Chapter 5

"Realm of Overlords."

"...Aqua, what kind of mistake had you done?"

An old man with a bushy grey beard and a pair of sharp eyebrows with intense icy blue eyes completing them, elbows on a white glowing table and hands put together, his bushy chin was placed on it. He wore a crown on his head and a white robe. His sharp eyes emitted blue flashes as the girl in front of him nervously looks down.

The girl, which name was Aqua could be considered a Perfect Beauty. With fair skin as white as the finest milk, a pair of blue eyes like the sky itself and mop hair with blue identical to her bright eyes. She wore a dark-blue dress with some sort of complementaries and blue stockings that reach her mid-thighs.

A nervous chuckle came from her parted lips, and she exclaimed in doubt.

"U-Uh... I-I just... you know, giving him an advantage as a hero who meant to defeat the demon king...?"

A twitch of the old man's eyebrows, and sweat starts to profusely stream down on her back.

"Let me list it. First, he was rebirthed as an ancient race, a Crimson Devil, which was a tier higher than the already ridiculous Crimson Demon. Second, you gave him a challenging environment so he could improve even faster than he already was-"

"That wasn't my fault! It was a coincidence! A coincidence!-"

"Third! You gave him a reason to fight! A family! And even worse! He had two little sisters he vowed to protect! He was trained by the best magician of the era with the harsh setting provided by the said magician! Which he made it even worse by threatening the people he fucking vowed to protect!"

"Uh... Zynx-sama, t-that's more than three-"

"Exactly! My! Goddamn! Thought! Exactly!"

At the end of his scolding, he was standing and breathing heavily. His hands gripping the edge of the cracked white table and his eyes solely focused on the girl in front of him.

The girl tried to make a debate by saying-

"W-Well, he could be killed by demons when he was an infant...?"

Silence occurs in the room with limitless space. The old man looks at her in desperation before slumped on his dignified chair, weakly rubbed the crown on his head.

The old man was in silence briefly, before looking up at the girl and start to explain in a weak tone.

"You know Aqua, the gods before us, way way way... before us, created humans thousands, millions, billions, trillions of years ago. If you descended to their world right now, you might see that the history of human you could access only reach within a thousand years. But the truth is? We, gods, always bring vandalism upon them every billion years, you know why, Aqua?"

The girl in question shook her head, looking at him in confounds. The old man sighed at her ignorance and continued his explanation.

"It's because of the perfection they had, It accidentally made them too perfect and as the time passed, the evolution they go through had surpassed our expectation. Their extreme intelligence could make countless inventions and ideas even we couldn't think of. Their tenacity to adapt to the environment they lived in that we don't have. They could even live comfortably in a place they were uncomfortable in if you gave them enough time! And the scariest thing about them? You know what it is, Aqua?"

Of course, the answer he would get, as other gods and goddesses would always do, is a confused look. He smiled in bitterness and answered her unmentioned question.

"Their potential. To surpass, to adapt, to think, to break their limits. We, gods, always have limits. Whether it was our territory, our power, our intelligence... ever since the first god was created from nothingness, there would be always a limit. We might be born as gods, the top existence of the universe, but we lack the limitless aspect the human had. Nothingness couldn't control its limitless power and accidentally made humans, who created from the little things we called atoms. Humans born weak, really, really, weak. They were nothing more than a speck of dust since the moment they were born.

But they could grow from it, to an ant, to a bug, to a dog, to a cub, a hyena, a lion, a bear, a monster, a dominator, an apocalypse, an unsurpassable existence. Their growth was limitless! Nothing, absolutely nothing could stop them if they had enough will, intelligence, determination, and luck!

We lack those aspects! Those elements that made them so impactful to the universe itself! In the past, there's a human who transcended from this universe and moves to another universe by tearing the space itself with his unfathomable force. That human had done something no gods could do."

Icy blue eyes turned to eyes full of reminiscent, the old man shifted his head upwards and stare at the limitless space which was nothing more than a ceiling of the room he occupied.

Tilting her head slightly, she stared at the old man in surprise and inquired something all the existences knew the answer.

"Who's that human, Zynx-sama?"

The person in question stared at a golden book with his limitless sight that penetrated the secret barrier that hides the book from any forms. He shook his head and answered softly.

"The sole Crimson Devil in the record of gods, the one who carved his name in history that transcends the time itself. His name, is Acepex. A ridiculous name was given by his mother, which was a mix of words between "Ace." and "Apex." A person who excelled and hooned it until he reaches the apex of the subject he trained in. Beings might find it ridiculous to combine two words that have the same meaning to describe something.

But there were no perfect words other than those two to define what that human had done. He excelled, and even when he reached the apex, he would still research the tiny, insignificant pieces that related to the said subject. The branches, the little unworthy things, he excelled all of them and finally reach the height he currently at, somewhere out there."

