The first thing the seraphs and the dukes did after Aster's sudden disappearance was to point fingers at each other.
Angel's jumped at the demons at the first given opportunity.
"What is this!"
"Tsk, I should have known."
Uriel prepared for battle, Raphael criticized herself and Michael did nothing but deliver the stare of an executioner towards the demons who could do nothing but squirm in their seats.
They didn't dare lash out at the angels back as that would have been an unfounded accusation and would do nothing but add fuel to the flame of conflict.
Everyone knew who, or at least who wasn't the kidnapper.
Everyone saw Aster being swallowed by a shadow, not a blinding light, not a gust of wind but a shadow no less.
A shadow is a subbranch of darkness magic. A magic, angels were not capable of conjuring.
So by process of elimination, demons were the ones who ought to be responsible for this.
But the ones present in the room knew they anyone in the room hadn't done that excluding the hot-blooded Uriel.
'Ho, we were tricked.'
'Let's see, who is foolish enough to perform an action like this, right under the nose of 6 disaster rankers no less.
Maybe it was greed. He certainly meets the requirements to pull off a stunt at this scale.
Or it could be Asmodeus. There was something special about that boy's soul, something that I could not detect. If she wanted to use him to give birth to demons on a different level than before then it is possible.'
Such thoughts ran amok within Lucifer's head.
Eventually, he reached a dead end and thus he got up and proposed an action.
"My esteemed rivals. Someone dared to look down upon us, look down upon this unusual gathering by kidnapping our esteemed guest.
I have a few potential suspects in mind. Any contributions are accepted with welcome arms.
I say we depart right now."
Lucifer's declaration of a conjoined rescue operation put the meeting on hold and caused the gathered 6 disasters to fly off in 6 different directions in pursuit of a human boy.
Meanwhile, said human boy stood against a hooded figure that left him perpetually confused.
Out of nowhere, his vision ran black. Once it was clear, he was in a different room, tied to a pole with a rope that sucked mana like a sponge absorbing water.
Now, waking up in an unfamiliar environment was too familiar to his liking but his kidnapper were the cause of his confusion.
At a glance, there was nothing special about the figure.
He had a hood covering his face in a veil of shadow. The proportions of his lean body gave away that the assassin was male.
Sure, the ominous aura of death lingered around him but Aster faced people with the same aura before yet no one made him this confused.
He felt weird, to say the least. Something about it resonated with him. He wanted to sit down and organize his thoughts but the open hostility emitted by the hooded figure caused his wish to relax disappear like a mirage in the desert.
The hidden assassin wasted no time. They were clearly experts in their chosen profession.
With speed that more or less matched the son of Beelzebub, it stepped in front of Aster.
Then with fluid movements fitting of an experienced killer, it grabbed the grip of a sharp dagger with jagged spine at its belt and sank it into Aster's throat.
The most terrifying feat of it wasn't his speed or its skill of piercing through Aster's tough skin with no resistance or whatever. Rather, the fact that he produced absolutely no sound or shockwave.
Aster saw his hp reaching a critical level almost instantly.
Before he could even move his finger, the assassin twisted the dagger and pulled it out.
A fountain of blood sprouted from the wound on his throat, drenching the ground and his newly acquired clothes in red.
With his mission accomplished, he sharply turned around and swung his dagger once more, spraying the remaining blood on the floor.
He exhaled in exhilaration as he stared at nothing in particular. No, it would be wrong to say he was staring at nothing, he was, indeed, staring at something that was invincible to others.
A mistake that cost him a millisecond. A millisecond enough for Aster to break the rope and tackle him from behind.
The assassin jumped, did a roll midair, and landed behind Aster.
His wary posture revealed that he was surprised by Aster's survival and his speed.
Aster turned around and faced him. The grievous wound inflicted by the assassin not even a moment ago vanished in a fit of hot smoke.
Aster's regeneration had reached a level beyond the norm alongside his attributes which nearly quadrupled in amount each.
All thanks to this;
[Emergency mode has been activated]
[Cause of activation: Fragment detected]
[Appropriate measures will be taken]
[The skill [Regeneration[Master] Lv 10] will rise up to [Regeneration [Evo] Lv 10 during the emergency mode]
[All attributes increased by 1700 during the emergency mode]
[Mana and Energy will passively replenish by 500 points every 10 seconds]
[The longer the emergency mode persists, the more the side effects will be]
[A Quest has arrived]
[Compulsory Quest: Acquire the system fragment within 5 minutes]
[Quest danger rating: S+]
[Quest difficulty rating S]
[Quest rewards: System upgrade]
[Failure penalty: Death. Destruction of the system]
"Haha, haha, HAHAHAHA."
Power was coursing through every fiber of his veins. He felt like he could face ten clones of his former self from ten minutes ago and fold them in half.
And it wasn't the end. He still had his attribute support skills such as whirlwind and strengthen.
[[Whirlwind[EX]] has been activated]
[[Strengthen[EX]] has been activated]
[[Sprint[EX]] has been activated]
[[Dash[EX]] has been activated]
[[Berserk[EX]] has been activated]
[[Battle cry] has been activated]
Filled with ecstasy from the burst of strength, he continued activating his skills.
His aura ran wild as it took the form of countless tentacles lashing around at everything within a 50-meter radius.
Then, it slowly retracted and formed a barrier around Aster's skin and solidified, creating tough armor to defend against the sharp dagger.
With his eyes wide open and glowing various colors, Aster crouched down and beckoned the assassin to come.
You can probably guess how it is going to go. Comment