Chapter 14: The Beach

"Well...we...are-"

"We are dating!"

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"WHAAAAT!"

"Cynthia, how could you?" Iris said.

"Well no need to explain because knowing Arthur I'm sure the real story is definitely f*cked."

"Yeah you deserved more."

"No, there's no one like Cynthia."

"I was talking to Cynthia."

"Oh."

"Anyways that's 1 down 1 to go."

"Shut up Iris."

"Considering the cake you're gonna need and then there's the venue and there's also the guest list."

"DON'T GO THAT FAR LEVANTES!"

"Oh so is this gonna be one of your one night stands?"

Cynthia looked at Arthur for an answer.

"Well obviously not."

"You say that to all of them."

"No Cynthia's different."

"Oh no stop with the cringe."

"LEVANTES SHUT THE F*CK UP!"

"Whoa that's no way to talk to the person who's happily already planned your wedding. How does Elysium sound like for a honeymoon. Unless you already got her pregnant-"

"Everyone stop please."

"Relax we're just joking. Obviously we're gonna support you guys, especially Cynthia when Arthur leaves her when she gets drunk."

"Leave me? I don't get drunk."

"But you told me at the pyramids-"

"That was my first time drinking because I was nervous."

Shit! Laertes knew. [Arthur's thoughts]

"No I'm not gonna leave you."

"Brave choice."

"Laertes stop interfereing."

"Okay then. Let's get ready for the beach."

A few minutes ago:

I looked at the mirror and saw my reflection. It changed. I looked back to see the shadow that's been following me since I reincarnated.

"Oh give me a break."

"Listen Levantes. Go to the beach in Alfheim."

"Which one there's so many? And why should I go?"

"I hope you can trust me when I say but someone's waiting for you in the beach your girlfriend's going to choose."

"She's not my girlfriend-"

The shadow disappeared. I changed my reflection then took a shower. After the shower I went outside of my room to tell the others about going to the beach.

The Present:

"Pandora where do you think we should go."

"Oh...then...if I can choose then we'll go to Alfheim."

Shit he was right! I wonder who's waiting.

After everyone was ready I told Longwang to take us to Alfheim's greatest beach. Paralia. One of the biggest beaches in existence. About the same size as a country.

"Haven't been to the beach in so long."

"Yeah same."

"It's the beach where me and you first met as well."

I felt Arthur and Cynthia look at me and Pandora as if something was going to happen.

"Yeah."

When we arrived at the beach I tried looking for the "person" but I had no luck.

"Let's go find a place to change before someone takes it."

"We'll leave the girls to it then."

The girls ran off with a bag of clothes.

"Come to think of it when was it just us." Arthur said.

"Thinking of bachelor parties now. I thought marriage was off the list for a few months or years."

"No it's just we've never hung out like real people our age."

"Well before I would've called you out saying people our age are lucky to be alive and not dead but we did reincarnate." Themis said.

"Okay then. Let's have the time of our lives."

"Before we do can we clarify something."

"What?"

"What is there to do on a beach?"

"Sandcastles."

"Valid point. Let's go make the biggest sandcastle ever!"

Few minutes later:

"Arthur make the moat the tides coming in. Arthur. ARTHUR QUICK."

Arthur used time magic and stopped the tide as he then made the moat. We jumped of the sandcastle and admired it.

"We actually did it."

"We built a sandcastle enough to make kings jealous."

The sandcastle had five floors, four tower and a moat with a working bridge. The sandcastle was about 10 km high and 100km in length and 100km in width (100km×100km×100km).

We then heard the girls talking.

"Here's an idea. Let's watch the beach from the towers." Arthur said.

"But there's only three towers." I said.

"Not anymore."

"Oh shit! He's here."

"What's with that? You haven't seen me since school."

"Hello Kyron Neropaios." Themis said.

Kyron Neropaios. He was a student at our old school. He was by far one of the strongest students at the school and was the most close with Lilith. He was about 6'3" well built and had black hair and red eyes. He was also a demon.

"Oi Laertes where's Lilith?"

"Touch my sister and I swear I'll torture you."