"...Why couldn't we just... killed them off before they grow?"

A rather indecisive action came out from her mouth, and the old man's eyes froze the room, including herself.

"There's an untold rule from our ancestors

"As long as you don't disturb humanity and give them benefits, you get nothing but blessings from it. Blessings for being worshipped, for the peace of your territory, and for maintaining the balance of the worlds." Then after Acepex appeared, another untold rule born, that completed the previous rule, which was "If someday, humans managed to transcend and surpass their humane limits, we wouldn't get trouble if we don't hurt them."

In short, it was a bit of a cowardly act but it is the most reasonable thing to do, so the rule was established. And that's why arrogant gods would be put to death immediately."

Eyes hardened even the strongest metal the blacksmith god created couldn't go against it in terms of hardness, looking to the direction where the retribution realm was.

"Even the ones with transcendent blood in their human veins?!"

"...Yes, you see now why the human was scary? They could adapt, endure, and became something much scarier. They developed, they learn from mistakes. They could handle transcendent blood and make it their own bloodline that their descendants enjoyed till now."

"But in the book of the gods, I've never seen any significant influence came from humans from another world, was this world special or something?"

Surprisingly, this girl learnt history. He nodded his head and with a click of his finger, a replica of the galaxy he inhabited appears.

"You're right. But this world was where the first god was born."

He pointed at a tiny thing, its size was comparable to a speck of dust. With a wave of his hand, the replica shrank while at the same time, the tiny little thing turned into a ball with wondrous colours.

"The world... this world. Named by our oldest ancestor as "Realm of Overlords." The place where any existences could forcefully become a god."

"What does forcefully mean, Zynx-sama?"

"...The way to became a god not by being born as one, but become a being that the world couldn't handle."

"...The codex, which our ancestors worked hard for would be useful to communicate our comrades without our enemy knowing, so..."

Lazily, he placed an elbow on the table, chin placed on an opened palm, he looks forth and tried to comprehend the lesson the teacher taught them. The teacher herself was aloof, not a stuck up and never take sides, always solved the students' problems fairly.

An example of a good teacher.

A gloomy black strip brightly shined on his cloak, he rubbed it in satisfaction and a bit of grief, remembering the despair his little sister had on her face which haunted him every second ever since he entered the school.

"Onii-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan-!!"

He winced recalling the "sorrowful" departure with his little sister, even though they would meet each other in breaks between classes. Still, they couldn't help but miss each other.

'Complicated ass ranks...'

This academy had what people usually call 'Rank', which was pretty much discrimination for the weak and privileges for the strong. But that's the world always work, the strong benefitted while the weak suffered.

Although, if someone would dare to touch his cute little sister, he swore he would...

"Kazuma!"

"Yes!"

A sudden outburst brings him out from his thought, he swiftly looks up and met the deep crimson eyes of the teacher who stared at him in slight annoyance.

"A new student who instantly reach the Devil division... it could transcend the word "Prodigy." to merely describe what you are."

Looking around, the average age of the Devil Division of Crimson Demon Academy was around 10 to 12 years old, although...

A pair of pink eyes openly stared at his back, despite not glancing at it, he could feel it with his mere sixth sense. Straight hair, oversized uniform, and a pair of pink eyes. Reminding him of someone huh?

Sheepishly rubbed his head, he nodded to the teacher to confirmed what was her purpose calling him out in the middle of her lesson. Of course, adjusting her glasses sharply, she sat on her chair and crossed her legs, looking at the 'manatite board', a material to store a considerable amount of mana, it could be considered precious in the outside world.

But in this grand academy? It was used as nothing more than a whiteboard! Or blackboard, whatever it is. Still! Imagine sculpturing your lesson onto a layer of high-quality manatite, how excessive was that?

Strangely, it fitted the place, plus the teacher could erase all of the traces of sculptured words on its surface with a mere flick of their fingers. To remove their traces of mana with only a flick. These teachers were definitely high levelled magician.

Impressive, but still couldn't be compared to the 19th rank.

His eyes were blank for a moment, a certain girl noticed it even if she didn't see it directly but said nothing. Obviously, she knew the reason he acted like that.

"Tell me, Kazuma. How many ranks and divisions existed in this academy?"

"Understood. There are 4 ranks and 3 divisions. Ranks were presented by the amount of 'strips' on your cloak while the divisions were showed by the colour of your strips. There were 3 divisions. Mortal, Demon, Devil. White showed that you were mortal, gold was Demon, and black was Devil. With each division had ranks, there were Newbie, Beginner, Intermediate and Master. These ranks and divisions only existed for the attending students of Crimson Demon Academy. The teacher ha-"

"Alright, alright, enough, no need to go overboard, your answer was enough."

