Author's Note: Another really long chapter! 3.5k words! Also, a new side character appears as well.

As usual, his picture is uploaded in the discord server and my Ko-fi profile. If you want to check it out ^_^!

PS. Get ready for a bit of the feels, not concerning romance but friendship.

K'xug fought off a pirate with his twin swords, their weapon flying out of their hands. Two more came at him, and K'xug fought them off easily. 

Eventually, his strength scared them away and K'xug fixed his eyes at the pirates traversing across the wooden platform. A thought occurred to him at that instant. 

What if Hana and Cecil were taken away?

What if they decided to fight these pirates off themselves on their ships?

K'xug approached the platforms, and without any warning, slashing the wooden platforms apart with his twin swords. 

The pirates who were still walking across widened their eyes in horror. 

"You bastard--"

"Argh--"

"The platform--"

Finally, only one platform remained and K'xug stepped onto it. Once the pirates noticed what he was planning to do, they started hollering at one another. 

"Hey! This bastard is planning to attack our ship instead, don't let him across--"

K'xug shoved the man aside, causing him to drop into the water with a yell. 

"Damnit!"

"Stop him!"

"We can't let him cross it!"

In a matter of seconds, the pirates all charged at K'xug, they would definitely not let him do as he pleased. 

Alas, K'xug was no mortal, and his strength overwhelmed them. Dozens of pirates found themselves being thrown or shoved into the water, watching in terror as the man with different-coloured eyes dashed his way across the wooden platform unhindered. 

This time, the screaming and panicked yells weren’t just coming from the guests of the cruise ship. 

“Shit! Someone stop him--argh!”

The pirate was interrupted by a kick and a punch, and he found himself being tossed back to the cruise ship. He could only watch as K’xug leaped into the air, swiftly slashing the last wooden platform apart. 

Just like that, the remaining pirates of this ship found themselves separated from their crewmates on the cruise ship. 

K’xug landed on the edge of the pirate ship with ease, assessing the dozens of pirates with an impassive look. After that, he scoured his surroundings even more, trying to find two familiar women. 

One of the pirates gulped, nervously, nudging his comrade beside him. “He-hey, go fight him.” 

“Did you not see how he beat up the others like they were sandbags? You go first! Not me!” 

“You are the stronger one among all of us! You go!” 

“No, you go!” 

“Are you trying to kill me?!” 

“Well, yeah--” 

“You fucking go and kill yourself first then!” 

“You do it first, I’ll follow right after. So, you go!”

Soon enough, it became a nudging game of who would go first. 

K’xug disregarded them, still scanning the area for any signs of Hana and Cecil. 

I don’t see any signs of them. 

Were they taken deeper inside? 

At that moment, the door to the room of the main deck was kicked open. A tall, good-looking man with jet black hair strolled out, ruffling his tousled hair as he yawned loudly. His silver eyes were half-closed as his thin lips moved, mumbling something to himself. 

“Isn’t that Ryo?” 

“What?! He’s still here?! Captain told him to go on the cruise ship too!” 

“...since the captain said he couldn’t fight, he probably went back to sleep.” 

“That sounds like Ryo.” 

“Captain will scold us for not waking him up too.” 

“Ryo is impossible to wake up in the first place…”

K’xug noted the new presence, in an instant, he could tell this man was unlike the other pirates that were easy to fend off. 

“Ryo! Oi Ryo!” 

The man with the jet black hair, Ryo, turned towards the direction his name was hollered from. He blinked drowsily, heading towards the pirates that were still surrounding the distracted K’xug. His black earring on his right ear glinted in the sunlight, swaying to his movements. 

Meanwhile, K’xug took a step down from the edge of the ship, taking a few steps closer to the pirates. They only scuttled back, brandishing their weapons. 

“You gotta help us, Ry--”

“Any ale or rum with you?” Ryo questioned abruptly in a clear and sleepy voice, pouring the contents from the canteen in his hand to show it was empty. “Mine ran out.”

“...you could just go to the pantry.” 

“It’s too far,” Ryo yawned again, stretching his hand out. “Give it, so I can drink and go back to sleep.” 

Some grasped at his hand instead and he blinked sleepily. “Why give me your hand? I can’t drink your hand.” 

K’xug stood there, his arms across his chest. 

It doesn’t seem like Hana or Cecil is here, but just to be sure…

I’ll search the entire ship. 

He raised his eyebrows, quietly observing the scene without making any more moves. 

“No, no. Ryo! You gotta help us chase this man away, or we won’t be able to cross over to the cruise ship!” 

The pirates nodded in agreement. 

“The captain will kill us if we aren’t there!” 

The pirates nodded again. 

