The Messenger of Death

"System, is it possible to pinpoint the petal from here?"

*Ping!

*The result is unknown, would you like the system to attempt pinpointing the energy from here?

"Yes."

*Attempting to pinpoint the energy from here, stand by for a result…

The system began searching once again, and unlike previous times, it was able to pinpoint the Midas petal faster than its previous attempts.

*Ping!

*The energy has been located. Would the user like to have GPS assistance to the destination?

"Yes!" Alex blurted out quickly in excitement.

*Activating the GPS, please stand by. GPS activated.

The familiar red arrow appeared on the Skin crawler's screen interface, pointing in a direction opposite the direction that Kymani and the rest of the prisoners went in.

Immediately Alex saw it, he frowned a bit. His superstitious mind started thinking of other things. Refusing to make a move, he said to the system; "System, change the color of the arrow to anything other than red. It looks like an unlucky color at the moment."

Almost instantly, the system responded to Alex and changed the color of the GPS arrow from red to blue.

"Ah, much better," Alex said and charged in the direction that the blue arrow was pointing at.

['Superstitious much?'] Lex joked, which was unlike him. Normally he knew that Al would have said something insulting or mocking at Alex. Lex did this as an attempt to make Al say something.

If Al was angry at Alex, he would still respond to Lex and Xander, but at the moment, he wasn't saying anything to any of them.

['Hey, I'll do anything to rid myself of bad vibes while searching for this petal.'] Alex smiled as he said.

Alex left the beach in a short while and entered a vine dominant forest. Everything in the forest looked as if they were connected one way or another. Either the roots of a tree were entangled around the root of another, or there were vines naturally growing from one tree and connecting to another tree. These trees were dark green, so dark that they almost gave off an eerie feeling.

Alex had never seen anything like it, but he didn't have time to observe the unfamiliar trees, he was charging straight to the Midas petal, albeit having to use the swords on his waist to cut the vines on his way that could possibly slow him down.

"You've finally arrived, Alexander." Alex heard a familiar voice in his head and a smile crawled up his face.

"Mr. Guardian!!" Alex called out excitedly.

"I can see that you are excited." Mr. Guardian said. "You are the one we have been waiting for. The competition for the Midas petal would have started without you if you have not arrived in 24 hours." He added.

Hearing this, it took Alex a few seconds to process what Mr. Guardian just said. "We? You mean the Midas seed carriers?" A frown appeared on Alex's face as he mentioned the seed carriers with a spiteful tone.

['Those bastards made it here before us!'] Alex thought and clenched his teeth. The vein on the side of his head popped out due to the strength Alex was using to clench his teeth.

['Maybe that's why I was feeling uneasy through the journey to this place, but it doesn't explain the danger that I was feeling.'] Xander commented.

"Hahaha, you seem to have developed a hate for the seed carriers, even if they are the ones that are truly entitled to the Midas petals." Mr. Guardian laughed gently.

Alex knew that they were entitled to the Midas petal, and that was what pissed him off the most. They wanted what he needed the most, even if they needed it too, Alex couldn't care less for their needs. However, it was the same for them, they couldn't care less for Alex's needs too.

"And Milo?" Mr. Guardian asked.

'Come out Milo," Alex called out and his right hand turned black and heavy for a second. Milo appeared in his liquid form before turning into a Persian cat and jumped on Alex's shoulder.

"Meow!" Milo greeted. Alex was about to tell Mr. Guardian what Milo meant by that when Mr. Guardian replied to Milo correctly.

"Nice to meet you again too Milo. It is surprising to see that you can imitate sounds that correspond to your intentions now."

['I forgot that Mr. Guardian is on a different level for a second there.'] Alex thought.

"Alexander, this competition for the petal will be the most vicious yet because of the new variables. Are you sure that you still want to continue?" Mr. Guardian questioned.

"Yes," Alex answered without any hesitation.

"Even if your chances of dying will be the highest amongst everyone competing?"