"I see you're still overprotective with Lilith as always."

The girls were seen by Arthur.

"They're there."

"I might have to say hi to them then."

"Wait. We'll surprise them once they see the sandcastle. They'll know it's us but we'll try and scare them."

"Is it scary how Laertes is trying to have fun?"

"No Themis."

"Are you sure Arthur?"

"Yes."

We jumped down and startle the girls, but the wrong group.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA FOOOLS."

"Arthur you failed. I'm still here."

"Of course you're here there's no way I could ever manipulate you, but those guys are so easy."

Me an Arthur laughed as Themis and Kyron were getting chased by a female group of 9 year olds. Eventually, they escaped the 9 year olds so we jumped down to meet them.

"DARLING!"

"Darling? Who's that?" Kyron said.

We saw Cynthia running towards Arthur, soon we saw the other girls.

"Whoa Arthur you finally laid off the other girls."

"Did you lay off those 9 year olds or are you still waiting for them?"

Kyron realised his mistake and didn't reply.

"Laertes are you and Pandora?"

"No."

Lilith came charging at us, she was not next to us.

"Who's this?"

"Lilith I'm Kyron, from school."

"Oh yeah I remember." Lilith said as she went closer to Kyron then she sweeped his legs and grabbed his arms then made him fall on his back.

"Nice. I'll buy you anything you want Lilith."

"Thanks Laertes."

"Nice swimsuit." Kyron said while still lying down on the floor.

"Don't try that shit with my sister." I said as I looked at Kyron with malice.

"Yeah don't f*cking compliment me without my consent. I didn't f*cking ask you did I."

Kyron weeped slightly as he realised the girl he knew from school was no longer the same.

"Levantes what do you think of my swimsuit?"

"They're nice Pandora."

Kyron was instantly on the ground after receiving a punch of about 560ZT (zettaton = 10²⁰kg).

"Don't speak to me maggot."

"Arthur how's married life."

"Laertes I need some help here."

I went to see what happened. Shit!

"What was you attacked by?"

"When I came to hug Arthur a crab bit me."

It's no ordinary crab then I'm gonna have to use Chaos tier healing. Light rays were formed on Cynthia's hand soon the mark was gone. After Cynthia went back to the girls I told Arthur,

"If you want her alive you're gonna have to protect her in this beach meaning don't let anything other than us touch her even by a little."

"It's that serious."

"Yeah."

"Well anyways best to have fun while we're at it."

"What are you trying to imply?"

"Don't worry about that."

As the sun started it's golden hour, I watched the sky then suddenly I saw something move. What the hell. What was that?. I got up and searched. I found a woman standing on a wall. I walked up towards her.

"Is it you?"

"Levantes, I need to tell you something."

"How do you know my name?"

"Nyx, that's my name. Now that the introductions are in place let's start."

"You're one of the primordials."

"Sharp as always. You'll find out sooner or later who you actually are."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know don't you. You know you're not at your full power."

"That's a good guess."

"Don't try it with me."

"Try what?"

"I'm a primordial, you're mind games don't work on me."

"Really? Seems like you're an only child. You were probably blessed with mana but you were still lonely because all the other kids were not on your level and you're leader was probably a good role model because he was the only one that was stronger than you. You probably had a closer relationship with him than the other primordials."

Nyx looked at me as if I just said her whole childhood in a nutshell.

"I admit you're smart but that's not gonna get you anywhere. You need a reason to live."

"I'm immortal now why do I need a reason to live?"

"Immortal? That's a good joke. We both know there's multiple ways to erase that and make you back to a mortal. You could be the strongest living organism in existence but without true immortality you can die and without a reason to live means that you could die whenever you want. A reason to live would give you a meaning to not die."

"Okay enough with the philosophical questions and tell me about my true power and how to get it."

"Find a reason for that and I'll tell you."

"I want to conquer the Eight Kingdoms."

"Young child, you know not to have such large aspirations. Some dreams don't happen. Find a reason to live."

"What's finding a reason to live have anything to do with this?"

"Are you actually the devil who manipulated multiple people with power? You find out that answer but yourself Levantes. Only then will you find your true potential."