“Mmmm…” Ryo yawned, mumbling his words out as he ruffled his hair again. “Don’t wanna, if you guys ain’t giving me anything, I’ll just go to the pantry.” 

K’xug watched as Ryo started to walk away, satisfied. 

One less troublesome person to deal with. 

“Ry-Ryo! He’s strong, really really strong!” 

Ryo paused, turning around as a spark of interest lit up in his silver eyes. “Strong?” 

Noting the sharp change in Ryo, K’xug sighed. 

I see, he must belong to those types of people. 

Without wanting to delay any longer, K’xug started the fight first by charging forward. The pirates avoided him like the plague, and Ryo barely dodged his twin swords. 

He’s fast! 

The sleepy state of Ryo seemed to disperse, the interest in his eyes lighting up even further. Ryo swung his hand out, his skin rather tanned, and a halberd eventually appeared in his hand. This time, he charged at K’xug instead and a few seconds later, K’xug and Ryo were exchanging blows. 

Though, one could see that K’xug wasn’t suffering as much compared to Ryo. 

“Th-they really started fighting…” 

“Wait a second, didn’t the captain prohibit Ryo from fighting on our ships?” 

“Ah, that’s because Ryo tends to go berserk when he finds a good opponent…” the pirate trailed off, widening his eyes in realisation. “Shit.” 

“Platform! Put the platform down and let’s go!” 

“The captain will definitely kill us now!” 

“Die first or die later, which one do you prefer?!” 

“But if we don’t stop the fight, the ship will--” 

“If you wanna stop them, go right ahead!” 

The pirate turned to look at K’xug and Ryo, their fight growing more and more intense. If one were to step in and stop them, there was no doubt that person would be beaten up and down like a ping pong ball. 

The pirate immediately changed his mind. 

“The ship can go down for all I care!” 

“Go, go! Hurry!” 

The pirates worked like a well-oiled machine, putting down the platform and heading towards the cruise ship. 

Whereas, K’xug who had been fighting and controlling his strength to seem like a mortal started to feel impatient. Ryo slashed him with his halberd, and K’xug ducked, watching as the halberd swung across his face. 

K’xug did not want to waste anymore time, deciding to increase his strength and speed. This time, Ryo was flustered and the sword managed to nick him in the arm. Another attack from K’xug forced him to back away. 

Ryo clicked his tongue.

I can’t keep letting him take the momentum. 

I have to fight back. 

K’xug tightened his grip on his sword.

At the same time, Ryo dashed his way towards him, aiming with his halberd as he leaped into the air. 

K’xug surged forward, spinning his swords and body around adeptly. Ryo blocked his swords, not wanting to be slashed by it, however, due to the strong momentum, Ryo flew further up into the air. He was thrown off course, and his surroundings turned blurry. 

He managed to catch a glimpse of the sail, knowing that he would land against it. 

Lucky me. 

He swung his halberd out and it was caught in the sail, he made his way down to the deck using the sail and his halberd. There was a shredding sound as he did so, and he turned back to look at the sail torn into half. 

“Haru should be able to afford a new sail, right?” 

Not giving Ryo a break, K’xug surged forward once again. Ryo hurriedly defended himself, but the force sent him flying again and he realised he would crash into the mast at this rate. 

It was too bad his elemental powers were sealed by the lanterns on the cruise ship. 

He gyrated his body in the air, spinning his halberd around to slow down his momentum. Alas, as he did so, it sent a sharp attack flying towards the mast, cutting it in half. 

“Ah.” 

The mast groaned deafeningly, almost like it was crying out in injustice. 

The entire ship rocked and swayed and Ryo stepped aside, watching as the mast crashed onto the deck of the ship. 

Ryo closed his eyes, shielding himself from the wind that whipped past his face. 

“Haru...should be able to afford a new ship, right?” 

The impact created a large hole as water started to fill the ship, and the entire ship tilted. A quarter of it was already sinking into the sea.  

A few pirates were still making their way across the platform, not wanting to be caught in the battle. Alas, because they were too slow, they were pulled into the water with terrified yelps. 

“The--the ship!” 

“It’s sinking! It’s all gone!” 

“Someone go tell the captain!” 

“Now I know why the captain never allows Ryo to fight seriously when on the ship…” 

Meanwhile, Ryo spun around, a bright smile on his face and he did not look the slightest bit sleepy anymore. His eyes were wide and round, excitement present in them as he searched for his opponent.

Ah, found him! 

K’xug found a stable part of the ship to stand on, narrowing his eyes as he scoured his surroundings. 

“Are you looking for someone we kidnapped?” 

K’xug nodded absentmindedly. 

“Don’t worry, don’t worry! Our captain does not like kidnapping people,” Ryo was still grinning. “We never kidnap anyone even if we are pirates!” 

