Two people awkwardly stared at each other. One a beautiful blonde woman. The other a heavily armored knight who barely escaped death. They were Charlotte Daniels and Nedeshwar Patel.
"Uhm. Nedeshwar. Are you alright?"
"I am. Especially now that you are here."
"You didn’t have to go that far..." Charlotte whispered, brushing his hair back.
Ned grinned. "I didn’t. But I wanted to."
"I heard your, uhm... confession... did you mean it?"
"I do. Want to get married now?"
"Okay. Mind if I take a shower first? I smell like crap."
Elian and Bianca couldn’t help but snicker in the background. Despite Charlotte’s normally sultry demeanor, she was acting like a chaste maiden. Meanwhile, the normally reserved Ned was so high on adrenaline that he had no filter and spoke his mind.
Talents didn’t just change strength. They twisted how people think.
"Like you are any different, Elian," Bianca chastised.
"Right. Never mind then."
With a flick of Elian’s fingers, Ned’s armor opened up, allowing him to separate from the overheated metal covering his body. One could even see the steamy haze rising above Ned’s armor. Ned got out. Charlotte gasped, flustered.
Naturally, after being subjected to a Flame Swallow barrage, his clothes were nonexistent.
But unbothered by the fact that he was naked, Ned nonchalantly stood up and exposed himself to the cool breeze. With most girls looking down in embarrassment.
The onlookers got an eyeful of his tone and well-trained body. Charlotte, however, quickly pulled out a long robe and covered him up.
"Nedeshwar, please do not expose yourself to the elements. You could get sick," she worried, in a show of concern.
"Thanks. Call me Ned, in exchange let me call you Lottie," he answered, full of confidence, "Deal?"
Charlotte awkwardly tucked her hair behind her ear and nodded, "Okay, let me help you get up, Ned."
Seeing his best friend flirt with his girlfriend, Elian felt whole. Since he was young, he had wanted to give back to his friend. Now he had the power to do so. And Bianca even got him a woman to boot.
Chuckling, Elian squeezed her hand as he spoke aloud, "They seem to be hitting it off. What do you think?"
"It went even better than expected. Now we have gained Charlotte’s Breaker Army and her loyalty. And your best friend now has a lover! Isn’t that great? Everybody wins!"
Elian felt his temple throb and his stomach twist, "I tend to forget how terrifying you are when it comes to playing games ."
"Oh please, stop being so overdramatic. You see the two over there? The demonstration of our first human Breaker exceeds anything they have at the moment. Not even Marcus would have survived twenty-five Flame Swallows one after another."
Glancing at Tessa and Marcus, Bianca’s observation was correct; they were currently both on the phone. No doubt reporting what they saw with their own eyes. He only remembered that they were still at war with the other factions. Mostly because of his impatience.
"Sorry, Bianca. Now that I think about it, I should have consulted you first," Elian reflected.
But his lover smiled and kissed the tip of his nose. "It’s fine. You did all that because you love me too much anyway. What kind of idiotic woman could complain about something like that?"
Bianca ducked under Elian’s armpit and buried herself in his chest.
"As for Ned and Charlotte, we already got everything we needed. Ned shows what happens to those who join us, and Charlotte will protect him even better than we can. With her additional manpower, we can speed up officially crowning you as Earth’s Tyrant."
"Let’s not forget—I still have to invade a world."
"That’s fine, you can just hit Fralhame. Or maybe Averignis. When we get Sunny’s help, a single world would no longer pose a problem. Our forces are shaping up pretty well. We shouldn’t lose too badly when the Crucible begins," Bianca countered.
Her words were all correct. Rather than do everything themselves, leveraging others to further their goals was more efficient. Treating humanity in absolutes was messy and a waste of time. Elian needed only a small group of people dead; the rest he could still use.
Elian looked at the scenery before him and wondered. Everything happening in Crestfall City right now was because of his choices. From the Snow Wolves to the Flame Swallows... to Ned.
In a way, he already shaped the lives of others as much as his own. Him, the defect society deemed useless from the moment he was born. It made Elian feel vindicated. All the times he blamed himself for being a defect, all the days he cursed being born.
