Ace, The ascendant

Kenji hadn't shown up for two whole weeks now and everyone was getting worried. Soon the information reached Kristine as well who for now was laying dormant on Kenji's order but this was deemed as an emergency by her. She finally used the fire crystal to unlock her level cap till 40 and break out of her cell.

It wasn't that difficult because of her weapon and her reaching level 20 due to experience share of Kenji.

She checked her status and she was no longer in a pact with Kenji.

"Where is he...?" She thought to herself. The guards who were trying to stop her felt like insects that she couldn't bother herself with. Kristine jumped out of the window and landed on the ground.

"His team... they must know something." She thought to herself and started running towards the academy. Once she got there, she couldn't find his team. Students told her that the team NIGHTFALL goes on missions on weekends.

She then barged into Kenji's dorm room to check for any clues and found his stuff still there.

"He didn't take anything with him?" She wondered as she checked through everything and found no clue.

Exactly what happened? She could think of multiple reasons but tracking him down would be near impossible since its been so many days since his disappearance.

She decided to wait for NIGHTFALL to come back and ask them questions herself.

...

Next morning the four members of NIGHTFALL walked into Kenji's dorm discussing about their mission. Rosaline was the first to notice Kristine and get on a fighting stance.

"I'm not here to fight. Just tell me what you know about Kenji's disappearance."

"Nothing. He said that there was secret discussion with Gods. He left when we were all asleep. At that time we had no choice but to take it as truth but now..." Barbara informed her.

"This information doesn't help at all." Kristine sighed. She walked past them out of the dorm room wondering what her next step would be.

...

I had been on a journey for last two weeks to that one nation I received the letter from. How could someone so easily figure out my identity. This organization calls itself 'The Regulators' and the one contacted me went with the alias of 'Ace'. I don't know what to expect but they wanted me to come alone or else they would leak the information about me.

I had no choice but to comply and so, I lied to NIGHTFALL and here I am now in a different nation... Kingdom of Hughward. This nation reminded me more of European middle ages than Grumania. Even though they were next to each other it seemed as though Hughward was a bit more advanced than Grumania. the architecture was simply better.

On the journey, I had acquired the 4th crystal chunk I needed for ascending past level 20. It was the water crystal. Now I need to get a wind, ground and thunder. I will go for thunder next since it is weak to fire magic.

As I was touring the city by myself, I bumped into a girl who was being chased by the guards. I wonder what had happened but before I could react, a man jumped in and took out the guards in an instant. The man had distinct teal hair and a mask resting on side of his head. He used a weapon that resembled swords made out of water. I quickly checked his status and it showed nothing. Is he magicless...? I wonder because it looked like those swords are made of magic but soon the water disappeared and swords turned normal. Maybe a passive skill of his weapon, I guessed.

"Ah! If it isn't the Apus Hughward." The man turned around with a soft smile. He grabbed our hands and started running as more guards approached us. "We don't have time to dilly dally around, y'know!" He laughed as we barely kept up with him. He was easily in the different league than me. My guts were telling me to be wary of this man for some reason.

Once we were in a more secluded area, he greeted us.

"I'm Ace. Nice to meet you both. Coincidentally I was planning on meeting Kenji anyways but was not expecting that man's death."

"You are..." I didn't know how to react in the moment, we had planned to meet up but I wasn't expecting Ace to be such a fighter.

"Now now... No need to worry. But we can talk later. Apus, what happened back in the castle is a problem. Even I didn't expect that to happen."

"But.. I didn't do it..." She fell to her knees shaking and hyperventilating.

"I know you didn't do it but now that it has happened, you have to prove your innocence. You made a great choice by running away." Ace said and patted her head. "There, there... dear child, don't you worry. As your dad's friend, I will make sure you have enough money to live a life away from here if you don't want to prove your innocence."

I don't think it is appropriate to ask them details but I think this girl, Apus, is the princess who got accused of murdering her father who was the king.

"Aren't you a regulator? How can I trust you?" I asked.

"I'm not evil... haha. I'm just loyal to his majesty. My loyalty to him knows no bound. Whatever he says is what I do. He asked me to track you down, so I did. In reality, you don't pose a threat to us in the slightest but what his majesty is being cautious. But now is not the time. We first have to take Apus to a safe location and then we can have our meeting."

This man was setting off all the red alarms right now but it seems like that girl trusts him. She took Ace's hand and stood up still sniffling. She wiped her tears and tried to stop herself from crying.

"Who... did this?" She asked.

"Intelligence says it was an outside force. You can always trust the regulators with their web of informants. But that is not important right now."

"Who's to say it wasn't you guys? Aren't you outside force too?" I said.

"You don't have a high opinion of us, do you? Well we, the regulators, aren't out here to expand our region or rule the world. Our goals are beyond your understanding. Suffice to say, what we are doing is for betterment of human race... and even non-humans."

"Non-humans?" I had only seen humans so far so by non-human does he mean animals but that is weird way of putting it.

"Beastkins, elves, dwarfs... Etcetera etcetera, You have not come across them because they stay secluded in their tiny lands. Human nations see them as abominations that need to be eradicated. You were in Grumania, right? There is a forest in that kingdom ruled exclusively by dark elves, yet you never saw them. Precisely because if they show their location, they would be eradicated."

What...

"Once you learn the true nature of this world, you would join the regulators on your accord. But I'm not here for recruitment." He smiled again and took the girl away. I was left standing there wondering if the people I spent time with all had murderous intentions towards those who weren't humans. Head hunters... Sunri... Rosaline, Barbara and Leisha.