He looked back at Ryo, still doubtful. However, K’xug could not detect any deceit in his eyes or voice. 

Ryo started hopping his way over to K’xug, putting away his halberd. Ryo grasped at his hand, shaking it vigorously and K’xug only gave him a strange look, trying to pull his hand away.

“Hey, what’s your name? Where are you from? Who was the one who taught you how to fight?” Ryo poured out his questions eagerly, completely unlike his sleepy self from earlier. “You are strong! Really strong! I hardly meet strong people like you, even the captain might not be able to beat you!” 

K’xug was bewildered. 

“Let’s fight again! Come on, again!”  

K’xug was struggling to pull his hand out from Ryo’s tight grip, his face twisting. 

“Since this part of the ship is already destroyed, let’s fight on another part of the ship!” Ryo raised his other hand up, pointing his index finger upwards, still shaking K’xug’s hand with his other hand. “One more time, yeah? Once more! It won’t kill you to fight--” 

The copper brown-haired man twisted Ryo’s arm, causing the man to cry out in pain and release his arm. Without any warning, he proceeded to kick Ryo into the water. 

When Ryo swam up to the surface, grabbing onto a wooden debris, he realised that K’xug was nowhere to be found. 

***

Haru scrambled away in a hurry to assess the situation, losing one of his ships was something he didn’t take into account. Whereas, Kiyae was left to handle Hana and Cecil. 

However, handling two fighters, especially if one of them was skilled, was harder than she thought. 

She defended her face from a spinning kick with her arms, skidding back from the impact. Cecil exhaled sharply, her mind working out the quickest and simplest way to make her way past Kiyae.

I have to push her into the water. 

With the lanterns here limiting our elemental powers, it would take her a while to climb aboard the ship again. 

“Hana, when you see any opportunity, knock her into the water.” Cecil whispered softly. 

Hana nodded, her face still pale. 

She still had the taste of bile in her mouth, and she wanted nothing more than to wash it away. 

Cecil sneaked a quick glance at Xue. 

In Xue’s current state, he may be able to last a little longer against Veau compared to last time. 

Hopefully. 

Cecil focused back on her own fight. 

On the other hand, Xue was just ensuring that Veau would not interfere with Hana and Cecil. 

Veau stepped forward, a portal forming and Xue reacted quickly. He spun around, dashing his way in front and twirling his body around to come to a quick halt. Veau appeared out of his portal at the same time, finding Xue blocking his way already. 

Veau smiled lazily, glancing to the right. 

Xue immediately reacted, his body moving to the right. 

However, it turns out that Veau faked it, moving to the left instead. Xue reacted swiftly, using his spear to block Veau this time. 

“Stop playing around,” Xue furrowed his eyebrows, keeping his eyes on Veau. “I know you would have done something if you were actually serious.” 

“I was told to keep an eye on you by my dearest brother,” Veau stated bluntly, and he paused for a moment. “Ah, and also to make you suffer more.” 

Xue scoffed bitterly.

Making me suffer more, that I understand, but keeping an eye on us? 

“Are you and your brother hoping to catch me joining back with the heavenly realm? To fight against your people?” 

“That’s what my paranoid brother thinks,” Veau sighed. “That all angels are the same.” 

“You think I’ll go back to their side after what they did to me?!” Xue snarled. “Zeau is a fool if he thinks I would do that.” 

“Exactly,” Veau shrugged. “My brother’s paranoia baffles me.” 

“If you want to make me suffer more, I don't care," Xue spoke firmly, tightening his grip on his spear. "But leave K'xug, Hana and Cecil out of it."

Veau paused. 

"It's fine if it's me, but not any of them," Xue took a step closer, conflict in his eyes. "K'xug and Hana, they have...suffered enough."

"How loyal and selfless of you, Xue." 

However, deep inside of Veau, he knew that this was how Xue actually was. It was especially true towards the people he cared deeply about. 

After all, he once experienced this side of Xue...a long, long time ago. 

Why do I have to remember it now? 

Veau narrowed his eyes. 

"After I met Cecil, and the many fragments of myself, I did some thinking," Xue gritted his teeth, lifting his spear and pointing it right at Veau. "Just like how I want my revenge on you, you want revenge as well. It's not only me, but the entire heavenly realm."

"You are right," Veau smirked lazily. "It's revenge."

***

Pt. 1

《 start 》

Greetings, Supreme God. 

Supreme God!

Supreme God. 

One by one, Xue received the bows and greetings from every angel that he walked past. 

This reminds me why I never roam around the main area of the demon realm. 

So you even suffer from this too, Veau?

And so much more.

Supreme God. 

Xue forced a smile on his face, nodding and greeting them back in return. 

Supreme God. 

Supreme God.

Supreme--

Xue had enough. 

