundred rounds like madman before exercising like a there is no tomorrow before. No wonder I have legs like jelly!”

    “What was that? You want to train some more?”, Victor gives him his greatest coach smile.

The Japanese shivers, “Nothing! Nothing at all! Oh wait, shouldn’t I–”

    “Your journey can wait until you reach Level 10 and that you will by the end of tomorrow, darling”, Victor interrupts him with finality in his voice.

    “Is that really alright to impose on you?”, the highschooler turns to Nikolai and Yurio for any sign of discomfort.

Yura answers first, “I the old man wouldn’t suggest it, I would and grandpa likes you, so … stay.” Nikolai nods in agreement and Yuuri takes a deep bow in gratitude, “Thank you very much for your hospitality! If you don’t mind, I can make my favourite dish as a thank you!”

They agree to Yuuri’s terms and return to the Plisetsky’s household, the Japanese searching for all necessary ingredients before starting to cook. He rushes through his mother’s perfected recipe and after a short while, all four of them, together with Makka are seated on the dinner table once more, enjoying the Katsudon. They all ask for seconds, even Makka buffs to get another helping of the delicious dish.

    “Vkusno!”, Victor exclaims, “Is that the food of the gods?” Makka raises an eyebrow but agrees with a woof shortly after.

    “It is delicious, Yuuri! Thank you!”, Nikolai says to Yuuri.

    “It is not bad!”, Yurio stuffs his mouth full of the dish, silently pleading for a third helping with his eyes when he finishes his bowl.

Yuuri chuckles, handing the teen another filled bowl, “Thank you all for the compliments. It’s my favourite food after all. My mother makes it a little better though, so I have to apologize to be unable to treat you to the original.”

    “There is an even better version of this?”, Victor’s eyes sparkle, “I can’t believe it, darling. You already cook it so deliciously!”

Yurio hums, before his eyes get a spark of enlightenment, “That’s it! I’ve got it now!”, he points at Yuuri, “From today on you will be ‘Katsudon’!”

The Japanese chokes on his bite, coughing a little.

The Chimera lights up proudly, “No need to thank me! I know, I did great!”

All five of them, including Makkachin, start laughing freely and they spend a merry evening before heading to bed that night.

The next day Yuuri wakes up to a kick to his mattress and a too loud voice calling relentlessly, “Wake up, Katsudon! Breakfast is ready!”

He groans and gets another kick as response.

He startles out of his bed, still groggy, “I am awake. I am awake. Please stop the kicking. It’s unpleasant.”

The Japanese comes face to face with an amused Yurio, grinning widely, “Morning, sleepyhead!”

    “Morning, Yurio”, Yuuri rubs his eyes, still sleepy, “Did you sleep well?”

    “Like a babe, you?”, the shifter asks.

    “Too good. I could just dive into the covers again and sleep in there for the whole day. But I guess that’s just wishful thinking.”

The Chimera snorts, “Da. So come on. I think, you want something in your belly before Victor starts his coaching again.”

The highschooler huffs, “Yeah. To another ruthless training session then!”

Yurio stifles a laugh, “But don’t tell Victor, you think like that, he would be hurt and start pouting like a child. Oh wait, do that. His antics are hilarious. And maybe he will go easier on us afterwards.”

Yuuri smiles, “I can try.”

They eat breakfast after their greetings to Nikolai, Victor and Makka. Yuuri indeed tries to tell his mentor how he thinks of his spartan training, but the silver-haired man just smiles at him to Yurio’s disappointment, saying that ‘he is not sorry about putting his mentees through so much, but just wants the best for them and that they will later thank him for it’. He winks at Yura at that and starts laughing at the other’s scowl.

After finishing washing the dishes, they start today’s training, which consists of some less extreme running, stretching, meditating, balance training and a lot of sparring. Yuuri and Yurio still lose to Nikolai and Victor, which is still not surprising with having to fight against a Level 583 and a Level 999. Still it’s frustrating for the two teens.

Lunch comes around soon and Yuuri is treated to Victor’s favourite dish, Beef Stroganov. His mentor is ecstatic at the surprise and gulps down bowl after bowl in bliss, exclaiming how he is in heaven and wants to hire Yuuri, Nikolai and Yura as cooks for his house in the forest.

The four men spend their afternoon training as well with Makka as the neutral judge for the fighting sessions. However, sometimes she seems not as neutral a party as she should be as the poodle makes it her mission to let her Vitya stumble over spontaneously growing roots to give Yuuri an advantage in battle. Victor shoots her playful glares during the fights, which lets the others giggle at the poodle’s innocent eyes, she makes at the silver-haired man every single time.

Yuuri flops down for the felt twentieth time, when a notification pops up. This time he doesn’t swipe it away as the Level-Up includes new skills.

Level-Up received:

Congratulations you have reached Level 10!

New skills acquired:

Feint

Confusion

Dust Barrier

Poison

Victor, Yurio and Nikolai come over to look over his new acquired skills.

The Chimera snorts at the Confusion skill, “Aren’t you always confused, Katsudon?”

Yuuri jabs him into the sides, “Only if I need to be!”

They brawl a little, The Living Legend and the Ice Tiger watching with warm eyes, before Victor uses his Appraisal skill on Yuuri to check out his status.

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: Human

Age: 16 years

LV: 10

Class: Black Dust

Active Skill: Shadow, Disperse, Dust Storm, Dust Barrier, Feint, Paralyze,
Blind, Confusion, Poison Appraisal, Search, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Stamina, Charm, Miracle, Language Comprehension

HP: 150/150 +50* à 200/200

MP: 200/200 +50* à 250/250

EXP: 3.350

Next Level: 580 EXP

Equipped Gear: Mythril Sword, Iron Dagger, Traveller’s Robe*, Moonlight Coat, Gloves of Learning, Ring of Courage,
Rune Bracelet, Ebony Boots

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: Adventurous Soul

23.879 G

ATK: 160 +50* à 210

DEF: 182 +50* à 232

MAT: 160 +50* à 210

MDF: 182 +50* à 232

AGI: 184 +50* à 234

LUK: 174 +50* à 224

Victor hums. The stats are getting higher, which is good and essential for his survival, but still something bothers him about Yuuri’s class. He needs so many EXPs to level up, but gets not much in return for his effort. It’s very strange.

Nikolai furrows his eyebrows as well, “I’ve never seen something quite like this before. Interesting.”

The silver-haired man nods. Indeed, interesting. But also disturbing. He has an inkling that there is something special and surprising about this class. Oh, what he would give to research it longer, but then again, he doesn’t want to be out in the open for that long and he can’t be that selfish and hold Yuuri back longer as needed from finding his comrades. Truly aggravating.

    “Maybe it has something to do with him being summoned from another world”, the Hero guesses.

The old Ice Tiger shrugs, “Perhaps. But it also could mean something else entirely. Even if we don’t have a clue now. Furthermore what’s this light coming from the Blessing part?”

    Oh that! Makka thinks that this indicates that he is in pre-blessing state”, Victor responds.

    “Pre-blessing state? Never heard of that as well”, Nikolai concludes.

    “Same for me before Makkachin told me. But she won’t tell me, which god or goddess it is. She is a stubborn one”, Victor sighs, looking at his poodle critically, but she ignores him pointedly.

    “Your poodle is truly amazing! If never seen one like that before. Are you sure she is not an Elf or a Spirit?”, his friend’s eyes sparkle in interest.

The Hero snorts, “No, I am sure.”

Victor feels sorry for keeping Makka’s real identity a secret from his friend, but if it came out to the public that the Head Goddess is on vacation, leaving her business to the other gods and goddesses in order to spend her time besides Victor relaxing and living the life, people would panic and more. Furthermore Makkachin told him years ago that as long as she stays as a poodle, she is to be treated as a poodle with special benefits and some oddities of course. Nobody has questioned it really so far, so the secret should be safe for another while.

Yuuri and Yurio stop their fight, both wheezing and exhausted.

    “Can we take a break or stop for the day?”, the Chimera says between his breaths and Yuuri nods in agreement.

The veterans giggle at the sight and Victor puts a finger to his lips, “I guess, we can call it a day, my dear pupils. Tomorrow–“

Yuuri stops him with a raised hand, “Em… Victor… Sorry to interrupt you, but…”, he bites his lower lip and the Hero knows what his apprentice is going to say, before he does so himself, “I… well… I think, it’s time for me to leave…”

The other three stare at him dumbstruck for a moment.

Yurio is the first to recover, “Leave? Why so soon? You just got here yesterday?”

The Japanese turns to his new friend apologetic, “I am sorry. Originally, it wasn’t even in the plan to stay over yesterday. I should just accompany Victor to visit his friends and then I should have been on my way to search for my classmates in Robinia. I-I would like to stay longer, b-but time is running out. I don’t know if they are still in Rusza and I should talk to the Church or the Guild and other authorities to find them. A-And I don’t want to be a burden on you all as I am only Level 10 now.”

    “You are not a burden!”, Yura shouts angrily, “And you kicked Tyler’s ass, who is Level 35 even though you were only Level 8 at the time!”

    “Still, it is my decision, Yura. T-Tomorrow morning I will leave”, Yuuri tries to be confident, but the sadness is clearly written in the depths of his eyes. He likes it here, likes training under Victor, practicing with Yurio and sparring with Nikolai. But he shouldn’t be so selfish, when his classmates are on their own in this strange world, probably not having so much luck as him to stumble over a veteran, who kindly guides him through the labyrinth.

    “What about them then? You told us that you were left alone in that vehicle for you to fight all on your own! Do you think they care and are searching for you too? What if they are already dead, anyway!”, the Chimera stops, when he sees tears running down Yuuri’s face.

    “I have to try anyway!”, the highschooler screams anxious at the truth in the other’s words. What if they abandoned him because he was only Level 1 at that time? What if they forgot about him already? What if they are all dead? What if Yuuko and Takeshi need his help and he isn’t there for them? He feels the panic rise in his stomach and overflowing, “Don’t think, I never thought about that! But what should I do? Give them up because I was alone, when I woke up in another world so full of dangers? Just live on as if it is nothing? Forget them like they never existed in the first place? Abandon them as they probably have me? And playing citizen to this planet? Fuck, I’m not even from this world to begin with. I am so scared the whole time! Scared to search for them on my own without knowing where to go! Scared to find out the truth if I find them! Scared to be eaten by a random monster, be mugged or I don’t know how many deaths you can die here. I am terrified to leave you, Victor and Nikolai. But what should I do? You are going to live your life here! Victor wants to live his life tranquil and without any disturbances from the outside”, he looks at his mentor’s blurry figure, “Yes, Victor. I have noticed how reluctant you are to leave the boundaries of your forest. And that you don’t want to have anything to do with outsiders. So it’s a wonder to me that you took me in and cared for me as you have.” Yuuri sniffs at them, his eyes still blurry, his tears flowing harder, “And now, I have snapped at all of you for no apparent reason, even though you are so kind to me. I truly am the worst”, he laughs brokenly and slumps onto the ground, his feet giving in. His tears stream down his cheeks and Yuuri just feels emotionally exhausted. He just turned all his previous allies against him. He deserves everything which comes after.

The student sees through his blurry vision as one body approaches and he cries harder, before he is enveloped in a gentle hug, pressed against a warm muscular body. He takes in a breath. Victor’s scent. His tears keep coming.

Why? After all he said? How can he still be so kind to him?

He hears another “Woof” close to his ear and knows Makka is there as well.

He also feels another pat on his head, a blond fuzzy figure standing above him, patting him softly. Yurio.

And then there is a soft press to his shoulders and he knows that it has to be Nikolai.

He sniffles. Why? Why are they so kind to him?

Victor brushes his hands gently over his back, “Everything’s gonna be alright, Yuuri. You’ll see. Please don’t cry. I am helpless in front of crying people. Can I do something to help you feel better? Or should I just kiss you?”

    “Erg. Gross!”, the Chimera makes a disgusted sound and Yuuri has to laugh.

He sniffs again, hiccupping from his unsteady breathing, “I-I hic am so hic sorry”, he clenches his hands into Victor’s robe.

The silver-haired man just caresses his back, “You have nothing to apologize for, darling. How I see it, it was only a matter of time before all the stress and anxiety comes bubbling out. You have every right to be scared and mad. Everyone would be in your place. So, don’t be to hard on you. Okay, darling?”

Yuuri hums, nodding his head.

He gets another pat to his head and looks up to Yurio’s embarrassed face.

    “I am sorry too”, the blond says softly, “It wasn’t my intention to hurt you. I was just angry at you leaving so soon.”

Yuuri gives him a light smile in response. Yura doesn’t seem like the type to apologize very often, so it’s a precious moment.

Nikolai gives him a pat on the shoulder and then steps back, “I think, we all need some good tea now. And then I will have a talk with Yuuri.”

Four pairs of eyes stare at the older man, who chuckles, “Don’t worry, nothing bad. Just a few words, which have to be said. So come on, we don’t have eternity like some people”, he winks at Victor, who blushes.

They all make their way to the Plisetsky’s household and seat themselves at the dinner table, while Nikolai prepares some tea.

Yuuri takes in the flavour of the tea after it is served and exhales in delight. Chamomile. Good for the nerves and for relaxing. He murmurs a “Thank you” to his host, who waves him of.

They drink their tea in comfortable silence, enjoying the tranquillity. Makka resting near Yuuri to give him further comfort.

When they finish, Nikolai turns to Yurio and Victor, “Yuratchka won’t you take Victor to the attic and clean up a bit? There is a whole mess up there and I think, it’s time to arrange it better. Will you be a dear?”

Yurio grumbles. His grandpa always wants him to clean the attic, when he has to deal with secret business, not meant for the teen’s ears. And having to take Victor with him, his dedushka doesn’t want them both to overhear. What a drag.

    “Yura?”, his grandfather shoots him a glance.

    “Of course, grandpa”, the young one replies, “Follow me, Victor! I think, I have something to talk to you about too.”

When the silver-haired man just looks at him in confusion, the shifter grabs his wrist and drags him up the stairs to the attic without further explanation. Makkachin following them silently.

Yuuri hears them leave and stiffens a little.

What does Nikolai want to talk to him about that the others shouldn’t overhear? Was it something bad? Something secretive?

His mind spirals in circles, when the Ice Tiger puts his cup down on the table and Yuuri gulps loudly.

The older shifter chuckles, “No need to worry, son. I am not here to berate or scold you. I just wanted to have a chat with you alone without the prying eyes of the snoopy ones.”

    “Okay”, the highschooler replies. He still doesn’t know where this is going.

    “I will get straight to the point. I want to talk to you about Vitya”, Nikolai says, intertwining his fingers.

Yuuri didn’t account for that, “Do you mean because I said that I noticed how he doesn’t like to leave the forest and his wariness concerning strangers.”

    “Yes, exactly. I think, I should tell you a little why he has become a very cautious person. You’ve already seen his status, so I don’t think knowing the backstory to his caution will hurt you as Victor trust you that much”, the Hero’s friend explains, “I won’t tell you everything. Because that is Vitya’s job to do, when he is ready. But I still don’t want to let you in the dark for his sake as well.”

The Japanese student stays quiet. He doesn’t know what to say.

Nikolai continues to talk, “Well, did you ever hear about the term ‘Noblesse oblige’, Yuuri?”

The 16-year-old nods, “It’s a term often used in connection to nobles. It’s about certain duties they have, I think.”

    “Yes, something among those lines. You see, Victor is originally descended from a noble’s house. He was very young when he took on the role of the hero. He has served decades at the side of the royal families of Rusza, advising them and being a diplomat and ambassador as his duties demanded of him. He never had much time to himself. And he never was fully appreciated for his deeds. Instead with each generation they whispered more behind his back, tried to assassinate him and got greedier in their demands. He was only a tool to a king’s hand. Until it was enough and he vanished. Since then, he is wary of ploys and traps, just wanting to live a quiet life in peace and freedom, being himself. Do you understand, Yuuri? He never knows if strangers are secret spies to seek him out and bring him back to his previous way of living. As far as I know, they are still searching for him as the Kingdom of Rusza has sustained great drawbacks since he left. And I am not innocent as well”, Nikolai rests his head in his hands.

Yuuri tries to take everything. Somehow all of it makes sense now. Why Victor doesn’t want to journey with him. Why there was no one around them in the forest. Every simple pattern in his behaviour. But–

    “Why did he save me then?”, the world traveller is perplexed.

Why would he save a stranger, when he is that wary of spies? Why did he care for Yuuri and train him? Why did Victor invite him to accompany him to the Plisetsky’s and introduce them? That doesn’t make sense. If he would follow Victor’s pattern until their meeting, he should have sent Yuuri on his way as soon as possible. Why didn’t he? Was it because he feels the same as Yuuri?

His heart beats faster at the thought of Victor maybe returning his feelings. Yuuri knows that he’s got it bad for the silver-haired Hero. He also knows that his crush is turning slowly into something deeper, something stronger, but he can’t name it, afraid to plant its roots so deeply inside of him that he will be heartbroken the moment he realizes, it has no future.

Nikolai studies him, smiling lightly, “That my dear Yuuri you have to ask him yourself. It’s not my place to present you my theories.”

Meanwhile in the attic

    “It’s cleaner than I thought”, Victor states surprised.

    “Of course, it is. I cleaned it five days ago”, Yurio huffs angrily, taking a box of things from a comfortable looking armchair and placing it into one of the shelves. Then the teen pushes another box aside and another cosy chair comes into view. He rearranges both seating items, so that they are face to face and gestures to Victor to take a seat.

The silver-haired man stares at him in confusion, “Why are we send here then, when there is no real organizing to do?”

The shifter sighs a little annoyed, “Take a seat and I’ll explain.”

The Immortal obliges and takes the armchair, Makkachin cuddling up to him.

Yurio snorts, “I could have guessed, you would take that one.” He seats himself on the other chair.

    “So Yura, what’s up?”, Victor cuddles himself into the chair as well, while scratching Makka behind her ears.

    “Okay”, the Ice Tiger starts, “First of, I think, grandpa wants to talk to Yuuri alone because he always sends me up to the attic, when he has some business, he doesn’t want me to know about. What their conversation is about, I dunno. Second, I think you have something to tell me.”

Victor is surprised. Okay, so Nikolai wants to talk to Yuuri about something personal. What could it be? He will have to ask later. He focuses on Yurio again and seeing the shifter staring at him, waiting for … for what?

The Hero raises an eyebrow and Yura scowls, “You didn’t listen to the last part of my speech, did you?” He looks at Victor accusingly.

The Living Legend tries his best innocent smile and the younger one sighs in agony, “You are so… Argh! Sometimes I really want to hit you so bad! I said that I think you have something to tell me about.”

    “And what is that?”, Victor asks curious, lost in their conversation. Maybe he will get some more hints from the Chimera to know where exactly this is going, because he has no idea. There are a lot of things, he could tell him and shouldn’t tell him. But the Ice Tiger seems to want to hear about something specific. And as long as Victor doesn’t know, what this specific topic is, he can’t comply with the request.

    “I often really wonder, how someone so powerful and capable can be such a dunce at times. I am talking about Katsudon”, Yurio elaborates, trying to be patient.

    “And what is with Yuuri?”, Victor looks at him innocently, batting his eyelashes for more info. Especially if it concerns Yuuri.

Yura gives him an incredulous look of disbelief and annoyance. Maybe he really will hit Victor this time.

The shifter facepalms, “I think, you should get your brain checked or find a cure for stupidity and obliviousness.”

Victor pouts. That is rather rude.

The silver-haired man tries again, his grin of annoyance a little hard to maintain, “Okay, so you want to talk about darling Yuuri. What exactly do you have in mind. I am sorry to not be able to satisfy your standards of following your brain windings, but I don’t know what you want to hear from me. So state your inquiry bluntly, Yura.”

Yurio glares at him for a second, but then complies with Victor’s request, “ I can do that. If you want it bluntly, you get it bluntly: So what’s about you and your obvious crush on Katsudon. If he leaves and you don’t follow him because of your ‘reasons’, the probability of seeing him again is near zero. I want to ask you, what you are gonna do about it, you stupid asshat. ‘s that bluntly enough for your brain to follow?”

Victor blinks at him surprised. He never would have thought Yura to be someone to talk with him about Victor’s love life.

Yurio huffs, “Is your brain done playing catch up?”

    “Yeah. I am just surprised”, the Hero stares at the blond teen, “I never thought you to be someone to start a discussion about my crushes.”

    “Well, whatever”, the shifter averts his gaze, before glancing at Victor sheepishly, “So what are you gonna do?”

The Living Legend smiles at him softly, “Nothing.”

Yurio splutters, “Nothing?”

    “Nothing”, Victor repeats.

    “Are you serious? This is Katsudon we are talking about! And you intend to do NOTHING?”, he looks at his father figure in wild disbelief.

    “Yeah”, Victor sighs, he feels a headache starting behind his forehead.

    “So all your feelings are just playing around and irrelevant to you? Just a phase that will pass? Are you serious? Vitya! We both know that you are not the type to fall in love easily or even crush on someone so hard, you take them in, care for them and train them as well as extend the time spent together by inviting a stranger to your family's household! This isn’t just playing around, you asshole! This is serious! This is falling in love instead of a simple … crush”, Yurio studies the other in realization. Victor is only smiling at him sadly, knowing he got found out. The Ice Tiger grimaces, “You already know. You know that you already started–“

Victor raises a finger to his lips, “Yes, I found out recently. But nothing can come of it. Sooner or later he will return to his own world, leaving with finality.”

Yurio pushes his finger away, “Maybe he’ll stay for you.”

    “Yura, he is sixteen. He needs his parents”, the Hero argues.

    “I didn’t need them for my whole life!”, he yells, “I had you and grandpa. And Yuuri can have us as family as well.”

    “Maybe. But I can’t take that away from him”, the Immortal sighs, “And as I said, he is 16 years old and I am 222. The age difference is too big. And even if I know what I want, he is still a teenager, still on the search of what he wants. And he has every right to take his time for that. Understand, this has no future.”

    “You are a coward!”, Yurio states, starring at him with determination, “Who are you to decide for him, how he has to live his life? You are right, it’s his birthright to be with his parents, his choice to decide on what he wants to do and his decision if he really wants to go back to his world in the end. But who are you to decide how he should feel? Who are you to tell him that you are not the thing he is searching for in his life! That’s selfish. Utterly selfish and stupid! You are not the Victor Nikiforov I know when you just back down from something like ‘he will leave me in the end’ or an age difference at your age, you stupid old man. Because really, at 222 years mostly everyone will be ‘too’ young for you. And yes, he is sixteen, but he’ll grow up soon. There are only two years left to reach adulthood as he is human. So grow a backbone already, old man and stop being stupid.”

Victor gapes at him, speechless.

Yurio grins, proud of himself. He thinks about adding some more insults, but decides against it, “I will talk about this with you later after dinner. Be sure to give me a satisfying answer then. But for now, I have enough of your stupidity.”

The young shifter exits the attic, walking to the dining room where Yuuri and Nikolai are situated. This whole yelling got him pretty thirsty and he needs a drink.

Back to the conversation between Yuuri and Nikolai

    “Em… I don’t know if it’s my place to inquire further, but you said that you are guilty as well? Why?”, Yuuri asks reserved.

    “I know Victor since a long time and I witnessed many things, but didn’t stop them or intervene to help him. He always hid his troubles behind a blinding smile and I was too late in discovering that. Furthermore–“, the shifter breaks off.

    “Furthermore?”, Yuuri asks curiously.

Nikolai sighs, “I might have destroyed his peaceful days by relaying a message from our mentor to him.”

    “A message?”, the world traveller asks, but Nikolai doesn’t answer as Yurio marches into the dining room.

    “Are you done with your talk? I am so thirsty and I think, I am getting hungry as well. When’s dinner time?”, the young Chimera asks.

Nikolai and Yuuri chuckle.

The Ice Tiger responds to his grandson, “In a bit if we all help together. I am planning on treating you all to a new creation of mine. It’s called Katsudon-Piroshki. Where is Victor and Makka by the way?”

    “Still in the attic. They will come down soon”, Yurio responds with a neutral face. Hopefully the old man comes to the right decision.

The three of them start making the preparations for dinner, playing around a little during their spare time. Victor and Makka come down shortly, helping with the cooking and placing the tableware on the dinner table. When they finish cooking and serve the food, all dig in delightedly, enjoying the mixture in taste.

With the plates cleared empty and their stomach full, they lean on their chairs satisfied. Yuuri smiles at the intimacy of the scene, relaxing and enjoying the moment. He drifts off a little when Victor wakes him with his voice, “Thank you for the delicious meal. I think, I should tell all of you that tomorrow morning I will leave for the Elf Kingdom, heeding my mentor’s request to see me. So this is my last evening staying here as well.”

The room remains silent, Yurio getting big disbelieving eyes at the news, Yuuri blinking a few times and Nikolai biting his lips in guilt.

Yuuri understands now what Nikolai meant with being guilty. He was the messenger to the request, which puts Victor at risk.

    “Hey! What’s with the long faces? We still have a great evening before us? Maybe we should play something or cuddle? I am open for suggestions!”, the silver-haired Hero exclaims with a big smile and Makka hops excitedly at the ideas beside him.

Yuuri starts laughing, Yura rolls his eyes and Nikolai shakes his head.
Typical Victor. Dropping a bomb at first and then playing innocent and demanding entertainment.

    “I go fetch the gameboards and cards”, Yurio stands up and vanishes, only to return shortly with boxes of various games.

They play for hours until it’s time to go to bed.

They all part with happy faces and laughter for the night.
Yuuri prepares for his journey before going to sleep to rest up.
Nikolai reads a book in his bed before he dozes off.
Makka making herself comfortable on the bed, before snoozing loudly.
However, Yurio and Victor are not done as fast as the others with the evening. Shortly as the others told their goodnights to retire to their rooms, Yura grabbed Victor’s arm and dragged him into his room.

When the Ice Tiger closes the door, he whirls around with crossed arms, “Talk!”

Victor worries his bottom lip, but speaks when the other raises an eyebrow in eagerness, “Nikolai talked to me yesterday about Yakov’s plea to see me. And I don’t know what he wants, but I have to follow his demand as his mentee. I am sorry for not telling you sooner.”

Yurio scowls, “Not that! I’ve already known, I found the letters and read them out of curiosity.”

The Hero gives him a reprimanding glare.

    “Stop glaring, old man. What’s done is done. I want to hear your answer about what you are going to do about Katsudon”, the shifter exclaims, before taking a look at the clock, frowning, “And make it quick, it’s really late and I don’t want to oversleep tomorrow!”

The Living Legend chuckles at the Chimera’s antics, before turning serious, “I… I want to spend more time with Yuuri. I really do. But… Do you really think it’s a good idea to accompany him on his search? You know I have to meet Yakov first and I can’t imagine his request to me, but do you think Yuuri will accept that and also accompany me?”

Yurio rolls his eyes, “He fucking jumped on the chance to accompany you here, why should that have changed? And to tell you the truth: I think of 75% of all your shit as bad idea. 20% as ‘have you thought this really through?’ But the last 5% are the good choices in your life. And I beseech you, this is one of them. You will thank me later for pushing your lazy ass towards the right decision. You are welcome, old man.”

    “Okay. Then I will accompany him”, the silver-haired man smiles in a lovesick but gentle manner.

With that the Ice Tiger exits the room with a cool wave, “Just don’t forget to tell Yuuri soon or he will leave you behind. Good night, old man!”

He takes a few steps and turns around embarrassed and Victor starts laughing.

    “That would have been a really cool scene, if this wasn’t your room, Yura!”, Victor holds his stomach from his laughter.

    “Shut up and get out, old man!”, the teen says sternly, his cheeks red.

Victor obliges, “Goodnight to you too, Yura!”

They all sleep peacefully that night.

The next morning arrives fast, Victor is one of the first to wake up as he is always the early bird. He goes to the kitchens with Makka shadowing him, starting breakfast, thinking how he should tell Yuuri of his decision.

Should he be up front? Or should he just say nothing and come with him? No that is a bad idea. Should he be secretive about it? Or just state it as a fact? Maybe he will just go with the flow.

He greets Nikolai when he enters the room and together, they finish up and set up the tableware on the dining table. Yura and Yurio greet them, when they come down and they have one last breakfast together. It’s pleasant. A lot of thank yous and you are welcome’s are exchanged and they retire to go all over their travelling necessities.

Victor is the first to arrive at the hallway, waiting for Yuuri to tell him about his definite change of plans. Makka barks in excitement at their new plans, trying to behave herself for her sweetheart’s big moment.

Meanwhile Yuuri is a little anxious to take a step outside his room, knowing that everything will come to an end if he does. He liked staying with the Plisetsky’s. They are nice and friendly people. And it was fun to train with Yurio under Victor’s guidance. He would miss them. He would miss Victor as well.

His traitorous heart beats at that. Maybe he should still ask him, if he wants to join Yuuri against all odds. The Japanese knows that he shouldn’t push his mentor, when he clearly had such a painful past, but he doesn’t want to let him go. It feels wrong.

He sighs, talking to himself, “You made the decision, Katsuki. Now stick to it!”

But his heart tells him to ask. And his brain responds in telling him that one last time wouldn’t hurt.

Okay, one last time. He will ask him and then be on his way.

He checks his inventory and exits the room with a breath, walking down the stairs into the hallway and freezes.

Victor waves at him friendly from the end of the hallway in front of the door with a beautiful smile on his face, Makka waiting patiently and quiet beside him.

His heart makes summersaults and Yuuri forgets how to breathe.

Has he always been that handsome? So brilliant and shining from the inside? He doesn’t know the answer to that. Yuuri only knows that he is screwed.

They stare at each other in silence, blinded and enchanted by the sight before their very eyes, unable to take their gazes off each other for a moment.

    “Hi”, Victor says dovelike.

    “Hi!”, Yuuri responds meekly.

They both have another entranced minute, before they hear clattering and cursing from the staircase.
The two men turn their heads in the direction of the noise, blinking in surprise.

The next second Yurio barges between them with his bags properly tucked behind his back, a wide grin of excitement on his face, “Are you done getting ready? Great, then. I have finished my preparations as well and grandpa’s approval. So come on, we don’t have the whole day, you lame asses!”

Victor and Yuuri look at him stunned.

Yurio looks at them in irritation, “What? I’m coming with you both. You clearly need someone besides Katsudon to have some common sense and rationality. So here I am. Now let’s keep moving!”

Yuuri is the first to recover from the shock, “Wait! Yurio we aren’t travelling together… I…”

Yurio turns to Victor enraged, “You haven’t told him, old man? What the fuck! How forgetful and senile can you get! Just yesterday you–”

    “I was just about to tell him, when you interrupted”, Victor grits his teeth, interrupting him.
Makka whines to underline his statement.

Yurio crosses his arms, stamping with his foot impatiently, “Then get a move on!”

The silver-haired Hero turns to a surprised Yuuri, “Well, here goes nothing. Em… I have decided to accompany you on your search for your classmates, Yuuri. Em… If you want me to that is. I know that I postponed your personal journey for a lot of days already and well… I have to go meet my mentor in the Elf Kingdom first however, because of his request, if that is okay with you? Em… You can say no, if you rather travel alone… I… I get that. But if you would still like to travel together then yeah, I would like that a lot.”

The Japanese student stares at him in disbelief, before his face turns thoughtful, “I would love to travel with all of you. But the Elf Kingdom is beyond the ocean. It will take us days to get there.”

The Chimera snorts, waving him off, “Don’t worry, the old man can teleport.”

Yuuri turns to his mentor, his eyebrow raised, looking at him sharply, while patting Makkachin on the head, “First time, I heard of it.”

Victor looks guilty, fumbling with his hands, trying to come up with something to say in response.

Yurio bristles, “Don’t tell me, you walked here on foot?”

The dark-haired man nods and The Living Legend facepalms.

The Ice Tiger starts cackling, looking at the silver-haired man incredulously, “What the hell, old man.”

Victor ignores him and turns to the world traveller, trying to salvage the situation somehow, “Yuuri, I can explain!”

The highschooler huffs, gesturing him to go on, “I’m listening.”

His trainer starts his explanation, “I… You know, I… I just wanted to spend more time with you… And I thought that it was the only way to do so. I’m sorry for deceiving you. Please don’t be mad at me.”

Yuuri sighs, hiding a soft laugh behind his hand, “It’s okay. I want to spend more time with you too. I forgive you.” It’s nice to hear that Victor likes spending time with him as well.

The silver-haired man lets out a breath in relief, “Thank you.”

The 16-years-old claps his hands together with the conclusion of their talk, “Good with that settled, let’s get out of here after saying goodbye to Nikolai and go to the Elf Kingdom. I always wanted to see if they really have pointed ears like in all the stories on Earth!”

The Hero blinks at him, realization slowly dawning on him, “You are coming along?”

Yuuri raises an eyebrow in question, “Yeah, don’t you want me to?

Makkachin pointedly stares at her living companion, her gaze screaming ‘don’t say the wrong thing now, sweetheart!’.

Victor shakes his head, taking one of the other’s hands, squeezing it gently, “I would like nothing more.”

Yurio gags at the scene, “Gross. Can we go now?”

The Japanese giggles amused, “Of course!”, he turns to Victor with a smirk on his lips, “Lead the way, darling”, and winks at the silver-haired Immortal, who blushes at his favourite line.

Victor swears in that moment to whichever god or goddess that this man will be the death of him.

Chapter Text

The skill of Teleportation is something humans would like to have on planet Earth. No, he doesn’t mean to talk about the inventions like cars, busses and trains. He talks about the magical ability to teleport. There are so many good points to have it: It is practical. It is fast. And it’s just super cool in general to be able to use such an ability to travel over distances in a small amount of time.

Yuuri liked watching various films and reading a great number of books, which told stories about great heroes with amazing abilities. Teleportation was rarely one of them. Instead, it’s more common in RPG games. And Yuuri loves RPG games. In his virtual games its mostly a support skill to get out of dangerous situations or travel over long distances. It’s not really an ability given much attention in a storyboard – excluded SAO or other stories when you want to get rid of players or make a dramatic scene. He silently prays that doesn’t apply to real magical worlds though, because otherwise FML – but in real life it would just be amazing to use it. No more problems with catching a bus or train. No more scolding for being late. Simply put, it would be terrific. But reality is a lot different.

Since the Japanese came to this world, he had a lot of fears and a lot of adventurous experiences. And he thanks the gods and goddesses for the presence of the skill in this world.

That is until Victor snaps his fingers and suddenly the world is shaking and his head is spinning. The 16-year-old holds his stomach, trying not to vomit. He groans and stumbles to the ground, when everything seems solid again, holding a hand over his mouth. He still feels sick.

    “Yuuri? Are you alright? Why do you look so green?”, Victor is by his side in a flash, fumbling right over him in concern, while patting his back carefully to soothe him. Makka whines and tries to soothe him with some gentle licks to his cheek.

    “The hell, old man!”, Yurio scowls, “You totally forgot to warn him about how teleportation works! And stop fretting, he has just a little motion sickness. He’ll be fine after resting for a while”, the shifter opens his Item Storage and takes a bottle of water out to hand it over to Yuuri, who takes it gratefully.

Yuuri drinks in big gulps, breathing deeply. Who would have thought that teleportation could make you motion sick? How embarrassing.

He returns the bottle to the blond, who puts it away again with a relieved huff. Then the Ice Tiger and his companions study their surroundings.

They landed in a bright and colourful forest, somehow more junglelike than the Forest of Evergreen. But the wind still strives through the leaves of the trees and the birds sing beautifully from their hiding spots. It’s quite idyllic.

Yuuri thinks that the spot near one of the grand old trees would make a good place for an artist to indulge themselves in the tranquillity of mother nature and create a new masterpiece. It’s a pity that they don’t have the time to idle around and enjoy the scenery much. Because as Yuuri had learned the hard way, peaceful places can turn in to a hellhole the next time you let your eyes blink innocently at the beauty in front of you.

    “So where are we?”, the highschooler asks and turns to Victor with Yurio doing the same with a raised eyebrow.

The silver-haired man chuckles, “We are in the Forest of Liviana, near the capital city of the Kingdom of the Elves. It’s called Eternia. They have a legend there, which says that the capital grants eternal life to those who find the Sacred Tree. But that’s just a fairy tale. The Sacred Tree was never found or its existence proven. But it’s still a great bedtime story. Oh and the Forest has a lot of legends as well and–”

    “Yeah, yeah. We got it, old man! Don’t bore us with unnecessary information”, the Chimera interrupts impatiently, “So we are in a forest with whatever name and near a capital city of another Kingdom. Okay, so I assume that Yakov is in the capital then?”

The Hero nods, “Jep. He is residing in the capital city as guest of the royal family in the castle. And with this letter here”, he takes a sealed letter out of his pocket and waves it energetically around, “We have entrance to it as well to meet up with him.”

Victor pockets it again and claps his hands, “So let’s go!”, he starts marching happily, Makkachin following him enthusiastically, but Yuuri stops him by grabbing his hand.

    “Em… Victor. Why are we in the forest and not in the capital then, when this Yakov is there all along and not well here?”, he asks nervously and awkward. He doesn’t want to doubt his mentor. But he knows how his trainer can get with directions and he has a strange kinda bad feeling.

The Living Legend scratches his neck, “Well… To tell the truth, I thought that the entrance to the capital would be here…”

Yurio gapes at him and Yuuri sighs. He should have known it. Well at least his trainer is honest.

Victor starts waving with his hands dismissively to calm them, while Makka just waits, lolling her tongue, “But no worry. I visited the city some years ago together with Chris and Nikolai. So we’ll be fine!”

    “How long is some years ago?”, the Japanese student asks hopefully, then remembers how Yurio had been angry that Victor didn’t visit them for years. Oh no.

    “Well, I think that the last time was over 30 years ago, but what do small details even matter. I was there once, twice, trice and so on, so I still should know the way! And my intuition says, it’s this way! And then you two should do some training as well to not get rusty! So, let’s go!”, Victor grins widely and marches straight ahead. Makkachin follows him without a second thought.

Yuuri and Yurio look at each other, grimacing, but they still follow their mentor as they don’t know the way as well. The two teens hope against hope that their coach hasn’t forgotten, but their gut feeling tells them otherwise.

Five hours later and two levels higher, they still haven’t found the city and are totally lost in the depths of the forest. The monsters are a lot tougher than in the Forest of Evergreen, but Yuuri and Yurio manage. Victor ignores their predicament and turns to his coaching duties as if everything is just fine. It’s nerve-wrecking.

    “Are we arriving soon?”, Yurio pants from his last fight with a certain edge to his voice. Victor has imposed on him the handicap to not use his skills and its infuriating to be this limited.

Yuuri rests up and pants like his training buddy, his handicap giving him a headache as well as he is only allowed to fight with his sword or dagger.

They both await an answer, but Victor is silent, smiling a little guiltily and the Japanese facepalms, knowing that yep they are totally lost.

    “Oh no, Victor! No, you won’t say it!”, the Chimera bristles, his face turning an angry shade of red.

    “Yura! It’s not as bad as you think it is!”, the Hero tries to soothe him unsuccessfully, stepping closer to him and Yuuri doing the same as they know, it’s not good to panic in such a situation. The poodle covers her ears, knowing what is about to come.

    “NOT AS BAD AS YOU THINK?!? Are you serious, old man?!? WE ARE LOST IN UNKNOWN TERRITORY! AND IT’A ALREADY PAST LUNCHTIME! DO YOU WANT US TO SPEND THE WHOLE DAY HERE, STUCK FIGHTING OFF MONSTERS?!? WHAT THE FUCK!”, the shifter stamps his feet on the ground in anger.

The young Ice Tiger wants to say something else, when the three men hear a hiss from the side and before they can react a net trap scoots them up into the air, squishing them together.

They fumble around for a bit, but they are stuck, a fluffy dog between them, not being able to reach their weapons and free themselves. Great. Just great.

Yuuri makes some breathing exercises to calm himself, patting Makka’s fur while doing so, while Yurio and Victor debate on who is at fault for activating the trap mechanism. Makkachin relaxes under Yuuri’s ministrations and just enjoys the moment, ignoring the other two.

The dark-haired student closes his eyes, concentrating on the fluff in his hands and over his body.

Everything will turn out fine. The elves are a civilized folk. And if there is a trap then there are people. And no this is not like in the movie ‘The RUIN’ or in other horror movies. As far he knows, elves are not cannibals. Or are they here? Is there a folk of cannibals on Aegis? Not as far as Victor told him during their lessons.

He takes deep breaths again. In and out. In and out. Yeah just like that.

The highschooler opens his eyes again and wants to talk to his still arguing companions, when he hears some rustling and he shuts their mouths with his hands. They both stare at him incredulously before noticing the suspicious noise. Some whispering is heard, but it’s too quiet to make out the said words. Their eyes grow wide.

After their initial shock passes, Victor removes Yuuri’s hand and starts talking in the common tongue, “Hello? We are travellers on their way to Eternia to visit an old friend! But we got lost on the way. Can you help us down and maybe give us directions?”

More whispering and then a slash, cutting some robe is heard above the silence, before the net is falling down and the three land with a loud “thump” on the ground, Makka on top of Yuuri. Well, at least they are freed from their uncomfortable position and the dog isn’t hurt.

Yuuri rubs his aching butt, while Makkachin gets off him. Why does this always happen to him?

He hears some rustling and whispering again and turns his gaze to their saviours, gasping.

Before him stand three strangers. One clearly an elf, clothed in feathery green and red colours with a bow pretty bow placed over his shoulder, with tan skin like an Indian on Earth, glimmering dark-grey eyes, a mischievous grin and small up-pointed ears, hiding under his short dark hair with a fringe, reaching his dark eyebrows. To his right stands a brown-haired fairy with brown eyes, tan skin and thick eyebrows. He is dressed like the bards of the medieval times in a blue artistic attire. Behind them another fairy dressed in hunter clothes puts away a knife and smiles shyly. He is short and slender with messy light-brown hair and maroon eyes and has light freckles on his skin.

Yuuri stares at them starstruck with his mouth open in awe. This is soo cool! He thanks whoever brought him to this world to grace him with the sight before him. Real elves and fairies. They really exist. He wants to let out a fanboy scream, but holds himself back.

He hears a chuckle from the elf, who looks him up and down, Yuuri’s face clearly showing his excitement and he blushes. Can he get more embarrassing?

The elf reaches out a hand and helps Yuuri stand up from the ground, smiling friendly at him and murmuring, “Thank you for the help.”

The magical creature’s smile grows wider and he turns to Yuuri’s companions. He studies Victor and Yurio with a furrowed brow, and give Makka a lovely kissing face, before he starts speaking, “So then strangers, I think a small thank you would be well becoming for saving your asses from your past predicament, would it not be? Or is he”, he gestures to the Japanese, “The only one with proper manners?”

    “Thank you for saving us”, Victor responds immediately, brushing the dirt from his clothes, “The rescue is greatly appreciated.”

Yurio also mumbles something like a “Thank you”.

The elf grins happily, “It was our pleasure. I’m Phichit Chulanont by the way. And this is Leo de la Iglesia”, he gestures to the fairy with the bard clothes, “And that’s Guang-Hong Ji”, he points to the one in hunter attire, “We were out hunting when our trap was activated, so we decided to take a look”, he smiles brightly, “So, what should we call you?”

    “I’m Yuuri Katsuki and this is Makkachin and Yurio”, the Chimera shoots him a sharp look, “I-I mean Yuri and Victor”, he introduces his companions. Hoping that their new acquaintances would overlook the missing family names of the other two. He doesn’t want to inconvenience Victor, when he doesn’t like being in public and Yura never told him, how he should introduce him to strangers. Yuuri continues, “Thank you very much again that you saved us! We wanted to travel to Eternia because of an old friend of one of my companions, but we got lost in the forest and ended up in you trap. I’m sorry that we ruined it.”

Phichit waves him off, “No worries. It’s just one of many of Ji’s great hunter traps. Our Spring Fairy is very talented!”, Guang-Hong turns abashed but stammers a “Thank you”.

Leo laughs, “Of course, he is. Maybe I should dedicate my next song to your hunter skills!” The Hunter turns red. And Yuuri thinks he is a very cute and innocent guy.

    “And our Autumn Fairy is a great flirt it seems, but maybe it’s just because he is a Bard. He loves poetry and music”, Phichit explains further and gets shoved by Leo.

The Autumn Fairy huffs, “And our Warrior Elf thinks he is sooo smooth and cool, because he knows how to hit a bullseye with his stupid bow!”

The elf looks hurt, “Don’t insult my baby! Lia is very sensitive!”

    “Oh my God and Goddess! You named your Aeolian Bow Lia? Are you serious!”

    “Don’t listen to the bad guy, darling!”, Phichit pats his bow to soothe it, “He doesn’t know anything and is just jealous of your beauty and skilfulness.”

    “Well…”, Victor tries to lead the conversation into a different direction, “Can you maybe give us some directions to the capital city. It shouldn’t be too far away, but it would be nice to have a reliable source.

Reliable source indeed.

Phichit snorts, Guang-Hong looks surprised and Leo tries to stifle a laugh. Victor, Yuuri and Yurio look at them confused.

The elf looks at them with an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry to tell you, but you were heading into a completely wrong direction. The capital is southwest from here. If you head any farther north you would leave the forest, but totally miss the city. Who even gave you instructions in the first place? A lot of paths have some signs and the capital even has a teleportation spot. So you either got bad advice or got screwed over.”

Yuuri and Yurio stare at Victor accusingly, “We thought, you knew the way?”

Makka just lolls her tongue and stays silent, but give the Hero a look as well.

Victor lightly smiles at them apologetic, “Well, I’ve been away for quite a while. I’m sorry.”

The two Yu(u)ris facepalm and let out a heavy sigh. They should have known better as to trust Victor with the directions. It won’t happen again if it’s in their power.

Their new acquaintances shrug at their behaviour and Phichit raises his voice again, “If you want to, we can accompany you to the capital. We actually were already on our way back. Celestino wanted something to discuss with me.”

Victor raises the head at the mention of the Elf King, “You know King Celestino Cialdini?”

Leo laughs, “Knows? Phichit is practically his future successor!” Guang-Hong nods in confirmation and the elf sighs, “That is supposed to stay secret, you idiots!”

    “Wuups!”, Leo grimaces and Guang-Hong turns pink from embarrassment.

Phichit lets out a breath, “Currently I am one of Ciao Ciao’s students and one of the possible successors. But his retirement will be some centuries further into the future. So no biggies. Why do you want to know though?”

Makkachin and the Hero exchange a look, before she lolls her tongue adorably.

Victor straightens and once bows formally, “I’m Victor Nikiforov and King Yakov Feltsman has send me word that he wants to meet me in the castle of the Elf King as he is residing here for some important meetings. You can verify my invitation letter if you want prove of my words.”

    “Victor Nikiforov”, Guang-Hong and Leo murmur in awe, their eyes shining like starstruck teenage groupies.

Phichit curtsies politely, “It’s an honour to meet the esteemed Living Legend personally. My apologies for our rudeness, Milord. It would be an honour to personally guide you to the castle and meet King Feltsman.”

    “Be at ease. And you all may continue calling me Victor and behave like you normally would around friends. I don’t favour the attention my name tends to shower me in”, the Hero highlights.

    “We understand, Mi… Victor”, Phichit nods. Guang-Hong and Leo follow his example, stars still in their eyes.

    “Ah and before I forget!”, The Living Legend gestures to Yurio, “This is Nikolai Plisetsky’s grandson Yurio.”

    “I told you not to call me that, old man!”, the Ice Tiger yells.

    “He can be quite the feisty child, but he is a good kid!”, the silver-haired man explains laughing, earning some japs in his side, “Au! That hurts! Not in the side, kiddo!”

Yurio punches him again and Victor evades, catching him in an armlock.

Guang-Hong, Leo and Phichit turn to Yuuri, “Are they always like that?”

The world traveller shrugs, “Sometimes. But it’s amusing to watch.”

Leo hums and Guang-Hong nods in acknowledgement. Phichit grins and forms a rectangle with his fingers and something shoots out from under his fingers. The elf catches it and waves it in the air for a little while and hands it over to Guang-Hong for safekeeping. He turns to Yuuri and hugs him over his shoulder, holding his fingers up in rectangle form, “Say cheese!”

    “C-Cheese?”, Yuuri stutters and a small paper appears in the air. The highschooler catches it. It’s blank. He waves it a little like Phichit did before and gets surprised when a picture of him and the elf appears on the white paper.

Phichit smiles at him and makes a peace sign, “As memory of our first meeting! I already know, we will be BFFs for life!”

Yuuri blinks at him confused, but starts laughing immediately and takes the other’s hand to shake on it. He always had wanted someone like that. And he has a gut feeling that Phichit’s words hold truth in them. He doesn’t know why. He just knows.

The elf takes a few more photos as they wait for Victor and Yurio to finish their fake brawl and shows Yuuri some of his collection from before. Guang-Hong and Leo point out a few, joining their fun.

When the Hero and the shifter finally calmed themselves, they are surprised to find Yuuri laughing with their new acquaintances.

    “Did something fun happen, darling?”, the silver-haired man smiles. He loves the sight of Yuuri laughing from the heart. It makes him all warm and tingly.

The world traveller just snorts and giggles, unable to say anything.

Phichit grins from ear to ear, “You two really are great photo models. Your movements are hilarious!” He shows them some pictures of their playful brawl. Yurio just huffs, but his eyes never leave the pictures, clear interest written on his face. Victor smiles and chuckles as he looks at the photos.

    “You have great talent”, the Hero tells the elf.

Phichit smiles, “Thank you. I take great joy in it.”

Guang-Hong tips the Warrior Elf lightly on the shoulder, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but shouldn’t we start walking back. Otherwise we will be late for our other chores.”

Leo nods, “Yeah, Guang-Hong is right. Time is moving to fast. We should walk back now.”

Phichit nods, “Okay. Then come on guys! The capital is waiting for us!”

The fairies and the elf escort Yuuri, Victor and Yurio through the forest to the capital city, talking a lot about different shops and sights to visit in Eternia. They also tell their new friends about the evening soirees they have to attend, starting today. Because the Great Hunt will be starting soon and they have to prepare themselves in order to participate.

Yuuri checks their status, while the three are focused on their explanations.

He goes for Phichit first.

Name: Phichit Chulanont

Race: Elf

Age: 116 years

LV: 450

Class: Warrior Elf

Active Skill: Leg Snipe, Arm Snipe, Head Snipe, Charged Shot, Draining Shot, Piercing Line, Aerial Laser, Star Embrace, Gallant Barrage, Storm Edge, Star Stroke, Cavalry, Ice Arrow, Fire Arrow, Thunder Arrow, Water Arrow, Mighty Charge, Energy Blast, Cyclone Shoot, Tempest, Severing Wind, Impaling Heaven, Lightning Magic, Earth Magic, Water Magic, Fire Magic, Wind Magic, Slash, Strike, Quick Strike, Sonic Slash, Wind Strike, Flash Strike, Double Strike, Cure, Refresh, Heal, Barrier, Paralyze, Panic, Bind, Blind, Burn, Confusion, Poison, Sleep, Freeze, Stealth, Appraisal, Search, Track, Locktouch, Chantless Casting, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Resistance, Acrobat, Sharpshooter, Disarming Smile, Management, Charming Smile

HP: 20.156.188/20.156.188

MP: 20.205.188/20.205.188

EXP: 86.976.364

Next Level: 17.340 EXP

Equipped Gear: Aeolian Bow, Spirit Dagger, Stamina Tunic, Mirage Vest, Archer’s Gloves, Circlet of Serenity, Fruit Candy Bag, Agility Boots*

Blessing: Hamsterio’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: The Shooting Sunshine

89.697.567 G

ATK: 120.720

DEF: 116.240

MAT: 117.287

MDF: 116.542

AGI: 121.643 +25* à 121.668

LUK: 119.387

Then appraises Guang-Hong.

Name: Guang-Hong Ji

Race: Spring Fairy

Age: 82 years

LV: 216

Class: Hunter

Active Skill: Leg Snipe, Arm Snipe, Head Snipe, Charged Shot, Draining Shot, Piercing Line, Aerial Laser, Ice Arrow, Fire Arrow, Thunder Arrow, Water Arrow, Mighty Charge, Energy Blast, Slash, Strike, Quick Strike, Quick Slash, Sonic Slash, Heavy Strike, Wind Strike, Fiery Strike, Flash Strike, Double Strike, Wind Magic, Earth Magic, Nature Magic, Plant Magic, Household Magic, Fairy Dust, Paralyze, Blind, Confusion, Poison Appraisal, Search, Track, Locate, Safe Passage, Hide, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Stamina, Scavenge, Sight, Maximum Hearing, Perception, Intuition, Calming Voice, Disarming Voice

HP: 3.008.063/3.008.063

MP: 2.563.465/2.563.465

EXP: 3.350

Next Level: 580 EXP

Equipped Gear: Killer Bow, Hunter Dagger, Hunter’s Robe*, Stealth Vest, Gloves of Nature, Pendant of Tranquillity, Wooden Bracelet, Black Boots

Blessing: Artemis’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: Innocent Soul

1.654.512 G

ATK: 42.563

DEF: 42.468

MAT: 42.342

MDF: 42.321

AGI: 43.610 +15* à 43.625

LUK: 42.978 +15* à 42.993

And finishes with Leo.

Name: Leo de la Iglesia

Race: Autumn Fairy

Age: 83 years

LV: 218

Class: Bard

Active Skill: Strike, Slash, Melee Bash, Wind Strike, Bash Attack, Sonic Slash, Éclair de Larmes, Bashing Sorrow, Fairy Dust, Cure, Unbind, Refresh, Regenerate, Heal, Salve, Party Cure, Healing Circle, Prayer, Immunize, CPR, Revive, Song of Safety, Song of Healing, Song of Restoration, Song of Endurance, Song of Wrath, Song of Dawn, Song of the Moon, Song of the Weather, Wind Magic, Water Magic, Household Magic, Music Magic, Paralyze, Blind, Burn, Confusion, Poison, Sleep, Appraisal, Search, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Miracle, Soothing Voice, Virtuoso, Intuition

HP: 3.038.063/3.038.063

MP: 2.575.465/2.575.465

EXP: 4.621

Next Level: 578 EXP

Equipped Gear: Silver Sword, Harp of Dawn, Bard’s Robe*, Siren’s Coat, Silky Gloves, Ring of Song, Musical Bracelet, Black Boots

Blessing: Sirenia’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: The Musician

2.453.879 G

ATK: 42.936

DEF: 42.472 + 10* à 42.482

MAT: 42.952

MDF: 42.687 + 10* à 42.697

AGI: 43.875 + 10* à 43.885

LUK: 42.878 +10* à 42.888

They are all genuine. He is relieved.

The group travels in merrily through the forest. Phichit telling them a lot about how boring the duties of a successor can be and how the other candidates behave so stiffly. But that he loves to help organize all the events.

When they arrive at the capital, Yuuri is ecstatic. There are so many people swirling around going about their business for the day. The buildings are closely built from some stone, painted in bright flowery colours. There is a lot of green everywhere. He stands in awe, studying everything and anything passing his sight, when Phichit takes his hand and guides him through the crowds to join their group again. Oh, since when had they’ve gotten so far ahead?

    “Better not get lost again, Yuuri!”, Phichit smirks, “We don’t want to waste any more time. And I can give you a tour of the city later! Promise!”

They make haste to the castle. It looks like the palace from Arabic fairy tales. It has so many frescos and sculptures and is beautifully adorned by flowers. It’s breath-taking.

Their group is permitted entrance immediately with Phichit’s approval and guidance. And they are guided by attendants to the throne room for an audience.

Heavy doors are opened and then they stand in the grand throne room. Everything decorated with care and beauty. Yuuri has now a better understanding of how Cinderella must have felt, when she entered the ball room for the first time. The luxuries are intimidating, but awe-inspiring all the same.

At the head of the grand room stand three people, a Merman, all dressed royally. They are in a deep discussion, when the attendant announces their arrival, “My King and dear guests, Lord Phichit has returned and wishes for an immediate audience with the King and his honoured guests.”

The royals turn to the newcomers, putting their discussion on a hold.

The man with long brown-taupe hair, pulled back into a ponytail, save for a shorter strand of hair that sticks out with sideburns and thick eyebrows and light green eyes steps forward, “Ciao Ciao, Phichit! Welcome back! You’ve cut it close! You know that tonight is the poetry soiree and we aren’t done with some preparations! Who are your new friends by the way?”, the royal studies the newcomers and his eyes grow wide, he starts laughing, “What a surprise you’ve brought us today. How long has it been, Lord Nikiforov?”

Victor bows immediately, “Too long, King Cialdini.”

    “None of that, my friend! I told you to call me Celestino”, the King of the Elves waves him off, he hums, “I think, I know who sent for you, my friend”, the Berserker eyes the partially bald Paladin next to him, who grunts, “I thank you for it Yakov. It was a wise decision.”

The gruff merman huffs, “I hope it was.”

The dark-haired fairy with dark grey eyes next to them just observes and doesn’t say anything. He has pale skin and thick dark eyebrows and a stoic atmosphere around him. He seems like the serious type.

King Yakov makes his way towards Victor, “Vitya”, and the Hero starts to get emotional, “Yakov!” The Living Legend runs towards him, ready to receive a hug but gets hit on his head instead.

Yakov yells, “Where have you been all this time? You completely vanished from the surface for decades, you imbecile!!!”

Victor pouts, holding his hurting head, “I’m sorry. I can explain!”

Yakov grunts, “I don’t want to listen to your excuses, you stupid pupil!”

The Hero grimaces apologetic, before trying to change the subject, “How are Lilia and Georgi by the way?”

The King of the Merpeople lets out a deep sigh, “Lilia is alright. We started living again together two decades ago.”

Victor lights up, “Does that mean–”

    “No, it does not!”, Yakov rebuffs him immediately and hits his pupil again.

The silver-haired man pouts, “And what about Georgi? Is he still with that A… Annie? Antonia? Em… What is she called again?”

His mentor sighs in disbelief, “Her name is Anya. And no, she dumped him again some time ago and he is heartbroken again. I’m too old for all of this drama!”

Victor hums in agreement, “True, you are balding pretty bad, my friend!” And Yakov hits him again. He deserved that one.

The others are all silent during the exchange, only Celestino grinning widely, Phichit taking photos for memories sake and Makka lolling her tongue.

    “Well, whatever, you idiot of a student”, Yakov tries to calm down, “Who is your other companion besides Plisetsky’s grandson, the dog, the fairies and the elf? I’ve never guessed, you would travel together with a human ever again. He also seems pretty young. What does he do alone, travelling with such a disaster as yourself? And what the hell is wrong with his class?”

Victor grins fondly at his mentor and waves for Yuuri to step closer, “Well, this my teacher is my mentee Yuuri Katsuki. He is a world traveller and comes from another dimension. I found him at Level 1 in the Forest of Evergreen. I help him search for his missing classmates, who also got transported to Aegis, and train him along the way. And I think he develops greatly. When I first met my Yuuri, he was a cute Black Bubble! Now he is an awesome Black Dust and I can’t wait to see where his development will take us!”, the Hero winks at the 16-year-old, who turns red instantly and Victor’s face shines in delight.

Yakov eyes him strangely. Pure disbelief clearly written in his eyes.

Silence fills the room for some awkward seconds.

    “You can’t be serious? Who are you and what have you done with Vitya?”, Victor’s mentor blinks at him and shakes his head, “The Vitya I know, is wary of strangers, selfish and doesn’t do charity cases without anything to gain.”

Victor puts a finger over his lips, deep in thought, “That’s quite the insult, my dear Yakov. I was ‘The Hero’ for a long time as you know. But well, I kind of can see where you are coming from. Whatever, helping Yuuri out is my genuine desire”, he smiles fondly with a touch of sadness in his eyes, “I need to help him get home again. So we also wanted to ask if you know something about other world travellers or a summoning ritual as of late? I need to provide my Yuuri with as much sources as possible.”

The King of the Merpeople shoots a look at Yurio, who symbolically sticks his finger into his mouth to gag. So his suspicions seem true. The idiot has gone and done it. He’s fallen in love with someone who wants to return to his own world and probably no chance at this romance being anything but a fleeting one. Yakov wants to groan. He is really too old for this shit.

The royal glances to Celestino for help and his ally nods, “So now, my friends. How about we close up this discussion. Victor, your question can’t be answered immediately as it’s a bigger matter as you think it is. But we will talk about it in our next meeting. I think, it also has something to do with Yakov calling on you”, he turns to Phichit and the others, “Phichit, instruct the servants to prepare three bedrooms for our guests and provide them special invitations to the evening soirees. We will discuss everything in this coming three days and hold the last meeting on the fourth with hopefully a decision being made. For as long as our discussions will take, you are here to stay at the royal castle as guests. I instruct my dear apprentice to take care of all your needs and educate you in everything necessary. Formal introductions will be made later as the time is short”, Celestino looks at Yakov and they nod to on another, “Lord Nikiforov, please follow King Feltsman and Prince Lee to the conference room. I will follow shortly after calling for a scribe. Dismissed.”

Victor, Phichit, Guang-Hong and Leo bow and Yuuri hurries to do the same. Yurio looks a little rebellious but bows after a sharp glare from Yakov. He doesn’t want his grandpa to worry.

Victor immediately follows his mentor and the fairy prince, waving at his friends and apologizing with his gestures. Makkachin joining him. Then he vanishes behind some doors. King Cialdini instructs a servant to call for the scribe and prepare some specific documents, then he waves at them, “Ciao Ciao”, before exiting as well.

After the door closes, Phichit turns to Yuuri and the others, “Now that that’s settled, let us proceed with our initial plans! I will shortly inform the servants to prepare the guest rooms and everything necessary, as well as the invitations. And then we’ll go for a tour of the capital and do some shopping for the soirees! Meet you at the gates!”

With that they separate. The elf calls for a servant and relays his wishes, before re-joining the group at the citadel gates to head out into the city.

During the meeting

Victor takes a seat on the round table in the conference room, Makkachin sitting on the floor next to him. Yakov takes the right seat beside him and the fairy prince opposite of him.

The silver-haired man turns to the prince standing up and bowing politely, “I think, I forgot to formally introduce myself, your Highness. My name is Victor Nikiforov and this is my lovely companion Lady Makkachin. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

The Swordmaster stands up and bows as well, “The pleasure is on my side, Lord Nikiforov, Lady Makkachin. My name is Prince Seung-gil Lee. It is an honour to meet the famous Living Legend in person. I thank you for all your service through the centuries, Lord Nikiforov.”

They take their seats again, waiting for King Celestino to join them, which he does shortly, “My apologies for the wait.” He takes the seat to Victor’s left.

    Let us leave etiquette and coquetry aside for now and speak frankly, he turns to the Hero, “Victor we’ll need your aid in an investigation concerning an international affair of great importance, which probably has something to do with Yuuri and his companions getting summoned to our world.”

Victor lets out a breath, “What do you know?”

Yakov huffs, “There are rumours that Rusza has declared war on the Demon Kingdom and has sent out a Hero party to deal with the ‘evil’ Demon King. The group is described as people being summoned by Goddess Chihoko to bring peace and prosperity to all Kingdoms. There are also rumours about a holy prophecy from the Goddess to the priests herself, but only Rusza claims to have gotten this holy mission. And the current King of Rusza seems to use these prophetic words to try to instigate an all-out war with every country, if we won’t surrender on our own, he’ll make us with his Hero’s aid. I have the royal letter, stating his intentions with me.” His mentor lays down some parchment and Victor studies it intently. It isn’t a forgery. It’s genuine. Fuck.

Seung-gil snips his fingers and another parchment appears, “For the Fairy Realm it is the same. We don’t really have land, but we have a lot of magic power and are mostly a neutral party, but this is too much. The current King Gunther orders us to surrender and joins his personal army in his Holy War? Is he for real?”, he smashes the paper on the table and Victor takes it, reading through it carefully. The more he reads, the more enraged he gets. Fuck. He should have never left his position behind. Should have never let these imbeciles rule over the Kingdom on their own. Damn it!

Celestino studies him calmly, “That is not the end. The Elf Kingdom also received a declaration of war and as far as I know it is the same for the Beast Kingdom and the Demon Kingdom.” He hands the Hero his parchment and a copy of the ones from the other countries. Victor reads through them as well and lets his shoulders slump. This is the worst.

Yakov pats him on the shoulder, “This isn’t your fault, you idiot! They never listened to your advice anyway. They just couldn’t move their hands so freely under your watch.”

    “And that makes it my fault. I should have stayed”, Victor says and Makka nuzzles his hand in comfort.

    “And live your life in depression and scorn. Oh no! I don’t think so!”, Yakov slaps him lightly. Why must his mentor always be so ruff with him? But, well that is how he shows his love. “You are happier than I have ever seen you with Yuuri by your side! I think, you’ve made the right choice, Vitya!”

Victor studies him and smiles at his mentor’s genuine expression, “Thank you.”

    “Speaking of Yuuri”, Celestino continues, “You said, he and his comrades got summoned to this world. Can you elaborate further?”

    “I think, it would be best to talk to Yuuri directly, if you want all the details concerning his situation”, the Hero responds.

    “I’ll do that eventually, if it is necessary”, the King of the Elves says.

Victor sighs, “Fine. He told me, he woke up alone in the Plains of Flying Colours. His school class wanted to take a trip somewhere with a grand vehicle called bus and he woke up in said vehicle alone. Then he wanted to search for his companions and stumbled into the Forest of Evergreen, where I and Makkachin found him. From there everything is history. In short: He doesn’t know who summoned them. He was Level 1 when he woke up and he didn’t know where his classmates where.”

    “I still can’t believe that you took him in and trained him”, Yakov huffs.

    “I may have had some ingenuine thoughts towards him at the beginning. But I wanted him to survive and help him in his search. It was Yura, who made me realize how much of an idiot, I was to want to push Yuuri aside and return to my lonely days.”

His mentor raises an eyebrow, “If little Yura got swayed by this boy then I should talk to him as well. He seems intriguing.”

Victor smiles, “Indeed, he is. My Yuuri never fails to surprise me.”

At Yuuri’s & Co front

They round the main squares and Phichit points out all important sights like the Fairy Tower or the Fairy Fun Park or the Wondrous Elf Park. Yuuri and Yurio buy some fairy sweets and elf confectionary after some advice from Guang-Hong as souvenirs for Nikolai and Victor and they stuff themselves with lots of small snacks from street stalls, which Leo points out to them.

