In the Central Continent, there was a fortress that floated and shifted in the skies above, overlooking the ground below and the residents that walked the earth of the six-faced world.

This fortress – The Sky Castle, also known as [Chaos Breaker] – was inhabited and owned by a hero of old, who along with North God Kalman I and Dragon God Urupen, slayed the Demon God Laplace.

"Almanfi." The hero of old's voice called through the sky castle's walls. His arms sat on both of his sides as he resided on Chaos Breaker's throne.

In a flash of light, an individual appeared before him, kneeling. He had blonde hair in a ponytail right near his right ear. He wore a yellow fox mask, concealing his face.

Almanfi of the Bright was his moniker and epithet. He is one of the many ancient spirits summoned by the hero of old, existing to serve the hero as long as he lives.

"Lord Perugius." He bowed. Calm, professional and as respectful as he could possibly be.

"What did he say?" The hero – Perugius Dola, as he was named – asked his servant.

The he in question was an individual who is outside the sky castle at this moment, throwing out saint-tier (and occasionally king-tier) spells around Chaos Breaker like a child throwing a tantrum.

"He merely requested an audience with you, my lord." He answered, though they both knew that Perugius already knew what he said.

Perugius brought his hand to his chin, scratching it lightly. "..Is that so?" He mused, barely above a whisper as a thoughtful grin stretched across his face.

Perugius Dola was a diligent and attentive individual of the dragon tribe. It's because of those things that he was able to slay the demon god, and it's because of those things that's allowed people to respect him as the Armored Dragon King.

Request. It was a specific word. His servants were always specific in their wording – he made sure of that – and this time was no different than any other.

This individual; a human, as he learned rather quickly to his.. rather genuine surprise, requested an audience with him. It was not a demand for an audience. The spells he threw out were not threats, but rather to get his attention.

And they're certainly working.. Perugius bitterly thought for a moment.

Perugius wasn't particularly impressed in the slightest at first. He has seen a good number of individuals capable of saint-tier magic, and less with king-tier. A decent amount of them also happened to be human as well. This individual was no different from them.

..Until 15 days passed. About half a month's worth of time.

Normally, of course, this would just mean he'd let his mana replenish as he slept at night, but he didn't. Even at night, he'd be going at it. The only times he did stop were to either hunt monsters, get food (from either monster hunting or from a few villages nearby) or sleep for a bit, and even then those were for 2 hours at the maximum, and only occurred once every 2 days. He was certainly efficient and quick.

Furthermore, not once did he attack the sky castle with any type of magic, strong or weak. Always precise enough to make sure they didn't hit the fortress under any circumstances.

Perugius had no doubt he could bring the castle down, if he ever decided to.

He knew all of this because he ordered Almanfi to simply observe him, until now. When Perugius wasn't in the area, it was Almanfi of the Bright who acted as his eyes and ears for him.

Perhaps, seeing the individual through Almanfi was the greatest shock to Perugius. He expected a more elderly, adult figure to be the one casting spells. Instead, he was greeted with the face of a child with brown hair and green eyes, a gray robe adorning his attire, and a magic wand in his right hand. He could not have been older than 13, at the maximum.

Perugius, at first, mused that it was the wand allowing him to perform these spells at ease. It was a fairly decent wand, made of strong material. But it was obviously not the case – No wand could ever amplify a mage's abilities to this extreme. At most, it was likely a convenient tool that simply made things easier.

It was safe to say, Perugius's interest in him was at an all-time high. He certainly had his attention now.

"Bring him here with Sylvaril." He ordered his servant.

"Very well." Almanfi accepted, standing up from his kneeling position and leaving in a burst of light.

Two minutes later, the doors in front of him gently opened. A spirit with a fox mask – Almanfi – on his left, and a woman of the heaven race, adorning a bird mask and wings – Sylvaril, was her name – on his right.

In-between them was the boy who's resided below the fortress for the past 15 days. Brown hair, green eyes, gray robe and magic wand.

"State your name." Perugius demanded.

The boy looked at him, and made eye contact. Something about it looked unusual to Perugius. The look in his eyes didn't match the rest of his features. Nothing about it looked like an innocent young adventurer, but rather a man who has been beaten down and disheartened by the world around him, only gaining some semblance of hope back fairly recently.

Perugius could ignore that; at the very least, it meant this boy could give him an engaging conversation. What he couldn't simply ignore, however, was the way the boy looked at him.

The moment he walked in, he examined the room briefly, yet thoroughly.

