A cruel... story?

There were only a few things he could hear before he passed out.

"Lav... good... hide here... I... be back... stay sa..."

Then he heard the massive commotion before everything turned dark and he succumbed to a deep sleep with all of his blood pouring out, and next to him... everything was so empty.

The next thing he remembered was that when he woke up, he wasn't with him. He was nowhere to be found.

"Tea... cher," forcing his broken body to get up, Lav found himself in a dark and narrow cave. His injury slowly healed, after all he was the MC. With plot armour, he survived but this wasn't his point.

What was, was that Eric wasn't with him and that made Lav... incredibly lonely, sad and worried.

***

With an iron shackle clad around his neck, with a leash forcing him to act like a slave, Eric was forced to stay at the king's side with no choice to escape. The only thing that comforted Eric's raging mind was that Lav was definitely safe, if Hans died, Howl would know it due to their bond.

So, Eric had to watch the theatre. How the king and his men barged into the HQ all triumphantly, shouting, demanding to see the Martial Gods. Seeing the oncoming new earthers with all their weapons, the Murim people instantly got scared and the Martial Gods present stepped forward.

And the declaration that came out, shook all of Murim: War! New earth declared war on Murim because their ruler has killed their hero and injured their precious princess.

At this point, Eric realised the true goal of the king of new earth.

They didn't want to dominate magic, no, what they wanted was complete space domination.

The greedy king wasn't satisfied with how things were. He wanted the whole universe to obey him.

The king turned out to be a villain. Since most planets were already siding with new earth, it wasn't hard to make them submissive, hence, they went for the only neutral planet first then destroy magic and have their allies submit to them.

Eric was pretty sure this was how the plan of the king should unfold. But this genuinely perplexed Eric, didn't the plot change entirely?

Hey, hey, wasn't the archvillain, the damn antagonist? So, why the hell did it turn out to be this limp king who wanted to take the spot as a wannabe major obstacle? I just witnessed a coup d'etat! Fuck, the king just went off and pushed the original antagonist off his role!

Yet what Eric also found out was that the main girl had no clue about all of this. How did Eric know?

Because subplot number B played out in front of him. Confined in a room on the spaceship, Eli pleaded with the king, "Please grandpa, think it over! You can't do that! This isn't what you want right? Why did you lie about everything?"

Eric could only pity this naive and dumb girl, while he pitied himself even more. He was now stuck in the same scary cyber box that had the ruler's insides splattered all around. Never in his life, Eric was more cautious and obedient than now.

However, to Eric's surprise, the king gave the 'precious' princess the cold shoulder and only said, "Make sure she doesn't run," before he grabbed the box with Eric and headed out.

Eli's cries followed them pitifully, "No! What are you going to do with Howl? Leave him! Spare him!"

Yes, benevolent king, what are you going to do to me? Eric pretended to be unfazed but he couldn't help but shake, thinking he'd be all over that box in tiny pieces. Technology, too frightening! Let's hope humanity in Eric's world would never reach that point!

But surprisingly Eli was tenacious. Her eyes were determined as she lunged at the king and bitterly refused to let go, "Don't touch Howl!"

"Stupid girl!'' The king finally got angry with Eli. His patience ran short, "Do you know how rare dragons are? Hans is dead and this pet's ownerless, he'll be a great asset to us!"

"No, you will never-" Eli panted heavily and with all of her might, she tried to hold back the king, "enter a bond with him! Howl will never be subservient to you!"

Atta girl. Eric nodded solemnly. This king went too ahead of himself. Making Eric his pet? Fuck off! But the sad truth was, Eric tried all of his dragon attacks yet the box didn't budge!

New earth, truly, was terrifying. To think they could even stop an ancient, OP being like him!

"No!'' now Eli even bit the king. Truly surprising, considering Eli even went against her own family for Hans and Howl but then-

SLAP-

The king snapped. The loud slap echoed through the room. Teary eyes and with a red cheek, Eli glared in disbelief at her grandpa before-

"Eli, you, you're siding with bad people. That Hans has brainwashed you! Space has to be dominated us! Don't you want to find your parents' murderer?"

SLIP

This question momentarily froze Eli, giving the guards enough time to confine Eli to her bed and for the king to escape with Howl!

Eric only slowed. Things looked to be much more complicated. What seemed to be a superficial story at first on the surface and started to turn 3D slowly. Stop this development!

Revert to being spineless! We don't need this! Hush! Hush!

Yet things got only worse. A day later, Eric found himself in a vacuum chamber, inside the spaceship. There were only white walls and no door. This depressing discovery came at least with some good news-

He wasn't even in his box anymore! The threat of death didn't loom over him anymore but was this a scheme by the king to enter a bond with him?

Cluelessly, Eric looked around before a screeching sound captured his attention: it came from above and a second later, swoosh- Eli came jumping down, the door slowly closing by itself. Eric also found he wasn't confined anymore but-

Something was wrong! Eli! Eli this-

BAM

With a mighty force, Eric was thrown against the wall and had a hard time orientating himself before the next hit came flying down on him.

Dodging by a hair, Eric closely inspected Eli. Fuck, did the king torture her or something? Why did she look so lifeless?

What's more, she was actually trying to kill Eric! What about the bond? I'm important enough to be left alive! C-Consider it!

"Rawr rawr RAWR!''

Yet Eli didn't answer, her usual giddy nature disappeared and all Eric was met with was a fierce killing machine. Dammit, Eric couldn't stay here any longer and let himself die.

He also, as much as he hated to admit this, couldn't attack or hurt Eli. The king definitely took this into account. Was this pure, perverse entertainment for him or did he want to test Eli after he definitely brainwashed her?

Eric needed to escape asap! The door! Without caring for Eli anymore, he flew to the door that was about to fully close. Eli of course came after him and the knife grazed his cheek and stuck in the ceiling. Fuck, she had a damn weapon? Sweating all over his body, Eric forced himself to go over his limit.

When he reached the door, he turned around. Eli wasn't attacking anymore. Why? Her body stood frozen on the ground but she trembled. Could it be-

When their eyes met, Eric sighed. Pain swirled in them signalling him to escape. It seemed like she still had at least a bit of consciousness left but for how long? Damn it. After Eric found Lav, they had to save the princess as well, right?

After all, the main girl couldn't die, not when she was this persistent and loyal.