Then the group heads over to an expensive looking clothing store and Yuuri blanches, “I can’t! This is too expensive, Phichit!”

    “No worries, it’s on Ciao Ciao. He said to dress you appropriately, so I will do as I was instructed. And I think you need the fun, Yuuri! Furthermore, I think we should give someone some reward for being stuck in a boring meeting”, he winks intriguingly.

The teen doesn’t understand what Phichit means, but he goes along nevertheless.

Yurio is a harder case, “I won’t go in there! And I don’t need a suit or anything! I’m fine as I am!”

Leo sighs, “Yes, you are. But dressed like that, you won’t be able to join the soiree.”

    “Why should I even go to one?”, the shifter complains.

Guang-Hong shrugs, “We won’t force you, but then you won’t get any of the delicious and free food either. Your choice.”

The Chimera worries his lips, “Fine. For the food.”

They all chuckle and exclaim cheerfully, “For the food!”

The next hours are spent with critical eyes, appraising looks and the change of way too many clothes.

Phichit loves playing dress-up and coaxes Yuuri and Yurio to try various evening attires.

    “I think, you should take the dark-blue one for the dance soiree after the Hunt, the black one with the gems for the music soiree and the dark-lilac one for today’s poetry soiree. The colours compliment you and you can’t wear the same clothes for every evening soiree!”, the elf advises Yuuri.

Then he turns to Yurio, “You really look good in mostly everything! But I think you should take the white-silver attire for the music soiree, the red and black one for the dancing soiree and dark-green one for the poetry soiree. Yeah, that seems good.”

Leo and Guang-Hong nod in approval, bringing their own ensembles to the cashier with Phichit taking Yurio’s and Yuuri’s chosen clothes to the front as well to pay for them. The elf gives instructions to deliver their clothes to the palace immediately and then they leave the shop.

The group continues their walk and Phichit leads them to Guild to inquire about information concerning Yuuri’s classmates. But the Guild Leader has no further info as that some of them are registered at the Guild in Rusza as adventurers and seem to not have left the country. At least it is some lead and he knows that some are still alive. He is elated, especially that Yuuko and Takeshi are alive and kicking. After thanking the Guild Master for his time and leaving the Adventurer’s Guild, Phichit leads them to the campus of the capital’s university, “Maybe we can help a little further with some background information for your search. The library should have some books about world travel and summoning rituals. Maybe it will help a little?”

Yuuri smiles gratefully, “Thank you.”

They spend the rest of the afternoon holed up in the library, trying to find something about the Japanese’s situation. They find some historic records about summoned heroes and the summoning ritual from the side of mortals, but found no clue about summoning magic from a god or goddesses side. They also think about which deity can even have to power to summon other beings from one world to another and come to a stop quickly. There are too many with that ability.

When Yuuri tries to return one of the books, he is shoved to the ground. He blinks and gazes up to look at the perpetrator.

A big kobold with two goblins laugh at him, “Attention to where you are going, human! Or do you want to get some?”

The Japanese gulps, standing up and trying to ignore them, while searching for the right aisle, where the book belongs.

    “Hey, I am talking to you? Are you deaf?”, the kobold taunts.

The student just strides on, hearing the sound of footsteps behind him. Great.

    “Hey, don’t ignore me, you bastard!”, the mystic being grabs his arm uncomfortably and takes the book out of his hands, “Gods and Goddesses of Aegis. What a lame book. I thought, we learned that back in school. Do you need some memory refreshing? I can give you some!” He grabs at Yuuri and tries to punch him, the Japanese is one second away from using one of his skills, when Yurio comes flying, kicking the other right in the face from the side. The goblins look startled at the blond.

    “Get away from Katsudon, you ugly bitch!”, the Chimera growls.

How sweet of little Yura to protect him.

    “I am the only one, who gets to kick his ass, you hear me?”

Who was sweet again?

Yurio punches the kobold in the face, “Scram! Or you will regret it!”

The three bullies hurry away and Phichit, Guang-Hong and Leo come running, “Everything alright with you? I heard some shouting and three people running away.”

    “Katsudon got cornered by bullies. A kobold and two goblins”, the shifter explains, “And I rescued him. No need for thanks, Katsudon. I’d do it again”, Yurio smile at him genuinely and proud to return the favour.

Yuuri smiles at him, “Thank you for the rescue. But don’t sprout so much nonsense, I am the one who gets to kick your ass.”

    “You wish!”, Yurio challenges.

Phichit huffs and shakes his head, “We should get going anyway. We have to prepare ourselves for the soiree.”

They stir themselves out of the library and return to the castle to make the last preparations for tonight’s poetry soiree.

When Yuuri and Yurio are guided to their respective rooms, they are both in awe. The rooms are decorated with expensive looking items and a lot of ornaments on the walls. It’s beautiful and dreamlike.

Phichit helps them dress themselves, when he is done with slipping into his own yellow-black attire.

They head shortly to the grand sitting room, where the soiree will take place. Yuuri’s nerves are skyrocketing. He fumbles nervously with the hem of his dark-lilac attire. What will happen if he embarrasses himself or Victor or Phichit? He has no ideas about the etiquette of the court. Oh no, he is so screwed.

Victor appears in a midnight-blue attire, his face beaming when he sees Yuuri.

    “Darling, you look amazing!”, he steps forward and holds out a hand for the Japanese to take.

The 16-year-old looks unsure of what to do, Phichit gesturing in the back to take the offered hand. Yuuri follows the instructions and Victor gently takes hold of his hand and kisses the back, his eyes smiling at him, before escorting him to one of the prepared seats. Yuuri’s cheeks are incredible red and he tries to calm down. He tries to lock eyes with Phichit, who just gives him a thumbs-up.

Thanks, Phichit. But that’s not helping.

Victor helps him get seated and places himself next to Yuuri, waving to a standing waiter to bring them some refreshments.

The Japanese is in awe at how flawlessly his mentor behaves around royalty. Like he was born for it and well, according to Nikolai’s story he indeed was born for it. He doesn’t know what to say, so he looks around, only to notice a lot of inquiring stares their way. As Yuuri already has guessed and come to know is that Victor is special. So no wonder everyone is bewitched by his presence.

He starts fumbling again with his clothes, when a drink is offered to him. The highschooler looks up to meet cerulean-blue eyes, “Here. It’s juice, don’t worry. It will calm your nerves a little.”

Yuuri takes the glass thankfully, sipping on it. And yes indeed. It calms his nerves perfectly. He smiles.

    “It’s only produced in this Kingdom. It’s one of the specialities: Farolean Berry Juice. I always enjoyed it in the past”, Victor clinks their glasses and takes a sip, “Still the best as I remember.”

The 16-year-old hums, “Where is Makka?”

    “In my room”, Victor responds cheerfully.

Then Phichit steps into the center of the room and the attention shifts to him announcing a short speech of King Cialdini, “I thank you all for your presence at this lovely soiree! I hope you’ll enjoy an entertaining evening with poetry soothing our souls to our hearts content.”

They applaud and the buffet opens.

    “Come Yuuri! You have to taste everything here! Elves are very good chefs! They specialize in fruity dishes, but it’s amazing!”, Victor grabs his hand elegantly and drags him confidently to the buffet, where Yurio and Guang-Hong are already stuffing their cheeks with tarts and other sweets.

Phichit and Leo join them shortly after finishing their greetings and the Hero excuses himself to make his, completely forgotten that yes, he is in royal circles once more. They don’t have the chance again this evening to talk to Victor during the poetry soiree as he was carried from discussion to discussion. Yuuri is a little upset but what can he do. The poetry some of the guests recite are indeed very interesting and Phichit also urges for Yuuri to make one, so he just says after he gets annoyed, “Roses are red and violets are blue, when I see you! Is that enough?”

Yurio snorts and shakes his head, “Never knew you to be a poet, but I think you should work on that one!”

    “Go Yuuri!”, Phichit cheers, “Not bad for a beginner!”

Guang-Hong just claps and Leo joins in, grinning.

Yuuri turns red. Maybe he should have chosen a Haiku or a better poem, but his mind is blank and his cheeks heating up the more he thinks of it.

He decides to just stay silent for the rest of the night, trying not to embarrass himself any further.

After a few hours, the guests start to retire and so do Yuuri, Victor and Yurio. They meet up with each other at the entrance door to the room and walk together to their respected rooms.

    “Haaa….”, Victor lets out a sigh, “I’m beat! I totally forgot how tiresome interacting with people can be. Well, how was your day?”

    “Fine”, Yurio answers, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

    “Phichit, Guang-Hong and Leo took us shopping and they’ve given us a tour around the capital. We also stopped by the library to search for more answers concerning the summoning of me and my classmates!”, Yuuri explains.

    “Yeah and I kicked ass!”, the shifter exclaims proudly.

Victor raises an eyebrow in question.

    “Yurio saved me from a gang of bullies. He was very heroic and brave”, Yuuri explains.

    “Yeah, I totally saved your butt!”, the Chimera says.

The Japanese chuckles, “How was your day, Victor?”

    “It was fine. The meeting was not a pleasant one. There are many more things to discuss. But the Goddess, who probably summoned you is called Chihoko. She is the Goddess of Opportunities. But we have to investigate further to be entirely sure about it. And well there are a lot of international issues going on like war declarations and so…”

Yuuri looks at him petrified, “War De–?”

His mentor covers Yuuri’s mouth with his hand immediately, “Sshh! Don’t say it. It’s top secret. And we are still working on countermeasures. You shouldn’t even know that!”

Yuuri’s eyes grow wide for a second, realizing what Victor just told him so openly, then he sighs tiredly.

    “Are you calm again?”, his trainer inquires softly.

The Japanese nods. Victor removes his hand, “I am sorry to have been so ruff with you, darling. I just talk a little bit too much around you.”

    “I am sorry”, Yuuri apologizes automatically. But the silver-haired man shakes his head smiling gently, his palm caressing the other’s cheek, “No, don’t apologize. I… Yuuri, I…”

Yurio stomps with his feet, “Stop being gross! And get a move on! I don’t want to fall asleep in the hallway!”

Yuuri and Victor both startle from the shifter’s outburst.

    “Yeah, I think, we should go to bed. Tomorrow is another day to talk about things”, the Japanese student concludes.

Victor hums, before he remembers something, “Oh, right. Tomorrow, I’ve arranged for you to train with the elves and fairies of the military. Phichit and the others will train you in Archery after the basic drill because Celestino wants us to participate in the Great Hunt!”

The two Yu(u)ris stare at him wide awake.

Yurio huffs, “How can you forget this and remember everything else, you dumbass?!? Seriously, old man, sometimes I wonder, where you leave your brain! Oh, I have enough! Good night, you morons!”, the Ice Tiger stamps off and into his room to turn in for the night.

    “Well, at least we know now”, Yuuri says, shrugging his shoulders, “Good night, Victor! Sleep well.”

    “Good night, Yuuri! Sleep well”, Victor answers softly, caressing his mentee’s cheek again.

They stare at each other for a moment. Yuuri hearing something like a “Kiss him!” down the hall, but he thinks, he is imagining it.

    “See you tomorrow!”, he just says, before he waves at this trainer one more time and enters his room.

Victor stares at him vanishing, “See you tomorrow.” Then he opens the door to his chambers and pats Makka.

    “Oh Makkachin, I want to touch him so badly. What should I do?”

He curls up as the Goddess licks his cheek gently and then places a paw on his head, “Oh sweetheart. Romance is never easy. Yuuri is a good guy, but I don’t know what is for the best. Maybe the best advice for you is to enjoy the moment and don’t think about the future too much?”

The Immortal hugs her tightly, before he falls asleep.

Makka huffs. She knows that Victor doesn’t have it easy with the upcoming events and his confused feelings, but she also knows that they will have to deal with the issue soon. She settles herself next to her friend and drifts off to sleep.

Down the hall during Victor’s and Yuuri’s conversation

    “Aren’t they cute!”, Phichit murmurs softly.

Guang-Hong nods, giving his silent agreement.

Leo sighs tiredly, “Yeah, they are. Can we go now. I am tired and tomorrow is my performance!”

    “But that’s romance right in front of your nose! How can you miss that?!?”, the Elf speaks quietly.

    “I don’t like to intrude in other’s private affairs!”, the Autumn Fairy states bluntly.

The Warrior Elf sighs, “At least Guang-Hong understands me”, he muses, “Oh look, they are getting closer! Oh my Hamstergod, he just caressed Yuuri’s cheek! Did you see that!”, he squeals and then lets out too loudly, “Come on! Kiss him!”

Leo immediately covers Phichit’s mouth and they remain silent for a few heartbeats.

    “Do you think, they heard us?”, Guang-Hong asks, when he hears the doors closing.

The Bard lets go of his friend, “No, I don’t think so.”

Phichit squeals again, “Oh they are so shy and so cute! I have to do something! Guys! I have a plan!”

They whisper to each other for another hour before an attendant finds them in the hallway and sends them to bed that night.

The next morning Yuuri, Victor and Yurio are woken up by servants, who bring them breakfast and inform them of their daily routine. The Hero is escorted to the meeting room for further discussions and planning, while the other two join the training of the Royal Knights of Elania.

The training is more comfortable than Victor’s training regime, but still it is sweat inducing. However, it’s good for his experience points. Yuuri passes Level 13 and reaches Level 14 before they finish their sparring matches.

After a short Lunch break Phichit, Guang-Hong and Leo pick them up to train their Archery for tomorrow’s hunting event.

    “What are we even training for? Can’t we just use our standard weapons, Yurio complains after his third miss.”

    “It’s an Elanian tradition to hunt with a bow on that day”, Guang-Hong explains and corrects the shifters stands patiently.

    “Argh… How annoying”, the Chimera exclaims as he aims and scores a hit on the paper, “Did you see that?”, he says bright eyed.

Yuuri chuckles, “Great Yurio!”, he aims after concentrating and hits the paper as well a little closer to the rings as Yura, he whistles appreciative.

The Ice Tiger bristles, his competitive streak coming to the surface, “I can do better than that. Just you wait!”

They shoot arrow by arrow the whole afternoon, one-upping each other until they finally both hit the bullseye exhausted and bruised.

Leo smacks them both, “You weren’t supposed to overdo it!”, he takes his harp into his hands and starts to sing a healing song and the bruises vanish completely, leaving unmarred skin behind.

    “Thank you!”, Yuuri says in gratitude.

    “That was so cool, man!”, Yurio exclaims wide-eyed.

Leo chuckles a little sheepish, “No biggie! It’s a great warm-up for my fingers as well. I’ll accompany a pianist with Guang-Hong and Phichit on tonight’s evening soiree. I’ll play the violin, Guang-Hong the viola and Phichit the drums. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Shortly after that Phichit shoos them off to get dressed for the music soiree and prepare for their own performance. Some servants help them into their attire as their friends don’t have much time, while tuning their instruments.

Yuuri, Victor and Yurio meet up to go together. Yurio shimmers with his shining white-silver body and Victor wears a dark royal suit with a white button-down shirt and a black bow, which compliments Yuuri’s dark attire with the gems. The Living Legend treats the world traveller like the day before, kissing the back of his hand before escorting him elegantly to the sitting room with Yurio scowling next to them. They seat themselves near the buffet again, but still have a wonderful view of the center of the room, where the performances will take place in a few moments.

The first participants already introduce themselves and their song titled “Sleepsong” and the female performers start to sing, accompanied by a few instruments.

    “Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay. Loo-li, loo-li, loo-li lai-lay. Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby. Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay. And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow. Bless you with love for the road that you go.”

Yuuri leans over to Victor, whispering as quietly as possible, “Phichit, Guang-Hong and Leo will also perform today! I am really looking forward to it!”

Victor hums, studying a paper sheet, “They are the fourth to perform today.”

They applaud when the performers bow and the next participant arrives, introducing himself and his music peace “River Flows In You”. He makes his way to the grand piano and starts playing.

Yuuri has to hold his tears back and Victor takes his hand, squeezing it lightly.

    “Are you alright?”, his mentor asks quietly, rubbing his thumb over Yuuri’s hand gently.

The Japanese nods. He loves that song, adores playing it, likes hearing it. He never would have thought that this world knows this song as well.

    “I’m fine. Just touched. I love this song”, Yuuri whispers back, smiling fondly at the silver-haired man.

The performance ends as well and when the third participant makes his introduction and the “The Swan” starts, Yuuri leans closer to Victor to whisper to him, “I go talk to Phichit and the others and come back then. I want to wish them ‘good luck’ before their big performance!”, he winks.

The Living Legend lets reluctantly go of Yuuri’s other hand, “See you later, darling. Wish them luck from me too.”

Yuuri tries to vanish from the seats as fast and quietly as possible, going to the waiting room for all the performers.

When he opens the door and steps into the room after closing it, he searches for his friends and finds holding their faces in their hands dejectedly. He hurries over distraught at the sight, “Hey! Are you all alright? Why the glum faces? You are up next, you should smile!”

Phichit looks up at him, shaking his head, “It’s no use. We can’t perform.”

The Japanese is confused, “Why? What happened?”

Leo is the one to answer him, “Our main lead the pianist is ill and can’t perform. And we are all the accompanists, we can’t take over his part. And the other pianists present refuse to step in because they don’t know the piece and don’t want to embarrass themselves.”

Guang-Hong sniffles, “We trained so much for this day and now it’s all for nothing.”

Yuuri bites his bottom lip. His heart is beating fast, but his mind is made up.

    “Show me the sheets”, he says gently to his friends.

Leo hands the papers with the notes to him curiously and the student starts studying the music.

Phichit sighs, “Yuuri, it’s nice that you want to help us, but your effort won’t matter if we don’t–“

    “Quiet please!”, the Japanese interrupts icily, he concentrates again on the sheet. When he is done going through the music in his head, he takes a deep breath.

He can do this. He will do this.

    “Get ready for the performance. We are going to do this!”, Yuuri exclaims confidently.

    “We?”, Guang-Hong asks confused.

    “Yeah. I can play the piano”, the 16-year-old says.

Phichit chokes on his spit, “But it’s an original work!”

    “Yeah. But because it is an original work, we can do this. Just follow my lead. We will melt the ice inside the hearts of our audience”, the dark-haired man with warm brown eyes smiles at them.

Leo grins at Yuuri’s determination, “Seems like we have found our pianist, my friends! I say let’s do this!”

The world traveller smiles and then studies the sheets again, “Does it have a name? Because there is no title?”, Yuuri takes one glass with ice from the refreshing stand and takes a sip, cursing, “Man, the ice is cold.”

Phichit and Guang-Hong chuckle at his antics.

Leo hums however thoughtfully, “No it didn’t have one. But I have an idea now. I’ll announce it before we start.”

They march out when a servant calls for them.

Meanwhile at Victor’s and Yurio’s front

    “Where is he?”, Victor looks over the crowd frantically, “He said, he would be back before the other’s performance start.”

Yurio rolls his eyes, “Calm down, old man! He’ll be back soon!”

    “But what if something happened to him? Or what if he got lost? There are so many people!”, the Hero sighs, worrying his head.

The Chimera huffs annoyed and turns to the proxi-stage and freezes.

    “What someone kidnapped him or hurt him, while I can’t protect him!”, Victor imagines horror scenario after horror scenario.

    “Em Victor!”, the Ice Tiger tugs at his sleeve.

    “Oh no! I should rescue him immediately then!”, the Hero exclaims with concern.

Yurio rolls his eyes and smacks him.

    “Au! What was that for?”, The Living Legend rubs the painful spot, glaring.

    “Victor, I’ve found Yuuri”, the shifter says calmly.

Victor’s eyes immediately liven up, shining brightly and searching, “You did! Where is my Yuuri?”

Yurio huffs, pointing at the center of the room, where Phichit, Leo and Guang-Hong take their places, followed by another person, who walks up to the grand piano with a confident smirk on his face.

No way!

Victor turns to Yura with wide eyes, the shifter only shrugs. Oh my Goddess!

Yuuri’s side

The moderator makes his way to Yuuri to ask for the name of their piece. He looks over to Leo in question, who waves the moderator over to him, whispering the name of the music piece. Meanwhile, the Japanese arranges the sheets and makes a few finger exercises to warms himself up.

Why has he agreed to this again? Ah yeah, because he doesn’t want to let his friends down and reward them for practicing so hard for this moment.

The announcer introduces them, “As our fourth participants Leo de la Iglesia on the Violin, Guang-Hong Ji on the Viola, Phichit Chulanont on the drums and as the main lead, ladies and gentlemen, a grand applause for Yuuri Katsuki on the piano. The musicians will perform an original work called ‘Yuuri on Ice’.”

Wait what?

He shoots Leo a look, who just shrugs with a mischievous grin on his face and Yuuri huffs. He turns his gaze over crowd and finds Victor’s eyes on him. His expression showing deep awe, excitement, surprise and disbelief. He grins.

If he could surprise Victor all of this is worth it.

He shoots a wink at his crush, who seems to blush a little from his boldness, then turns to his companions with a nod and starts playing.

He thinks of how he first came to this world.

Scared and alone. And so full of wonder and uneasiness.

He thinks about Victor and how they have met in the forest as he collapsed after his desperate run.

How he woke up to Victor’s cerulean eyes of curiosity and a little animosity in the cosy room at Victor’s house in the Forest of Evergreen.

How Victor had cared for him during his stay.

How his mentor decided to become his coach and train him to have a better chance at surviving in this world.

He thinks of the two weeks spent together with Makkachin.

All the harsh training and the lessons in various subjects to gain knowledge and information about his situation. Victor’s patience with him and his strict guidance as a tutor.

How Yuuri developed a crush on his beautiful mentor.

How he decided to accompany Victor to his friend’s house because he didn’t want to part with him so early on.

How they met Yurio and Nikolai and how he learned more about Victor’s past to understand him better.

How he was heartbroken at the imagination of leaving Victor’s side and be on his own again. Without that smile or that laugh in his life.

How Victor decided to accompany him even though he knows the risk for himself, but seems to not care.

Thinks of how they grow closer each single day.

Their smiles, their laughter, their jokes. Everything.

How Victor is always there for him, supporting him through everything.

How he is not perfect, even though he is The Living Legend, but so human and reachable.

How he kisses Yuuri’s hands so gently and softly with a gaze so full of adoration and fondness.

How he meets Yuuri where he is.

How Victor smiles when he is truly happy. He loves that heart-shaped smile.

Love…

He feels warmth spreading through his entire body and realization hits him.

It was love all along.

He smiles to himself secretively.

He never knew how to call that feeling in his chest.

Was afraid to call it anything undeserving.

Now he has a name for it.

And it’s the most beautiful of all.

Love.

It’s simple.

Easy.

A single word.

But so precious.

His smile grows wider. His heart beats faster.

He loves Victor.

Loves him with all his heart.

He knows this feeling in his chest is the real deal.

The real thing.

Something irreplaceable.

Something genuine.

Something mighty and powerful.

He never wants to unknow this feeling.

Wants to keep it warm and safe in his heart forever and a day.

Yuuri smiles tenderly.

He is utterly and undeniably in love with Victor Nikiforov.

Yuuri’s grin widens and he chuckles softly.

No, with his Vitya.

His darling, Vitya

His saviour.

His mentor.

His friend.

His dearest.

Yuuri wants to laugh and cry at the same time.

I love you, Victor Nikiforov.

From the bottom of my heart.

I love you.

For forever and a day.

After he hits the final keys, Yuuri stills, looking up to search for Victor’s gaze again. It is silent before the whole room is drowned in wild applause. Phichit, Guang-Hong and Leo going up to wake Yuuri from his daze to bow together.

When the Japanese comes up from his bow, he meets his loving gaze and he smiles full of emotion. I love you.

They are led to the break room for the performers again. Leo, Guang-Hong and Phichit return their instruments in the safety of their boxes and turn to Yuuri.

Phichit is the first to scream and jump at him, “Oh my God! That was amazing! Yuuri you were even better than the original player!”

    “It was wonderful. So full of emotion and lightness, but so deep!”, Guang-Hong says teary-eyed, “I was nearly crying at the end!”

Leo nods, patting Yuuri on the shoulder, “You were amazing. You played like we wanted the piece to be performed, but you gave it so much more! Yuuri, I don’t know what to say! I-I… Thank you!”, Leo hugs him over Phichit and Guang-Hong joins in.

    “Thank you so much for helping us out!”, Guang-Hong adds, tears falling down his cheek.

Yuuri hugs them back, before he tries to step back, “I should go search for Vitya… I-I mean Victor. I-I… yeah… I said, I would be back soon, before I decided to help you out. So…”

The three let go of their friend.

Phichit sniffling a little from all the emotion, “Go. He is waiting for you.”

The others nod at him and Yuuri smiles, “I’ll make it up to you!”

The elf chuckles, “You already did!”

Then the 16-year-old exits the room and takes as the biggest steps he can possibly make to find him. He has to see him, now.

He searches over the crowds, but doesn’t find Victor on their previous sitting arrangement. He turns to the buffet and takes a glass of water, when his mentor isn’t in sight. The student looks at the current performer and decides to get some fresh air, so he steps out on the balcony. He gasps when he recognizes the person in front of him.

    “Victor?”, he murmurs and the silver-haired man turns to him surprised.

The Japanese sees tears streaming down his trainer’s face, “Yuuri?”

The world traveller is stunned for a moment and before he knows it, his body has skipped the distance between them and he caresses Victor’s wet cheeks.

    “Why are you crying, Vitya?”, he whispers softly.

The Hero gasps at the nickname and nuzzles into Yuuri’s gentle touches.

    “I was just so touched by your performance. It was so emotional, so soft, so genuine. I had to step out after you finished to collect myself again”, he huffs, laughing, “But Yuuri, really you never fail to surprise me, darling. You said, you’ll be back shortly and then whom do I see playing the main part of this wonderful piece”, Victor returns the caress to Yuuri’s cheek, a smitten expression on his face.

Yuuri chuckles a little embarrassed, “I have only learned a little up to now. It was a hobby of mine besides ice skating back on Earth. And it wasn’t my plan to be the pianist for the piece. But the pianist couldn’t make it and the others refused to play, so I stepped in. Nothing special.”

Victor lets his fingers touch the sides of the world traveller’s face, drawing soft circles at the other’s chin. He wants to say a lot like ‘Can you be more perfect, my Yuuri?’ or ‘You are so much! So talented, so incredible!’ but he can’t find his words, lost in the depths of this ethereal being in front of him. ‘I love you.’, he wants to say. But he holds his tongue. He doesn’t want to scare Yuuri away.

Instead he says, smiling fondly, “You are an endless set of surprises. A musician, a poet, what else do I not know about you, Yuuri Katsuki?”

The Japanese turns incredible red, “There is not much to know about me. I am nothing special.”

Victor hums and gets closer, his breath tingling on Yuuri’s skin near his ear, “I agree to disagree.”

Yuuri is in a trance. He wants him. He wants to kiss him. Wants to tell Victor about his feelings. His heart screams at him to do it, to follow his desires.

The dark-haired man clears his throat, when the silver-haired Hero steps back a little, “V-Vitya?”

    “Yes, Yuura?”, his saviour answers him breathlessly.

Yuuri turns shy and warm at the new nickname, he searches his Vitya’s eyes and gazes down at his soft lips, licking his own, “I-I… Vitya, I–“

    “Vitya, there are you!”, Yakov steps out onto the balcony with a glass Red Fairy Wine, he has Yurio in tow, who has his cheeks stuffed again with food, and Prince Seung-gil is following them.

Victor and Yuuri step away from each other embarrassed.

The Hero steps forward to greet his mentor with gritted teeth, “Yakov, what is so urgent to interrupt… Eh… I mean for you to come seek us out?”, his smile is forced and fake.

The King of the Merpeople ignores him, “I said, I wanted to talk a little with Mr. Katsuki. I wanted to introduce myself properly and as yesterday was a missed opportunity, I thought today would be good as well.”

Victor hums still forced.

Yakov turns to Yuuri, “My name is King Yakov Feltsman of the Merpeople. I am delighted to formally make you acquaintance, Mr. Katsuki. You are a very talented musician. The performance was very moving.”

Yuuri bows, “I am honoured to make you acquaintance as well, King Feltsman. And I thank you for your generous words.”

The King hums in approval, “You have good manners, Mr. Katsuki. I’ll be delighted to invite you to my Kingdom for the Festival of the Moonlight Fairies.”

Victor stares at his mentor in surprise, while Yuuri looks a little confused, “I thank you for your personal invitation and will gladly accept”, he bows again. Hoping for his trainer to explain to him on what he just agreed to participate in.

    “You as well, Vitya. I will send the invitations to you, when the preparations are finished”, Yakov pats his student on the shoulder and gestures for Prince Seung-gil to step forward, “May I introduce to you, Seung-gil Lee, Prince of the Fairies.”

Seung-gil bows politely, “Mr. Katsuki, I wanted to congratulate you on your performance.”

Yuuri bows in return, “T-Thank you, your Highness. I–“

    “I can’t take this any longer!”, Phichit strides with a fierce glance onto the balcony, followed by Guang-Hong and Leo, who bow apologetically.

    “Why is this always happening. The mood was so good until you came and interrupted them!”, he points accusingly to Yakov and then turns to Seung-gil, “And you! I told you to keep him occupied! What don’t you understand with such a simple instruction! Instead you disturb their moment as well! Gil this is not fair at all!”, Phichit pouts.

Yuuri, Victor, Yurio and Yakov look between the two with great confusion, painted on their faces.

The fairy prince sighs in defeat, “I am sorry Phi, but it was out of my control.”

The elf groans, “If you weren’t my childhood friend, I would be soooo mad right now! Remember that!”

Yuuri chuckles, “You two are cute.”

Guang-Hong and Leo burst out laughing, “Yes.” “Indeed.”

    “Yuuuri!”, Phichit sighs, but starts laughing as well, “Oh, whatever. There will be other opportunities. Let’s eat some more of the goodies from the buffet and talk some more before going to bed!”

They do just that. Talk and eat and drink. They all have a merry time.

Soon, the guests start to retire and Yuuri gets sleepy after five glasses of Farolean Berry Juice. He snuggles against Victor and dozes off shortly after getting comfortable.

The Hero chuckles amused. He grabs with one hand for Yuuri’s upper body and positions the other under Yuuri’s legs to hoist him up bridal style to take the sleeping beauty to his room. Yurio follows him to help open the doors and waits for him in front of Yuuri’s door.

Victor deposits the sleeping man in his bed and covers him gently. His breath hitches at the wonderful sight before him. He is so smitten.

The Immortal leans forward and places a soft kiss on Yuuri’s forehead, “Good night, my dear Yuura”, he whispers gently, caressing the other’s face softly.

Then he exists the room with a lovestruck smile.

Yurio gags, “You are so stupidly gross, old man.”

Victor chuckles fondly, “You mean head over heels in love, little kitten.

Yurio grabs a pillow from a nearby sofa and throws it at his mentor.

The Living Legend doges elegantly and opens the door to his room, winking at the angry teen, “Good night to you too!”

The next day, the servants of the castle wake all their guests early and serve them a nutritious breakfast for the Great Hunt.

All participants change into comfortable clothing and gear and prepare themselves for the next hours to come.

When Yuuri arrives in the throne room, where all participants are expected to show up before their departure, he finds Guang-Hong, Leo and Yurio already waiting for him and Phichit. The elf joins them shortly, a little displeased.

    “What is wrong?”, the Japanese student asks.

    “Seung-gil and Victor have to attend the council and won’t be free until the dancing soiree”, the Warrior Elf explains dejected.

    “Oh”, Yuuri answers disappointed.

Yurio huffs, “Well, we’ll be fine without them! Cause we’re awesome!”

Guang-Hong and Leo laugh, but Yuuri gets nervous.

What if he embarrasses his friends? What if he isn’t good enough with shooting? What do they even hunt?

His thoughts swirl around himself and he tries taking deep breaths again.

The Spring and Autumn Fairy eye him in concern, “Yuuri, are you alright?”

    “Yeah, I just need a second. My nerves are getting the better of me. Sorry”, he explains during his breaths.

The fairies think for a moment, before they both spray some glitter over their human friend. Yuuri sneezes, but feels instantly better.

    “Thank you, whatever you did! I feel much better and more confident!”, he jumps excitedly.

    “Fairy Dust”, Phichit explains, “They gave you more courage to calm your nerves. It will hold on until midnight strikes.” The elf grins, while playing with something small in his hand. His friend notices his stare and smiles proudly, “These are my little babies: Arthur, Tom and Siam. They are my cute familiars my God Hamsterio blessed me with!”

The hamsters look adorably up to Yuuri. Their eyes a black point and their fur fluffy and light. Yuuri’s heart melts.

    “They are adorable!”, he says, “So tiny and cute!”

Phichit snickers, “I know, right! My babies always help me out with hunting!”

Yuuri hums, gently patting the small creatures, “By the way, what are we even hunting?”

    “That depends on what King Celestino wants us to hunt. Mostly the event is like this: We listen to the speech and instructions of the King of the Elves, then we walk into the Forest of Liviana and search for the specific animal. We can also fight other monsters during our search and gain some levels, but the Champion of the Great Hunt is the one, who first captures the assigned target. We have to blow one of the hunting horns, which are given to us before we leave the castle. Then we return to the castle with our catches and bring them to the kitchens, except the one, who captured the target. They have to present their catch to the King personally, before the soiree and banquets are opened”, Guang-Hong explains.

    “Okay, sounds manageable. Then I will concentrate on reaching Level 15 today. So you have one less rival!”, Yuuri decides.

    “Are you an idiot, Katsudon?”, Yurio huffs impatient, “You shouldn’t be so nice to the competition! Have more backbone in you and take things more serious! This is an exciting event and you are just so depressing! I for one thing will participate seriously and make my grandpa proud by catching the prey first and then I’ll rub my victory in the old man’s face”

The Japanese student smiles, “That sounds lovely, Yurio! I fully support you to make your grandpa and Victor proud!”

The Ice Tiger sighs tiredly, “That wasn’t what I meant! And thanks, but I don’t need help!”

Yuuri giggles, “Have it your way then!”

Phichit shakes his head and spots Ciao Ciao, “Oh look, the speech is starting.”

King Celestino waves at the crowd, “My friends, I warmly welcome you to the Great Hunt! Today’s assignment will be to catch a Unicorn Rabbit. The first to catch this prey will blow into his assigned hunting horn to end the event. Then the victor will present his catch to me and we will formally proceed to the soiree. All other prey will be gratefully welcomed in the royal kitchens. The servants should now have finished distributing the hunting horns. With this, the opening speech for the event is over! I wish you all the best, young hunters! May you be successful!”

The King bows and vanishes into the meeting rooms to have further discussions.

Phichit hums, “A Unicorn Rabbit? Damnit it. That’s a fast one.”

    “And they are deep into the woods too!”, Guang-Hong adds, “That will take a while.”

    “How about teaming up then?”, Leo proposes, “With more people it will be safer to make our way through the forest. There are still other monsters to deal with on our way.”

Yuuri nods, “That sounds like a good idea. And as I am not interested in hunting the prey, I can be used as a front fighter.”

Yurio groans, “Sounds like a pain, but count me in.”

They head out of the castle, through the city into the forest.

    “Where exactly is the location of these Unicorn Rabbits again?”, the Ice Tiger huffs, dogging plants and trees.

    “It’s in the center of the woods a little north of Eternia, but sometimes they migrate and that it’s a pain to find them”, Guang-Hong answers, using his Locate, Track and Search skill to look for any clues on the ground, “There are also times when they leave their nests and can be found by luck somewhere near the city. But for that you must have the luck of a four-leaf clover.”

    “What a pain”, Yurio mumbles and strives on.

They wander deeper into the forest, concentrating on their surroundings, when Yuuri narrows his eyes, “It’s too silent. And the birds have stopped singing some time ago.”

    “You are right”, Phichit whispers.

Guang-Hong says sternly, “We are surrounded. It’s a pack of Green Wolves.”

Leo sighs, “Not again. Wolf packs are such a pain. You always have to watch out for–“

Yuuri pushes the Autumn Elf away and slashes with his sword through the attacking monster.

    “–surprise attacks. Thanks, Yuuri”, Leo lets out a breath as he stands up from the ground again and takes a guarded stance.

    “You are welcome!”, Yuuri chirps enthusiastically, attacking the incoming enemies and pinning them to the ground with his Shadow skill.

Phichit shakes his head, “Leo, Guang-Hong, maybe you gave him a little bit too much of that Fairy Dust. He is a little too excited in this situation.”

    “Upps”, Guang-Hong grimaces.

    “We’ll at least he enjoys it”, the Bard shrugs his shoulders and focuses on supporting his friends.

Yurio swirls through the air, kicking and punching the wolves with vigour, “Let’s see who can defeat more of them, Katsudon!”

    “You’re on, Yurio!”, Yuuri giggles.

Yeah, he definitely was high on Fairy Dust.

After the fight, Phichit brings some refreshments out of his Item Storage for their gallant heroes, “Here. It refreshes your bodies.”

The Chimera and The Black Dust have a short break and then they continue on from defeating attacking monsters to slashing at tree barricades and walking through mud and water.

Yuuri is giddy, he only needs a few more EXP and he has reached the next level. Victor will be very proud of him. He hums delightedly, an extra spring in his step.

Phichit looks at him unbelievingly. How can someone with Level 14 have so much endurance and stamina?

    “Are we there yet?”, the shifter asks grumpily, “It’s afternoon already. No horns have been blown. I am hungry and my feet hurt!”

    “I can carry you!”, Yuuri proposes.

Yurio huffs at him angry, “Don’t you dare, Katsudon! I’m not a child! I am 75 years old for fuck’s sake! Stop babying me!”

    “Well, you said, your feet hurt!”, the Japanese says, rummaging in his thoughts, then taking out an apple from his Item Storage, “Here against the hunger.”

The blond teen takes the fruit and bites into it, “Next time, you should prepare better snacks for our travels! Do you hear me, Katsudon?”

    “Yeah, yeah”, Yuuri waves him off with a smile. Such a feisty little teenager.

Phichit, Guang-Hong and Leo just stare at them, not saying anything. Sometimes it’s better to hold your tongue and continue on.

They march on and Yuuri finds a shiny and round stone on the forest floor, He picks it up, throwing it into the air playfully and catching it again. He does that for some time before he hears some rustling from the bushes and shoots the stone right into the plants.

The group hears a “Boing” and something falling to the ground. Before they can see what Yuuri had assaulted with a normal stone, the Japanese hears the pinging noise of a notification. And a pop-up appears in front of him.

Level-Up received:

Congratulations you have reached Level 15!

Class change received:

Black Shadow

New skills acquired:

Shadow Double

Steal

Silent

Stealth

Intimidation (Passive Skill)

Status Ailment Resistance (Passive Skill)

Yes, he did it! He levelled-up again! And even got a new class! He is so happy!

Yuuri opens his status to look at his changed stats, while Guang-Hong and Leo look behind the bushes for some item drops.

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: Human

Age: 16 years

LV: 15

Class: Black Shadow

Active Skill: Shadow, Shadow Double, Disperse, Dust Storm, Dust Barrier, Feint, Paralyze, Blind, Confusion, Poison, Silent, Steal, Stealth, Appraisal, Search, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Stamina, Charm, Miracle, Language Comprehension, Intimidation, Status Ailment Resistance

HP: 250/250 +50* à 300/300

MP: 300/300 +50* à 350/350

EXP: 6.350

Next Level: 615 EXP

Equipped Gear: Mythril Sword, Iron Dagger, Traveller’s Robe*, Moonlight Coat, Gloves of Learning, Ring of Courage, Rune Bracelet, Ebony Boots

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: Adventurous Soul

25.684 G

ATK: 285 +50* à 335

DEF: 252 +50* à 302

MAT: 271 +50* à 321

MDF: 263 +50* à 313

AGI: 274 +50* à 324

LUK: 268 +50* à 318

He smiles brightly and content. He did great! Maybe Victor will praise him now that he received new skills!

Yurio studies his status plate and snorts, “Katsudon and intimidating? And the world is flat. As if you could be intimidating. And what’s with the Steal Skill. Katsudon, if you keep this up, I can’t deem you trustworthy anymore!”

    “I know, I love you too!”, Yuuri chirps, patting the teen’s head, who shoots him a sharp gaze with a light pink blush dusting his cheeks.

Phichit throws himself over Yuuri’s shoulders, hugging him, while looking over his status board, “Wow Yuuri, you are so shadowy!”, he chuckles.

The world traveller hums, “Right? Now, I am a cool Black Shadow!”

    “Ice Tigers are way more awesome!”, the shifter huffs.

    “That’s true”, Yuuri response, “They are elegant, majestic and powerful.”

Yurio nods in agreement, “I knew, you have good taste, Katsudon.”

Phichit snorts and turns to the fairies, “Have you found Yuuri’s accidental prey?”

The Hunter and the Bard start laughing, heaving something up in the air and bringing the killed beast over, hiding it behind their backs with a mischievous smile, before presenting a Unicorn Rabbit in front of their friends.

    “Yuuri hit the bullseye with a simple stone”, Guang-Hong laughs heartily and Leo wheezes, “That’s the best catch, I’ve ever seen in my life!”

Yurio laughs loudly, “That’s so typical for you, Katsudon!”, he holds his stomach.

    “But does it count? I didn’t use a bow!”, Yuuri says calmly.

Phichit snorts, “It doesn’t matter how you kill the prey. It’s just that you find one to bring it back”, he explains and then frantically looks around, “Oh my God! We are the first to catch the prey. We should quickly blow the horn before someone else does!”

    “But who is going to do it? The horns are enchanted! Whoever does it first, will be marked as the winner!”, Leo asks.

Guang-Hong smiles, “Yuuri should do it. He caught the prey!”

    “But Yuuri said, he only wants to level up!”, Phichit pouts, having already imagined how he presents the catch to his King.

Leo shakes his head, “Yuuri should decide, who the winner will be.”

They all turn to the dark-haired man in question.

Yuuri smiles, “I already said, who I will support in the beginning, before Celestino’s speech even started, so it’s already clear, who the winner is.”

They think back, what they said before they left the castle and realization hits them, the highschooler smirks takes the prey and hands it over to Yurio.

    “Now, you can make your grandpa and Victor proud!”, he declares grinning widely.

The Chimera blinks at him widely, “You’re sure?”

The 16-year-old nods, “I promised.”

Yurio smiles at him brightly and blows into his hunting horn.

The celebration for the Champion of the Great Hunt is a lavish affair.

Yurio is dressed in the dark-red garments, they have chosen during their shopping trip after a bath by servants and is escorted to the throne room, where every single participant, as well as other guests wait for his arrival.

He marches over the carpet to the throne accompanied by servants by his side and victorious music to celebrate the highlight of the event.

He searches for Victor and Yuuri and finds their proud gazes, Victor holding a tissue to his teary eyes and the world traveller patting his back gently.

The shifter straightens his posture a little more, feeling proud that his dad and hopefully other future dad approve of him.

Argh! Where did that come from?

He shakes his head and concentrates on his duties right now.

The procession reaches the throne and after some kind words from the King, which Yurio quickly forgets as he carefully hands over the Unicorn Rabbit. Then he is bestowed the title of ‘Champion of the Great Hunt’.

He hears the familiar pining noise and equips the new title after he waves the notification off.

The King and him turn around and all applaud and congratulate him. He holds his chin high and waves, before the royal gifts him three Teleport Crystals and a sack of Fairy Dust. The ruler of the Kingdom turns to his guests and opens the dancing soiree and the buffet.

Yurio immediately joins Victor, Yuuri, Phichit, Guang-Hong, Leo and Seung-gil at the edge near the balcony.

    “You did great, Yurio!”, Yuuri cheers, still high on Fairy Dust, looking very elegant in his dark-blue evening attire.

The shifter snorts, “Thanks.”

Yuuri beams at him, before Victor hugs him tightly, “I am so proud of you, my son!”, the Hero sniffles into the blond’s hair, “How much you have grown! I still remember changing your diaper, when–“

Yurio pushes away, “Uwa! Gross! Stop right there, old man!”

Phichit chuckles, raising a glass of Farolean Berry Juice together with Leo Guang-Hong and Seung-gil, “A toast to the new Champion of the Great Hunt! To Yurio! May his temper be calmed!”

    “To Yurio!”, the others cheer.

    “The Fuck?!”, the shifter grumbles, “But whatever, thanks.”

The musicians start up to play the traditional Folkdance of the Elves and Phichit urges them to the dance floor. They twirl around, doing bows repeatedly and clapping their hands. It’s a funny dance. Easy but very entertaining. They change the partner various times, so they get to dance with mostly everyone in the round circle, who participates.

When the song ends, Yuuri lands in Victor’s arms, “That was soo much fun!”

The silver-haired man smiles down at him, “It was.”

A new song starts and pairs are forming on the dance floor.

    “I don’t know this one”, the world traveller says dejectedly.

The Hero chuckles, “Don’t worry, I’ll lead.”

He twirls Yuuri around and they find their rhythm soon, spiralling, turning and doing some step sequences together, while never leaving each other’s eyes.

They dance and dance and dance through the evening into the night, ignoring everyone, who wants to ask for a dance or conversation. Victor leading him into song to the other, his attention solely focused on Yuuri.

They take a quick break with some refreshments and using the opportunity to talk to their friends. Yurio has his face stuffed with sweets again, conversing with Seung-gil about the importance of good cookies, while Guang-Hong and Leo toast to each other and Phichit has a big shit-eating grin every time his eyes wander over to Victor and Yuuri.

The Japanese ignores him, enjoying the evening. Some ladies and gentlemen tried to persuade Victor for a dance, but The Living Legend always refused the offers with a bright smile. Yuuri has to stifle a chuckle every time a poor soul is refused. It makes him happy, but also gives him a sense of pity for the rejected ones. He can’t settle on one feeling.

When the last dance is announced it is close to midnight. The moderator announces the waltz and many people leave the dance floor, while others line up. Yuuri is ecstatic. This one he knows very well! Minako drilled the steps into him since he started walking!

He takes Victor’s hand confidently and pulls him to the dance floor.

The Hero stares at him wide-eyed, stopping him, “Yuuri, wait!”

The 16-year-old turns around, “Don’t you want to dance anymore?”

Victor sighs, squeezing their intertwined hands, “That’s not it. Just… Are you sure?”

Yuuri snickers at the other’s nervousness, “I was never more certain in my life! I know the steps perfectly! I can lead, you don’t have to worry!”

The dark-haired student pulls again and his mentor follows him onto the dance floor, his face a little flushed.

Phichit whistles loudly, “Go Yuuri!”

Yurio, Seung-gil, Guang-Hong and Leo turn to them with different expressions.

Yurio looks horrified, Seung-gil greatly surprised as he raises an eyebrow, Guang-Hong covers his crimson face and Leo looks a little embarrassed, but gives Yuuri a thumbs-up.

Phichit cheers like a wild fanboy, “Go get him, my boy!”

Yuuri is confused, but decides to ignore them, focusing on Victor and the dance.

They align themselves with the other dancers, Yuuri bowing gracefully and kissing the back of Victor’s hand softly, before they assume their dancing positions, their bodies pressed closely together. The dark-haired highschooler studies the deep red shade, dusting over his dance partner’s cheeks, up to his ears.

    “Is everything alright? Should we stop and get you some refreshments?”, the world traveller is worried.

Victor shakes his head, focusing on the warm brown eyes in front of him. They are glimmering like a secret universe, like the stars on cloudless nights. They are beautiful. He is mesmerized.

The music starts up and Yuuri leads him into the first steps of the dance, before getting bolder. They twirl, doing figures Victor hasn’t known before, but he follows his dance partner’s lead without much effort. They twirl and twirl, do a parade and twirl again and he starts laughing. He has so much fun with Yuuri beside him. His pupil never stops surprising him. After another twirl the dark-haired man chimes in, laughs loudly and free. Victor feels weightless, free. And so light as the sunrays of Yuuri’s laugh dazzle him. It’s like they are flying over the dancefloor. The Hero chances a glance at the enchanted crowd, other dance pairs gaping and staring in awe at them and he smiles. This is his. His alone. This moment belongs to solely him and Yuuri. He turns his face to seek for the galaxies in the eyes of his beloved, knowing he is right, where he belongs.

As it is every fate of every dance, the music comes to an end. Victor and Yuuri bow to each other reluctantly, but they have to follow protocol.

They return hand in hand to their friends, who stare at them speechlessly.

Phichit jumps around, squealing as quietly as he can, “Don’t you want to take a break on the balcony. It’s good to cool down a bit”, he proposes with intention clearly written in his sparkling eyes. His mind screaming ‘Victuuri For Life’.

    “We… I…”, Yuuri stammers, the Fairy Dust wearing off as the last bell to midnight sounds. He turns incredible red, when his boldness catches up to him. Wasn’t the waltz after its first introduction a very scandalous dance? And didn’t he read somewhere that it was only a allowed between married couples before it lost it’s shocking reputation? He doesn’t dare to ask. Doesn’t dare to turn to Victor or their intertwined hands. His heart doing summersaults.

Victor squeezes his hand and Yuuri wants to die right then and there, “I… We… if you want–?”

    “Vitya! Mr. Katsuki!”, Yakov appears with Celestino in tow.

Phichit curses. He is going to eat a broom! Not again! How does King Yakov always have the perfect timing to interrupt, when it gets to the good parts! He wants to strangle someone soooo badly! Or punch someone and kick him in the shin! Or do everything one after the other!

Seung-gil eyes his childhood friend warily, “Calm down, Phi!”

The Warrior Elf shoots him a fiery glance, trying to say something like, ‘You calm down after you favourite ship was just about to finally start sailing after all your effort and then get destroyed by an oversized, stupid fishman! And not once, but twice now!’

The prince of the fairies seems to get the message somehow as he just furrows his eyebrows and sighs defeated.

Phichit grumbles through the whole pointless conversation with the two Kings, getting patted on the shoulder by Gil occasionally. Seriously, couldn’t they’ve just congratulated Yurio privately earlier and tell them through a servant tomorrow that the meeting will be around nine thirty in the morning. These unromantic goody two shoes.

When the rulers leave them, the group is very tired and decide to retire for bed. As tomorrow is the last meeting and they should get in sleep before their departure.

As Phichit complains about the close separation, he convinces Yuuri, Yurio, Victor, Guang-Hong, Leo and Seung-gil to do a sleep-over in Yuuri’s room.

After some contemplation and planning, they all agree and build a comfortable bed on the floor. They prepare themselves for bed individually and cuddle close together in their self-built nest, drifting off to pleasant dreams and the comforting warmth of their friends.

The next day is bittersweet as Yuuri wakes up before a servant gets to stir him and his still sleeping friend out of the comfort of their sleep-over. He thinks about all his experiences in the Elf Kingdom and the new friendships he made and the old ones he deepened, as well as his realization about his feelings of love for Victor.

The servant comes in shortly, interrupting his train of thoughts and waking everyone around him up by a short scream of surprise to find not only Yuuri, but Yurio, Victor, Makka, Phichit, Guang-Hong, Leo and Seung-gil in their self-made bedding on the floor together.

They all apologize for startling the poor maid and they eat breakfast together in the room. Makkachin is in a very good mood as she gets a lot of scratches, pats and a lot of compliments for being “such a good doggo”.

After they have finished eating, they go down into the throne room to hear about the speech from the Kings before heading out into the unknown.

Celestino greets them with a smile, “Good morning. I hope you’ve rested well!”

They all bow in greeting, before the actual discussion starts.

    “Well, lets get to the point”, the King of the Elves says, glancing to Yakov and Seung-gil for approval, “We decided that the matter of the large scale summoning as well as the rumours and evidence concerning the recent war announcements from the Kingdom of Rusza have to be investigated more deeply. And as such, we need confirmation from the Demon Kingdom concerning their standing in this whole matter, before we investigate Rusza directly. For that we need a team from various countries, who can act as ambassadors and investigators to our cause.”

    “I nominate Lord Victor Nikiforov as ambassador for the Merpeople”, Yakov states bluntly, gazing at his pupil.

Victor steps forward and bows, “I, Lord Victor Nikiforov, accept this honour and swear to not disappoint your trust in me.”

Celestino hums, “I’ll nominate Phichit to represent our nation in this cause.”

Phichit takes his place next to Victor and bows, “I, Phichit Chulanont, accept this honour and swear to not disappoint your trust in me.”

Then the King of the Elves takes out a parchment, “After my correspondence with the King and the retired General Nikolai Plisetsky, it is decided that Yuri Plisetsky shall be nominated as ambassador to the Beast Kingdom.”

Yurio’s eyes grow wide, but he steps forward after his surprise and bows, “I, Yuri Plisetsky, accept this honour and swear to not disappoint your trust in me.”

Seung-gil raises his voice then, “The Fairy Realm appoints as their representative in this matter Yuuri Katsuki.”

Wait what? Yuuri stares shocked at the smiling Seung-gil. He can’t be serious!

Leo pushes him gently and the world traveller knows that he has to act.

He steps forward taking a deep breath. This is a great honour and Seung-gil trusts him with it. So he will trust in himself as well. He bows gracefully.

    “I, Yuuri Katsuki, accept this honour and swear to not disappoint your trust in me.”

Celestino smiles, “Please stand up, my dear and brave warriors. With this you will be tasked to investigate the situation in the Demon Kingdom before travelling to the source of all rumours and find out the true source of the rumours. If push comes to shove, you are allowed to use every means to protect yourself or your respected countries. I will hand out certain documents to you, which prove your identity and mission”, the servants hand them a silver plate with the royal emblems of the countries, “With this I wish you luck, good fortune and success on your way. You are dismissed!”

The appointed ambassadors/investigators discuss their next action together.

Victor raises his voice first, “We should go to the Dragon Valley first. My best friend Chris likes Dragon Wine a lot and we’ll need him to get faster into the Demon Castle. So a small bribe will do the trick.”

    “Okay”, Yuuri says, interested in getting to know this Chris.

Phichit just shrugs, “The more the merrier!”

And Yurio rolls his eyes, “Whatever.”

When the others start talking to each other to say their goodbyes, Yuuri turns to Victor and whispers, “You really want to go to Rusza?”

Victor caresses his cheek, “I decided to accompany you and support you in your search, my darling. With this its official that I’ll follow you to the end of the world to do so.”

Yuuri’s cheeks bloom red and there is silence between them, before he reaches up and kisses Victor’s cheek softly, “Thank you.”

Then the shy highschooler scoots away to thank Seung-gil for his trust, leaving a blushing and speechless Victor behind.

And for the second time since meeting his dear Yuuri, Victor is sure that this man will be the death of him.

Chapter Text

The last-minute-preparation-checks for their upcoming travels don’t take long to be finished, before they are ready to depart.

Yuuri does a mental check of his own Item Storage twice. Just to be on the safe side. He is excited for his first official mission, being the representative for the Fairy Realm! It’s just so unbelievable that Seung-gil wanted him to be their ambassador for this important task!

He thinks that he is ready, when the fairy prince comes up to him with a worried eyebrow.

    “Can I be of service to you, my prince?”, Yuuri asks.

    “You can drop the formalities, Yuuri. We already had a sleep-over and I don’t want my friends to call me like that”, the Swordmaster says.

    “Then, what can I do for you, Seung-gil?”, the Japanese responds curious.

The fairy sighs, “It’s about Phichit. He likes to get into trouble and is often bad in estimating dangerous situations. He is an adventurer through and through and I’m a little worried. I… Please take good care of him.”

The 16-year-old nods at his friend, “I will. I promise.”

    “Thank you”, the prince’s lips tug into a small smile and Yuuri is shook. He knows from Phichit that Seung-gil rarely laughs. So this smile is a unique phenomenon. 

They get interrupted by Victor’s clapping, “Are we ready to head out?”

All nod, except Phichit, “Wait just one minute, okay?”

The elf turns to Guang-Hong and Leo, hugging them tightly.

    “Good luck, Phichit!”, the Spring Fairy says gently.

    “All the best!”, the Autumn Fairy adds.

The Warrior Elf hums, “Don’t worry! I won’t let you down! I won’t rest until I personally see this ship sailing! I promise!”

Leo chuckles and Guang-Hong giggles, “Actually, we meant to wish you fortune for your travels, but well, good luck with that as well then.”

Phichit presses them with his full strength against his body, before letting go, “I’ll miss you both! But I promise to bring back some souvenirs and great tales of our adventure! Maybe I’ll even write a book about my memoirs after this. I can already feel the high sales and advertisement banners!”

    “Just come back safe and sound. That’s all we want”, Leo snorts at his friends’ antics.

    “Roger that!”, the elf says with a playful salute, then turns to his travel companions, “Okay, I’m ready to go!”

    “Good”, the silver-haired Hero says, “Then please gather all around me! We should all hold on tight to each other or someone may get lost during the teleportation process and we don’t want that to happen!”

They all gather around Victor, holding onto some part of his body, Makka gathered in The Living Legend’s arms.

    “Phichit!”, Seung-gil says as the teleportation spell starts activating. He throws a sack of Fairy Dust at his childhood friend, “Stay safe! And don’t cause too much trouble! Be sure to not wander off on your own! And come home soon!”

Phichit catches it and raises his hand for a thumbs-up and says, “I’ll be back before you know it! Take care of Celestino for me! He always likes to forget the deskwork in the second office! And See you soon!”

Then they vanish.

This time Yuuri lands comfortably on the ground without motion sickness or other inconveniences. It seems being prepared for the eventuality, let’s you not get sick in the first place or it just depends on your current constitution. He doesn’t know which of the answers could be the solution to this riddle and he doesn’t really care.

The highschooler takes a look around and gapes amazed with his mouth open.

The environment looks like a mixture of the Grand Canyon and the Alps with wide flowery fields in the middle of a forest. It’s breath-taking. There are so many mountain ranges surrounding the valley like the frame of a painting. The valley itself is wide and scarce of trees. But there are many small hills and caves.

Yuuri takes a stone on the ground into his hands and studies it. It looks like it is made of Granit and Gneiss with something undefinable in a violet colour. Interesting. Archaeologists, biologists and geologists would have a field day with this mixture of natural resources.

    “Marvellous!”, the Japanese student says in awe.

Yurio grunts impatiently, “I don’t understand what’s so marvellous right now. It’s just boring back country scenery. Just another place filled with monsters, who want to have you for dinner. You’re really weird, Katsudon!”

Yuuri shrugs his shoulders, “I could now lecture you on the Grand Canyon and the Alps on planet Earth and how exciting this place would be for some special people, but I don’t want to bore you, so I just say nothing.”

    “The Grand Canyon and the Alps? What’s with these strange names?”, the shifter’s voice is nonchalant, but his eyes have a curious glimmer to them.

The Japanese hums, musing about how Yurio wants to know more, but won’t ask for an explanation directly.

    “Well, you see–“

    “Ah! There it is!”, Victor interrupts the dark-haired man from starting a lecture about Earths’ topography, “Now, we know where to go!”

Makkachin boofs excited and scoots closer to the silver-haired man. Yuuri, Phichit and Yurio turn to the Hero to sneak some peeks at the map and their destination. Not that Yuuri doesn’t want to trust his mentor with directions, but experience has more proven over and over that navigation isn’t Victor’s forte.

    “So, you didn’t remember again, where to go, old man? Why am I even surprised!”, the Ice Tiger huffs, “But I must praise you for having marked the destination on a map this time. Better than getting lost like in the forest before.”

Victor pouts, “Don’t be so mean to me. It’s been awhile since I last visited the Dragon Market here! And I mark all of the important things on maps!”

Phichit raises an eyebrow, “So you mark down the place to get some eccentric wine, but forget to make a note of where the entrance to the capital city of the Elf Kingdom is located. I think, you have somehow confused your priorities. But oh well, like Yurio said, it’s great to have a physical guide to rely on.”

Yuuri hums, before he starts being a little doubtful, “Em… How old is this map by the way? You said it’s been awhile since you last visited the market, so is it still up to date?”

    “Oh, darling! Of course, the map is up to date. The Dragon Market hasn’t changed its location for over hundred years. It’s always in the same place.”

Up until know, Yuuri wants to add. Maybe he shouldn’t be so cynical. It’s Victor after all. He should know, what he is doing.

    “Look! The Dragon Market is straight ahead on the right side at the foot of mount Silverwing. It won’t take us long to reach it!”, the Hero shows them on the map, “At the moment we are here!”, he points to the foot of mount Greenteeth.”

Yurio sighs angrily, “Why do you always teleport us some distance away from our target destination, old man!? Can’t we just for fucking once teleport exactly to where we wanna go? Or is that so difficult for you to understand that we have more pressing concerns than going on a random hike because the weather’s nice!”

Yuuri wants to say something in his mentor’s defence, but nothing comes to mind and well, actually he has been wondering for some time about that habit of his trainer as well. So he remains silent, waiting for Victor’s answer.

Phichit meanwhile indulges himself in taking pictures of the scenery as keepsake to show his friends in the Elf Kingdom later.

Victor smiles at his two pupils, “Well, we don’t want to forget about your training exercises on this journey, my dear students! I don’t think, you want to get rusty! Furthermore, it won’t be fun to just travel from destination to destination. Instead, why not enjoy mother nature a little?”

The Chimera looks at the Immortal with an annoyed grimace marring his face, he seems like he wants to say something, but decides against it, only huffing and saying with annoyance coating his voice, “Then let’s go already! We don’t have the whole day for this shit!”

The Hero smiles at him and Yuuri just shakes his head.

The Japanese takes out his compass, “So in what direction should we go again?”

They compare the map to the directions of Yuuri’s compass and start heading east.

The valley is beautiful and tranquil. There are not many monsters to fight, but instead of numbers the creatures have strength and sturdiness on their side. Victor, like all times, only dodges with Makka in his hands, dancing out of the monster’s reach with finesse, while giving some instructions to his pupils and Phichit, who decided on joining their training.

    “Yurio no magic for you. Just use your physical attacks for the enemies! And no shifting either! I already know that you have full control over your shifterforms!”, Victor shouts to Yurio over his shoulder.

The Chimera grumbles, but follows the commands.

The silver-haired man focuses on the elf, “Phichit you’re great with the bow. So, your handicap is that you are only allowed to use your dagger instead of your bow during this practice!”

The Warrior Elf grimaces, but nods. He hates direct combat and prefers long distance. But well, Victor is right that he should try getting batter at the other fighting style, if he wants to succeed Celestino in the future.

The Hero observes the two jumping around and attacking, “Good. Keep at it.”

Then The Living Legend turns to Yuuri, who just uses Shadow Double to dodge the attack of a Blue Lizard. Blue Lizards are well-known for having good resistance to status ailments. Victor gets an idea, “Yuuri, in this fight you are only permitted to use Paralyze, Blind, Confusion, Poison, Silent and Stealth as skills.”

    “WHAT!?”, the Japanese is horrified, “How should I win this fight then, if their resistance to status ailments is high? Victor!”

Good! The Immortal is proud that his student already appraised his enemy.

    “Don’t worry. You’ll soon find a way, darling! I am sure of it! It will just take some time!”, his mentor exclaims cheerfully, jumping with a bored Makka to the side to avoid the Bite Attack from a Giant Green Snake.

Yuuri groans, but does as he is told, “Paralyze!”

The Blue Lizard hisses at him and the world traveller grimaces, searching for his mentor’s gaze again to maybe change his mind. But Victor just hums to himself some song and dances with Makka through the fields like everything is peaceful and there are no threats around them.

The Japanese student sighs. Okay, when his mentor thinks that he is capable of winning in this particular way, then he should at least try seriously. An idea forms in his mind. Victor said that I am only allowed to use the Status Ailment skills but no other skills. He looks at his sword, taking it into his hands. So this should be allowed? He chances a glance at his trainer, who winks at him with amusement. Yuuri’s cheeks dust pink and he tries to concentrate on the fight again. Seems like he is allowed to use the sword. But he gets the feeling that the silver-haired Hero also wants him to train his Status Ailment skills. Well, here goes nothing.

    “Blind! Silent! Poison!”, he shouts in succession, taking in a sword-fighting position.

The first two of his skill attacks are a miss, the monster attacking with a Bite Attack and Yuuri dodging in the last second, but the third attempt hits the moment the Japanese jumps to the side. Good, it’s poisoned and lost some HP.

    “Confusion! Blind! Paralyze!”, the world traveller shouts with a smirk.

This time the second skill hits his target, instead of the third like Yuuri had planned. Damn it! He had wanted the monster paralyzed instead of blinded because lizards have good perception also without their eyes. But wait, maybe he could use Stealth now!

    “Stealth!”, he activates the skill and tries to sneak up on the Blue Lizard to attack it from a blind spot, but the monster follows him without any problems. What the hell? Why? And then Yuuri remembers that snakelike beings also have a good sense of smell. He groans internally and hears Victor laughing at him from behind. How embarrassing. At least the poisoning is draining his enemy of some HP each minute, which goes by. Oh forget it all.

    “Paralyze! Paralyze! Paralyze! Paralyze! Paralyze! Paralyze!”, Yuuri chants like some desperate fool, hoping that his prayers get answered.

Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Hit. Yeah!

The Blue Lizard uses some Recovery Herbs before he is fully paralyzed and is healed of all the status ailments.

Really now? Yuuri grumbles. He wants to hit something right now!

Yurio snorts to his right, “What are you doing, Katsudon? Are you singing some new strange chant?”

The 16-year-old sighs and jumps to the side, avoiding a Tail Whip, “No. I was trying to paralyze it, so I can attack with my sword. But now it used some herbs and the poison effect is gone as well. It’s nerve-wrecking!”

    “Then why not just use brute force and chant the skill after hitting it once, so it has to recover from your attack”, Yurio proposes, punching a Black Harpy in the face.

Yuuri wants to say that not everyone is so strong like the shifter, but decides against it and just goes with the proposal. He dodges another Tail Whip and swings his sword at the monster’s side before saying, “Paralyze.”

The lizard is immediately stunned and Yuuri gets in two other hits, before using Poison to further the damage.

He grins, “Thanks, Yurio!”

The Ice Tiger lifts up a thumb, attacking the bird-monster again with some kicks.

They fight for what feels like hours, before there are no monsters anymore around them. The Japanese is exhausted, drinking up a MP and HP Recovery Potion, given to him by Victor. His mentor preparing some lunch for them, while the others take a break.

During their training Yuuri reached Level 16 and is nearing Level 17. Maybe if their teacher sends them out for another practice session, he will reach the next level on the same day. But for now, he feels completely trashed, tired and ready to take a nap.

    “Wake me, when lunch is done!”, Yurio says and rolls up under the next tree to get some shade from the sun.