"Just because we're still on the topic, what is my true potential, as in what will it look like compared to the rankings?"

"Child, when you reach that power only then will you realise the power that you had in your fingertips. That type of power is the exact reason you're here, the reason you're friends are here. Do you know the origin of mana and Yggdrasil?"

"No."

"Then you have much to learn. I shall tell you about Yggdrasil."

"Yggdrasil is considered the world tree in Norse Mythology. In our cosmology it is the literal tree that contains every single thing in this world. That tree is the reason for mana to even exist, well that's what you kids know, what you don't know is the real truth. Yggdrasil is not the pure reason for Mama's existence. Mana is from the nonexistence before darkness. Mana is in most worlds such as those mangas you read mostly contain a world of magic. The reason for that magic is named differently in some mangas and some use the same name. We use the name mana. The only person who controlled it was our leader, The Primordial King, as you guys call it. Some say he is The Author because he an alter any fate and he can cancel literally anything. I once saw him cancel someone who had hundreds of layers of immortality with just a snap of his fingers. He is a man beyond us. He created Yggdrasil and he stored less than a trillion percent of his power in it. You all have mana because of him and some worlds do not have mana because of him. He destroyed existence and within the nonexistence he created our world. He said he saw many different worlds drifting in the nonexistence. He is a being who transcends the nonexistence. As I said before everyone's mana in total only counts up to less than 0.00021649% of Yggdrasil's mana capacity. Some people have an infinite amount of mana so they are not counted. With only eight people in existence having infinite amount of mana: The Primordials, You, Arthur and your father. You're an Archon rank but you're still not even close to the strength of the primordials. To put it in short you wouldn't even be allowed to enter the auditions for the primordials."

"Stop belittling me."

"Why, you are weak though?"

"I'm not that weak."

"I could literally destroy you without a trace left behind without using more than 1%. Primordials are High Complex Archon ranks."

"What level's the Primordial King?"

"No one knows. Since Archons are beings who can destroy Existence, our world, without needing to try and The Author transcends every world including nonexistence so he's unknown."

"Last question, what relation does he have with me?"

"You'll find out sooner or later for now try find a meaning to live. I'm gonna have to go now, well I don't need to its just you're getting in my nerves and he told me to just tell you that much so I'm gonna go."

With that Nyx teleported. I'll go back and ask them if they want to play volleyball. I went back to the others to see them all searching for me.

"WHERE DID YOU GO?!"

"I didn't get lost, I just went to explore."

"I'll allow it for now but don't go wandering off."

"Allow it? Who made you in charge?"

"Laertes can you please hold out bags, it's soooo heavy." Iris said as if she couldn't carry that weight without any difficulty.

"Carry it yourselves." I said while looking at Iris's plan fail.

"Let's play volleyball." Arthur coincidentally said.

"Fine, let's play."

"So let's make the teams. First is Arthur and Cynthia verses Laertes and Pandora."

"What the hell's with that type of set up?" Themis said.

"Hold back on us Laertes."

"You're joking right? I'm going full out."

After the net was set up Themis threw the ball in the air.

"GO!"

"PANDORA ITS ON YOUR SIDE!"

Pandora hit the ball making it almost touch the other side's ground. It was caught by Cynthia.

"MY TEAM NEVER LOSES!"

"Do you want to include all the games which I won against you so many times?"

Cynthia hit the ball in the air as Arthur smashed it into the ground, well almost, the ball was caught by me. I hit it which made it flying past Arthur's face cutting slightly as it hit the ground.

"Best to 3?"

"Fine."

The ball was thrown into the air again but this time Arthur hit it. The ball almost hit the ground if Pandora didn't catch it. She hit it into the air then I hit it into the ground. This time the whole beach reacted. A deep crater was made as if it was made by a meteor.

"Go a little easy Laertes."

Arthur then gave the ball to Themis which was then thrown back into the air. The ball was hit into the ground of Arthur and Cynthia.

"What the hell just happened?"

"3-0, you guys lost."

"We lost. Again."

"I thought by now you guys were used to it."

"Anyways what now then-"

Suddenly, everyone on the beach was running towards something.