It wasn't like he was looking at a boy astonished by the objects and artistic craft of the room, but rather, a man looking around the room to check if everything was the same as he last saw it.

Like he's been here before.

When the boy finally looked at Perugius, his eyes lit up briefly. Like anyone would after seeing a friend for the first time in a long time, but also slightly agitated and tense. Perugius even barely saw the corner of his lips rise, though barely, before his face quickly returned to a stoic and serious state, ready to ask for something and possibly get rejected for it.

"Armored Dragon King, Perugius Dola." He started, the immaturity of his young voice did far too little to betray the firm and critical tone of his words. "My name is Rudeus Greyrat. I've come in need of your assistance."

An amused smirk extended across the face of the Armored Dragon King, before it lightly burst into a low chuckle. "And what could you possibly need my help in, the boy known as Rudeus Greyrat?" He mused.

…

"And what could you possibly need my help in, the boy known as Rudeus Greyrat?"

..He was definitely suspicious of me. It couldn't be helped; you don't meet a kid who can just throw out king and saint-tier spells like throwing darts everyday.

That being said; my efforts haven't gone to waste just yet.

It might've worked better than I initially thought, actually..

At the very least, I got his full attention now.

"I'd like to use your teleportation circles to get to the Begaritt continent." I asked him, as calm and concise as I could possibly be. Ultimately, I probably wasted a lot of his time just by being down there, and I'd rather not get into a fight with him. Possibly being on his bad side is bad enough for me. At the very least, I'm confident enough in my abilities to probably run away if it ever gets bad enough to fight.

His eyebrow raised slightly, in slight confusion. "And you need my help to get there?"

I slightly winced. Slightly, of course, but he definitely noticed. "..Not necessarily. I simply believe it to be the fastest route there however."

He brought his hand up to his chin, scratching his pale goatee. "..Why are you in such a rush?" He demanded to know.

He hasn't demanded anything from me since he asked for my name.

I thought he'd be a bit more annoyed with my presence, actually.

I briefly looked over to Almanfi; he looked relatively calm, unmoving and somehow graceful even when as still as a statue.

Then, I briefly looked over to Sylvaril, next; she seems to be more confused, but rather calm like her peer next to her. I turned back to Perugius.

"My mother is trapped in the heart of the Teleportation Labyrinth." I said. I don't wanna say too much, but he might just force it out of me regardless.

"..But that doesn't explain why you need my help."

..Huh?

Sensing my confusion, he continued. "You said your mother is trapped. Not in danger, but trapped. As far as I'm concerned, you have all the time in the world to get there and rescue her, you even seem pretty lax about it yourself. Regardless, you're desperate enough to get to her as fast as possible, even resorting to coming to me, though I suppose any son would worry about their mother.."

"..Either that, or you're trying to get there before someone else."

I flinched. It wasn't slight, either. I froze. Almanfi noticed. Sylvaril noticed. and Perugius certainly did, judging by the very noticeable smirk he gave me as he hummed mirthfully.

"..Magic Ki- no, would it be Magic Emperor Rudeus Greyrat, at this point?" He mused thoughtfully, before tightening his grip on the arms of the throne he sat upon, shifting his body to a standing position. "Regardless of your rank, come with me. Your existence has intrigued me far more than I'd like to admit, and I have only a few questions."

He stepped down, giving both Sylvaril and Almanfi a brief look, in which they both nodded. He walked towards another large door that was in the room, before opening it up to reveal a hallway I've already walked through a fair amount of times in my past life, with various pieces of art lining the walls, sculptures lined up in-between. He turned back to look at me.

Follow.

Warily, I walked, following him into the hallway, listening as the large doors behind me closed loudly, no longer allowing me to see Sylvaril or Almanfi if I ever turned around.

Not that I wanted to, of course.

…

We were sitting at the dining room table, but neither of us were having an evening dinner.

We were directly facing each other, a reasonably close distance. Neither of us were on the far side of the table, as cool as it probably would be.

The atmosphere wasn't tense, or suffocating, but I didn't dare to speak a word.

I looked across from me to see Perugius; even when sitting, he towered over me. Not that being a 13-year old child again helps in any case. His face was of contemplation, not about what he should ask – I was sure he had his questions sorted out the moment I stepped into his throne room – but about how he should ask, what order, etcetera.

Suddenly, his head shifted to look at me. Eye contact. "What are you?" He asked calmly.

