The inevitable meet.

'I wanted to hide my identity.....' Ivan muttered inwardly. He could have hidden it, but he couldn't bring himself to ask Nu to stop when she honoured his words, so uncaring for his thoughts about hiding his identity; he wanted, and did, respect the honour of his sly maid.

And for some fortunate reason, Zilla just sat there, kneeling, without responding to much of the situation around them, as she observed the man, who introduced himself as Keith Frazier, though it wasn't the same, Sir Frazier's etiquette felt noble, how? That was yet to be learnt.

"I shall take up on the infinite honour." Nu suddenly spoke up. Ivan simply gazed at her in confusion, while also being thankful for his maid, who altered him of Keith's presence, which Ivan himself couldn't feel due to his powers being sealed.

Ivan, who was struggling to pull Keith's weight, was stupefied at the sight of Zilla jumping out from his gloved left hand, while Nu jumped out of his shadow, which she had merged into while he was still in the [Unknown World], without his permission.

Later, Ivan commanded Nu and Zilla to morph into their humanoid forms so that they wouldn't attract too much attention, asked Nu to bring Keith to a safe place which was found by Zilla and later when he was interrogating his rebellious subjects, Keith popped out.

And, currently, Nu and Zilla, who had escaped Ivan's interrogation, were gazing down at Keith, coldly.

"Your Majesty." Nu bowed to Ivan, asking his permission to continue, in response to which Ivan nodded.

"Your Majesty, THE SHADOW OF DEATH, THE KING, Ivan Lane, THE SOVEREIGN OF THE UNKNOWN WORLD!" Nu introduced him in triumph and pride.

'Oh....' Ivan exclaimed inwardly, since there wasn't ever a need to introduce himself, he hadn't thought of doing so even now, but Nu handled that very well. Although he himself had already become THE DEATH itself, since they, those from the Unknown World, didn't know if it, he didn't mind.

"Your Majesty." Keith muttered.

"Please." Ivan nodded, accepting the gesture as he pointed in front of him, where another tree stump was seen. Bowing again, Keith stood up straight as he walked and sat on the stump.

"it rather unconventional, but I hope you do not mind the lack of formality." Ivan stated, sitting straight.

"Not at all, Your Majesty. I am rather surprised by Your Majesty's creativity." Keith said with a light bow, as Nu and Zilla stood behind Ivan.

"Hahaha." Ivan lightly chuckled, softening the air around them.

"Please, I hope you drop the formalities, I am responding as such, as a way of showing my respect to my subject. I hope you do not mind, we are hoping to hide our identities, since as you may have felt, I am weakened extremely, we cannot afford to garner too much attention right now." Ivan stated.

Ivan laid out his weakened condition on his own, which killed off the way Keith might try to use that against them, of course, he was also confident in the strengths of Nu and Zilla, who needed but a mere flick to kill off the man in front of him.

He had asked to drop the formalities while continuing to speak formally himself, it was a way to understand Keith's [Character] which was clouded in mystery, and he had also stated that he didn't wish to reveal his identity which meant that Keith was going to stay with them, as somebody who knew of Ivan's identity, and Ivan's words, clouded but clearly enough, unveiled that Keith had no say in this matter.

"It is an honour, Your Majesty." Was what Keith responded with.

'He either didn't really understand, or he is cautious....' Ivan pondered, and noticed the icy artic blue eyes of his and

'He is cautious.' Ivan concluded with a smile on his face.

"How intriguing." Ivan mused and extended his hand towards the man of mystery.

"Ivan. Ivan Lane." Ivan introduced himself informally.

"Keith Frazier." Keith too introduced himself informally.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"Nice to meet you."

"After you." Ivan said.

"Let's first go to the [Dome]." Keith, who took the lead, muttered, explaining a few basic things needed to not stand out amidst of the crowd.

"Keep an eye on him." Ivan ordered Nu in a whisper, while following Keith from behind.

He would have had to be naive if he trusted Keith over a few words. And Keith was a box of mystery, there was just no way Ivan would trust him so easily, that too when the uncontrolled fighting spirit oozing out of him was so suffocating.

Ivan could see an wolf that had bitten off its shackles in Keith, so mistaking him for a tame dog over a mere few words was plain foolish.

*

'I can feel their divinity in the shackles Ivan is bound with.....' Keith thought inwardly. By "their," he meant the 13 Gods.

He was interested in Ivan, but he didn't dare pry into him, he was already sweating bullets when he was under the curious gaze of his. He had understood that he was bound to Ivan when he heard and agreed to the clouded conditions previously, but he didn't care, because currently, all he could see was an useful pawn that had walked into his palms on its own.

There were too many things to take care of as the tomorrow arrived, he couldn't afford to miss or waste another stronger piece in his arsenal.

'The future from the day I returned has already smudged the ways I had taken in the past, the more I walk on the path to grow stronger in this life, the more the future I know of from my past will get smudged, until I won't know of what's next, so I need to grow much, much stronger than my past self before the future I know of becomes unpredictable.....' Keith muttered inwardly, as he began his planning. He had already understood that he was weaker than he expected just a few minutes ago while facing an [Azazel], hence, his plans needed to be remodelled accordingly.

Just now, he had gained a [King] which could potentially be strong enough to shake up the entire board if used carefully.

'A mere step of his could, no, will shake up the entire board of the tomorrow. I just need to use him correctly. So, first, I need to earn his trust, doesn't matter in what way.' Keith thought inwardly, as a refreshingly ominous green gaze peered upon Keith's back without him noticing.

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----------[End of volume 1: The Regressor and The Returnee]-----------