Phichit seats himself next to Yuuri in the grass, “Man, I feel beat! Victor’s training is really intense! No wonder, he has reached such a high level!”

The highschooler nods, thinking if he should curl up next to Yurio and take a nap as well.

The elf studies his friend with an indulging gaze, “Do you want to take a nap as well? You look pretty tired? And Victor was really hard on you with the restrictions for a previous Level 15.”

    “I don’t know, if I should. I’m still not decided”, the dark-haired student says in response.

    “Well, if you don’t want to. Then that’s fine as well. You could make some moves on your hot instructor instead!”, the tan elf exclaims with a smirk.

Yuuri’s face turns a crimson shade immediately. WHAT!?!?

Phichit chuckles at the sight before him, “I see, how you look at him, when you think that nobody will notice! It’s sooo adorable! So why not? You are cute and brave and such a diligent student! What’s there to lose?”

Yuuri gazes into the distance.

What is there to lose, huh?

He remembers, when he first met Yuuko. How they grew up together and how he developed a crush on her. How he wanted to tell her about his feelings and how she told him, before he could utter a single word, how happy she was that Takeshi confessed to her some hours earlier. Yuuri had been devastated and decided against telling her. Instead he had voiced his appreciation and delight for her, while crying on the inside.

Yeah, what is there to lose?

Would Yuuko still be friends with him, if she knew about his crush back then?

Would Takeshi still be friends with him, if he knew that years ago Yuuri did have feelings for his girlfriend?

They probably would, he supposes. Because its in the past.

It can’t hurt anybody anymore.

But this… this is on a whole different level.

He loves Victor.

Loves him with all his heart.

If he didn’t reciprocate Yuuri’s feelings, he would feel more than just devastation. It would shatter him and his heart into thousand pieces.

He isn’t sure, if he could travel on with them, fulfilling his official mission, after being rejected by him.

The human teenager takes a deep breath. In and out. In and out.

Now is not the time for confessions or rejections.

He wants to just be with Victor and the others.

Enjoying their adventure and having fun.

The highschooler turns to Phichit with an enigmatic smile, “No, not now.”

The elf looks at him pouting and confused.

Yuuri starts laughing, “But thank you for looking out for me.” The Japanese stands up and goes over to where Yurio naps contently, “I’ll think, I’ll take a nap after all! You wanna join?”

The tan Warrior Elf grins at him, “Coming!”

The three rest for half an hour under the shade of the tree, before Makkachin wakes them with doggy kisses and Victor serves them lunch: roasted lizard meat with some cooked vegetables and bread.

When they are done with eating, they continue their journey forward, fighting against stray monsters on their path.

They reach the marketplace at two in the afternoon.

The place is empty and only some ruins of past houses remain on the location.

Yurio and Phichit turn to their guide with raised eyebrows and Yuuri scratches his scalp, remembering how he even asked how up to date the map was before.

    “This is a surprise”, Victor points out innocently, “The market was here for decades… I never heard of a relocation though… I’m sorry guys!”

    “You. Are. Sorry?”, the Chimera wants to explode, “You said that the map was up to date, old man! We trusted you for fuck’s sake!”

The Hero grimaces, hanging his face dejectedly.

    “Well, it was the right location though”, Phichit chimes in, trying to calm down the situation, “And maybe the relocation really only happened some years ago. I haven’t heard of this place for instance. But I am also not so good at geography concerning the Demon Kingdom.”

Yuuri hums, “Then maybe there is a notice somewhere, saying where the traders are now! Let’s spread out and search a little!”

They separate to look over the whole marketplace but come up empty. There are no boards with information on them. Yurio only finds a flyer with ‘A–‘s Dragon Wine’ on it.

    “At least, we found evidence that they really sold some Dragon Wine here. Maybe we can go search for this A something, if they were the seller!”, the Japanese proposes after studying the paper, “Do you remember someone with that name, Victor?”

Yurio snorts, “The old man and remembering names. Don’t make me laugh. I bet, he even doesn’t know the name of the current King of Rusza!”

    “Of course, I know the name of the current ruler of my home country! It’s King… King Gu… King Guronther?”, Victor tightens his eyebrows unsure.

Phichit averts his gaze, deciding not to comment.

    “It’s King Gunther!”, Yurio yells, “Even I know this and I live in the Beast Kingdom! Sometimes I can’t believe that you were one of the best ambassadors Aegis ever had!”

The Hero’s eyes narrow and he smirks bitterly, “Guronther. Gunther. Raymund. Whatever. I had to remember so many names in my life, dealing with so many obnoxious royals and greedy nobles. Do you think, I even care about some dumb King, who only does as he pleases and tramples all over his citizens? I’ve seen enough of it and it never changes. They are all good for nothings, only interested in their own gain”, he gazes over his companions and switches to his friendly smiling face again, patting Makkachin gently on the head, “But you are right, it’s rude to forget the name of the current rulers! Ups my bad! Haha! And some are really great. Yakov and Celestino for instance! I’ll try harder from now on!”, he puts a finger to his lips, thinking, “I believe the name of the wine seller was named something like Atin, Alin or Ain or Tin. We could search around the Valley a little before we make camp, maybe we meet some inhabitants that we can ask for directions!”

Yuuri, Yurio and Phichit nod, not wanting to say anything. That was the first time, they’ve seen such a side to The Living Legend and the three feel more than inadequate to comment on anything the silver-haired man had said.

They spend the whole afternoon looking around for any clues or some people to ask about directions, but no one is in sight. The only thing Phichit points out is a single sheep in the distance, grazing around in comfortable tranquillity.

    “What is a sheep doing here?”, Yurio asks confused.

The others shrug their shoulders. The elf decides to take a picture of the animal, before a gust of wind comes form the sky and a big dragon flies down to catch the innocent sheep and fly away with it. They vanish on the horizon.

Phichit screams, “WE HAVE TO RESCUE THE INNOCENT SHEEP FROM THE CLUTCHES OF THE BLOODTHIRSTY DRAGON! QUICK!”

Victor holds him back and shakes his head, “Calm down. It’s already too late. We don’t know where they went exactly, so its futile to search for them.”

    “I’m sorry Phichit!”, Yuuri says, patting his friend on the shoulder in compassion.

    “Also, it’s the owner’s fault for letting his sheep alone without any supervision! This isn’t called the Dragon Valley for nothing!”, Yurio exclaims.

The Warrior Elf sniffs, “But why would they do something so irresponsible in the first place?”

The Hero shrugs, “Maybe you can ask the dragon next time?”

Yuuri hits him in the side and gives him a pointed stare.

Victor pouts, but apologizes for the unbecoming comment.

They continue their journey and come by some ruins, a field of monsters and a cave of annoying poison-spitting bats, before they finally decide to make camp in one of the caves to hide from predators.

Yuuri excitedly carries some wood to their chosen fireplace, “I always wanted to go camping with friends! This is so exciting!”

Phichit chuckles at his enthusiasm, while helping Victor with setting out stones to highlight the fireplace, “We could also do some stargazing later when night has fallen, Yuuri!”

The Japanese teen nods, grinning widely, while depositing the wood on the ground. Victor rearranges the wood and starts a fire with his magic.

Yurio brings in other batches of wood for later, “Who has cooking duty today?”

They all look at each other undecided, before Yuuri sighs, “I can do it, if you want. How about some stew? We still have some beast meat in our Item Storage as well as some vegetables and herbs from the Elf Kingdom.”

    “I can help you, if you want?”, Victor proposes.

The highschooler nods, “Then please cut the vegetables, while I am preparing the meat. I also need some water and a cooking pot.”

    “Coming right up, darling!”, he hands Yuuri a big pot from his Item Storage.

    “Thanks!”, the 16-year-old takes it and places it on the fire spot.

Victor then uses some of his water magic and fills the pot, waiting for Yuuri to stop him. After the Japanese tells him that it is enough the Hero also takes out some vegetables and presents them to the world traveller for him to approve which to use for the dish, before getting to work on preparing the vegetables. They work side by side, preparing the ingredients and deciding on the right seasoning.

Phichit smiles sneakily, taking some secret pictures of the two. They look so homey and married! Like newlyweds making dinner together! He wants to squeal, but holds himself back. He doesn’t want to ruin the moment.

Yurio gags, “Eurgh… Gross!”

The elf shoots him a displeased look.

The Chimera just rolls his eyes before laying down and relaxing a little, while patting Makka on the head. He scans over the cave’s interior. It’s neat and big and comfy and it seems to go deeper into the hill. It has a nice scent to it. The area smells flowery and … musky. The shifter suddenly sits up, a revelation hitting him. Shit. He tries to stay as calm as possible. Maybe they still have some time to vanish before, well yeah… He doesn’t want to think about that now.

    “Hey guys… I’m not sure if it’s such a good idea to remain here for the night! The cave could be occupied.” What is he saying? The cave is definitely occupied! “We are after all in the Dragon Valley!”, the Ice Tiger says.

Victor, Yuuri and Phichit look at him, before another voice sounds, coming from next to Yurio.

    “He is right. This is an occupied cave. And it can get dangerous, if you disturb vengeful dragons”, a dark-brown-eyed stranger with broad shoulders and black hair styled in an undercut informs them with a stoic expression, before he turns to Yuuri and Victor, “By the way, when’s the food ready? It smells delicious!”

The stranger seats himself cross-legged and sniffs the air, seemingly not disturbed by the others gaping at him.

Yurio is the first to recover, “Who the fuck are you?”

The intruder looks at him for a moment, before responding, “I’m Otabek Altin, dragonshifter. Nice to meet you all”, he nods at the small group.

The Chimera scoffs, “And what are you doing here?”

The dragonshifter looks at him with an eyebrow raised up, “I’m waiting for the food to be done.”

The Ice Tiger wants to hit him hard, but holds back. They are in a cave, occupied by a dragon. They should leave with or without this stranger.

    “I mean, what are you doing in the cave? We were here first!”

Otabek gives him an unimpressed stare, “Correctly speaking, this is my cave and you are the intruders.”

Yurio takes a whiff of Otabek’s scent and yes, the cave is filled the same flowery and musky scent as his. He grumbles.

Yuuri takes some steps forward, “I am so sorry for the intrusion! We can go if you want us to leave! We were just searching for a shelter for the night! And your cave is well hidden and so we thought, it would be the best option against some attacks.”

    “No problem. You can stay. I like the company”, the dragonshifter’s says before his stomach rumbles, “Can I maybe eat dinner with you. I’m starving.”

    “Some dragonshifter, you are!”, the Chimera snorts.

Otabek remains silent, studying him.

Yurio huffs, “Katsudon, give him some of the stew. We don’t want our host to starve to death and we have more than enough”, he turns to the owner of the cave with a smirk, “Seems like silent dragons are also hungry dragon.”

    “Dragonshifter”, the other corrects.

    “Whatever.”, the Ice Tiger scoffs, “When’s the food ready, old man?”

Victor pouts, “I am not that old, you angry little kitten!”

Yuuri tries to soothe him by patting his back.

Phichit just starts taking some photos again.

    “No, you are just over 200. No biggies”, the blond teen rolls his eyes.

Otabek studies them all for a bit, before raising his voice, “So you are Katsudon?”, he points at Yuuri and then at Victor, “And you are Old Man?”, he goes on to Yurio, who laughs heartily at Victor’s pained expression, “And you are Angry Little Kitten.” The Ice Tiger stops laughing immediately and shoots the dragonshifter a stern look. However, Otabek just continues and points to Phichit, “And what’s your name?”

    “I’m Phichit”, the Elf says with a grand smile.

    “Pitch-It? Okay”, Otabek says.

Victor, Yuuri, Yurio and Phichit want to correct him, when they all receive a pinging noise. They look at each other confused, before looking at the notification in disbelief.

Title received:

Katsudon
Old Man
Angry Little Kitten
Pitch-It

They move their gazes in unison to Otabek, who scowls, “I am so sorry. I forgot to remove my title ‘Title Giver’. It was fun with my siblings, but… well, I am so sorry.”

The gang starts laughing.

    “It’s alright. Katsudon has been one of my nicknames for quite awhile now. Yurio gave it to me. Em… Yurio is Angry Little Kitten”, Yuuri explains, “My real name is Yuuri Katsuki. Human. You could have just checked our statuses, so you would have known. But nice to meet you, Otabek”, he holds out his hand and they both shake on their new acquaintance.

    “I like to introduce myself the old-fashioned way”, the black-haired shifter explains.

    “Boof!”, Makka says to make her presence known.

    “That’s Makkachin or Makka in short. She is the prettiest lady in the world!”, Yuuri says, patting her gently.

The poodle gives him doggy kisses in response.

Their host nods, patting her as well.

The Ice Tiger scowls a little, “Well, I am not really pleased with my new title…”

    “Serves you right, Yurio!”, Victor sticks out his tongue and Yuri glares at him, before he smirks, “But I was working so long on giving Victor this title, so I forgive you! My name’s Yuri Plisetsky by the way. Shifter with two forms: Chimera and Ice Tiger. Yurio is a just stupid nickname the old man gave me, because he found it too confusing to distinguish between me and Katsudon.”

Otabek nods.

    “I am not that old!”, the silver-haired Hero says again, before turning to the dragonshifter, “It’s nice to meet you too. I’m Victor Nikiforov. Human. Makka’s my loyal companion through the years. By the way, I thank you for finally giving Yura that title!”, he sticks out his tongue again and Yurio does the same in response.

Otabek nods, observing their antics with a stoic face, ignoring the fact that normal humans can’t be over 200 years old. He turns to the tan Elf.

    “Hey, I’m Phichit Chulanont. Elf. I thank you for the new title! ‘Pitch-It’ sounds really funny! And nice to meet you by the way!”, the Warrior Elf says with a bright grin.

    “Em”, Yuuri raises his voice softly, “Dinner is ready. It’s Monster Stew. But before I serve it, can I maybe take a look at your status? I need only one experience point to get to Level 17 and I am also curious, sorry. You can look at mine as well!”

    “No problem. Go for it. I have nothing to hide!”, the dragonshifter says, “I have only something to ask for…”

    “Yes?”, the world traveller responds.

    “Can Victor please change into other boots?”, Otabek says to their surprise, “I’m getting shivers only from looking at them and can I burry the Dragon-Leather Boots under a tree?”

All eyes turn to the Hero, who looks confused.

    “But they are so comfy and they were expensive! Come on guys, you aren’t doing this to me? Makka? Yuuri?”, The Living Legend begs.

Makkachin gives him a determined huff as answer.

    “Traitor!”, the Hero says.

The Japanese highschooler sighs, “Victor. He is so nice and lets us stay for the night. It’s the least we can do to make him feel better in his own cave. And I know that you have dozens of boots in your Item Storage.”

The silver-haired man pouts at him with puppy-dog eyes.

    “Let’s make a deal. You give him your Dragon-Leather Boots and I’ll make it up to you in any way you like? How does that sound?”, Yuuri offers without really thinking about it.

Victor looks at him stunned, his thoughts running wild in his head because Yuuri just said something unbelievable and very very appealing.

Phichit whistles, “Go Yuuri!”

    “Gross!”, Yurio gags again.

The Japanese student blinks at them before his words catch up to his brain. Oh shit! He should really propose something else and fast! Hopefully Victor isn’t too grossed out. Yuuri tries to think, but his mind is blank and swirling in endless circles. He tries to stammer something, anything out, “W-Wait… Eh… I-I…”

    “Okay”, the silver-haired man responds, before the world traveller can take his proposition back. He removes the boots from his feet, hands them over to Otabek and searches for a new pair in his Item Storage, while the dragonshifter goes to bury the shoes. Victor decides on his second favourite Snowfairy Boots. They are comfy and adapt to the environment and each type of weather. Otabek comes back shortly after the Hero has put on his new shoes.

    “Thank you”, the dragonshifter says to the silver-haired man.

Victor nods to him, before turning to Yuuri, “So about my reward!”

The Japanese student gulps, knowing he made his bed.

Phichit observes everything with big eyes full of anticipation, not wanting to miss a second, refusing to even blink.

    “Can I get free cuddle privileges?”, The Living Legend asks, his puppy-dog-eyes in action again.

The 16-year-old blinks at him a few times, before nodding with a blush on his face. Phichit wants to coo. How cute.

    “Yeah!”, Victor exclaims, hugging the younger one tightly to his chest.

Yuuri’s colour expands, but he hugs the older man back, a gentle smile on his face.

Yurio rolls his eyes, but his gaze is fond.

Otabek finds them cute and very entertaining.

The comfortable atmosphere remains for some more minutes, before their stomachs start to rumble in protest. They all laugh and Yuuri starts serving dinner with Victor helping him. They eat merrily and Yuuri checks Otabek’ status between taking some bites, getting his notification that he reached Level 17.

Name: Otabek Altin

Race: Shifter

Age: 99 years

LV: 357

Class: Dragon Warrior

Active Skill: Claw, Bite, Slash, Growl, Dragon Roar, Dragon Force, Dragon Cloud, Dragon Dance, Mirror Move, Wild Slash, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Steel Wing, Aerial Ace, Air Cutter, Double Team, Demon Night, Bolt, Blast, Fiery Blast, Frost Bite, Frost Sphere, Freeze Prism, Ice Horn, Ice Missile, Fire Sphere, Flare Wall, Flare Storm, Inferno, Lava Shower, Impact, Gaia, Quake, Hurricane, Wind Slash, Whirlwind, Strike, Slash, Double Slash, Swift Strike, Vorpal Strike, Arc Slash, Wild Slash, Charge Slash, Gale Slash, Sword Dance, Wind Magic, Fire Magic, Heal, Recover, Prayer, Drain, Guardian, Protect, Magic Ward, Paralyze, Blind, Burn, Freeze, Confusion, Poison, Silent, Sleep, Stealth, Fly, Carry, Lift, Appraisal, Search, Detect, Track, Chantless Casting, Hide Status, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Dragonform, Endurance, Robust, Calm, Honesty, Treasure Instinct, Agility, Scent Sensory

HP: 6.231.043/6.231.043

MP: 5.670.818/5.670.818

EXP: 56.783.495

Next Level: 6.643 EXP

Equipped Gear: Dragon Slayer, Crimson Dragon Fang, Bloodstone Chain Mail, Bloodstone Earpiece, Dark Knight Gauntlets, Shield of the Dragon, Black Leather Belt, Dark Knight Boots

Blessing: Drakul’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: Heart of Gold

965.753.651G

ATK: 101.899

DEF: 102.931

MAT: 101.647

MDF: 102.654

AGI: 102.564

LUK: 101.987

    “You have a pretty awesome class!”, Yuuri says after studying the status, “I am always amazed how different classes can be!”

    “You have an interesting one as well. I’ve never heard of a Black Shadow myself”, Otabek states, while taking a second helping from the pot.

    “My class is very strange. I started out as a Black Bubble at Level 1 then it evolved into Black Dust at Level 5 and then into Black Shadow at Level 15. I’m always wondering when my class will change next and if there is an end-stage”, the Japanese teen says honestly.

Victor drapes himself over Yuuri’s shoulder, “We’ll find that out together, darling! Also I think that your class is awesome! It’s an ever-changing gift of surprises! And I know, deep down, that it has something very special for you in store!”

    “You are exaggerating again. But thank you!”, the highschooler says, leaning into the other’s touch.

Otabek just hums, while Yurio gags again.

Phichit continues the conversation, but leads it into another direction, “By the way Otabek. I have a very important question for you!”

The Dragon looks at him curiously, “Shoot, Phichit.”

    “We saw a sheep before we decided to camp here. It was grazing over the fields without any hints of the owner, before a dragon took it away. And I wanted to ask, why the people here are so irresponsible to leave their animals unguarded?”

The black-haired man thinks about the scenario, “You said the dragon took it away? Did it have he sheep in its claws or in its mouth?”

    “It held onto the sheep with its claws!”, the elf responds patiently.

Otabek muses, “Then everything is fine. The sheep wasn’t unguarded. The dragon was the owner.”

All stare at the dragonshifter in confusion, “What!?”

The Dragon chuckles, “We dragons have the habit of using our sheep for some transportation and flying coordination training. It is not so easy to fly, while carrying something and so we practice with various things until we try carrying living beings. So that dragon you all saw, just took his sheep home.”

Yurio snorts, “You are a strange folk. But that sounds rather funny.”

    “Interesting”, Victor exclaims, “Who would have thought of that?”

Yuuri turns to Phichit, “See, the sheep is totally fine and cared for. I hope you stop worrying now!”

The elf still looks surprised, “Yeah.” Then he shakes himself out of his stunned state, “Thanks for answering my question.”

    “No problem”, Otabek responds.

After finishing their meal, they clean the dishes and the team decides to explore the ruin, they walked by, tomorrow for more leads, before Phichit drags them out to go stargazing.

The night is clear and the starry sky beautiful. Phichit explains to Yuuri all the different constellations and the Japanese doesn’t know any one of them. They are all totally different from the star constellations you could see on Earth: like the Great Fairy and the Dragon King or the Nymph and the Hunter. The friends spend hours outside, looking up at the stars until they get to tired to stay up any longer and go back to Otabek’s cave to sleep on the soft bedding Victor creates with magic. The dragon looks at Yurio before drifting off to sleep with the others that night.

The next day Yuuri wakes up early to prepare them some breakfast before their departure from the cave. When he is done cooking up a simple dish of Monster eggs with Monster meat and tomatoes, he wakes all his companions and their host to have the meal together. They eat in companionable silence. After finishing breakfast and cleaning all the cooking items, the team packs up to set out to the ruins. Otabek studies them with a furrowed brow. With all the necessary preparations finished, Yuuri turns to their host, “Thank you very much again for sheltering us over the night. It was very kind of you!”

    “No problem. I enjoyed the company. You talked about some ruins yesterday, so where exactly are we heading now?”, the dragonshifter says with a questioning expression.

    “Em… We?”, the Japanese asks in response.

    “Yeah, I’m coming with you. I thought that was obvious”, the dragon states matter-of-factly.

The whole group looks at him with surprised eyes.

Victor claps his hands in delight, “Of course, we are happy to have you on board! The more the merrier! Today, we are going to explore a ruin, we passed yesterday!”

Otabek nods at the silver-haired man and the others just go with it.

They make their way to the location of the ancient ruins from the yesterday, talking merrily about their home countries and what they experienced so far. When they reach the old buildings, the friends stand in awe before the sight.

Yuuri always liked reading books and watching videos about ancient civilizations back at his parent’s house. The different architecture styles, the marvellous reliefs and wall paintings of the buildings always have him entranced. And this ruin looks like one of the ancient temples from a book, he forgot the name of. It is grand and spacious. It also reminds him a little of the entrance to a dungeon in an RPG. They enter the enigmatic building and land in a great hall with coloured walls and a throne. The Japanese tries to take in every little detail of the ceiling above him. It is decorated with various ornaments and has some interesting frescos. The hall looks like it was used as some kind of throne room with enough space to hold balls.

    “ECHO!”, Phichit shouts into the room.

    “ECHO! ECHO! ECHO! ECHO!”, it comes back from the distance.

Yurio shoots the elf a warning look, “Don’t be so loud! This is probably unexplored territory. And we don’t want to attract unwanted attention if some monsters are here!”

The Warrior Elf bites his sleep, “Sorry. It was just too tempting.”

They decide to walk around a bit, but the halls are empty and so are the adjourning rooms. So, the group goes back into the great entrance hall.

    “Strange”, Victor exclaims, “The ruins look from the outside a lot bigger than from the inside.”

Yuuri turns to his mentor, “Maybe there are some hidden rooms or stairways to other sections.”

The Living Legend hums thoughtfully and Makka buffs at him, Victor’s face turning a little concerned.

Yurio huffs, “But we checked every room and hallway up ‘til now and there were no stairs!”

    “Maybe they have installed some mechanisms”, Otabek proposes.

    “Yeah. Like some steppingstones on the ground and certain points to press on walls”, Phichit muses excitedly.

    “I think, we should get out of here”, Victor says after some careful consideration.

    “Eh? Why?”, the elf pouts, “It just started to get fun. And exploring lost places is really great and can be so much fun! Come on, don’t be a so stingy!”

    “I think, it’s not about ruining your fun, Phichit”, Yuuri says, studying the monuments again with a more critical eye, “This is an ancient place with probably a lot of unique mechanisms. It could be dangerous. The traps could be everywhere. Even around here. I think, it’s wise from Victor to be careful and leave the ruin alone.”

Yurio grumbles, “Why then even come here in the first place?”

Otabek shrugs, “Curiosity, I guess.”

Makkachin starts whining to Victor and The Living Legend turns to his comrades, “Yeah let’s get out of here and consider our next location.” He walks to the side, before he steps on something elevated, which gives in and some rumbling sounds down the great hall. Some gears start turning in the walls, before everything is silent once again.

They all look at each other in shock, staying still and waiting for something to happen, ready to run at any moment. Makka looks bored.

Then Phichit starts laughing, “Look at all your face! You all look like you are ready to piss your pants! Haha!”

    “This is no time to make fun of us, you dumb elf!”, Yurio hisses, still cautious of their location.

    “Really! That scared the shit out of me!”, Yuuri’s hands tremble.

    “Calm down! Nothing is happening! Maybe the mechanism has been damaged over the years!”, the Warrior Elf gestures to every edge of the room in nonchalance.

Otabek just shrugs his shoulders, staying silent but observant.

Victor and Makkachin exchange a look, before the Hero says with a relieved exhale, “I’m just happy nothing happened. But really, let’s get out of here.”

The Living Legend removes his foot from the obvious trap starter in the room and takes two steps in the direction of the entrance, before something in the walls click and the ground beneath them begins to shake.

They look to each other in horror, a moment passing between them, before Yurio screams, “FUCK, RUN!”, but the command comes too late. They break through the ground and fall down into the darkness of the ruins.

When Yuuri comes to awareness, he is lying on some flat stone on the floor and Makka is licking all over his face. He takes in a breath before rising and blinks around to orientate himself, scratching the dog gently behind her ears. The Japanese finds himself in a long-stretched room, light flickering dozens of meters from the above to illuminate his location scarcely. He hears the chirping of birds from above and some groaning around him. The highschooler turns and sees Yurio groaning, coming to himself slowly. Next to him stands Otabek, analysing their current location with a stoic expression. Phichit lies still face down on the ground, completely knocked out from the sudden fall. And Victor? Where is Victor? Someone groans behind him. Oh, there he is. He shakes his mentor softly to wake him.

    “Just a few more minutes, darling!”, The Living Legend mumbles sleepily and tries to turn around.

Yuuri chuckles at the cute sight before him, before he shakes him again, “Victor, wake up! I don’t know, if we are safe here!”

That startles the Hero out of his sleepy state and he blinks around with an analysing stare. The 16-year-old then goes to wake up Yurio and Phichit properly, so that they can start discussing their current situation.

When they are all properly awake, they look around for a little while, studying the room and it’s exits, as well as the big whole above them.

    “That’s four or five floors down from the surface”, the dragon states, his face neutral, but his eyebrows furrowed.

    “We could get out with Wind Magic or Teleport or Otabek could fly us out”, Phichit says, trying to calculate the distance they fell down from the surface.

Yuuri hums. This all reminds him a little of ‘The Pyramid’ or ‘Indiana Jones’ or ‘The Librarians’ and he doesn’t know, if that’s a good thing. But at least they have magic and a dragon on their side, so maybe everything will turn out fine.

Victor shakes his head, “I’m sorry to say this, but this whole ruin seems to be a Nullification Zone.”

Yurio curses and Phichit facepalms. Yuuri is confused. Nullification Zone? He remembers watching SAO and the times where the Teleportation Stones of the players didn’t work because of the dungeon. Oh shit! He is starting to hyperventilate. Calm down! Maybe Nullification Zone means something else entirely!

    “Em… what does Nullification Zone exactly mean?”, Yuuri tries to control his voice, stopping it from shaking.

His mentor lets out a deep sigh, “It means that most magic gets cancelled out or reduced to the simplest version of it. For instance, if I use my Fire Magic now. It’ll only look like this in the entire dungeon”, he conjures a small flame like a torch, which provides a little more light to the room.

Yuuri gulps okay that’s bad. His stomach twists uncomfortably. At least, they have Victor’s Teleport skill and Otabek as dragon for insurance.

    “But that’s not all”, Yurio grumbles, “We shifters can’t change completely into our other forms and Teleport doesn’t work here either.”

The highschooler just blanks out at that.

No magic. No teleportation. No dragon to fly them out.

He wants to vomit.

    “Moreover, the floors are warded, so we can’t just climb up from down here, but make our way up floor after floor. Search, Detect and Track don’t work here either”, his trainer adds apologetic, “The whole place is like a big labyrinth.”

Yuuri just stares at him with a pale expression, unable to say anything, while he is internally screaming ‘WE WILL ALL DIE DOWN HERE! MUM, DAD, MARI KNOW THAT I HAVE LOVED YOU! PHICHIT, YURIO AND OTABEK, IT WAS NICE MEETING YOU AND GET TO BEFRIEND YOU! VICTOR, MAY WE MEET AGAIN IN A BETTER LIFE! I DON’T WANT TO DIE! I NEVER HAD MY FIRST KISS! OR I NEVER TOLD VICTOR ABOUT MY FEELINGS. I HAVEN’T EVEN COMPLETED KINGDOM HEARTS YET!!!’.

    “Yuuri?”, the Hero waves a hand in front of the frozen dark-haired man’s face, frowning when there is no reaction.

In the meantime the elf studies their surrounding once again, “Well, as we can’t do anything about that, we may as well enjoy how the situation turned out. Maybe, it will be fun in the end”, Phichit says with an excited gleam in his eyes, “Perhaps we even find some treasure down here!” The elf jumps up and down excitedly, “I say that screams for an adventurous expedition. Follow me guys! Let’s find some treasure!”

    “Wait!”, Victor says, concerned and worried, holding onto a still frozen Yuuri.

Phichit turns to him with a pout, “Come on, let me be the leader for once, please!”

    “That’s not it. It’s Yuuri. He’s in shock and I don’t know, how to get him out of it”, The Living Legend explains with a grimace.

The others surround them immediately, worrying about the world traveller.

    “He seems in a kind of paralysis”, Phichit exclaims worried.

    “Maybe try shaking him?”, Yurio proposes, biting his lower lip, “Or punching him. I don’t know!”

    “It doesn’t look like a normal panic attack. But he seems caught up in his mind with some of his thoughts. Maybe his nerves got the better of him”, Otabek states objectively, “Oh no. He is hyperventilating.”

    “He is what?!?”, Victor asks horrified.

    “Hyperventilating. Wait a moment, I have something with me that will help him get out of it”, the dragon takes out some kind of powder and blows it at Yuuri, who starts sneezing the next second.

    “Hatschu! Wuha! What was that! Hatschuu!”, the Japanese rubs his nose, trying to control the sneezing reflex.

    “Sneezing powder”, Otabek answers shortly, packing the item away.

    “Welcome back, buddy!”, Phichit laughs in relief, “You really know, how to make us worry!”

Victor hugs him tightly, “Yuuuri! I was so worried! You were so pale and I… and I…”, he presses closer.

Yurio huffs, “You always make us worry, Katsudon. Not cool!”

    “I’m sorry”, Yuuri pats his mentor on the back, “Seems like my nerves got the better of me. Sometimes my anxiety overwhelms me.”

Phichit hums, before he snaps his finger, “I have some Fairy Dust from Gil! Maybe that will make you feel better, while exploring the ruin!” The elf takes out the sack, takes a handful of dust into his hand and throws it into the direction of Yuuri, but instead of the world traveller he hits Victor with it.

    “Oh shit”, the Warrior Elf exclaims, holding up a hand to his mouth. All eyes turn to The Living Legend in alarm, knowing what Fairy Dust did to Yuuri the last time, but not knowing how Victor would react to it.

The Hero blinks a few times, before he starts giggling loudly. He lets go of Yuuri and starts jumping around like an excited kid.

    “This place is just amazing! It’s so colourful and old!”, the silver-haired man laughs heartily, “Oh what’s that?”, he presses on a tile in the wall. Something clicks and some arrows are thrown all around the room. Yuuri, Yurio, Phichit, Makkachin and Otabek immediately throw themselves to the ground to avoid being pierced. Victor just giggles at their reactions like a maniac.

    “What the fuck is wrong with him?”, Yurio grits out under his teeth, “That isn’t how Katsudon reacted to the dust!”

Victor looks at his hands in wonder and tries licking his elbow with his tongue.

Phichit looks apologetic, “I may have taken too much dust out of the sack… My apologies.”

The Chimera groans, Makka looks worried at Victor, who has given up doing the elbow-thing and runs around the room with Yuuri following behind him, trying to get a hold on his mentor, while Otabek observes the happy-go-lucky Hero with concerned eyes.

    “This. Is. The. Worst!”, the Ice Tiger blurts out, “We are meters beyond the surface in a ruin with Nullification Zones and magic wards and traps all over, just waiting to be discovered. And now we also have a brainless Victor on our hands! Do you know, what that means?”

Victor makes some summersaults around the room, screaming, “Free jumps for all!”

    “Em… That we should try to be cautious and keep an eye on him?”, the elf tries with an innocent smile.

Yurio wants to punch him in the face, “IT MEANS, WE ARE FUCKED!”, the blond teen screams.

    “I already said that I am sorry. We just have to deal with it somehow! I’m sure everything will turn out fine!”, Phichit tries to calm down Yurio.

    “Hey look!”, Victor presses a stone on the wall and a secret passage opens up before them, the Hero screeches in excitement, “A hidden door! Let’s explore!”

He wastes no time with entering the new hallway, vanishing in the dark.

The others look stunned. Makka runs after him immediately, followed by Yuuri, screaming, “Victor! Get back here!”

    “Wait! Yuuri! Running off is dangerous!”, Phichit follows the 16-year-old without a second thought.

    “THIS IS SOOO MUCH FUN!!!”, the halls echo Victor’s voice from some deeper part inside.

    “Shit!”, Yurio grimaces and follows them as well into the unknown with Otabek trailing behind him.

Victor’s POV

Victor merrily jumps through the hidden passageway, humming to himself his favourite tune, Stammi Vicino. He decided to make a little torch with this Fire Magic to better look at the marvellous construction of the building.

He is so excited! This whole expedition is so much fun! He is so happy and bubbly and everything feels great. He doesn’t ever want to leave this place! There is so much to discover!

He giggles, speeding up his pace in excitement and anticipation, landing in front of a crossroad with four diverging paths. He bites his lip deep in thought.

Which path to explore first? They all could be so much fun! And he wants to choose the one with the best entertainment!

He points a finger to them, “Eny Meny Muhy Wuhy!”, he babbles and shakes his head and takes the first to the right. Because you have to stay on the right path or how did it go?

He shrugs his shoulders and merrily continues his journey.

Just you wait, ruin! I’ll uncover all your secrets in no time!

Makka’s POV

Makkachin sprints through the hallways, trying to reunite with her ward in great annoyance, her skill Nightvision helping her to maneuvre better in the dark.

She had warned Victor that this ruin is dangerous and that they should leave. But no, her imbecile of a ward has to be the one to active a who-knows-how-old trap and get them caged below the surface. And then this idiot of an elf throws Fairy Dust at him to make the matter worse. Well in Phichit’s defence, he had meant to help Yuuri with it, but still… the current situation is bluntly speaking: terrifying and very very dangerous.

The Goddess huffs greatly displeased. She just hopes that the others stay together and that she will find Victor soon, before he does something very stupid.

Makkachin comes to a crossroad with four diverging paths. She groans.

Why must these ruins always contain labyrinths in them?

Even for her, it isn’t easy to not use magic, but skills instead.

The Goddess hates the constructors of this damned ruin.

She closes her eyes for a second, concentrating on her ward’s life essence.

The first to the right then.

She immediately jumps into action, following The Living Legend into the first path to the right.

Wait for me, Victor!

Yuuri’s POV

The hallway is wrapped in pure darkness as Yuuri runs through it, trying to catch up with Victor and Makkachin. It’s scary and eerie, but he is more worried about his beloved than his current predicament or his fear of the dark. The path only goes one way for now and he makes haste, breathing hard.

How can Victor be that fast? And why doesn’t he hear Makka’s pats or the other’s footsteps? It’s so quiet. He doesn’t like it one bit.

The Japanese student thinks about touching the walls to orientate himself in a better way, but decides against it. What if he activates more traps?

In ‘The Pyramid’ there was a scene, where one archaeologist touched a statue on the wall, which activated a sand trap and nearly killed his daughter. And this is a magical world, full of more than just ordinary death traps. Yuuri shudders.

He takes a deep breath. He must stay calm and collected. The others are following behind him. He is not alone in this.

He stumbles over a stone on the ground, catching himself before he hits the ground. What wouldn’t he give for some fire or a torch right now!

The highschooler shakes his head, continuing to sprint as best as he can through the darkness. He stumbles again a little to the left, touching the wall, but there is no wall on his left side, instead he grabs at empty space. It seems that the path has expanded somehow.

He spreads out his hands to find something to orientate himself and steps straight forward. His hands come in contact with the entrance of another path. Maybe they just expanded this room for no particular reason.

Yuuri shrugs and continues on straight ahead, hoping that he would find Victor and Makka soon.

Phichit’s POV

Phichit’s hastes through the path with a worried expression, using his Fire Magic to see better. He should have been quicker to react. Now Victor is somewhere in there and Makka and Yuuri as well. And fuck, Yuuri doesn’t know any Fire Magic or has anything to help him in the darkness.

He shouts, “Yuuri! Where are you?”

But only silence returns.

He increases his pace. His heart beating in excitement, worry and anticipation. This dungeon is incredible. They shouldn’t be so much apart to not hear the other, but he doesn’t here Yuuri’s footsteps nor Yurio’s or Otabek’s. Very interesting. But he clearly could hear Victor before. So very interesting.

The Warrior Elf makes his way to the crossroads, studying the four different pathways. Wow! That’s not an easy decision then. But Victor probably doesn’t have much brain-room to think his decisions through and Yuuri doesn’t see shit in the dark.

Phichit decides to take the second path to the right, ready for whatever this labyrinth has in store for him.

Yurio’s POV

Yurio is pissed. He is so angry. He feels like beating up Victor and Phichit, then chewing them out and then again beating them up until he is satisfied. He doesn’t want to beat up Yuuri or Makka. They just tried to stop the dumb old man from hurting himself in his stupor. He also doesn’t want to beat up Otabek because he is somewhere right behind him and the only one present with him from losing his temper in this madness!

The Chimera runs through the hallway with his lightning magic, giving him sight. He is worried about the old man and Katsudon and the dog. Phichit has Fire Magic to help himself, but Victor is totally out of order right now and Katsudon doesn’t even know any kind of magic. And he is Level 17 for fuck’s sake! He shouldn’t even be in this damned ruin to begin with!

The Ice Tiger arrives at the crossroads, He swears and curses under his breath, not knowing if his friends already got separated.

    “Who the fuck even constructs such shit?”, the shifter kicks against the wall, trying to control his anger. He looks over the different sidewalks and decides on the first to the left. They all better be in there somewhere or he will make them regret ever proposing to explore this damn labyrinth!

He runs down the new hall and stumbles over a stone, his hand grabbing for purchase on his left side. Suddenly the wall gives in and he rolls down a hidden path, landing on his ass. Ouch. He hates this!

Yurio takes a look around. He’s discovered another hidden path next to his previous one. The Chimera searches for the hidden door, but its closed and won’t open. Damn it. He turns to the path ahead, covered in darkness as the light in his palm doesn’t reach that far. Well, then only going forward remains.

He swears to kick Victor in the jewels, when they make it out here alive!

Otabek’s POV

Otabek wanders slowly down the hall, analysing the walls and the building style with a small fire illuminating his space. He has been in a lot of ruins with his family during their vacations and he can definitely say that the construction of this labyrinth is top notch.

The halls are mostly durable and have a silence ward over them, so you can’t hear the people near you, only the ones in the distance, the traps are still active and the frescos beautiful.

The shifter wishes that he would have more time to make sketches of them in his favourite notebook, but knows that he shouldn’t stray to far from his companions. His treasure seems to still be within reach as his Treasure Instinct tells him that he isn’t that far behind, so he grants himself a little more time, taking in everything under a careful eye.

He thinks about talking to his parents about finally finding out his dragon’s preference, but leaves the decision for later. The ruins are much more interesting.

Otabek strolls up the path calmly, knowing that panicking won’t help you in an unknown labyrinth. He is surprised when he lands at the crossroads with four diverging paths.

He hums to himself, activating his passive skill.

Ah! First on the left side then.

The Dragon goes down the path without much a thought, studying the structure again, before he is confused. His instincts tell him that Yurio should be here… Then why does he feel him behind the wall to his left instead of up ahead?

The Chimera seems to start moving forward and Otabek follows by continuing to go straight ahead. He grits his teeth. Maybe he’ll know what happened after getting to the end of the hallway?

A grin makes it onto his lips.

Treasure hunting it is then.

Yuuri’s POV

Yuuri wants to curl up into a ball and cry.

He’s been stumbling around in the dark for who knows how long with nobody in sight or behind him. His fear of the dark is lurking behind his effort of trying to stay level-headed, but the longer the silence goes on, the more his will cracks and he knows, feels, that soon he’ll give in and break down.

The 16-year-old shakes his head. This is not a place to have such dark thoughts. He lets out an unsteady breath. If only he had some light to know where he is going. The highschooler hears a pinging noise and a notification pops up, lighting up his path.

Lycoris’s Gift received:
Torch

He clicks on it, surprised.

Torch – A spiritual flame to light up the path (free skill)

Yuuri blinks at the new skill, before immediately activating it.

The path is drowned in the light of a white-blue fire from his hands.

He can’t believe it, he no longer has to be in the dark. But who?

He remembers the notification ‘Lycoris’s Gift’. The Japanese tries to recall the book he read in the library in Eternia. Right, Lycoris is the God of Death and Reincarnation of this world, also called the God of Twilight. But why?

The world traveller shakes his head, he shouldn’t think about the reason why a god took pity on him and decided to help, he should rather be thankful.

    “Thank you!”, Yuuri directs to the ceiling, hoping it reaches the heavens or godly realms or wherever the deities here live.

The teen takes a deep breath again, before marching forward with a bit more confidence, only to press on something with his foot on the ground.

He hears some clattering and something opening, before some fluid liquid comes out from the walls, running down the channels on the sides of the ground and beyond, covering the path from where he came from.

What is that?

Yuuri comes to a standstill, before he hears something flaming up. He turns around and sees how two torches magically flaming up and being turned upside down by a mechanism to get in contact with the liquid.

And then it clicks in his mind. Oh shit! This is oil!

He starts running, while the path starts lighting up, the fire trying to catch up with him to burn him down.

The world traveller never run that hard in his entire life, feeling the heat licking at his heels. He runs and runs and runs and finally he sees a light at the end of the tunnel. The dark-haired teen takes a big jump and lands on the floor of a new room. He looks back to the path, he came from, and delights in the fact that the fire doesn’t reach this room.

Yuuri lets out a sigh in relief, only to hear hisses all around him. He looks left, looks right. But the room is empty. He hears some hisses again and looks to the ceiling. The Japanese blanches. Twenty Turquoise Basilisks are staring down at him. Cold sweat runs down the highschooler’s spine, while he grabs for his sword, a whimper escaping him. Can’t he get a break?

Victor’s POV

The Hero hops down his path, giggling happily with every step.

Victor finds switch after switch after switch and presses them with ferocity.

This whole ruin is just sooo much fun!

The Living Legend sprints down the tunnel, doing some summersaults again, “Wuhuuu!!!! This is the best day of my life!!!!”

He comes to a stop in front of a strange door and opens it.

A mummy is sitting on an ancient toilet with newspaper in its hands, looking at him with an angry scowl.

    “m sorry!”, Victor says and then closes the door politely.

He doesn’t want to disturb the mummy, when it’s doing its business.

He starts giggling again at the ridiculousness of a mummy on a toilet and heads further down the path, yelling, “This is so exciting!”

He comes by a grand room with a lot of strange plants. He laughs at them before he turns around and sees Yuuri standing right below a big red flower with a shy smile. Victor doesn’t waste a second, he runs happily to him to get a hug, catapulting himself into Yuuri’s arms.

Phichit’s POV

Phichit is simply said bored.

Nothing special has happened on his path so far.

He hasn’t found Yuuri, Victor or anyone else of their party nor has he encountered any monsters so far.

It’s only the eerie silence and him and him and the eerie silence.

The elf pouts.

The Warrior Elf had imagined this whole getting lost in an ancient labyrinth scenario a little more exciting and heart-pounding.

He huffs and kicks a stone on the ground, when he hears a click and a thundering noise from behind him.

Phichit wants to scream ‘finally!’, but his voice gets stuck in his throat, when he sees a big round stone rolling down his way at high speed.

It’s probably magically boosted or something, he muses, observing how the stone gets nearer by the second before his situation hits him.

    “Oh shit!”, he screams. Because his only escape is to head forward with all the speed he can gather. The elf starts running with all his might.

He makes it to the end of the hall and jumps over a big crevice, perfectly fitting the rolling stone.

The Warrior Elf is about to make a victory dance, when he feels something softly touching his legs. He looks down and screams in horror, “IIIEK!!!”

The whole room is filled with strange hairy spiders, who start to crawl up to him with their long black legs and their dangerous-looking claws.

Maybe he shouldn’t have wished for his boredom to end so soon!

Yuuri’s POV

Yuuri pants heavily, sliding down onto the floor in exhaustion.

The Turquoise Basilisks were tough opponents, but he finally slayed the last of them. His HP and MP were drained heavily during the fight, but his Level-Up to Level 18 restored them perfectly, when he needed it the most. Now he is nearing Level 19 with a little more than half of his maximum HP and exactly half of his maximum MP left.

His right hand and left foot are bleeding a little from an attack of the monsters, but there isn’t any poison in his system. So he should be fine.

The teenager buries his face in his hands, stifling a sob.

Will he survive long enough, so that he can meet up with his friends again?

The world traveller needs a lot of experience points before reaching Level 19 and he doesn’t know how many more monsters or traps are lurking for him on his path.

Yuuri collects his thoughts and stands up, leaving the room with the dead corpses of the Turquoise Basilisks and enters the adjourning hallways. He makes his way down the spacious room and looks around carefully, ready to defend himself if the need arises again.

The walls have idents, which are filled with strange statues. The 16-year-old studies them with curiosity. They look a little like the mummies in historic museums.

He carefully takes step after step, reaching the center of the room, when he finds something like a rectangle stick out from the ground. The highschooler crouches down in alert, not trusting the labyrinth one bit. When nothing happens, he starts studying the object.

It is a stone, imbued with an ancient text.

The young man stares at the writing, when it changes into the common tongue. He is grateful for all the lesson from Victor during their two weeks of intense training.

He reads the words out loud, “Blood wakes the Kings of Old!”

Yuuri hums to himself, before he freezes. He takes a look at his hand and his foot and the trail, he from the entrance to the center. Shit!

The Japanese jumps to his feet, hearing the roaring and groaning coming from the walls. The statues start to move and stretch themselves and he curses internally. They do not only look like mummies anymore. No, the look like flesh-hungry zombie-mummies ready for their feast.

Yuuri positions himself, trying to come up with a plan. He appraises his new enemies and now he knows that he is up against Zombie Mummies.

Great. Zombies. He hates zombies. They are undead and creepy. But in video games they are always slow and–

One of his enemies jumps like a rabbit from ceiling to ceiling before attacking Yuuri with his sword. Or not.

The Japanese decides to rely on his sword instead of his skills, which only should be a last resort. He swings and slashes and jumps and evades and does everything again and again.

In the end, he is physically and emotionally drained and unable to fight any longer. However, there is still one Zombie Mummy left. He pants heavily.

Should he just give up?

He checks how many experience points he needs to reach the next level and recover.

No, he’s nearly there. He can’t give up now.

Yuuri tries to take a step to the right, but stumbles. Damn it!

The zombie runs up to the world traveller to swing his axe down on him, when something small jumps at Yuuri’s enemy from behind the dark-haired teen and unbalances the monster, so it falls to the ground.

Yuuri blinks at the small creature. It is a brown toy poodle with big dark eyes, who is doing a victory pose on the zombie.

The small dog boofs at the highschooler like commanding him to finish the Zombie Mummy.

The Japanese student scrambles to his feet and defeats his adversary, reaching Level 19 in the process and recovering his HP and MP. He slumps down again in exhaustion, looking at the brown toy poodle in disbelief, “Were did you come from, little one? You have to know, it’s dangerous down here!”

The dog wuffs in response and comes up to Yuuri to cover his face in doggy kisses. The 16-year-old starts giggling and then crying, while patting the fur of his saviour. He recovers shortly, whisking his tears away and studying the dog in front of him, wagging his tail, “Thank you for saving me, little one!”

    “Wuff!”, Yuuri gets in response and the Japanese starts chuckling, “Do you have a name, my dear friend? No? Then should I give you one?

The poodle looks at him with big pleading eyes and Yuuri snickers. The dog looks so adorable.

    “You did a really good victory pose after saving me from the big bad monster… so how about Vicchan for Victory?”, the highschooler proposes.

The poodle gives an affirmative “boof” and licks all over Yuuri again. Then he jumps away and leads him to two diverging paths, pointing with his nose to the right one.

    “You want us to take this one?”, the world traveller asks.

    “Wuff!”, Vicchan answers confidently.

Yuuri chuckles, “Okay. I’ll trust you. Please lead the way!”

Makkachin’s POV

Makkachin has lived a long eternal life up until now. She has witnessed wars, epidemics, floods and other natural disasters. The Goddess had blessed children, had witnessed marriages, births, deaths and the changing of politics in the countries in Aegis. She gained so much knowledge over the years about mostly everything that exists on this planet.

But nothing, really nothing could have prepared her for her most favourite person to behave like a suicidal idiot!

She runs down the hall at god-speed, dodging flying spears, dancing through throwing knives, escaping the claws of poisonous insects, evading poisonous arrows and jumping over pitfalls.

She grumbles internally.

It seems like her idiot pushed every trap activation button he could find during his ruin exploration. She sniffs the air, following his scent and opening a strange door her friend had opened before according to her senses.

The Goddess jumps back in embarrassment.

A mummy with a newspaper sits on a toilet, sighing deeply at her, “Not again. Is it too much to ask for me to have one simple calm day once in awhile?”

    “I’m so sorry!”, Makkachin apologizes, her face red, “By the way, have you seen a silver-haired jumpy man around here?”

The mummy points further down the hall, “He’s probably with the Venus Fly Traps in the next room. They like to show their prey some illusions of heartbreak before devouring them.”

That doesn’t sound so good.

    “Okay. Thank you for the information! I wish you a good day!”, Makka closes the door politely.

Then she speeds up to the next room, looking left and right to find her Vitya. She spots him soon, hanging upside down in the air, held up by some roots of one of the Venus Fly Traps, crying because his darling Yuuri rejected him.

Makkachin wants to facepalm, but instead she uses her skill Ultimate Scratch to cut her friend lose.

Victor tumbles to the ground, his face marred with tears, “Why? Why? What did I do wrong, Yuuri?”

The Goddess huffs. She isn’t paid enough for this shit.

Phichit’s POV

Phichit shakes his head, his entire body shivering from the memory of the spiders. Urgh! That was just gross! Totally gross!

He continues to walk down the tunnel, hoping that the next surprises wouldn’t be that draining. He rounds a corner and finds himself in another room with a strange scent in the air.

The elf looks around and finds, “Yuuri! Oh my god! I finally found you! You won’t imagine, what I had to get through to get here!”

He gets some whining in response.

The Warrior Elf ignores it and takes his friend’s hand with a wide elated grin, “Come one! There is no time for your brooding! We have to find Victor and the others!”, he says, taking the adjourning tunnel to the room with the other in tow to continue on.

Yurio’s POV

Yurio is not amused.

So far he had to evade poison darts after pushing a button accidently on the wall, climb over a large pitfall with devastating spikes on the ground, run away from snake-mutants or whatever they were because he stepped on a magic circle and evade some knives thrown at him because he accidently tripped over some rope.

And then there was that door he opened on accident as well with that impertinent mummy in the bath, screaming at him, “Have you never heard of privacy, you jerk?” He had scowled and yelled, “Fuck you!” back at the monster, before running away as fast as possible.

And now he is here.

The walls from all sides moving in on him, because he tripped over some trap activator on the ground.

    “Let’s explore the ruins, they said! It’ll be fun, they said! Fun my ass! Screw all of you unreliable assholes! You hear that old man! Phichit! Kat– … Well, no, he was not that happy about it as well. Whatever, if I get out of this, I swear, I’m gonna kick your asses!”

The Chimera looks around finding another tunnel as escape from his current room. He tries using a little of his shifterabilities and jumps to it successfully, pulling himself up and into the tunnel. He stands up with a satisfied smirk and continues on.

He walks down the new path, stepping on something again. Not again!

The shifter hears the gears turning and clicking and then nothing happens.

He takes a step forward, when he hears something squishy behind him. The Ice Tiger turns around and groans. A hoard of slimes are coming out of a hidden door, merrily jumping down his way.

Yurio tries fighting them at first, grateful that Victor trained him in combat without his magic just the day before. But when he defeats one, two come out of their ally.

The blond teen greets his teeth, deciding on following his flight instinct, “Crap, they are doubling when I destroy one! How do I get rid of them?”

He reaches the end of the tunnel and stops. Beneath his is an endless pitfall.

    “Fuck that’s a dead end! Why do people even install pitfalls?”, he grumbles analysing the trap, “That’s too big to jump over it! Damn it Victor! Where are you, when I need you!”

The slimes approach joyfully and Yurio wants to punch their little faces to pieces. He nearly decides on just jumping without considering what would be in the pitfall, when he feels someone hovering next to him.

The Chimera lifts his face and stares in disbelief.

    “Yuri, get on!”, Otabek reaches out his hand. He is hovering over the pitfall, tiny little dark wings flapping strong behind his back.

Yurio narrows his eyes in suspicion, “How do I know you are not an illusion made up by the ruins?”

The dragon shifter huffs, pointing at the slimes behind the Ice Tiger ready to start attacking, “I doubt that an illusion could replicate me in this state, because this half-shift is not natural. And do you really want to discuss this now?”, he gives the blond teen a pointed stare, before sighing, “So, what will it be? Are you coming or not?”

Yurio doesn’t have to think twice about his answer.

They land safely on the other side of the pitfall.

    “Thanks I guess…”, the Chimera says after he has ground under his feet again.

    “You’re welcome”, Otabek responds with a smile.

Yurio huffs, his cheeks red because he had to get rescued, “So where are Victor, Katsudon and the others?”

The dragonshifter shrugs his shoulders, “I don’t know. I’m sorry. The labyrinth it seems is too big and so we all lost sight of each other…”

The Ice Tiger curses under his breath, before he gets a little perplexed.

    “What? Then how come, you found me so fast?”, he says to his companion.

Otabek looks at him with an apologetic smile, “I followed you through the labyrinth.”

    “You did what? Are you a stalker?”, Yurio eyes him warily, but then he remembers that he was just saved by the dragon, so he quietly adds, “Why?” Because he doesn’t understand. They just met yesterday. They are not even friends. Why would a stranger try to follow him?

The dragonshifter sighs, scratching his neck, “I followed your trail. And the why? Well, I like your eyes. They look like the strong piercing eyes of a soldier. Like a warrior through and through.”

Yurio studies him, before his cheeks dust in pink, “Okay, I ignore the trail-thing for now because you were totally coming from another direction. But me really? A soldier? That’s quite the compliment”, he says, before he shakes his head, trying to concentrate, “Still I don’t get why you hang around me and why you were looking for me first before the others?”

    “I guess, saying that I joined your team and nobody was coming after you, won’t satisfy you”, Otabek sighs, “I thought, we were alike. That is all there is to it. Not so complicated really.”

Yurio looks at him with his mouth open, speechless. That wasn’t the answer he believed he would get.

    “So? Friends?”, the dragonshifter holds out his hand for the Chimera to shake.

Yurio stares at him with wide eyes, but then smirks, grabbing the other’s hand and shaking it. He would never say no to such a suggestion because nobody ever had asked him if he wanted to be friends with them before.

They let go of each other and continue to walk down the new path. Yurio smiles at his new friend, “By the way what was your path like up ‘til now?”

The dragon huffs, “It wasn’t that special. Just some collapsing bridges, a down-racing ceiling with spikes, a sand trap and some strange mirror labyrinth with water running into the room. Was pretty lame actually. I’ve seen more original traps before!”

Yuuri’s POV

Vicchan guides Yuuri expertly through the labyrinth, hinting at hidden traps before the young man can even see them. They make it through room after room without much fights or troubles.

Furthermore the Japanese student is grateful for the company. It does his nerves well, not that he knows, he is not alone anymore.

They reach some crossroads again, when Yuuri notices Phichit in one of the paths, he starts running towards him, shouting, “Phichit!”, when he comes to a stop. His friend is dragging something behind him by the hand.

When the world traveller gets a closer look at this something, he squeaks, “Phichit, whatever you do, don’t turn around, but please stop holding its hand.”

    “Yuuri? Hey! How are you doing, buddy?”, Phichit smiles at him, before he frowns, “Wait! I don’t understand! How can there be two Yuuris?”

The highschooler sees the Zombie Mummy raising his axe at the elf and the 16-year-old starts running towards them, yelling, “Dodge!”, as he jumps and tackles Phichit to the ground. They avoid the axe swing by mere centimeters.

The tackle to the ground, shakes Phichit out from the illusion spell and he studies the mummy in revelation, “Oh! That makes sense! I was wondering the whole time, why you were so quiet! I thought, you were giving me the silent treatment because of your anxiety!”

They defeat the monster then together, before letting Vicchan guide them onto hopefully the right path.

After some time of walking around, they end up in a room filled with water and crocodiles. Yuuri looks over the strange construction, noticing three other balconies.

    “Are you sure that the dog knows the right way?”, Phichit asks his friend a little in doubt, pointing at the seemingly hungry crocodiles in the water.

    “Yes, I believe in him. He saved me before and brought me to you. So there is no reason for me to doubt him”, Yuuri pats Vicchan softly on the head. The toy poodle licking his fingers gently, “You are such a good boy!”

They hear something from across the water to their right.

    “HEY! KATSUDON! PHICHIT! IF YOU ARE REAL SAY SOMETHING!”, Yurio yells from their balcony with Otabek waving at them.

Yuuri smiles and yells back, “HEY! NICE TO SEE YOU TWO! IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT OVER THERE YURIO? OTABEK?”

    “WE ARE FINE!”, Otabek shouts over the water, “DO YOU KNOW WHERE VICTOR AND MAKKACHIN ARE?”

Yuuri shakes his head, “NO, WE HAVEN–“

    “YUUUUURI!”, Victor’s voice booms from across them, Makka trailing behind him.

Thank the gods. Yuuri sighs in relief. They are all safe and alive.

“YOU DIDN’T LEAVE ME! I’M SO HAPPY, MY YUURI! I’M COMING RIGHT OVER TO YOU!”, Victor yells and he grabs the edge of the balcony to dive into the water full of predators, but Makkachin grabs his clothes and drags him back, away from the railing, holding him in place with a paw.

    “NO! YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SWIM THROUGH THAT WATER, VITYA! I FORBID IT!”, Makkachin yells at her ward in horror.

    “The Fuck?”, Yurio says.

Yuuri blinks in disbelief, “Since when can Makka talk? Oh screw it. This ruin is already messing enough with my mind. We have more important things to worry about.” Vicchan wuffs to him in response.

Phichit chuckles, “This adventure gets more and more interesting the longer it goes on! Getting to travel with you guys was the best thing which ever happened to me! I swear!”

Yuuri looks at him in disbelief, but shrugs his shoulders in the end. Well, one thing is sure, the adventure really gets more interesting with each passing day.

    “HEY!”, Yurio shouts at all of them, “OTABEK CAN FLY US OVER TO THE EMPTY BALCONY! SO JUST WAIT. WE’LL DO IT ONE AFTER THE OTHER!”

They all agree on the proposal and Otabek flies over to bring them to the unexplored path.

As soon as Victor reaches the balcony and sees Yuuri, he jumps at him and cuddles him thoroughly, apologizing over and over again for nothing in particular. The Japanese student just shushes him and holds him close, trying to calm him down.

While Phichit, Yurio and Otabek are preoccupied with thinking about how to proceed from now on, Makkachin goes up to the toy poodle, whispering, “What are you doing down here?”

The other dog stares at her with an accusing expression, “I just couldn’t watch this any longer! I had to act or Yuuri would be dead. But let’s talk about this later!”

After Victor has calmed down, they are ready to continue their way through the labyrinth, Vicchan still guiding them.

They encounter various magical wards, which are easily broken with the solution of the right riddles, fight mummies, snakes and other monsters.

The Fairy Dust slowly starts wearing off and Victor behaves bit by bit more like his normal self the two dogs keeping a strict eye on the Hero.

When they reach the first floor near the entrance, Yuuri finally hits Level 20 after the fight with a Black Deathspider, the notification showing up after the adversary’s defeat.

Level-Up received:

Congratulations you have reached Level 20!

Class change received:

Black Vortex

New skills acquired:

Explosion

Shadow Manipulation

Energy Ball

Burn

Freeze

Illusion

Seduction (Passive Skill)

Yuuri immediately checks out his status.

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: Human

Age: 16 years

LV: 20

Class: Black Vortex

Active Skill: Shadow, Shadow Double, Shadow Manipulation, Disperse, Dust Storm, Dust Barrier, Feint, Illusion, Explosion, Energy Ball, Paralyze, Blind, Burn, Confusion, Freeze, Poison, Silent, Steal, Stealth, Appraisal, Search, Torch, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Stamina, Charm, Miracle, Language Comprehension, Intimidation, Status Ailment Resistance, Seduction

HP: 350/350 +50* à 400/400

MP: 400/400 +50* à 450/450

EXP: 12.965

Next Level: 9.124 EXP

Equipped Gear: Mythril Sword, Iron Dagger, Traveller’s Robe*, Moonlight Coat, Gloves of Learning, Ring of Courage, Rune Bracelet, Ebony Boots

Blessing: none

Status: none

Title: Adventurous Soul

27.958 G

ATK: 410 +50* à 460

DEF: 330 +50* à 380

MAT: 382 +50* à 432

MDF: 344 +50* à 394

AGI: 374 +50* à 424

LUK: 362 +50* à 412

    “Wow! Hey guys! Look! I have the skill Energy Ball now!”, Yuuri exclaims excitedly, saying, “Energy Ball!”, to conjure one right up as prove.

Otabek gives him a thumbs up, “Great! And what do you want to do with it now?”

The Japanese man gets a thoughtful expression, waving his hand with the Energy Ball around.

Yurio jumps back, when he waves into his direction, “Woha! Whatever you do, don’t throw it my way, Katsudon! I dare you!”

    “Fine, fine!”, Yuuri says, throwing the Energy Ball to the farthest wall, where it explodes and leaves a big dent behind, which shows them the surroundings outside the temple, “Oh! I think, I just found our exit!”

Otabek nods at him and Yurio groans a “Finally!”

Phichit claps his hands together, “Yeah! Go, Yuuri!”

Victor, mostly his real self again, drapes himself over the world traveller with a pout on his face, “I miss the Bubble!”

Yuuri sputters, “I never was a bubble to begin with, Victor!”

The Living Legend looks at him in disbelief, “But your class said otherwise, darling!”

The highschooler just shakes his head, “So do we want to head outside now or open the big door on the other side first?”

    “I’m for the door!”, Phichit raises his hands, “I think, we deserve some treasure for our hard work down in the labyrinth!”

    “But what if there isn’t any treasure to begin with?”, Yurio shoots him a look.

    “Come on, Yurio! Where is your love for adventure?”, the elf tries again.

The Chimera scowls, “If you want to know, it died down in the labyrinth after being left alone to fight for myself!”

They discuss and argue for a while, if they should or shouldn’t go for the door until Vicchan gets enough and walks up to the riddle on said door and boofs to get everyone’s attention.

They walk up to the toy poodle and study the riddle.

Yuuri reads aloud for everyone to hear, To get entry to our treasure, put your hand into the lion’s mouth.”

Victor chuckles, “Hey, Yurio! If you would be so kind, please open your mouth!”

    “I’m a tiger for fuck’s sake, you senile old man!”, Yurio sputters angrily.

Otabek studies the frescos, “There”, he points to a relief of a tiger with his mouth open and pushes his hand against it.

For one moment nothing happens, but then they hear the familiar sound of gears turning and the door opens with a creak. Inside are tons of gold, jewels and other rare items.

Phichit immediately enters first, “Come to daddy, you little birdie’s!”

He starts gathering the gold into his Item Storage, while the others follow him behind, studying the rarities.

Yurio goes straight for the cool gadgets and weapons, while Victor inspects some old books together with Makkachin.

Yuuri vanishes with Vicchan and comes back with a rusty scythe, telling them that it kind of spoke to him and that it can only be used after reaching Level 25.

The Warrior Elf fills his pockets with gold and some expensive looking potions, when he notices Otabek, waiting for them on the side, “Hey Otabek, don’t you want any of the treasure? There is enough for everyone, so you don’t have to hold back! Or do you seriously don’t want anything? I always thought, Dragons were gold hoarders!”

The dragonshifter waves him off, “No need. My dragon seems to have recently decided on hoarding something else entirely. So, I’m good!”

The black-haired shifter gazes at Yurio with a fond expression, before he can stop himself. Phichit follows his gaze, counting two and two together with a knowing grin. Well, Yurio does have blond hair after all. The elf shrugs his shoulders and gathers more gold and items.

After being satisfied with their loot and convincing Phichit to let go of the doors to the treasury, the group makes their way back to Otabek’s cave to prepare dinner and relax for the rest of the night.

They talk for a little after eating their meals, telling Otabek about their mission and that their next destination is the capital city of the Demon Kingdom after finding the Dragon Wine to bribe Victor’s best friend Chris.

    “Dragon Wine?”, the dragonshifter asks them curiously.

    “Yeah. The market changed location and now we don’t know where to get it!”, Phichit sighs tiredly.

    “Yeah it did five years ago. But don’t worry, tomorrow I’ll take you to my parent’s farm. The Altin’s have produced Dragon Wine for generations!”, Otabek smiles at the Hero.

Yurio scowls, “Why didn’t you say so sooner? We met you on day one! We could have forgone all this shit, if you would have told us that sooner!”

