System's POV

Rocky, who was waiting for the Goblin Emperor to leave the throne room, stayed in his position for nearly half an hour before making a move.

Tiona's clone was helping him and had scouted ahead above ground. After being told that there was nothing odd, the Magma Bal-Boa deemed that it was safe to finally steal the Shard of Origin since no one was guarding it.

Of course, Rocky found it odd that no one had been left to protect the Artifact that controlled the Fate of the Ratmen Race.

However, he and Tiona's had already made careful analysis of the surroundings multiple times and didn't find anything that could pose a threat to them.

So after careful consideration, Rocky no longer hesitated and made his way to the artifact as fast as he could.

When he was right below the Shard of Origin, Rocky opened his mouth and swallowed it whole.

As soon as he confirmed that the Shard of Origin was safely deposited inside his Mobile Fortress, he quickly left the throne room in haste and reported to his Master that he had succeeded in his mission.

***

Twenty minutes before Rocky swallowed the Shard of Origin…

'He arrived faster than I thought he would,' Thirteen thought as the members of the Parade of a Hundred Demons informed him that the Goblin army, led by the Goblin Emperor, was already on his way to deal with them.

"Everyone, retreat!" Thirteen ordered.

Giga, Hercules, the Ogres, and the Trolls didn't hesitate to stop whatever they were doing and ran toward the gate as fast as they could.

Worried that one of his monsters would get caught by the Goblin Army, Thirteen stayed for a bit and was the last one to leave the Gates of the City.

Fortunately, the monsters under his command were very strong, so they were easily able to deal with the Goblins who had tried to attack them earlier.

Even as they retreated, they could feel the overwhelming aura of the Goblin Emperor who was running at them at full speed.

With a mighty roar, Lord Zorca leaped high into the air and jumped over the City Gates, landing hundreds of meters away from the two Ogres, who had the slowest speed among Thirteen's Monster Army.

O1 and O2 glanced behind them, but they never stopped running.

Both of them were Rank 5 Sovereigns. Even though they were two Ranks below Rocky, both of them could overpower the Magma Bal-Boa when it came to pure, raw strength.

However, even the two of them understood that the Goblin Emperor behind them was stronger than them by a large margin.

Goblins were all-rounder in nature.

They didn't have a particular strong point. However, they were perfectly balanced fighters with the speed and the strength, as well as the intelligence to outwit and outmaneuver their enemies. And as a Rank 8 Sovereign, the Goblin Emperor was naturally way stronger, faster, and more intelligent than his subjects.

O1 and O2 understood that they had no chance of winning, but they weren't too worried about the monster behind them.

They simply followed behind their Master's orders and ran to the location that he had designated.

The four-meter-tall Goblin Emperor sneered at the fleeing Ogres, who was slightly bigger than him.

When the Goblin Emperor was only dozens of meters away from O1 and O2, the ground under his feet suddenly gave way, catching him by surprise.

However, his instinct allowed him to subconsciously jump and evade the pitfall that was waiting for him.

O1 and O2, who seemed to have already expected that the Goblin Emperor would manage to dodge the trap that was prepared for him, both stopped and swung their spiked steel clubs at the Goblin Emperor, who had lost his balance mid-air.

Lord Zorca wasn't fazed and used his Great Axe to block the combined assault of the two ogres, blocking their blows completely.

But the momentum still pushed him back, making him almost fall into the hole that was hundreds of meters deep.

Just as the Goblin Emperor was about to launch his counterattack, several arrows flew in his direction, forcing him to block for the second time.

This gave O1 and O2 time to distance themselves from the Goblin Emperor and regroup with Thirteen's party.

Meanwhile, the Goblin Warriors, who were following behind their Lord, also fell into one of the sinkholes that Rocky had made beforehand, stopping their advance.

Right now, they were in the killing zone that Thirteen had prepared for them, allowing the teenage boy to decrease their fighting force drastically.

Thirteen stared at the Rank 8 Sovereign, who was also looking back at him with an eerie calmness that made the teenage boy frown.

'What's this uneasy feeling?' Thirteen thought. 'Something doesn't feel right. Everything feels too easy.'

Despite the fact that the Goblin Emperor was standing right in front of him and away from the throne room, the teenage boy couldn't shake off the feeling that things were going too well.

Although he was confident with the plan he had devised beforehand, the calmness of the Goblin Emperor unnerved him.

Both sides were currently in a faceoff, with Thirteen's team taking a defensive stance against their enemy.

However, the Goblin Emperor simply stood where he was and stared down at his enemies.

Suddenly, Tiona's clone informed him that they had successfully retrieved the Shard of Origin from the throne room, making Thirteen sigh in relief.

However, at the same time he received the clone's report, the teenage boy noticed that the corner of the Goblin Emperor's lips rose up into a smile.

"Fools," Lord Zorca said as the smile on his face became a sneer. "You underestimated me too much."

Without warning, the Goblin Emperor jumped into the sinkhole behind him and vanished from sight.

This sudden act confused not only Thirteen but also his monster friends who had already prepared themselves to duke it out with the Goblin Emperor.

