Blue Reaper 1

Atlas held onto Noel. He didn't want to believe that she was gone. His precious little sister. He wanted to show her the world. He wanted her to succeed. He wanted her to be happy. Now that was impossible.

Zen tried speaking to him again. "Atlas, let's return to the adventure's guild. Zen believes it's better for you to not be alone right now."

Atlas looked up at Zen, almost as if he finally noticed him. He could see Princess Eva standing a few feet behind Zen. Atlas slowly nods and stands up with Zen supporting him. With Noel in his arms, he starts walking. However, the three hear a silent cough and a tiny cry for help.

"Uncle… wait…"

They look over to where Noel had come from. It was Katherine! Atlas quickly walked over and set Noel down. He carefully inspected Katherine to make sure there wasn't any serious injury. Luckily, there wasn't any life-threatening injuries.

'Ceto… please tell me you're here.'

'I am sir.'

'Where were you? I NEEDED YOU.'

'Sir. I saw Noel… I saw our little sister. She wouldn't have made it even if I closed her wound. She lost to much blood.'

Atlas wanted to scream. He wanted to argue. But he was done. It didn't matter anymore. Arguing wouldn't bring Noel back.

'Please, just heal Katherine. Make sure nothing happens to her.'

Atlas pats Katherine's head as Ceto enters her. She quickly heals her inner and outer wounds. Ceto then returns to Atlas.

'Ceto. Wait happened to the other bodies?'

'I had the other spirits recover them sir. They are all currently in your shadow. We will have a proper burial after.'

Atlas then looks at Noel one last time. His shadow moves to her body and slowly she begins to melt into the shadow. Princess Eva gasps but Zen stands there quietly. Katherine was also surprised.

"No!! Big sis!!! You saved me!! I'm sorry!! Casper and mommy too… WAHHHHH!!" It looks like Ceto's healing has helped Katherine recover quickly. Atlas calls out to her so that she wouldn't be worried.

"Don't worry Katherine. That was my spell. We are going to bury her after, okay? Your big sis wouldn't want you to cry right?" Atlas picked her up and wiped her tears away. Katherine then reached out and wiped Atlas' face too.

"Oh? What was that?"

"You were crying too. Big sis would be sad if we both kept crying so let's stop, okay?" Atlas didn't realize it but he had been crying the entire time. He reached up and touched his own face.

'I was crying. I was sad that Noel died but I don't remember crying? I didn't even cry this much when everyone died in the orphanage. HUH?'

Suddenly even more tears came out. Atlas didn't know how to stop them. It looks like him crying made Katherine cry even more.

"Uncle… *sniff* why… are you still crying?" Katherine tried to wipe Atlas' tears as she wiped her own.

Zen and Princess Eva were standing to the side. Eva was sniffling, listening to the two in front of her. Zen had only one thought in his mind watching the two.

'He is the one huh?'

Zen taps on Atlas' shoulders and says to him.

"Let's go Atlas. We need to tell the others what happened."

This time Atlas leaves with him. The four returned to the adventure's guild.

-

-

-

Adventure's guild.

"What do you mean May!!" Jennie was throwing a fit. She was being held back by Lucy as she tried to punch May.

"If you knew then why didn't you say anything huh?!" What if something happened to everyone?! What if something happened to the kids?!" Jennie couldn't believe what she was hearing. May and Ior thinks that the mercenary guild retaliated against Atlas for stopping the Red Shanks plans. Currently no one knew the locations of all the people that Atlas brought to the city. Even the kids were missing.

Lucy was also furious with her sister. She knew how protective and secretive May was but that didn't excuse her for not telling them about the mercenary guild. Even if she was a guild master, she still should have said something.

May was worried. Seeing Jennie and Lucy's reaction didn't make her feel good at all. What if she didn't do the right thing? Will Atlas be angry at her? Will Atlas suffer again because of something that she did?

She would have her answer soon. Princess Eva, Zen, Atlas and Katherine entered Ior's meeting room.

"Atlas!" Lucy was the first to react. She ran over to him and checked him out. She made sure he wasn't hurt. He had cuts but that was all. Atlas look at her and smiled.

"I'm fine Lucy. Don't worry." He then looks at May and Ior. "I heard you speaking earlier? Do you two really think that the mercenary guild did all this?" May wasn't speaking so Ior did.

"Yes sir. We have enough proof that the mercenary guild may have done something in retaliation to you. We just-."

"That's all I need to know Ior." Atlas stops Ior from going on. He looks at Katherine. "Stay here with Uncle Zen, Katherine. He will keep you safe." Katherine nods while the rest of the group flinched at what he said. Some of them felt like Atlas was saying they couldn't protect her since he only mentioned Zen protecting her.

'Ceto did you set up an insignia near the mercenary guild?'

'I did sir. I set many around the kingdom.'

'Good. Stay here and watch over everyone. Make sure no one else gets hurt.'

Atlas prepared to teleport but he felt someone tugging on him. To his surprise and everyone else's it was May that stopped him.