    “Well, in my defence. I didn’t know what you were searching for and as you went to the ruins, I thought, you wanted to treasure hunt”, the dragonshifter defends himself.

    “I think, we all should go to bed now”, Victor whispers, pointing to a sleeping Yuuri on his shoulder, “Let’s go to Otabek’s family tomorrow. Apart from that good night everyone!”

Makkachin and Vicchan wait for their travel companions to fall asleep, before they stand up and leave the camping place to find a good place to talk. The two gods decide on a tree 15 meters away from the cave. They cast a warding spell before transforming into their real celestial bodies.

    “Lycoris, I will be frank, why did you really come down to the Mortal Realm?”, Chrysanthemia says, twirling her long grey-brunette hair in her fingers. It has been a while and she tries to adapt to the height of her original body. She likes her poodle form much more, “I know that you are very busy with the dead and the reincarnation process, so I don’t think that it’s just ‘because you can’t watch this any longer’! Yuuri doesn’t even have your blessing yet! You just stamped him as yours without any statement about when you will give him your blessing! I know, you are very choosy with your wards, but that is very strange even for your character!”

Lycoris huffs, he tugs at his white tunic, thinking about how to go about this, “Well first of all, I really couldn’t watch Yuuri alone in the labyrinth any longer. He wasn’t even Level 20 then. The chances of him dying, before the others would reach him, were too high for my liking. So, I helped him a little. Second, why should you be the only one to have all the fun. You may be Head Goddess, but you still have your responsibilities. I’ve been cleaning up after most of the gods and goddesses after you decided to go on vacation, only leaving a note in your office that you’ll be back sometime in the future. Seriously Chrysanthemia! Who does this? At least give us more time to prepare in advance for your absence!”

The Head Goddess grimaces. She knows, it wasn’t the smartest move on her part back then. But she had enough! She needed some well-deserved vacation and she wanted to see her ward. And then living with Victor just became so comfortable and relaxing that she didn’t want to return to her boring duties.

Lycoris sighs, “I know that you needed a vacation that’s why I didn’t say anything when you vanished for the last decades. But now the situation has changed”, the God of Twilight takes his face into his hands, “I was so busy with my duties and the faults of a part of the celestials that I didn’t notice what Chihoko was up to. It just happened in the blink of an eye. I only felt it because of the energy the soul transfer brought with it. But I couldn’t stop it. And then when I went to talk to her about it, she had already declared a false prophesy to make up for her mistake by reading over your hero summoning guide for beginners to know what one can do with summoned people. Why do you even have such a book in your office, Chrys?”, he gestures to his friend exasperated, “Whatever, in short: Chihoko summoned a whole class of people from planet Earth to Aegis, giving them instructions to go to Robinia. She gave a made-up prophesy to the King and the Church there, so that the heroes will have a place in the world. However, the prophesy says that they should defeat the Demon King to free the world from his reign, because she was too lazy to check if the world actually needs to be freed. She just went with the example story in your book. And now the King of Rusza has used her words to start an all-out war with every nation, because he seeks world domination. And the summoned teens all believe this shit because Chihoko blessed them and they played too much games, read too much manga or watched too much anime. I don’t know. And personally I don’t care. Fact is: that we have some great trouble on our hands and that the ‘heroes’ are in danger as well, because if a war really starts, they’ll be canon fodder! Their levels are very weak! The strongest is Level 50 now!”

Chrysanthemia takes in all the information, comparing it to what Victor had told her about the meetings with his mentor and the King of the Elves. She worries her bottom lip, “I understand. That is indeed very troublesome. And I am sorry the book was a dabble on my side. I wrote it for fun in my free time. But wait, you said Chihoko blessed all the summoned people! But what about Yuuri then? Why wasn’t he blessed?”

Lycoris turns a little pink around the nose, “You know that I said, I felt the energy of the soul transfer. Well, I was curious about the incoming souls and took a peek at them. It’s not like I have a lot of wards under my blessing and well, his soul kinda screamed at me that he is mine to take. Hahaha.”

The Head Goddess looks at him in disbelief, an eyebrow raised.

    “Hey! It was the same for you with Victor! So get over it!”, the God of Death and Reincarnation states with a pout.

    “Touché”, the Goddess of Happiness, Longevity, Honesty and Joy says with a smile, “But why did you only ‘reserve’ him and not give him your blessing? Especially if you are already down here, watching over Yuuri personally.”

Lycoris gives a secret grin, “Don’t worry my Shadow Double is taking care of my duties in the mean-time, if that’s what you are worried about. And concerning the blessing, I only can say that he isn’t ready for it. He still has to grow a little bit more physically and mentally. But soon. I am really looking forward to his growth. He has already come a long way and is adapting greatly to the changes.”

    “Wait! Don’t tell me that you are responsible for his enigmatic class changes?”, Chrysanthemia inquires, suspicion in her eyes.

    “Guilty as charged”, Lycoris smirks, a playful gleam in his eyes, “He would have been a Dancer under Chihoko. But I knew that he can be so much more. His potential is great and his determination thrilling. Exactly what I like in my wards. But his mind is wavering sometimes, so it’s too soon for what I want him to become. And now to really answer your original question: I am here to raise a vessel to take the summoned children back to their original world and to find the vessel, who worked together with Chihoko to bring them here in the first place. The balance must be upheld and one person is one thing, but a whole bunch of them does greatly disturb it.”

Chrysanthemia stares at him blankly, but nods after some time of silence.

Lycoris changes back into Vicchan, “This talk must stay between us for my plan to work. Let’s return to the others. I wish you a good night, Chrys.”

The wards break after Chrysanthemia changes into her Makkachin-form and follows Vicchan to the camp side.

The next morning after breakfast the friends climb on Otabek’s dragon back and fly off to his parent’s farm as the shifter has promised them the day before.

The Altin’s are living hidden in a small valley between two mountain ranges. Mr. and Mrs. Altin are two very nice dragons, who welcome their son and his entourage with open arms. The married couple has a lot physical and internal similarities to Otabek, especially his mother has the same mindset as her son. Yuuri, Victor, Yurio and Phichit get a free tour through their gardens and their wine cellar, before Mr. Altin hands them a bottle of Dragon Wine for free.

    “As thank you for taking care of my son!”, he says to Victor, who takes the bottle gratefully. The Hero looks through his Item Storage for some time, before he takes out a Bottle of Mer Sake from 100 years ago, “Then as a ‘thank you’ for showing us around The flavour gets better the longer you store it.”

Mr. Altin stares at the gift with wide eyes, “Young lad’ are you sure? They stopped making these 50 years ago! And this is from 100 years ago! That’s a treasure in itself!”

The Hero chuckles amused, “I don’t need it, so I am happy to give it to someone, who sees the value of it.”

Otabek’s father’s eyes gleam, “Thank you very much! I’ll take good care of it!” Otabek smiles, another treasure to his father’s hoard then. And a rare one at that. Good for him. The shifter returns his gaze to Yurio, marvelling how the sun rays light up his hair and how the wind whirls through it.

Victor returns to Yuuri, Yurio and Phichit to show them the Dragon Wine and Mr. Altin walks over to his second son, “You look at the boy as if you want to lock him up, my son…”, his father chuckles, before he pales in revelation, “Don’t tell me–?”

Otabek looks away, a little embarrassed to be found out.

His father grimaces and facepalms, “Why must you be so complicated, my dear son? I hoard wine. Your mother hoards jewels. Your sister treasures rare flowers. And your brother collects apples, which is weird, because he has to replace them often, but still… For so long, you didn’t have any preferences and now this! Why can’t you hoard gold like normal people?”

Otabek just shrugs. His dragon decided on it and he can’t do anything against it.

His father sighs exhausted, “I need to lay down for a bit. This gives me a headache. Have safe travels, son!”

    “Thanks dad”, Otabek smiles.

It’s good to have such an understanding family.

Chapter Text

They say young people should travel the world to sow one’s wild oats and that no place is like the other, just only waiting to be discovered by a curious soul.

Yuuri thinks that he has seen quite a lot of different places since coming to Aegis.

He has visited never-ending fields of flowers, trained in beautiful but dangerous forests, explored ruins of ages long forgotten to mankind and come out alive of the adventure to tell the story. The young man has visited cities and crossed continents in the blink of an eye via Victor’s Teleport skill, but nothing, really nothing could have prepared him for the oddity, which is Orion, capital city of the Demon Kingdom Crownwell.

The Japanese highschooler scans over the architecture of the houses in the city and furrows his eyebrows, “Why are all the houses placated in gold or white?”

Simply put, he is shook. He always imagined the Demon Kingdom to be a darker country with more ominous colouring to uphold their reputation like in RPG-games. Instead he got a big town in light and blinding colours, decorated with Pomponius ornaments, with people bustling merrily around. The capital gives off a feeling of wealth and extravagancy. So unlike everything he has seen in Isekai up until now.

Victor hums, a smile ghosting on his lips, “Well, it hasn’t always been like that…”, his gaze turns distant, while he looks over the buildings, his look full of ghosts of another time long gone. The silver-haired man shakes his head, “After the defeat of Demon King Randolph the Tyrant and the following recovery phase, the whole country started to flourish. Raw materials were discovered and because of the peace treaties trade made a big impact on the economy. It’s no wonder the city is as pompous as today… That is why it’s so important to talk to the King about the war declaration from Rusza”, The Living Legend grimaces. He remembers the fights, the deaths of innocent civilians by his or a comrade’s hand. The Immortal balls his hands together. If he can prevent it from happening again… he would do anything within his power.

Yuuri takes the fisted hand tenderly into his grasp, squeezing the others hand once before drawing slow circles with his thumb on his mentor’s skin to soothe the other.

The Japanese doesn’t know what goes on in his trainer’s mind. What he had thought about to let his mood get so serious and desperate. But it doesn’t really matter for now. He just wants to comfort his beloved somehow, wants to tell him that he is there for him, ready to catch him with open arms. The dark-haired man wants to know, to share Victor’s troubles and think about them with the Hero together. But the student doesn’t want to push, so he refrains from saying anything, just offering his silent presence to remind the other that he is not alone.

Victor squeezes back, his eyes so gentle and soft when they interlock with Yuuri.

It’s like there is a whole conversation going on between them, but no words are spoken out loud. It’s calming, soothing. It’s everything.

    “So where does the pervert live?”, Yurio stomps between them, an impatient scowl on his face.

Phichit whines, “Why must you always interrupt when it’s getting good!?!”

Makkachin whines and Vicchan wuffs in agreement.

Otabek snorts, “The pervert?”

Victor chuckles at the behaviour of his companions, “Chris is living in the Western District of the capital. He is a Viscount after all and ambassador as well as advisor to the crown. We’ll be there shortly, but I thought that some of you want to do a little sightseeing before we get all serious again. A mission is a mission, but some fun never hurts!”

They walk around the main district with the Hero guiding them expertly, never letting go of Yuuri’s hand, who is blushing profusely, but doesn’t want to let go of him either. Victor points out statues, buildings and markets, where they get themselves some food to eat, explaining the background and importance of each place in history.

    “How come you remember all of this crap? But don’t know the names of thecurrent rulers, leaving the exceptions out of it, get lost in forests and can’t read maps for shit?”, the Chimera glares at their self-proclaimed tour guide.

The elf starts laughing, while the dragonshifter and the world traveller stay silent.

    “I’m not that bad!”, Victor argues and looks to his friends, who either avoid his gaze or raise an eyebrow, “Okay, maybe I have some memory issues…”

    “Some?”, Yurio scowls, “I would say, you have plenty!”

The Living Legend pouts, “Whatever. I should have you remember that I spent a lot of time here with Chris and…”, he gets a distant look again, his voice calm but with a strange edge to it, “It’s a memorable place for me.”

Yurio draws a face, however, he doesn’t say anything else to that. He knows from his grandpa’s retellings what historic events happened here and how emotional Nikolai gets when he remembers that particular day.

    “Well, should we continue the tour or go to Christoph’s place?”, Victor sounds cheerful, but there is still something disturbing in his voice.

Yuuri squeezes the other’s hand again before answering, “I think we should go and see your friend, Victor. It’s already way past lunch and we shouldn’t inconvenience this Chris, if he has other business to attend to as well.”

The silver-haired man smiles at him softly, “Yeah, you are right”, then his cheerfulness returns full force, “Okay guys! Then let’s go! I can’t wait for all of you, who don’t know him, to meet Chris! I’m sure you will like him very much!”

Yurio grumbles, murmuring quietly to himself, “If he stops being so gross with his touches that is.”

Vicchan gives a worried look to Makkachin, who just shrugs her shoulders with a guilty look, telling him via telepathy, “Well, he is a good guy. Just very eccentric and touchy. Nothing bad, really!”

The toy poodle lolls his tongue. When Chrysanthemia starts describing someone like that than ‘nothing bad’ can have various meanings.

Vicchan hopes for the best.

They arrive at the mansion in no time, a servant opening the gates for them to let them onto the grounds. Yuuri is in awe. The mansion looks a little like the White House of the president in America, but so much more extravagant. The grand manor has so many ornaments and windings. And the gardens, oh my god the gardens! They are full of rose bushes in all kind of different colours, have a dozen fountains and two pavilions, a labyrinth made from bushes and so many trees decorating the grounds. It’s breath-taking.

The gate keeper leads them to the entrance of the house, where the butler welcomes them together with the head maid. After Victor and the butler called Masumi exchange some greetings, the whole group is guided into a cosy sitting room. They are told to make themselves comfortable before the master of the house will arrive to greet them.

Yuuri takes a seat between Victor and Phichit on the grand canapé, while Yurio and Otabek share the smaller sofa and the dogs seat themselves on a wing chair.

The comrades don’t have to wait for long, when the doors to the sitting room open and a man in full splendour and extravagant clothing enters the room with his arms held open and a big grin plastered on his face.

    “I couldn’t believe my ears when my butler told me that you’ve come to visit me! How long has it been, cheri?”, the noble with chartreuse eyes, two-toned blond and brown hair style, styled in an undercut, a short goatee and a stubble moustache, heads straight for the Hero.

Victor stands up from his seat and embraces his friend warmly, “It’s been too long my friend! It’s good to see you! You look splendid.”

The other huffs softly, “Still the little charmer from before. But I appreciate the compliment!”, he nudges The Living Legend playfully, “So do tell, what gives me the honour of your visit with this handsome group of man and little Yura in tow?”

Yurio grumbles, “I’m not little, you perverted fart! I’m 75 years old for fuck’s sake!”

Otabek pats the Ice Tiger on the shoulder, while the others ignore his outburst.

Yuuri instead appraises the newcomer with his skill.

Name: Christophe Giacometti

Race: Demon

Age: 195 years

LV: 739

Class: Incubus

Active Skill: Wild Bullet, Astral Bullet, Demon Bullet, Elemental Bullet, Ricochet, Gun Fire, Energy Ball, Energy Draw, Cutting Edge, Demon Plunge, Luna, Slash, Strike, Vorpal Strike, Cutting Edge, Wide Strike, Strong Slash, Hilt Strike, Raging Havoc, Water Magic, Water Spear, Water Spear, Wind Magic, Tornado, Storm Ray, Lightning Magic, Lightning Bold, Thunderbolt, Thunderclap, Fire Magic, Flare, Fire Dance, Fire Bomb, Fiery Blast, Flare Storm, Flare Wall, Demon Cloud, Illusion Magic, Dark Magic, Demon Night, Mad Blast, Magma Storm, Molten Bath, Nova, Demon Magic. Household Magic, Heal, Recovery, Area Heal, Prayer, Potent Cure, Pure Ply, Wish, Restore, Healing Bullet, Cure Poison, Attack Boost, Agility Boost, Defence Boost, Magical Defence Boost, Dull, Guardian, Guard, Enthral, Bind, Poison, Panic, Blind, Burn, Sleep, Freeze, Drain, Search, Appraisal, Stealth, Track, Speed Writing, Speed Reading, Hide Status, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Charm, Seduction, Flirt, Incubus’ Kiss, Mediate, Multitasking, Chantless Casting, Aura Sense

HP: 4.596.523.438/4.596.523.438

MP: 4.786.234.123/4.786.234.123

EXP: 1.689.875.648.725

Next Level: 113.348 EXP

Equipped Gear: Crimson Cross (Gun), Demon Hunter (Gun), Mage Masher (Dagger), Unicorn Whip, Fullbody Sexy Demon Suit*, Sinful Gloves, Crystal Belt, Hermes Boots

Blessing: Cupid’s Blessing

Status: none

Title: Viscount

6.739.268.565.587 G

ATK: 50.467.981

DEF: 50.956.463

MAT: 50.628.497.631 +20* à 50.628.497.651

MDF: 50.979.694.916 +10* à 50.979.694.926

AGI: 50.923.321

LUK: 50.653.789 +10* à 50.653.799

Wow, Victor’s friends are all of very high level.

Yuuri should stop being surprised.

    “Oh where are my manners!”, the master of the house says, “I’ve forgotten to introduce myself to this pleasant company!”, he bows elegantly, “I’m happy to make your acquaintance, my name is Viscount Christophe Giacometti, Incubus, ambassador and advisor to the royal crown of the Demon Kingdom and current head of the House of Giacometti.”

Yuuri immediately stands up and bows once in Japanese style, “I am Yuuri Katsuki and human.” It feels strange saying that. “I am happy to meet you too, Lord Giacometti.”

The Viscount makes his way to the young man and grins before squeezing the other’s butt cheek. Yuuri squeaks and his face turns red.

The noble smirks smugly, “It’s very nice to meet you as well. Maybe we could have some private discussion–”

    “Chris!”, Victor interrupts his friend with an unamused face, giving him a stern glare.

The noble instantly lets go of Yuuri’s butt and takes a step away, ”–Or not. I was just joking anyway. Calm down, cheri! I just want everyone to have some fun!”

The Chimera scowls, “Fun my ass! You only just love grabbing other people’s asses, you old pervert!”

Lord Giacometti giggles amused, “Guilty as charged. But how can I resist when my dear friend brings me such fine specimen. I can say Yuuri’s butt is top notch, soft but still very firm.”

Phichit starts laughing, Yurio bristles and Otabek just snorts, while Victor lets out a quiet whine.

The Living Legend had dreams about doing that himself, but refused to do it in reality because he didn’t want Yuuri to be uncomfortable. How can the world be so cruel?

    “Fine, fine. My apologies. Please call me Chris, Yuuri! You can all drop the formalities with me. I like my friends to call me by my nickname!”, Chris winks into the round.

Yuuri seats himself without a word, shock still in his bones and waits for the introduction round to go on.

The Warrior Elf is the next to stand up, “I’m Phichit Chulanont, Warrior Elf and apprentice to King Celestino of the Elf Kingdom. I’m running as candidate as successor to my king. It’s nice to meet such a funny person like you. I think we’ll get along just fine!”

The Incubus smiles, “I think so too, Phichit!”, he turns to the Chimera, “I already know our little angry kitten, so next would be the silent hottie to his right!”

Yurio wants to punch the Viscount so badly, he is not a ‘little angry kitten’! But Otabek holds him back, a warning in his eyes, so the Ice Tiger crosses his hands with an angry pout.

The dragon shifter stands up and bows, “My name is Otabek Altin, Dragon Warrior from the Dragon Valley. It’s nice to meet you.”

Chris whistles, impressed at how the dark-haired man can handle Victor’s ‘son’, “So the silent, but polite and caring type then. Nice to meet you.”

The Incubus looks at the grandfather clock, humming, “I think we should have some tea for the actual discussion for which you came to me. Masumi?”

The door to the sitting room opens and the butler with brown hair and grey eyes enters with a rolling table full of a tea set some light snacks and sandwiches. Masumi arranges the table in the sitting room and pours some tea for his master and the guests.

When he finishes with serving them, he gives a peck to Christophe’s cheek, bows to the others and leaves the room.

    “So you are still together then?”, Victor states more like a fact instead of a question.

Chris takes a sip from his teacup, “Is that really what you want to ask, cheri? But yes, and if you want to know his butt is still as plump as always.”

Yurio gags, “Gross.”

Otabek shrugs his shoulders, observing and Phichit stifles a giggle, while Yuuri takes a sip from his tea, coming to the conclusion that that is just Chris being Chris.

Victor smiles at his best friend’s antics, “No.”

    “So? What do you want, cheri?”, the Incubus looks curious.

The Hero takes out the Dragon Wine from his Item Storage and presents it to his best friend.

Chris hums, thoughtfully but appreciative, “That important then? You know I really would do mostly anything for Dragon Wine. The flavour is just otherworldly”, he studies The Living Legend, “Shoot, cheri! I’m all ears!”

Victor lets out a breath, “I’ll be straight to the point. Chris, we’ll need your help. We need to have an audience with the Demon King and talk to him about his standing concerning the war declaration. Yakov, Celestino, the Fairy Prince Seung-gil and the Beast King have come to an understanding to send out representatives to investigate the happenings in Rusza. But there was no real statement from your country, except that you are the first target of Rusza. So we want to plead for support in our investigation, but also confirm an alliance between the other countries in stopping the outbreak of the war.”

The Incubus huffs, “I should have known that your request can’t be an easy one, if you bring Dragon Wine with you as a bribe… My, this gives me a headache!”, he leans himself into the sofa, closing his eyes and massaging his temple. After some minutes of Chris’ groans and whines, he sits up straight and explains, “Okay, here is the thing: The Demon Kingdom doesn’t do audiences at the moment because we have some troubles on our hands, which have to be dealt with the instant they are noticed. I can show you the relevant reports in my study later. It’s top secret, but your standing allows you to sneak some peaks, while I am preoccupied. Concerning how to possibly still approach and talk to His Majesty, I only see one solution at the moment!”

They all stick to the demon’s lips, when he continues, “Tomorrow is a royal ball, starting in the early afternoon! The theme is ‘Karneval’ and everyone, who is allowed to attend can talk freely with the guests and the king. I am a Viscount and direct advisor to the crown, so there is no problem for me to get you all invites with my authority. However, I can’t promise you that the King will listen. He is a little bit eccentric himself…”

Victor beams at his friend, “Thank you. Giving us a chance to meet him is all I asked for. You are the best!”

Chris waves him off, “Pas de problème, mon cheri!”, he winks saucily, “Do I get my reward now?”

The Living Legend starts laughing, “In exchange to show me the papers now. Of course!”, the silver-haired man turns to the others, “I’ll be gone for a while, enjoy the snacks! Chris will come back soon to entertain you.”

The two men leave the sitting room together to head to the Viscount’s office.

As soon as they arrive in the study, Chris collects everything of importance for Victor to understand the country’s current predicaments.

The Hero starts scanning and reading over the documents immediately, his expression turning glummer the more information he takes in.

When Christophe has pilled all of the reports next to his friend, he pats Victor on the shoulders, “Please don’t take it too much to heart. Nobody could have changed anything…”

Victor sternly continues reading while biting his bottom lip.

The Incubus huffs, “I’ll leave you to it. Join us if it gets too much to bear for you alone or when you are done. See you later!”

The master of the house exits his study to go back to the sitting room.

Meanwhile in the sitting room

    “So what do you think of Chris?”, Phichit giggles enthusiastically.

Makka boofs in approval and Vicchan howls in displeasure.

The Warrior Elf snorts at the dogs’ antics.

Yurio snarls, “What should I even think about a pervert like him? He is pushy, grabby, uncomfortable, loud and does whatever pleases him! I should have punched him for grabbing Katsudon’s ass earlier!”

    “It’s alright, Yurio. But thank you”, Yuuri says smiling.

Yurio really is a nice kid and good friend.

The Chimera bristles, “Nothing is alright! That was sexual harassment, Katsudon! I thought you knew that!”, the shifter groans, “Of course, you know that. You are just too kind for your own good sometimes! Beka help me convince this idiot to stop being so reckless!”

    “I have to agree with Yura there, Yuuri. You are too forgiving and nonchalant about your own safety sometimes. Please be more careful from now on. We can’t always be there to keep an eye on you”, Otabek adds, his face full of concern.

Yuuri hangs his head. He didn’t mean to worry his friends, “I’m sorry.”

Phichit sighs, “It’s okay, Yuuri. Just remember it from now on.”

They eat some sandwiches, when the door opens again and Chris comes back.

    “I hope you weren’t left waiting for too long! I just had to prepare the relevant documents for Victor to read!”, the Viscount exclaims cheerily as he takes his place on the sofa again, “So let’s have a nice chat, while we are waiting for Victor to come back!”

The Incubus opens the Dragon Wine, while Masumi enters the sitting room to bring them some appropriate wine glasses, “Thank you my dear!”, Chris says to his butler, who kisses him again on the cheek before leaving.

The Viscount looks at his guests, “Who wants a taste of this baby here? I swear it’s to die for!”

Yuuri wants to decline as he is still a minor, but Phichit is the first one to respond to the question, “One glass for all of us! Let’s enjoy ourselves for once!”

Yurio hums delighted, but Otabek remains stern, “No glass for you, Yura. You are still a minor in shifter age.”

The Chimera frowns, but doesn’t complain as the other pours him some more tea and feeds him some cookies.

The world traveller grits his teeth, “Phichit! I’m a minor too! I shouldn’t be drinking alcohol!”

    “Well, in our world as a human, you are already of marriageable age, my dear Yuuri and allowed to drink. So I say, when you are in Aegis, you behave like the Aegisians!”, the elf exclaims and puts a glass of Dragon Wine in Yuuri’s hands.

The Japanese just stares at the glass in his hands before switching to diversion tactics, so he won’t have to drink the wine, “So what do you wanna talk about, Chris?”

Their host smiles excitedly in response, “I want to hear your stories about how you met Victor and got to travel with him! In exchange I throw in my own first meeting with him!”

Makkachin perks up at that, ready to tell the glorious story of her saving her Vitya from death’s door, but Vicchan shoots her a reprimanding stare, “You are undercover here, Chrys! Don’t drop your role and sit back down!”

Makka huffs annoyed, but does as she is told with great reluctance. Someday she will reveal herself to the others, but it seems that today is not that day. What a pity!

    “So who goes first?”, Phichit asks excited, clapping his hands together. He loves story times. They are always fun!

Yurio snorts, “I’d say the one goes first who asks first!”

The elf hums happily, “Don’t have a problem with that! Okay, so all ears to me! The first time I met Victor was in the Forest of Liviana. I was together with my fairy friends Guang-Hong and Leo on our hunting trip, when one of our traps got activated and we decided to take a look. When we realized that there were people caught up in it, Guang-Hong cut the rope and that’s how Victor tumbled into my life. I never thought that someone could forget the directions to the capital, when he already visited the city in the past. Especially someone with the skill Teleport. Man, that still cracks me up!”, the Warrior Elf laughs before he turns to the Chimera, “Your turn, Yurio!”

    “I can’t remember giving you permission to call me that!”, the Ice Tiger glowers at his grinning companion, “Well, whatever. I can’t really remember the first time I met the old man. He just was there for as long as I can think. My grandpa and him practically raised me. That’s all. End of the story.”

Chris swoons, “Just say that he is your father and that you love him very much like you used to when you were small, little kitten.”

    “Shut up, pervert!”, the blond teen yells angrily.

    “Oooh! That’s so cute Yurio!”, Phichit says, a hand over his heart.

Yurio groans, “I hate you both, you bastards!”

    “Now, now”, Yuuri tries to reason with the three, “Let’s continue with our storytelling, okay?”

They all turn to him, Otabek included.

The Chimera huffs, “Fine. Your turn Katsudon!”

The Japanese startles at his friend’s order, but obliges a pink hue on his cheeks, “Well, the first time I met Victor was in the Forest of Evergreen. I was escaping some monsters and stumbled into the covert. He saved me and brought me to his house to recover. And then he trained me, so that I could survive on my own to find my classmates! And yeah that’s how I met him.”

    “How come you were travelling on your own, Yuuri? You know that can be quite dangerous, especially for someone at your current level”, Chris inquires, a crinkle appearing on his forehead.

Yuuri blushes, “Oh, I totally forgot to mention that I am not originally from this world. I was summoned together with my classmates to Aegis from planet Earth. You see Chris, when I arrived in Aegis, I was only Level 1 and my classmates were nowhere to be found. So I am on a search for them and to find a way to bring them back to our original world. I am currently still alive because of Victor training me and my friends, who help me when situations become dire”, the highschooler turns to his friends, “Thank you everyone by the way for looking out for me. I’m sorry that I am always such a bother, but I am really grateful for your support and trust. I’ll try doing better from now on.”

Yurio huffs, a blush on his face, “Don’t thank me for something that’s only natural to do, Katsudon! … And you are not a bother, you hear me?”

The 16-year-old nods touched by the blond teen’s words.

Phichit coos and throws himself at Yuuri, “How can you be so cute, you cinnamon roll, you! I could just eat you up! I’m so happy to have you as my BFF! So don’t think about yourself as a bother! You are very strong on your own as well, Yuuri! Never forget that!”

Otabek nods, patting Yuuri’s shoulder, “You survived in the ruins on your own, you are anything but weak. And it’s no bother for us to protect you. That’s what friends do, watching each other’s back.”

Chris observes the scene with a fond look.

Yuuri, huh? Never thought him to be at the center of this group. Interesting. It also seems like the rumours about the summoned kids are true. That is a little troubling. But Yuuri doesn’t seem to know anything about the others and tries to send them back. He is a good guy.

The Incubus wonders, could he be the reason for Victor to get out of hiding?
The Viscount shakes his head. He has to gather more info.

    “And you Otabek? How did you meet, Victor?”, he asks with a grin.

The dragonshifter hums, “I was resting in my cave, when I smelled something very delicious and heard some voices. I was hungry, so I decided to join them for dinner. That’s how I met Victor.”

Aha. So Victor was already on the journey then.

    “Interesting!”, Chris exclaims, clapping his hands together. It’s a pity that he doesn’t know, if Yurio, Phichit or Yuuri were the reason for the Hero to set out to travel once again as he doesn’t know the exact order of their meetings, but he bets his money on Yuuri. Still, the Incubus decides to ask his best friend some other time in private.

    “Your turn, pervert!”, Yurio interrupts the noble’s thought process, “Or are you chickening out now that you’ve heard our stories first?”

Chris grins, showing his teeth, “Of course not. I’ll remember the first time that I met Victor like it was yesterday! It was a full moon and I was in a bar at the outskirts of the capital city to look for a snack to quell the first of my inner Incubus. I had certain standards for my prey and when I decided on the one to keep me company tonight, I never would have thought for what a ride I would be in!”

Yuuri’s stomach churns. Did that mean that Victor and Chris–?

    “Well, the guy had black hair and grey eyes and a scent to die for!”, Chris laughs heartily, while Yurio gags.

The Japanese highschooler lets out a breath. Safe then. Thank god! He wouldn’t have liked to hear a story about the two doing things.

    “He had something dangerous about him, but I always love a good challenge, so I ignored my instincts!”, the Incubus continues happily, “So I approached him and we flirted a little before I could coax him to follow me into one of the empty rooms. And as we started to have some fun, me already naked by the way, the guy suddenly sprayed holy water on me and started with an exorcism procedure to kill me.”

Wait, what? Yuuri, Phichit, Yurio and Otabek look at their host in disbelief and horror.

Chris snickers amused, “Turns out I tried seducing a former inquisitor from the church, who also worked as exorcist on the side. I really thought I was going to die then and there, but suddenly the door was smashed open and Victor flew in rescuing me. He apprehended the inquisitor, who was already stamped as murderer and quested after by the Adventurer Guild to imprison him for his crimes against innocent demons. After handing the man over to the police and getting my testimony, Victor invited me to a drink and we started talking about our troubles and life. I didn’t get to feed on anything that night, but instead I gained a trustworthy friend for life. All in all, that night is one of my most treasured memories, even though I was nearly killed for good.”

He looks over to study the faces of his guests.

    “Don’t all look so shocked. It’s a truly endearing story!”

Yuuri hums, “Yeah… But still, the man nearly killed you! I’m so grateful that Victor saved you that day. Otherwise we wouldn’t have met at all!”

    “That’s true”, Chris says, “This experience also shows that you should follow your instincts, instead of only listening to your worldly desires.”

There is silence in the room before the Viscount continues, “I also didn’t really tell you that story because I only wanted to tell you how I met Victor. Moreover I wanted to say to you that life is never easy. It’s complicated. It can hurt you, but it’s worth living through the bad times to enjoy the good ones.

Chris eyes every single one of his guests, “Furthermore there is something else, I have to discuss with you, as you all travel together with The Living Legend. I will keep it short, because it isn’t my story to tell, but you all should know certain things about him: He hasn’t lived an easy life. He was born a noble and served many years as the saviour of all. He dealt with many difficult and nerve-wrecking situations and needed a break more than anyone else in this entire realm. So I want to appeal to you that when Victor comes back into this room, don’t be hard on him because after reading the files I gave to him, he will be very depressed about leaving his duties behind for 30 years. He will blame himself for a lot of things. So if he wants to talk with anyone about it, don’t reject him and listen. He has done so much as a diplomat, ambassador and advisor in his past. Given so much that he shouldn’t think that everything is his fault. So please, please support him, when I can’t be there to do it.”

Silence fills the sitting room once again, but every single one of them nods their consent.

Victor feels guilty.

He has looked over all the documents and can’t believe how much he had missed due to his absence. There were so many troubles with Rusza for the last 30 years and he had no idea about a single one of them. The current King is just a pig, greedy for money and territory, trampling over the lives of his and other countries’ citizens. There were so many incidents of international struggles, murders, assassinations, diplomatic blunders, trade discrepancies, race discrimination and embezzlements, it’s more than just horrifying.

If he had stayed, he could have prevented all of this.

If he had stayed, the relations between a lot of countries wouldn’t be so strained.

If he had stayed, these innocent people wouldn’t be dead right now.

If he had stayed, they probably wouldn’t have faced such a great drama concerning the current imbalance of the equilibrium.

But he just hadn’t been able to stay in this place, in his position any longer.

He had given everything and it had only destroyed him on the inside in return.

The Living Legend lets out a deep sigh.

He needs something to drink.

The Hero makes his way back to the sitting room to get something to numb his nerves and his foul mood.

When he enters the room, he heads straight for Yuuri, taking the glass from the other’s hand and drinks all of it before sitting down next to his favourite person, leaning against him for comfort.

All eyes are on him and he feels Yuuri’s breath hitching.

The silver-haired man smiles lightly, “Sorry to interrupt your talk, but I decided to join you again. What were you talking about?”

Chris studies his best friend with a knowing but kind smile, “We talked about how we all met you, cheri.”

Victor hums, resting his head on the world traveller’s shoulder. He notices that the 16-year-old looks kinda guilty and sad as the younger man bites his lips.

They talk a little more about various topics before the group has dinner together with their host, while Masumi prepares their rooms for their stay. After dinner the guests all thank Chris for his hospitality and wish each other a good night.

Yurio and Otabek are the first to turn in for the night with Phichit and Chris following shortly.

Victor and Yuuri also start walking up to their bedrooms, when The Living Legend suggests a short walk in the gardens to get some fresh air.

The Japanese student agrees with him, knowing that his mentor is still bothered by the knowledge he had gained from reading the documents.

They walk silently along each other for a while, before Victor seats himself on a bench near one of the fountains. Yuuri sits down next to him, looking over the roses, while waiting for his trainer to gather his thoughts.

    “It’s a beautiful night”, Victor says after some time.

The 16-year-old hums in agreement, “Indeed it is.”

They turn silent once again.

    “Hey, Yuuri?”, Victor starts again.

The dark-haired man turns to the Hero, “Hey, Victor?”

The Immortal starts laughing at that and Yuuri watches him, watches him as the laughter turns into a maniacal laugh and then changes into short sobs and hiccups until his beloved is crying in front of him.

Yuuri slowly embraces the silver-haired man, rubbing soothing circles on his back and shushing him with his voice, “I’ve got you, Victor. I’m here.”

The Hero clutches at the fabric of Yuuri’s clothes, drawing the younger man closer to himself, needing the comfort.

    “Why is all of this happening? Why did so many innocents have to die? I only wanted to have a break for some decades. Didn’t I already give my all? Didn’t I already sacrifice enough of myself? In all those decades I did everything in my power! I defeated the Demon King, I helped with politics and foreign relations, I stopped wars from breaking out and in the end what does it mean, when it only happens again and again and again? Why am are my words never reaching their ears? Why am I never enough?”, tears run down Victor’s cheeks, “I was never enough for my father, Duke Alexei Leonidovich Nikiforov, who was the Prime Minister of his time. Or for my brothers except Evan, the oldest. The other three always bullied me. If it weren’t for Evan, I don’t even know if I would have survived all those years as the illegitimate child of a Duke. The mothers of my other siblings were awful, always trying to get rid of me. Then I got to be the Hero, hoping that now I will be excepted and make my mother, Ekaterina Ivanova, a merchant’s daughter, proud. I received King Raymund’s approval and the recognition from the country. But everything got worse from that point on. I was trained and used and sacrificed for the sake of humanity during the fight with the Demon King. If it weren’t for Chrysanthemia, I wouldn’t be alive today. My only other allies were Nikolai, Yakov, Chris later on and my brother Evan until he died. And I promised him, I promised him I would look after the Kingdom for him… And I failed. I broke my promise. Why did I break my promise? He’ll never forgive me. I’m such a horrible person. I should have just died when–”

    “STOP!”, Yuuri’s voice booms through the garden.

Victor looks at him startled.

The Japanese leans back and caresses the silver-haired man’s cheeks softly, whisking the tear trails away with his thumb, “Stop right there.”

A minute of silence goes by, Yuuri just running hands gently on the skin of the Hero’s face.

    “Nothing is your fault. Things happen. It doesn’t matter where or when. They happen. It’s only important what we are going to do now that we know that they happen. Do we take action? Do we remain silent? Our decision is the important matter. Nothing good ever comes out from beating yourself up, when you are already on the ground. It’s better to learn our limits and recognize when we can’t handle some situations alone. Then we should ask for help. Because nobody is truly alone in anything. Yes, we have to experience some situations on our own, but the ones who love you will always be with you in spirit. Never forget that, Vitya. And this whole situation isn’t your fault. You can’t tell me you are the only one, who is responsible for people’s messes. Yes, you are ‘The Hero’, ‘The Living Legend’, ‘The Saviour of All’, but that are just titles. You are your own person first. And you deserve to be happy. Please, promise to never go and shoulder everything on your own. We are all here for you, watching your back in battles and in the ups and downs of life. And I promise you, I’ll be there for you for as long as you want me to, if you’ll let me, Vitya.”

Victor sniffles, his eyes glassy but filled with so much fondness. He rubs over his eyes as his smile turns heart-shaped, “O-Okay… Then I’ll be relying on you. Thank you, Yuura.”

    “Always, my Vitya”, Yuuri leans up to press his lips gently to Victor’s forehead before standing up and grabbing the other’s hand, “We should go to bed now. Tomorrow is a busy day and we’ll need the sleep.”

The silver-haired Hero just dazedly follows the other, not believing what just had happened.

Victor lays on his bed, his eyes wide open.

He can’t sleep. He has to think back about all the things Yuuri said to him, how he held him and calmed him. About the promise and the forehead kiss.

He gets all giddy, when he thinks about how genuine the younger man had sounded and so confident. And the touch of his lips on his skin.

The Hero rolls around in his bed, giggling to himself.

How can someone be so cute and caring?

He starts rolling around again, when suddenly his neck hairs stand on edge.

Or better his instincts tell him that something is very wrong and he should stay on his guard.

The Hero observes his room with a concentrated gaze.

Everything seems normal, but still there is an ominous presence in the air. But where is it coming from?

He uses his Sixth Sense, trying to pinpoint the foreign spiritual energy.

It’s coming from…

… the above?

The Living Legend activates his Stealth skill immediately and opens the window, jumping to the rooftop.

The moon scarcely lights the feature of a dark figure standing a small distance to his right. The Immortal doesn’t hesitate and attacks the intruder with Moonslayer to knock him out, but as soon as he lands the first hit, the figure dissolves into flower petals.

He turns around when he feels another living being approach the swordfighter from behind.

    “Still got the touch, don’t you?”, Chris smirks at his best friend.

Victor huffs, “Never lost it, my friend.”

The silver-haired man crouches down to gather the petals, his look turning stern.

Why petals? This is so strange and doesn’t make any sense…

    “Give it up, cheri. This is the third time this incident happened. And it’s always the same. Only flower petals are left behind. The colours vary though. Sometimes it’s white, then purple or pink, then red or blue or yellow. It doesn’t make any sense really”, the Incubus explains tiredly.

    “Is that’s why you came up to the roof as well?”, The Living Legend asks the Viscount while studying the petals.

    “No. I was just taking the longer way to sneak into Masumi’s room to have some fun!”, Chris rolls his eyes, “Yeah of course it was. I don’t like it when some uninvited guests sneak around my mansion”

Victor hums. What kind of petals are those? He thinks that he knows the flower, but the name won’t come to his mind.

The noble studies his best friend considering if he should ask or leave it be.
He decides to go for it.

    “Victor, you know that I’ll always be forward with you”, the demon starts, “So I’ll come straight out with it: What are you really doing here, cheri? I mean, you avoided the public for such a long time, always saying that you have enough. And now you are up and about, doing another mission for the royals and involving yourself in trying a war from really breaking out between the countries. I know that it’s important to stop warfare and that Yakov probably ordered you to help them, but why now? Yakov’s reasoning never convinced you up until know. What really changed your mind after all these years?”

The Hero stays silent, looking at the moon and imagining his reasons for going on this journey. He smiles wistfully as only one significant cause comes to his mind. The one factor why he has behaved so differently like his former self, has broken all his rules he had made up for his safety. The reason why he feels so alive like he never has before in his entire life.

Chris studies him, before his features turn into an understanding expression. His eyes fill with concern and sorrow, “It’s the boy, isn’t it, cheri? The world traveller?”

The cerulean-eyed man says nothing, continuing to stare at the moon.

    “Oh, cheri…”, the Incubus begins, feeling with his friend, but then shakes his head, a serene smile gracing his face instead, “I’m happy for you. He is a kind and gentle boy”, a grin makes its way to his lips, “Your choice is a good one. He has delicious curves. His ass is very plumb and very good for grabbing and squishing. He seems a little shy on the exterior, but you never know what hides behind his masque in the safety of the bedroom! I would like to bet that he can be a real beast in the sheets!”, he winks at his friend cheekily.

Victor just stares at him incredulously, a flush on his cheeks from imagining certain scenarios, before he punches his old friend full force in the stomach.

    “OUCH!”, the Viscount shouts, holding his stomach, “What was that for?”

The Hero looks at the green-eyed man, his face flushed up to his ears, “Stop taunting me! He is a teen for goddesses’ sake! … And it’s only one-sided love from my side… Yuuri’s goal is to return to this original world anyway… And I don’t want to hinder him from seeing his family again… So please, stop it…”

Chris huffs. One-sided love, his ass. Yuuri clearly is in love with his idiot of a friend, but if Victor asks him to stop, then he won’t say anything. Well, anything out of line that is, “Fine. But even if nothing comes out of it, I still think it okay to appreciate his features and enjoy his company for the time you have, cheri. Especially if he already is that important to you.”

Victor turns again to the moon, his gaze full of longing.

The Incubus sighs, “I’m tired and will go to bed now. Don’t stay up to late for tomorrow. And Vitya? Don’t decide things on your own, when there are another person’s feelings involved. That would just be cruel from your side. Also stop whining to the moon, it’s unbecoming of you and your reputation!”

    “Don’t you have anything better to do like screwing your lover?”, The Living Legend hisses quietly, knowing that his friend is right about his advice, but doesn’t want to give in because of his stubbornness. The silver-haired man is frustrated when he thinks about the future. Furthermore he is a free man. So he has every right to whine to the moon as long as he wants to. Thank you very much.

The Incubus just laughs at the other’s antics, “Never would have thought that I would live to the day where you hiss at me. The Yuuri-effect is incredible! And I love you too, cheri! Good night!”

    “Good night”, Victor murmurs back, regretting his outburst towards his trusted companion.

The morning on the next day is spent with the preparations for the ball in the afternoon. Chris succeeds in getting them the necessary invitations and helps them chose some appropriate clothes.

    “We can go with elegant suits. The King has probably prepared a potion anyway to make the ball a real Karneval”, the Viscounts says, while fumbling through his dressing room.

After their preparations are finished, they enter the two carriages, prepared by Chris’ servants and ride to the palace.

They show their invitations at the gate and are approved to step into the palace’s halls. Victor fidgets a little with his hands as he walks through the doors of the castle. It has been some time and his greatest memory in these halls are not pleasant ones.

The group is stopped by the servants of the castle, handing them a glass of a strange juice, “For your unique Karneval appearance, Milords.”

Chris clings his glass with his newfound friends, “To a successful evening!”

They all drink the potion and leave the glasses with the servants.

The change happens two minutes after the men step to the side.

Yurio grows brown cat ears, white whiskers and a sand-brown tail.

Otabek gets blue dragon wings and dark scales on his cheeks and arms.

Chris ears turn into white rabbit ears, his teeth grow longer and a fluffy bunny tail pops up over his black suit.

Phichit gets hamster ears, white whiskers and a cute hamster tail.

Yuuri grows black dog ears, a black tail and a rosy dog nose.

Victor’s hair turns very long and a unicorn horn forms on his forehead, while a horse tail appears on his derrière.

They look at each other with wide curious eyes, speechless.

Yurio is the first to recover as he turns very pissed, “The King averts audiences because he is busy, they say, but then he has time for this shit!? The fuck is wrong with this guy?!”

    “Yuuri, you look very cute!”, Victor coos.

The Japanese blushes, “Thank you. You look bright and stunning yourself!”

Phichit musters his reflection in one of the glasses, “I must say, this hamster features really suit me.”

Chris laughs, “Yeah, they do. I think me being an innocent rabbit kinda suits my nature as well”, he looks at his pocket watch, “Oh! The time, we should head in before they start without us. Follow me guys before we miss the King’s welcoming speech!”

They stride into the ballroom, a servant with a list of names, announcing their appearance to the guests in the hall.

Yuuri gulps.

Great. All eyes on them. Exactly what he likes most.

Victor squeezes his hand shortly and the highschooler lets out a breath.

He has to stay calm. They are here on a mission to talk to the king.

He can do this!

As soon as they reach the end of the stairs where the floor of the ballroom begins, a extravagantly dressed man with black hair, styled in an undercut with bangs hanging on the left side and greyish-blue eyes comes up to them with a big self-satisfied smile, “Chris! It’s so lovely to see you!”

He kisses the Viscount on the right cheek and on the left and the Incubus does the same.

    “My pleasure, King JJ!”, Chris bows after the greeting and the others follow his example with the polite bow.

    “I see, you’ve brought Lord Nikiforov and some new faces!”, the ruler of the Demon Kingdom scans over the group, “I wish you a very welcome to JJ’s Karneval! It’s a pity that my darling Isabella can’t attend due to her being at the fort on the boarder. But well, I have to make do!”

JJ turns to Yurio, “I must say, you make quite the cute kitten, my dear Lady!”

The Chimera turns red in anger and bristles, “I am a guy, you dumbass!”

Victor immediately covers the Ice Tiger’s mouth with his hand, “My apologizes, Your Highness. He woke up with the wrong foot today.”

The Demon King starts laughing, “No need for apologizes. I like honest people. Especially the feisty kind. They make everything livelier!”

The Living Legend smiles politely, “Well then, Your Majesty. On another matter, I came to this ball to speak personally with you. I would like to request an audience with Your Highness. It concerns the matters of the war declaration from Rusza and an investigation mission on our–“

    “BOOORING!”, the King interrupts, “This is a ball and not a boorish meeting! Let’s enjoy ourselves to the fullest! I wish you a lot of fun and will excuse myself! I have a speech to hold for the party to begin!”, with this the royal makes his way to the center of the ballroom and starts his speech.

    “That didn’t really go as planned…”, Phichit concludes.

Chris facepalms, “Well, he is an eccentric type of person.”

    “Maybe, it wasn’t the best of our ideas to sprinkle our mission on him right from the get-go”, Otabek adds.

    “But then again, you never know, when the king will be available again with this number of guests to attend to”, Yuuri says with a tired sigh.

Victor hums and lets go of Yurio’s mouth.

The Chimera scrambles away, “Finally.”

The Hero sends him a stern look, “Yura that could have gone very badly. He is a king and a king has the power to see you executed for misconduct. Please think more with your brain before you act.”

The blond shifter grumbles but nods. He knows that snapping at royals doesn’t do anyone good.

    “Maybe we should split up a bit!”, Chris proposes, “I have some people to greet and I think that some also want to talk to Victor. For the others there is a buffet in the northeast corner. You can grab some refreshments there. We can look for a chance to talk to JJ again a little later. Perhaps he is calmer than.”

    “Yeah”, Victor agrees.

The Viscount and the Hero head over to the people eyeing them curiously and they immediately get swallowed by a big crowd of nobles.

Yuuri, Phichit, Yurio and Otabek head over to the buffet to kill some time.

After a while Phichit finds some acquaintances from political events in Eternia and joins a conversation about trade after Yuuri edges him to participate.

Yurio gets hunted down by a bunch of noble ladies, who seemingly turned into blood-thirsty fangirls after seeing his cat ears twitch uncontrollably.

The poor Chimera is running all around the ballroom with his pursuers hot on his heals because they want to pet him or feed him or whatever.

After the game goes on for about an hour, Yurio has enough and shifts into full-cat-form, jumping up onto a surprised Otabek, who gets avoided because his dragon appearance is too scary and makes himself comfortable in his friend’s arms, yelling, “As long as we are here, I’m never coming down from Beka again! So stay the fuck away from me!”

When Yuuri looks at the teen with a raised eyebrow, the other just huffs and cuddles himself into the warmth of the dragonshifter’s embrace.

Yuuri wants to coo. He’s glad that the two have such a good relationship.

He turns to search for Victor, when he sees him surrounded by flirty women and men, touching the silver-haired Hero coyly on the arms and his chest. Some even leaning up to whisper something into his ear and Victor smiling gently back at them.

The Japanese man averts his gaze as his chest starts to hurt.

He can’t watch this.

No, he doesn’t want to watch this.

He needs a distraction.

Something to take his mind off and calms his nerves.

He looks over the buffet, his eyes finding some bottles.

He needs a drink.

The highschooler walks over and opens a random bottle without looking at the descriptions of its contents and pours himself a glass. He gulps the liquid down in one go.

It tastes delicious.

He pours himself another glass.

And another glass.

And another one.

And then three more because he starts feeling happier and giddy.

After the seventh glass everything is sooo fun and he doesn’t even know what has worried him in the first place!

He swallows three more glasses of the very delicious juice and starts swaying to the music with his whole body.

Then he moves back to Yurio and shouts at the little kitten, “Dance off now!”

Yurio bristles at that, refusing, but Yuuri is unstoppable and they find themselves dancing wildly in a circle of onlookers, who clap for them in support and amusement.

Then there is Phichit and him doing a tango and Otabek and him doing a mixture of hip hop and fight moves?

The next thing Yuuri knows is that Chris brings out a pole from somewhere and the two men put on a strip show, using the pole as their dance floor.

He hears JJ laughing loudly and then he sees Victor staring at him with wide eyes and a flush on his cheeks and suddenly Yuuri knows what he has to do. The Japanese has to tell his beloved that he shouldn’t let other people touch him so carelessly!

The 16-year-old walks up to The Living Legend and presses a finger against the other’s chest, “You!”

    “M-Me?!”, Victor stammers nervously.

    “Yeah, you! You…. You shouldn’t let other people… let other people… Ah! Let other people touch you so carelessly! That’s not good!”, Yuuri says with determination, “Only I am allowed to do that! Understood?”

    “O-Okay?!”, the Hero blinks at him, the flush getting stronger.

Yuuri nods, humming, “Good!”, he sways a little before his eyes start to sparkle, “Dance with me Vitya!”

He grabs the other man by his collar and leads him onto the dance floor, twirling around and laughing freely.

Yuuri leans in, whispering into Victor’s red ears, “Don’t take your eyes off me!”

And Victor smiles lightly, whispering back, “Never.”

They twirl and spin and make some figures to the presented dances before Yuuri finally collapses in Victor’s arms, tired and drained from the alcohol and the physical extortion.

JJ comes up to them, clapping, “This ball entertainment was amazing. Thank you for bringing him! He sure has made the event more enjoyable!”, the King smiles happily, “Tomorrow at 10 am in the throne room, you’ll get your audience with me. Have a good night”, the king turns around and walks up to some other guests, while leaving a stunned Victor.

They got permission for the audience.

The Living Legend gazes down at the sleeping Yuuri in his hands, “You are amazing.”

The silver-haired man doesn’t notice two pairs of eyes, smiling at them from the side-lines, shaking their hands on an alliance concerning their best friend’s happiness.

Meanwhile in the Realm of the Gods and Goddesses

Minami runs up and down from one office to the other in desperation, his blond hair with red bangs flying in the wind and his chestnut eyes a little glazy due to his rush.

This is not good!

The young God of Devotion, Swordsmanship and the Sky bites his bottom lip.

What should he do?

He goes to Chrysanthemia’s office and slumps down on the ground, Morooka, the God of Elegance, Royalty and the Sun, and Petunia, the Goddess of Passion, Diligence and Organisation, look at him in concern.

    “Are you alright, Minami?”, Morooka asks, walking over to the younger one and helping him standing up. The older god has short, messy brown hair and round, dark eyes.

    “Yeah…”, Minami lets out a long sigh before explaining their growing predicaments, “It’s just that the Gods of Storm decided to go on vacation because he can’t take it any longer, the Goddess of Justice and Trial collapsed from overwork and is lying unconscious in the infirmary together with the Goddess of Harvest, the God of the Four Seasons, the God of Trade, the Goddess of Nature and too many others. The assistants and helpers try to keep up with the workload to not further disturb the already dangerously fragile equilibrium, but the problems and issues only increase by the minute. And I don’t know how long we can postpone the inevitable. Why did Lycoris decide to follow Chrysanthemia down to the Realm of the Mortals right now? I know that someone has to inform her and try to find the source of the situation, but since he left, all other celestials either go on vacation, vanish mysteriously or break down from taking on the work the others left behind! I don’t know how long we can endure this!”

Petunia sighs and closes her grey eyes for a second, her long lilac hair sways as she steps forward, “Thank you for informing us, Minami. This surely is problematic. But where should I even start? All began with our Head Goddess deciding to go on vacation on a whim without even going through the proper procedures. It was only a matter of time until something happened. Maybe Chrysanthemia should consider retirement, if she isn’t able to properly fulfil her duties and look after the other deities.”

Morooka turns stern, “I know that the situation is dire, but I don’t think that pushing the blame on only one person is the right thing to go about this, Petunia. Chrysanthemia has done a great job for centuries and I think that her break is well deserved. I can’t argue that the way she chose to inform us wasn’t according to protocol, but I can’t fault her for it either. As Head Goddess the responsibilities are never-ending.”

    “I’m sorry, I was out of line”, the Goddess of Passion bows apologetic, “It’s just that with Lycoris leaving as well, it’s not easy to uphold everything.”

    “Don’t be to hard on you!”, Minami chimes in, “You are doing a great job as Chrys’ substitute!”

Petunia smiles proudly, “Thank you.”

The Sungod huffs, “I just hope that the situation is resolved before long. It would be a pity to force the world into a restart…”

Minami and Petunia hum.

That really would be a pity and their last resort.

Hopefully, it won’t come to this.

The next day at Chris’ mansion

Yuuri wakes up with a bad headache. He groans, keeping his eyes closed.

What the hell did he do yesterday to get that smashed?

He remembers getting jealous of all the people flirting and getting touchy with Victor and trying to drown his worries in alcohol…

Fuck, how many glasses of liquor did he have?

The Japanese massages his temple.

He remembers drinking five glasses before the memories get hazy.

After that nothing.

He tries to remember something. Anything. A detail to tell him what he did after getting drunk off his ass. But he fails. Great. Just great.

The highschooler turns around to try to burry himself in his warm pillow for some more rest when his hands clutch at something very different than a feathery pillow. It feels warm, smooth and…

A breath hits the world traveller in the face and he freezes.

Yuuri opens his eyes in shock and comes face to face with a sleeping Victor. The Living Legend’s arm is stretched out under the dark-haired man’s head for Yuuri to use as pillow.

The world traveller shrieks and gets out of the bed immediately, waking his trainer in the process.

His heart beats fast against his ribcage.

Why is Victor sleeping next to him in his bed?

What the hell is going on?

    “Everything alright, Yuuri?”, his mentor sits up, rubbing his eyes with his hands, still drowsy from sleep.

Yuuri wants to say something. Anything. But his voice won’t listen to him. Instead he is staring at the ripped and very naked torso of the Hero with his mouth wide open.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED LAST NIGHT?!?

DID HE AND…

Yuuri turns pale before slowly looking down at his still clothed body.

Thank the gods!, he wants to shout.

It would be a disaster not remembering well that if it happened between them…

The young teen turns crimson at the thought before shaking his head, confusion hitting again.

Why was Victor sleeping in his room next to him?

The world traveller turns his gaze to his beloved again, his eyebrows furrowed.

Victor grimaces, “This is not what it looks like Yuuri!”, he tries to explain when he thinks that he catches up with the other’s thought process. Not that The Living Legend wouldn’t want to, but his crush is still one-sided and yeah…

The Hero clears his throat, a pink flush dusting his cheeks, “You drank too much last night and pole danced with Chris at the ball before well… never mind. It earned us the King’s promise of an audience today. So thank you very much. And well, when we went home by carriage, you were clinging to me the whole time. When we arrived at Chris’ mansion, I carried you to your room, but you wouldn’t let go of me and well… I tried to reason with you, but your only response was pushing me on the bed and cuddling up to me after wishing me a good night… I am so sorry… I really tried my best… I also thought about leaving your room when you fell asleep, but I was caught in between your arms and then I got sleepy… and the rest is history.”

Yuuri facepalms. Of all the traits to inherit, he has to take after his father’s drunken shenanigans. God damn it! Just why? That’s so embarrassing!

    “It’s alright, darling! Stop worrying! Nothing bad or unappreciated really happened… So everything’s fine!”, Victor tries to soothe him, crouching down to him to hug him gently.

The 16-year-old clutches at the other, his face feeling hot as he remembers that his mentor doesn’t wear a shirt at the moment and that he is touching the hard muscle on the Hero’s back.

He feels blood rushing to his nose and wills it back. No nosebleed today!

Instead he takes in some deep breathes, relishing the natural scent of the silver-haired man. Can someone fault him for never wanting to let go?

Someone knocks at the door to his bedroom before entering.

    “Yuuri? How are you– OH MY GOD!”, Phichit squeaks at the adorable sight before him, not hesitating in taking pictures.

Yurio, Chris and Otabek walk in after him, curious about the elf’s strange sound.

    “Stop screaming in the morning, you damn elf!”, the Ice Tiger bristles before his eyes land on Victor and Yuuri, “WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO DOING ON THE GROUND?”

The dragonshifter just blinks, waiting for everything to unfold.

The eyes of the Incubus turn wide and a lewd smirk makes it onto his face, “My oh my! Would you look at that. Victor, you sly dog!”

Yuuri finally finds his voice again and wants to explain and defend his trainer’s innocent actions, when the blond teen grimaces, “No, I don’t even want to know! You are both so gross!”

Victor starts laughing at that and lets go of his mentee to stand up, “I was just hugging Yuuri after explaining what happened at the ball, Yura! No need to get jealous! There is plenty of love for you too!”

    “Eurgh! Stop it, old man! You’re making it worse!”, Yurio yells before turning to Otabek, “Beka tell him to give it a rest! Maybe, you’ll get through to him!”

The Dragon Warrior’s lips curl up at the nickname, “But he is right, Yura. There is plenty of love for you too.”

The Chimera scowls, “I hate you all!”

    “Well, now that that’s settled, we should go down and have breakfast before going to the palace for the audience. I don’t want to hear from my friends that I treat my guests badly!”, Chris winks at Yuuri before turning around and gesturing to the door, “We’ll let you get dressed and wait for you two in the dining hall.”

The Incubus shoots a smirk to his best friend before exiting the room. Otabek and Yurio following behind him with the Ice Tiger dragging an overexcited Phichit by the collar of his shirt.

When the door closes, Yuuri facepalms. That was soooo embarrassing!

He chances some glances at the silver-haired Hero through the safety of the gaps between his fingers, only to notice that his trainer is staring at him with a soft expression.

    “I’m going to get changed in my room”, Victor exclaims, leaning down to take Yuuri’s hands away from his face and caress the world traveller’s cheek afterwards, “See you at breakfast!”

Then his coach leaves the room and the dark-haired student turns red again.

Can he read this like he wants to read it?

Can he hope like he wants to hope for a chance?

He is not sure, knowing that the Hero is a very affectionate person in general.

But no friend has ever behaved like Victor does.

Has touched him so gently, hold him so carefully or caressed him so softly like The Living Legend does all the time.

So is it alright for him to wish for more?

Yuuri wants to desperately get closer to him, but his fear of losing Victor makes it difficult for him to decide on what he should do.

What if he makes the wrong conclusions?

What if he ruins everything between them by telling the other man about his still growing feelings?

He feels heart squeezing tightly in his chest.

The teen doesn’t know how long he can go on like this, especially with happenings like this morning. They are poison to his heart.

The world traveller shakes his head.

He should stop worrying and get dressed soon.

They don’t have time for his insecurities and own problems when world peace is at stake.

Yuuri stands up and dresses himself for the audience with the King before he goes down to the dining hall to have breakfast with his friends and comrades.

Breakfast is a fast affair as they have already lost a lot of time this morning. The carriage to the palace awaits them at the gates to Christophe’s mansion. After the short travel to the royal castle, the group is escorted to the throne room by the servants without much of a say.

They enter the throne room and bow politely to King JJ, who gestures for them to raise their heads.

    “Thank you for granting us this audience, Your Majesty”, Victor starts the conversation, “I hope to be granted permission to speak frankly with you as Your Highness informed us that you don’t have much time because of your duties.”

    “Granted”, the Demon King answers resigned.

    “Milord, we have travelled under orders of King Celestino of Elania, Prince Lee of the Fairy Realm, the King of Seronia and King Yakov of Saphira to inform you of our mission to investigate the happenings and rumours in Rusza.”

    “Fine, fine”, the ruler of Crownwell interrupts, “Please come to the point.”

Yurio bristles quietly. Not even wanting to hear them properly out. What kind of ruler is that?

    “With your permission, Your Majesty. We are hear to inquire about your standing concerning the war declarations from the King of Rusza and if you want to aid us by adding a representative from your country to our mission.”

    “My standing, huh?”, the Demon Lord says slowly with an edge to his voice, “Dear representatives then, as you may not know the Demon Kingdom faces various threats for some time now besides the war declaration from the Human Kingdom. The weather starts changing horrendously, the monster sightings increase by the day in odd numbers. We faced too many assassination attempts of the Queen, dignitaries or myself without finding the culprits behind them but with evidence of the involvement of each Kingdom on this planet. However, we don’t know if they are genuine or were planted to mislead us. I’m drowned in work about all the different territories and people started going missing. So my stand indeed. We don’t even know who our allies are anymore!”

Makkachin shoots Vicchan an inquiring stare. However, the toy poodle just looks deep in thought. After some moments of silence, he decides to tell the Head Goddess via telepathy.

    “Chihoko is in prison right now. So it must probably be the vessels doing along with the disturbance of the balance. Still it’s worrying that the Demon Kingdom is the most affected right now… Especially if the problems increase… It won’t be long before chaos expands itself over the whole world… The gods and goddesses above work towards granting us more time, but their effort won’t last forever. We should hurry and stop the vessel from doing worse!”

The standard poodle nods, turning her attention back to the discussion with the King of the Demon Kingdom.

    “I’ll see were you are coming from Your Majesty, but I ensure you our good faith in hoping for a collaboration for our mission. We want to help stop this war from breaking out, but we’ll need support to do so!”, Victor responds truthfully.

King JJ sighs, “Well–“, he starts when a messenger runs into the throne room.

The young man with tousled hair, bows down before speaking breathlessly, “My King, my deepest apologies for this interruption, but I come with urgent news from the fort at the border near the Fox Mountains. The fort got attacked by a large swarm of monsters and the Queen sent out the message via crystal ball to request for aid as they can’t hold them back for long.”

The Demon King pales, “But the fort is two days away on horseback! We won’t arrive quickly enough. No, Isabella…”, he slumps down on the throne, looking broken.

Victor turns to his friends. They all are nodding to each other in agreement.

The Hero raises his voice, “Your Majesty, I so happen to have the skill Teleport at my disposal and I know where the fort at the border near the Fox Mountains is located as I have visited it a lot in the past. With your permission, please grant me leave to aid the Queen with my comrades in her predicament.”

The royal looks at him with wide, glassy eyes before he nods, hope growing in his eyes, “You have my permission, Living Legend”, JJ worries his lips before a pleading smile appears on his face, “Please bring her back safely.”

They bow to the ruler again before Yuuri says determined, his eyes full of fire, “You have our word, Your Majesty.”

Chapter Text

The tension in the throne room is suffocating. Every eye in the room is trained on the silver-haired Hero, who is busying himself with the last preparations before their departure into battle.

Chris glances at them worriedly before he makes his decision and steps in front of the Demon King, bowing deeply, “You Majesty, please give me permission to join the rescue. When The Living Legend and his companions will arrive at the fort, the soldiers may deem them as threats if no delegate from the capital city is accompanying them.”

King JJ hums thoughtfully, “I give you permission, Viscount Giacometti. You may aid them during the battle to the best of your abilities as well.”

The Incubus bows again, “I thank you, Your Majesty.”

The ruler of the Demon Kingdom shakes his head, “Please. It is I, who should thank you.”

Chris nods to his best friend, who motions for Yuuri and the others to step closer to him, “It’s nice of you to join us, Chris.”

The demon grins playfully, “As if I would let you have all the fun alone!”

The Hero snorts, pressing Makka against his chest before he turns to their rescue squad, “Please hold tightly onto me, so that the skill will work properly.”

Yuuri takes Vicchan into his arms and grips for his mentor’s right arm, Yurio takes the left, Phichit goes for the right shoulder and Otabek for the left, while Chris grabs Victor’s ass, squeezing it once for good measure, a smirk on his face.

Yuri scowls, murmuring something like “These gross geezers. Why do I even have to put up with this?”