"What the hell."

As we followed everyone we saw that there was a fighting tournament was happening. A girl about our age about 5' 6" with red hair was fighting someone what looked twice times her age.

"She's here. Apophis Dul'Mephisto."

Apophis destroyed the man fighting her.

"Who's next?" Apophis shouted.

"You should go on."

"No I'm not trying to destroy this place Pandora."

"With your limiters obviously."

"Fine, I'll go but don't say I didn't warn you."

I got up on the stage. The floor was stone so I strengthened it with a 20th tier barrier. Apophis looked at who was brave enough to fight her. I saw her face change from prideful to absolute fear. She didn't look as if she was trying to figure out if I was strong enough to fight her, she was doubting her own strength.

"Are you strong enough to fight me?" She said shakily.

"Are you strong enough to fight me?"

"3...2...1...GO!" A person from the crowd said.

Apophis didn't move. I walked towards her and tapped her shoulder. She then fell to the ground.

"What the hell?"

"Why didn't she move?"

People from the crowd shouted saying their theories on why she didn't move. I used my telekinesis on Apophis and took her down the stage. As I was walking off the stage I released my aura. Now everyone was to scared to walk.

"This is why she didn't move." I said while walking down to the others.

"That was quick."

We all walked back to the beach and entered the sandcastle. I placed Apophis on a bed in one of the many rooms in the sandcastle, then went to Arthur who was sitting on one the towers.

"Did you knock her out?"

"Well kind of. She would've woke up by now if it was purely because of the attach I did but she was probably too scared then. Arthur what's a reason to live?"

"A reason to live? Well a reason to live is basically what makes you wake up in morning."

"So breakfast?"

"No. What would you do if anything happened to Pandora?"

"Depends what happens."

"What if she was kidnapped by Zalgo?"

"Then I'll obviously torture him after I get her back. Then again I'll do that for some people in our friend group."

"Like who?"

"I'm not gonna say."

"Why is Pandora one of them?"

"I met her long before I met you. She was one of the first people to acknowledge me as a person and not a weapon."

"I see. Well you was born a genius even amongst the royal demons."

"Yeah, but everyone who was around me including the kids from the academy all saw me as a good addition to the army."

"So how did you meet Pandora."

"I saw her while killing someone."

"KILLING?!"

"Yeah. I was ordered to kill her mother."

"WAIT A F***ING MINUTE!"

"I was ordered by her father."

"HOW THE F*CK DID SHE FALL FOR YOU THEN?! AND WHAT THE HELL IS WITH HER PARENTS RELATIONSHIP?!"

"After I killed her mother she hugged me while I came out of her room. She said her mother was abusing her and I just saved her from the tortures."

"THEN SAY THAT!"

"You didn't let me finish because of your shouting."

"Well who wouldn't scream or shout, you just told me you killed a girl who not only was the first person to acknowledge you as a person but she fell for you as well. To everyone else that's a f*cked up relationship right there. Wait you knew about her?"

"Yeah. Did you think I'm not perceptive?"

"Oh. Then why didn't you say or do anything. We both know what happens if we were in a manga. The main character gets told by a girl in his class or something that she likes him but then he says he likes someone else then somehow they need up together."

"Yeah I know but who would guess you would end up with Cynthia."

"I didn't even know my charms were that strong."

"Her charms were strong as well then.

"She just caught me off guard. Anyways when are you and Pandora gonna tie a knot."

"I don't know what fate has in plan for us."

"Can't you just alter it?"

"It's a saying Arthur."

"So when?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll kill her father someday."

"Wait a f*cking moment! That's not a healthy relationship! You don't go killing her parents."

"I was joking Arthur."

"You better be joking."

"Don't worry Arthur I won't kill her father we both know how much he helped us."

"Okay then I'm going to go back now."

"I'll get the rest and tell them we're going."

"Laertes, why did you ask me that question?"

"I read it in a book and I wanted your definition of it that's all."

"Okay then I'll make my way."

"Arthur I found out my reason to live. I'm going to protect Pandora at all costs."

"Okay then you do that. Don't go killing her parents though."