Now. None of that mattered.
Elian Reed was no longer a Defect. He was now a Tyrant Candidate. One powerful enough to influence an entire city to his whim.
Somehow the realization of how fast things have been moving surprised Elian. Feeling a bit anxious, he again squeezed Bianca’s hand in his, "Bianca."
"Hmm? What is it, darling?"
"Can we disappear for a bit?"
Bianca furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"
"I want to see my parents. We didn’t mean to, but it took more than a year for me to get back. From their point of view, they lost a son over a year ago, right?"
At his words, Bianca looked away nervously. "Um... not exactly?"
Seeing her reactions as dubious, Elian pressed her, "If you don’t explain, I will give you a hickey," then he pointed to her collarbone, "right here."
Bianca flinched and covered the spot as she blushed, "I kind of told them, well not me. I got someone else to do it. I told them I had hired you as my assistant. And I forged a video of you talking to them so that they wouldn’t worry."
Elian felt his blood pressure rise. Despite adoring the woman before him, he wanted to bend her over and spank her for being naughty.
"Explain. Now. Do not leave anything out."
Bianca trembled when she saw the anger and frustration in Elian’s eyes. She stammered and batted her eyelashes to appease him.
"Elian, darling. I am the one you cherish the most, right? Me. Bianca. Your anchor. You wouldn’t be cruel to me now, would you?"
After a much-needed grilling session, Elian eventually found out the web of lies Bianca had spun. Much like the doubles she hired to protect the Reeds, Bianca hired someone to play as Elian’s body double and chat with his parents.
They used AI and clever tricks, making the exchanges as impersonal as possible to avoid being caught. Elian grew frustrated. But he at least calmed down as it spared them the pain of knowing he was missing for a full year.
"Who knew that dungeons messed time up of all things? It was bad luck that both Fralhame and Averignis had longer days than Earth," he sighed.
Elian felt something tug at the edge of his coat. "Darling, I am sorry. Please forgive me. I did it to not make them worry," Bianca pleaded with an anxious expression.
The Tyrant took a deep breath and kissed Bianca on her cheek. "I am not angry. I know you did it for my sake. But please, next time, please tell me first, okay?"
Brightening up, Bianca threw her arms around Elian and hugged him tight. "Yay! Peace is good. Hooray for peace!" she cheered like a hyperactive child.
Indulging the silliness of his woman, Elian allowed Bianca to let loose.
He looked around and saw the rest of the groups separated into their own groups. The Weapons were studying Ned’s armor. Ned and Charlotte had already disappeared, while Marcus and Tessa were still on the phone.
"Okay. I will send Sebastian, Fluffy, and Charlotte the details. We can leave."
The two walked hand in hand, not minding the onlookers. When they entered Bianca’s shop, they changed clothes and even their faces.
If that was not enough, Elian modified his height and body structure, reverting to a teenager. Meanwhile, Bianca wore a wig and cross-dressed.
Using their superior AGI, they left behind all the people watching them. The high difference in stats made it impossible for any human Breaker to tail them without their knowledge.
Plus the fact that Bianca controls the system.
They took a cab and went to a safe house a short distance away from the pleasure district. It was a quaint little house in the suburbs. The pair got out of the cab and walked to the front door. As they got closer, Elian’s body began to grow anxious.
"Nervous?" Bianca asked.
"I am meeting my lover’s parents for the first time officially. I am beyond terrified."
Elian couldn’t resist laughing at Bianca’s expense.
"It’s not funny! What if they don’t like me?" she worried. "What if they tell you that I am too old for you and that I am just a cougar or something?"
Finding Bianca’s concerns adorable, he pulled her in close and gave her a kiss. Now that his body was smaller, locking lips with an older woman made Elian excited in a different manner.
"Stop being so lecherous! Let’s just ring the doorbell," the witch fumed.
But before either of them could. The door slowly opened. It showed a woman in her early fifties who was wearing an apron.
"Elian? Is that you?"
Elian began to shed tears upon seeing his mother, Susan Reed, in the flesh.