Journey Of A Legend

"Humanity. A race that exists only for a few millions of years and even under such a small amount of time we reach such terrifying heights that it is almost frightening. However, even like this, we are still far from being supreme.", said the man with the mask on his face, and after sitting down onto the ground he looked at Greg and continued.

"With the appearance of the Soul Stones and their Guardians, we thought that after reaching the last rank immortality and godhood is no more a dream, but unfortunately nothing is as simple as it seems."

With a nod, the other man sat down too and asked Greg, "What do you think the Soul Stones and the Guardians really are?"

"..."

Greg after hearing the question just simply stayed quiet and waited for the man to proceed on talking.

Seeing as he couldn't answer both men smiled and the one with the mask said, "Just like you, everyone else on this planet thinks that Mythical Creatures, Monsters, Gods or immortal beings are not real or if they really are they can't die, but this is false. They really do exist and they also can die, but only a bit harder than us. However, once they die, they won't vanish from this universe like us humans, but simply their Soul will turn into a crystal-like stone, while a fragment of their will with their power will form inside that stone and be its protector called the Guardian."

"Yes and this is why they can't speak. Maybe you also noticed that no matter how hard you try, except for using the Guardian's power, you can't communicate with the being itself. It's a common fact no matter how we look at it."

"!!"

This sentence made Greg instantly dumbstruck because until now he thought everyone else could speak with their Guardian just like he and Alice did. Hearing that no one could speak with their Guardian as he did was a total surprise for him.

"Just pretend that you knew it.", said Alice suddenly inside Greg's head just as she felt that he was about to say something.

Knowing that there was a reason behind why she asked him to pretend, Greg nodded confidently at the two men without hesitation. Luckily he had his mask on his face because if not he would have been busted in an instant by his shocked expression that was visible at the moment.

"Yes I noticed that too.", said Greg as calmly as he could.

The man in the gas mask nodded and continued, "Now that you know this, here is the next question. What do you think will happen if you break through the last rank?"

He knew that there was a possibility to surpass the God rank, but as to what will happen after that was unknown for him, so not wanting to say stupid things Greg just simply shrugged and said, "I don't know."

"Maybe you don't know, but reaching the God rank is only the beginning. Only after that will come the real path toward godhood for us humans. And for that, the very first thing you need to do is to go through the Evolution step. After breaking through that stage, the Soul in the stone and its power a.k.a your Guardian will merge with your body. From then on you will be able to communicate with it just like with any normal person."

"However for that to happen is very hard and only one in a hundred can achieve that or even less than that. That's why almost all the humans who reached the last rank so far stuck on there forever unable to break through no matter what."

"If there is really such a solution that could help to go over the God rank, why didn't Zane know about it yet?", asked Greg curiously.

"Because those who successfully completed the Evolution step will be teleported away instantly from this planet, so there will be no one who can tell others this possibility."

Hearing this Greg nodded and asked slowly, "So the two of you..."

"Yes, we have completed the Evolution step.", said the man in the gas mask with a nod and continued, " I know what you are thinking right now. How can we be here then, yes? Well, that's easy to answer. Russ and I were incredibly lucky. It was extremely hard not gonna lie, but in the end, we found our way back here."

"We wanted to tell everyone on earth the process to surpass the God rank, but when we found out what these Higher Beings real aim is with their spies we decided to wait and start to build that gate as soon as possible to help us in the future."

"What is their real aim?", asked Greg a bit confusedly after seeing how serious the two men's expression became.

The man with the gas mask turned his gaze at the man named Russ and after a small hesitation, he said, "Dimensional zones, humans ranking process and obtaining more power with Soul Creatures... The Higher Beings are preparing us for an approaching event that could mean the end for all of us."

Thinking about something that he didn't want to hear Greg thought back at the last words that Kragnas said in the tree palace and asked slowly, "For what?"

The man looked at Greg with a calm yet sharp gaze and after taking a small breath, he said in a cold voice.

"For war."

***

Inside a huge mansion, an angry-looking man threw a glass full of water onto the ground and said angrily, "You say that the one who stopped a zone break to occur was a 17 years old boy who has only a black Soul Stone? And what is more that the mask he has is a priceless artifact which not even you could identify?!"

"Yes Sir, that's the 100% truth. No lies.", answered in an instant a man in a black suit. He was kneeling before the man with a lowered head, not daring to raise his head because of fear.

Looking at his kneeling subordinate before him, the man looked even angrier and asked, "Then why didn't you bring him here?"

"Sir, I tried it but there was this creature th-"

"I DON'T CARE! FIND HIM AND BRING HIM HERE NOW! If not..."

Feeling his boss' anger, the man stood up instantly and with a respectful salute, he disappeared into thin air.

Remaining alone in the room, the man started to slowly calm down and a while later he took out a small device from his pocket.

After pressing a few buttons on that device, it started to give out strange sounds one after another, while a black screen started to appear before the man slowly.

*Tri...Tri...Tri..*

While the man waited for the signal to connect to the other side he waved his hand making the whole room to be shut closed in an instant.

*Ding!*

With a hash and deep voice, a faceless creature with snow-white skin and a single mouth suddenly appeared on the screen before the man and asked, "What?"

The man after putting his pinky finger on the middle of his forehead closed his eyes and said, "Forever on the summit!"

Doing just what the man did, the faceless creature did the same and said calmly, "Forever on the summit. So? What is the newest information?"

After putting down his hand the man smiled with a darkened expression and said, "We are still on the search for her, but it is still unknown where 'she' is. However, on the other hand, we have found something very interesting Sir."

***

Inside a luxurious room, Kuragari was sitting on a comfortable sofa, while not far away from him Zane, Eliana the Saint, and Cloud were sitting quietly.

Even though there was delicious-looking food, the atmosphere around them was not spirited at all.

Of course, it was understandable. Under a mere hour, they found out that until now there were other people behind the shadows who were stronger than them while also there was the possibility that other creatures like that devil could be lurking around them without their notice.

Also what made them even more speechless was that gate's sudden appearance. That thing just showed them that the word that they thought they understood, now suddenly got much more mysterious than ever before.

Eliana, whose left eye was under healing was quietly sitting on the side and was visibly under deep thoughts. And this applied not only to her but also to Zane and Cloud.

While the three was deep in their thought, Kuragari suddenly stood up and throwing the cigarette in his hand he turned around and started to walk toward the door.

"Where are you going?", asked Zane from the side with a serious expression.

Not expecting that the one who will talk to him after such a long time will be him, Kuragari looked at him, and but a second later he snorted and said, "Isn't it obvious? I go and find that brat and that two strangers who took him away."

"But we didn't even know where they took him. He could be anywhere. You are not strong enough to find him all alone.", said suddenly Eliana from Zane's side a bit angrily.

Hearing what she said with her current look, Kuragari didn't say anything but simply turned back and after putting his hand onto the door's handle he said, "You are right. I'm still weak. I was saved by that brat. I'm pathetic, but this is why I'll go and find him. I'll get even stronger and show those bastards who they made angry this time."

Opening the door, Kuragari looked at Eliana for the last time and said calmly, "You two were doing great even without me so..."

Turning his gaze at Zane, Kuragari sighed and without continuing his sentence he stepped through the door, and with a gentle pull, he closed the door behind him, leaving the remaining four together in the room...