Nodding at him in satisfaction, the teacher flick her fingers and the words she wrote on the board turn into specks of light. Scrutinizing the students in her class, she slightly smiled and clapped her hands.

"Alright, Class! Would you like to spar with our 'neighbour'?!"

A fire was ignited, except for a confused green-eyed boy, everyone was enthusiastic. Indeed, 'sparing' was an important activity for every people who want to improve their strength. Sparring was the only training method that available for all classes, whether they were magician, warrior, archer, knight and as such, it has no limitation for who could do it!

It couldn't be compared to real life and death battles, but it's still a good way to train. He secretly flicked his fingers and glanced at his old friend, smiling slightly, who kindly replied to him with a bright smile on her face. An old friend that tried her best to accompany him on the darkest nights.

Of course, with the excitement, no one noticed their interaction.

"You guys are fine?"

A croaked voice despite the young appearance of its source, a boy with sharp green eyes and dirty raven hair displaying his hardened soul by swiftly pulled a sharp shard of glass from his thigh without whining.

Inspecting the underground base he managed to found in his previous mission, he looks over the companions he brought with him to check for any injuries.

"N-No one was hurt, K-01. Minor injuries could be healed by J-10 easily."

A girl became the representative for the rest of 19 of them, white hair and blue eyes, the complete opposite of what a Crimson Demon was. With height comparable to his shoulders and a childish figure, she was younger than the raven-haired boy.

The rest of his companions nodded in agreement, examining each other and cautiously look around. Caution was the most reliable thing after all, when it comes to survival.

"Good..."

Sitting down bluntly, he rolled the fabric of the black trousers he wore, revealing a rather nasty cut injury, there's even some weird substance coming out from it. Furrowing his eyebrows even further, he ripped the sleeves of his shirt and covers the wound with it. Make sure he went unnoticed by his companions, he swiftly rolled down his trousers and stood up immediately.

'If I ask the Pseudo-Angel race to heal it up, they would waste their mana even further. We still had a journey way ahead of us.'

"K-K-01, w-why were your sleeve torn?"

A meek voice called him out, turning around, a girl with a mop of grey hair and a pair of dimmed black eyes stared at him with sad gazes. He curled his lips slightly and pat her head, bringing the brightness in her eyes she once had.

"It was torn by a branch on our way."

"A-Ah... I see!"

She nodded happily and strides back to her group, the "Demi-God" group. With 20 of them here, despite being into one, they were essentially different groups, chosen by the Grand Magician to be trained until they were comparable to a god.

Groups, or to be precise, races. His race, Crimson Demon race, the white-haired girl, the Pseudo-Angel race, the grey-haired girl, the Demi-God race. And-

"Leader, do you need anything?"

A girl with long blonde hair and a pair of blue eyes politely asked him, bowing before him and hands were put together. Slightly chuckling, he put a hand on her shoulder and bring her up with his superior strength.

Green eyes stared at blue ones, and a hue of redness appeared on her cheek.

"I'm fine, C-20. Nothing to worry about."

-The last race. The 'Empyrean' race. The race was created by the extreme prodigies from empires across the continent. Fundamentally, it is a human race but it changed to the 'Empyrean' race because their potential could be compared to other transcendent races. Other than the Empyrean, each race had its own history.

A group of 20 people was divided into 4, which mean there were 5 people for each race. At first they constantly against at each other. Although...

"Leader, what we're gonna do after this?"

"Master, please bestow me your command."

"K-01, do you have any ideas...?"

They have to unify, because of certain circumstances, going alone into a group of five with the same specialities were obviously impossible to infiltrate the guards there.

While his race dominantly was a magician race, Pseudo-Angel could be considered as 'Healers', Demi-God, on the other hand was kind of unique, they could comprehend anything, although not mastering anything. And at last, Empyrean, specialize in hand to hand combat and could be considered as a tank, they could become magicians, healers and others too. But the majority of them choose to become "Holy Knights." Warriors with ridiculous endurance. They were so strong, but their numbers aren't much, after all, Empyrean was a human with extreme comprehension. Most Empyreans have their extreme comprehension because of the 'Hero' blood in their veins, in short, they were the descendants of high-level figures who died for humanity in the past. Defeating unbelievably threatening existences with all they had and carved their names in the hall of fame.

Some said they were blessed by the gods. But what gods would let the one who had been blessed by them surpassed them? Some said they break the shackles of mortality and transcended, some said they receive god power in the ancient ruins on their journey and such.

Ironic that all of them fundamentally was a human. Even though there's transcendent blood in their veins, they were still essentially human.

And amazingly? The Grand Magician could persuade their parents, who are Rulers and Kings, to let him bring their children. Such a sneaky old man.