When I first met Rosaline, she was involved in execution of those who merely refused to accept Jeyma. She only joined my team because I was the apostle. How many killings were she included in? Is she still the same? We met only two months ago so I doubt she would've changed her ways. If she felt so strongly about teachings of Jeyma then it is not hard to believe that she would've killed anyone who wasn't a human.

Ace... The regulators... Just what are they?

...

Some time had passed and the sun was starting to set when I received a letter from a stranger. It was a reservation for a restaurant. I followed the directions and was now in front of a restaurant that looked too expensive for my wallet. The entire 'everything is free for summoned ones' doesn't apply here. I showed the slip of reservation and was taken to the table for two. On the other side sat Ace.

"How did you find out who I am?"

"Now now... no need to be hostile. Let's trade some information. His majesty wants you gone and I have to comply but see in regulators, there are 13 who sits at the tippity top of all of them. We are Ascendants. We have some say in how the regulators work even if his majesty's orders are final but they aren't exactly non-negotiable. So before we turn enemies, I have a way to prevent all the unnecessary rivalry. Either join the regulators or disappear forever."

"And what if I don't comply?" I asked and suddenly his status became visible.

Level: 55

Attack: 1,256

Def: 898

Magic mastery: 178

Stamina: 250

Water damage: 46%

Skills: Ripple effect, water magic and eternal torrents of chaos.

Weapon: Harp of obscurity

Level: 60

Attack: 561

Passive: Has 90% chance of landing 250% attack

Awakened passive: Elemental attack stacks 6% attack increase for up to 4 stacks in total. The awakened passive is counted in passive ability.

Rarity: Unknown

What was this crazy stat?! That is a 24% stack on top of his actual attack and then almost every time he would land an attack that is 250% increase?! His real attack stat would sit around 3,800?! But he also has water damage which means if the enemy has some elemental condition, his attack damage would increase even more?!

"I don't think currently, you are in a position to ignore us. As you see, I'm actually the weakest in the Ascendants. Top three are at level 100." He said and took a sip of red wine we were served.

"But I was told that highest level is 40 attained by a human."

"You trusting Gods is the issue here. They would obviously lie so you don't get too stressed out. But anyways, how about it now? Join the regulators and you can rest assured that your team, NIGHTFALL, doesn't die under... unforeseen circumstances."

"You-" I was in public location so I couldn't lash out.

"Y'know Kenji... I do know you love your two girlfriends and those friends of yours..,. I understand. I absolutely love my family too. Of course I put them on the same pedestal as his majesty and choosing between the two would be impossible for me. But try to understand... I have orders to follow."

"Before any of that, tell me what future awaits this nation?"

"This nation? I wonder. King's death was... not exactly out of blue, haha. He was meant to be assassinated sooner or later. Apus, if she proves her innocence, would become a better ruler than her father. But since I don't know the identity of the person who would take the throne, I can't say."

"Why did you expect him to be assassinated?"

"The king here ruled the people directly, He was more involved in everything than other nations. So as you see this nation is especially well developed compared to other nations. The reason being: No corruption. Yes, of course, non-humans were deemed unworthy by this king too but he worked day in and day out for his nation. Currently, Hughward is the richest nation and the one with least amount of corruption but aristocracy wasn't happy since they wanted to fill up their pockets but other problem was that there wasn't a gap between aristocracy and commoners in terms of wealth either so... as expected, they colluded with outsiders and got rid of the king."

"And the outsiders were?"

"Why? Of course, the regulators."

"And why?"

"Our goal is to become the strongest nation and oppose the gods and everything they've created. This can only happen if we have some dirt on important figure of other nations. After all, we are paid to do a job and we did the job. We aren't the bad guys, it's those who paid us." Ace chuckled a bit.

"Didn't you call Apus' dad, a friend?"

"He was a fine man, sure. A great leader, father and a friend to me. But his majesty's orders are final. But I'm not the one responsible for his demise. I didn't even know it had happened so I quickly rushed to protect Apus. Currently, she is under the care of the regulators."

"You guys are shady through and through."

"Take your time. I'll hold off his majesty for as long as I want but if any other ascendants come after you then I'm sorry, you'd die" He said before finishing his steak.

I did, too. Steak with wine was too good, The place deserved a lot of praise for how good the meal was.

"So... any information you want to give about the ascendants?"

"Can't. But one thing I can tell you is: They are not evil but they have been through somethings that made them forsake the gods. None of the regulators were forced to join. All of them joined on their own behalf."

I sighed thinking about that man who tried to assassinate me. So, he had forsaken God too?

"Oh right- can you tell me about the man who tried to assassinate me?"

"Kyle? He was a good employee. Nice and kind to everyone but his wife had recently caught an uncurbable disease. This particular disease has been spreading for quite some time now and we have made no progress towards curing it. He was desperate to do anything for her so he joined regulators and used a portion of his salary to fund the research. Quite a chunk of our employees are there because of this disease we call 'the curse'. The course goes something like this: first the patient would feel fatigue and this fatigue would soon tie them to bed. As time passes on, they can't even muster up enough energy to swallow food and would have hard time breathing and finally the heart would just... stop. This usually happens in span of 5 years. We have reached a theory that this has to do with elemental energy. So far only those with magic have been affected."

"Sounds horrible." I can't think of going through something like that.

"We've all reached the same conclusion because of this disease... Gods are responsible for this suffering. They are the ones who grant elemental powers and they are the ones who created this disease in the first place. So, would you at least come to our nation and see for yourself... what Gods did to us?"

"Sure." It was quite an easy question for me to answer. I will go to this nation.