"Atlas… where are the others? Why is Katherine the only one here?" The room held their breath. No one knew. Princess Eva and Zen only knew that Noel didn't make it. Atlas didn't turn around. He just spoke.

"Dead. All of them. Mars and Kiah died. Olivia died. Casper died. Even-." Lucy ran to him. Holding onto Atlas.

"What about Noel?? Where's Noel??" This didn't shock anyone. Everyone has seen how close Lucy and Noel were.

"She's gone as well… they're all dead. Katherine was the only survivor." Katherine began crying again. Zen tried his best to comfort her. Atlas trusted Zen so he teleported without worrying.

The room had gone quiet after Atlas left. Only Katherine's small whimpers could be heard. "Mommy…"

"It was my fault… it's all my fault. No!" May was having a breakdown. What she feared the most happened. "He hates me. He heard us and knows that we hesitated… because we hesitated everyone died." Lucy and Jennie tried to calm her down. They knew that May lost a lot of confidence when Freeman vanished so she always finds faults in everything she does. Now she was overthinking again.

While they were trying to calm her, Ior was standing off to the side.

'Boy, answer me right now.'

'Ms. Ceto, what is it.'

'In the Forest of the Elves, is he still there?'

'That Ancient God? Yeah from what I last heard he is still there. I heard he doesn't have long though.'

'Good, I need to tell Atlas once this is all over.'

-

-

-

Mercenary Guild

"Sir!! Not everyone died! What should we do?! I'm sure he will find out it was us that did it!"

Sitting in his office was the guild master of the mercenary guild. He was having an emergency meeting with the higher ups.

"It's fine. We did what we could. Now our debt is paid." The guild master didn't care what happened. As long as he doesn't piss off the king then he was okay.

"Let's just focus on getting more slaves to sell to the king. Tell your teams to prepare themselves as bandits once again."

-

Outside the guild, Atlas had just appeared. The streets were noticeably empty. It seems like the attack on May's home frightened everyone and they decided to stay home for the night.

Atlas went ahead and set up a wind barrier to keep anyone from entering or leaving.

He then entered right through the front door. When he opened it, all eyes turned to him.

"This isn't good. Isn't that Atlas?"

"The guild master said we shouldn't worry right?"

"What happened to the others? Didn't the guild master send out nearly 100 people to complete the mission?"

"Should we catch him? Maybe the guild master will reward us?"

Many things were said and Atlas made sure to take note of them and who said it. One of the guild workers came up to him.

"I haven't seen you here before sir. What can I do for you?" Atlas smiled at the man. He touched the man's face. "Could you die for me?"

The man's face burst into flames. His agonizing scream caused everyone to shiver in fear. Atlas scanned the room while they all stayed silent.

'Some strong people are close by but none of them are currently in this room.'

"Hey get his ass! He just killed one of the workers! Someone go call the guards!!"

Some of the guild workers ran outside, hoping to alert the guards. The mercenaries all got up and surrounded Atlas. Unleashing their [Death's Aura].

"Who participated in killing my people?" Atlas didn't waste any time. He got straight to it.

The mercenaries laughed. One called out to him.

"Some of them came back and are resting over their in the corner!" Atlas turned to see about 15 people resting. Wrapped up in bandages and wounds.

"Hey hey! What are you doing? Did you think that we would let you get close to them?" Many of the mercenaries stood in front of their hurt comrades. They might have been thugs but they still helped one another.

Atlas let's out a long groan. He then unleashed his [Death's Aura] and also makes sure that his mana has completely stretched out, touching every part of the room, ready to be used by him.

The Nova kingdom was home to 5,000 mercenaries. Currently the guild hall had anywhere between 500-1,000 not counting the guild workers or the higher ups. With that in mind, Atlas created a clone.

[Golem Creation]

The wooden floor creaked and started to split open. Out came tons of dirt and clay. They kept clashing with one another until a golem resembling Atlas was formed.

"If you continue protecting them then I will take you out as well." They all laughed. Atlas just shrugged it off. He was expecting this.

"Are you going to take all of us on? Once the guild workers come back with the royals guards you won't even be able to leave here alive!" They all laughed more. But it stopped when the guild workers returned.

"There's a giant wind barrier! We can't call for backup!!!" The guild workers came back. They were wounded since they tried to force their way through the barrier.

"Perfect! So no one will bother me then." Atlas was ready. He was ready to avenge his fallen friends.

[Majestic Water Show]

Water started dripping out of Atlas. The water gathered right at his feet, forming a puddle of water. The mercenaries didn't understand but they weren't going to bother. They knew they had to stop Atlas now, or they will also die.

They ran towards him. Weapons out and ready to kill Atlas. But as they did so, the puddle under Atlas suddenly changed. A watery arm reached out from the puddle followed by loud hollowing and screeching noises. The arms belonged to a giant monkey. Five more monkeys came out, giving it a total of six giant monkeys.

"Make sure no one is left."