Chapter 30 - Andres

Inside a quiet and empty pub, a youth sat there silently, staring at the alcohol that he's been holding for quite some time now, swirling and spinning the contents of the glass.

His yellow hair drooped down as he stared with his eyes in all seriousness.

Soon later, he could feel a prescence of two individuals outside the pub, who then went in just seconds later.

Despite this, he still didn't bat an eye, he continued just staring at his drink until one of the individuals approached him.

"Are you not going to drink that? Prince Zero?" A calm voice spoke to him, who then took a seat beside him.

Zero replied with an annoyed tone, his face turning sour as he did so. "Who are you and what do you want?"

The man's red poncho swayed as he raised his hand to signal the bartender all the while speaking to Zero at the same time. "I've watched your battle, Prince."

"Are you here to insult me?" He replied, still looking at his drink.

"Truth be told, your hand-to-hand combat skills are shitty at best, and I'm here since I want to help you regarding that."

Hearing this, Zero finally turned his head slightly at the person, he then finished his drinking in one go before answering. "Wow, are we close enough for you to insult me like that? We don't even know each other's fucking names yet."

"I do know who you are, Prince Zero of Olympus, right? And I am Andres. Now that we finally know each other, let's get back to the topic. I wanna be friends with you." Andres then slightly leaned forward.

"Heh—After you insulted me?" Zero scoffed at these words.

"Truth hurts."

"This fucker—" He chuckled, clearly getting annoyed by Andres' expression, he then responded with a firm rejection. "NO. I won't be friends with you."

"What a sore loser."

As Andres said this, another person arrived with a drink on his hand.

"Marcus De Vera…" Zero exclaimed.

Marcus then spoke in condescending tone. "Oh, who do we have here? The high and mighty prince of olympus, son of King Zeus, isn't it?"

"If you're here to make fun of me, get the fuck out, before I bash your head in."

"Oh shit, you really are a sore loser." Marcus added.

"Stop, Marcus. We're not here to make a fight. Prince Zero—"

"—Stop calling me that...!"

"… Zero…" Andres continued, "I can help you, and you can help me. I just need strong and reliable allies. We can both achieve what we want, we can be comrades even. I will help you improve to be someone worthy of Zeus."

"Oh, you think you know me well?"

"You're a God-Kin, there's a shit ton of information about you in the Network. I have a gist of what you're going through."

"But haven't I already given my reply? It's a 'No' isn't it?" Zero then turned his head away and signalled the bartender with his finger.

"Fine… But I'll just say this, the guy who had beaten and thoroughly humiliated you is my brother. Jose, right?" The two then began walking out after.

Hearing this, Zero's eyes widened, but even though he want to curse this man and say something, his mouth won't open. He feels so humiliated by what happened that he is unable to respond to those words.

But before Andres opened the door, he said something without turning back. "If you are content with being a pathetic person like that who only takes advantage of his privileges. Then just drown the past humiliation with alcohol. That's what losers tend to do anyway."

With that, the pub was empty and quiet once again, Zero's drink arrived and was given by the bartender who doesn't seem to care about their previous conversations and was just diligently doing his job. After all, he is just a humble individual, he doesn't want to be swept in the storms of climbers or issues like this.

Zero quietly gulped down the liquor and pain is evident in his eyes. Not only was his pride completely destroyed in a day, some random person even personally humiliated and insulted him. 'Fuck that guy… I want to kill him and his brother…'

"FUCK!" He shouted and he slammed down the glass but not so hard to break it.

He angrily got up from his seat, tossed some coins on the bar counter and stormed out, wanting to find the fuckers that insulted him. 'Where the fuck are those two…'

_____

Outside the town, inside a dense forest in a Gray Zone…

While Marcus and Andres are walking, Marcus then turned behind at the latter and began slowly walking backwards as Andres slowed down too. "Hey, is that really okay? I did the part you asked me to, I insulted him… Don't you think that… You know, he'll just leave?"

"No… He won't leave. I'm sure of that, our Prince is quite prideful to just let our insults slide. I'm betting he's on his way to find us by now."

"Then you'll have to fight him? But no, I'm sure he wouldn't stand a chance against you anyway."

"How can you be so sure?" Andres raised his brows.

