System's POV

Chapter 1427: Thirteen’s Secret Fan

"We finally met face to face." Dantanian faintly smiled as he looked at Zion Leventis.

When the rumors Thirteen had ordered his subordinates to spread reached Dantanian’s ears, the Fiend did a bit of research. After all, it was a Wanderer he was hearing about for the first time in his life.

But the more Wanderers he asked for information, the more bizarre the stories became. In the end, the Fiend of Many Faces didn’t know whether to believe it or not.

After all, the story started with Zion defeating the Majin Prince, Arundel the Destroyer, at only seven years old.

Tales of Mammon appearing in that battle also circulated, which he confirmed with Mammon himself. The Fiend of Greed had indeed appeared in the Valbarra Archipelago a few years ago to defeat a Majin Prince.

Since the story was true, Dantanian followed Zion’s tales like an Auntie looking for the juiciest gossip he could find.

One by one, the epic stories of Zion Leventis were unearthed.

His battle against the Artemians in the Arcadia Archipelago.

His adventure in the closed-off world of Fractured Heaven, a land that even Dantanian himself hadn’t set on.

Now that it had rejoined the rest of the continent, Dantanian visited it to confirm if the story was true or not.

Sure enough, the Lizardkins, the Ratkins, and the Goblins all admitted that someone named Zion Leventis had walked among them and defeated a Majin King as a Rookie.

That drastically kindled Dantanian’s interest in Zion Leventis, bordering on fanaticism.

Fighting against a Majin Prince was very different from fighting against a Majin King.

Last but not the least, the battle in Artem.

This battle wasn’t recorded fully since only those who accompanied Zion in the world of Artem were privy to such information.

However, Cranky had been there.

So, when Dantanian visited the Valbarra Archipelago in search of Zion, he was surprised to see another Celestial born without his knowing.

At first, Cranky thought Dantanian had come to harm Zion. But after he cleared the misunderstanding, the Honey Badger was more than happy to tell the Fiend of Many Faces about his best friend’s adventures.

Of course, he highlighted the events where he was also there to fight alongside him.

With Zion as a common interest, Cranky and Dantanian hit it off and became close friends on their first meeting.

Since the Honey Badger was still recuperating, it rejected Dantanian’s invitation to come with him to search for Zion.

"I need to recover as soon as possible since Zion is always at the center of the storm," Cranky had said back then. "After hearing you say that a Celestial has raised an army to cause trouble, I’m a hundred percent sure that Zion will be caught up in it sooner or later.

"That’s why I can’t go with you. The moment he faces off against that Celestial, I have to be on his side."

Dantanian was so touched by Cranky’s declaration that he spent a few days searching for miraculous herbs across the vast continent to give Cranky, helping him recover faster.

The Honey Badger didn’t reject these gifts, understanding that the sooner he healed, the better.

His best friend was doomed to fight a Celestial. In order to defeat Zaphiel, the teenage boy must also have a Celestial by his side.

"I’ve heard so much about you from Cranky!" Dantanian reached out to shake Thirteen’s hand repeatedly. "It’s really an honor to see you! A living legend!"

Forneus blinked once then twice before tilting his head to look at the teenage boy beside him.

He only thought of Thirteen as a temporary ally who shared the same interest. The Immortal Fiend also knew that he was only being used by the teenage boy to fight against Zaphiel.

But since he seemed to know about their Eldest, and he didn’t mind getting in the way of Zaphiel’s plans, he decided to join him.

However, seeing Dantanian so enamored by the Wanderer made Forneus wonder if there was more to Zion that meets the eye.

’I’ll ask Dantanian for information about this punkblayer,’ Forneus thought. "Are you still not done greeting this punk? Let’s have our meeting already."

"A-Ah! I almost forgot!" Dantanian reluctantly let go of Zion’s hand. "Let’s talk about our plan to counter Zaphiel and his allies."

Thirteen nodded. "I will take the two of you to a safe place where we can talk in private. Do not resist, okay?"

Forneus and Dantanian nodded in understanding.

Suddenly, they felt something try to suck them up. The thought of resisting appeared in Forneus’ head, but Zion’s reminder made him click his tongue in annoyance.

When the two Fiends regained their senses, they found themselves in an open place right beside the lake.

There were a few monsters around them, but a single glare by Forneus made Thirteen’s Monster Army back off.

Even Pica and Pico, who were usually fearless, decided that Forneus was bad news, so they let Giga take them away to safety.

"What an interesting place this is," Forneus commented after glancing around his surroundings.

"Oh! Is this the fabled Rocky’s Mobile Fortress?!" Dantanian’s eyes sparkled like that of a child. "Cranky mentioned this to me during our talks."

Thirteen then motioned for the two Fiends to sit with him in the conference table that had been built near the lake.

"First, let’s talk about the keys," Thirteen said. "I have two of them."

Dantanian’s jaw dropped after hearing this piece of information.

"Y-You already have two of the keys?!" Dantanian’s voice became a note higher. "How?! Do you know black magic?!"

If the Fiend of Many Faces had a tail, it would have been wagging wildly right now.

Forneus face palmed. Dantanian was fanboying over this weak human so much that he felt secondhand embarrassment.

"I can tell you how I got them later," Thirteen said calmly. "What you need to know now is that as long as we have these keys, Zaphiel wouldn’t be able to open Pandora’s Treasury."

"You’re right." Dantanian nodded. "But I also heard through my ability that the Celestial Army has an artifact that could pick up the location of the keys. Meaning, even if you have them, they can come to find you."

"Oh?" Thirteen arched an eyebrow. "Well, I guess Zaphiel really prepared for this moment. But it won’t matter. We’ll just play a game of chase with him until... he gets all the five keys."

"What will you do if he gets all the five keys?" Dantanian asked in curiosity.

"What else?" Thirteen smirked. "Take them from him, of course."

"... You will take the keys from Zaphiel? That’s suicide."

"You think?" Thirteen arched an eyebrow, while Forneus only sneered.

"Since we’re going to face them in the future anyway, what are you afraid of?" Forneus scoffed. "There will only be one result after all of this is over. Either Zaphiel gets all the keys or we get all the keys. That’s it."

"I know, but..." Dantanian still looked troubled because deep down, he was a pacifist.

"Don’t worry. You don’t have to fight him directly," Thirteen said, which made Dantanian calm down.

But his calmness only lasted for five seconds.

"All you need to do is steal the keys from Zaphiel when he’s not around," Thirteen stated. "You can do that right? I mean, among the Fiends, you are certainly the fastest runner."

"..."

The Fiend of Many Faces found himself being stared at by the Wanderer!and the Immortal Fiend.

Both had evil smiles on their faces. For some reason, he thought that they looked scarier than Zaphiel, who was commanding his Celestial Army at this very moment.