Thirteen sat on top of a hill, gazing at the Kingdom of Seneros in the distance.
But he wasn't looking at the city itself, but the thing behind the city.
A mile away from the city was the great wall that isolated the Fractured Heaven from the rest of the world.
It was the Old God's last-ditch effort to ensure that the denizens of Absolute Heaven survive the Jinn invasion.
But, it also trapped them, preventing them from being part of the bigger world.
The Old God was the Ancestor of the Absolutes and was the strongest of them all. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the "First Absolute" for he was truly unrivaled.
Using his superhuman strength and expertise in Ancient Technology, he created the wall with the help of his people, so that the seedlings of their race wouldn't vanish from the world.
However, this wall was special. Just as it blocked the Jinn Invasion, it also completely cut off the Fractured Heaven from the rest of Solterra.
No flying creatures could fly over this way.
No monster could dig under it.
And no matter how strong one was, they would be unable to break down the wall.
Because of this, the wall had remained in place for hundreds of years, protecting a tenth of the Absolute Heaven's territory.
But the Hybrid Absolutes could no longer stop their wish of breaking down the wall that separated them from the outside world.
In their point of view, they had become outcasts, and this was something that they couldn't accept.
Out of desperation, they formulated many ways on how they might be able to tear down the wall and survive the Jinns that were waiting for them on the other side.
Although tearing down the wall itself was extremely hard, surviving after it was removed was the real problem that they had to face.
Because of this, they decided to conduct a Summoning Ceremony to call forth a creature that would surpass Majin Princes, Princesses, and Archons.
They wanted to summon a Colossi.
An existence stronger than ones they considered their enemies.
An existence that was the counterpart of the Majin King, whom people believe only existed in Myths and Legends.
Some believed that the Seven Fiends were Majin Kings who had broken through their current Rank and became Fiends.
But whether these rumors were true or not, no one could really confirm because the Seven Fiends were beings that no one dared to mess with.
As for the existence of Majin Kings?
Deep inside, people believed that they existed.
But they refuse to accept their existence.
If they truly existed, they didn't dare to make their presence known in fear that the Seven Fiends and Seven Celestials would exterminate them.
The only beings who were allowed to roam the world were Majin Princes, Princesses, and Archons.
Anyone above that rank would be killed without mercy. This kept the balance of the world, allowing the Seven Fiends and Seven Celestials to stand above all.
"I guess that's the only way," Thirteen muttered. "There's no other way."
Four days had passed since Thirteen and his team had met with King Xanmara.
After returning to their base camp and informing everyone of his discovery, Thirteen ordered the Wanderers to start hunting monsters to gain Cores and Items, then preserve their meat for emergency food rations.
The Wanderers accepted this mission and hunted monsters to gain their cores and farm items.
They felt intimidated when they found out that they were about to clash with a Monarch and seven more creatures whose Ranks were Rank 8 and above.
With such an overwhelming disparity in strength, some of them started to despair.
Fortunately, Erica and Diana were there to start the "Zion Propaganda."
Since the teenage boy had led the Alliance to reclaim the Rigel Continent, they used his achievements to encourage everyone to do their best.
This worked wonders, and because of this, all the Wanderers started to focus all of their time on hunting monsters to absorb Cores and become a little bit stronger.
"Is everything alright, Boss?" Sherry asked as she approached the teenage boy from behind.
"Yes," Thirteen answered. "Are the preparations going well?"
"They are," Sherry replied. "Rocky is busy building underground tunnels and caverns that we can use as shelter."
"Good." Thirteen nodded. "By your estimate, how many days do we need to reach our quota?"
Sherry pondered a bit. The young man's question was rather tricky.
She was in charge of supervising the amount of food that would be stored. This stock was expected to last the Wanderers and other races two weeks.
Since their numbers were a little over nine hundred, their daily food consumption was nothing to scoff at.
"A week," Sherry stated. "I believe that a week will be enough to reach our target quota."
Thirteen pondered before nodding in understanding.
"A week is cutting it too close for comfort, but there's nothing we can do about it," Thirteen said. "Desperate times call for desperate measures."
Their second mission had a time limit of thirty days, and if he were to wait until they were ready to implement his plan, only twelve days would remain before their mission ended.
He didn't know if twelve days would be enough for the barrier to be destroyed, so he decided to play it safe, and make some adjustments to their plan.
"Four days," Thirteen stated. "Tell everyone that they should hunt as much as they can within four days. After that, David and the other Apostles will ration the food so that it will last longer."
Sherry sighed before sitting beside the teenage boy, and gazed at the city in the distance.
"What's your plan?" Sherry asked. "I know that you're planning to do something while keeping the Wanderers safe from harm, but what exactly will happen in four days?"
"You'll know after four days," Thirteen replied. "It will be a surprise."
"I don't like the sound of that," Sherry commented. "Your surprises are not for the faint of heart."
Thirteen smiled faintly. He knew that if he told Sherry and the others what he was planning, they might all faint or tie him up to prevent him from doing something crazy.
In order to prevent his plan from being delayed, he decided to just keep them all to himself.
Truth be told, even he didn't know the consequences of his actions.
But since King Xanmara told him that he would personally hunt Thirteen down after three weeks, the teenage boy decided to make him understand that he shouldn't mess with someone whom he shouldn't offend no matter what.
Thirteen had also prepared some insurance just in case things spiraled out of control.
But until that time came, he would just watch as the world burned, and laugh at the Hybrid King who must be thinking that everything was under his control.
***
Somewhere near the wall of Fractured Heaven…
A young lady with long black hair, tied up with a butterfly hairpin, walked above the wall and gazed across the monster-filled lands in the distance.
A sigh then escaped the young lady's lips before shaking her head helplessly.
'Soon,' the young lady said softly. 'I'll see you soon.'