Meanwhile, Inside Rocky's Mobile Fortress…

"We succeeded!" Ratatoskr exclaimed as he touched the surface of the orange crystal. "It is really the Shard of Origin. My people are saved!"

Erica and Sherry, who were also very happy that their mission was a complete success, moved closer to the Shard of Origin to give it a closer look.

However, their surroundings darkened all of a sudden, as if a shadow had blocked the source of the light inside the Mobile Fortress.

A moment later, Erica's, Sherry's, and Ratatoskr's bodies all stiffened when a powerful pressure descended upon them.

The three could feel a presence behind them. They wanted to look, but their bodies had frozen in place, unable to even move a single muscle.

Suddenly, a cry of pain escaped Ratatoskr's lips as a fist collided with his body, sending him flying a good distance away from where he stood.

Erica roared as she forced herself to break free from the paralysis she was feeling, covering herself and Sherry in blazing flames.

Just as the Sorceress was about to cast a Fireball at point-blank range, the Goblin Emperor flicked his finger and hit Erica's stomach, sending her skidding and rolling on the ground for several meters before coming to a complete stop.

Sherry, who was now paralyzed by fear, found herself staring at the face of the Goblin Emperor, who was looking at her with a devilish smirk on its hideous face.

Just like what he had done to Erica, the Goblin Emperor flicked his finger and sent the teenage girl flying.

Lord Zorca made sure to control his strength. He didn't want to kill the two girls, only incapacitate them.

The Goblin Emperor then glanced at the Shard of Origin and picked it up with one hand.

Although it was supposed to weigh a ton, he could easily lift it with one hand because he was now its owner, making it weightless in his position.

"I'll be taking the two of you with me," Lord Zorca walked toward the two fallen girls, who had been knocked unconscious and fell to the ground. "You'll become fine breeding horses."

However, when he was only a few meters away from the two girls, the ground around him trembled.

The next second, the Goblin Emperor found himself standing just outside his city, not knowing how he got there.

He wasn't aware that Rocky had ejected him from inside his Mobile Fortress before hurrying to his Master's side to tell him of what happened to Erica, Sherry, and Ratatoskr.

The moment Zion heard the news, he immediately summoned the Magma Bal-boa to his side and ordered it to take him inside the Mobile Fortress as fast as possible.

When he entered, he was welcomed with the sight of Erica and Sherry, lying unconscious on the ground with blood seeping at the corner of their lips. The teenage boy stood rooted in place, reminded of multiple scenes from the past that he never wanted to see repeating.

Tiona, who was coiled on his neck, used her head to headbutt her Master and snap him out of his daze.

Fortunately, it only took Tiona one strike to help Thirteen regain his bearings, allowing him to move and give the three injured individuals some healing potions to help with their recovery.

Once he was certain that their lives were not in danger, the teenage boy stood up and ordered Rocky to take him to where the Goblin Emperor was.

The Magma Bal-Boa didn't know what his Master was thinking, but he still obeyed his orders.

Meanwhile, above ground…

Lord Zorca, who hadn't moved from his location, smirked when he sensed the presence of a monster headed in his direction.

He and the middle-aged man already knew that their enemy had a way to travel without being detected by anyone, so they already prepared a strategy in advance to capture the people responsible for razing the Goblin Camps in his territory.

The middle-aged man had imbued a spell on the Shard of Origin, allowing the Goblin Emperor to teleport to its location.

This was the strategy they devised in order to catch their enemies by surprise.

And it worked perfectly.

The Goblin Emperor was able to subjugate the thieves, but it didn't expect that it would be ejected from wherever he had been earlier.

Suddenly, a human boy appeared several meters away from the Goblin Emperor and was looking at the Monster with eyes filled with hatred.

"Foolish human. You should have escaped while you had the chance," Lord Zorca said in disdain. "Don't tell me you've come to surrender those two females to me? If yes, I will happily accept your offering and spare your life."

Zion didn't answer and simply raised his hand.

A moment later, the Parade of a Hundred Demons was firmly in his grasp, fluttering in the wind.

The symbol "XIII" glowed in golden letters, as if making its presence known to the world.

The Goblin Emperor watched as the teenage boy's body was suddenly enclosed in a black suit of armor from head to foot.

Green glowing eyes radiated from the helmet, making him look like an Avatar of Vengeance that had descended upon the world.

Giga, Blacky, Rocky, Hercules, the Ogres, and Trolls appeared behind their Master, all roaring in anger and ready to fight.

When he saw Erica and Sherry's injured states, he was reminded of his Hosts who had died pitiful deaths.

Back then, he couldn't do anything except grieve for their untimely, and unfair demise.

Those pent-up emotions that he had locked deep inside his Soul Core all rose to the surface like a raging flame that could not be stopped.

"Deal with the small fries, and make sure none of them interfere," Thirteen ordered. "I'll kill this bastard myself."

Without another word, Thirteen took a step forward, summoning the members of the Parade of a Hundred Demons, who would fight alongside their Master, for the first time since its inception.