Yuuri just stares at the hand, groping his trainer’s butt cheek shamelessly and Phichit stifles his laughter under a hand, while Otabek just observes like usual, an amused sparkle in his eyes.

Victor rolls his eyes, but laughs at the gesture, “You never change, do you?”

The Incubus bats his eyelashes at him before holding onto his best friend’s back, “I just wanted to make sure that everything is still intact.”

The silver-haired Immortal gives him a glare, “Thank you for verifying something very obvious then.”

The Viscount smiles innocently at him, “Anytime, cheri!”

Victor shakes his head with a incredulous smile before he clears his throat, “Concerning our mission then: I will teleport us straight to the fort. We will observe the situation for a few seconds before engaging the enemy and trying to talk to the soldiers. In our best scenario, we will be able to talk to the Queen and the leading general before fighting against the monsters. We will have to work as a team out there, but more cautious as before. We don’t know how great the threat is and their level. So please stay all on your toes, especially you Yuuri!”, he turns to the 16-year-old with a stern expression, “No solo attempts on your end. Is that clear?”

The Japanese nods, feeling a little disappointed that he is the one to hold them back because of his level.

His mentor sighs, “Don’t look so sad. I didn’t mean to offend you. You are strong, Yuuri. Don’t get me wrong. You’ve proven yourself time after time. It’s just that you are currently Level 20 and I want to be careful. Please understand that you are not holding us back.”

Phichit, Yurio and Otabek turn to him with a steady gaze, nodding at Victor’s words in confirmation. Even the dogs bark to him to assure him.

Yuuri lets out a breath, smiling, “I understand. I’ll do my best, while looking out for my safety.”

Yurio huffs in approval, while Otabek reaches out to tousle the highschooler’s hair and Phichit stretches over to give his friend a hug. Vicchan paws at him cheerfully and Makka wuffs again.

    “Good!”, Victor looks a little delighted like a stone fell from his chest, “Then hold on tight now, I am going to activate the skill!”

They are gone in a flash.

The group appears in the middle of the training place in the fort near the Fox Mountains. Yuuri blinks a few times as he takes in the running around soldiers and the cries of commands floating through the air. The stronghold looks rustic like the buildings of the middle ages with great walls made out of stones and uneven ground. He wants to stare a little longer to take everything in, but movement from their side shakes him out of his daze.

A soldier in black armour makes his way to them, his dark helmet placed in his hands and his expression relieved, a group of other fighters behind him.

Chris takes a few steps forward, “It’s good to see you, Sir Geraldo.”

The other man lets out a chuckle, “I think I should be the one saying that, Lord Giacometti. I suppose the King sent you as part of the reinforcements?”

The Viscount smiles, “Well, as of now, we are your only reinforcements as troops from the capital would only be able to arrive in two days’ time.”

The Knight frowns and the ambassador holds up one hand, “Don’t lose heart. I’ve brought with me The Living Legend, Lord Nikiforov personally”, the Incubus gestures to Victor, who bows elegantly.

Sir Geraldo gapes before he turns pink, bowing as well, “It’s such an honour to be graced with your presence, Lord Nikiforov!”

The other soldiers bow as well, whispering surprised and full of enthusiasm to each other.

    “Oh my god! It’s The Living Legend!”

    “I can’t believe he’s here in person!”

    “Do you think I can get an autograph later?”

    “He’s more beautiful than I could have ever imagined!”

    “Look at those eyes! Don’t they make you swoon as well?”

Victor winks in their direction with a cheerful smile and hears as the others swoon instantly. Yurio rolls his eyes together with Yuuri, who lets out a sigh. Otabek stifles a snort and Phichit takes pictures of the soldiers and Victor with a mischievous grin on his face. Maaaybe he could sell them sometime later!

    “OH MY GODDESS! HE WINKED AT ME! DID YOU SEE THAT!”

    “NO, HE WINKED AT ME, YOU IDIOT!”

    “He is so handsome!!!”

    “I just want to eat him up!”

    “Oh grace the gods to have me posted here!”

    “Yes, I definitely need that autograph!”

Sir Geraldo clears his throat and the others shut their mouth instantly. He gives his comrades a stern but understanding look before he turns to the new arrivals again, “Please let me escort you to Her Highness.”

Chris tries to cover the smirk on his face, knowing how popular Victor is internationally, “Thank you. Lead the way.”

They are escorted to the Grand Hall of the fort, where a woman with five other people seems to be caught up in a heated discussion.

    “–confront them directly then”, a man in long green Mage robes proposes.

Another woman in red armour shakes her hand, “But we need to have some people on the look-out. What the attack is just a diversion to slip past our defences?”

A man in violet silk robes hums, “That could be the case… But then again, if we split our forces, we won’t have enough manpower to fight them off…”

A woman with dark hair and porcelain skin in an expensive looking dress with various ornaments sighs, “We must come up with something. The forces currently fighting are near their breaking point. We can’t keep that up for much longer. But the aid from the capital will only arrive in two days from now on…”

    “Excuse me for the interruption, Your Majesty. But I bring important news”, Sir Geraldo interrupts the discussion, bowing gracefully.

The heads turn to them with surprised expression.

    “Please continue”, the woman in the expensive looking dress addresses the Knight Commander of the Seventh Division.

The Knight straightens himself with a smile, “My Queen, I have brought you the support sent by the castle to aid in our troubles”, the advisors and Queen Isabella look at the group behind the Commander as the Sir Geraldo continues, “May I introduce The Living Legend, Lord Victor Nikiforov and his companions as well as Viscount Christophe Giacometti”, he gestures to the team behind him.

Chris and Victor take a step forward and bow in unison, Yuuri and the others copying the movement.

The Incubus is the first to address his Queen, “My Queen, I was sent here as delegate from the Demon Kingdom to aid you through this fight. Please, don’t hesitate to make use of my skills to the best of my abilities.”

The Immortal speaks after his best friend has finished, “Your Majesty, it is an honour to meet you again. I’ve come here with my friends to support you in this time of need. If you would be so kind as to brief us about what exactly we are currently facing, I would be delighted to immediately get to work.”

The advisors seem shocked and unable to form any words.

Queen Isabella lets out a sigh in relief, “Thank you for coming, Lord Giacometti, Lord Nikiforov. Your aid is much appreciated. Concerning our current situation: We are facing hordes of monsters making their way from the Fox Mountains down to our fort. They are attacking us continuously. It’s a never-ending chain of adversaries. Some of our soldiers are too wounded to continue the fight and others are reaching their breaking points about right now. We are in dire need of reinforcements to hinder the monsters from breaking through our stronghold. I beseech you, please let us borrow your powers in eliminating the monsters before innocent citizens beyond our walls are getting hurt.”

Chris and Victor bow again, “It is our pleasure, Your Majesty.”

The two friends nod to each other before turning to their companions.

The silver-haired Hero turns serious, “Braze yourself, my friends. We are going to the battlefield”, he gets a thoughtful look before he continues, “We will stay near each other and move like a group. No solo for all of you until we know the exact numbers of the enemy. I will take the vanguard at the front, Chris you are beside me as the front, Phichit you get the back for a good shooting range, Yurio and Otabek and … Yuuri, you all get the rear to look for opportunities to attack after we block the attacks. This is only the starting formation. Sear it into your brains that we’ll probably get mixed up in our positions during the fight. It can happen that we will also get separated in the heat of battle…”, Victor worriedly looks at Yuuri, his gaze telling everyone that he doesn’t want the highschooler to participate, but doesn’t want to let him feel left out either, “Please try your best to never be entirely alone and look for your friends on the battlefield for support. This is not like in training, where everyone will be ready to jump in to save the other. This is dangerous.”

Yurio huffs, “The ruin was dangerous as well and we survived.”

Victor glares at him, “That may be so. But this is different. Here you have to look out for continuous attacks and the number of enemies is far greater than in there”, the silver-haired man lets out a sigh, “I know that you are all strong”, his gaze searches for Yuuri’s eyes to confirm his inner strength for him as well before giving Yurio a stern look, “But this is like war. You have to stay on your toes, looking out for the engaging advisories while supporting your allies. Don’t take this lightly or you will regret it”, his voice gets very low at the end of his sentence.

Yurio nods silently, the other joining in.

The Living Legend takes a deep breath, before determination fills his eyes and his whole demeanour changes into one of an experienced veteran, “Good. Let’s head out then”, he nods to the Queen, bowing once again, “We are heading out, Your Majesty. Please blow the horn to inform the warriors on the battlefield that aid has arrived and to retreat if they are too heavily wounded. And could you take care of the dogs?”

Makka shoots him an angry look, but the silver-haired man isn’t going to have her complain. Vicchan just huffs, giving the standard poodle a strange eye wiggle.

Queen Isabella nods, “Of course. Stay safe.”

Victor starts walking out, his friends following him behind.

As soon as they walked out Lycoris turns to Chrysanthemia, “Chrys, Body Double now!”

The Head Goddess nods and doubles herself, while making her true self invisible. Lycoris follows her.

They let a tongue-lolling Makka-double and innocent-looking Vicchan-double besides the humans and make their way up the towers of the fort to have a better look-out.

    “Something strange is happening here…”, Lycoris says, trying to concentrate on the flowing energy stream, “It’s not normal for monsters to attack in such swarms… There is a feeling of someone meddling with them…”

Chrysanthemia frowns, “Now that you mention it. There is another celestial energy flow in the air… But who?”

The God of Twilight furrows his eyebrow, “We’ll have to find that out. Let’s keep our eyes and ears open… But one thing is for sure, this is coming directly from the battlefield…”

The Goddess of Happiness, Longevity, Honesty and Joy bites her bottom lip, “I hope Vitya and the others will be alright… I am especially worried about dear Yuuri. Won’t you–?”

Lycoris shakes his head, “Soon, but not right now… If I bless him too early, he won’t make it… The change takes time and if it’s too forced nothing good will come out of it… You know that from past incidents… I don’t want to repeat killing my wards again. It always leaves me with a bitter aftertaste and…”

    “You don’t want to kill Yuuri”, Chrys says honestly, “I understand that sentiment. I wouldn’t want to kill Victor as well if I would be in your situation.”

The God of Reincarnation and Death hums, “Let us continue to observe for the time being.”

The Head Goddess nods in approval.

Yuuri is nervous. His mentor is clearly torn about him joining the fight. The Japanese knows that he is only Level 20 at the moment, but then again, he has survived the labyrinth in the ruins in the Dragon Valley to a grand part on his own. And he has trained so much in the past weeks. At one hand, the 16-year-old wants to curl up under a blanket in safety, while he is waiting for his friends to tell him that everything is over, on the other hand, he wants to fight along them and prove himself. Furthermore, the student would never forgive himself if one of them got hurt and his presence could have prevented that. He wants to protect all of them. So he is going and nothing will hinder him.

They pass the halls and the training field, stopping before the front gates.

The horn sounds three times.

Victor turns to them again, looking straight at Yuuri, he opens his mouth, but the Japanese focuses on him with a gaze full of determination and so the Hero sighs again, a soft smile tugging on his lips as he turns to the gatekeeper, “Please open the gates for a moment to let us pass through.”

The gatekeeper salutes with vigour and does as he is ordered.

The Living Legend nods at the soldier thankfully, “Let’s go.”

They quickly make their way out as battle cries fill the air.

Yuuri has never seen something so devastating.

The atmosphere is filled with tension, hatred, blood, sweat and the scent of death.

He wants to vomit, but holds himself back.

The scene is nothing like the ones in RPGs. It’s much more real, much more fear-inducing and aggravating.

He swallows hard. This is no time to get distracted.

Victor draws his sword Moonslayer, “Draw your weapons. The fighting will start any minute now. Don’t let your guard down.”

As soon as the word left his lips a fire ball heads straight their way.

The Hero whirls around, cutting through it with his sword, “Phichit continuously attack with Aerial Laser at 12 o’clock. Chris boost our stats before attacking with magic at the same direction. Otabek use Detect to find other soldiers out there, report and then Fiery Blast at the nearest enemy. Yura use Ward over the entrance to the fort and then Wind Magic. Yuuri use Illusion and then Energy Ball at 12 o’clock. The distance for Shadow Manipulation is too far right now, so wait for that”, Victor shoots a Moon Blast up front.

Phichit starts using Aerial Laser, while Chris casts his stat boost skills one after the other. Otabek gets a distant look, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, while Yurio casts his Ward over the entrance to the fort and Yuuri uses his Illusion skill like Victor told him to.

They are all in attack mode when the dragonshifter starts giving his report, “The soldiers are all over the battlefield, Victor. The biggest groups are located East and West from here and the others are mixed into the ranks of the monsters. We won’t be able to save and support everyone”, he shoots a Fiery Blast at the front.

A shiver runs down Yuuri’s spine as he shoots another Energy Ball at a monster. They have to choose, who they will save first with the lives of the others on the line…

Victor grits his teeth, using Wind Slash at the enemies up front, “Which group is the closer one?”

Otabek concentrates, “It’s the one to the East.”

    “And where are the bigger masses of attackers?”, the Hero says emotionless.

Chris looks dreadful, using Fire Bomb, “No, Victor! That’s a stupid idea!”

Victor turns to his friend, while directing an Ice Missile at the enemies, “Chris, there is no choice! We can’t use grand scale attacks as long as they are out there! Otabek! Answer!”

The dragonshifter looks grim, “The West…”

The Hero hums, his gaze stern as he directs a Moon Blast to the enemies.

    “What the hell are you talking about, old man?! What idea?”, Yurio yells in confusion, using his Wind Magic against the monsters at the front.

Chris huffs, using Astral Bullet in continuation, “Victor wants us to go East, while he goes West alone”, he grumbles the last words, “And like hell I will let him do that.”

    “The fuck, old man! You tell us no solo attempts and then you want to do one yourself?! FUCK YOU!”, the Ice Tiger shouts angrily.

    “I agree with Yura. It’s just upright reckless”, Otabek adds, concentrating on the movements of the soldiers in the distance.

Phichit looks stern, while shooting his arrows, “That’s a really stupid idea. Even if you are immortal. It’s still dangerous and what if you happen to reach 0 HP yourself, maybe you’ll collapse then without a blink of an eye and get to be eaten by the monsters. So that’s a definite no-no.”

Yuuri nods, “Maybe we can build teams and use some kind of magic to make a wall, so that we can evacuate the soldiers and direct the movements of the monsters? We could reunite then and fight together!”

They all stare at the youngest, who blushes a little.

Chris smiles, “That’s not a bad idea. We could do a three-three people group-up and use my Flare Wall to keep the monsters back in one direction.”

    “I can use Flare Wall as well”, the Dragon Warrior exclaims with a light tug on his lips.

Victor sighs deeply, “Okay… Then its Chris and me–“

    “And myself”, Phichit says with a smile, “We said three on three and I know that Otabek wants Yurio on his team. And you are heading to the more dangerous monster zone, so Yuuri is with Otagon and Little Kitten and I am with you to even the odds.”

Yurio grumbles at the nickname and the mixture of Otabek and Dragon, but remains silent together with Otabek because he agrees with the elf.

The Hero grimaces that his plans got destroyed once again.

He lets out a heavy breath, “Fine.”

The Incubus pats him on the shoulder, “I know you want to protect us, but three people per battle team gives all of us advantages. Moreover, the troops in the East are closer and the monsters less dangerous.”

    “I know”, Victor huffs, “Okay then… Concerning my team: I and Chris will be at the front and Phichit you are the rear. Concerning Otabek’s team: Otabek and Yurio front, Yuuri rear. Is that all clear?”

They all nod in approval.

    “Good”, The Living Legend’s gaze interlocks with Yuuri’s, his eyes filled with worry and concern, before determination fills his blue orbs, “Our goal is to escort the soldiers to the fort and cast Flare Wall to hinder the monsters from coming closer, then we will meet up here and fight our way through on the other side, looking out for other people, who survived. Stay in formation as long as possible and have each other’s backs. Friends, we are heading out. Good luck and see you later.”

Victor casts Inferno to push the monster a little away before Chris and Otabek start building the grand Flare Wall and the team parts in two different directions.

Team Otabek, Yurio and Yuuri front

Yuuri has never casted Energy Ball, Illusion, Shadow Manipulation or Explosion as fast and often as now.

Otabek tries to spread his Flare Wall as fast as he can, but some monsters still get to their side before the fire makes it impossible for them.

Yurio sweeps through the lines using various kick attacks and punches, going for close combat as Otabek is supporting them with magic skills. Holding a skill and casting it continuously puts a great strain on the fighter if he isn’t practised at it. Good for them that the dragonshifter seems experienced enough as he is keeping his calm perfectly, casting with his left hand the Flare Wall and with his right other spells.

    “How far is it from here?”, the Chimera yells as he uses a Blaze Kick on a Grey Monsterbuffalo, which goes down with a groan, “Katsudon, Energy Ball!”

Yuuri obliges and defeats the monster as the Ice Chimera already attacks two other War Bisons with a well-aimed Spin Kick.

The Japanese hears the familiar pin of a Level-Up but ignores it in favour of attacking the War Bisons with his Energy Balls.

The dragonshifter hums, “It shouldn’t be too far from here. It’s just that the number of our enemies is holding us back from advancing quicker.”

The highschooler pins three Green Wolfs to the ground with his Shadow Manipulation before he uses Explosion, while Yurio deals with a Black Jaguar and a Red War Giraffe at the same time.

    “How annoying!”, the blond teen scowls, kicking the Jaguar in the shin before using his Dual Punch.

They dance through a great number of monsters until they finally see a group of soldiers fighting against a group of snake monsters, while protecting their injured comrades.

Yuuri, Yurio and Otabek nod at each other and the Chimera uses Galeforce and Hurricane to blow the monsters out of their way, while the Japanese uses explosion to push their adversaries back, so that the dragonshifter can expand the Flare Wall with less reinforcements of the enemy in their way. The Dragon Warrior expands it up to the beginning of one of the mountains.

The three friends run up to the troops of the Demon country.

    “Are you alright? Does anyone need instant healing?”, Yuuri asks, “We are the reinforcements from the royal capital. If you can stand, we will escort you to the fort to rest. My friends are planning to do large-scale attacks after you all have left the battlefield.”

A woman with golden hair and golden eyes walks over to them as Yurio and Otabek blast away the last of the remaining monsters on their side.

    “We are mostly alright. Some have minor injuries, but we should be able to walk back to the fort. There is another group in the West and some of us are stranded beyond your Flare Wall. Please, try to help them as well!”

The dark-haired teen nods, “Yes, we will. But first, we have to secure your safety.”

They escort the soldiers back to the front gates of the fort without any hitches, Otabek reinforcing the Flare Wall as precaution, “I think it will hold out for one hour before I have to put more magic into it again.”

After the exhausted soldiers have retreated into the fort, the three wait for the others to arrive, while rejuvenating themselves with some potions.

Team Victor, Chris and Phichit front

Victor uses Ice Coffin to freeze the attacking monsters in an instant, while Chris expands the Flare Wall wide up ahead and throws shoots some Demon Bullets for good measure. Phichit uses Piercing Line and Aerial Laser repeatedly, using Impaling Heaven once to let arrows rain down on his opponents.

They move swiftly through the monsters, which shatter after the attacks hit them.

    “This is great bow training!”, Phichit cheers, using Severing Wind to cut through his enemies with wind strikes, “I hope the others have as much of an adventure as we have!”

Victor grits his teeth and Chris sighs before the Incubus responds to the elf, “I’m glad you are enjoying yourself, hun. But don’t be so hasty. According to Otabek the real challenges are up ahead. I hope as well that Yuuri and Co have also some fun, but I wish them a smoother walk than this.”

The Hero presses his lips together, “We should hurry. The sooner we find those soldiers and get them to retreat, the faster we can join up with the others.”

The Viscount studies his friend as he shoots an Energy Ball up front.

It isn’t like his friend to be this tense during a battle. Then again, it has been a while for The Living Legend or is it Yuuri that is on his mind.

Chris clicks his tongue. Maybe they shouldn’t have taken the teen with them.

To tell the truth he was clearly surprised as Victor included Yuuri in the team to begin with. Someone at only Level 20 on the battlefield, fighting masses of monsters. This sounds more than insane. Then again, Yurio said something of surviving a ruin.

Chris sighs. He doesn’t know what to think about his friend’s behaviour.

Victor has always been one for surprises, a performer and adventurer through and through. He had always been the one to jump first at a new and exciting adventure. But now? He is so tense and anxious, worrying about things on his own. And it all seems to come down to one person. Yuuri.

The silver-haired Hero shoots a Moon Blast followed by another Ice Coffin to the front, steadily increasing his pace.

The Incubus sighs, deciding that he should says something, “Victor. Please go a little slower. Rushing things won’t help us in this situation.”

Phichit sharpens his ears, but stays silent, while he shoots.

Victor stops, not turning around, his expression looks concentrated.

The demon continues, “I know you are worried about Yuuri, Yurio and Otabek. But this pace is not helping any of us. Please try to keep your head calm and–“,

    “Be quiet”, the Hero hisses in a murmur, interrupting his friend.

The elf wants to try mediating between them as Chris looks a little hurt, but then he feels it as well. His neck hairs start standing up and he feels very uncomfortable.

    “Something isn’t right here”, Victor concludes, murmuring quietly, “It’s been itching me for a while. It’s too quiet and the monsters are too weak. It’s too easy… As if–”

Screams shout through the wind to their front.

    “Damn it!”, The Living Legend starts running with his friends behind him, “The monsters up ‘til now were only decoys! The real nightmares are up front where the group of soldiers are. We have to hurry!”

They run as fast as they can, reaching the location of the troop a few minutes later. The sight is sickening. Half of the soldiers are already torn to shreds by three chimera-like monsters and some Blue Wolfs. The others are hurt or doing their best to protect their injured comrades.

Victor grips Moonslayer tighter, “Chris set up the Flare Wall to the end of the mountain range, then use Area Heal. Phichit use Impaling Heaven relentlessly on the enemies and try to get the knights behind you. I will deal with the three Monster Chimeras myself.”

    “Be careful!”, Phichit says before doing as planned.

    “You too!”, the silver-haired Immortal says before running up into the swarm of monsters, swinging Moonslayer around.

Chris extends the Flare Wall and runs up to the soldiers, using Ricochet to clear his way to the injured before using his skill Area Heal to deal with the worst injuries, “All who can walk, go over behind the elf. You fought all very bravely and we’ll bring you back to the fort for your deserved rest.” The Incubus continues healing the more injured people, trying to stabilize them mentally and sending them one after the other over to the Warrior Elf.

Meanwhile, Victor uses Astra and Hundred Swords to get more hits with his sword combination skills on the sturdy Monster Chimeras. He shoots Ice Missiles at them, then uses Blue Bolt and Thunderclap before ending the battles with Inferno and Starbust Stream.

After dealing with the last S-Class monster he tries to catch his breath. Damn it. Why are such strong opponents even here? His thoughts shoot to Yuuri, Yurio and Otabek. What if they also encountered such advisories? There must be more of them or even stronger ones hiding beyond the Flare Wall.

He shakes his head. No, Otabek said that their route has the less difficult monsters on it. They will be fine. They have to be fine.

The Hero looks over to where Chris and Phichit are helping the soldiers walk towards the fort again. The march will take some time with that many limping people.

Victor grimaces. They can only really help with the small things as they don’t specialize in healing like doctors or Healers.

For now, they can just try to hurry or–

    “Hey guys! How about I teleport the most injured to the infirmary?”, Victor proposes.

Phichit grins, his forehead sweaty, “That sounds like a great idea!”

Chris nods, “Yeah. Some need immediate attention. The Flare Wall will hold up three hours with Otabek’s and my energy combined. Still, let’s get a move on!”

Victor gets to work instantly, teleporting as many people to the training field at the fort, handing them over into capable hands, before returning to take the next batch of injured soldiers with him.

He has to use Teleport seven times before they’ve brought all remaining people to the fort. The Living Legend teleports Chris and Phichit with the last bunch, drinking up some potions and asking for the exact number of soldiers, who were despatched against the threat, before exiting the gates of the stronghold again.

    “Glad that you made it back safely!”

Yuuri, Yurio and Otabek turn around to watch as Victor, Chris and Phichit come through the gate of the fort with grins on their faces.

We brought the troops from the West to the infirmary”, Victor explains, while crossing the distance, “They were heavily injured and needed medical attention as soon as possible. How was your end?”

Yurio smiles like a cat just got some delicious cream, “Everything was fine. We managed to lead the soldiers to the fort and take care of the monsters.”

The Living Legend hums happily as he ruffles through the blond’s hair. The Chimera scowls, but doesn’t back away from the touch.

    “The Flare Wall should hold up for one hour before I need to put more energy into it”, Otabek exclaims, calmly watching how the Ice Tiger tries to straighten his hair.

    “Make that three with our energies combined”, Chris smirks proudly.

Phichit claps his hands, “You two are so awesome! And you as well Yuuri and Yurio! You held your own, while fighting only as trio! Call me impressed!”, the elf’s grin grows wider when he takes a glance at the Japanese’s status, “Oh my! You’ve gained another level! Congrats, Yuuri! You’ll be Level 25 in no time if this continues!”

Yuuri blushes, thankful that the others returned safe as well.

Yurio huffs, “Of course, we are awesome! You should have seen me kicking and jumping! I did great combinations!”

The highschooler nods, “Yurio was very cool out there! It wouldn’t have gone so smoothly without his effort!”

The Ice Tiger turns a little pink on his cheeks, “You were good too, Katsudon… You were a great help.” Otabek nods at the Chimera’s statement.

    “Thank you, guys”, Yuuri smiles at them brightly.

Victor turns his gaze over to the Flare Wall, thinking about the numbers of monsters behind the walls. This will not be an easy fight. Especially if there are more enemies like the Monster Chimeras. Maybe he should let Yuuri sit that one out for his own safety.

The silver-haired Immortal turns to his friends, his face grim, “Have you all had enough time to replenish your health and magic?”

The atmosphere turns serious again.

All nod in confirmation.

    “Good”, Victor says calmly, his expression detached and icy, “As you all know, behind this wall are tons of monsters, waiting for an opportunity to attack or still fighting with survivors from the other platoons. According to the officers 200 out of 300 knights were dispatched to the fields to protect the fort and defeat the monsters. The other 100 are still in reserve serving Her Majesty by fulfilling other duties. For the record we recovered 35 out of the 200 with 17 badly injured. 25 knights were already in the sickbay before we arrived at the fort. The others are either still fighting for their lives or already dead. We need to defeat every adversary as quickly as possible, if we want to give the lost souls out there a chance of survival. But that will not be our priority out there. Our main goal is to defeat the monsters, while staying alive ourselves. Is that clear? This is no game anymore. No training, no going back. If you sign yourself up for this part of the mission, you have to stick with it until the end”, he let’s his gaze wander over his friends in an intimidating manner, trying to highlight how dangerous this mission really is, even for them.

Yurio bites his lip. Yuuri grabs his left hand, which started shivering and Phichit swallows thickly, while Otabek lets out a deep breath, all nodding.

Chris chuckles amused, “You are so serious, cheri! Stop it, you are scaring them to their pants!”

Victor shoots his best friend a glare, “This is serious, Chris! They could lose their lives on this battlefield! The Monster Chimeras were S-Class! We don’t know how many other powerful creatures are out there! Moreover the possibility of getting separated in the fighting chaos is near 100%. Every participant has to be prepared to be able to fight on their own without the security of a friend coming to their aid, if the worst case scenario happens!”

The Incubus rolls his eyes, “Victor, cheri. I know. We know. We are prepared to follow you into this madness. Just look at us”, he gestures to his other comrades, “Yes, we are afraid. Yes, most of us don’t know what will happen and to what we said ‘Yes’ to. But still, we are going with you. We all decided on it, when we received the permission from King JJ.”

    “Chris. You don’t understand. You have an idea of how this may turn out. I have had too many similar experiences over the decades, so I can anticipate the outcomes as well. But they don’t! They don’t know, what may await them! And how can I do this to all of you, fully knowing the price to fight there?”, the Hero says toneless, “We may survive this all as a team. But all of you will have nightmares of it for years to come. Do you really want to ruin your sanity so badly?”, he tries to look every person in the eye, “Don’t misunderstand, I am very happy because of your loyalty and friendship towards me. But that’s exactly why I want to give you that choice! Because you can never unknow!”

Yurio starts opening his mouth to argue, but Victor shuts him up with a glare, “And don’t tell me that I don’t know, what I am talking about! I know more than every single one of you. Even you Chris! I never had the choice to decide if I wanted to head into battle, but I am giving it to you. So decide wisely”, he pleads, his voice raw and rough, “Especially you, Yuuri.”

The Japanese bites his bottom lip, knowing what his mentor wants to say to him with that. He is from another world and on a mission. If he loses his life here, everything is over. Still… He balls his hands into fists. Still, he won’t back down. Not now, not ever, never when Victor needs him.

Yuuri looks determined into Victor’s cerulean-blue eyes, his voice calm and collected, a strong touch to it, “Are you done?”

The Japanese students feels all of his friend’s eyes on him, shocked at how steady he seemed to be.

The Hero blinks at him a few times, clearly shocked, “Y-Yeah?”

The 16-year-old nods at his trainer, “Good. Because we’ve lost precious time with your speech. So let’s not waste any more opportunities to save the missing soldiers. We are ready to go. Come on!”

Yuuri takes a step forward as he feels Victor grip at his arm to hold him back.

    “Yuuri. No”, the silver-haired man says, his expression furious.

The highschooler doesn’t hesitate to meet the other’s eyes again, “Victor, I made my decision and I am sticking with it. I. Am. Coming. With. You. People are counting on us!”

    “Please, Yuuri. I can’t make sure to protect you out there! Nobody of us can! We will all be fighting to stay alive! Please Yuuri”, the Hero begs, his voice trembling, “Please understand and stay here and wait for us. Please.”

The world traveller studies him, but shakes his head, “No. I’ll be coming with you. End of the discussion.”

    “No? No. No!“, Victor’s grip on Yuuri’s arm tightens painfully, the Immortal’s inner mind screaming at him to stop Yuuri, stop him at all costs from going out there. His voice breaks as he screams at the younger one, “NO! YOU WILL STAY HERE! I FORBID YOU FROM GOING OUT THERE! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO–”

    “Victor, you are hurting me”, the dark-haired man exclaims calmly, his eyes unwavering.

The Hero lets go immediately, looking at his hand in horror before letting it fall beside him, his voice sounds destroyed, “Y-Yuuri, y-you c-can–“

    “Yes, I can die out there”, Yuuri says like he would recount a fact.

His mentor looks at him with hurt and sorrow in his eyes, “Y-You are not f-from t-this–“

    “Yeah, I’m not from this world”, the Japanese student finishes for him, he takes Victor’s hands in his, “Still, I am going.”

His mentor stairs at him with a wild gaze, his features turning into a broken mask.

    “Then you are an idiot. A very stupid, suicidal and utterly cruel idiot”, Victor says expressionless, slapping Yuuri’s hands away like they burn him.

The Japanese looks hurt, but his determination never fades, “So be it.”

The Living Legend lets out a hollow chuckle, shaking his head in disbelief, “I hate you so much right now, Yuuri Katsuki.”

Victor starts walking past him, his back turned to the dark-haired man, unable to look at him properly due to his irritation and inner turmoil.

He wants to punch something so badly.

Wants to get some distance between them to calm down and clear his thoughts.

    “You don’t mean that”, Yuuri states, his voice collected and strong.

And Victor hates him. Hates him so much.

He hates him for being stubborn.

Hates him for not wanting to stay out of harm.

Hates him for coming along.

What does he know?

He knows nothing.

The Hero turns around to him, his gaze full of anger and hurt, “Right now, in very this moment, I mean it with every fibre of my body.”

Then Victor stomps away towards the Flare Wall, yelling that he’ll wait for the participants there for ten minutes before going to the other side with Chris running after him.

    “Well, that wasn’t very smooth, Vitya”, Chrysanthemia says with a loud sigh before she looks over at her friend with a frown, “Lycoris stop. This is no time for you to get agitated.”

The God of Death and Reincarnation bristles, ready to pounce on Victor the next instant, “Bu he hurt my sweet Yuuri!”

The Head Goddess huffs, “He’s hurt himself in the process as well and you know that!”

Lycoris scowls and mumbles something incoherent under his breath.

Chrysanthemia sighs again, “I can understand your feelings, but it’s not our place to interfere in human relations.”

“Point taken!”, the other god says, “Let’s continue observing. The energy comes from behind the Flare Wall.”

The Head Goddess hums. This is going to be a long day.

Near the gates

    “What the fuck was that?”, Yurio says with his mouth hanging open.

    “Not something good before a battle”, Otabek answers grimly.

Phichit walks over to a frozen Yuuri, touching him gently on the shoulder and rubbing his back, “Hey, Yuuri? Are you alright? You know that he didn’t really mean that, do you?”

The Japanese nods wordless, then shakes his head before shrugging his shoulders, his frame quivering a little, “H-He h-hates m-me… H-He h-hates m-me? H-He h-hates me, Phichit!”, his eyes are watery and the teen tries so hard to hold back the tears.

The hearts of his friends break at the sight.

    “Oh Yuuri…”, the elf hugs him tightly, trying to soothe his friend as the other starts to sob quietly into his shoulder, “Sssh. Victor doesn’t really mean it. He was just so upset and worried that he chose the wrong words He just wants to keep you safe. We all do actually. But we also respect your decisions.”

Yurio joins the hug with Beka following.

    “I’m sorry on behalf of the stupid old man, Katsudon”, the Chimera pats the dark-haired man’s head, “It’s just that he is very protective of the people he loves and sees as family. He only means good, but he often is a dick about it. He is just really bad at dealing with his feelings…”

    “See! Even our angry little kitten says it!”, Phichit chuckles cheerfully, giving his friend a tight squeeze.

    “Shut up, elf!”, the Ice Tiger scowls, continuing the patting of Yuuri’s head.

Otabek snickers before raising his voice, “Our point is that Victor doesn’t hate you one bit, but is incredible worried about you and can’t deal with the thought of you getting hurt badly. I guess the injuries of the soldiers must have triggered the explosion of his inner turmoil… He is your mentor and taught you how to fight, but he is also your friend, who wants to protect you. We all want to protect you and… if you really want to go, we’ll promise to have your back as you have ours.”

The Warrior Elf hums, “Otagon couldn’t have voiced it any better, Yuuri! We are here for you, when you need us. We will have your back in every fight as you have ours. So, if you really want to go, we’ll be right behind you to back you up. May what come!”

    “Hell yeah! We are so going to kick the monster’s asses and show Victor how great our teamwork is!”, Yurio exclaims loudly, raising one arm in a victory pose.

Yuuri starts laughing, “Yeah. We are going to kick their asses.”

They all smile at each other.

    “Thank you, my friends”, the Japanese says truthfully, “I think I’m fine now. Let’s join Victor and Chris at the Flare Wall.”

Phichit, Yurio and Otabek nod in agreement and help the highschooler up before heading over to the other two.

They are ready.

At Victor’s and Chris front

    “Victor! Wait up!”, the Incubus runs up to his best friend, who determinedly stomps further up to the Flare Wall.

Chris huffs, done with the other’s stubbornness, “I know you didn’t mean that one bit, cheri!”

The Hero turns around angrily, “No, I totally did!”

The Viscount eyes him up and down carefully, “And now you are regretting it.”

The Living Legend scowls, a hiss escaping his clenched teeth, “Fuck off, Chris.”

The demon shrugs, looking at the unruly sky, “Well, I can’t blame you. I wouldn’t want my loved one to participate in such a nightmare either. But you could have chosen a better way to explain yourself to Yuuri, instead of yelling and hurting him.”

Victor flinches at the memory, his shoulder slumping down in defeat.

He had hurt Yuuri.

He hates himself.

The Living Legend starts mumbling, “…”

    “Cheri?”, Chris inquires concerned.

    “I said, I hate myself”, Victor responds toneless.

    “Oh cheri…”, the Incubus hugs his best friend tightly.

After a few seconds the silver-haired man starts leaning into the other, “I just want him to be safe. He has family on his home planet. He has a life there. I don’t want to burden him with the troubles of warfare of Aegis. Especially not if he–“, he can’t say the words. Too afraid that they’ll become reality, when he voices them out loud.

The demon lets out a long breath, “So in short, you want to shelter him from every bad thing in our world, so you can send him back unchanged. Is that it?”

Victor hums, “Kind of.”

He gets a flick to his forehead in response as the other leans back.

    “OUCH!”, the Immortal pouts as he rubs the pain away, “What was that for?”

    “You are an idiot!”, Chris shakes his head, “A stubborn and lovesick idiot. In fact you both are stupid idiots”, he sighs, “Changes have already happened to Yuuri from the moment he arrived here. It’s what we call survival and adaption instinct. Every being has it and acts on it if needed. Moreover, what’s with you all of a sudden? At first you encourage him to fight and now you want to prevent him from it like you have the authority to decide for him! Victor, I know you are very much in love with this boy and that you want the best for him, to protect him with everything you’ve got… but haven’t it ever crossed your mind that maybe Yuuri wants to do the same for you?”

Victor turns his head away in shame, getting more distance between them.

Chris sighs tiredly, “Yuuri was shaking when you held your speech. The poor boy is very afraid of what is to come. He held himself back expertly, collecting himself with all his willpower, I guess, because he believes in us, his teammates. He believes in you. And he wants to be there for you. At least, you should know that by now with all that’s already happened. You are important to him.”

The Hero blushes knowingly, but stays silent.

    “Look, I am not here to tell you that your thought process wasn’t right, but I am here to tell you that you messed up in expressing your concerns and accepting Yuuri’s decision”, the Incubus says, patting his friend on the back, “It’s okay to disagree with him, but how you dealt with it was not acceptable at all. But what happened, happened. It’s in the past. Now, it’s important how you deal with it. So, what will Victor Nikiforov do next? Wallow in self-pity or lead this mission to success and apologize when you mean it?”

Victor sighs, “Thank you, Chris.”

The demon smiles softly, “No need, my friend.”

The two hug each other one more time before letting go and noticing their friends making their way up to them.

    “It’s going to be a tough battle”, Victor grits through his teeth as he sees Yuuri walking among the other three.

    “Yeah. But we’ll manage”, Chris responds.

And The Living Legend smiles a little, “Yeah, we will.”

When they all reunite, they don’t speak about what happened between Victor and Yuuri. The two people in question just nod at each other before the Hero addresses his friends once more, “Okay. Stay close and be on your toes. We are heading in. Chris will open the Flare Wall in a second and I will shoot a Fire Bomb right into the gap to push the monsters back for a few seconds. We will use the momentum to bridge over to the other side and then the real battle starts. Follow your instincts and try not to get separated. … Good luck to all of you.”

Victor dares not to look Yuuri in the eyes, instead he balls his fist, nodding at Chris to begin.

The Incubus opens their path and the Hero immediately blast his attacks through the visible monsters, “Now!”

They run to the other side, so that the Flare Wall can close behind them.

The instant they passed through the gap, the attacks start incoming.

Yuuri and Phichit jump to the side as they doge something that seemed like a water spray. The elf immediately starts shooting at his targets in mid-air, using Aerial Laser, Cyclone Shoot, Tempest and Impaling Heaven repeatedly. Yurio spins through the air, using Galeforce, Hurricane, Tempest and his kick attacks on one enemy after the other. Otabek casts Gaia, a big earth eruption, Inferno, Hurricane and Fiery Blast, while dancing through the enemies with his broad sword Dragon Slayer using his Dragon Dance and sword skills. Chris chants his boost skills on them again to be on the safe side, using another Flare Wall to hold back monsters from overwhelming them and shoots one bullet after the other on the adversaries in between. The Incubus casts Demon Night, Magma Storm, Nova and Astra Bullet in wild succession after finishing the support chants. Victor jumps from monster to monster fighting with his sword as he casts Hundred Swords, Moon Blast, Ragnarök, Ice Missile, Typhoon, Gaia, Inferno, Magma Storm and Supernova like a mad dog at other enemies around them and further away. He glances at his friends and directs an Ice Coffin at the adversaries around them to give them a short break to catch their breath, before jumping off the defeated opponent to the next grand monster, using Dire Inferno at the mass of opponents around him. Yuuri dodges attacks and uses Shadow Manipulation, Stealth, Energy Ball and Explosion at the incoming attackers.

He hears the familiar ping of a Level-Up and swipes it away to continue with his onslaught. The highschooler has not time for that know, but he’s grateful that his stats increased and his HP and MP are all filled up again.

This is not how he would have thought this would go. It has always looked way easier on screen as in real life, but he should have anticipated that.

He jumps right thrice, dodging Poison Spit after Poison Spit from a Black Basilisk and Solar Beam from a Ruby Lizard and casts another Explosion in their direction.

Yurio crashes onto the Black Basilisk with a Knockout, giving a Spin Kick to the Ruby Lizard, “Katsudon, you idiot! Stay close and don’t let yourself be led away!”

    “I’m sorry! I didn’t notice!”, the Japanese student shoots an Explosion to their right before returning with the Hurricane casting Chimera near the other’s fighting place.

Phichit blasts Impaling Heavens behind them as he casts Aerial Laser at the other direction and uses Severing Wind to attack his direct opponents, “Guys! Don’t turn your backs on the enemy!” the Warrior Elf whirls around using Lightning Magic and then Aerial Laser again.

    “My mistake!”, Yurio scowls before jumping at a Monsterbuffalo, which is coming their way, using Drain Punch on it and then a Sweep Kick.

Otabek directs some Ice Missiles to help the Ice Tiger before continuing his dance through a pack of Silver Wolves.

Yuuri watches them attacking gracefully, before searching for Victor.

The Hero is still directing skill after skill at the adversaries at maniacal speed, dancing between the monsters like an ice skater doing a well-trained routine.

The Japanese teen is in awe.

Chris jumps next to Yuuri, startling the younger one as he takes him bridal style into his arms and jumps with him high up, barely avoiding an at Yuuri directed Fire Blast, “Yuuri! Why are you standing there like a statue! If you want to live fight for god’s sake!”

The world traveller blushes, “I’m sorry for the trouble.”

The Incubus shakes his head, “Don’t be, but please pay more attention. We nearly missed out that you were driven away from us if it weren’t for Victor yelling at Yurio to get you back asap. Man, that was a shock. Well, whatever. I am going to boost your stats again, before we land.”

Yuuri hums embarrassed, thankful that Victor is still looking out for him, even though he made the other man so angry.

The Viscount recasts his spells, “So all done. I will let you down again. Please be careful!”

He lets go of Yuuri and jumps away the next second, directing a Storm Ray, Fire Bomb, Magma Storm and Gun Fire at the opponents.

The 16-year-old doesn’t hesitate in joining the battle once again. He casts his Shadow Manipulation to stop the movements of the surrounding monsters and uses Energy Ball and Explosion to destroy them, repeating the pattern over and over, while dodging incoming attacks.

He hears the ping of hitting Level 23, but ignores it, casting Dust Barrier to block a Punch and counter with some hits from his sword.

The world traveller fights and fights, defeating monster after monster. Sometimes catching a glance of one of his friends twirling around him.

Yuuri casts Shadow Manipulation, Explosion and Energy Ball in repeat, swirling his sword and dodging like he is dancing in a ballroom.

The highschooler feels his Stamina skill activate.

How much longer will this go on?

He chances a glance looking around and dodges a Fire Breath on instinct.

There are still so many left!
No wonder the soldiers had troubles keeping them at bay.

Yuuri lets out a sigh as he feels his stats getting boosted again, “Thank you, Chris! I needed that!”

    “You are welcome!”, he hears from somewhere to his left.

The Japanese starts fighting again, jumping, turning and attacking. The whole situation kind of reminds him of the instructions of his teacher in gym class. Man, he had hated that guy.

The highschooler directs his Energy Balls at the nearing monsters, using Illusion to disorient some other enemies and hitting them with Explosion for the final. He activates his Shadow Double skill and uses Dust Storm and Explosion again.

The world traveller hears a ping again, indicating that he reached Level 24, but fights on, slashing through a Sand Worm and a Green War Bison with his sword. Then he faces his next opponents.

    “To the far left and right are injured soldiers!”, he hears Victor’s strained voice over the battle noises.

    “Damn it! They are all surrounded”, Chris sounds bitter.

Yuuri hears Yurio scowling, “Can’t we just go to one group guide them to here and then go to the other?”

    “They are too far away for that, Yura!”, the Japanese catches Otabek’s voice.

    “So what do we do then?”, Phichit sounds restless and has an edge to his tone.

There is a short silence before Victor raises his voice, “Well, we either decide on which group to rescue or …”

    “We split into two groups and reach out to the troops, bringing them here”, the Incubus finishes the sentence for his friend.

The Hero is silent, thinking hard. He wants to save as many people as possible, but he has to make sure that his comrades are safe as well. And then the Flare Wall is still a great distance away to bring the soldiers to the other side. And he could teleport them out, but that would mean leaving the others alone for minutes. He bites his bottom lip. What to do?

    “I say we split up!”, Yurio’s voice booms through the air, “We won’t be fast enough otherwise. So, I say we do it!”

Yuuri agrees, if they want to save as many as possible it’s better this way.

    “I agree with Yurio”, the Japanese exclaims confidently, while avoiding some attacks from a Grey Viper.

He feels Victor’s eyes on him for a second, before hearing a sigh and a “Fine.”

    “Then how will be the groups now?”, Chris asks between throwing Energy Balls at two Boar Mutants.

Victor answers immediately, “Chris and me on one team and Phichit, Otabek, Yurio and Yuuri on the other. You’ll need the numbers and Chris and me are more experienced. Let’s go”, the Hero clears the right and left path with a Supernova before he starts jumping to the left side, indicating for the demon to follow him.

    “See you later here, guys! We’ll have you in our sight!”, the Incubus winks before following his friend.

They stare for a short time after the two, before hurrying down the cleared path to the right, before the monsters start crowding them again.

Yurio bristles as he blasts Wind Magic to the front, “What’s wrong with the balding idiot! First he reprimands and threatens us and now he is cool and collected, making decisions mostly on his own!”

Otabek huffs, using Ice Missile and Lava Shower to the sides, “Someone has to take the lead in this. And he is the most experienced. So naturally, he will give us commands and direct us. Don’t be so angry.”

    “Yeah”, Phichit agrees, using Impaling Heaven at all sides, while running forward, “He is still worried about all of us besides the injured soldiers. It’s not easy for him either, if he knows what can happen, but still has to agree to certain tactics to increase the chances of success. Moreover, he is still depressed about his earlier fight with Yuuri. We should cut him some slack.”

Yuuri hums in agreement, blasting Explosion and Energy Ball at each direction.

    “Whatever”, the Chimera huffs, but doesn’t disagree with their arguments.

They reach the soldiers shortly, aiding them in fighting off the monsters and giving them first aid. Most of them can walk on their own. They are ready to leave and bring them to the meeting point, when one knight comes running at them from the distance. When he reaches the four friends, he points out to where he came from. There, two figures are battling against a Monster Snake and Grey Wolves.

    “Please, help them!”, the soldier pleads.

But Yuuri knows that they will have to refuse.

It would go against the plan and it’s too far away and they can’t leave their formation.

He wants to refuse the guy with bitterness in his heart, but gets startled when he hears Yurio say, “I’ll be back in a few!”

The Japanese freezes internally for a second, before he starts running after the Chimera, “YURIO! NO! COME BACK!”

But the Ice Tiger isn’t listening at all, heading straight for the two soldiers in distress. Damn it.

Yuuri hears Otabek and Phichit calling for them, but unable to leave their post, if they want to protect the soldiers from the attacks.

The world traveller increases his pace to follow the other to support him, dodging through monster attacks.

He sees the Ice Tiger using a Jump Kick at the Monster Snake and Yuuri uses Shadow Manipulation from the distance to pin the Grey Wolves down before Yurio uses Hurricane at them.

Yuuri’s eyes burn from his run. Seems like his agility boost is coming to its end. Damn it!

He looks over their surroundings as his eyes widen in fear, he doubles his pace, screaming on top of his lungs, “WATCH OUT!”

The Chimera is still talking to the soldiers, giving them some first aid as he turns around confused. Yuuri tackles him to the ground as a Fire Blast hits exactly where the Ice Tiger stood seconds before.

Yuuri wants to scold Yurio for his carelessness, when he feels something metallic stabbing through his stomach. His eyes widen on reflex, staring into wide blown green eyes with horror and panic reflected in them. The Japanese teen looks slowly down at the bloody hole through his stomach, where the tip of a Silver Blade sticks out, having missed the shifter’s body by a hair’s breadth. He feels how his HP are nearing the zero point.

    “Yuuri?”, Yurio’s voice is small, fear-stricken and breaking.

The highschooler takes a calm breath, before kicking with his legs behind him, catching the attacker’s legs and bringing him out of balance. The sword goes down with the other man. Yuuri wants to stand up, but before he can do so, he catches a glimpse of an incoming Fire Ball and covers Yurio again.

The explosion hits centimeters beside them and the energy outburst hurls them away from each other, mist covering the grounds.

    “SHIT! YUUURI!”, the Chimera screams horrified. He doesn’t see anything as mist covers their location. He punches the ground, before he turns to the soldier on the ground, “WHY THE FUCK DID YOU ATTACK US?”, he punches the maniacally grinning knight, but as his fist connects with the body, it turns to flower petals, “What the fuck?!”

The Ice Tiger turns to the other man, who cowers in a foetal position.
He punches him lightly for good measure, but this one is entirely human.

    “Stand up!”, Yurio yells, “My friend needs help now! And I can’t protect you, if you sit there like a statue!”

The knight obliges, following him on his shaking feet to search for the world traveller. But instead of finding him in the mist, they are confronted with a Red Killer Dragon. Yurio gulps, he knows that they are considered SS-Class monsters and that only groups of experienced adventures can take them on.

Damn it! Why now? He has no time, he has to find Yuuri and heal him before he– before he– Shit! Is he already too late? No, no that can’t be.

The shifter wills the tears away. He has to stay calm and search for his friend and protect the night.

He looks up, noticing too late that the Red Killer Dragon will fire a Hyper Beam in the next few seconds at them, “Fuck!”

That attack is too strong to counter and they are standing at the center, unable to dodge properly. He could use Ward, but that probably will take a lot of his energy.

Yurio doesn’t come to a decision as a black figure jumps from nowhere at the SS-Class and beheads it with a black scythe. The figure is glowing, a dark aura emanating from it as the person jumps down from the dead monster, looking focused into the distance. The black-hooded stranger lifts his hands and the mist disperses immediately.

    “Who are–“, the Chimera stutters, but stills as the black figure raises the other hand, mumbling, “Last Judgement”.

For a moment nothing happens, then lightning descends from the heavens, engulfing the whole battlefield.

It is so bright that the Ice Tiger has to close his eyes, trying to shield himself with his hands.

When the lightning disappears and the blond teen opens his eyes again, no monster remains on the entirety of the plains.

Yurio blinks confused, before he hears someone collapsing. He rushes to the dark-clothed, but still glowing stranger, removing the hoodie from the face and freezes, “Yuuri! Shit! Wake up!”, he slaps the other on the cheek softly, but no reaction, “Fuck! Wake–. No, Heal! Heal! Heal! Come on!”, the Chimera tries to activate his skill over and over again, but nothing happens. He uses Appraisal to see if his skills are locked or if there is another reason for his healing skill not to function.

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: ???

Age: 16 years

LV: 27

Class: ???

Active Skill: ???

Passive Skill: ???

HP: ???

MP: ???

EXP: ???

Next Level: ??? EXP

Equipped Gear: ???

Blessing: Lycoris’ Blessing

Status: none

Title: ???

54.689 G

ATK: ???

DEF: ???

MAT: ???

MDF: ???

AGI: ???

LUK: ???

Shit! Why are the stats hidden? Is he now alive or dead? His healing skill not functioning is more an indication for–. No, he can’t be dead!

    “Is he–“, the soldier shivers.

    “N-No, h-he isn’t! H-He c-can’! Do you hear me you idiot? You are not aloud to die!”, Yurio screams as his body starts shaking, feeling his sight blur and hot tears making their way down his cheeks. He shakes the unmoving man on the ground, slapping him again before starting to scream, “HEAL! HEAL! HEAL, FOR FUCK’S SAKE! WHY WON’T YOU HEAL?”

Other footsteps come their way, calling from the distance, “Yuuri! Yurio!”

Otabek and Phichit reach them shortly. The elf immediately freezes at the sight before him and the Dragon Warrior stumbles in his walk. The Warrior Elf runs over, his expression horrified and his hands shaking, shoving Yurio away, “No. No. No. No. Heal. Heal. Heal. HEAL! HEAL! Come on buddy! Don’t do this to us! HEAL, GOD DAMN IT!”

    “What happened here?”, the dragonshifter turns to the crying Ice Tiger, shaking him, “Yura. What. Happened. Here?”

Yurio shakes, his voice breaking, “I-I don’t know. I-It a-all h-happened so fast! I-I was t-trying to rescue the t-two soldiers and t-then…”

    “YUUURIII!?”, Victor’s voice booms through the empty plains. He is there in a flash, shoving a crying Phichit aside and taking the unmoving body into his shaking arms, “No. NO! NOO! You can’t die. This can’t be happening. Come on! Prayer! PRAYER! PRAYER! WHY DOESN’T IT WORK?”

    “Hey guys! I’ve led the other soldiers back to–“, Chris takes in the situation, his eyes growing wide, “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!”

Yurio cries more with Phichit sobbing, instead of giving a proper answer. Victor is still trying to heal the unmoving body, yelling “PRAYER” over and over again.

Otabek turns to the Incubus with a helpless face, “It’s Yuuri.”

Chris doesn’t need more explanation, “Victor teleport us immediately to the infirmary at the Royal Castle. We’ll communicate with Queen Isabella via crystal ball later. Yuuri needs proper medical attention. You!”, he turns to the frozen soldier on the ground, “Are coming with us as well! Now start moving. We have limited time.”

They teleport to the medical wing in the Royal Castle as fast as possible.

Under Christophe’s instructions the healers take Yuuri immediately away from them, while Chris holds back Victor with all his strength, “We can’t do anything for now, cheri. Leave it to the professionals. For now, lets get Makka and Vicchan here and report to the King and Queen. Are you able to do that?”

The Living Legend nods, his face marred with tears.

    “Good. Otabek, please take care of Yurio and Phichit. You are the most collected besides me at the moment. We’ll be back shortly to talk about what happened. See you soon”, the Incubus leads the Hero out of the infirmary towards the throne room, rubbing soothing circles on the other’s back, “Please hold on, you can go back to Yuuri shortly. But first we have to make our reports. You can even just stand there, but you proposed our involvement and I decided to join you, so we must be present at this short discussion.”

Victor doesn’t say anything. He just follows and stands by Chris in silence, leaving everything to his best friend. Even when the King proposes a great celebration festival in their honour, the Hero just stares blindly into the distance.

He teleports him, the soldier from the fort, who got taken along, and the Viscount to the Queen to report to her as well and get the dogs, but his blank expression never changes. It’s like everything colourful and joyful has left his world. Everything seems grey and he can’t focus at all. The only thing in his mind is one thought, repeating itself over and over again: Yuuri.

When they arrive back at the castle and made their way to the infirmary, they are met with deadly silence in the waiting room.

Otabek holds a still crying Yurio in his arms, shushing him gently and Phichit paces from one side to the other, looking helpless and devastated.

Makka whines as well and Vicchan looks deep in thought.

Chris lets out a breath, “I think, we all need some tea now. Follow me.”

They all glare at the demon, who raises an eyebrow in response, “I will ask the Healers to inform us, if they have new information, but for now we can’t do anything except wait and I want to hear the real story behind the incident and get some dinner into my empty stomach. So come on. Knowing what happened, may help Yuuri’s condition as well.”

The others follow him without any hint of reluctance, the dogs padding along. The Viscount talks to the Head Nurse and asks a servant to bring them something to eat and some tea into the sitting room next to his office from the kitchens.

The Incubus guides them to the sitting room and gestures for them to take a seat on the couches. The servants appear shortly, bringing them tea, sandwiches and other small dishes. After the maid has poured them the tea and all left, Chris takes a sip to calm his nerves and eats one half of a sandwich as he gestures to his friends to strengthen themselves as well. However, they don’t move a muscle, looking terrified, exhausted, worried and like an endless waterfall, except Victor who just stares blankly into the distance with Makka looking concerned beside him. Vicchan stays next to the standard poodle, a heavy look on his features.

The demon huffs, “Okay. Now that we are seated and can have some dinner and tea to calm ourselves. Let’s talk. What happened?”, he turns to Otabek.

The dragonshifter lets out a heavy breath, still holding a clutching Yurio in his arms, “We followed the plan and reached the troop safely. We treated them, so that we could bring them with us, while protecting them from attacks, when another soldier came running to us. He begged us to help two of his comrades, who were in a fight some distance away. We knew that we had to refuse, but then…”, he stops.

    “But then?”, Chris continues, knowing that whatever happened then was important for the whole tragedy.

    “It was my fault”, Yurio raises his voice, still sniffling and crying.

    “Y-Yura?”, Victor’s voice is raw and distant.

The Chimera flinches at the sound, bowing his head low as he clenches his hands to fists, Otabek engulfs them with his own to soothe him.

    “I-I thought t-that I-I could h-help real q-quick… I-I never anticipated that Y-Yuuri…”, his voice breaks.

Phichit whimpers, shooting the Ice Tiger a strange look of anguish and empathy.

The dragonshifter sighs, “Yura went to help the two soldiers in their predicament and Yuuri ran after him to support him. He didn’t want to let Yura dealing with it on his own. Phichit and I couldn’t follow, because we had the duty to protect the soldiers from the attacks of the monsters.”

The elf makes a whimpering sound again and buries his face in his hands, sobbing and shaking before he looks up with blood-shot eyes, “W-We c-called after them, b-but they b-both continued o-on. T-Then w-we don’t know w-what happened as we w-were too b-busy with dealing with the attacks. A-And t-then e-everything turned white a-and the monsters were g-gone. W-We r-ran immediately t-to t-their lo-location, b-but… b-but!”, the Warrior Elf starts crying again, unable to speak further.

Otabek closes his eyes, letting out a shivering breath, “When we reunited with them, Yuuri was on the ground and Yura tried to heal him desperately. Phichit tried as well and I tried to ask Yura what happened, but I was unable to really get a proper response at that time. Then Victor arrived and the rest is history.”

Chris hums, “Okay. Thank you”, he turns to the blond teen, “Yurio, what happened when you both left the others. Please.”

Yurio nods, tears running down his cheeks, “I-I ran u-up to the soldiers and used a Jump Kick at the Monster Snake to rescue them. Yuuri probably pinned down the Grey Wolves with his Shadow Manipulation from the distance, because it was easy to direct Hurricane at them. Then I talked to the two soldiers to give them some first aid and suddenly he screamed ‘Watch Out!” at me. He tackled me to the ground and then a Fire Blast hit exactly on the place where I had been standing some seconds ago. He was pinning me down with his body and then… t-then…”, he starts shaking violently, tears streaming down his face as he clutches at Otabek, his face marred in horror.

Victor looks at the teen with wide eyes, shocked at Yura’s expression. He wakes up a little from his blank state, but feels like he is drowning none the less. But something stirs in him. Yura stirs him. He’s never seen him like that. What the hell had happened to let him make such an expression?

The Viscount presses on, “What happened then?”

    “I-I… H-He…”, the shivering doesn’t stop.

    “YURA! WHAT HAPPENED?”, Victor’s voice booms through the room.

They all freeze at the outburst, Yurio as well, but the shaking stopped.

The Chimera looks at his father figure with a blank expression, “One of the soldiers stabbed him with his Silver Sword through the stomach. Yuuri shielded me, so it didn’t reach me. I was terrified. Then Yuuri somehow did something so that the attacker lost balance and then he covered me again as a Fire Ball hit beside the both of us. The explosion hurled us away from each other and the mist made it impossible to find Yuuri. I turned on the soldier immediately as he was the first thing I spotted and punched him. But as my fist touched him, his whole body turned into flower petals. Then I punched the other one as well, but he was human and terrified”, the Ice Tiger swallows, “I tried to search for Yuuri together with the soldier… But then a Red Killer Dragon appeared and I knew I wasn’t enough to deal with a SS-Class monster. I was distraught and then the monster was nearly throwing a Hyper Beam at me and the knight and then he appeared.”

    “Who appeared?”, Chris asks curiously, all eyes on the young shifter.

Yurio blinks, “Yuuri did. At first, I didn’t know. I just saw some stranger, clothed in a black-hooded robe and then he defeated the monster with only a swing of his scythe and dispersed the mist. I wanted to ask who he is, but he ignored me and mumbled something like ‘Last Judgement’. Then the lightning appeared and engulfed everything. It was so blinding that I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, the monsters were gone and Yuuri collapsed on the ground. I tried to heal him and check his status, but his stats were hidden and my healing skills didn’t work on him. And then you all came.”

There is silence in the room.

Victor walks over to the blond shifter, caressing his cheek softly, “Thank you for telling us, Yura.”

The Chimera nods, his eyes getting glassy again, “I’m so sorry. I-I never would have thought that–“, he starts sobbing again.

The silver-haired man opens his arms and Yurio presses into him, a reflex built up over many decades.

Victor runs soothing circles on the younger ones back, “Sssh. I’ve got you. You did nothing wrong. You only had the best intentions. Nobody is blaming you, Yura! You did your best.”

The Chimera sobs until his breathing evens out and quite snorts can be heard.

Chris chuckles, “He is still your little boy, it seems.”

Victor hums, taking the Ice Tiger into his arms to lift him up, “He’ll always be my little Yura”, he places a quick peck on the teens forehead, before lifting him up, “Otabek, Phichit, Chris… I think you should rest up for now. You all had a rough day. And we need energy for what will come next. So–“

    “No. I’ll stay here with you, waiting for Yuuri to wake up”, Phichit shoots the Hero a glare, “I’m as concerned as you are! And I won’t go to Chris’ mansion, while he is staying here! If you want to let us rest, let’s ask some servants to bring us more pillows, because I am staying here for as long as it will take!”

    “Same”, Otabek agrees with determination in his glassy eyes, “I won’t be able to rest up anyway. We are a team, so all of us are staying.”

Makka and Vicchan bark as well.

The Viscount whistles approvingly, “You heard the men and our dear lady. We are not going anywhere without Yuuri and if you would have listened a little to our conversation with JJ, cheri, you would know already that we’ve already prepared some guest rooms near the infirmary. So come on and follow me and take some sandwiches with you, children! Seriously! How do you want to take care of Yuuri, if you are unable to take care of your own selves?!”

Phichit and Otabek take some sandwiches with them under Chris’ strict gaze, before the Incubus leads them to another sitting rooms with five doors.

    “The first to the right is Otabek’s and Yurio’s room. The second to the right is Phichit’s bedroom. The first to the left is mine and the second to the left is Victor’s and the other door leads to a bathroom. The dogs can sleep wherever they want. Where should we head to first?”, Chris asks with a small smile as Phichit and Otabek deposit the sandwiches on one of the tablets on the tables.

Makkachin and Vicchan make themselves comfortable on one of the grand sofas, watching the others intently.

    “Yurio’s and Otabek’s room”, Victor says softly, trying not to wake the exhausted looking teen in his arms.

    “Of course”, the demon opens the door to the right and leads them into the room.

Victor places the sleeping Yurio on his bed next to Otabek’s with the help of the others, “Maybe you should stay with him after eating a sandwich”, The Living Legend proposes.

The Dragon Warrior nods, quietly as he goes to the sitting room to munch on one of the sandwiches, Phichit joins him shortly as he states that he won’t be able to sleep for now. The dogs come up to them, trying to cheer them up a little with nudging them gently, but the atmosphere remains tense.

The Hero and his best friend decide to eat and drink some more and march over to bring all things the servants brought to their room.

When they nearly finished all the tea and sandwiches, the someone knocks at their entrance door.

    “Come in”, Chris says calmly, however there is an uncomfortable tension in his voice.

    “Excuse me for intruding, Lord Giacometti”, the Head Nurse curtsies, “I’m bringing news about the patient.”

They all straighten themselves in unison, impatient and fearful at the same time.

    “Please go ahead”, the Viscount gestures for her to continue.

    “With your permission”, the nurse responds and all eyes are trained on her, “Mr. Katsuki is currently in a very enigmatic situation.”

    “Enigmatic situation?”, Phichit exclaims confused. What does that mean?

    “Yes”, the woman states clearly, “He won’t respond to healing magic or general medical treatment. But his wound is healing by itself and his damaged organs are completely restored as if there was no damage to begin with. We only know that there was a hole stabbed through him because of the sight we were granted, when he was brought in. However, we can’t access his status or wake him up at all. He is breathing and glowing and his body behaves like he is in some kind of coma. We’ve never dealt with anything like that before and reached our limits. In short: He is not really dead, but you can’t call it alive either. According to some of our Healers, Mr. Katsuki may wake up after some hours, another group says it will be days and the rest believes he’ll never wake from his stasis. However, you can visit him any time now. That’s the end of the official report.”

Chris furrows his eyebrows, “And the unofficial report?”

The Head Nurse bites her bottom lip, “The unofficial report says that he goes through some kind of metamorphosis-like stasis, at least according to one of the Alchemists. It’s like his body is still undecided about how to react to something.”

The Viscounts nods, “Thank you. You are dismissed.”

The nurse curtsies again and leaves the room.

    “Fuck! What does metamorphosis-like stasis even mean?”, Yurio exclaims irritated.

They all look at him with wide eyes.

    “I thought you were sleeping, Yura”, Victor points out, blinking surprised.

The Chimera huffs as he walks over and reaches for the remaining sandwiches, “I was. But the knock woke me up. I was waiting the whole time for some info, so my body woke me up on instinct, when the nurse came in.” He bites into the sandwich hungrily.

    “I see”, the Hero answers, humming.

    “So? What’s the plan now?”, the Ice Tiger inquires with a full mouth.

Victor shoots him a look, “Eat before you speak! Sometimes I really wonder about your manners! I taught you better!”

    “Yeah, yeah”, Yurio rolls his eyes, seating himself next to Otabek.

    “I guess, we’ll wait for Yuuri to wake up”, Phichit nods at his suggestion.

It feels right and his gut feeling tells him that this is the only course of action, he’ll accept.

    “We can take turns watching over him in the infirmary”, Otabek proposes,

Victor turns grim, “You said that the soldier turned into flowers after you punched him, didn’t you Yura?”