The races were always at clash with each other, always rampaging with each other and create problems just because of a mere reason "Different race." His clan wasn't supposed to be included but since that academy was established, they have no more excuse to be not included anymore. If they won't include themselves, their significance would be reduced because of the rise of the three races. After all, other than comprehension, there's this thing called "Competitiveness" that ridiculously make you want to improve yourself.

Plus, Crimson Demons, who were lazy, had pride. At the very least, their significance as superior magicians could not be mitigated.

They still were at clash with each other, but the people present were different. In this circumstance, they have to unify. So how was he became a leader? Simple, and yet it was all a coincidence.

To put it simply, he's on a whole different level.

It was unintentional, he was training alone in the facility that places provided when out of nowhere the Grand Magician urged him to go to a mission... a mission to exterminate 'Chimeras', a creature manufactared by creatures.

A weird way to describe them, but it's what they are.

A creature meant to be the most perfect existence. With teeth as hard as adamantium, skin as hard as the tungstentanium, a weird combination between two strongest metals known to mankind, as strong as the Berserker made out of An Empyrean, and endurance as a Holy knight from the capital of the strongest empire in the whole continent, the Brydle Empire.

And there's a creature called Arch-Chimera. Outrageous, huh?

In short, it was meant to be perfect. And he gotta fight a horde of them. The result? Of course, he would win. Chimera is perfect, but they have two facets that made them easy to kill. Precisely, they don't use their heads, plus, their body's components aren't proportionate, so they are only agile above average, as they are combinations between various creatures.

He just has to trap them within a hole in a desert, kind of ironic that their habitat was their weakness, moisten the sand, and make a roaring thunder. Thunder was the strongest element when it came to piercing and puncturing. And it could use water as a medium to electrocuted every tiny cell in them.

And, his main element was lighting, the other elements he learned was secondary. The Grand Magician demanded him to learn them.

But out of nowhere, his pink eyed companion barged in with the whole group which the Grand Magician called "Future Overlords." Made out of 20 children who transcend the word 'Prodigy'. And he?

He was number one. Of course, others, even his classmen didn't believe it, but that's the ranking the Grand Magician gives, he probably knows something more about him than he did.

They want to go, and as usual, the Grand Magician just blankly accept their proposal. Bullshit, he probably wanted to increase their 'Experience' in real occurrence. The reason was that he was the one who would always 'hog' the missions, and others were jealous of it. After all, they are spoiled children

the moment they showed their extraordinary 'talent'. They want to prove their worth!

Talent, that word... was the one who provided by it was really fortunate? The ones who don't have it might be live at a considerably lower standard, but at least the burden on their shoulders were lessen. But talented ones? Their future was expected by so many people, the pressure...

And then he let them follow him, met the chimeras, kick their ass and they were... useless. No, more than that, they just burdens, The Empyreans foolishly charged with Pseudo-Angels on their side, the Demi-Gods randomly slash their weapons here and there while casting amateur spells, his classmen were faring better, as they cast their spells from the distance, still, the spells they cast clashed with each other and mitigate the damage output they could do.

He let them have their chances, after all, they could be considered as his kouhais, their age difference was only that of a year. But it counts. Plus, even he could see that his maturity surpass all children in this continent, even ordinary adults couldn't be compared to his maturity. At least that was what the Grand Magician told him.

When they were already tired, worn out, dirty, he picked them up with a wind spell Wind Dance and brought them over. The chimeras were still marching over, they look really unstoppable, the extreme prodigies couldn't help but tremble. Looking at number one, there's no trace of wariness in his eyes.

He recalled when he glanced at them and saying quietly but clearly.

"Watch."

He didn't know showing off could be that satisfying.

Three steps he did, and the Chimeras were nothing more than limp corpses.

Since then, here he was, became a leader.

"Don't worry about it, you should worry about yourselves, let me handle the planning and the action part."

He exclaimed softly, his green eyes slightly glimmers in the darkness, giving off a mystic aura. The 'children' nodded in understanding and back off. Of course, except for one little girl.

"...E-02-"

"Emica. My name's Emica."

"...Weren't you supposed to use a code to call each other?"

"...Are you really a Crimson Demon?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Then why are your eyes glimmering green? Not crimson or pink?"

He stared at her in the eyes uninterestedly, and his eyes brightly emitted sharp flashes, hurting her eyes whose stared at it.

Shaking his head, he opened his palm and five elements simultaneously synchronize with each other, shocking the girl before him.

"Some bullshit about something awakening within me, something..."

Clenching the opened palm, the five elements turn into insignificant specks of light, gotten brought by the wind and disappear within their sights.

Kind of reminded her of something, the race who became the king who leads the Crimson Demons in the past. Way, way a long time ago. Her eyes shined brightly and two words appeared in her head.

Crimson Devil.

Crimson Devil, a race I made up.

Tungstentanium, a combination between two strongest metals lmao.

And yes, I put a warning before you read the story. So you have to expect bizarre things I would add here.