Marcus then smiled awkwardly and snorted, "Hey… you've beaten the shit out me in my strongest state, who's to say you can't do the same to him?"

"But you two have different approach to combat. While you have power, he have both power and speed, it's not the same. So my strategies must always be different. There's no single strategy that can deal with every single opponent."

"But there is though… If you're overwhelmingly powerful, that is…"

"But I'm not overwhelmingly powerful, so I need to use my wits."

"Right… Is it Sun Ugong, after this guy? The one we'll recruit?"

"That's right. The only guy in our generation who's overwhelmingly powerful. But right now, let's get this guy over with."

"Speak of the devil…" Marcus' face distorted as his mood changed immidiately.

Andres turned around to see where Marcus is looking at and right there, there's a trail of yellow lightning rushing at them. Quickly moving his body, he caught something with his right arm firmly. It was Zero's arm who had thrown a punch.

"You fuckers…!" Zero spoke with the veins on his temple clearly visible and his face a little reddish due to anger and alcohol.

"You want to fight me?" Andres asked without a hint of fear.

"Of course! I'll kill you and your brother, bring him out! I'll deal with the two of you together."

"Oh, come on, letting your emotions out during a battle is a big mistake. Currently, I am angry too, very angry, but not because of you. But have you seen me as angry as you? I'm trying to have a civilized talk with you—"

"I don't give a fuck!" Zero then threw a wild hook using his other arm which is free from restraint. Andres caught it too and as Zero tries to break away and pull back his arms, he is unable to.

"I'll be frank. I can wipe the floor with you here and now if I wanted, but I'm going to give you a chance. All I want is to have a powerful and reliable ally. Right now, you've fit in the powerful part, but I'll help you achieve the reliability that I wish you have. So please, don't bite more than you can chew.

"I don't give a shit, let go of me!" And yet, Andres still never let him go. The lightning on Zero's body intensify, and even striking and burning the former's poncho yet its fabric grows back in just seconds.

Marcus then stepped forward and spoke. "Let him go, Andres. I'll take him on, Let's see how I'll fair against the Olympus' power." Marcus continued "It's given who'll win if you fight him anyway. So let me."

"Stop joking Marcus…"

"Please, let me. You don't need to entertain this bastard. My power's strong enough to deal with the likes of him.

Hearing this, Zero accepted the challenge. "Fine, let go of me, just as I said earlier, I'll bash your head in."

"Try me." Marcus replied with a dead serious expression. His psychic power welling up and he began to levitate slowly up.

_____

The once dense forest that the three talked in is now a complete mess. The dirt and trees were overturned, split asunder or both. The trails of lightning flickered as they dim down and a massive circular area where many trees once laid foundations in is now a barren, sight of wreckage, filled with the smell of scorched vegetation.

With blood dripping down from his forehead and his his right arm completely limp, Marcus walked one step at a time forward. Holding the left arm which bones are completely shattered with his other, somewhat healthy arm.

Stopping and chuckling a little, he looked at Zero, who was buried on the crater of a tree trunk, completely unresponsive. Who was fling there by Marcus which ended the fight finally.

Andres raised his hand as he appeared in front of the advancing Marcus in his tracks. "Stop, Marcus, both of you can't go on anymore. This guy's unresponsive too. I doubt he'll die but still... Let's stop here."

"Right, right." Marcus then went to another tree which trunk is completely okay and sat beside it, leaning backward as he groaned due to his broken arm.

"Shit…" He raised his right arm briefly as blue pixels appeared and a bottle of red liquid appeared in his hand. He quickly chugged down the bottle until it's empty and then he began feeling his broken arm back, it's bones reconstructing after he chugged down the potion. But as if it was not enough, the restoration process stopped, prompting him to get two more out of his Inventory. And also chugging them down, before he is completely healed. But despite being healed, the exhaustion is never part of the healing process, so he felt somewhat tired still.

Looking in Andres' direction, who was not involved whatsoever in the fight after he respected Marcus' wish to fight Zero alone. Marcus saw that Andres had already retrieved the guy from the tree trunk and laid him on the floor, where Andres is now pouring multiple potions on Zero's body to heal him.

His respect for Andres grows even more. "Dammit… This guy's going to be a good leader... Ugong… Get ready, monkey, we'll get you later."