The Ice Tiger nods, “Yeah, it was really strange. There were a lot of little petals, getting dragged along by the wind then…”

The Living Legend turns his gaze to Chris, who catches on.

    “You don’t mean?”, the Incubus’ eyes grow wide.

Victor nods before turning to the others, “When we were back at Chris’ mansion. There was an incident in the night after you told him how you met me. There was an intruder on the roof and I fought him. When I defeated the mystery person, he dissolved into flower petals as well. And Chris told me that that wasn’t the first time something so strange happened at his mansion.”

    “You mean that there is a connection between the incidents”, Phichit exclaims with a concerned expression, “That something is targeting us? But why would it start at Chris’ mansion before we even arrive and then follow us to the battlefield? It was not planned for us and Chris to go there. This whole incident happened by surprise! … Or not?”

The silver-haired Hero hums, “We don’t know. It’s strange for the flower incidents to happen at the mansion before we arrive and then follow us to the fort. Furthermore, why only really attack Yuuri and Yurio? It’s true that they are the weakest, but it’s still strange. So I think there must be something else entirely going on in the shadows. I can only say that the attacker from the mansion had a foreign spiritual energy.”

    “It’s a mystery”, Yurio says before he stops, some kind of realization dawning on him, “Victor, we should rotate watching Katsudon starting right now!”, his voice gets a concerned edge to it and his eyes go wide, “Please. I will explain after we make sure that he is alright!”

They all stare at the blond teen in confusion.

    “O-Okay?”, Victor stands up with the others and the dogs following.
He doesn’t know if he is ready to meet Yuuri yet, but the decision seems out of his hand-

Vicchan is running ahead of them, barking loudly as he paws at the doors.

Yurio runs ahead, opening the doors immediately and searching for the right sick bed with Vicchan guiding him. He hopes that his hunch isn’t right. That maybe his mind is just playing games with him because of today’s events.

He finds Yuuri on one of the beds like the dead, however his chest is moving up and down, a vase with a bouquet of healing flowers beside him. The toy poodle immediately springs up to the unconscious man and starts licking his cheek with a strange gleam to his eyes.

The Ice Tiger sighs in relief.

A Healer looks at his dishevelled state with a furrowed brow before going away to tend to another patient.

Victor, Chris, Otabek and Phichit follow with Makkachin shortly behind.

They breath heavily, when they reach the sickbed with Yuuri in it.

    “What was that about?”, Chris asks, “You ran like the devil!”

Yurio blushes, shrugging his shoulders, “I don’t know. I just thought that maybe they were after Katsudon… On the battlefield the soldier could have hurt me too, but he only started the attack after Katsudon had pushed me to the ground to evade a magic attack. And then, he never attacked again. He just grinned like a maniac. I thought it so strange… Sorry for the false alarm.”

    “No biggie! At least we get to see, Yuuri”, Phichit says with a small smile on his lips, “He looks like he is sleeping.”

Victor makes his way over to Yuuri’s side. His eyes trained intently on the Japanese man, “I’ll take the first watch together with Makka and Vicchan. You all go rest together.”

All make complaining noises and the Hero sighs, “Look. It’s getting late and most of you are not used to long battles like I am. You can take the watch tomorrow, when you are recovered.”

Yurio grumbles, “Fine. Come on guys”, he takes Phichit’s and Otabek’s hand and guides them out to their rooms.

Chris studies his best friend for a long second, waiting for the others to leave the room, “What are you not telling us right now, cheri?”

Victor gulps. He’s busted. He turns around, takes the vase and shuffles through each flower before extracting three Red Thorn Lilies, one Blue Cheshire and two Camomile Flowers. The Hero turns around and presents them to his friend, “Red Thorn Lilies are poisonous. And mostly not deadly. They can even be used as medicine sometimes for certain illnesses. But… they can be ingredients for a slow-building curse”, The Living Legend pauses, looking at the flowers with disgust, “There is an ancient curse, called the Curse of Eternal Sleep. You need three Red Thorn Lilies, one Blue Cheshire and two Camomile Flowers with the target’s blood and a specific curse spell on each flower…”

The Incubus pales, looking at the flowers in a new light, “You don’t mean…”

Victor checks through each flower, smiling bitterly, “Yura was right, my friend. They, whoever they are, are targeting Yuuri.”

The hours go by one by one, Victor never leaving Yuuri’s side to watch over him. The Hero feels so guilty and helpless, seeing his beloved like this. Once he leans over to press a kiss to the unconscious man’s forehead, before caressing his face gently, “I’m so sorry… Please forgive me, my darling.” But Yuuri doesn’t answer. Only silence responds to him.

The next morning Chris and the Hero inform the others of Yurio’s hunch being right. And so they decide to rotate in watching over their friend. Victor, however, refuses to leave the infirmary at all, his frown deepening with the hours passing by. He only accepts to sleep a little with another one of his friends present, but even so, he uses the chair next to Yuuri’s bed as his camp, never straying from his side, except bath breaks and even then, he hurries back to the sleeping man.

Strange incidents happen again during the coming days since Yuuri was brought to the Royal Infirmary. There is a servant bringing poisoned water to wash the young man’s body or a dazed Healer, who starts chanting a curse spell out of nowhere, but doesn’t remember anything after he is stopped and comes to himself again. Then they find a poisonous snake in Yuuri’s bed and the flower bouquet incident happens again. Victor deals with three strange figures through the two night, their numbers increasing with each day, so his friends rotate in having night watch with him. Every time one of the enigmatic attackers is defeated, they turn into flower petals, vanishing in the wind.

Still, there is no clue about who sent them here and why and they all wonder about the same thing: What the hell is happening here?

On the fourth day, Lycoris gets confused and impatient.

This has never happened to any of his wards in the past before.

Nobody has reacted like this.

But then again, nobody was turned and able to use Last Judgement with such a strength.

He checks Yuuri’s body over and over again under Chrys’ concerned eyes.

The world traveller’s body seems fine, healthy and strong, but still Yuuri won’t wake up. Why?

The God of Death and Reincarnation knows that everything was rushed on his side, but why won’t he open his eyes? What does that mean?

The Head Goddess paws at him, shaking her head as she whispers, “Let him be. The only thing we can do for now is wait and pray for him to return to us as himself.”

And the God of Twilight huffs, knowing she is right.

On the night from the fourth to the fifth day the onslaughts from the mysterious attackers stop and on the morning of the fifth day Yuuri finally opens his eyes.

Yuuri groans, his head spinning and hurting as he opens his eyes.

The world traveller had a really great dream of saving a princess of Katsudonland and getting as many bowls of his favourite dish as he wants.

He is irritated that he has a migraine right after waking from such a heavenly dream. Seriously!

The young teen blinks, trying to focus on his location. He is met with the light of the morning sun, lightening up which room exactly?

He sits up carefully, searching for his glasses.

The dark-haired man finds them beside himself on a night-table.

The Japanese blinks a few times, taking in his surroundings, his headache going away instantly.

It looks like some kind of infirmary?

The highschooler looks down at himself and is confused to find him dressed in light white clothes. Has he been ill? Or did he collapse from something?

The teen scrunches up his nose, deep in thought.

The last thing he can remember is… yeah, they were fighting on monsters near the fort together with Phichit, Otabek and Yurio… And then? Ah, Yurio ran to save the soldiers in the distance and he followed… Then he remembers covering the Chimera and then the sword…

He startles, poking as his stomach carefully and getting bolder when he notices that there is no wound. Did he dream all of that up?

The 16-year-old hears a soft snore beside him and he turns his face to the noise.

Victor is sleeping on a chair to the left to his bed, his features tense and strained.

Yuuri giggles at the sight. The silver-haired man looks so adorable. He pokes his mentor on the right cheek playfully. His cheeks are so soft.

The Hero startles awake and pins ‘the attacker’ down in reflex. Yuuri squeaks as he is pressed against the sheets, his eyes wide.

The Living Legend blinks at him in confusion, their gazes interlocking, “Yuuri?”

The Japanese smiles brightly in return, “Morning, sleepy head! Why are you not resting up in a proper bed? I don’t think that the chair is that comfortable!”

Victor blinks at him some more, before he’s tearing up and the soft drops fall on Yuuri’s face.

    “Victor?”, the world traveller asks a little irritated at the reaction.

But the Immortal only starts crying harder, letting go of the other to pull him close to his chest, clinging to him with all his might, “Y-Yuuri. T-This is r-real? Y-Yuuuurii! Yuuuriiii!”

The 16-year-old doesn’t know what is happening right now, but he clutches onto the Hero as well, drawing soothing circles on the silver-haired man’s back. Somehow his instincts tell him that he should console his beloved.

    “Ssshhh! I am here, Vitya. I’m right here”, he whispers gently as he is brushing through the other’s hair.

Victor only clutches him harder against his own chest, his voice breaking into sobs, “I-I t-thought I-I l-lost you… Y-You w-weren’t w-waking u-up for d-days! W-We w-were all s-so w-worried… I-I w-was s-so w-worried, Y-Yuuri! … I-I am s-so sorry, for b-being such an a-ass before… before… Y-You know I-I don’t… I-I… Y-You mean so m-much to me, Y-Yuuri! I-I… Yuuuurii!”

The Japanese student hums, pressing gentle kisses into the Hero’s hair, while he continues running soothing circles on the other’s back, “I’m sorry and I know, Vitya. I’m here now. I’ve got you.”

Victor takes in a shaky breath, “Y-Yeah. A-And I-I’ve got y-you”, he takes in another breath, leaning a little away from Yuuri to find his eyes, “A-And I-I’m n-never let-ting you out of m-my sight ever a-again!”

Yuuri smiles as he caresses the silver-haired Hero’s cheek with one hand, rubbing softly over the tear-stricken face, humming a soothing approval. Then the dark-haired man starts laughing and his mentor looks at him confused.

    “What?”, The Living Legend studies his student.

The 16-year-old shakes his head, chuckling, “You are so unfair. How can someone be so beautiful even though they have snot and tears all over them. You are so unfair, Vitya. So unfairly beautiful.”

Victor blushes, averting his gaze, hugging Yuuri close again, so that he can hear his heartbeat. He needs the steady rhythm now more than ever, his mind calming as he listens to beat after beat.

    “Ya lyublyu tebya”, he whispers softly as he traces patterns over his beloved’s chest.

    “What was that?”, Yuuri asks, not having caught the whisper.

Victor buries his face into the younger one’s chest, smiling, “Nothing.”

The dark-haired highschooler continues to caress the Hero in silence, humming the piano song from the music soiree during their stay in the Elf Kingdom and the Immortal relaxes completely.

They stay like that for a while, before Chris and Phichit enter the infirmary, the elf holding a glass of water in one hand, which lands promptly on the floor, when he sees that Yuuri is awake.

The Warrior Elf runs over like a lightning bolt, “YUUUURI!”, he jumps enthusiastically into the hug, squishing Victor, who lets out a groan.

    “OH MY GOD, YUUURI! YOU ARE AWAKE! ALIVE! I’M SOOO HAPPY!”, Phichit starts sobbing and laughing at the same time, his emotions a complete whirlwind.

Chris makes his way over as well, a relieved smile on his lips, “I’m glad you are alright and awake, Yuuri”, then he stops, “I should inform the others of your waking!”, he runs away in a flash, not caring about how people would judge him for his haste.

Yuuri blinks confused. How long was he out?

Phichit squeezes him tightly, “Oh Yuuri! Never ever do that again! I don’t think my heart can take anything like that again! You hear me!”

Do what again? The Japanese’s mind runs in circles.

Before he can ask about what happened, the doors are slammed open, “KATSUDON!”

The highschooler turns his gaze to the doors and sees a teary-eyed Yurio observing him with big eyes. The Chimera loses no further second and catapults himself through the room onto Phichit, pressing Victor further into Yuuri’s chest. Phichit lets out a huff, The Living Legend groans again, but doesn’t do anything to help himself and the world traveller lets out an “Uff!”

Yurio clutches onto his friend, “K-Katsudon.”

Yuuri chuckles, “Yeah. I’m here.”

The Ice Tiger starts sobbing and hides his face in the others shoulder.

They all hear an amused chuckle at their sight and the dark-haired teen sees Otabek coming over to them with Chris, Makka and Vicchan behind him.

The dragonshifter pats the 16-year-old gently on the head, “Welcome back”, then he tries dragging Yurio away to give Yuuri some space to breathe.

    “NOOOO!”, the blond shifter wiggles in the Dragon Warrior’s hold.

Otabek huffs, “You can hug him a little later all you want, but we should get all of you off him for now. He doesn’t have any space to breathe at all with you all clinging to him.”

Chis giggles, “Yeah. You shouldn’t overwhelm Yuuri that much. We don’t want to damage his health, do we?

Vicchan and Makka take their places next to Otabek, waiting patiently.

Yurio and Phichit reluctantly step away, but Victor remains stubbornly clutched to the world traveller.

    “Victor?”, the Incubus rolls his eyes, but his friend shakes his head.

The Viscount sighs, “Who would have thought that the most childish one is the oldest of us. Well, whatever. How are you feeling, Yuuri?”

Yuuri hums, “Fine, I guess. I don’t remember of what happened and why I ended up here. I can only tell you that I had a really great dream.”

    “W-What was it about?”, Phichit looks nervous.

The Japanese smiles, “I saved a princess from Katsudonland and got as many bowls of my favourite dish as I wanted!”

Yurio snorts, shaking his head, “Yeah. That totally sounds like you.”

The others start to smile a little, shaking their heads in agreement.

    “Okay. Anything else?”, Chris inquires casually.

Yuuri shakes his head, “No.”

The Incubus hums, “What do you remember before blanking out?”, he watches the dark-haired teen carefully and Victor stiffens his hold on Yuuri.

The world traveller sighs, “I remember our plan, splitting up and reaching the group of soldiers”, he pauses, studying his friends intent gazes, “Then Yurio trying to safe two soldiers in the distance and me trying to help him…”, he notices the Chimera averting his gaze in shame, “I pushed Yurio to the ground, so we could dodge an attack and then…”

    “Then?”, Chris looks at him with tension and Yuuri wonders what all of this is about, but continues.

    “I dreamed of being stabbed by a sword through the stomach?”, he tries to look innocent, trying to convince himself that that was a dream, but the plummeting faces of his comrades and Victor squeezing him harder tell him that that’s only his wishful thinking.

    “Yuuri…”, Phichit looks strained, losing the strength in his voice.

Yurio bites his bottom lip, his hands balled into fists and Otabek tries to soothe the blond.

Chris fumbles with his hands, “Yuuri… How should we tell you…”

    “So that wasn’t a dream then…”, Yuuri concludes from their reactions objectively, “Would have been great if it would have been.”, he sighs, “Okay. So, I was really stabbed through the stomach. I could feel my HP decreasing and nearing the zero point. Then I kicked the attacker to unbalance him. The sword got taken out of me with the soldier falling. Then another explosion hit and I lost my grip on Yurio… And then…”, he stops.

What happened then?

He can’t remember. His memories are all jumbled up.

The world traveller only remembers power enveloping him and then everything turned white before he was swallowed up by darkness.

Yuuri huffs, “I’m sorry. I don’t remember much after that. There was just some power enveloping me and then everything was so bright and then darkness. Sorry.”

Phichit shakes his head, “No need for an apology. It only counts that you are safe and alive.”

They all nod, emotionally wrecked form the past days.

But Yuuri wants to know, “What happened? I mean, from your perspective at the battlefield. How long was I out? Did anything come up as I was unconscious?”

His friends shoot themselves worried glances, before Chris decides to start answering the younger one’s questions, “Yurio is the only one, who can really tell you what happened on the battlefield around you, but for us. There suddenly was light coming from the heavens and then the monsters were completely gone. About what happened the past days… Well, you were out for nearly five days, Yuuri. The Healers couldn’t help you with magic or their medical knowledge. They told us, you were comatose and in some kind of metamorphosis-like state. And then there were certain incidents.”

Phichit growls, “Certain Incidents, my ass! Someone was after Yuuri’s life!”, he turns to his friend, “We don’t know who, but someone did assassination attempts on you. They only ended last night.”

Yuuri swallows. Why would someone want to assassinate him?

Chris sighs, “Maybe we should talk about that after Yurio explained to him what happened on the battlefield. It would be less confusing.”

The Chimera nods, “Em… A-After you w-were stabbed by the …”

    “It’s okay, Yurio. Go on. You can leave that part out”, the Japanese tries to encourage the teen softly. He knows that this part wasn’t only hard on him, but much harder on his friend.

    “Em… I got up after the explosion pushed us apart and punched your attacker and then he vanished, only leaving flower petals behind… Then I searched for you with the other knight in the mist and we nearly got killed by a Red Killer Dragon, that’s an SS-Class monster… But you saved us by defeating it with a scythe? I didn’t know that it was you until you cleared the mist and … summoned lightning from the heavens? … I don’t know what it was, but mumbled something like ‘Last Judgement’ before it happened. And then you collapsed and I realized it was you… I… Y-You…”, the Ice Tiger starts tearing up again, his frame shaking.

    “Come here”, Yuuri offers and Yurio runs up to him to hug him, “I-I c-couldn’t h-heal y-you. N-Nobody c-could. I-I… W-We thought y-you w-were d-dea-ad… I-I couldn’t a-appraise y-your status either… It was so s-strange! I-It scared m-me so much…”

    “Okay”, the highschooler says calmly as he brushes over the Chimera’s back, “Thank you for telling me. I’m sorry that you had to go through so much. I didn’t want to scare you.”

The Ice Tiger says nothing, just clutching harder at the other, until Otabek comes up to them, caressing over the blond’s back and Yurio lets go to not overcrowd Yuuri, holding onto the dragonshifter instead.

Yuuri takes a breath, Victor still clinging too him, “So, about the assassination attempts?” He wants to be on the same page as everybody else.

Chris sighs tiredly, “There were a lot and all comes down to flower petals. We are still not clear, why someone seems to be targeting you and why it suddenly stopped. But these flower petal incidents started at my mansion first. Do you remember the day, we had tea and talked about how all of you met Victor?”

The Japanese student nods.

    “That night Victor fought against an unknown figure, which dissolved into petals. That was the first time the same incident happened at my estate. And then another flower petal incident at the battlefield. Moreover, your nightly visitors also left flower petals behind. We conclude that this can’t be called a coincidence anymore. Someone is planning something. The only questions are who, why and what’s their target. I have informed the king of this facts as well. But we are still investigating as there a no leads besides the petals”, Chris frowns, “Whoever the culprit behind this is, he or she is a professional at organizing and managing such situations. And that’s more than worrying.”

Silence fills the room.

Everyone is deep in thought about this strange case.

Phichit gives up first, “Well, brooding over something, we can’t solve right now, is not helping anybody. How about opening your status board, Yuuri? Yurio said that he couldn’t appraise you. So maybe something has changed with it.”

Yuuri nods and opens his status board.

He blinks at his information. Once. Twice. Thrice.

Then he shows the others, his eyes full of disbelief and confusion.

Victor turns around to look at them as well.

Name: Yuuri Katsuki

Race: Immortal Dark Reaper

Age: 16 years

LV: 27

Class: Black Reaper

Active Skill: Shadow, Shadow Double, Shadow Manipulation, Disperse, Dust Storm, Dust Barrier, Feint, Illusion, Explosion, Energy Ball, Slash, Wide Slash, Arc Slash, Silence Glaive, Lunar Glaive, Ice Glaive, Lightning Glaive, Fire Glaive, Wind Glaive, Water Glaive, Earth Glaive, Drain Glaive, Eclipse, Fallen Blossoms, Swing of Death, God-Slaying Magic, Soul Reaping, Dance of Reincarnation, Dance of Demise, Spiritual Dance, Instant Kill, Assassination, Dark Magic, Dark Summoning, Ritual Magic, Time Magic, Space Magic, Energy Manipulation, Elemental Magic, Creation Magic, Holy Fire, Ignus, Indra’s Flames, Volcano, Glacier, Storm Cloud, Vengeance, Memory Manipulation, Memory Recording, Telepathy, Telekinesis, Shadow Armory, Puppet Magic, Last Judgement, Curse of the Undead, Bleed, Paralyze, Blind, Burn, Confusion, Freeze, Poison, Silent, Steal, Stealth, Dispel, Nullify, First Aid, Recover, Dark Healing, Restoration, Moonlight Poetry, Gift For You, Grace of the Sun, Grace of the Moon, Grace of the Stars, Revival, Yggdrasil’s Wind, Skill Blockage, Release, Revelation, Oracle, Magic Ward, Physical Ward, Aura Shield, Protection Shield, Spirit Tracking, Spirit Sense, Hunt, Track, Appraisal, Search, Torch, Hide Status, Item Storage

Passive Skill: Stamina, Charm, Miracle, Language Comprehension, Intimidation, Status Ailment Resistance, Seduction, Self-Recovery, Self-Restoration, Invisibility, Insight, Assassin’s React, Magical Protection, Physical Damage Absorption, Chantless Casting, Immortality, Eye of Truth

HP: 534.684.971/534.684.971

MP: 564.987.632/564.987.632

EXP: 786.974

Next Level: 15.874 EXP

Equipped Gear: Eclipse, Dagger of Corruption, Robe of the Reaper, Pendant of Life, Moonlight Coat, Gloves of Death, Ring of Courage, Boots of Darkness

Blessing: Lycoris’ Blessing

Status: none

Title: Adventurous Soul

54.689 G

ATK:685.421

DEF: 684.356

MAT: 685.467

MDF: 684.367

AGI: 686.123

LUK: 684.268

What the hell is going on?

His friends all study his new stats under careful eyes.

Yurio is the first to voice anything, “The fuck… What’s with these stats and skills?”

Otabek hums, “I’ve never seen someone with such high numbers at Level 27.”

Phichit whistles impressed, “You are such a badass, Yuuri-buddy! Wuhuu!”

Chris smirks, “Never judge a book by his cover!”

They all smile at Yuuri, but Victor stares blankly at the screen.

    “Hey cheri! Say something to your amazing student! Cheri?”, the Incubus studies his friend’s concentrated expression, “Are you alright?”

The Hero doesn’t respond at first, pointing at Yuuri’s slowly with his forefinger. The others follow his movements as realization hits them.

    “Fuck, Katsudon! You are–“, Yurio stares at his friend in awe.

    “–an Immortal Dark Reaper”, Otabek finishes for him, his eyes glittering in anticipation and amazement.

Phichit squeals, “Oh my god! Oh my god! OH MY GOD!”

But Yuuri is blank, not comprehending anything.

Victor’s voice sounds quietly through the infirmary, “There is an ancient legend among the deities and mortals of special beings, who are strong enough to judge the faults and wrongdoings of every living being in this realm. It is said that when grey turns to black and white, the Apostles of Twilight are descending to pass judgement onto the world to lead everyone to the right path again. They are also called ‘The Last Front of the Equilibrium’, ‘the Executioners of Twilight’ or ‘the Watchers of the Order’. But their most popular title through the history books is the ‘Dark Reapers’. They are the personal forces of Lycoris, God of Reincarnation and Death, also called the God of Twilight. There hasn’t been a known Dark Reaper for centuries…”, he turns to Yuuri, interlocking their gazes, “I’ve never thought about meeting and travelling with one personally in my whole life.”

The eyes wander from Victor to Yuuri. Nobody knowing what to say. Instead they are just staring.

Yuuri starts shaking his head wildly, “No. I-I don’t even know if I am that kind of Reaper to begin with. Maybe it’s something else entirely! We don’t have any proof that I-I am a Reaper from the legends. Furthermore, it sounds kinda ridiculous to me. Why should I be–. No, I-I’m not. I can’t be.”

Phichit hums, looking at the status screen again, “Well, you do have Lycoris’ Blessing though… And your race says Immortal Dark Reaper. Even your class states Black Reaper.”

    “Y-Yeah. Black not Dark Reaper”, the Japanese tries to be stubborn. Why would someone like him be something so amazing. No, there must be a mistake. There has to be a mistake.

Makka starts growling and the attention turns to her.

Vicchan is trying to push her back, but the standard poodle is having none of it.

    “I can’t take this any longer!”, she exclaims with a clear voice and determined voice. Victor shoots her a look, but she ignores him, fed up with having to stay silent for all this time. All to hell with staying undercover! She has had enough.

Makkachin straightens herself and Vicchan growls again after a pointed bark, “Oh shut up!”, she turns to Yuuri, “Yes, Yuuri, you are a Dark Reaper!”

Victor and Vicchan facepalm as the others stare at the standard poodle with wide eyes.

Yurio yells, “I knew that I didn’t dream up Makka talking back in the ruin! Since when can your dog talk, old man?”

Chris eyes the dog up and down, “I’ve always been wondering about you, dear Makkachin. Now, I know that there is definitely something magical about you.”

Otabek stays still observing with great interest and Phichit squeals, “Oh my god! Makka can really talk! This is so exciting!”

Yuuri hums, continuing to stare at the dog.

Victor lets out a sigh, “Makka was that really necessary now?”

Makkachin huffs, “Of course, it was! I’m fed up with being undercover and Yuuri needs to know the truth! If it weren’t for that idiot over there, I would have talked to you much sooner!”, she shoots the toy poodle a stern look, who grumbles as response.

The Japanese is startled, “Wait, what does this all have to do with Vicchan?”

The standard poodle smirks, “Yeah, what has that all to do with Vicchan, I wonder… Yuuri, didn’t you ever think it strange. You alone in the labyrinth of some ancient ruin and then suddenly a toy poodle appears and leads you to your friends? Haven’t you ever wondered about how such a small dog can survive that long down there?”

The 16-year-old bites his bottom lip. He has been wondering about that, but pushed it aside during their adventures. But now that Makkachin is pointing it out, it sounds ridiculous for a small toy poodle to be down there and survive on his own.

Vicchan looks at Makka angrily, growling, “I’m so done with you, Chrys!”

Makkachin rolls her eyes, “Yeah. Yeah. Stop growling, Lycoris. It’s unbecoming of you!”

    “Unbecoming? UNBECOMING? ARE YOU SERIOUS?”, Vicchan or Lycoris yells, before taking a slow breath, “Fine. What’s done is done. But you will be the one held responsible for this Chrysanthemia!”

The standard poodle rolls her eyes again, “Yeah. Yeah. Got it”, she turns to her ward, stretching out a paw, “Vitya, introductions please!”

The Living Legend stares at her incredulously before clearing his voice, his arms still circling around Yuuri, “May I present to you, my friends: Head Goddess Chrysanthemia in all her glory.”

Yurio, Yuuri, Chris, Otabek and Phichit look at him with dazed expressions.

“The Fuck?” “T-The H-Head G-Goddess?” “Say what now?” “Seriously?” “Oh my god!”

Victor huffs, “Yeah. Makkachin is the Goddess of Happiness, Longevity, Honesty and Joy and currently on long-term vacation.”

Makka takes a graceful bow, “It’s been a delight to travel with you all.”

They all need to sit down after that, except Yuuri who just slumps down on his bed and Victor, who tries to be nonchalant.

Afters some moments of silence, the shock seems to dissipate.

    “This whole time we travelled with the Head Goddess… Oh my god”, Phichit sounds excited and giddy.

    “This is one hell of a surprise”, Chris states amazed, “I would never have thought her to be a goddess.”

    “The fuck, old man! Why didn’t you tell me?”, Yurio scowls.

    “The Head Goddess… wow”, Otabek says wide-eyed.

Yuuri hums, “That’s really a big surprise.”

Victor sighs, “I had to keep it to myself, because she is here incognito or was… I don’t know anymore.”

All attention turns to the standard poodle again, who is currently arguing with a very angry Vicchan.

    “I know stop being such a pain in the ass, Lycoris! And introduce yourself!”, the goddess says.

    “Lycoris?”, Yuuri asks quietly and Vicchan turns to him with a bit of a guilty expression. The toy poodle lets out a big sigh, “Yeah. That’s me.”

    “WHAT?!?”, all exclaim, this time Victor included.

The toy poodle steps forward, “It’s nice to make your acquaintance. My name is Lycoris, God of Death and Reincarnation, also called the God of Twilight. I apologize for bombarding all of you with so much new information, but someone…”, he glares at Makkachin, “… decided to advance everything on her own whim.” He sighs, “I wanted to observe the situation a bit longer, before coming out of hiding, but well, what’s done is done. I came down to the Mortal Realm to watch over you, Yuuri. You are one of my wards and currently the only existing Black Reaper. I gave you my full blessing after your skill Miracle got activated in the last battle. I couldn’t leave you to die, so I decided to act, granting you your final class change and Immortality. I was taking a chance as nobody should be made a member of the League of the Dark Reapers to continue their legacy without proper training and challenges to overcome in order to grow. But time had me changing my plans. I guess, that’s why you collapsed after using Last Judgement as well. No previous ward of mine has been able to use the skill so soon and with such strength and accuracy. It’s impressive. Especially as you adapted to the change perfectly. I had been very worried that I may have to kill you after you go insane, but don’t fear, it won’t happen to you anymore. You’ve passed the tests and you have a strong personality. It’s delighting. I welcome you as my most favourite Dark Reaper! I’m sure you’ll do a fine job!”

Yuuri swallows. That’s a lot to take in.

Victor looks starstruck and a little like a proud dad, “You are so amazing, Yuuri! You were just a charming Black Bubble back when I found you in the forest and now you are a big bad Black Reaper, bringing justice onto the world! I’m so proud of you as your coach and mentor!”, he hugs the Japanese tightly, pressing kisses to his cheeks.

Yurio huffs, “Isn’t anyone concerned that he is a Black Reaper? You know the big scary ones also referred to as ‘Grim Reapers’, the harbingers of death?”

All look at him quietly for a second, before Phichit brings out a handkerchief to clean his nose, looking like a proud dad as well, “They grow up so fast!”

Chris wipes the tears from his eyes, “Yeah, they do!”

Yurio scowls, “What the hell is wrong with you all? Beka back me–”, he looks at his friend, who is clearly touched and proud of Yuuri as well, “Oh forget it. Congrats, Katsudon. You are now aloud to kill bad people. Have fun.”

Yuuri looks overwhelmed and stays silent, pushing everything aside. He can go through everything later, when he has calmed down.

Lycoris watches his ward attentively, satisfied with what he is seeing. He was right to choose him as his protégé.

The God of Twilight clears his voice and waits until everyone is hanging on his lips, “But me protecting and guiding you isn’t the only reason I am here. You’ve already heard of the war proclamation from Rusza’s ruler. I am here to investigate that as well. One of our deities Goddess Chihoko summoned you, Yuuri and your classmates to this world and gave instructions to go to Robinia. She invented a story for the royals and the Church to give the heroes a place in this world. However, the prophesy says that they should defeat the Demon King to free the world from his reign. The King of Rusza is a greedy bastard and wants to expand his territory for many years now. We need to stop your colleagues from doing as they were told, before they are in serious danger. If a war really breaks out, they will lose their lives in no time. After that we will find a way to send them back to Earth, but for now, we have to stop their delusions. And I need all of your help for that before it’s too late!”

    “No worries”, Victor says calmly, “That is our mission in the first place. We’ll do our utmost to stop the war and save Yuuri’s classmates.”

    “Good”, Lycoris has a strange look for a moment before his expression turns to normal, “Thank you”

The Living Legend has a feeling that there is more to the situation, but lets it go. They will know everything in time.

    “Maybe we should let Katsudon rest up a little more?”, Yurio proposes out of nowhere.

    “I don’t need any more rest!”, Yuuri opposes, “I’ve been asleep for too long anyway!”

Chris hums, “Then maybe you should walk around the palace gardens a little to get some fresh air before–“

The door to the infirmary swings open and King JJ and Queen Isabelle walk in side by side. The royals grin widely, when they see Yuuri awake, but there is something more to it. Victor lets go of his beloved and goes to stand tall on his other side to hinder the royals from getting too close. He doesn’t want to overwhelm Yuuri more than he already is.

The Demon King makes an extravagant gesture, “I didn’t believe the Head Nurse, when she reported to me! But how wonderful to be graced with your presence, Dark Reaper. I never thought I would meet someone so special as you in my whole life! May the Legacy of old reign just and truthful!”

Yuuri stairs at him with wide eyes and the others grit their teeth.

Maybe they shouldn’t have spoken so loudly.

JJ clears his throat, “That’s how I should have greeted you according to the documents of my ancestors. But even for me, it’s a little uncomfortable.”

    “Then please let it be, Your Majesty”, the highschooler pleads.

The Demon King grins, “Call me JJ! We are friends! By the way thank you all for saving my darling Isabella!”

The Queen curtsies, “Thank you for coming to our aid!”

JJ hums, “I thought the past days a lot about how I can show my gratitude properly and came to a decision. I will write to the other leaders and put my trust in them because I trust you all. And furthermore, Viscount Giacometti, I hereby declare you ambassador for the Demon Kingdom and task you to aid our friends on their own mission on behalf of our country and the safety of the world.”

Chris bows low, “I, Viscount Christophe Giacometti, accept this honour and swear to not disappoint your trust in me, Your Majesty.”

The ruler of Crownwell nods, “May I convince you to celebrate with us the revival of the Legacy of the Dark Reapers? The word has to be spread instantly among our pears. It may help threaten the nobles, who are exploiting their people, to reconsider their actions with the threat of ‘the Executioner’ observing them”, he winks at the 16-year-old.

Victor hums, “Thank you, JJ. You may spread the word as you see fit. But I think it’s best for us to head straight to Rusza. The sooner we get to the bottom of this the better for every country.”

His friends nod at him in understanding, Yuuri giving a thumbs up.

They shouldn’t be wasting any more time.

    “I understand”, the Demon King says a little disappointed, Isabella patting his shoulders gently, “But next time, you have to stay for the celebrations!”

The Hero laughs, “Gladly.”

JJ smiles gently, “I wish you all the best of luck, my friends. May we meet again soon!”

With this they turn around waving and exit the infirmary.

Victor turns to the others, mixed feelings painted on his face, “I think we should pack up then and take some deep breaths because our next destination is Robinia, the capital of Rusza”, he says calmly, but his eyes tell his friends that he isn’t too happy about it.

Yuuri nods, “Yeah… To Robinia…”

The Japanese thinks he understands Victor’s feelings perfectly. He doesn’t know why, but somehow, he is dreading the reencounter with his classmates as much as Victor is dreading setting his foot into the capital once again.

He hopes, no prays that everything will be alright.

Chapter Text

They say that fate is something magical. Something set in stone, predestined before you are even born. That some celestial being blessed you with it.

But is that really so?

Yuuri likes to believe in fate, in predestined encounters and predicted events.

He grins as he catches himself thinking that meeting Victor and the others is was his fate, encounters which had to happen.

But at the same time, he is sceptical.

Does that mean that all his misfortune, his bad experiences and accidents are fate as well?

The Japanese doesn’t know the answer to that. He can only believe in what he thinks is right. And Yuuri decides to believe in choices.

Everyone makes decisions on their own. And every decision brings consequences, often not to be foreseen until they already happened.

So he thinks that fate has to exit, but that it’s unfolding depends on what decisions someone makes after standing on a crossroad.

The 16-year-old looks up into the cerulean-blue eyes before the teleportation spell takes effect and smiles. He’s already made his.

Robinia is a city full of people. The buildings look like the ones only every seen in history books about the medieval times on Earth. Where Eternia and Orion looked rich and wealthy, the common parts of the capital city of Rusza look ready for some renovations. The social hierarchy can be perfectly observed by studying the people’s clothes. There are some men and women very lavishly dressed with gems and silk clothes. Then there are people who look like wild ruffians or adventurers and the common folk.

Of all the cities he’s travelled to since coming to Aegis, Yuuri thinks that he likes this one the least. But still it is intriguing as this is the capital city of the country in which Victor was born.

    “So this is Robinia!”, Phichit exclaims excited, letting his gaze wander over the buildings, “Very interesting!”

Otabek takes out a black notebook and starts drawing some sketches. He seems very interested in the architecture as well.

Yurio huffs, rolling his eyes, “What’s so great about it? It’s just another shithole like every other city”, but still he looks around like an excited kid, happy to discover new territory.

Chris sighs tiredly, “Never thought I would be back here so soon…”

Yuuri averts his gaze from the buildings and looks at Chris with a raised eyebrow, before he turns to Victor and stills.

The Living Legend is just staring absentmindedly into the distance, not saying anything. He looks frozen and unmovable. His gaze far away, chasing ghosts.

The Japanese steps next to him and takes his hand, squeezing it. He doesn’t know if he should ask his mentor about his feelings or just stay silent while giving his support. His decision is taken away by the silver-haired man himself.

    “It is the same.”

    “Pardon?”, Yuuri asks surprised.

Victor’s eyes turn to him. They still look haunted and distant, but there is a little spark of revelation in them, “The city is the same. It seems that the capital hasn’t changed much during the 30 years of my absence. The buildings are the same. The people are dressed the same way like back then and Robinia still has the same atmosphere.”

    “Oh”, the highschooler doesn’t know what to say.

His trainer hums, letting his gaze drift over the town square again as he pulls a hoodie over his silver hair.

    “Is that bad?”, the world traveller asks.

Victor sighs, his face completely hidden now, “I don’t know. It just gives me somehow relief, but worry at the same time…”

Yuuri squeezes the other’s hand again and the Hero turns to him with a small smile, which is completely fake.

The 16-year-old worries his bottom lip, before he decides to speak, “Whatever happens here, know that you are not alone in this. We are here for you. I… If it makes you feel better, you can always take my hand if it gets too much for you. I don’t know what transpired here or why you had to hide yourself for years. But I will be there for you whenever you need me. So… please depend on me… on all of us more.”

The silver-haired man looks at him with wide eyes, but nods. His cerulean eyes shimmering like the stars in the night-sky, “Thank you.”

Yuuri smiles lightly as he replies, his voice soft and gentle, “There is no need to thank me. I’ll always have your back, Victor. That’s how it is between us. I have your back and you have mine”, he blushes embarrassed, “Even if I always need more rescuing than the others…”

The teen feels his hand being squeezed, “Yuuri, you are not weak. Reaper or not, you were never weak. Hearing you say that you have my back is one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever heard in my life! Thank you, my darling. You don’t know how much your words mean to me.”

The Japanese turns crimson, “I think you are exaggerating… But you are welcome.”

Yurio gags, “Gross. Are you done with your flirting now? We have more urging things to take care of like how do we start our investigation?”

Phichit grumbles, “Couldn’t you have waited a tad longer? They were just getting really cute and the mood was just right too!”

The Chimera yells angrily, “Shut up, you annoying elf!”

Chris smiles, “And they were just getting hot for each other too! Such a pity! I would have liked to watch more of this little entertainment.”

The Ice Tiger rolls his eyes, looking disgusted, “Urgh! Stop it, you pervert! What’s wrong with you people? We are not here on vacation! Beka back me up here and help me talk sense into these disgusting fools!”

Otabek runs up to him excited, showing Yurio his notebook, “Look Yura! Isn’t this sketch the perfect imitation of the fountain? There are so many great architecture styles here!”

Yurio facepalms and shoots a look at Makkachin and Vicchan, who seem to enjoy the scenery as well. The blond teen huffs annoyed. He really seems to be the only responsible one in this whole group setting. How aggravating.

The Chimera turns to Victor again, growling as his patience comes to an end, “So what’s the fucking plan, stupid old man? And don’t say that you don’t have one! If you do, I am going to strangle you after kicking you in the jewels!”

And amused expression makes itself comfortable on Victor’s face as he lights up and lets go of Yuuri’s hand, “Well, my dear kitten! The plan is as follows: We walk around town to the Church and then to the Adventurers Guild and inquire about the happenings around here as well as look for clues about Yuuri’s classmates. Then we will sneak into the Royal Palace and have a small talk with the King. End of it!”

    “Stop calling me that!”, Yurio splutters, “This all sounds like a real pain in the ass… Let’s get on with it! I want to be over it as soon as possible!”

The Incubus hums, “But it is our best bet…”

Makka nods, “Yeah… We have to stop the Hero’s party at all cost if we want to put a stop to this whole mess… I don’t know how long the equilibrium will hold up under the circumstances if we don’t–“, Vicchan shoots her a look, “Never mind! Let’s get moving!”

Phichit studies Victor questioningly, “By the way, why the hoodie?”

The Living Legend sighs, “Well, it’s better if I stay hidden as long as possible. You all should also hide your status! We don’t know how the people of Rusza react to outsiders right now! You know because of the war declarations?”

Vicchan hums, “You have a point. I will grant you all the skill Camouflage. It will give you the ability to show outsiders a different status plate at your own will. But nothing about you will change in reality. So chose your disguise wisely. Also you can only alter your Level after reaching Level 100. So Yuuri has to stay Level 27, I am sorry.”

Yuuri shakes his head, “That is no problem at all. Thank you a lot for this, Vicch– I mean Lycoris.”

The toy poodle laughs, “You can still call me Vicchan Yuuri. I prefer it.”

The group hears a pinging noise and all read the notification, activating it immediately.

Lycoris’s Gift received:
Camouflage

    “I think we should each take something similar to our preferences and skills. So I am going to be an Archer at Level 56!”, Phichit exclaims with a big grin.

Chris hums, thoughtfully, “Yeah. Then I should probably take Gunner as I love my babies and I chose Level 69 ‘cause I like the position!”

Yurio gags again, “You are so disgusting! Why did you have to say that out loud, you pervert?!? I am going with Monc and Level 46 then.”

    “I will take Fighter at Level 46”, Otabek says calmly and the Chimera high-fives-him.

    “I knew you are great, Beka!”, the Ice Tiger says with a smile and the Dragon Warrior grins.

Victor thinks about what class he should chose, “I think Swordmaster would suit me best and I am going to be Level 70.”

Chris groans, “Cheri, why do you always have to be on top?”

The Living Legend smirks, “Cause I am always on top!”

Phichit squeals, “You hear that Yuuri! Brace yourself!”

Yuuri turns crimson, “W-What do you mean?!?”

Yurio steps in front of the Japanese, a scowl on his face, “Let Katsudon out of your perverted games! He is too innocent for them and I don’t want you to ruin him!”

The Incubus whistles, “Here comes Knight Yurio in his shining tiger-printed armour, protector of his dearest friend Yuuri and his beloved dragon Otabek. How adorable, you are kitten!”

The Chimera stomps his feet on the ground, “I said to stop calling me that! You hear me perv!?!”

Victor snaps his fingers and exclaims brightly, “I think Yuuri should be a Swordsman!”

    “With a scythe?”, Otabek questions with a furrowed brow.

The Hero shrugs, “He also knows how to wield a sword, so it shouldn’t matter much! What do you say, darling?”

Yuuri fidgets with his hands, “Well, if you think it good then yeah… I didn’t have any good idea concerning another more normal class with a scythe anyway.”

Vicchan huffs, “Then all is decided. I think we should split up in three groups and head to the church using three different directions to catch some of the talk of the city. One team will be led by Victor, one by Chris and one by Makka and me as we know the map of this place as well.”

    “Beka and I take the dogs!”, Yurio says bluntly, “I need a break from all of you!”

Victor chuckles. He is so happy for Yura to finally have found a friend near his age. The Hero nods, “Okay.”

    “Phichit and me will be team two” Chris exclaims next, “So you and Yuuri are the last team!”, he winks at the highschooler, who blushes again.

The Living Legend smiles, “Fine. Then see you at the gates of the church! Come Yuuri, we’ll take the route from the East.”, he takes the world traveller by the hand and guides him away.

When the two are out of hearing reach, Phichit whispers to Chris, “Do you think he caught on?”

The Incubus sighs, “By the reaction definitely. But it seems like he wants some alone time with Yuuri as well.”

Yurio frowns, “What are you up to now?”

Otabek just stays silent, patting Vicchan and Makkachin, already knowing what will happen next.

The Viscount smirks, “Well, well, little Yura! Come with us and see for yourself!”

Phichit hides his ears under a hoodie, “It’s shadowing time, my friends!”

The elf and the demon high-five the other and drag the dragonshifter and the Chimera along with them, hiding behind pillars and houses to not be discovered by their target.

Yuuri stares at the shops on the streets with awe. The city is really interesting, especially when he thinks about Victor spending a lot of time here. He turns to his mentor and nearly jumps right away. His trainer is staring at him with a fond and curious expression and Yuuri turns crimson under his strong gaze. The Japanese starts fidgeting with his hands, not knowing what to do. He hears Victor chuckle and lifts his face to meet the other’s eyes.

    “I-Is everything f-fine?”, Yuuri inquires confused.

The Hero nods, “Now it is. I never gave much thought about how Robinia would be perceived by a first-timer from another world. It must be truly exciting to walk down the streets and study the architecture of the houses. I never saw the appeal up until just now. It looks much more cheerful from the outside than in my memories.”

The Japanese stops, “I-I am sorry. I-I just…”

    “Yuuri, you don’t need to be sorry. You’ve just shown me how to appreciate it all again. And… And that is an amazing feat in itself. I always hated coming here. There were so many shadows clouding my mind… There still are… But it’s better… Yeah, much better with you here”, the silver-haired noble says as he stares into the distance, “You may not know it, but I was born here at the edge of the capital. My mother, Ekaterina Ivanova, always liked going to the market together with me when I was older. She always told me that I am perfect as I am and that I should never let me lose confidence over the gossip and bad treatment I received from the others because I was an illegitimate child. The church hated my guts before the Revelation Ceremony as I was born out of wedlock. All searched for faults in me to blame me for various things. The only two people who kept me sane were my mother and Evan. My oldest half-brother was the kindest soul I’ve ever met. He believed in justice, ambition, diligence and resilience and he trained me to become a warrior. And then the Revelation Ceremony happened and everything changed. It all happened in an instant”, he shakes his head, a fake smile marring his face, “I am sorry to trouble you with all of this. I don’t know what came over me…”

Yuuri takes Victor’s hand and squeezes it again, “Don’t apologize. I-I like hearing about you. I-It makes me f-feel closer to y-you…”, he averts his gaze, turning shy as he states the truth out loud, “I-I want to k-know y-you…”

The Hero hums, squeezing the others hand as well, but he doesn’t say anything. Pleasant silence falls between the two man as they walk hand-in-hand down the road to the Church.

    “–Demon Kingdom prepares for war!”

    “Scandalous! Are we getting attacked so soon?”

    “The Hero’s party will save all of us! I am sure!”

    “Business has been lazy lately. Hopefully, it will get better soon!”

    “They say the Grim Reaper has appeared again in the Demon Kingdom!”

    “Maybe he will bring finally some justice to these lands! I wish he would make a visit to the King!”

    “Shush, right now! You don’t want to be arrested, child!”

    “OMG! They are holding hands!”

    “This is not fresh fish, you scoundrel!”

    “Gross!”

    “Quiet, you both dears!”

    “Apples, who wants apples?”

    “Look at that sculpture, Yu–“

    “I said quiet!”

    “Man, I am beat. How many letters more to deliver?”

    “It can’t be!”

    “Mama! I want that candy!”

Yuuri laughs at the last statement from the young child. He remembers himself when he was little and his family went shopping together. Mari and he were a great duo in convincing their parents to buy them sweet stuff. He looks at the young daughter and her mother with a bittersweet gaze. He misses his parents and his sister. It’s been a long time since they haven’t seen each other. He lets out a sigh as he shakes his head. The young man has other things to worry about for now.

    “–right?”, the Japanese hears Victor’s voice.

    “Pardon?”, Yuuri asks confused as he didn’t catch the full question.

    “Are you alright, Yuuri?”, his mentor repeats with a smile tugging on his lips.

The 16-year-old nods, “Yeah… I was just remembering my parents and my sister back on Earth. We used to be exactly like the little girl with the mother. We had a lot of tricks up our sleeves to get what we wanted.”

The silver-haired man’s expression freezes and he looks thoughtful and sad, “My apologies… I know it’s not easy for you to be separated from them… I will do everything to–”

    “That’s not it, Victor!”, Yuuri interrupts him. He lets out a breath, “Yes, I miss them a lot, but it’s fine. I am enjoying my time here as well! So don’t worry too much about it!”

The Hero hums, but he still looks conflicted.

The dark-haired student rolls his eyes and bumps his hips against the other to lighten up his mood, “Look. I love being here with you and the others. I love our adventures and I love spending time with you. So stop whatever you are thinking right now! I am not going anywhere!”

For now, Victor wants to add, but decides against it, so he continues by analysing the rumours a little, “Seems like the gossip about the Grim Reaper has reached Rusza as well. You are a celebrity, my darling!”, he teases with a smile.

Yuuri huffs, “The better it is that I am in disguise here! I don’t want to hear the screams of agony so soon!”

Victor starts laughing loudly, holding his stomach with his unoccupied hand.

    “W-What?”, the world traveller asks perplexed.

The Living Legend shakes his head, “Nothing just imagining you as the messenger of death is… pretty hard.”

The Japanese rolls his eyes, “Well, it’s not like I volunteered for the job.”

The Hero gets a sparkle in his eyes, “Good day, my name is Yuuri Katsuki and I want to apply for the position as–“, he gets lightly punched in the stomach.

    “Go, Katsudon!”

    “Ssshhh! Be quiet!”

    “Be quiet your–!”

Victor dramatically wails, “Ouch. Why are you so cruel, my Yuuri?”

The dark-haired man shakes his head, “You deserved that, Vitya and you know it!”

    “Well, I can’t fault you. But still, please be gentler to my poor devoted self in the future, my dear!”, the Hero puts on his puppy dog eyes.

The Japanese student rolls his eyes, a pink hue dusting his cheeks, “You are insufferable.”

    “But you still love me for it!”, The Living Legend winks playfully at the younger man.

Yuuri rolls his eyes again and huffs, before he whispers with a soft smile, “That I do.”

Victor freezes, not understanding what he just heard, “Y-Yuuri?”

    “Look the Church! Let’s hurry!”, the world traveller pulls him along, not letting his mentor question him about the words which just slipped from his tongue.

They meet up with the others shortly. Phichit glances at them with anticipation and Chris smirks widely, while playing with his eyebrows. The dogs just loll their tongues with patience, Otabek starts sketching the towers of the Church and Yurio just scowls and crosses his arms, “Took you long enough! Can we get the church visit over now?”

    “Sorry to keep you waiting”, Yuuri bows in apology, but Phichit waves him off.

They enter the Church immediately and Victor guides them to one of the back corners, where he engages a monk in a conversation, “Is it true that the Goddess has blessed our country with the coming of the saviours?”

The monk, a small but burly man with a bald head, nods, “Goddess Chihoko has blessed the lands with the arrival of 24 stars to guide Rusza to new heights and rid this world of the cruelty of the demonic ways, dear gentleman. One of the stars was chosen as the holy saviour of us all and has embarked with four loyal companions from his world on his journey of true justice just last fortnight.”

FUCK!, they all think. They have missed the departure of the Hero’s party by an inch.

    “And where dear brother of the Holy Church are the other 19 stars doing their good for our beloved country?”, Victor trembles a little as he says ‘beloved’.

    “They are residing in the capital under the guidance of their search for strength”, the monk says bluntly, clearly displeased. He looks left and right before he reaches up to whisper quietly, “If I may be blunt. I am grateful for their safety. The stars are mere children, not grown enough to do the task of men and I am worried for their well-being. The Crown isn’t pleased with them going their own way as adventurers and the Head of the Church is greatly displeased as well. But as long as they are under the Guildmaster’s protection, they should be safe. But please keep this information to yourself, dear gentleman.”

    “I will, dear brother”, the Hero nods.

The monk bows, “Thank you, Lord Nikiforov.”

The group freezes immediately.

    “I-I don’t know what you are talk–“, the silver-haired man starts, but is interrupted by the monk, “Please Milord, I won’t say a word, but nobody would ever forget the name of The Living Legend if they have seen him once or so the saying goes. And this is not the first time we met, Milord. I remember your visit to this Church 32 years ago. I was still a young apprentice, but you treated me with the sincerest kindness as you prayed to the Head Goddess Chrysanthemia. I would never forget your anguished face at that time, even if you are disguised. It is my honour to serve you as I know that your return can only be one due to importance.”

    “Thank you then, my friend”, Victor says with a light bow and a smile, “May I ask your name?”

The man from the Church bows, “It’s Dimitri, Your Lordship!”

    “Dimitri, you may call me by my given name then”, the Hero says with finality, “And as you said, I am here to straighten out some mess, I disregarded for years. I thank you for your information and wish you the best. May the deities be with you, my friend.”

Dimitri bows again, “May the gods and goddesses be with you, Victor!”

They leave the Church after that in silence. When they are outside, The Living Legend sighs louldy, “I’ve never thought to be recognized that easily… It has been 30 years after all.”

Chris shrugs, “Well, how did he say so eloquently. The Living Legend is unforgettable in all the ways of the world. Maybe you should let us do the talking from now on, cheri!”

Yurio huffs, “Yeah because otherwise we can say operation stealth goodbye before it even really started.”

    “Yeah… We others are more unknown here, so I have to agree with Chris there”, Phichit points out.

    “I think we should decide on who will talk spontaneously”, Vicchan interrupts, “We should head over to the Adventurer’s Guild to check on Yuuri’s classmates and further gossip! Come on guys! We don’t have the whole day!”

Makka whines, but follows the toy poodle as he points the way out with his nose. The friends follow the two without any complains, Victor again deep in thought.

When they arrive at the Guild, Yuuri is stunned. It looks exactly like all the Adventurer’s Guilds in the games he liked to play. There are various tables with seats, a bar, request boards organized by difficulty and many counters with the clerks.

They walk up to one of the free counters with a long-haired blond woman, smiling at them widely, “Hello, sweethearts! What can I do for you?”

Phichit steps forward, grinning, “Hello! We would like to know–“

    “RED ALARM FOR ALL ADVENTURERS! THERE IS A MONSTER SIGHTING OF RANK S OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL! THE ONES WHO WILL TAKE THIS UP WILL BE REWARDED HANDSOMELY!”, the Guildmaster’s voice booms through the grand hall.

Victor makes a face and Chris smirks, “We are taking the quest.”

All eyes turn to the Incubus, including his comrades’.

    “What?”, Yurio exclaims, “Why should we–?”

The Living Legend covers his mouth.

Chris makes his way over to look at the Guildmaster properly, “My friends and I will head out immediately. We were searching for work anyway. So where is it?”

They get the information shortly, while they are being eyed from head to toe. But nobody could blame the regulars really. There is a bunch of strangers showing up for the first time and then taking on a S Class Quest like it is nothing. Truly mysterious and intriguing.

Chris guides them out of the Guild and to the place outside the capital, where the Werewolves were sighted. When they reach the beginning of the road, the comrades feel that something is amiss. They walk with vigour down the path, when they see some merchants surrounded by a pack of Werewolves. Vicchan and Makka place themselves to the side to observe as the others don’t hesitate to help the poor people, racing to prevent them from getting harmed any further. Phichit uses Aerial Laser and Chris Astral Bullet from the distance to redirect the attention of the monsters. Victor directs a Moon Blast to the adversaries before engaging them in direct battle with his slash skills, Yurio joining him with his kick attacks. Yuuri throws some Energy Balls before he uses Instant Kill on one Werewolf. The monster goes down immediately, but the Japanese doesn’t have any time to rest so he uses Fallen Blossoms and dances with precise slashes through their enemies. His swings emanating something that looks like Sakura Blossoms, but every time the blossoms touch a Werewolf, they go down poisoned before they die. His friends look at him with big eyes.

Yuuri bites his lower lip, “I didn’t think it wouldn’t be this effective… I’m sorry…”, he hears the pinging noise of his Level-Ups and swipes them away, before another notification pops-up, when the count finally finished.

Level-Up received:

Congratulations you have reached Level 30!

New skills acquired:

Rune Magic

Reading Ability

Writing Ability

Yuuri scrunches his nose up in irritation, “This is such a diss. I would have needed the reading and writing ability at the beginning and not now!”

Yurio cackles, “What a diss! You never stop entertaining me, Katsudon!”

Phichit pats his friend empathetically on the shoulder, “Well, at least Rune Magic seems pretty cool to me!”

Otabek nods vigorously and Victor smiles at him, “I am sure the other skill can be practical as well.”

Vicchan huffs, “You know the other skills are good too! You can even understand lost languages now! So stop pouting!”

Makka laughs, “Lycoris likes to spoil you, Yuuri! Never forget that!”

    “Am not, Chrys! Stop making things up!”, the God of Twilight blushes and Chrysanthemia just snickers.

After a quick talk with the merchants and escorting them to the capital city after healing them up, the group departs to the Guild again. When they enter the grand halls, the party is stopped by a voice.

    “Yuuri?”, a female voice exclaims in disbelief.

The Japanese turns around and recognizes Yuuko immediately, Takeshi staying behind her with wide eyes, “Yuuko? Takeshi?”

He runs up to them, his comrades still frozen in their tracks.

    “Oh my god! I knew you were still alive! I never stopped believing!”, his childhood friend says as she whipes her tears away, “Where were you all this time? And what happened to you? And who are those people?”, the girl gestures to Yuuri’s companions.

The highschooler lets out a breath, “I think we should all sit down for a bit to talk. Come over, guys! I want to introduce all of you!”

They seat themselves on one of the large tables and order something to drink and eat, before they talk.

    “So what happened?”, Yuuko asks curiously, eyeing the handsome men surrounding Yuuri. Takeshi lets his gaze wander as well over the strangers, caution clearly in his eyes.

    “Well”, the dark-haired man with glasses starts, “After I woke up in the bus, I searched for you and I ended up meeting Victor and Makka”, he gestures to his trainer and the standard poodle politely, “And soon we started travelling together”, the Japanese decides to keep it short and simple. He doesn’t want to give too much information about his mentor’s residence and sell him out. “We met our other friends on the way. This is Yurio”, he points at the Ice Tiger who gives him a scowl, “This Otabek. And this Phichit and Vicchan. And last but not least Chris”, he gestures to all of them one after the other, “They are all really nice guys and great friends. I don’t know where I would be without them!”

His friends from Aegis smile at him warmly, Victor even taking Yuuri’s hand to squeeze it and Vicchan liking his cheeks softly in appreciation. The God like having his ward calling him a friend beside being his deity.

And Yuuko smiles softly, “That’s great. We were really worried about you…”, she worries her bottom lip, “So you were still in the bus when we left… I am sorry…”

Yuuri hums, squeezing Victor’s hand as he asks what he wanted to know from the first time he woke up alone in that bus, “W-Why was I l-left behind?”

His childhood friend bites her lower lip, her gaze guilty and haunted. It’s Takeshi, who answers his question, “I wasn’t on purpose… At least not from our side… Things were complicated… But you deserve the whole story. It was like this:

The day of the arrival of the class

    “I am looking forward to all the games we can play in secret during the night!”, Yuuko exclaims excited and Takeshi nods as he plays some Mario Kart on his DS with some classmates, deep in concentration.

His girlfriend huffs annoyed, “You are not listening at all, are you?”

    “Hmm”, her seat neighbour responds.

Yuuko rolls her eyes, “Maybe I should wake Yuuri up and–“

Suddenly the bus is spinning and the lights flicker and are pushed back into their seats, before everything is flooded in white light, so they have to close their eyes.

When they open their eyes again, the whole scenery has changed. Before anyone can ask a question, a woman appears to them. She wears a yellow tunic and has flowing golden hair. She looks like a Goddess. Yuuko looks over to Yuuri, who is still sleeping soundly. Maybe she should wake him later, then she looks back to the foreign woman.

    “My wards! Don’t fear as I am Goddess Chihoko, who summoned you to these lands to restore peace and order. The evil Demon Kingdom is plaguing our lands with war and struggles. Go to the capital of Rusza straight ahead and help the royal family with their struggles in freeing themselves from the tyranny of their neighbour! I will give you my blessing to aid you in your cause!”

With that light surrounds all of them, before the Goddess vanishes.

    “OMG! What just happened now?”, Keiko Rinomura asks, looking frantically around.

Hiroto Takanashi snorts, “Don’t you know any RPGs? We were summoned to another world to defeat the Demon Lord, you dumbass!”

Laila Aoi huffs, “I am sorry that not all of us are as acquainted with games as we are! And this all seems ridiculous! How can we be summoned to another planet in the middle of a bus drive?!”

    “Well, in manga it’s always a little different. But I believe we changed worlds. Look, my status says I am a Mage at Level 15”, Keira Hyodo says proudly.

    “This is so exciting! Our Isekai-Experience!!”, Haru Fujimoto claps his hands together in anticipation.

    “I think we should follow the goddesses request and head to the capital city. Follow me!”, Rin Okumoto says sternly.

    “And why should we do that?”, Rei Yanagi rolls her eyes.

Rin smirks, “Because I am the Hero of this story!”, he shows them his status, “And the Hero is always the protagonist.”

    “He is right…”, Oda Miyamura states nodding.

The others start a discussion of what best to do, but at the end Rin gets the upper hand as he is the highest with Level 20. Most of their classmates decide to leave with him together for the capital to fulfil their destiny.

Yuuko looks around hastily. Where is Yuuri? She looks at his seat, but there is no-one seated there. She points it out to her boyfriend as well, who also gets a nervous look. The bus driver and their teacher seem to be missing as well.

When the grand part of their colleagues start to exit the bus, Yuuko raises her voice, “Has anyone seen Yuuri?”

They all look at her, before Rin responds annoyed, “No, we haven’t.”

    “Then we should look for him! He was with us the whole time. I’ve seen before the Goddess made her speech! And now he just vanished!”, she says panicking a little.

Most of their classmates huff.

    “Are you really sure?”, Subaru Katayama asks.

Keiko Yukimura hums, “Maybe he wasn’t chosen to present the Goddess and was sent back. Our teacher and the driver are also not present!”

Rin rolls his eyes, “The fatty would be a hindrance anyway! I say, let’s just leave him to die if he is here. We have other things to worry about!”

A discussion about searching for Yuuri and just leaving breaks out. Some voicing how Yuuri wouldn’t be fit for their job anyway, others defending him and his abilities. After ten minutes most of their class decides to just start marching to the capital.

A small part stays behind with Yuuko and Takeshi, looking for Yuuri, but without any success. After a small fight they all walk to the capital as well with the couple feeling awful.

    “We went back as often as we could to look, but we never found anything. Not a single clue. We also tried to maybe get some information over the Guild and Church. We even pleased about your case to the King, but he was not interested and the other institutions didn’t know anything, the Church even proclaiming you dead… But we couldn’t believe it”, Takeshi ends his story, “I am so glad that we proved everyone wrong!”

Yuuko sobs, “I-I’m so glad! Now we can finally be together again!”

Victor, Yurio, Phichit, Otabek, Chris, Vicchan and Makka look alarmed from Yuuko to Yuuri. They want to take Yuuri from them? Are they serious?

Yuuri lets out a breath, “Yuuko, I–“

    “Look, what the cat dragged into the Guild halls!”, Seishiro Takagi yells as he makes his way over to their table, followed by Ran Keishigi, Subaru Katayama and five other of Yuuri’s classmates.

    “We weren’t sure if you were even with us”, Subaru says calmy.

Ran cackles, “Who would have thought that our fatty would survive that long on his own and hang out with so many hotties!”

Arata huffs, “Why is it always the useless guys, who get them! Or did you seduce them with dirty tricks, so that they let you join?”

Yuuri looks at them like a deer caught in the headlights. His mind somehow left his body and he doesn’t know what is going on here now. Is this what his classmates think about him?

Yurio growls and stands up immediately, “Shut up, you damned asshole! You don’t know a thing about Katsudon!”

    “Yeah?”, Rumi Kanyagi giggles, “Then what do you know about him? You only met him recently! We know since we started school together and he is an annoying mess of nerves. And so boring and a real pain in the ass. And it seems he isn’t even great now. Look he only is Level 30. Just a loser as always.”

Ouch. Yuuri bites his bottom lip. So this is really how some of his classmates think about him… He doesn’t know how to feel about it. Because now he can never unknow.

He startles when he notices movement all around him, lifting up his gaze.

    “You take that back this instant bitch”, Yurio bristles, his body shaking as his hands form into tight fists. Yuuri has never seen him so genuinely angry. The Japanese tries to salvage the situation, knowing how this can end up with the Ice Tiger being so loaded, “Yurio, stop! It isn’t worth–“

    “ISN’T WORTH IT?”, the Chimera shoots him a glare, “DO YOU THINK I WILL LET THEM GET AWAY WITH INSULTING YOU LIKE THAT?! OVER MY DEAD BODY!”

The dark-haired Black Reaper turns to the others, finally noticing that they are also standing and throwing daggers with their eyes to his classmates.

Oh Holy Molly!

The highschooler tries to talk to Otabek to stop Yurio, but the dragonshifter just raises his eyebrow as to dare him.

Otabek lets out a sigh as Yuuri gives him a helpless look, “You know that ‘Let sleeping dragons lie’ is my moto, but it doesn’t apply here at all. So, I’m not sorry for sticking up for my friend, Yuuri. Instead, I’ll join the brawl with pleasure.”

The Japanese teen turns to Phichit, who glares at the rude people, glancing at his friend shortly with a look that says ‘Don’t you dare stop me! This was a war declaration’ and Yuuri already knowing how the elf plans to shoot his arrows at his classmates.

He tries Chris next, knowing that he is one of the more level-headed ones, but even the Incubus looks directly insulted and ready to throw an Energy Ball.

Yuuri wants to facepalm. He gazes at Victor last because The Living Legend is still holding his hand. But after looking his mentor in the eyes, he knows it’s a lost cause. The Hero looks like he wants to murder someone particular very badly.

Before everything can really escalate however, the Guildmaster steps in and destroys the loaded atmosphere, “Oh, you are already back from the mission! I heard from the merchants of your success! I must say, slaying S-Class monsters is no easy feat! I’m very impressed!”, he turns to the glowering classmates with a raised eyebrow, “Do you need something particular?” His grey eyes travel over the group cautiously.

They shake their hands vigorously, moving back to a nearby table and sitting frozen as they listen in.

    “Here is your reward 500.000 Gold. You truly are an enigmatic team. The merchants said that it was like the Grim Reaper himself joined your subjugation. I must say that means your fighting style is very impressive!”, the tall master of the branch says as he glides his hands through his sand-brown hair to straighten it out.

    “The Grim Reaper?”, Yuuko asks confused.

The head of the Guild smiles, “Yeah. There are rumours going around that a Dark Reaper was sighted in the Demon Kingdom. The Reapers are the apostles of the God of Twilight. His executioners. They fight against injustice and judge the people. They are very powerful people and unbeatable foes as they are immortal like The Living Legend!”

