Grand Master

"You... you could do that?" Zane jerked his head towards Slem, who was still reveling in his reaction.

"Yes, wouldn't it be weird if I couldn't open the door to my own room?" He replied.

"Haha..." Zane was speechless. "So, can you open the door of other rooms?" He shook his head and asked Slem.

"Yup! But why would you want to go to other's rooms?" He tilted his head.

"Oh... Umm.." Zane thought for a moment before his eyes sparkled.

"Do you know the others have their hands and legs cuffed?"

Slem nodded his head, which meant he was aware of the situation.

"Then why do you think only we are not cuffed in this whole place?" Zane asked Slem, who couldn't answer the question.

Zane knelt down and put his hand on Slem's shoulders, "Slem, those people are criminals! And we were put here so we could punish them. Do you understand?"

Slem's eyes sparkled, "Really? I never thought about that. You're really clever brother!"

Zane rubbed his nose, "Let's go then." He walked out the door and Slem followed energetically.

Slem stopped right at the door to the side, "Let's start here." He turned his hand to slime and moved it towards the door.

"W-Wait!" Zane hurried towards him and stopped him, to which he tilted his head.

"What's the problem? Aren't we going to punish them?"

"Let's start from there" Zane pointed towards a door which was near the end of the corridor.

"Why? Starting from here would be easier though?" Slem looked at Zane with doubtful eyes.

"I-If we start from there, it will be easier for us tomorrow. We won't have to go that far again, right?" Zane smiled.

Slem thought about it and nodded. "That makes sense." Then they started walking towards the end of the corridor.

After reaching the door at the end of the corridor, Zane peeked inside from the bar.

The inside of the cell was pitch black and Zane couldn't see properly. He could only see a figure sitting on the bed in the corner. "Open it."

Slem moved towards the door and unlocked it.

*Creak* Zane pushed the door open slowly, to which the figure responded by turning his head towards him.

"Who're you?" The figure spoke without any emotion in his voice. "A bastard from Mayhem again? I'm not telling you anything. Fuck off!" He shouted.

Zane headed inside the cell with Slem following him. When his eyes got adjusted to the dark, he saw the figure. It was a middle-aged man with rough graying hair and beard. He was so thin, you could see the bones through his skin.

Looking at the frail man, Zane hesitated.

'Should I really kill him?' He fell into thought. Then he looked towards Slem, "Make him faint."

Slem nodded and turned into slime. He then proceeded to jump on the man's head. He tried to resist, but he couldn't.

"W-What" He spoke before Slem's slime body surrounded his head. The man immediately began to struggle for air, then he passed out after some time.

Slem turned back to his human form and approached Zane. "Is he really a criminal brother? He looks weak." He spoke with nonchalance.

Zane was surprised at Slem, he was only a kid but it didn't seem like he felt any remorse doing that to the man.

"How long has it been since you were here Slem?" He asked.

"Uhh..." Slem fell into thought, "I've been here for as long as I can remember!"

Zane nodded his head, understanding why he was like that.

"Wait a moment" He walked towards the unconscious man and lined up his shadow.

"Wow! What's that!?" Slem's eyes sparkled when he saw Zane's shadow move to consume the man's.

"I'm eating his shadow. I'll be done in a minute." Zane focused his shadow to consume the essence faster. Once he was done, they headed towards other cells and repeated the same.

After consuming the essence of the fifth and last prisoner of the night, Zane turned to Slem, "That's enough for today, let's get some rest."

They headed towards their cell. After reaching inside the cell, Zane and Slem walked towards the Bed and sat on it. They both looked at each other.

"Brother, I stood guard yesterday, so isn't it your turn today to stand guard?" Slem spoke with innocence.

Zane smiled and pulled on Slem's chubby cheeks. "You cheeky brat, you just slept here all day and you want to sleep again?"

"Ow Ow.. Fine fine, I'll stand guard, just let go!" He pushed Zanes hand and jumped off from the bed.

He walked in front of the bed with a pout and sat with his arms crossed.

Zane shook his head in amusement and started focusing on himself. After focusing for a bit, he widened his eyes.

'This.... it's amazing!' Zane was astonished at his growth. He could already use his shadow up to his stomach, a bit above the belly button.

'If I grow at this rate, Maybe I'll reach the peak of Heart Core in 3 or 4 days!'

"Haha!" He laughed. Slem glanced towards him, but turned his head again with a pout on his face.

Zane laid on the bed with a wry smile on his face. 'Let's just sleep for today.'

---

Violet rays of moonlight shone through the window of the church's corridor.

*Tap Tap Tap*

Two sets of footsteps could be heard walking through the corridor.

"I'm nervous... It's our first meeting with the council..." Haskell expressed to Edana.

"What's there to be nervous about, we just have to stay silent and listen." She replied. Haskell sighed and kept walking with her.

They reached the end of the corridor, which had a double door entrance to the meeting hall, guarded by a knight.

The guard gave them a jealous look and opened the door to the hall.

They headed inside the meeting hall, which was almost empty, except for a few people sitting on the chairs around the table.

The chairs were divided into 4 sections. The first section had 3 chairs on each side of the table. The second had 2 on each side, the third had one on each side and one final chair was at the end of the table.

Only 4 people were present in the hall currently. Thorn was sitting on the section with 6 chairs. He turned his head towards them and spoke. "You're here?"

The two went behind him and stood there. "Yes commander." They responded.

On the opposite side, there was a person sitting on the chair with two people standing behind him.

"Oh? Are they the candidates you chose for the Night Leader position? They're quite sloppy, to come late on their first meeting." The man sitting on the chair jeered.

Haskell looked at the ground while Edana looked straight at the man and clenched her teeth. The man was quite young, with black hair and rose colored eyes. He glanced at Edana and smiled.

"Cut them some slack Anson, they're right on the mentioned time anyways." Thorn replied.

"Hah." Anson scoffed. Anson Lucien, he was recently promoted as a commander, and was the youngest ever in the Sacred Order to hold a position as a commander.

Just as the atmosphere became silent, the door opened and a person entered.

Thorn and Anson both stood up from their seats and bowed towards the person.

"Grand Master" They chimed. The four behind them followed and bowed.

The old man who entered walked towards the seat at the end of the table and sat down, adjusting his dark violet long coat. He turned his head towards them and looked at them with his clear golden eyes.

"Sit down." He spoke in a low voice, but the voice resounded through the hall clearly.

The commanders sat down on their seats while the four stood behind them.

The old man looked towards the commanders and smiled, "Now let's talk about why I summoned you two here."