Chapters 282-283 : I’ll be there.

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'Control yourself… Stop spreading your aura, and reverse the process of turning things into gold.' While Sora was confused by the turn of events, Harun advised him.

'How do I do that?' Sora asked.

'Assimilate my memories… The lineage and my skills aren’t enough. The most important part is stored in my memory.'

Sora obeyed, and after a few moments, he managed to stop the aura naturally radiating from his body. Pointing his hand at the ground that had turned to gold, he succeeded in returning it to its original state.

Diving deeper into other memories, he realized he could even take back his human appearance.

'Wow… This goblin body is incredible. It’s at least ten thousand times stronger than before! My endurance, my strength, my speed… I can feel everything is multiplied.'

He heard Harun’s voice. 'According to my research, every bloodline has its own strengths and weaknesses. Goblins have strong affinity with metals and minerals. Their physique is quite weak, they’re targeted by most other races, but they have a transformation ability that allows their elites to protect them. They’re also highly fertile…'

That last bit caught Sora’s attention. 'How exactly did you check that? Don’t tell me that’s what you were doing in those goblin dungeons…'

Harun wasn’t offended and simply laughed. 'You know very well what I did, don’t try to mess with me. Anyway... With an EX-tier bloodline, you’re considered a Goblin King…'

Sora nodded. 'Even higher in hierarchy than the Goblin Lord of that level 250 dungeon you cleared… Incredible that you managed to raise the lineage that high so quickly.'

'Your human bloodline has been raised to that level as well. And as you saw in my memories, the raw power boost isn’t as extreme for humans despite the EX Tier. You can freely switch between the two forms, and each has its own advantages.'

'The human bloodline specializes in rocognizing danger, and adapting to it... The stronger the threat, the stronger the reaction. There are other effects, but I'm still studying them.'

As a series of notifications appeared, Sora sighed.

'I’ve assimilated everything, don’t worry. I’ll go meet Nate, he’s getting impatient.'

Though tempted to experiment with his new body, Sora held back and flew east. In the blink of an eye, he arrived in northern Japan.

'He said north… So this should be it.'

Sensing a familiar demonic aura not far from him, he looked in that direction and thought, 'His appearance has changed, but it’s him…'

A demon was pacing back and forth on the pier of a small abandoned Japanese town called Wakkanai. Although Sora could read the same name as before floating above his head, it was hard to believe this was the same person.

While in his memories the demon had been nearly three meters tall, now his size was closer to Sora’s own. His hair had partly lost its color, part of it turning white, while his body had grown paler. He had slimmed down, and his once massive muscles had disappeared.

These changes, which could have been a sign of regression, didn’t fool Sora.

'He's terrifying… and my body is reacting on its own.' He couldn’t help but tremble at the sight of this new “Nate.”

'This is the new effect of my EX Tier Human Bloodline...' He thought. Quickly calming his racing body that was preparing for combat, he used his senses and various techniques to probe the demon, who seemed to be growing impatient.

'Nate always paced when he was impatient… And that habit of never wanting to waste time… That’s just like him.'

Despite feeling his brother was in front of him, he tried hard his best not to trust himself, 'But anyone specialized in identity theft could pull that off, right? I can’t afford to be too naïve.'

As Sora forced himself to doubt again, a voice echoed in his head. 'An identity can be stolen, just like memories, but according to our research, a soul is nearly impossible to falsify.'

Sora was surprised by the message from Twelve. 'You mean if we can prove his soul really is my brother’s, we can be sure it’s him?'

Twelve replied, 'Yes. If he freely lets you probe his soul with one of our techniques, you can easily verify whether he’s your brother or an impostor.'

Sora immediately accessed the memories and techniques mentioned by his Alter Ego, then shook his head. 'That kind of operation is way too intrusive. There’s no world where he’d let me play around with his soul like that. And if it really is him, that would be a massive show of disrespect toward Nate.'

'Just keep on being suspicious then… Some reunion between brothers', Harun commented, even letting a sigh reach Sora’s ears.

When the Alter Egos in his [Soul Palace] began debating and arguing about what Sora should do, he decided to ignore them and approached the demon pacing back and forth along the port.

His presence was noticed when he came within a hundred meters. The demon raised his head, and the anxiety on his face was replaced first by joy, then by a hint of irritation.