Victor seats himself again quickly, pulling his hoodie closer to hide his face more. The others follow him to help him hide his identity.

    “Oh! I’ve heard of The Living Legend! He is a Hero and over hundred years old! They say that he saved the world once and vanished 30 years ago! He has the Head Goddesses Blessing and should look like a handsome young man, who charms everyone”, Yuuko exclaims excited.

Yurio snorts and takes a sip from his drink to stop himself from saying anything at all.

    “Yeah. And it’s rumoured that the Grim Reaper will come to Robinia to guide the people, who strayed, to the right path again. A lot of the citizens hope that he will give the royals a run for their moneys as poverty has dramatically increased over the years. There are even some, who doubt the Demon Kingdom’s war proclamation as The Living Legend created many peace treaties between the countries. But well, we’ll see how everything will go on! I just want to thank you again, my friends! You did a great job!”

Phichit grins, “No prob, boss! We were happy to help!”

    “Do you want to upgrade your Guild status?”, the Guildmaster asks with a grin at being called ‘boss’.

Otabek shakes his head, “No thank you. We didn’t even register with the Adventurer’s Guild to begin with. We just came here for information.”

    “Is that so?”, the Head of the Guild Branch furrows his eyebrows, “Then we were in luck that you were present when the incident happened. You guys are very strong for your levels. I am in awe.”

    “Thank you for the compliments”, Victor says quietly.

    “So lads’, what information do you need?”, the boss of the Guild shoots straight to the point.

Chris clears his throat, “We wanted to inquire about rumours going around town concerning the Grim Reaper and the invas–“, the Hero kicks him under the table, “I mean upcoming war with the Demon Kingdom. But you already told us a lot, so we thank you for your information.”

    “Oh!”, the Guildmaster looks surprised, “Well, the citizens don’t know all the details, but there are a lot of rumours. The Church has taken the king’s side in this, so things seem even more serious with their backing. I’m sorry to tell you that was all I know.”

Phichit shakes his head, “The information was more than we thought we would get. Thank you very much”, the elf takes a look around the hall before he smiles, “I think, we should go now. We don’t want to give you any more trouble than we already have.”

    “I understand”, the other says, “I wish you good travels and be free to come again for a visit.”

They all nod and stand up from their seats. Yuuri turns to Yuuko and Takeshi, who look at him with confusion, “It was nice seeing you again! But we have some urgent business to attend to and–“

    “You are going”, Takeshi states bluntly, observing his friend’s determined expression.

Yuuko shakes her head vigorously, “No, Yuuri will stay with us!”

Her boyfriend sighs, “Yuuko. No. Yuuri is determined to go with them. Let him.”

    “But–“

    “It’s his decision and not ours! And we will see each other again!”, the Japanese student with big dark eyebrows says to her.

    “I am sorry. But my place is with them”, Yuuri simply exclaims, not noticing the happy smiles from his fighting comrades, “Please take care of our classmates until I return. I swear, I will find a way back to Earth, but until then…”, he reaches forward and hugs his two friends.

The observing classmates get a bad conscience and somehow feel bad about Yuuri leaving as well, however, they stay silent and some pouting.

    “Stay safe and be careful out there!”, Yuuko sobs, “And say goodbye before you leave the city.”

Takeshi pats him on the back, “Take care. We will have our eye on them. Just come back safely. And don’t be a stranger.”

When Yuuri and his friends exit the Guild, the dark-haired highschooler waves one last time at his colleagues and friends, before closing the door.

The group walks down a side-alley, when Victor stops and turns to them.

    “So are you ready for the real battle to start?”, he asks with a fake smile on his lips. He truly doesn’t like it one bit either.

    “Do we even have a choice?”, Yurio growls.

Chris hums thoughtfully, “Well, not really.”

Phichit claps his hands trying to lighten the mood, “Come on guys! Let’s get this party started!”

Yuuri shakes his head, “If you even can call it a party.”

Otabek shrugs.

Vicchan snorts, “You mean a shouting and arguing party? Yeah? Then it definitely will be one.”

Makka sighs, “Can I just take a nap while all of you are doing this?”

Victor shakes his head, “No privileged treatment for anyone! We are all going in together!”

    “And how do we even get into the Royal Palace? It’s not like we can just storm the place!”, the Ice Tiger grumbles, crossing his hands over his chest.

The Living Legend hums, “Well–“

    “I can guide you in”, an unfamiliar voice interrupts him.

They all turn around to look at the stranger.

    “Who the hell are you?”, Yurio yells, taking a fighting position.

    “I am the third Prince of Rusza, my name is Kadin. Forgive me all for my lack of manners. I didn’t want to reveal myself like this”, the black-haired man with violet eyes bows elegantly.

Victor studies him with interest. Kadin seems familiar, but he can’t grasp why.

Chris bows as well, “It is a great pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. But if I may, for what purpose did you follow us?

The prince worries his bottom lip, looking at the silver-haired Hero before taking a deep breath, “I-I… Well, I recognized The Living Legend in the crows and had to talk to him again. It is urgent and I don’t know what to do to stop this on my own. Please help me!”

And then it hits Victor like thunder, “You are the boy from the ball.”

Kadin blushes as he nods his head, then he composes himself again, “It’s an honour to meet you again, Lord Nikiforov.”

The Hero bows, “The honour is on my side. If I may, what help do you seek from us?”

The third prince sighs tiredly, “This whole rumour about the Demon Kingdom invading our country is completely made up. My fa– The King decided on the warfare all on his own, going with the prophesy of the Goddess Chihoko, even though he knew it was completely inaccurate. The Archbishop is baking him because King Gunther has promised him financial support for his projects. And my brothers won’t go against father’s orders and my reasoning was completely shunned. If this goes on Rusza will be destroyed and the other countries innocently damaged. I can’t let this happen!”

The Living Legend smiles at the 35-year-old, being proud how far he had come since their last meeting 30 years ago, he hums, “Lucky for you, we wanted to give the King and his council a speech ourselves. So if you get us into the castle without being held back, we can achieve our mutual goal. I hope you won’t complain about what we will be doing though.”

Kadin smiles, “I trust your judgement completely.”

The prince takes them through some secret tunnel passages before they turn up in a grand hallway. He guides them to the throne room, greeting servants on the way as if nothing strange is happening with the big entourage following him.

When they reach the big doors to the throne room, they pause to take a breath.

    “Are you ready?”, the third prince asks with a shaking voice.

All nod and Victor pats Kadin on the shoulder, “Let’s stop this war.”

The noble opens the doors and they walk up to the King towering on the throne in discussion with the Archbishop and some other nobles. They raise their heads when they see the group approaching.

    “What is the meaning of this, Kadin?”, King Gunther inquires displeased.

The third prince bows in respect to preserve the etiquette, “My King, I stand here before you to plead to you to stop the war with the other countries.”

The ruler of Rusza sighs annoyed, “My son, not this again. You know that the Demon Kingdom is planning to invade–“

    “Invade the Kingdom of Rusza. I assure, Your Highness that this is not the case at all”, Chris strides forward and positions himself next to Kadin.

The Archbishop raises his eyebrow in distrust, “And who is this gentleman speaking out of turn.”

The Incubus grins, “Well, well. I sincerely apologize for my rudeness, but I think that Your Highness and Your Holiness should know my face very well as this is not the first time that I visited the Royal Castle. But I will introduce myself again”, he removes the disguise, “My name is Viscount Christophe Giacometti, ambassador to the Demon Kingdom, my pleasure to stand before you.”

The King and the Archbishop turn completely pale before calling for the guards, but Prince Kadin waves them off, “I invited my friends to show you the truth and vanquish the lies, spreading around, my King. No country plans to attack Rusza at all. There is no threat at all! The prophesy is entirely wrong!”

The Archbishop smirks, “Your Highness, you are misinformed. The prophesy–“

    “The prophesy of Goddess Chihoko was not genuine at all”, Victor steps forward, removing his hoodie.

Gasps fill the hall as every single person immediately recognizes the man standing before them. His legend told to every child since its infant days.

    “Lord Nikiforov”, the man from the Church stutters a little, “It is an honour to see you after all these years. Pray tell what made you return to Robinia after all this time?”

Yurio grumbles, as if they didn’t know why he was here. Otabek pats him on the back to soothe him. They have to deal with this diplomatically.

Victor stands tall, his gaze unwavering, “Well, Your Holiness. I was informed of many happenings in my vacation residence that had me going out into the world again. The most interesting is the summoning of a whole bunch of young people from a different world under the protection of Goddess Chihoko, who spread ill rumours and a false prophesy to the lands of Rusza to instigate the assassination of the innocent Demon King. And then as my travels took me from continent to continent, I was informed of the war declarations against each country existing. I must say, I was truly impressed of your actions, Your Majesty. Never have I seen such stupidity in a ruler before.”

King Gunther turns crimson, “How dare you–!”

    “How dare I insult the King of Rusza?”, The Living Legend’s gaze turns grim, “As you may know, I have served many Kings before your reign, Your Majesty. And as I spent time and time again preventing wars and strengthening the international relations with the other countries, I know of what I am talking about. And you truly aren’t fit to wear that crown on your head.”

The Archbishop steps forward, gesturing with his hands to calm the situation, “Now, Lord Nikiforov. We all know of your position and status in our country, but I advise you to speak pleasantly with us, instead of throwing unbecoming and untrue insults at His Majesty.”

The Hero raises an eyebrow, “Oh pardon me, Your Holiness! I completely forgot about hinting at your corruptive self, my bad. I heard that the Church greatly supports this war, not caring for innocent who will die in it and suffer years later from it, just to raise more funds for their projects. I never thought the servants of the holy deities to turn to the indulgence of money. I am truly shocked at your definition of caring for the people as you so often say in your speeches.”

The Archbishop turns blank and the King points a finger at the silver-haired Hero, “You have no right to judge us. You vanished without a say for 30 years and now you stride into this room as if you own the Royal Palace! Why should I be judged by someone, who has abandoned his duties to the crown!”

    “His duties to the crown?”, Yuuri steps forward. Vicchan eyes him for a moment, but nods at his ward, giving him the silent okay. The Japanese barely notices it, but nods to his God as well, before continuing, “You were the ones who made him leave with your disgusting attitudes! What Victor says is true, you are not fit to rule this country if you don’t care about the lives of your citizens! And you, Archbishop are not worthy as well!”

The ruler sneers, “And what are you going to do now? You don’t have any power to judge me! Only the Dark Reapers of old–“, Yuuri removes his disguise and summons Eclipse. The King and the Archbishop pale, while all the other observers gasp again.

    “Yuuri?”, he hears Phichit ask.

    “Katsudon what are you doing?”, Yurio looks at him with wide eyes.

Otabek doesn’t say anything, not daring to look away from his friend. Kadin is frozen in disbelief. Chris smirks proudly and Makka boofs in excitement. She hasn’t witnessed that in years! Vicchan just stares ahead, having given his approval already.

Only Victor takes a hold of Yuuri’s shoulder, “What are you doing, Yuuri?”

The Japanese turns to him with a determined expression, “My job”, he walks up to the King and the Archbishop, hearing gasps of horror and anticipation in the hall as he raises his scythe and slashes into the thin air in front of them, before turning around with a happy smile.

The ruler and the man from the Church look confused as they are unharmed, but still unable to say anything from the shock of a near death experience.

His friends blink at Yuuri confused.

    “What the hell was that, Katsudon?”, Yurio breaks the silence.

    “Their judgement”, the Black Reaper says with a wide mischievous grin and glittering eyes.

    “But nothing happened!”, Phichit tries again.

Yuuri just smirks in response.

The King stands up from his throne, “You will pay for this insult to myself, Dark Reaper! Energy Ball!”, the ruler says, but nothing happens. He tries again, “I said Energy Ball!” But nothing happens again, “Why can’t I summon my skills anymore?”

The Archbishop goes to stand before the King again, “Let me handle this, Your Majesty! Holy Light!”, he tries to conjure the powerful skill, but nothing happens, “What?”

Yuuri grins like a Cheshire cat, playing with his beloved scythe Eclipse. He studies Yurio’s, Phichit’s, Otabek’s, Chris’ and Victor’s faces, before finally starting to explain, “I passed judgement on the both of them by blocking their skill for eternity. Only another Reaper can remove this. Even a God or Goddess is unable to do anything.”

All eyes on him are instantly as realization hits them slowly.

Victor starts laughing heartily. This is some judgement indeed.

    “The fuck?!? You are so awesome, Katsudon!”, the Chimera exclaims, Otabek nods vigorously.

Phichit is squealing hard, “Oh my God! You are such a badass!”

Chris turns smug. This is one hell of dealing with a ruler from a country. It’s good that Yuuri is on their side.

Makka wuffs a lot, bumping Vicchan lightly in excitement. This was so great to watch!

The Living Legend smiles smugly at the King and the Archbishop, “I think we all know now what this situation means.”

The room’s attention turns to him.

    “According to Article 25 of the Royal Degree on Rulership the King or Queen are only allowed to be crowned or rule as such if they fulfil certain requirements”, Victor states from memory and King Gunther pales to the colour of a white sheet, “They have to be born to the noble line of Rusza, swear to be their country’s servant and have to protect their country with their acquired weapon or magic skills. Well, well, I think that this doesn’t apply anymore to the current ruler.”

The Archbishop turns away from former King Gunther yelling at guards, “Arrest this imposter immediately! He has ruined the virtue of a wise ruler.”

    “Indeed he has”, Victor adds, “But so have you, Your Holiness. According to Article 48 of the Rule Book of the Holy Church, it is seen as sin to conspire with another entity to harm the innocent by instigating certain circumstances like wars. It is also seen as punishable to support in such deeds for monetary reasons. I can list more of your sins, Your Holiness. But all in all, you just lost your position as Archbishop due to your disloyalty to the Church.”

The guards turn to arrest the Archbishop as well.

    “Just one moment. There are two things left to be said. The first is that I wish to inquire the whereabouts of the Hero’s party to stop them from starting a real war.”

    “They walk to the Demon Kingdom over the Fox Mountains. The Fort is their first destination”, one of the present nobles says to answer the question.

    “Thank you”, the Hero states, “And the second. As my right as advisor and ambassador to Rusza and servant for years under the crown, as well as son of Duke Nikiforov, I hereby propose the third Prince Kadin as next in line to the throne as he was the only one, who cared to stop this nonsense.”

Kadin gapes at his idol, “Pardon?!?”

The present nobles agree immediately as they know now the whole truth, giving orders to start preparing for the coronation process. No one will go against the order of The Living Legend. They won’t dare, trusting his judgement more than anyone else’s.

Victor pats the prince on the shoulder, “You will do fine. And I can’t see anyone else be more suited for the position than you.”

Kadin tears up, hugging the silver-haired Hero, “Thank you.”

The Immortal hugs him back, before he lets go, bowing lowly once and whispering a goodbye as he exits the throne room with his friends.

    “So now that that’s finally settled, we should head after the Hero’s party immediately!”, Chris concludes with a light grin.

    “Yeah. They could still make it past the Fox Mountains and reach demon territory if we don’t hurry after them”, Phichit nods, “Man this is really hopping from one point to the other! I never thought official missions to be so exciting and pressing!”

Yurio huffs, “I never knew that so many douchebags are all around the world. This trip is truly enlightening in all kinds of ways.”

Otabek hums, “I’ve never imagined leaving the Dragon Valley before to see the world, but now I am grateful to broaden my world view.”

Makka joins their discussion by pointing out how great this trip is for her as well and that she enjoys every bit of her vacation with her friends.

Vicchan rolls his eyes, but states that he likes spending time with all of them as well.

They talk merrily with each other, thinking of returning to the Guild to get something to drink and eat later.

Victor walks behind them slowly, the features of his face tight. Yuuri watches him with concern.

They arrive at the town square, when the Hero addresses his friends, “I have to go somewhere else before joining you for dinner. It won’t take long.”

Chris nods in understanding, “See you later then.”

    “I’m going with him”, Yuuri adds immediately and his mentor turns to him surprised, but nods.

The two wave at the others and Victor leads the Japanese to somewhere unknown. Victor and Yuuri walk in silence next to each other, The Living Legend staring into the distance. They pass houses and inns, coming close to the Church from before, but pass it as well. They take some turns left and right and then the two men find themselves in front of a graveyard. The silver-haired Immortal takes the highschooler by the hand and they enter the holy grounds of rest for the dead together. It doesn’t take long for Victor to stop in front of a big grave with various names on it. Yuuri turns his gaze to the gravestone and lets out a breath. It’s the grave of the Nikiforov family. His mentor strives forward and caresses over a single name in the black stone: Evan Nikiforov.

Yuuri doesn’t know what to say because now everything is clear. Victor was born here together with his brother. Of course, he wanted to visit him before leaving the city again. Chris must have known and now the 16-year-old has just imposed on this intimate family meeting by going together with his trainer. He is the worst. The young man takes a step back, but is stopped when his beloved starts talking.

    “Do you remember, when I talked to you about Evan, Yuuri?”, his voice is soft and vulnerable.

Yuuri nods, “Yeah, I do.”

Victor hums, smiling lightly, “He was the best sibling I ever had. He was so kind to me. I miss his positive and encouraging nature a lot. He was also the reason for me to continue my duties to the Kingdom for so long. I promised him on his deathbed after the plague took him. I wish, I would be half the good man he was.”

    “But you are, Vitya”, the Japanese gets closer and takes the silver-haired man’s hand to squeeze it.

The Living Legend shakes his head, “No. I ran like a coward after I couldn’t endure the words spoken behind my back any longer. I left everything behind. My duty, my oath as Hero and my promise to my brother. And now we are all paying the price for my foolishness.”

The highschooler breathes out, “No, you are not a coward. You can’t feel responsible for all the mess other people made. Yes, maybe everything would be different if you stayed, but you already did enough, Vitya! You did so much, you sacrificed so much. I have to admit that I don’t know the true extent of your deeds, but I know them to be more than someone could count and deep down, you know I am right. You never broke your promise, never trampled on your oath or turned your back on your duty. If you would have, you wouldn’t be here now. You wouldn’t be trying to safe this world and help me. And maybe this sounds you foolish, but I respect you for all of it. You watch over this world, even though you are only one person and know when it gets too much for you! And it’s not your fault that this mess happened. It’s just a chain of bad incidents, who need fixing and we will fix everything together.”

Victor stares at him, “Yeah. Together. I still have to come to terms with having you by my side”, he winks cheekily and Yuuri punches him lightly.

The Living Legend smiles, staring back at the grave, “I am happy to be able to introduce you both. He would have liked you very much.”

    “I would have liked him as well”, the Japanese says confidently.

The Hero hums, “No doubt about it”, he looks to the sky, “We should join the others.”

    “Yeah”, the Japanese student agrees, but waits for Victor to set the pace.

His mentor closes his eyes for one moment, before he exhales and grabs onto Yuuri’s hands tighter, “Until next time, my dear brother”, he smiles as he gazes at the gravestone before he turns to the dark-haired teen, “I am ready to go now” , he pauses, his gaze turning soft, “Thank you for coming with me my darling.”

Yuuri blushes, “A-Always.”

They walk in tranquil silence to the exit of the graveyard, both never letting go of the others hand, relishing in the warmth, whishing their time together would last forever.

After the visit to the graveyard they join up with their friends at the Guild for a warm meal before they would leave the city to go after the Hero’s party.

Yuuri insists on stopping at the Guild to say goodbye to Yuuko and Takeshi until their mission is over. The three Japanese friends share a cosy hug, wishing themselves the best until they will meet again.

    “Take care of yourself, Yuuri!”, Yuuko says with a worried expression. Takeshi rubs her back to console her, he is also having mixed feelings about letting his friend go after the Hero’s party, but he wants to concede with Yuuri’s wishes, “If you ever need us, you know where to find us. We will keep the others in line. So they won’t end up doing stupid things until we find a way to return to our world. Don’t push yourself too much, Yuuri! Okay?”

Yuuri nods with a smile, “Yeah. I wish you also all the best! I will help to find a way to Earth when everything is over. Until then, good luck!”

The three Japanese hug again, before Yuuri lets go and joins Victor and his comrades. He waves at Yuuko and Takeshi and then they vanish.

In the Realm of the Gods and Goddesses

Minami has a headache. No, his headache has a headache.

He nervously starts chewing at his fingers.

This is a catastrophe!

What the hell should he do now?

Should he talk to Morooka and Petunia?

Should he go down and inform Chrysanthemia herself?

His mind is spiralling in circles.

This is sooo bad! Really really really bad!

He turns around for the second time and looks at the empty prison cell, a letter lying on the ground stating:

Don’t worry! I will fix everything!

He lets out a strangled sob-like cry.

This is the worst!

Where the hell could have Chihoko vanished to and what does she mean with ‘fixing everything’?

If you want to wish to have a peak in Otabek's notebook (and because I have to promote this because it makes me just so happy):

Chapter Text

They teleport straight to the foot of the Fox Mountains from the human kingdom’s side.

Yuuri takes a deep breath as he looks at the intimidating mountain range before him and his friends. It looks big and scary. It’s like it gives off a similar atmosphere like the labyrinth in the ruin, daring you to enter its territory.

How should they ever find the Hero’s party in there?

Otabek lets his gaze wander of the scenery, “Are we sure that they even have made it this far?”

Phichit hums, deep in thought, “They could still be on the road towards our current location…”

Yurio scowls, “What a pain!”

Victor chuckles at his son’s antics, before turning serious, “I think they should have already reached the mountains as they started travelling way earlier than us though…”

Chris furrows his brows as he debates the pros and cons of just climbing up the mountains or going back to take a proper look at the road, “It would be good to know though. It would make the search much easier and less time consuming.”

    “They are somewhere in the mountains”, Yuuri says in a flat voice.

The others turn to him and the 16-year-old blushes. The world traveller starts fidgeting with his hands, “I-I can feel their presence. They are somewhere deeper up there and haven’t crossed the border yet. But I can’t say where they are exactly… Also… There is something else ahead… But I can’t place what it is… Only that it has a strange aura… I am sorry.”

Vicchan trots up to him and nudges his right foot, “That’s fine, Yuuri! You still have to get used to pinpointing presences. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

Makka nods vehemently, “Yeah! You are doing great for a new-born Reaper! You should be proud!”

The Japanese highschooler blushes deeper and Victor drapes himself over his trainee, “I am very proud of you, Yuuri! Thank you for telling us!”, the Hero places a quick kiss on the other’s cheek and cuddles closer. The colour of Yuuri’s face turns even a darker shade of red, but he just pats his mentor on his arms, trying to stay focused and calm his fluttering heart.

    “Oooooh! You’re such an adorable cinnamon-roll, Yuuri!!!!”, the elf coos, while taking pictures.

The Incubus smirks, “You are such a cute! I would love to cuddle you too!”, he looks at his best friend, who is glaring daggers at him, daring him to come between him and Yuuri. The Viscount sighs, “I definitely would, if it wouldn’t threaten my life…”

Otabek snorts and Yurio gags playfully, “Can we start walking now? We don’t have the whole day!”

They all agree with the Chimera and after some pouting from Victor’s side, the highschooler removes himself from him and the group starts walking towards the mountains. The pathway is stony and uneven. It’s exhausting. Yuuri still tries to concentrate on finding his classmates with his skills.

After a short while, Yurio stomps his right foot on the ground and grumbles, “Why do we always have to do the dirty work?”

Phichit huffs, trying to come up with a good answer, but fails. So he settles for the truth, “I guess, ‘cause no one else is going to do it otherwise?”, the elf takes a deep breath, “I am tired too… This is exhausting…”, he looks at his best friend and smiles mischievously, “Yuuri! Carry me! I can’t go on any longer!”

The world traveller looks up to the Warrior Elf and sighs as he carries Vicchan in his hands. His Stamina skill has activated some time ago, which is a good thing because it keeps him going and persevering, but he doesn’t know if he is strong enough to carry another person besides Vicchan.

Just as he wants to respond to his new best friend, Victor starts talking first, “Don’t be so dramatic, Phichit! I thought elves have more endurance than that!”

Makka giggles amused as she trots next to her ward.

The elf groans, “Normally yes, but I’m not used to these rocky grounds!”

Yurio rolls his eyes, “Then get used to it, spiky ears! Katsudon is already busy with tracking his classmates! Don’t add to his load just because you are whiny!”

Otabek grins a little. He likes the Ice Tiger being fiery and protective. It gives him tingles in his stomach. The dragonshifter shakes his head as he stifles a giggle, before he turns to Yuuri, “Are you alright to keep going or do you need a break? Are they still more far up?”

The dark-haired Japanese nods, “Yeah. But our distance is shrinking by the minute. It seems like they are resting in one place. But…”

Chris nods at him with a grim face, “If you mean the strange presence up ahead, I can feel it too… And it’s not comforting.”

Yuuri worries his bottom lip, “It’s just that there are people’s presences next to the strange one as well… I am worried…”

The toy poodle in his hands clicks his tongue, “It’s not friendly for sure.”

Makkachin chuckles amused, “Since when are monsters friendly, Lycoris?”

Vicchan glares at her, “Shut up.”

Victor hums, “We should hurry then. It feels like an ominous but powerful presence… like...”, realization dawns on him and he freezes, “Shit! It’s the same! Chris, it’s the same!”

The demon concentrates on the energy up ahead before his lips form a thin line, “It’s the same energy as the flower petal intruders. But why here? It’s not even near the Hero’s party?!?”

All freeze, thinking about what they should do.

Why now? What does it mean? Does the culprit want to hinder them from advancing and reaching the Hero’s party? And why did the attacks on Yuuri cease so abruptly?

It doesn’t seem to make much sense.

Yuuri is the first to raise his voice, “I think we should go and confront it. Maybe the adversary has another goal this time. Whatever is the case, I am worried about the civilians next to the presence.”

The others all nod, still silently trying to figure out the why, however, knowing that they should investigate this directly.

The march to the source of their worries isn’t long, especially as they received Yakov’s promised invitation for the annual Festival of the Moonlight Fairies. Victor is excitedly telling them about the greatness of the festival from his memories. They continue on the rocky path until a terrifying sight presents itself before them: ten adventurers are being chased by an enormous beast.

    “The fuck!”, Yurio swears, not knowing what else to say.

Otabek hums, observing the massive monster, “That’s a Behemoth. Level SS and feared under adventurers. It’s strength and defence are devastating for all but veterans. But even then, the best advice is to run and try to never cross it’s paths again…”

Chris nods in agreement, trying to read the energies around it, “Furthermore, this one is definitely not ordinary.”

The Living Legend nods as well, “Yeah…”, he sounds tired, “It has the same presence as the petal intruders.”

The Japanese teen studies the adversary together with Vicchan and Makka. Something is bothering them about it. The energy flow around it feels wrong…

Yuuri furrows his eyebrows, “Do you have any idea what god or goddess can create something like this in combination with maybe human energy?”

The standard poodle shakes her head, “It’s hard to tell, when the product has already manifested…”

Vicchan huffs, “Yeah…”, then he gets a proud look in his eyes, “But I am impressed that you can already distinguish energies that far!”

The 16-year-old blushes embarrassed.

    “Wait a minute!”, Yurio asks confused, “What do you mean with godlike power in combination with human energy?”

The world traveller opens his mouth to explain, but his mentor interrupts their conversation, “We can talk about this later. Right now, we should help!”, he points the adventurers getting cornered.

They all nod to each other and rush to aid the civilians.

Yurio jumps up and kicks the Behemoth right in the face with a Blaze Kick to distract it from its prey with Victor using Ice Missile as support.

Chris and Otabek cast a Flare Wall to separate the monster from the people, while Phichit and Yuuri guide the confused adventurers to safety together with the dogs.

The Warrior Elf and the Black Reaper start casting their healing skills immediately. Yuuri notices a woman with long, wavy dark brown hair, brown eyes, and faint freckles and something bothers him about her. Their eyes meet and the feeling increased, but as he wants to step forward, Phichit calls for him and they break eye-contact.

    “Yuuri! We should join the others, while the adventurers escape!”, the elf says determined.

The dark-haired student turns again to gaze at the woman for one last time, but then nods, “Yeah, I’m coming.”

The civilians don’t waste a second to use this chance to escape after thanking them shortly. Yuuri isn’t feeling well about letting this one woman go, but he knows that they should focus on the Behemoth now.

The two join their friends shortly, giving them a short break by casting Aerial Laser and Energy Ball.

    “This is one tough opponent”, the Chimera says, trying to catch his breath.

Victor clicks his tongue, “He can’t be that strong for people of our level!”, he charges forward and the Behemoth lets out a loud roar when the silver-haired Hero strikes him with his magical sword Moonslayer.

    “Tougher than I thought”, the Living Legend grumbles annoyed, which lets the green-eyed Chimera cackle before Yurio slices with his paws at the monster, “Told you so, old man!”

    “I am not that old!”, the Victor complains, jumping back as the Otabek blocks an incoming attack with his broad sword.

The Dragon Warrior smirks, “But your hair is grey.”

Victor gasps dramatically, “It’s platinum! And my forehead isn’t that big!”

Phichit giggles amused at the Hero’s dramatics while shooting his arrows at his target, “If you say so!”, then he jumps aside shrieking, “Incoming!”

    “Got it!”, Chris throws an Energy Ball at the enemy, stopping the upbuilding attack in its roots, “Victor, cheri, I know that you are very sensitive concerning your hairline, but please we are in the middle of battle here. Please consider a more appropriate time and place.”

    “But Chriis! This is important!”, The Living Legend pouts at his best friend, while the Chimera rolls his eyes in annoyance at the stupidity of this conversation. Otabek just shrugs and the elf just starts giggling again, because this is all so fucking funny.

Yurio attacks the Behemoth again with his allies blocking the relentless counterattacks of the monster. When he lands a hit, the Chimera jumps back, shouting loudly, “Katsudon, your turn!”

Yuuri sighs, grabbing his scythe harder with both of his hands, jumping high to join the battle against their enemy, “Dance of Demise!”

He glides with his glaive through the air like he would do a ritual dance at a shrine, swirling his weapon around before he charges forward at wind speed slashing at his enemy relentlessly.

The world traveller jumps back as he notices Phichit using Impaling Heaven.

Yurio follows up with Wind Magic and Victor casts Ice Prison. Otabek directs a Lava Shower at their enemy and Chris boosts their stats with his skills.

Yuuri smirks. He loves fighting with his friends. They are all in sync, having each other’s backs no matter what. He thinks he can get used to this. The Japanese laughs, shaking his head. No, he already is.

He swirls his scythe around, observing his opponent before deciding on his next move. He holds a hand to the sky, closing his eyes and concentrating on his energy reserves to just find the right amount and control it. When he feels the prickling in his fingertips, he opens them, “Indra’s Flames!”

His friends jump back immediately as they hear his voice. The sky darkens as clouds form above them. The roaring of thunder can be heard before a vast lightning spark pierces the heavens to attack the Behemoth. As soon as it made contact with its target, green flames sprout from the impact and engulf the monster, draining its energy and life-source away.

The Behemoth goes down with a roaring cry and dissolves into a stream of flower petals as the sky clears again.

Yuuri picks one up, turning it in his hands, while he is deep in thought, ignoring the level-up messages and pings.

When he reaches Level 35, he reads shortly over the message, before closing it.

Level-Up received:

Congratulations you have reached Level 35!

New skills acquired:

Flight

Instinct (Passive Skill)

His friends are still staring at the place where the monster had stood some seconds ago.

    “Do we know which kind of flower these belong to?”, the Japanese asks curiously.

Chris shakes his head, trying to find his voice again, “Unfortunately no. It’s like it’s on the tip of my tongue, but slips away every time I come close to figuring it out.”

The world traveller hums. He is sure that he has seen these flower petals before. But not in Aegis. No, he has seen them on Earth in his mother’s garden… But he can’t remember the name.

Yurio walks up to him, “Hey Katsudon! What did you mean with the combination of powers?”

The highschooler bites his lip, “Well, it’s just strange… I mean the aura it gave off. It felt like something powerful and holy… a little like Makka and Vicchan… but mixed up with something else entirely. Something mortal and less stable…”

The silver-haired Hero puts a finger to his lips, “You mean that the Behemoth was the result of a combination of the power of a deity and its vessel?”

The student hums, “Yes and no…”

They look at him confused.

Yurio stares at him with confused painted on his features, “Can you get any more confusing? What is it now? Yes or no?”

Yuuri sighs, “It’s just that the holy power was strange as well… like it was divided or mixed as well… It was not genuine…”, he huffs in frustration, knowing he doesn’t make much sense, “I… I don’t know… I’m sorry…”

Chris pats him on the shoulder, “Don’t be.”

Phichit nods, walking closer to give his buddy a hug, “Thank you, Yuuri. You did have the most input on the matter.”

Otabek tousles through the world traveller’s hair, “Yeah, we can’t make more sense of it either.”

The Living Legend looks into the distance before turning to Vicchan and Makka with a determined face, “Or maybe we can. I think that some of us have been hiding some important things from us or haven’t they?”

Vicchan growls at the Hero.

Makka rolls her eyes, “It must be the doing of the vessel.”

    “The vessel?”, the elf lets go of his best friend, interest shining in his eyes.

    “Chrys!”, Lycoris scolds.

Chrysanthemia huffs, “What? We shouldn’t have kept it from them to begin with!

The God of Death and Reincarnation sighs, “Fine. As you may know, deities need vessels for certain spells as a god or goddess isn’t allowed to meddle with matters in the mortal realm directly. We are not allowed to upset the equilibrium too much. So we mostly use our wards for this. In summary, it wouldn’t be surprising, if the petal incidents are caused by a vessel”, he turns to Yuuri, “And well, to summon you and your classmates from another world is only possible with the help of a vessel in the first place.”

    “A vessel”, Victor says as he thinks about it, “That would make a lot of sense. But what do they accomplish with their doing?”

Chris shrugs his shoulders, “I guess we have to find that out, cheri.”

Phichit jumps up in excitement, “Yeah! New mysteries to solve!”

Otabek hums amused, his spirit for adventure sparkling in his eyes.

    “Why do we have to deal with shit like this all this time?”, he tries to sound irritated as he crosses his arms, but his facial expression can’t hide his inner excitement.

Yuuri worries his bottom lip, “Yeah… that would make sense…”

The 16-year-old remembers the strange woman from before.

Could she have been the one responsible? But how would they find her now, when she was already gone? Still, something doesn’t feel right about all of it. It feels close to the truth. But there is still a factor unknown to them. At least his gut feeling is telling him that. What if…? But would that be even possible?

He shakes his head.

They should concentrate on stopping the Hero’s party before it is too late!

The Japanese turns to his friends, “I think we should discuss that later. Right now, we should stop the Hero’s party from doing something very stupid! And we’ve lost already so much time with the Behemoth…”

His mentor nods, “You are right, Yuuri. Let’s continue on!”

The group climbs up the mountains for another long hour, before they finally catch up with their target.

The Hero’s party is currently resting besides a small camping fire, talking to each other with boisterous laughter.

Yurio furrows his eyebrows in disbelief, “What kind of lunatic idiots camp out in the middle of dangerous mountains, talking like gorillas?”

Otabek shrugs his shoulders, impressed by the boldness as well, “They truly are a careless bunch.”

Chris snorts, “Can’t disagree with that.”

Phichit just stares into the distance before turning to his best friend, “I must say, Yuuri. Your classmates are truly very bold.”

Victor hums as he looks at his protégé as well before he chuckles a little at the adorable sight.

Yuuri has buried his face in his hands in embarrassment, “I don’t know what to say as well.”

The world traveller takes some deep breathes to braze himself. He hates dealing with the Hero’s group as he doesn’t like the members very much. They always bullied him back on Earth. But still, he has to get it over with. He doesn’t want to let down his friends.

Before the Japanese highschooler can resolve himself to take the next step and engage in conversation with his classmates, Yurio yells at them, “Hey, you dumbasses! This is no place for a friendly campfire or do you want to get eaten so badly?”

The Tank, with green armour and blue hair, who turns out to be Ryuichi Irie, yells back, “Chill! We are professionals and know what we are doing!”

Two people giggle in response. One is the Mage Keira Hyodo dressed in a lilac robe and the Monk Sakura Himezono. Keira coos, “That kid is so cute!!!”

Sakura nods in agreement, “Right? I would like to hug him!”

The Chimera starts shivering at their comments, but feels better when he senses Otabek near him.

Rin Okumoto, the Hero, stands up and bows widely with a smug grin, his red and blue robe making his movements look elegant.

    “Excuse me, my dear adventurers for not introducing ourselves. We are the Hero’s party and on a mission to save the Kingdom of Rusza, no the world from the evil clutches of the despicable Demon King. So I bid you to give us more respect as our endeavours are of honourable matter.”

Yurio and Yuuri gag.

Are all Hero’s so dramatic?

    “Especially you, little twerp!”, Rin glares at the Chimera.

The Ice Tiger bristles, “Little twerp?!? You ass–“, Otabek covers the others mouth immediately before anything can escalate more.

Victor steps forward to try to be civil with the obnoxious Hero’s party. He plasters his best smile on his lips, which let the girls swoon, “My apologies. We are representatives from the Kingdoms of Seronia, Elania, Saphira and Crownwell. And are tasked to stop a war from breaking out due to misinterpreted information on part of the Kingdom of Rusza.”

The Archer Ken Odagiri stands up, while the Priest Shiro Kudo eyes them warily, “What do you mean?”

Chris sighs tiredly as he leans over to Phichit, “Man, they area real pain in the ass.”

The Living Legend tries not to chuckle from his best friend’s comment, “Esteemed heroes. The Demon King never planned on attacking Rusza and the other kingdoms are also peaceful. It was the King of Rusza, who wanted to use a misplaced prophesy as reason to start a worldwide war by using the esteemed summoned guests as instruments to do his bidding. We already cleared the misunderstanding in the capital and informed you other classmates through Yuuko and Takeshi. But we missed your group by an inch at the capital. So I am happy to have reached you in time.”

Rin eyes Victor warily, clearly not pleased with the turn of events, “Why should we believe you? The Goddess herself has chosen us as her vessels to right this world and defeat the Demon King. Why should her prophesy be wrong?”

Yuuri steps forward at that, “Because Chihoko isn’t the Head Goddess of this world as you should all know. She made the stories up to cover her mistake in summoning us.”

His classmates’ focus shifts to the 16-year-old. Their faces surprised.

    “OMG! Is that you, Yuuri?”, Shiro exclaims in disbelief.

    “You survived!”, the girls squeal.

    “Who would have thought!”, Ryuichi claps his hands together.

Rin narrows his eyes, “Yeah, who would have thought that the little piglet has survived after all”, he smirks, “We all thought you dead, Four Eyes. Bless the Goddess that you returned safely.”

The Black Reaper rolls his eyes at the nicknames, hating to not be taken seriously, when it’s such a serious matter, “I am serious, guys! If you attack the Demon Kingdom you will not only cause an unnecessary war, but lose your lives in the process! You are only Level 55 at most and that isn’t enough to–“

    “Stop preaching!”, the Knight Naoki Mozuka yells annoyed, “You are only Level 35 yourself!”

    “Yeah!”, Ken says bitterly and mocking, “And where were you all this time, you coward?!? Me and my friends thought for their lives, while you leisurely made friends with some… I don’t know what!”

Sakura nods, crossing her arms. Keira sneers, “Yeah! Why do you get to spend time with these Ikemen and we don’t?!? Stop being so full of yourself!”

Shiro stays silent, but his eyes scream ‘Where the fuck where you?’

Yuuri sighs tiredly, but still he has to try and get through to them and let them see reason, “Please understand! This is no laughing matter! Your lives are in danger if you continue on your way! Please reconsider and turn back to the capital!”

His classmates shake their heads, laughing loudly.

Rin smirks at his desperation, “If you want to stop us so badly…”, he raises his hands, “Then make us, you coward!”

Chris sighs, “That won’t take a good turn.”

    “Yeah”, Phichit agrees.

Victor grits his teeth, “How can they be so ignorant and foolishly stubborn?”

Yuuri wants to cry, “Please be reasonable. Rin. I don’t want to fight against all of you.”

Rin sticks out his tongue, “Oh! Is someone getting cold feet again, wanting to run to his mommy because his classmates were bad to him? Ohh! Poor you, you cowardly chicken! Is it that Katsuki? Are you chickening out again because you will get your ass handed to you by us?”

The Black Reaper looks at Vicchan, who looks like he wants to punch someone very badly. The dog’s eyes starting to scream bloody murder.

He tries again, “Let it be, please. We can all be reasonable about this!”

    “OH! I am Yuuri Katsuki and I am to chicken to be a man! I am a cry baby and a cowardly loser! Seriously how far can someone fall in ruining his dignity? Oh does that get to you? Do you need to cry again?”, Rin makes dramatic gestures with his hands, “Maybe, it would have been better if you would have just died on the road. Nobody wants you back here anyway!”

Ouch. That hurt a little. Yuuri shakes his head, looking at his comrades, whose faces turned a very dark shade. And one single thought makes himself large in Yuuri’s mind: This will end very badly.

Yuuri tries to think. He has to try to convince them somehow without a fight.

The Japanese Hero continues taunting him, “Oh? Has the cat caught your tongue, you stupid son of–”

Yurio’s fist collides with the others face and Rin goes down instantly.

    “Stop insulting Katsudon, you dumb dickface!”, the Ice Tiger yells.

The 16-year-old tries to calm the blond shifter, “Yurio, it’s okay. I don’t take it to heart, so you shouldn’t either!”

The Chimera bristles, “No, it’s not okay! Nobody insults you and gets away unscathed! They want a fight? Then they will get one!”, he settles himself in a fighting stance, ready for combat.

The world traveller turns to his friends in the hope of getting help with reasoning with Yurio, but they all have readied their weapons as well. Their faces marred with anger and bloodlust. Even Vicchan and Makkachin growl at his classmates threateningly.

Oh shit. This doesn’t look to friendly any longer.

The highschooler’s hopes of solving this in a peaceful manner go down the river, still he tries, “Guys…”, he turns silent immediately as their intensive gazes are directed at him.

Phichit sighs under furious eyes, “Yuuri. I know what you want to say. But they have crossed too many lines. Nobody insults my best friend in front of me continuously without getting a good beating.”

Otabek smiles wickedly, “Can do nothing but agree to that.”

Yuuri turns to the Incubus with a pleading face, knowing that he is often the most rational of them in difficult situations.

Chris however just hums, “I always took me for the passionate but logical type. I like diplomacy a lot as it is a good way to solve problems…”

That sounds not so bad. Maybe they can still turn this around!

    “However”, the demon continues and Yuuri’s stomach churns with premonition, “Screw manners and diplomacy! I won’t be satisfied before they receive a good trashing to clear their dim-witted minds!”

Or not…

Victor snickers dangerously, “Never could have said it better, my friend.”

    “Vitya… please…” This is his last resort!

His mentor smirks, “You know, Yuuri… I really love it, when you call me that, darling. But right now, this only motivates me more to teach them to never insult my Yuuri to my face.”

The Japanese student whimpers, touched and worried all the same by his friends words.

Yurio smiles widely, “Well, Katsudon. I think that settles it.

They all grin to each other, “Let’s get them!”

The fight starts as soon as the words are spoken and ends in the blink of an eye. Yuuri just stands there, gazing into the distance as his friends relentlessly beat his classmates up. Even Vicchan and Makka get some hits in.

This is not his day.

He is just glad that they don’t use their skills and go easy on them or his classmates would be dead instantly.

When his friends are done with their onslaught, he walks up to the black and blue beaten Hero’s party, “It’s over. You’ve lost. Please be reasonable now!”

Rin glares up at him, both of his eyes deeply swollen and red, “Lost to your whores, you mean, you coward!”

And something snaps in Yuuri.

They can insult him. His body. His mind. His weaknesses. His cowardice.

But not them.

Never them!

He grabs Rin by the robes, heaving him up and glaring at him in fury, “THEY ARE MY FRIENDS, YOU MORONIC DUMBASS!”

Yuuri lets the idiot fall down to the floor and grabs his scythe, raising his weapon to the sky in fury.

His friends look at him with wide eyes.

Victor gives him a concerned look, “Yuuri, darling? What are you doing?”

Yuuri’s eyes have a dangerous glimmer as he interlocks his gaze with his beloved, “Teaching them a lesson to never insult my friends ever again!”, and then he slashes through the air with Eclipse.

An eerie silence fills the area as the Japanese stares at the collapsed humans in front of him.

Yurio is the first to try to nudge the bodies on the ground carefully, “D-Did y-you k-kill them, Katsudon?”, he looks frightened.

Yuuri shakes his head, adrenaline leaving his body. He starts fidgeting as his classmates don’t move at all…

    “No, I didn’t kill them. I swear! I just blocked their powers and took away their fighting spirit… However, I thought they would be a little stronger for being over Level 50… I didn’t expect this kind of reaction… That didn’t happen with the King and the Archbishop…”, he looks a little confused.

Phichit sighs in relief, giggling a little, “Yuuri, you know, you may be Level 35, but your numbers are way to high to be normal! You are very powerful.”

Makka smiles, “You are a Dark Reaper after all!”

Vicchan grins proudly, “I would expect nothing less from my ward! Control even in his fury! I am proud!”

Yuuri looks to the ground, “I always thought myself to be rather weak though…

Chris huffs, “That’s pretty low self-esteem, cheri.”

Otabek shakes his head, “And he even means it honestly too… You should get more confident, Yuuri.”

Yurio scowls, “Seriously, Katsudon! How can you be so…”

Phichit shrugs his shoulders, “Well, that’s our Yuuri.”

Victor swoons, “Isn’t he just dreamy? So strong but so innocent!”

The Chimera gags, “Shut up, old man!”

They take the unconscious bodies via Victor’s teleport to Robinia, where they hand them over to Yuuko, Takeshi and the others for safe-keeping as Yuuri blocked the Hero party’s powers entirely.

Yuuri stays a little with the other summoned people to discuss what really is happening right now. Meanwhile, Victor and the others go to the inn to talk about their new course of action after Yuuri convinces them that he is fine on his own.

After finding out what happened to Rin’s group and Yuuri’s true class and abilities, his other classmates start apologizing immediately, afraid that they will be the next ones to receive punishment. They swear to stay put until Yuuri finds a way back to the original world and promise to cooperate with Yuuko and Takeshi as their new leaders.

Yuuko studies her friend curiously, “So what are your plans now?”, she looks a little hopeful that maybe he will stay with them.

The Japanese man sighs, “We will soon head out again. We still have to find the instigator of the incidents.”

Her face falls and Takeshi pats his girlfriend on the back, “So you’ll leave again.”

The Dark Reaper nods, “Yeah.”

Yuuko sighs, “Be careful then.”

Yuuri smiles, “I will. See you.”

The world traveller exits the Guild to make his way to the inn.

He chances a glance at the dark sky.

Since when has it gotten dark? It shouldn’t be that late!

Yuuri furrows his eyebrows, looking at his watch.

It is a rather hot day. The air is humid, but the sky looks like it will rain any second.

He takes a few steps, when he gets blinded by sunrays. What?

He glances up again.

This time the sky is the finest blue without any clouds. It looks like a hot summer day.

He rubs his eyes. Did he imagine the darkness before?

The Japanese student shakes his head and continues on his path.

Maybe he is just tired.

He arrives shortly at their room, joining the discussion immediately.

    “So what now?”, Yurio scowls unnerved.

Victor is silent.

Vicchan raises his voice, “We have to search for the vessel of Chihoko!”

Makka huffs, “But they can be anywhere!”

Chris nods, “Yeah, but we still have to find them in order to stop the attacks and prevent whatever really is happening here!”

Phichit hums, “Maybe we’ll also get to the bottom of this after finding the vessel and get him or her to talk?”

Otabek looks thoughtful, “But who could it be?”

Yuuri gulps, “It is probably this woman from before…”

The Warrior Elf turns to him confused, “What woman?”

The Japanese turns a little embarrassed, “The one we rescued together with the adventurers. She had long, wavy dark brown hair, brown eyes and faint freckles. She gave me a very strange feeling… and something tells me that she plays a role in all of this…”

The Chimera studies him, “Fine. But how do we find her again? It’s not like she will just pop-up here or in front of us conveniently, when we wish hard enough for it.”

The Incubus holds his head, “Argh. This gives me a headache.”

The dragonshifter sighs, “Well, at least we know then what she looks like… That’s one step forward.”

Phichit throws his hands in the air, “But where should we start looking? Aegis is not a marble! And she could be anywhere!”

Victor puts a finger to his lips, before a smile curls around his lips, “Yakov.”

    “What?”, Yurio asks confused.

Chris sends his best friend a helpless look as well, “Why Yakov, cheri?”

The Living Legend takes out a letter and waves it through the air, “We received our invitations to the Festival of the Moonlight Fairies and if it’s the woman from back then, she will definitely be there!”, he smiles in triumph.

Yuuri looks lost, “Not that I don’t want to believe you, Victor… But how can you be so sure of it?”

The Hero makes some strange dance moves, “Well, darling dearest, I happen to know our mystery suspect! Her name is Anya and she is Georgi’s on and off lover!”

There is a short silence, before Yurio snorts heartily, “Somehow this doesn’t surprise me in the least!”, he laughs as he holds his stomach.

Victor shrugs amused as well, “Well, Gosha always had a thing for drama.”

Chris huffs, “You say that so nonchalant, cheri. He is a drama queen through and through!”, he shakes his head, “Man, why does it always have to be so – I don’t know what!”

Phichit giggles, “Because that’s life?”

The Incubus smirks, “I wasn’t actually gunning for an answer, but yeah, that sounds right.”

Otabek smiles excitedly, “So the Land of the Merpeople it is then!”

Makka wuffs, “Yeah! Beach I am coming! Lycoris, you have to go snorkelling with me!! It’s fun!”

Lycoris rolls his eyes, “Chrys, we are not here for a vacation! When will you get that through your head?!”

Before the Head Goddess can reply to her friend, Minami appears out of thin air in the room with a terrified expression.

    “I’ve finally found you, Lycoris! Oh Chrysanthemia is with you as well! Thank the Thunder!”, he takes a look around the room and squeals when his eyes land on Yuuri, “Oh my Thunder! So the rumours are really true! We have a new Reaper!!! I’m so excited! Oh where are my manners?”, he bows before the Japanese enthusiastically, “My name is Minami Kenjirou and I am the God of–“

    “Minami, what are you doing here? Did something happen?”, Vicchan interrupts the whirlwind of a god.

The young God of Devotion, Swordsmanship and the Sky bites his bottom lip, “Oh! Yeah... Right… How should I say this? … Well…”

The God of Reincarnation and Death sighs, “Just say it, please.”

    “Oh, yeah… Well, Chihoko has mysteriously escaped from her prison cell”, he tries to say calmly, but it comes out rushed.

Everyone stills for a minute processing his words, before Vicchan screams, “She WHAT?!?”

The young god fidgets with his hands, “I know. It shouldn’t be possible to escape on her own. Morooka is trying to gain more information about the incident, but with all the gods and goddesses collapsing or vanishing, it’s not an easy task. I wanted to inform you sooner, but Morooka and Petunia wanted to give you more time to find the vessel and balance the equilibrium out again… But yeah… with the available deities decreasing, the mess only kept accumulating. Some returned to our realm after hearing rumours about a new Dark Reaper, but most still don’t truly believe it… And after a talk with Morooka, we decided that I should look for you, Lycoris, to clear the rumour and order the deities back with the threat of a maybe existing Reaper”, Minami glances at Yuuri again, awe written on his face like a fanboy.

Victor smiles, pleased that his Yuuri is appreciated for his talents.

Vicchan holds his head in his paws and sighs, “Damn it. That means I have to go back. I already noticed some weather changes and I don’t want the imbalance to escalate further down the line”, he looks up with a tired gaze, “Was it really too much to ask for of the others to behave and do their jobs during our absences?”

Makkachin pats him on the shoulder, “Don’t be too hard on them. They are just children.”

Lycoris glares at her, “Says the one, who started the I-go-on-a-vacation-without-saying-a-word-to-anyone-trend.”

Chrysanthemia pouts, “Harsh.”

The toy poodle turns to the God of Devotion, Swordsmanship and the Sky, “Why didn’t you all tell me sooner about the deities disappearances by the way?”

The young god smiles sheepishly, “I wanted to, but Petunia said that we shouldn’t inconvenience you so easily… But now with Chihoko’s letter, I had to inform you!”

    “What letter?”, Makkachin presses.

Minami blushes, “Well, a letter remained in her cell, where she said that she would fix things and we shouldn’t worry.”

The room is filled with synchronic groaning.

Lycoris wants to punch someone, anyone. He sighs, “Fine. I will go back and fix their mess”, he turns to his travel companions, “Please find the vessel and Chihoko. Yuuri, you are allowed to use your powers as you see fit. It will drive the deities back to fulfil their duties. They are too afraid of the Reapers to do otherwise. Chrys, watch over him for me!”

They all nod, except the world traveller, who looks heart-broken.

Vicchan understands him as he feels the same.

The God of Twilight addresses everyone but his ward, “Can I have a moment alone with my ward?”

Nobody answers, but the others stand up and leave the room to give them some privacy.

Lycoris changes into his original form to give Yuuri a hug, “I am so sorry to leave you so suddenly and without warning. It was never my intention to do so. I love spending time with all of you and love to see you grow. But I can’t let this go unattended any longer or I will have to reset the whole world…”

The teen sniffles, “I know, but still I will miss you so badly… You were always there, watching over me and listening to my insecurities at night since the labyrinth. I don’t think I would have been able to stand so strong without you there… I don’t want the others to see my weaknesses… They are already bottling so much on their own…”

The god slaps him on the forehead, “Yuuri. Are your feelings towards your friends and love really so superficial? Are your bonds that weak? I don’t believe so. They want to know your true feelings as well and they will certainly support you with all they’ve got. Phichit truly sees you as his Bestie. Yurio thinks of you as family. Otabek sees you as his dear friend. Chris likes you very much as well. He wouldn’t have set his manners aside for just anyone, when he beat up the Hero’s party together with the others. And Victor… Victor would do anything for you. Be anything for you. He loves you beyond his own comprehension.”

Yuuri sniffles, “But–”

    “Stop questioning his affections towards you already!”, Lycoris shakes his head”, Whatever. What I wanted to tell you is that they all love you. Anxious mess or brave warrior. They don’t care! They are far more worried about the end of this journey and you returning to Earth than everything else! So stop your dark thoughts and face them as they are! You don’t need to hold back your feelings, Yuuri!”

The world traveller hums, “Yeah… I just never really imagined finding friends like they are… But you are right. I should stop running away.”

The god eyes him satisfied, “I will always watch over you. And I promise, we will see each other again after this mess is cleared.”

They hug again.

    “I’ll miss you”, tears make it down Yuuri’s cheeks.

Lycoris holds him tighter, “I’ll miss you too.”

The Japanese highschooler smiles, “Please take care of yourself.”

The god chuckles, “I will. Please do the same.”

The God of Twilight leans back and kisses Yuuri softly on the forehead before they call the others back into the room. There are a lot of additional hugs then and well wishes. Before Minami and Lycoris leave however, Yuuri’s guardian leans over to him one last time to whisper quietly into his wards ear, “Please talk to Victor about your true feelings for him soon. I’ll promise you, it will be rewarding!”, he winks and Yuuri blushes but nods.

    “Good”, Lycoris smiles before vanishing into thin air with Minami.

The world traveller cleans his face with the sleeve of his shirt then, before turning to his friends with glassy eyes, “Let’s depart for the Kingdom of the Merpeople. We have a festival to attend and a vessel to find before we search for Chihoko.”

Chapter Text

The capital city Atlantis of the Kingdom of Saphira is simply put beautiful. It is an island above the Great Sea to hold festivities, trade and diplomatic talks with other races. It is exactly as Yuuri has imagined the city “Atlantis” in the myths on Earth. There are a lot of magic crystals as lamps on the streets. The buildings shimmer in various blue and green colours in the dazzling sunlight. The pavement of the streets has various shells, stones and marble in it and the decorations for the festival tomorrow highlight the enigmatic features of the capital gloriously. In short, it is the most beautiful city the Japanese has ever seen in his life.

    “Wow!”, Phichit exclaims, “It’s breath-taking!”

The world traveller nods in awe, his eyes full of wonder.

Victor chuckles, “Merpeople love beautiful and shiny things. They appreciate aesthetics very much. So it is no wonder that they go all out when they have a reason to celebrate.”

    “The Festival of the Moonlight Fairies… I always wanted to participate for even once in my life”, Otabek muses, sketching wildly in his notebook, “They say it is dedicated to the Goddess of the Moon and her wards, who helped create and shape the ocean. The Goddess is also seen as the mother of all Merpeople, while the God of the Sea is seen as their father. It’s one of the most important events of the Merfolk.”

Chris hums, “Yeah. You need an invitation to be able to participate, otherwise you will be immediately shown the door.”

Yuuri furrows his brows, “Shown the door?”

Yurio huffs, “It means that you are teleported out, Katsudon. In short, you are going to get kicked out from the island itself during the period of the festival if you are an uninvited guest.”

The highschooler forms an ‘O-shape’ with his mouth in understanding.

The Warrior Elf sparkles gleefully, “That’s why invitations are really sought after. And I still can’t believe that we have some!”, he jumps around like a happy child, “Oh my God! I can’t wait for the fireworks, the Cleansing Ceremony, the Ice Floor, the fairy music, the various street plays, the food stalls, the gaming and–“, he freezes, “Oh NO! We can’t do everything together! I heard that most events are done at the same time besides the fireworks! We need a map and organisation plan of the event! I have to plan this carefully!”

Yuuri shakes his head, “Phi, calm yourself! We will do that all in due time. For now we… Em… What do we have to do for now?”, he turns to his mentor.

The silver-haired Hero smiles, “Well, I have to go to the palace and greet Yakov and Lilia and talk with them about Anya. The festivities start in the evening and last for two weeks.”

Phichit wails in happiness, “YEEESS!”

The Black Reaper blinks his eyes repeatedly, “Two weeks? But–“

The Living Legend nods, “Yeah, we can’t stay that long. That’s why we have to take Anya into custody as fast as possible and interrogate her about Chihoko’s whereabouts. Anya will probably be here after the festival’s opening speech is delivered. She loves to present herself as the future Queen of Saphira with Georgi.”

The Elf grimaces, “So to put it in a nutshell, we will only stay here for what? Today?”

    “And tomorrow”, Victor nods, “We will depart in the morning the day after the next.”

Phichit cries, “Years of longing for an invitation to this gem of a festival and now that I have it, I can’t even enjoy it to the fullest! How can life be so cruel?!”

The Chimera rolls his eyes, “Get over it, hamsterboy! At least you got invited!”

The Warrior Elf sniffs as he raises his hands to the sky in a promise, “And I will make the best out of it!”

The Incubus snickers before turning to his best friend, “So are we needed for the meeting with the King and Queen as well?”

Victor sighs, “You mean, you want to push all the responsibility on me alone?”

The demon chuckles, “No, but I want to evade Queen Lilia as much as possible. She always criticises and I quote ‘the way I hold myself’ and then takes me along to do some ballet. And I don’t want every ounce of my body to hurt like after her training session ever again!”

The Hero throws him a knowing look, “I get where you are coming from, my friend. But we all don’t have much of a choice. We are the representatives of various countries on this mission after all.”

The Viscount groans before resigning himself to aching loins and sore muscles, “Well, better get it over with then.”

The cerulean-eyed Immortal grins, “Maybe she will let us off the hook because the festivities start today!”

However, they would all soon come to understand that that won’t be the case, after all Lilia Baranovskaya is all about grace and beauty.

The palace on the island is glamorously decorated and shining even brighter than the streets and houses of Atlantis. The group is escorted to the throne room, where they are greeted by the sight of an arguing royal couple with their mentees helplessly around them.

    “And what if–!”, Queen Lilia turn to the new arrivals, “Welcome back, Vitya”, the woman with a stern look, dark hair, which is styled into a tight bun and sharp, lime-green eyes says warmly.

Yakov turns to the group as well, grateful for the disruption of their silly argument, “It’s good to see you again.”

    “I’m back!”, the Hero smiles, dismissing the proper protocol without a shred of guilt.

    “Oh my Goddess! It’s really you, Victor? I haven’t seen you since the last time you visited!”, a red-haired woman with deep blue eyes jumps up and down excitedly.

    “It’s great to see you again! It’s been years! You never wrote us, you meanie! But I forgive you if you give me one of your secret potion recipes!”, another woman with tanned skin, long dark hair and purple eyes exclaims happily.

The nearly identical looking man with short brown hair scowls, “Stay away from my sister!”, while another man with messy light brown hair, blue eyes and a short brown beard tries to calm him, “Keep calm, Mickey. You know that Victor isn’t the kind to mess with her.”

The Hero grins fondly, “It’s good to see you too, my friends. Your red hair gets more like the dawn by the years, Mila. It looks great. And Sara, I will gladly share one with you. Michele, it’s good to see that you haven’t changed! And Emil thank you for sticking up for me.

They have pleasant conversations and introductions are made shortly as Mila Babicheva, Emil Nekola, Sara and Michele Crispino have to leave the room shortly to finish the last preparations for the festival.

After their goodbye’s, Victor’s face turns grim, “We aren’t only visiting for the festival as you may know. We have come here with urgent news, which must be discussed before the start of the Festival of the Moonlight Fairies.”

They update the King and Queen of Saphira about their journey and their findings concerning Rusza and the Goddesses’ troublesome meddling and escape from the deities’ realm.

    “Where is Gosha by the way? I thought he would be present for this discussion as it concerns him indirectly as well”, the silver-haired man says with a troubled expression.

Yakov scowls, “He is off with his flame Anya again. I just can’t comprehend what he sees in her. She is just such a lecherous–“

    “Hold your tongue, Yakov”, Lilia reprimands him, “It is unbecoming of your position to speak like that. But I have to agree that I am worried about the future position of Queen. Whatever, why does it concern Georgi ‘indirectly’ as you put it so bluntly?”

Victor takes a breath, his friends giving him supportive glances from the sides, “Well, to tell the truth, Anya is the acting Vessel of Goddess Chihoko. And we have to get a hold on her to interrogate her about the whereabouts of the Goddess, but also to explain to her to stop her actions in unbalancing the equilibrium any further.”

The King of Saphira frowns, “I see. Then when do you propose to apprehend her? After the opening speech is made?”

    “That would leave dearest Georgi heartbroken!”, the Queen sighs, rubbing her temples.

The Immortal grimaces, “Well, as soon as possible would be best. I don’t know if she suspects us knowing what she is doing, so it is a risk to apprehend her later. But I think it would be best. I don’t want to put Gosha through to much pain. And there is also the possibility that they break up soon after the opening speech ends. They always do that inconsistently.”

    “You’ve got a point there”, Yakov hums, “Well, so be it. I will hold the opening speech with Lilia, Georgi and Anya present and we will prepare for apprehending her immediately after the end. Maybe the festival gives him time to finally get over her”, he eyes the group before him, “But I will warn you, she won’t be talking at all. She is a very loyal devotee to her Goddess. So, I think I will have to prepare a Truth Serum to get the information out of her. It will be done the morning after tomorrow.”

Victor grins like a Cheshire cat as his estimated plan for their stay will be upheld, “Thank you, Yakov. And that would be perfect. We were planning on staying here only until the morning after tomorrow anyway as the equilibrium of the world is still not stable.”

The Hero’s mentor gives a grunting noise, “As we have still some time before the opening speech is given, you should take a look around the capital city”, he says before he turns away, ringing a bell for the servants to come and give them the instructions.

Meanwhile Lilia studies the newcomers with interest, before resting her sharp gaze on Chris, who gulps down heavily, “They can do that tomorrow. Instead, I think that some of you are in dire need of some conditioning.” She waves her hands and some maids appear out of nowhere and then turns again to Victor and his friends, “Please follow me, my dears!”

The Living Legend smiles slightly, knowing what is to come. He hears his best friend cursing quietly but ignores it as it is already to late. Instead he bows lowly and says, “With pleasure, my Queen.”

The ballet lessons are ruff and strict. Lilia criticises them a lot and even brings Victor out of balance after telling him something undistinguishable. After they are finally let go to refresh themselves in guest rooms and eat some prepared snacks, it is already past 7 pm. The opening speech will start at 7.30.

Yurio slumps down on his bed, “What the hell was that? I thought we were doing ballet for fuck’s sake! But whatever that was, was on an entirely different level! I think I can feel my bones!”

Otabek let’s his spine crack, “That was definitely a special lesson.”

Phichit moans in pain, “I hate ballet.”

Yuuri watches his friends with an empathetic gaze. For some reason, Lilia was very pleased with his figures and movements, correcting his posture rarely. When they said their goodbyes and the Japanese bowed, he could detect a slight smile curling around the edge of her lips. Or was it his imagination?

The world traveller directs his gaze to his trainer, who leans against the wall, thinking about something.

Victor worries his bottom lip, thinking over the words Lilia had said to him during their training. She had bluntly proposed Yuuri as her son in law and given him his appreciation. What was she thinking? He shakes his head and straightens up, “We should head down or we will miss the speech.”

They all follow obediently with the Elf crying for a warm hot bath later on to ease his pains.

The opening speech is long and a little tiresome as the friends wait with their nerves on the brink of escalating. Georgi and Anya are presented as couple on the stage and Yuuri confirms a second time that she has to be the vessel they are searching for. He feels the same energy radiating from her as the Behemoth.

When the King of the Merfolk comes to the end of his speech, he gives Victor a firm look before he nods to his soldiers. The royals with Georgi and Anya in tow turn to exit the stage to the backstage, where it is planned to apprehend the vessel without causing a commotion.

Victor, Yuuri, Yurio, Phichit, Chris and Otabek start moving behind the stage as well as they are the ones, who requested the action. Furthermore the silver-haired man felt guilty for Georgi and wanted to be the one to explain to him the reason for the capture of his beloved. He hoped that his friend would understand their cause and its importance. But still the Immortal hates the fact that they are going to hurt Gosha badly with their revelation about Anya’s definite culpability.

The group arrives the moment the soldiers took hold of the screaming woman and the heir to the throne of Saphira trying to help her with a very confused look with Mila, Sara, Emil and Michele holding him back from intervening physically. It seems that Yakov and Lilia informed them about what was happening right now.

When the black-haired prince with deep blue eyes notices Victor, he looks helpless, “Vitya? What is going on? Why is Anya getting arrested?”