After the last greeting, he retreated to a corner with Veau. 

Xue sighed, flipping at his robes. 

I came here to show you around the marketplace in the heavenly realm, not the greetings by the people. 

Veau shrugged. 

In truth, he had been here a million times. However, he lied to Xue, only wanting to get on his good side. 

To get a chance to execute his plans. 

You also showed me how much bows you can receive. 

Xue snorted.

I would say it's on par with mine. 

I'm not here to compare! I'm here to show you around.

Xue looked down at his robes.

I need a disguise. 

Xue waved his hand over his face and body. 

His face was completely covered by a mask, and his robes had changed from white to light blue. 

A disguise like that won't work. It'll be seen through easily. 

Xue removed the mask, making a face. He flipped his long hair away from his face, sighing. 

What should I do then? Stand there and receive bows all day long?

A mischievous glint was seen in Veau's ebony eyes. He stretched his hand out, a small pot appearing in his hands. 

Here, try using this. 

What's that?

Something that will make people stay away. 

Xue inched forward, removing the lid from the pot. Almost instantly, he was assaulted by a pungent stench that overwhelmed him. 

Xue's face twisted in an ugly manner. 

Wh-what the hell is--

Xue coughed and gagged.

Put that away!

What the hell is that?

Oh my god--

Xue retched, tears welling up in his eyes. 

Veau was shaking with mirth. 

That's the expression I have been waiting for! Now, pour this all over you and no one will now--

As if I'll do that--urgh!

Forget it! I'll stick to my own disguise! You were no help at all!

Damn devil!

Veau was still thoroughly amused. 

Was that an insult? Calling the devil a devil?

Xue growled in annoyance. Flipping his robes, he walked away. 

Veau joined in beside him. 

Eventually, Xue started to introduce him to the marketplace properly. There were no greetings and bow this time, making it a peaceful stroll. 

Unbeknownst to the two of them, there was an angel hidden within the crowd, stalking them.

Yo--you devil! You demon!

The angel burst out from the crowd a moment later, holding an enchanted carved knife in her hand. 

Veau sighed. 

Again? I have heard and seen this a million times.

Veau reached out to block the attack, and defend himself. 

To his surprise, Xue beside him had already reacted. 

He disarmed the angel quickly, removing his mask. 

Su-Supreme God?

I apologise, I would appreciate it if you showed some courtesy to my friend.

Fri..end? Friend?! He--he is a demon! How can you stoop so low to befriend a demon, my lord?!

What's wrong with befriending a demon? 

They were the reason why we lost so many in the previous war! The reason why...why my parents died!

Xue sighed, leaning down to pat the angel on the head. 

Was Veau the one who killed your parents?

...n-no. 

Was it only you that lost their loved ones in the war?

...no, everyone else did too…

It wasn't only just us angels who lost, the demons did too. 

…

The angel could not refute, despite the anger and hatred in his heart. 

Of course, Xue hadn't lost his parents back then. He did not understand the pain of losing your loved ones, or what it was like to drown in grief and hatred. 

At that moment, Xue recalled his mother's words. 

War is indiscriminate, and everyone suffers from it. 

Mm…

Xue nodded, patting the angel on the head once more. 

Come over to the heavenly palace any time, I'll listen to you. 

Veau observed the entire scene, a rare look of surprise flitting past his eyes.

Let's go, Veau. 

...what are you...

Xue showed Veau a toothy grin. 

As long as I am around, I won't let anyone badmouth or hurt my friend. 

Xue walked away, not noticing the judgemental and disapproving stares he received from a few angels. 

They obviously did not appreciate the actions and words from the new Supreme God. 

How could he side with the demon?

Filthy demons. Doesn't he know what demons did to us?

He was still a young ruler after all, and he did not know how to handle situations correctly. 

However...for Veau, it was different. 

He took my side without hesitation, this Supreme God. 

He, at the highest seat of power in the heavenly realm, should have access to the archives. 

He definitely knows what he did, and definitely read what Edmund wrote about us. 

Yet...he still took my side? And treats me as a friend?

Veau furrowed his eyebrows, bewildered. 

Is this another ploy by the angels?

No, I saw the sincerity in his eyes. 

Veau shook his head. 

He wasn't here to make friends. He was here for revenge. 

He turned to the angels in the crowd, noticing them glaring at their ruler. 

Their Supreme God. 

Found it. 

He knew the perfect way for him and Zeau  to exact their revenge. 

--Path to the Supreme God

《 stop 》

***

Pt. 2

《 start 》

If it was really revenge…

Did you ever stop to think of our friendship?

Did all of us mean that...little to you? 

Were we just simply pawns in your revenge game?

Damn it. 

I...I never wanted to feel this way again. 

《 stop 》