The half black, half white-haired, pale-skinned demon smiled as he addressed Sora. “Soso… You really like making your big brother wait. You know how precious time is today?”

Sora ignored the second part and focused on the first. “Precious enough to complain over being five minutes late?”

Nate sighed. “You stayed in your kingdom for the entire protection period, so I’m not surprised you don’t know. Today marks a turning point in the war for supremacy. The nine external kingdoms were stuck in a stalemate, canceling each other out, but everything changed when your kingdom lost its protection.”

Sora was familiar with the terminology Nate used. He had discovered that the kingdoms fighting against humanity were referred to as the “externals,” as opposed to the “hosts” for humans.

Sora grew thoughtful. 'He knows I stayed in human territory, which means he has a way to track where I am without me noticing. That must also apply to other kingdoms and major forces. I can also scan the entire planet, but every time I do, I feel certain entities and players sensing my scan… I still need to improve on that to gain the upper hand. However, he doesn’t seem to know about the comings and goings of some of my Alter Egos over the past month, which is a good sign…'

Pretending not to know about the changes outside the human kingdom, he asked, “Really? There was a stalemate?”

Nate shook his head. “Are you mocking me? I know you’re not stupid, Soso. All you had to do was open a stream, or send players specialized in espionage to find out what was going on outside.”

Seeing the faint smile on Sora’s lips, he added, “Let’s keep it short. The alliance of the five kingdoms was forged before the arrival of the leaders of the five races involved on this world. That alliance never had full support in any of the kingdoms. The demons are split into two factions, the spirits went through a civil war, the werewolves split into two packs, and the dwarves now want to leave the alliance. And all of this started when they lost access to your kingdom and your resources a month ago.”

Sora was surprised. While some of the information had reached him, nothing this detailed had ever been communicated.

Noticing that one kingdom hadn’t been mentioned, he asked, “And the dark elves?”

Nate smiled. “They’ve had desertions. The ‘princess’ Sarsha apparently fled and is plotting a rebellion. But given the power gap between her rebel faction and the ruling one, she doesn’t stand a chance. This means their Kingdom had the fewest internal problems.”

Sora hid his surprise. 'Sarsha fled from her parents and created her own faction? For what purpose? On her own, she could never win the war…'

He refrained from showing more interest in the topic and instead asked, “And this stalemate?”

“The alliance of five had planned to annihilate the other five kingdoms, starting by subjugating the humans, who hold the central territory on this planet. Their plan was to exploit you before moving against the other four kingdoms, which they saw as the real opponents for the end game. But you threw a wrench into their plans, kicking them out in just a few minutes a month ago.”

“You’ve delayed their projects a lot, since you tied up their low-level players in the official wars against you, and their high-level players were cut off from your Mythic Bosses and dungeons.”

Sora then asked, “Don’t you have your own Mythic Bosses?”

Nate shook his head. “We have a few. But the host territory is the one that houses the most. You have fifteen bosses; we only have two or three per territory. Think of it as their way of balancing things…”

Sora, beginning to get annoyed at how Nate was distancing himself from the humans, sighed and held himself back from asking the question on his mind.

After a few seconds of silence, he asked, “Why did you want to see me today? You know I have trouble trusting you in this… form.”

Nate’s face froze for a moment before relaxing. He let out a forced laugh. “I didn’t expect you to trust me, not now that I’m a demon…” He paused before continuing. “But I did hope you’d recognize your big brother.”

Despite his almost divine physique, Sora felt a pain in his chest and his throat tighten at his brother’s nervous laugh. He had just done the very thing he feared most—hurt the one who had always been his most faithful ally.

'He’s my brother… I feel it, and I believe it. But if there’s even a chance he's not the same or if I’m wrong, all of humanity will be doomed… If I let myself be betrayed, mom and dad will suffer. Kara and Salim too. And everyone they love. Can I allow that?'

As if aware of the dilemma in Sora’s mind, Nate added, “Don’t worry about that. The fact that you came today is enough to make me happy. I know you’ve got a heavy burden on your shoulders now, and I’d never blame you for being cautious.”

He continued, “I represent the second faction of the demon kingdom, and I came today to ask you to ally with my faction.”