The Hero takes in a deep breath, hoping that this won’t go badly, “I’m sorry, Gosha. I didn’t really want to take measures such as this, but there is a good reason for our actions.”

    “So it was planned from the start?”, Georgi looks devastated, “But why?”

    “We will explain everything to you in due time, I promise. But it is confidential and this is not the place to leak out this information”, Victor says, knowing that securing the vessel should be a priority. He turns to Yuuri, “Can you please seal her abilities as insurance?”

The Japanese nods, stepping closer to Anya and the guards.

He summons Eclipse under the gasp of the present people. They heard rumours about the existence of a Dark Reaper, but never would have guessed for them to be true or see the Reaper themselves. Yakov and Lilia are collected as they were informed about Yuuri’s class during the audience. Still, a shimmer of surprise and awe is reflected in their eyes.

Yuuri concentrates and swings his scythe under the eyes of the onlookers and Georgi’s cries. He feels a bit bad for sealing Anya’s powers just like that, but knows that it is better safe than being sorry later on.

When the 16-year old turns around again, the gazes of the others vary from fear to horror, only his friend’s looks are full of warmth and pride. He steps back again with pink cheeks. The highschooler doesn’t like to be in the center of a attention.

    “What did you do to her, you heathen?!”, Georgi shouts enraged.

The Japanese looks back at him with confusion, “I-I j-just sealed her powers, so t-that s-she couldn’t e-escape.” Somehow this man makes him uncertain of his actions. Moreover he isn’t a heaven! He has never done something really bad or killed people or anything.

Phichit and Otabek pat him on the shoulder in encouragement and Yurio bristles, “Take that back! Katsudon is no heathen. He is more of a cute cinnamon-roll on his good days and a moping teddy bear on his bad ones. And we have to seal her powers for fuck’s sake”, the Ice Tiger turns to the Hero, “Do something for fuck’s sake. He is your friend, so just tell him the truth! The people here are all in it anyway and the other festivity participants are too busy with the stalls!”

Victor sighs, a little angry that his Yuuri got called ‘heathen’, but forgiving under the current circumstances, “Right. I just wanted to make this a little more comfortable, but whatever. Georgi, the truth is that Anya is the vessel of the Goddess Chihoko, who brought imbalance to our realm by summoning outsiders from a planet called Earth with her help. Now that the equilibrium of this world is near the breaking point, we need her to stop casting further spells to enhance the disturbances. And before you ask, she didn’t stop at the summoning of Yuuri and his classmates. She spied directly at Chris mansion and also nearly instigated a war between Rusza and the Demon Kingdom. Furthermore she tried to kill Yuuri as he recovered from the battle with the monsters from the fort at the border and tried to hinder us from stopping the Hero’s party with a Behemoth. If you don’t believe me, you can hold council with Demon King JJ or Chris or even the new King of Rusza or Yuuri’s classmates themselves and all other country leaders concerning the environmental changes. And as Chihoko has escaped from her prison in the Realm of the Gods and Goddesses, she is our only way of finding the deity.”

Georgi stares blankly at his friend, not knowing what to say. Mila, Sara, Michele and Emil let go of him, feeling sorry for him and trying to support him somehow, but failing to decide on how.

    “Fine!”, Anya bristles, having given up on her situation, “I’ll admit to helping concerning the summoning ceremony. But I never did anything unjust like instigating a war at some fort or spying on Giacometti. Why would I do that anyway? He is disgusting!”

Chris clicks his tongue, but doesn’t comment on anything.

    “Also, why would I want to kill the Earthling, when my Goddess wanted to summon him here in the first place? I didn’t even know that he was a Reaper!”, the woman argues her case.

    “Anya…”, Georgi looks at his lover with sad eyes.

His girlfriend huffs annoyed, “Don’t ‘Anya’ me, you worthless piece of shit! You won’t even help me out of this situation, you asshole!”

    “That’s enough. Take her away”, Yakov’s voice booms through the backstage, “We will interrogate her the day after tomorrow when the Truth Serum is finished. Until then let’s concentrate on the festivities.”

The King waves with his hands and the guards start moving, taking the vessel into custody.

Victor watches as Georgi crumbles to the ground, “I-I t-thought s-s-she l-loved m-me…”

    “Oh Gosha”, the Hero kneels and embraces his quivering friend, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want to ruin your relationship. Please forgive me.”

The heir to the throne shakes his head, his voice is shaking, “T-there i-is n-nothing t-to f-forgive, V-Vitya… I-I s-should h-have k-known b-better. T-this i-isn’t t-the f-first t-time s-some-thing l-like t-this hap-pened. A-and I-I u-understand y-your r-reasons… I-I j-just…”, tears run down his cheeks and Mila, Sara, Emil and Michele join the hug, “I-I w-wanted t-to pro-pose during the D-Dance o-of t-the M-Moon-light F-Fairies… W-What a f-fool I-I h-have b-been…”

    “You are no fool, Gosha”, Mila caresses the crying man’s cheek softly, “You just had some bad luck in love. It was the same for me. My ex-boyfriend was no good either. But I am sure that there  is someone out there for you.”

    “Yeah”, Sara adds gently, “You are Georgi, the ‘Herald of Love’ after all.”

Georgi chuckles weakly, “Yeah”, and gulps as Michele gives him a light shove to the back.

    “You’ll find someone for sure”, Mickey says before he turns grim again, “But stay away from my sister!”

Emil shakes his head, “Mickey! That’s no way of trying to comfort someone!”

But the heir to Saphira starts laughing heartily at their antics, “Thank you, my friends”, he pushes them a little away to be able to stand up and cleans his face with a pretty handkerchief, “Now, let’s enjoy the festival together!”

And they all agree.

They wander around the stalls, eating various different kinds of food from different places. Many vendors have come from the continents to sell their specialities and they all stuff themselves fully to the brim.

Georgi is laughing and smiling, his eyes still holding a shade of sadness in them, but that is to be expected. He tells Yuuri, Yurio, Phichit, Chris and Otabek everything about the must-see events and the best food stalls and the group spends a relaxing evening together.

When it’s time to retire to their rooms, Georgi takes Yuuri to the side.

    “I wanted to apologize for the insult, Yuuri”, the prince bows low and the Japanese gets embarrassed.

    “No! I should be the one to–“, the Japanese tries to reason with the royal, but the other shakes his head, “No. I was too rash. I completely didn’t see Anya’s true face, no, I didn’t want to see her real face at all. I wanted that glorious romance from the fairy tales and got blinded by my fantasy in the process.”

The 16-year old hums thoughtfully, “But you can’t blame yourself for it because I completely understand where you were coming from…”

Georgi eyes him surprised at first, but then a knowing smirk makes it onto his lips, “You are in love as well.”

Yuuri blushes and averts his gaze, before taking a breath and gazing directly into the other’s eyes. He has nothing to be afraid for anymore. His feelings are genuine and true. They never changed. Not when they were mad at each other or in any other situation. He is sure. He loves Victor with all his heart and beyond.

    “Yeah”, the Japanese answers confidently.

Georgi smiles softly, “Then you should onto Vitya with all you’ve got and tell him about your feelings.”

The highschooler’s blush turns crimson, “W-Wait… H-How?!?... I-I– ”

The royal chuckles gently, “Yakov and Lilia told me. And I’ve seen it today during our walk as well. You love him dearly. It’s in your eyes.”

The world traveller fidgets with his hands, “Y-Yeah.”

    “Then tell him”, his conversation partner responds, “You should do it tomorrow after the fireworks. It’s the best time for confessions of love, my dear friend.”

    “B-But what if–“, Yuuri stutters.

    “What if he rejects you? Well, as you have seen today, there is no guarantee in love… But he is worth the risk, don’t you think?”, Georgi winks at him.

 The Japanese looks at him dazedly before nodding, “Yeah, that he is.”

The heir to the throne smiles, “I will distract Mila and co from crowding Vitya tomorrow. You should inform Phichit about your plan to spend the whole day with Vitya, so that he will distract Chris, Yurio and Otabek. However, I am sure that the last two will walk off on their own anyway.”

    “You have very keen insight in people’s romantic affairs, don’t you?”, Yuuri raises an eyebrow, his cheeks still dusted in a pink hue.

    “Well, I don’t have the title of ‘Herald of Love’ for nothing, my friend”, Georgi muses amused, “But now, go to bed and rest and talk to Phichit!”

The Japanese student huffs, “Yes, Your Highness.”

    “That’s Gosha or Georgi for family, you angsty teen!”, the prince replies playfully before waving him goodnight.

Yuuri enters Phichit’s and his room, still very red in his face and his heart pounding a thousand miles in his chest. He will do this. He promised Vicchan and now Georgi supports him as well. The highschooler takes a deep breath and walks over to his best friend, lazing around on his bed.

    “Em… Phichit?”, his voice comes out like a squeak.

The Elf looks up at him with worry reflected in his eyes, “Is everything alright, Yuuri my boy?”

The world traveller splutters, how will he even confess his feelings if talking to his friends about helping him is that difficult already, “W-Well… I…”, he takes a breath again and nearly screams it all out in one go, “IwanttogoonadatewithVictortomorrowandforthatIneedhimalonesothatIcanconfessmyfeelingsforhim.Socanyouplease–“

    “Stop. Stop. Stop”, the Warrior Elf says calmly, “I nearly didn’t get anything from this scramble of words besides date, Victor and confess. And I want you to repeat all of that, so that I don’t squeal and have delusions for nothing!”

Yuuri hums, “Okay”, he breathes in and out, bracing himself, “I want to go on a date with Victor tomorrow and for that I need him alone so that I can confess my feelings for him. So can you please–“

    “OH MY HAMSTERGOD! THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING! I HAVE TO TALK TO CHRIS, NO SHOUT IT OUT OF THE WINDOW! THE SHIP IS SAILING! OH MY GOD! THE SHIP IS SAILING!”, Phichit squeals like a fanboy, not knowing if he should jump out the window, cry full of happiness or roll around the room.

    “What? No… Em… I don’t know if he… Oh forget it”, Yuuri sighs in defeat. Maybe Vicchan was wrong and misinterpreted Victor’s behaviour…

    “I will totally help you get the others away tomorrow! So you go and get your man!”, the Elf says confidently with shimmering eyes, “You grow up so fast! From Black Reaper to romance. I don’t know what to say! I’m so proud!”

    “Phichit! I don’t even know if he–“, the Japanese says and stops, not knowing if his heart is ready to complete that sentence.

    “But you will tomorrow!”, his friend winks at him, “And I promise you that it will go great!”

Yuuri shakes his head, laughing at this friend’s excitement, “If you say so.”

The two spend some talk about the best ways to woo Victor of his feet before going to sleep that night.

The next morning is a wonderful one. The sky is cloudless, the sun in full bloom and the atmosphere merry. Yuuri feels heavy. Maybe this is all a bad idea and he should reconsider and use his flight mode, but here he is at breakfast as Phichit just proposed to split up for the day to cover more of the attractions. Yurio immediately chose Otabek as his partner and Phichit claimed dramatically to need Chris for something concerning souvenirs and clothes, while Georgi talked to Mila and the others about wanting to spend some time with them to get over Anya. As Victor nearly wanted to propose to join Gosha on this day, the prince shakes his head, “You should escort Yuuri instead! He doesn’t know his way around and needs a guide.”

Phichit chimes in immediately with Chris nodding vigorously, “Yes. You should do that! We others are all busy today and it would be a disaster to leave him by himself.

Yurio huffs, “No problem, We could t–“, Otabek covers the Chimera’s mouth immediately to the others confusion. The Incubus smirks, the dragonshifter catches on things very quickly.

Victor looks surprised, but nods nevertheless, “Okay. I gladly spend my day with Yuuri then. There are so many things, I can show you.”

Yuuri hums a little embarrassed and blinks sheepishly to his friends, who give him a thumbs-up or a wink, “If it isn’t too much of a bother.”

    “Never”, his mentor’s voice comes out seriously and genuine.

The Elf claps his hands, “Then up we go! I’ve heard the fire dancing is starting soon and I don’t want to miss that! Come Chris, we have a tight schedule! See you later, guys!”, he grabs the Incubus and drags him out the door.

The world traveller prays for the demon’s endurance as the Warrior Elf has shown him his plan for the whole day and bluntly said, it is pure hell.

Yurio grunts as he wriggles out of Otabek’s hold, “Fine, whatever. I get it. Come on then, Beka. I want to see the Martial Arts Competition.”

The two leave after saying their goodbye’s as well.

Georgi smiles, “I think we should get a move on as well. I want to watch the play at the theatre and participate in the eating and drinking contest. So up we go. Have a nice day, Vitya and Yuuri.”

Mila, Sara, Michele and Emil follow their friend out under some giggling and supportive waves, leaving Victor and Yuuri alone in the dining room.

The Japanese starts sweating a little, his hands turning cold and sticky.

What should he say to not be awkward? His mind is totally blank! What if Victor starts hating him now because he can’t to find his words? What if–

    “-as well?”, his mentor asks.

    “What?!”, the world traveller responds confused.

The Hero chuckles, “I asked, if we should get going as well? The attractions are already starting and we don’t want to miss all the fun, do we?”

    “Yes, I mean, no, I mean… Forget it”, Yuuri hides his face in his hands.

His trainer snickers, “Don’t worry, I’m nervous too.”

The teen looks at him in disbelief, “You are?”

    “Yeah, of course. It’s been a long time since I was at the Festival of the Moonlight Fairies. It makes me nervous and excited”, the silver-haired man answers with a grin.

Oh. Well, that was a little misleading.

    “T-then we should start going, I guess”, Yuuri says a little dumbly and embarrassed because he thought that Victor was excited to spend the day with him as well.

The Living Legend smiles at him gently and takes the Japanese’s hand as he rises from his seat, “Then let’s go.”

Yuuri wants to answer him, but his mind is spiralling in thoughts like ‘Oh my god, he is holding my hand!’ and ‘I hope he isn’t disgusted because of the cold sweat!’.

Victor leads him to the main square, where street dancers are performing a professional belly dance, before turning to him, “So where to?”

The highschooler shrugs his shoulders, “I don’t know? Some food and games maybe for starters?”

His trainer hums thoughtfully, before getting an idea and pulling Yuuri through the crowds to a nearby toy stand. He points at two items and pays the vendor, then drags Yuuri to the water cascade on the opposite side, dipping the toys into the water.

Yuuri furrows his eyebrows, “Victor what–“, a splash of water hits him in the face. The Japanese scowls as he takes off his glasses, glaring at the other, who grins mischievously back.

The world traveller pockets his glasses and grabs for the other water gun, smirking deviously, “You are on!”, he focuses on the other’s chest and presses the button to release the water inside.

His mentor dodges and fills his gun again before running around the cascade like a child. Yuuri does not waste a second in his pursuit.

The battle lasts for a long time before Yuuri finally hits Victor with water on the forehead and the other going down dramatically.

After agreeing to a truce, they spend their time wandering around, buying foreign drinks and testing through various dishes of all the countries in Aegis. The two go fossil hunting at the mining playground, challenging each other in who will find the most gorgeous and biggest one. After that they watch the play of ‘Eros and Agape’ at the theatre and try doing their own pottery at one of the stands. Victor even drags him to an open-air drawing course, gifting each other their wondrous work of art. As they walk on and find some street musicians, Yuuri decides to challenge the Hero to a dance battle in free style, gathering a crowd cheering for them with glee. The two man enter a ‘Haunted House’ with Yuuri coming out laughing and Victor clinging to him like a scared octopus. They try out a knife throwing game and try their luck at catching fishes in a pond, of which they come out empty-handed, but completely drenched. Victor and Yuuri spend some time resting in one of the parks under the shining sun to dry off their clothes studying few white clouds and describing their shape to each other with overdramatic gestures. When they walk hand in hand past an ice rink, the 16-year-old starts glowing happily, “This one’s next!” And the silver-haired Immortal obliges him with fondness. The first few minutes they adjust themselves to skating with holding another’s hands, moving in lazy circles on the ice. But as soon as the third round is completed, Yuuri smirks at Victor and guides him into a dance with twirls and slow figures. The Hero is breathless before him, loving every minute of their time together. Time flies by and the both leave the ice, grabbing something to eat from the stalls on the street. The Japanese moans loudly at his grilled fish-balls, “It tastes heavenly!”

    “It does? Let me try then!”, Victor smiles excitedly, trying to steal from his mentees plate, but getting refused. He huffs and gets an idea, “Come on, Yuuri! Please!”, he puts his puppy dog eyes on and the 16-year-old sighs in defeat, “Okay”, holding up his plate. But his trainer only opens his mouth for Yuuri to feed him personally. The world traveller blushes but obliges him with a flush, dusting his cheeks.

    “Vkusno!”, the silverhead exclaims, “Can I have another?”

The Japanese nods dazedly and feeds the other another fish-ball.

    “It’s really good!”, his mentor nods to himself, before glancing at the shorter man, “You should try one of my meatballs!”, he offers one to Yuuri with his hands, “Say Ahh!”

The highschooler turns crimson as he opens his mouth and gets fed by his crush. He tries chewing, but can’t taste anything, too hung up on what just happened.

Victor looks at him in anticipation and Yuuri swallows, “It’s good”, he lies as he couldn’t concentrate on the taste at all.

The silver-haired Hero beams at him, holding up another piece, “Do you want another?”

The Japanese just nods, his soul long flown into paradise.

They feed each other more food and desserts, while exploring the streets and the different performances.

    “We should make our way to the Grand Park, I guess”, Victor says after some time as he looks at the grand clock on the magistrate’s tower, “The fireworks will start soon and after that we can watch the Dance of the Moonlight Fairies.”

Yuuri hums, his eyes trailing over the open stores until he stills, “I have to go in there.”

The Living Legend looks at him and then at the store the dark-haired man is pointing at. It’s a jewellery store. What would Yuuri need from a jewellery store?

Victor decides to follow his love without much of a second thought, watching the world traveller curiously as he discusses with the clerk what he needs and how he is going to pay.

The Aegian doesn’t know what the items are as Yuuri covers them expertly with his frame, so he thinks them souvenirs for Yuuko and Takeshi.

After exiting the store, they head straight to the Grand Park, Yuuri refusing various places to watch the fireworks, only agreeing on an empty spot on a small bridge over one of the small arms of the Lake of Promise.

They don’t have to wait long before the grand spectacle starts, illuminating the whole sky in colours and shapes.

    “You were right, Yuuri”, this place gives us the best sight”, Victor grins widely, “Thank you for insisting on watching them here.”

The Japanese hums, distracted by how the colours are reflected in the Hero’s cerulean eyes.

    “Beautiful”, his mentor says breathless with sparkling eyes, his focus entirely on the night sky.

The world traveller leans closer to the other, going on his tiptoes to reach the Hero’s height, “Yes, you are.” He waits for Victor to turn to him with a blush on his cheeks and smiles gently and so brave, before Yuuri closes the distance between them.

The kiss is chaste and brief and faster over than the 16-year-old had expected. But still its perfect. He feels so much, his heart beating rapidly in his chest.

Yuuri forces himself to look Victor in the eye, afraid of what he is going to see reflected in them.

But when their gazes meet, the silverhead’s one is void of any emotion, gears turning wildly in his head.

The Japanese’s anxiety rises to its peak and he is one second of apologizing, before Victor lets out a breathless “Yuuri.”

    “Victor?”, the world traveller blinks at the other not knowing what to do or say.

The Hero looks at him in wonder, slightly dazed, “So, this was… is real?”

    “Yeah?”, Yuuri says unintelligently and nearly screams when the other crouches down, hiding his face in his hands.

    “This is real”, Victor lets out a breathless chuckle, “This is really real!”

    “Yeah”, the dark-haired student confirms again, still confused about what is happening right now. This is no reaction he could have anticipated. And it’s making him very nervous.

The Living Legend stands up again, this time looking at Yuuri with a serious expression, his eyes searching for something, “I… Why?”

The Japanese’s state of confusion rises, “Why what?”

Victor takes a breath, “Why did you kiss me, Yuuri?”

Yuuri’s internal alarms go off. Maybe this whole plan was a really bad idea after all, why would his mentor as him about the ‘why’ otherwise!

    “I-I…”, his mind spirals in circles.

What should he do? Tell the truth? Lie? Find an excuse? No, it’s too late for that. And he doesn’t want to lie to his trainer. So the truth it is.

Yuuri takes a deep breath, taking Victor’s right hand with his trembling one, “I kissed you because…”, his gaze turns serious, “Because I am utterly and deeply and without a doubt head over heels in love with you. I love you, Victor Nikiforov.”

Victor looks at him stunned, before his mouth turns heart-shaped and his eyes grow wet, tears running openly down his cheeks. He doesn’t wait for Yuuri to say or do anything else, leaping forward to kiss him again full of love and devotion. The Japanese is confused and a little overwhelmed by the action, but melts into the kiss instantly, resting his hands on the other’s waist to pull Victor closer.

They kiss gently under the bright fireworks, completely lost in each other’s universe.

When they part to catch their breathes, Victor caresses Yuuri’s cheek carefully before placing a kiss on the other’s forehead. He smiles brightly at the world traveller, “For the record, I am undoubtable and heavily in love with you as well, Yuuri Katsuki. You mean the world to me.”

    “So do you”, Yuuri grabs for the items he bought at the jewellery store, opening the box for their transportation.

Victor’s eyes grow wide, his hand coming up to cover his surprised gasp.

    “I… Thank you for everything, Victor. Thank you for taking me in that day, for training me and travelling with me. Thank you for supporting me and most important, thank you for loving me. I-I don’t know what the future will hold for us, but I want to have something represent our connection and this is the best I could think of”, Yuuri takes the golden ring into his hands, reaching for Victor’s right hand. The Hero moves his hand willingly to the Japanese and Yuuri pushes the goldband onto his ringfinger, smiling brightly.

The Hero looks at the golden gleam from the jewellery, his eyes soft and full of feeling. He takes the box out of the world traveller’s hand, taking hold of the other golden ring. His smile is heart-shaped as he puts it on Yuuri’s right ringfinger with a soft push, “I love you.”

    “And I you”, the highschooler responds lovingly.

They lean their foreheads together, smiling brightly before kissing tenderly and full of affection for the other once again.

After the fireworks end, Victor takes Yuuri to the place of the main spectacle of the Festival of the Moonlight Fairies, which always happens on the night of the first day after the opening ceremony.

    “And who is going to dance?”, the Japanese asks curiously.

The Hero chuckles, “Some of the festival’s participants. They use magic to rise up into the air and dance to the music of the orchestra. It’s quite the show! And pretty romantic as the pairs are official couples only!”

Yuuri hums, thoughtfully before deciding his next move, “Victor?”, he waits for his lover to give him his full attention before bowing elegantly, “Vitya, would you do me the honour of granting me this dance?”

    “Yuura, are you… are you serious?”, the silver-haired man stares at him with big eyes.

The world traveller chuckles at the cuteness, “I never was surer in my entire life”, he squeezes Victor’s hand for good measure.

The Living Legend blushes deeply, but gives him a nod, his eyes full of emotion.

They cast Flight and Wind Magic to rise up to join the other dancing pairs, waiting for the music to start.

Victor chuckles, when he spots Chris, Phichit, Yurio, Otabek, Georgi, Mila, Sara, Emil and Michele on the ground, gaping at them in the air. He waves at them shortly before the dance start and he is swept off his feet by his handsome Yuuri. His Yuuri. He never wants to change this day for the world.

Dancing with Victor under the starry night sky is like a dream come true. Yuuri thinks he is walking on clouds. Never wanting the dance to end. He is dancing with his beautiful lover. His Vitya. He never wants to let this day end, wanting to hold onto Victor for forever and a day. And in this moment, he decides to just do that.

However, every dance has to come to an end and so does this one.

When the two lovers reach the ground again, they are flooded by their friends.

    “So hot, so spicy! I am so envious!”, Chris greets them with a wink.

Mila grins like a cheshirelike, “Vitya, you sly bastard!”

Yurio scowls, “Why must you always be so disgusting, old man? Now you have infected Katsudon with your antics as well!”

    “You danced beautifully up there! I even made a sketch of it!”, Otabek shows the sketch on his notebook.

Phichit holds a handkerchief to his face, “I am so happy for you too!”

    “You were very graceful up there! It looked like a fairy tale!”, Sara claps her hands together with a dreamy look.

Michele huffs, “At least, you followed my advice to stay away from Sara.”

Emil smiles, “Splendid performance up there!”

Georgi gazes warmly at Yuuri, “See everything turned out fine. I’m glad.”

    “Thank you, Gosha. Really.”, the Japanese responds gratefully, taking the prince’s hands to squeeze them, the ring glittering in the light of the Fairy lamps.

Victor chuckles, “Thank you very much, my friends! My Yuuri is a really wonderful dancer!”, he gestures a heart shape with his fingers to the world blushing traveller, his ring twinkling as well.

Chris studies the jewellery on his two friends for one second, before asking with a smirk, “What’s with the rings you two are wearing?”

Mila blinks confused at Victor, “Since when do you wear jewellery?”

The silver-haired Hero just smiles back, not saying anything.

Phichit looks from his best friend to the Living Legend and back, before the Elf gets a revelation. He starts clapping furiously, “Congratulations on your marriage!” The Warrior Elf turns to the other people around and shouts excitedly, “Everyone! My best friend just got married! Wuhuuuu!”

Yurio gapes at them with his mouth open and Otabek starts clapping together with the others. Yuuri turns bright red as everyone congratulates them with vigour, “NO Stop… Really… It’s not… But thank you… And you know for your prayers…!”

Victor laughs genuinely and shows his ring with a wave, “Yes, you got it wrong. This is actually an engagement ring. We’ll get married after our mission ends!”

    “We what?!”, the world traveller doesn’t know what is happening right now.

The Hero looks at him with a slight pout, “Don’t you want to get married, darling?”

    “No! I would love to get married to you!”, Yuuri waves with his hands wildly around, “I just…”, he thinks about it and smiles, “Yeah, let’s do that.”

    “Ugh! I am getting cavities!”, the Chimera complains and the dragonshifter pats his back gently, “Don’t worry, it will be our time someday as well.”

The Ice Tiger scowls at the other, “Stop being gross as well!”, but he cuddles closer to Otabek anyway.

They celebrate for some time longer together, before turning in for the night. They all wish nice dreams, but stop to watch as Yuuri tugs shyly at Victor’s sleeve, “Em…”

The silver-haired man’s gaze turns fond, “What is it, Yuura?”

The Japanese blushes at the nickname, his heart nearly leaping out of his chest, “I-I…”, he takes a breath, “Can I sleep with you tonight?”

Phichit lets his glass of water crash to the floor and Chris whistles saucily. Yurio’s face turns red, but can’t act in any way as his body decided to freeze on the spot and Otabek just observes the situation calmly.

Victor’s face colours a deep crimson as well, “Eh?”

Yuuri fidgets nervously with his hands, “I-I mean… I just want to sleep next to you and be close to you…”, his cheeks are getting darker with every word, “If it is a bother than…”

The Hero sighs in relief. He would have imagined that this particular thing would happen eventually between them, but he wasn’t ready for it so soon. Goddess bless his lover’s innocence! The others seem relieved as well. Except for Chris, but that is natural.

He looks at the dark-haired teen with adoration, “No, it’s not a bother at all. I would be delighted to cuddle with you and be close to you.”

    “But then I will be alone all night!”, Phichit says pouty.

The Incubus sighs, “Then I will join you, so you won’t be lonely!”

    “Deal!”, the Elf snaps his fingers.

After that they all go to sleep, Yuuri cuddling close to Victor as they hug each other in a tight embrace through the night, hoping that the interrogation tomorrow will bring more light into their mission.

Chapter Text

Yuuri feels warm and cosy as he draws closer to the warmth next to him, humming lowly in content. He feels so right and safe, never wanting to part with his comfortable body-pillow. He snuggles his cheeks against the warmth next to him, sighing in bliss. This is paradise.

A light familiar chuckle draws him out of his dreamy state.

The Japanese blinks repeatedly with his eyes as he takes everything in.

Victor is staring at him lovingly as Yuuri is still cuddling his upper-body close to himself. Oh.

The world traveller blushes sheepishly, averting his gaze shortly, to still some embarrassed glances at his ‘body-pillow’, however, still not letting go from his boyfriend… em fiancé.

    “Good morning, darling!”, the silver-haired man greets him with a heart-shaped smile and kisses him on the forehead, when he draws back, he smirks, “Can I interpret your adorable snuggling with me as you sleeping very well?”

The Hero looks angelic, even with bed-hair!

The 16-year-old colours crimson, nodding speechless at the other’s beauty, burying his face in the ‘naked’ chest next to him. His ears colour as well. Why is Victor even naked in the first place?

Yuuri hears another chuckle again and feels a hand gentle combing through his hair, “I would like to snuggle with you a little more too, darling. But I fear, we must get up soon for breakfast with Yakov before the interrogation will take place.”

The Black Reaper sighs, tickling the other with his breath, before looking up with puppy-dog-eyes, “Can’t we cuddle a little more before getting up?”

Victor gasps at the adorableness of his fiancé, trying to hide a wide grin with his palm as he fights to make a decision. The cerulean-eyed Immortal eyes the big grandfather-clock and Yuuri as if contemplating, before his mouth forms a heart-shape again, “Of course, my Yuuri.”

The Hero reaches with both hands for his lover to embrace him properly and be closer to him. Yuuri melts into the warmth, adjusting his body to the other’s as he cuddles closer, pressing his body flush against Victor’s. The world traveller inhales deeply before pressing a few kisses to the other’s neck and chest.

Victor shivers slightly, drawing him in closer, his breathing hitching each time, he feels Yuuri’s lips press softly against his body.

With time the Japanese gets a little bolder, starting to suck at the reachable flesh, before he gets gently shoved away.

    “Yuuri…”, the Hero’s face is flushed crimson, “W-What are you doing?”

The highschooler looks at the light bruise forming on the particular spot, blushing deeply as his mind caught up with his actions, “I-I… I’m so sorry… I-It just… I don’t know… It kind of came over me? I’m sorry, I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable!”

    “No! No, you didn’t”, Victor shakes his head, his gaze fond as he places a peck on the other’s forehead, “I”, he pecks the left cheek, “loved”, pecks the right cheek, “every bit”, pecks the peak of the nose, “of it, my darling”, and chastely places a kiss on his lover’s lips, “So, there is nothing to apologize. Rather, I think I enjoyed it a little too much.”

The Living Legend looks to the side embarrassed as the Dark Reaper studies him confused before it dawns on him, turning his gaze a little bit lower, “Oh.”

Victor hums, “We can still cuddle, but… yeah…”

Yuuri snorts, a little proud and embarrassed all the same, “I’d like that.”

They cuddle for a long time, before Yurio kicks the door in with the other’s trailing behind, taking them to breakfast.

Breakfast is a small affair as everyone is nervous and excited for the interrogation happing afterwards. Still, it is pleasant. Victor and Yuuri feed each other small portions of every dish served on the grand table. Yurio splutters and scowls every time Victor uses an endearment for his fiancé with Otabek trying to calm him down and stopping him from beating ‘the stupid couple’ up. Phichit takes picture after picture, fanboying from the opposite side of the couple, while Chris grins cheshire-like as he observes his best friend’s antics. Makkachin just eats her food, deep in thought about what will happen from now on. Georgi muses about true love with Mila and Sara. As Michele and Emil discuss something about swords. And Yakov and Lilia try to talk to group about everything and nothing, getting caught up in their own little disputes.

After breakfast, they are all escorted to the place where Anya is held captive. Georgi refusing to come along and Mila, Sara, Michele and Emil, going with their friend. They wish Victor and the other’s all the best before vanishing to do their business.

One of the Royal Doctors brings in the Truth Serum, injecting the vessel with it with some help of other doctors and soldiers.

Yuuri isn’t a friend of seeing someone interrogated, even though he liked watching crime series back on Earth. He is just glad that they won’t have to use torture or intimidation to get the information they need.

When the Royal Doctor gives the okay, Victor starts the questioning.

    “So Anya, how are you feeling?”, The Living Legend starts.

The woman scowls, “Not pleasant.”

    “I understand. I will cut to the chase, so you won’t be inconvenienced for too long then”, the Hero sighs empathically, “Why did you help summon Yuuri and his classmates to this world?”

    “I was asked to do that by Chihoko.”

    “And you didn’t think it strange?”, the silver-haired Immortal studies the vessel confused. She looked like a bright woman, shouldn’t she have thought about this request?

    “No, it was a request from my Goddess. And so, I followed her commands”, Anya says under a grimace. She hates not being able to lie and be so exposed, so if she has to tell the truth anyway, then she can do it on her own as well.

    “What about her explanation then. Didn’t you think it strange that the Demon King wants to conquer the world and that heroes from another world need to safe our realm from him?”, Victor says without any emotion.

    “I never trusted the Demon Kingdom and King Leroy is a dim-witted fool in my opinion anyway. I didn’t particularly care, if her story was true. I was just honoured to be a vessel to my Goddess and wanted to help in any ways I could”, Georgi’s ex-girlfriend says with a huff, “Also my Goddess never wanted to hurt anyone. She just wanted to do something godly and elegant.”

Yuuri pops a vein, “So, summoning strangers to a world unknown to them, where they can get killed and hurt seems like something elegant to you?”, his voice trembles in anger, “I was nearly killed too many times to count if it weren’t for luck or my friends! This is anything but elegant, godly and benevolent!”

Anya rolls her eyes, “My Goddess gave them all instructions and blessed them to keep them safe. I can’t take responsibility for your case. As the God of Twilight got his hands on you first! So, it was his responsibility to keep you safe and not hers!”

Yuuri bites his bottom lip. So it’s his and Vicchan’s fault now? What the hell!

    “Then why did you send your flower creations to spy on the Giacometti household?”, Victor tries to continue the interrogation. Chris stares intensely at the dark-haired woman. Now, they will get somewhere.

Anya growls, “Like I said before, I never spied on Giacometti. I find him disgusting! And for what purpose would I do that anyway!”

They all stare at her and then to the Royal Doctor, who hums, “She says the truth. She can’t lie for four hours with the amount injected into her.”

The Incubus furrows his eyebrows, “You never sent strange creatures to spy on my rooftop and dissolve into flower petals?”

Chihoko’s ward shakes her head, “No.”

    “W-What about the soldier on the battlefield with the monsters near the Fort close to the Fox Mountains on the demon countries side?”, Yurio asks slowly, trying to suppress the memory.

Anya bites her bottom lip, “While I have to admit that I summoned and lead the monsters, I never created a living human being. I can’t even do that with my powers granted by my Goddess…”, she turns her gaze at Yuuri, “You of all people should see that!”

The highschooler says nothing, instead focusing on the energy flow coming from the woman. There is something bothering him there. But he can’t put a finger to what.

When nobody answers the vessel huffs, “I only helped with the summoning circle for the outworlders, the monsters, the Behemoth… I never wanted to really hurt anyone! I just wanted to fulfil my Goddesses’ request.”

    “What about the assassination attempts on Yuuri then?”, Otabek asks.

Phichit nods, “Yeah. After the battle with your monster troop, a petal soldier stabbed him and Yuuri was on the brink of death. There were curses, intruders with murderous intent and a lot of incidents. It only stopped shortly before Yuuri woke up again! Were you the one who instigated this?”

Anya looks horrified, “I never wanted anything of the sort!”

Yuuri looks up instantly, “You said ‘wanted’.”

His friends look at him confused.

The Japanese student steps forward, “You said that you never wanted to harm anyone and that you never wanted to kill me, correct?”

The vessel nods.

They all study the otherworldler still not knowing where he is going with that.

The Japanese continues, “You said, you never sent strange creatures to spy on Chris’ rooftop. That you never created a living human being, but summoned the monsters. Did you get instructions from Chihoko face to face or did you hear a voice in your head?”

    “She would appear to me through the water surface like a mirror. But a few times, she would speak to me in my head”, Anya says annoyed.

The 16-year-old hums, “Since when did your powers become stronger? And how often did Chihoko appear to your face?”

    “A little before the summoning and our first contact. She appeared to me at my ceremony, when she gave me her blessing, on my birthdays and when she talked to me about the summoning of the otherworldlers”, Chihoko’s ward says.

    “And after that?”

    “Never again. Our last face to face conversation was before the summoning of you and your comrades.”

Yuuri clicks his tongue, “So the other conversations were via telepathy?”

    “Yes.”

The Japanese scrunches up his nose as he holds up the flower petal, he collected after the Behemoth dissolved into them, “Did the summoning circle for us dissolve into petals like those?”

Anya looks at the flower petal and shakes her head, “No, it didn’t. But all the other things did after your summoning did.”

The student huffs, “Okay. Last question: What kind of flower does this petal belong to and where is Chihoko right now?”

The woman laughs, “Seriously?”

He gives her a waiting look.

    “Fine”, she huffs, “It’s from a Petunia flower. They can have various colours. And Chihoko hides at the top of Mount Berg. Satisfied?”

Yuuri stares at her and then at the petal.

A Petunia flower, right. His mother had those in her garden.

The dark-haired man turns to his friends, who nod.

Yuuri turns to Yakov, “Please keep her under surveillance. She definitely had a hand in all of it, even though it wasn’t as willingly as believed.”

    “How come?”, the Royal Doctor asks.

The Japanese smiles, “Saying not to want something doesn’t exclude not doing it”, he explains, “Also…”, he smirks boldly as he studies the unravelling energy in exuding from Anya, “I think we are onto something. But I can’t be sure until I verify it directly. So for now, let’s teleport directly to the top of Mount Berg.”

They teleport directly to the peak, where they find a temple out of marble.

    “I am still confused about the whole interrogation”, Phichit says as they make their way up the stairs into the temple.

    “You are not the only one”, Chris adds with a furrowed brow.

Victor says nothing, his eyes trained on Yuuri. Why won’t he tell them about his thoughts and his hunch? He looks at Makkachin, who also stares at the Dark Reaper.

Yurio huffs, “So what? Anya did all of it and Chihoko was the culprit! Let’s kick her ass and close this case!”

Otabek hums, but seems not really convinced with all of this.

Yuuri stays silent, walking a few steps ahead of them.

They walk deep into the temple, before the Japanese turns to them, “Before we go on and confront Chihoko, I want to say a few things. First, we should try to not fight but still apprehend and talk with her. And I have to ask her something… and we will talk more.”

After that they walk into a grand hall with an ethereal woman sitting on some stairs, her hair in disarray and tears running down her cheeks.

The sight is disturbing and confusing.

What the hell is going on for a Goddess to cry?

When she hears the footsteps draw closer, she looks up with desperation in her eyes, “I can’t find it…”

    “Can’t find what?”, Yurio says puzzled.

Yuuri lets out a sigh. His hunch has been right as he studies the energy in the room. Now everything makes sense.

The world traveller looks at the trembling Goddess with soft eyes, “You can’t find a way to send us back.”

His friends look at him with wide eyes.

The highschooler steps closer to the deity, “I know that you tried to find a way to balance the equilibrium after accidentally summoning all of us. You are a hazard, but not evil in the least. Just a little airheaded.”

Chihoko looks at him with wide eyes, tears rolling down her cheeks, “I never wanted all of this to happen. I never wanted to disturb the equilibrium that hard! I just wanted to do a good job as substitute for the Head Goddess and then I found that well-written book and studied it, so Chrysanthemia could have her vacation. I wasn’t sure about doing the summoning in the book, but she encouraged it and then it all happened and I needed to provide for the outworldlers and now I am in this whole mess! My colleagues believe me to be a criminal, who wants to destroy the world! And I was thrown into prison, if it weren’t for her giving me the chance to fix this! But I can’t find the solution! I’ve read so much! And now, they send you, the rumoured Executioner, to eradicate me! How did it all come to this?”

Yuuri pats her on the shoulder, “It’s okay. I understand. You weren’t entirely at fault for all of this mess to begin with. You did enough already. And I am not here to eradicate you, Goddess Chihoko.”

She blinks at him with swollen eyes, “You are not?”

The Black Reaper shakes his head, “Anya’s testimony said it all. You weren’t responsible for these disasters, for the war instigations or the spy or assassination attempts. You didn’t even know of me until the rumours spread and your energy feels playful and innocent.”

The 16-year-old kneels down in front of the deity, “Goddess Chihoko.”

    “Please, call me Chihoko”, she says with a light smile, “We are colleagues.”

The dark-haired Japanese chuckles, “Chihoko then. I am Yuuri”, he reaches out a hand for her to shake. She blushes but shakes his hand gently.

    “Chihoko”, Yuuri continues, “You were used and set up for many of your charges. Still, you had a hand in disturbing the equilibrium. For this, you will have to stand trial before the court in the Realm of the Deities.”

The Goddess of Opportunities nods.

    “Good. That’s very brave of you.”

Chihoko blushes. She likes this Reaper. He is gentle and nice. Not like all the others before him.

    “Wait!”, Yurio scowls, “I am confused! So she wasn’t the culprit?”

Yuuri shakes his head, “No, she wasn’t the mastermind behind all of this.”

    “Whaaat?”, Phichit looks at him in disbelief, “Then was our journey all for nothing?

    “Then who was it?”, Chris says a little impatient. He doesn’t like staying in the dark of things that are important.

Otabek furrows his brows and Victor puts a finger to his chin.

    “I am going to prove it all to you that she was set up”, the world traveller says determined, “Chihoko, when was the last time, you contacted Anya?”

The Goddess bites her lip in guilt, “When I summoned you and your classmates… I am sorry.”

    “THE FUCK?”, the Chimera screeches.

Makka shakes her head, “Then who?”

The Goddess of Opportunities eyes grow wide, “Chrysanthemia?”

    “Yeah. Nice to see you too. Even though the occasion is a little stressing”, the Head Goddess answers apologetic.

Otabek and Chris stare at their friend, waiting for an explanation.

Victor gazes at Yuuri and Chihoko intently, “Who is her?”

Yuuri nods as he takes out the flower petal, “Who indeed. You always spoke of a her Chihoko. Who encouraged you and rescued you from the prison?”

The female deity casts her gaze down, “It was my college… Petunia.”

Makkachin gasps, “The Goddess of Passion, Diligence and Organisation? But why?”

    “I don’t know… She just motivated me to summon Yuuri and the others… And she rescued me from my prison cell…”, Chihoko says troubled, “But I don’t think that she would–“

    “No, she would indeed”, Yuuri says grimly.

    “But are you sure, Yuuri?”, Phichit says unsure, “We are talking about another Goddess here!”

The brown-eyed man turns to his friends, “Remember our visit to the library and me reading a book about all the deities of Aegis? It would suit her description. And… then… when we think what Minami told us, when he searched for Vi… Lycoris.”

    “He said that Petunia and Morooka wanted to give Vicchan more time”, Victor states clearly as he combs through his memories, “And that Morooka is investigating everything about Chihoko’s escape from prison.”

    “Indeed”, Yuuri says as he studies the petal in his hand.

Otabek hums, “Morooka is the God of Elegance, Royalty and the Sun. He is one of the strongest and most loyal deities there is…”

    “But Petunia was always the second violin in the Realm of the Gods and Goddesses!”, Makka completes for him, “This is my fault. She was more or less my secretary and instead of her you were appointed as my substitute…”

    “But that doesn’t make sense concerning Anya!”, Chris throws in.

Yuuri shakes his head, “No, it does actually. Because deities can mimic all kinds of beings and Petunia has the ability to create beings from her own flower petals because they are her namesake. She was also the one using Anya’s abilities without her knowledge to cover her tracks when spying at you Chris and trying to instigate a world-wide war, starting with the Demon Kingdom.”

    “But why would she try to assassinate you?”, Phichit asks pained.

Victor lets out a sigh, “Because the birth of a Reaper can be the death of a deity or their worst judgement.”

The world traveller nods, “Nobody except Makka and Vicchan should have known about me evolving into a Black Reaper. So there shouldn’t have been attacks on me before completing the metamorphosis. But she noticed.”

    “But how do we know for sure that it was Petunia?”, Chihoko says with a helpless gaze. She doesn’t want to accuse a colleague of hers without reason.

Yuuri smirks, “The flower petal is evidence enough. Your energies are so different and you feel it too, don’t you, Chihoko, Makka? A familiar energy! Let’s summon her.”

    “You can do that?”, the Goddess looks at him with awe. Maybe she is in love.

Victor narrows his eyebrows, stepping closer to his Yuuri. He wraps his arm around his lover’s waist and presses a kiss to his cheek without cutting eye contact to the Goddess, “My Yuuri is very talented.”

Chihoko looks at him a little challenging before huffing and crossing her arms. She should have accounted for this adorable Reaper to be already taken. Damn it! Still, she could admire and support him in the future. Nobody can take that away from her!

Chris shakes his head at his best friend’s antics. He has never witnessed Victor getting annoyed because of jealousy and possessive like that. Phichit snorts as well, taking a picture.

Yuuri lets out a sigh as he concentrates on his Rune Magic and Dark Summoning to connect to the energy of the suspect Goddess.

Makka stares at him in awe, whispering quietly to herself, “Lycoris… Your ward is seriously awesome…”

The world traveller stretches out his hand and after a big explosion another presence can be felt in the grand hall.

    “Who dared to summon–“, the words cut off, when she sees the Dark Reaper.

The Japanese straightens himself as he silently casts Physical and Magic Ward over his allies and uses Rune Magic to hinder the mastermind from fleeing.

    “Good day, Goddess Petunia”, Yuuri greets her calmly, gesturing to Chris to start boosting their stats and to the others to reinforce the wards and prepare for an eventual battle. Makka takes her stance next to Chihoko, both trying to help by reinforcing the barriers and giving the stat support.

    “Good day”, she observes everything, “As I see, you have captured the culprit of this whole mess.”

    “Not yet”, the Dark Reaper says calmly, “The mastermind is right in front of us, but soon this case will be closed.”

Petunia looks at Yuuri with a sharp gaze, “I see. But you are mistaken.”

The world traveller shakes his head, “Let’s cut to the chase, dear Goddess. Your energy is partly the same as this petal with the other part belonging to Anya. The evidence speaks for itself. And your motive of wanting to get more recognition and power is also noted. You were the one, who guided Chihoko into this mess as well as the only one, who is well informed and clearly involved in everything. Furthermore you are one of the only deities, who could come up with such a plan to frame someone else and use them as cover. Your flowers also have the tendency of a leech. This petal wants to steadily connect with my energy. So, I presume you kind of leeched onto Anya and convinced her to help you in your plans as Goddess Chihoko. But your communication was only over telepathy. That’s why she said during the interrogation that she didn’t want to hurt anyone, but followed the requests of her beloved deity. It all explains also the energy mixes at the battlefield as Anya isn’t originally blessed by you and used Chihoko’s powers and hers in combination with yours unknown to the vessel. You truly are frighteningly brilliant in your deception. However, I want to ask one question before this will all go down.”

The Goddess of Passion, Diligence and Organisation sighs, gesturing generously with her hands, “Please, Mr. Detective. You have to seem to have it all figured out so brilliantly. But if I can help you solving your case, go on!”

Yuuri observes Petunia with a critical eye, “I don’t understand what you get out of it. When the equilibrium is heavily imbalanced, the God of Twilight will reset the world. What is there for you to gain?”

Petunia starts laughing, summoning a large Energy Ball in her right palm, eyeing it sadly, “You know… I don’t even know myself… I think I never thought this far into the future…”

    “THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?”, Yurio screams with a pointing finger, “YOU INSTIGATE ALL OF THAT AND DON’T EVEN KNOW WHY YOU DO IT? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? THAT’S THE DUMBEST THING I’VE EVER HEARD!”

    “Yura!”, Otabek warns him. Normally, you shouldn’t talk to a deity in that tone.

Victor sighs, “I understand you a little, I think. Sometimes, I also wanted everything to disappear… To be reset because the world is so rotten. Because my efforts were never enough… Because everything repeated itself again and again and again… It’s not easy to always play the second violin… or be looked down upon… But you had great standing, Goddess Petunia. You were trusted.”

    “No! I was not!”, Petunia shouts and throws the massive Energy Ball in their direction.

It is too late to be able to evade it, so Yuuri summons Eclipse and uses Dispel and Nullify in succession because after the shooting started, it continued on. Victor and Phichit help countering the attacks with Water Magic, Yurio uses Wind Magic to redirect the massive Energy Balls, while Otabek casts Fiery Blast as Chris supports them with his boost skills.

    “YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! I WANTED TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY!”

Tons of the strange creatures, who tried to attack Yuuri and tried to spy on Chris appear all around them, separating the friends from each other.

    “I WANTED TO BE THE SUBSTITUTE! I HAD SO MUCH EXPERIENCE! AND STILL I WASN’T CHOSEN! I NEVER WAS ENOUGH!”

A strong light blast hits Yurio and Otabek, who get thrown back, hitting the walls. Both unconscious.

Makka and Chihoko immediately run up to them to check their vitals and try healing. It is hard for both of them to not be able to be directly involved, having to watch all of this.

    “ALL SHOULD JUST GO DOWN TO HELL FOR ALL I CARE!”

The attacks grow stronger and more uncoordinated. With the pace the Goddess is shooting random attacks now, the temple will collapse in now time.

Yuuri grabs his scythe in his hands and makes a decision as Chris and Phichit are cornered on opposite sides and Victor struggles to get through an onslaught of petal soldiers.

He jumps up using Flight to stay in the air as he raises his hand up. He takes a deep breath as he casts one of the skills he never wanted to use: God-Slaying Magic. But Yuuri doesn’t want to kill, so he will see her to sleep. He raises his scythe and sinks it down in silence.

At first nothing happens, everyone staring at their friend, but then the whole rooms is filled with light to leave behind a deeply sleeping Petunia.

The flower soldiers disappear immediately, only leaving petals behind in their wake.

The world traveller looks around, helping to heal his friends as he hears the experience points flow steadily until the familiar pinging noise comes to a stop.

Level-Up received:

Congratulations you have reached Level 40!

New skills acquired:

Gate

He clicks on the new skill, not sure what it means exactly.

Gate – Skill to open dimensional doors to places you visited.

The Japanese gulps as he reads three times over the lines, his face marred in shock.

Victor studies him in worry, “Everything alright, my darling?”

Yuuri stares at him like in trance, his next words almost a whisper, “I have the means to connect to Earth.”

Chapter Text

Victor stares at Yuuri with a wide expression of confusion.

He doesn’t know what to say or how to act.

Why was his lover so shocked by the skill? It’s as–

His thoughts break up, realization hitting him hard.

They never talked about this situation after getting together. But it has been obvious from the start. It should have been obvious to him. Yuuri always said it back then, defined his intentions since the early beginning. And it never has been the Immortal’s intention to hold him back. But still Victor thought that maybe everything had changed now. Now that they are together. That Yuuri wants to stay and live with him.

He studies the world traveller with an erratic gaze.

The Japanese’s gaze is like a storm, lost and complicated, devouring every simmer of hope in the silver-haired man’s heart.

He should have known better.

The Hero turns pale, hiding his expression under his bangs, something breaking deep inside him. He should have known better than imagining a live between them, hoping for forever… He is a fool.

Victor takes a shaky breath, pressing the unshed tears back and puts on an overly cheerful façade, trying not to have a break-down, “That’s great, Yuuri! I am so happy for you!”

What a lie.

The 16-year-old looks dazzled, “T-Thanks?”

How cruel to look so innocent, when you’ll leave as soon as you figure out the way to use your skill, the silver-head thinks bitterly.

The Hero smiles at the dark-haired man with his teeth, “Now, we finally have a solution to counter the imbalance of the equilibrium! I am so proud of you!”

Why will you leave me, Yuuri? After all we went through?, he wants to ask these questions so badly, but refrains, afraid of the truth.

So an awkward silence settles between them.

Yuuri still in shock and Victor hearing his heart break the more the silence goes on.

What should he do?

He doesn’t know.

He feels helpless. Hopeless. Void.

So he decides to stay silent, waiting for anything to disturb whatever is happening right now.

The disturbance comes in the form of a scowl, “My fucking head hurts!”, Yurio growls loudly as he sits up, Beka shaking his head next to him.

Phichit chuckles, “Well, you both took quite the ‘punch’. I’m glad that nothing badly happened to you two.”

Otabek hums, “So the battle is over then?”, he lets his gaze glide over the sleeping Petunia and the two other Goddesses discussing something heatedly.

Chris nods, “Yeah. Yuuri put an end to it after you two passed out. Reapers really are amazing”, he shakes his head, “No, simply Yuuri is. I don’t know if I could be so responsible with that much power. No wonder God Lycoris is very careful with selecting his wards and watching over their growth.”

    “No kidding”, the Elf sighs, “So what now?”

The Chimera shrugs, “Don’t ask me. I have no fucking idea”, he looks over to Victor and Yuuri, standing strangely face to face to each other. Something doesn’t seem right about them, but Yurio can’t put a finger to what it is. So instead he just gestures to them, “Shouldn’t we ask the old man and Katsudon?”

    “Agreed”, the dragonshifter stands up with grace. The Ice Tiger follows and wobbles against him with a red face.

    “Careful!”, Otabek exclaims with a light smile as he steadies the blond teen.

Yurio grumbles something like a ‘thanks’, annoyed at his wobbly feet.

Chris snickers and Phichit coos, which earns them both a death glare.

The Incubus clears his voice then, “I will talk to the two Goddesses to join us for a discussion about what to do next. Will be over there in a second.”

Soon the others have gathered around Victor and Yuuri.

The Living Legend stares at the other’s faces, his smile becoming real and relief filling the void in his chest when he sees that Yurio is not hurt badly anymore.

He claps his hands together, trying to sound excited and like his usual self. They were still on a mission and they have to complete it. Everything else should come later. Has to come later.

    “Great! Now that we are all up, we should hold council! First, I want to congratulate all of you for participating on this mission! We will have to report to Yakov and the others later on and I am sure that you all will be heavily rewarded for it!”, the Hero smiles brightly.

    “YESS! I hear some medals already coming our way!”, Phichit does a short dance of victory, “And the money we will get! I am soooo looking forward to the celebrations!”

Yurio snickers, whispering to Otabek, who smiles back and tousles through the blond strands tenderly.

Chris hums, looking very strangely at his best friend.

Victor immediately avoids the demon’s gaze, knowing that the Incubus knows that something is definitely wrong with him.

The Immortal continues, trying to be nonchalant, “But first, we have to deal with the perpetrator and concerning that my dear Goddesses, I want to hear some suggestions from your side.”

Makkachin turns to her original form as the Goddess Chrysanthemia, holding her head up high, “We will take her to our Realm, where she will stand trial and will be convicted for her crimes. The verdict already stands as eternal sleep as punishment. We will just formalize everything. Chihoko will have a trial as well, but her sentence won’t be that hard. And then we will come down to talk about what to do next concerning the equilibrium.”

At that Yuuri startles awake from his trance, “I-I have gained the ability to connect to Earth after the fight. I just learned Gate, so the equilibrium will be safe after–“, he breaks off, everything sinking slowly in.

Chihoko looks stunned, “Such a talented Reaper.”

The Head Goddess smiles, “Good. I will inform Lycoris to come down and talk to you about what to do with the skill. For now, I think you should rest up and send word to your classmates to have the transfer tomorrow. The sooner the equilibrium is restored the better.”

Yuuri nods, a little overwhelmed by her urgency, but he understands.

Time is running out and they have to act soon.

They have a mission and will fulfil it.

    “Yeah”, he smiles up at their Makka. How regal she looks in her real form. Nobody would think of her as a big cuddly dork with a preference for belly rubs.

The Head Goddess smiles, gesturing to Chihoko, who winks at the Dark Reaper with a flush dusting her cheeks, before turning to the rest of them, “See you tomorrow, my friends.” She takes a hold on Petunia and with a snap of her finger, they are gone.

The world traveller turns to his brothers in arms, “We should head straight for Robinia, if the transfer shall happen tomorrow. I will inform my classmates about the situation, please write letters to Yakov and the others to inform them as well. I will be busy talking to Vicchan about my new skill, so we should find a good inn to relax.”

Phichit nods, “Yeah. We’ll need some time for relaxing. Man, all of this was very stressful. And tomorrow will be exciting too! I never saw a dimensional door in my life!”

Chris chuckles, “I’ll be looking forward to it as well! New magic to study is always pleasant!”

    “Can we get out of here now?”, Yurio grumbles, “I need a bath and something to eat! And this place is disgusting!”

    “Yura, you shouldn’t be rude! This is a temple”, Otabek scolds him lightly.

The Chimera huffs, “Whatever. Can we get moving now?”

They all nod except for Victor, who just stares into the void.

    “Vitya?”, Yuuri asks worried. Something is wrong with his fiancé, but he doesn’t know what.

His name seems to shake him out of his circling thoughts, “Yeah?”

The Japanese furrows his brow in concern. An absentminded Victor is something very new and confusing.

    “Is everything alright?”, the 16-year-old tries again.

The silver-haired man studies him for a moment, before humming strangely, “We should start heading out then”, he turns away from Yuuri and gestures for everyone to come to him to start teleporting.

Yuuri looks confused, what just happened here? Why is Victor acting so strange? Did he do something?

The world traveller shrugs it off. There are other things to worry about for now and maybe they will get to talk later over dinner.

They don’t get to talk about the strange atmosphere between them over dinner or any other time as they are all preoccupied with their duties.

Yuuri heads off to the Guild to inform his classmates about the plans for tomorrow. Yuuko is over the moon at hearing the news to finally be able to go back to their parents and friends. She hugs her friend tightly and Takeshi pats him on the back with pride at the younger one’s accomplishments. His other classmates are a little reluctant to celebrate Yuuri as their hero, but still they join in with Rin and his inner circle sulking in the corner.

When the Black Reaper feels his god approach the Realm, he excuses himself and makes his way back to the inn, an edge in his steps.

What if he isn’t good enough? What if he can’t activate the skill? What if something goes wrong tomorrow?

He shakes his head. No, Vicchan will teach him properly and give him the instructions he will need to perform the activation. He shouldn’t worry about it.

The world traveller looks to the sky, gazing at the sun set. It has been such a long time as he first came to this world. So many things happened during his stay here. He smiles. The dark-haired outworlder would never ever want to trade these memories made in these past weeks. They mean the world to him.

As soon as he arrives at the inn, he searches for Victor and the others to update on his progress. He finds them in Yurio’s and Otabek’s room, writing reports and letters, when he enters the room, every eye turns to him.

He waves at them, “Everything is set on my part. Vicchan will be here soon as well if my instinct tells me correctly. How is the progress on your side?”

Phichit huffs, “I’ve run around the entire city to find the best souvenirs for Guang-Hong, Leo, Gil and Celestino! But I can’t find the right one for each of them, so I am stuck with deciding on whom to give what!”

Yuuri giggles, “That sounds harsh.”

    “Harsh my ass!”, Yurio bristles, “I am stuck here with Beka writing reports for the Beast King and I hate every bit of this polite gibberish! Why are there so many rules to writing a report to royalty for fuck’s sake!”

Otabek chuckles, “But you are doing great, Yura! We are nearly done with the half of it!”

The Chimera gives an incredulous and torturous stare, bumping his head on the wall, “I hate this.”

    “Do your best!”, the 16-year-old tries to encourage his friend with a thumbs up, which earns him a grumble.

Chris snickers, “Just have patience. Victor and I have a lot more to write about than you, and you don’t see us complaining, do you?”

The Ice Tiger gives him a death stare and the Incubus laughs heartily.

    “You’ll do fine with that much motivation!”, the demon sing-songs, “Right, cheri?”

Victor startles, “Pardon me, what?”

The Incubus narrows his eyes at his friend, but before he can say anything, Yuuri starts first, “Em… Vitya… Can we–“

    “Yuuuuri!!! I am back!”, Lycoris pops up out of nowhere, hugging the Japanese enthusiastically, “I missed you so much!”

The world traveller tries to steady them both, a little startled by the surprise return, but nevertheless very happy.

    “I missed you too, Vicchan!”, the Black Reaper wipes over his teary eyes. It’s good to have him back.

The god steps away and turns to the others, “It’s good to see all of you again as well! You all did very great! I am so proud!”, then he turns excitedly to his ward again, “We have to catch up immediately and I will tell you everything you have to know for tomorrow!”, he grabs his friend’s arm, waves to the others for good measure and whirls out of the room to Yuuri’s and Victor’s quarters to start right off with everything.

Phichit stares after them with a giggle, “What a whirlwind. I’ve never seen a god act to hastily. It seems like he really missed Yuuri a lot. Good for Vicchan then.”

Yurio huffs, “Well, Katsudon likes him a lot as well. They were both heart-broken when they had to part. We should give them some time to talk.”

The Elf takes his reports and stands up, chuckling, “Yeah. They are both so cute. I should have taken a picture! But you are right, they should talk!”

Chris hums, his eyes narrowing on his best friend again and coming to a decision, “Speaking of talking, spill Victor.”

The Living Legend turns surprised to the Incubus, “What do you mean with ‘spill’?”

The demon gives him a pointed stare in response and Victor sighs in defeat.

The Hero bites his bottom lip, avoiding eye-contact, “I think Yuuri is going to leave me.”

Phichit drops the letters to the ground, his pen breaking after hitting the ground.

Otabek furrows his eyebrows in confusion and Yurio stops writing to stare at his father figure.

    “Leave you?”, Chris knits his brows together, “Why did you come to that conclusion, cheri?”

    “Why shouldn’t I?”, Victor lets out a broken laugh, his eyes getting glassy, “He always talked about going back to Earth when we met. I even talked to you about it, when we discussed my infatuation with him back at your mansion. It was always one of his goals and now he has the means to do so. Didn’t you also see how ready he is to activate his skill? He is really eager to open a gate to Earth!”, he feels tears running down his cheeks.

Damn it. He didn’t mean to say it. To make his words a reality. Damn it all.

    “Cheri. I–“, the demon tries to say something to his crying friend, but the words fail him.

Instead Yurio stomps on the ground, “Katsudon can’t leave! He… he just… He is your fiancé for fuck’s sake! He can’t…”, he gets a look of devastation in his eyes as he realizes that yes, Yuuri can leave. The Ice Tiger starts shaking. This is not fair. This can’t be right!

Otabek embraces him gently, his expression troubled and unsure and Yurio sinks into the other’s arms, needing some comfort at the thought of losing a friend.

Phichit whimpers. Yuuri will leave? But why? Didn’t he like it here? And will he really give up the new-found relationship with Victor? This all sounds so wrong. This has to be wrong! Why would Yuuri want to–

    “I’m sure that Yuuri wants to see his family again. He always talked about his parents and sister with such fondness when he retold some stories”, Victor says, drained of emotion, “And who am I to hold him back from that, when it was the plan all along…”, he laughs shakily.

He feels so void and broken when imagining a life without his Yuuri. He had nearly forgotten how grey his days had been without his love.

Goddess damn it!

    “Have you talked to Yuuri about your thoughts”, Otabek’s cool voice cuts through their spiralling minds.

The silver-haired man shakes his head, tears streaming down his face. He feels so helpless and vulnerable.

The dragonshifter huffs, “We… No, you have to talk to him, Victor. As far as I know, I never really heard voice anything concretes concerning his return to Earth. He said to his friends from Earth that he will find a way back, but never that he would go with them. It’s too early to make any assumptions.”

    “Too early to make any assumptions?”, the Hero’s voice is flat, “I was the first one to meet him. He always talked about it! He said it was his goal! His fucking goal! And you say it is too early to make assumptions?”

Yurio takes in a shaky breath, looking straight at his father figure, “He may have said that back then… But he never mentioned it much the more we travelled! Fuck, Vitya! Even back when you visited us, he didn’t want to leave your damn side! Or how would you explain his decision to stay longer and go on this mission with us! He clearly didn’t want to leave you since the beginning!”

Phichit wipes his tears away and nods, “Yeah! Even when you first came to Eternia, I could see your chemistry! Why else do you think I founded the ‘Victuuri-shipping-group’? You two were clearly meant for each other from the very start! Hell, you don’t know how much encouraging was needed to get Yuuri to confess to you because he wasn’t sure about your feelings for so long and didn’t want to complicate things!”

A soft smile tugs at Chris’ lips, “You two were very smitten since I had the pleasure of meeting Yuuri. It was obvious to my eyes. And Yuuri confessed to you not long ago. He decided to follow his feelings for you, cheri. So, I don’t think that you should beat yourself up so badly before you got to talk to him properly.”

Victor sniffs, looking to the ground. His mind still spiralling in circles.

Talk to him. Don’t talk to him. Talk to him. Let it be.

He holds his head with a grimace.

The Incubus sighs, “I know that it isn’t easy. And that there is a possibility that he will go back…”

All look at him with desperation in their eyes. Chris knows that they all fear the same concerning losing Yuuri, except for Victor, who feels like his world is going to end, but he has to be rational here.

    “…but the chance of him staying for you is much greater than you can imagine, cheri”, he continues, “He could have decided from the beginning to take a different path. But his decision always brought him to you because he wanted to stay with you. And you can’t deny that. Yuuri loves you in the purest way possible. He won’t leave you without saying anything.”

Victor takes a deep breath, a small smile making it’s way onto his lips, “Yeah… You are right. But that makes it all the more scary to talk to him after he wanted to ask me before Lycoris interrupted. I am so afraid of losing him. I don’t know if I will survive that”, he wipes over his face, smiling crookedly, “But it isn’t fair to him to not let him explain himself. I just… I don’t think I have the strength to talk with him today…”

    “That’s understandable”, Otabek supplies.

    “This is all so fucked up”, Yurio says, “But you are right. We should get some rest. Today was hard enough. And I am fed up with dealing with complicated things.” The Chimera yawns, walking up to the silver-haired Hero and patting him on the head, “You should sleep here today. We can share a bed, so you won’t feel lonely. So let’s go to sleep, dad.”

Victor stares at the blond teen with wide eyes and Yurio turns bright pink as the others start to coo. The Living Legend lets out a laugh, touched by his son’s display of affection to comfort him in his own way.

    “What?”, Yurio growls, very embarrassed but not taking anything back.

The Immortal shakes his head, “Nothing. Come here, son!”, he opens his arms invitingly.

The Ice Tiger huffs, but doesn’t hesitate twice, cuddling up to his father as he grumbles, “Don’t think that this will repeat itself often, dad!”

    “Yeah, yeah!”, Victor smiles as he makes them comfortable on one of the beds.

He is grateful for his friends’ and son’s support. He closes his eyes, hearing the well wishes as the others make themselves ready to return to their rooms as well, desperately hoping that everything will clear itself up tomorrow in a positive way.