"Yes," Alex answered again, not sure why Mr. Guardian was asking him these questions. He had been in danger of dying both times he went after a Midas petal. He wasn't questioned like this those times. Alex began wondering what exactly had changed this time around.

"Alright then… Because of the promise that I made to you, I have pressured you to search for the petals due to my curiosity. But at this point, I don't want to see you die. The rules of the competition this time would differ from the previous ones. During the competition I will not interfere even if you are about to lose your life… but before then, I can give you a little preferential treatment." Mr. Guardian said.

All this talk was making Alex feel uneasy, he began overthinking everything.

['What is he trying to tell me? What other preferential treatment am I getting again? Allowing me to take the petal is already a preferential treatment that no one else is getting.'] Or so Alex thought.

"The two of you who have been watching over my young friend over here, be it evil or good intentions you have for him, I have a task for you." Mr. Guardian's voice echoed in the forest, different from how he and Alex had been conversing for a while now.

Alex quickly turned around and searched for who had been following him. ['I'm sure that I wasn't being followed by anyone!']

['Calm down, don't panic.'] Xander said, his voice bringing some subtleness to Alex. Alex quickly calmed down, but he didn't let his guard down…

Argus was up in the clouds watching Alex stand in one spot and seeing his facial expressions change on their own. He couldn't understand why Alex was doing this so he wondered if Alex had brain problems.

And then Argus heard a voice echo in the forest. This voice made his heart, beat like never before, and made him feel an oppressive might that he had never experienced before. Argus brought out a few talismans and held them in his hands, ready to use them at any point. These talismans have life-protecting and life-saving effects after activation.

These talismans of his were capable of going against cultivators with immense power, people that could almost compete with Nana. Even Nana would have little difficulties dealing with the talismans if she didn't take them seriously. Argus had after all gotten them from a powerful runemaster that came from the Celestial plain realm.

Argus didn't focus on what Mr. Guardian said, he just knew that the owner of the voice was incomparably stronger than anyone he had come across.

"Why don't the two of you show yourselves?" Mr. Guardian uttered and against their wills, Argus and a stranger appeared in front of Alex, both with a confused and shocked expression mixed on their faces.

"Teacher Argus!?" Alex blurted out as soon as he saw Argus.

He then looked at the other person that appeared with Argus. It was a young woman that was dressed as a man. As if she was trying to hide her identity, she had pink hair that she rolled into a bun and held in place with a simple silver hairpin. Black eyes that were filled with curiosity, playfulness, and a tinge of sorrow.

This lady wore a white long sleeve shirt with loose ends. She also had tight black leather trousers on and a brown waistcoat. Despite her attempt to look masculine, she couldn't hide her feminine features completely… well, she did succeed in covering the natural burst on her chest, making it no different from that of a man's.

Nonetheless, she couldn't hide her feminine shape completely.

['That's a girl, right?'] Alex asked, unsure of what he was seeing. He unintentionally glanced at this lady's butt. It wasn't big or small, but was round and attractive in its way, gracing her figure with a unique and alluring temperament.

['I think so too.'] Lex replied.

['There are guys with feminine shapes though, we can't judge from looks alone.'] Xander said.

Usually, Al would have joined in but surprisingly he didn't. Alex, Xander, and Lex were now sure that Al wasn't pleased with them.

['Al, what do you think?'] Lex made an attempt to talk to him.

['I don't care.'] Al grumbled his reply. His voice was almost inaudible to the rest.

His reply confirmed their assumption.

Unintentionally, Alex's mind diverted and he began recalling the naked bodies of the women that Xander saw in the forest of prisoners. Alex couldn't tell if it was because of repressed emotion that was resulting in this sexual frustration that he was experiencing.

A sexual frustration strong enough to make him temporarily ignore the situation that he was in. Alex's cheeks started to turn rosy against his wishes. He tried to look elsewhere, but his eyes kept on coming back to this young lady-man's butt.

['Come on Alex, she might be a he!!?'] Alex shouted to himself.

Slowly, a budge started appearing in-between his legs.

-Switch.