Seeing Sora’s surprise, he raised a hand to stop him from interrupting. “An alliance would mean fighting common enemies and helping each other in difficult times. But if you don’t want an alliance, we can settle for an NAP.”

When Nate fell silent, Sora asked, “An NAP?”

“A Non-Aggression Pact! We’d be forbidden from attacking you, and vice versa. It would apply across all territories.”

Sora considered Nate's offer. 'I’m not sure I know the difference between the two agreements, but an NAP seems to have nothing but advantages…'

He asked, "What would an alliance involve?"

Nate replied, “Defending each other in case of attack, sharing the spoils when fighting an enemy territory, and other clauses that can be added or removed from the agreement. If you want reinforcements in case of attack, that can be arranged. An exchange of rare resources between allies is also possible. Training or joint projects could be considered too.”

Sora, aware that he didn’t have all the cards in hand to make his decision, asked another question. “And the NAP? What does it involve?”

Nate noticed Sora’s interest and relaxed, “Nothing more than what I said earlier. My faction won’t target your kingdom or its citizens as long as we haven’t eliminated the nine other kingdoms and the opposing faction. And we expect the same from your side.”

Sora grew even more curious and asked, “I don’t know much about your faction. How many of you are there, roughly?”

His interlocutor laughed again, this time awkwardly. “There aren’t many of us… I’d say about 2% of the kingdom’s population? Abbott has subjugated the rest, so it’s hard for me to protect more. And since I’m seen as a fake demon by many, it’s even more complicated than that…”

Sora raised his eyebrows. “Two percent? There are so few of you?! If we don’t form an alliance, how will you fight Abbott? He was already so strong when he first arrived—I can’t even imagine how powerful he must be now after all the donations he’s received during the streams. Are you sure a NAP would be of any use with a monster like that in your kingdom?”

Thinking his brother would be unsettled, Sora was caught off guard when Nate burst out laughing.

After long seconds during which Sora stayed silent and Nate laughed, the demon regained his composure and looked at him seriously. For the second time that day, Sora’s body reacted before he willed it, moving into a defensive stance.

The first time, he had merely trembled. But this time, he reflexively leapt back, his whole body pumping blood and mana. Heat began radiating from him, proof that his body was ready for combat.

Sora didn’t stop the process, but he still listened to Nate.

“I wasn’t wrong about you, little brother. Since you can instinctively react to my aura, it means you’ve already reached the level of King. My advisors told me doing so as a human was impossible since no one was paving the way for your race, but something told me that if anyone could manage it, it would be you.”

“My brother… There are more than enough enemies beyond and within our borders for both our factions. I don’t want my brother to be on the list of players I have to kill to protect my new family…”

Sora felt his brother’s aura slowly being released. The pressure around him began to mount, and he felt his body struggling to adapt to the environmental changes.

Nate’s invisible aura thickened, and Sora began activating skills to resist and defend himself.

After a few moments, regaining his breath, he was about to transform when Nate placed a hand on his shoulder.

“If anyone in this world is confident they can win the War for Supremacy, it’s me. I don’t fear Abbott, nor any of the other clowns from the other kingdoms.”

The expression on his face softened, and he added, “Sora, I didn’t come here to fight… I just want you to know I’m not your enemy. If you want an ally in this war, I’ll be there for you. If you want a friend, I’ll be there. And if you’re not ready for any of that, at least accept that we make peace.”

The pressure weighing on Sora’s shoulders suddenly vanished. Seeing Nate’s outstretched hand, Sora stopped hesitating.

He nodded and shook what he trusted was his brother’s hand.

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Author’s Note

This is a big turning point. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I finally decided which path PG is going to take.

At first, I had something completely different in mind. When I sketched out the story, some parts were super clear, others really vague.

But the more I wrote, the more I started changing my mind about a lot of things.

Some of those big changes actually blocked me for days. This time, it took weeks.

Since I didn’t like where it was going, I started over. In the end, I tossed out quite a few of my original ideas and even rewrote the last 10 chapters that were already done. (281 to 290 were drafted).

Sorry it took so long, but I think it’s for the best.

Just so you get a little idea of what was scrapped: I originally planned to deal with Norj in this arc and focus on the dark elves. But the story’s heading in a different direction now. Hopefully one that’s more exciting.

This chapter is longer than usual, because it couldn't be cut before.