The most basic of questions, of course, but the phrasing was strange, even if I knew what he meant. "What do you mean by that, if I may ask?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

"You are far more capable than a vast majority of mages I've seen roam this world, and yet you are a 13 year old human." He started. "While I don't doubt that you are human, in any case, you're obviously something more."

Already, huh?

Well, it's not like I haven't prepared for this possibility. I threw out those spells knowing that this could happen, and I certainly was not playing the "young teenage child" role very well, either.

That being said, telling him can lead to something bad, but if I want him to at least trust me, then I should tell him.

Whether he believes me or not is another discussion entirely. You don't usually find people who can travel back in time, after all.

I sighed. There's no good way out of this one, is there?

"Would you believe me if I told you I'm from the future?" I asked.

He thought about it, but I continued. "This body is human, 13 years old, as you said. However, this soul; my soul, is from 55 years into the future. In the year of K475."

He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment. "..Not even I knew that was possible." He admitted, exhaling a sigh. "Does that mean you knew me from this past life of yours?"

I nodded. "I did. Nanahoshi allowed me and a few of my friends and wife to come along with her to meet you."

His eyebrow quirked up again. "Nanahoshi?"

"Ah- right. You might know her as Silent Sevenstar."

"..The girl with Orsted." He confirmed. "That means her research on Summoning Magic went well."

I nodded. "Truthfully, it's because of the experiments I've done with her that helped me travel back here."

He pondered. "Hmm.. Did she ever make it back to her world?"

I grimaced, shaking my head to answer his question.

His eyes widened ever so slightly in shock, before he closed them gently for a moment. "I see."

We sat in silence for a moment. I'm sure he wanted to ask more about the various things that happened in that life.

"..Very well, then." He said, opening his eyes. "What tier of magic are you really capable of?"

I straightened my seating posture once more. "Technically, I'm capable of God-tier Detoxification magic. However, I haven't used it at all, so it's up in the air."

He stared for a bit, clearly wanting to ask about it more, but decided to keep silently watching me instead.

"I'm capable of Emperor-tier Water magic, King-tier in Gravity and Electric magic-"

"Electric magic?" He interrupted.

I almost glared at him for that. "..I developed it myself, it's branched off of the King-tier Water magic spell 'Lightning,' and I can also perform Saint class magic everywhere else." I stated. "I'm also capable of voiceless incantation."

His eyes widened slightly more at 'voiceless incantation' before they relaxed.

He stared for a moment. "I see. If what you say is true, you are as impressive as I thought. One more question."

I nodded.

"How long has it been since you traveled back to the past?"

Oh, I had to think about that for a little. I spent 15 days getting near the fortress, and another 15 residing myself near it.. "..About a month at this point, sir."

.

.

.

"..Alright, then." He spoke, breaking the silence and standing up from his seat. "I ultimately have more questions than answers, but I will leave those for another day."

He looked towards me, still seated at the table. "I will allow you to use my teleportation circles to reach the Begaritt continent. Almanfi!"

The servant appeared in a burst of light again as soon as Perugius's voice echoed throughout Chaos Breaker, swiftly kneeling. "It is ready, Lord Perugius."

What?

"Rudeus Greyrat." Perugius turned his gaze back to me. "Almanfi and Sylvaril have set up the teleportation circle for you. Almanfi will lead you to it."

He was already planning on doing it?!

Agh- whatever. This is probably the best possible outcome I could've asked for, really.

I stood up from my seat. "Thank you, Lord Perugius." I bowed respectfully. He only nodded and walked away, satisfied.

I turned to Almanfi, who nodded his own head and turned to lead me to the teleportation circle. I followed.

Sylvaril was waiting for us as we entered. "Are you both ready?"

Both?

Before I could look over to Almanfi, he answered for me. "Lord Perugius has requested for me to join you in this journey."

Oh, he wants to keep an eye on me.

I turned to look at Sylvaril for confirmation. She nodded.

"Alright, then." I said, walking up to the middle of the teleportation circle. "I'm ready."

Almanfi joined me. Sylvaril placed her hand on the circle, putting magic into it. It started to glow a bright light after a few seconds.

The next thing I knew, we were gone.

I opened my eyes to be met with sand and rocks.

"It seems we have arrived on the West Side of the continent." I heard Almanfi's voice claim.

I got up to stand, and looked around just to see more sand, rocks and a few monsters nearby. I couldn't help but let out a little smile as a course of nostalgia ran through me.

My journey to save my mother for a second time has officially started.