A diamond hidden within the gray line

Chaper 90: Recap, aftermath and the same stare.

-Narration-

It didn't take long for max and bowser to meet with nate who waited patiently for them to arrive. From there, especially when marx decided to show up out of nowhere, he gave information that bowser wasn't too happy about considering that the magishadow are
beginning to cause trouble, and hated that he wasn't the one causing it and was reminded that the trouble bowser would cause, is practically child's play to zöhm which bowser scoffed at.

Max's first mission was set in a small town near mt rugged where the magishadow have been seen and max was sent there to find nate's letter while disrupting the magishadow. However, bowser had a mission for max as well. He wanted him to find fawful, since zöhm made it known that he's very much alive but he was still skeptical about it, and in doing so, called out anyone who is a von ghoul on his airship to step forward, which only a small handful did once max assured them that nothing will happen to them. Only a handful stepped forward and bowser, even though he wasn't too thrilled about it, gave them the task of assisting max and making team known as wing official. Some were hesitant to even step forward knowing just dangerous it is, while others were tired of hiding and even said that they knew of others in other kingdoms.

As for mike and tyson...bowser personally invited them both to join him on his airship and while he formally announced mike as a new member of his army as a researcher, he also spoke to him privately and made it known that while he trusts max, he is ultimately concerned for him since he's a seventeen year old kid who is practically taking on an entire faction no one, including himself, has ever dealt with before in its entirety and asked him to keep tabs on max. With tyson, he simply wanted him to act as a scout for max and also wanted him to keep tabs on max. As for marx, he found this as an opportunity to search every location nate sends max in order to find what he's looking for.

The moment max, aka spike, shows up with his mask on and his new outfit he chose to wear is the moment both the magishadow and the innocent people are caught completely off guard and while he terrified people, it became obvious to the residents that he wasn't their enemy after he single handily made the small group of magishadow that were present to leave after the leader of the group was defeated and ultimately killed when max gave him the chance to walk away and they attempted to kill a innocent person. By the time max found nate's letter and went back home, the mushroom kingdom were all in a uproar over who they referred to as the 'masked man in black', and once kylie caught wind of it, she and her team set off to where he was last seen in hopes of encountering 'spike' again.

While max didn't enjoy the fact that he had to kill someone, he did enjoy intimidating the hell out of everyone and took it upon himself to hone his magical and aura skills and learn to use a gun other than the one marx gave him knowing that he can only use it when it was absolutely necessary and the same can be said of his starlight saber. For a week and a half, max was able to relax and not have to worry before nate called again, and sent him on another mission and max truly believed that things would be smooth sailing if the magishadow were this easy to beat, but knew that zöhm was always watching and hoped that he wouldn't interfere.

Weeks turned into months, and he never did find fawful, but he did encounter ignorance and fear, which is something the magishadow preyed upon. He never found dark bowser who he was also looking for, but there were a few times that he could sense an aura he almost instantly felt horror he couldn't even begin to describe that felt...old, yet had no intention of showing itself, and chose to say nothing even though he remained cautious knowing that he couldn't afford to looking for whatever had such an aura.

He knew exactly who dark bowser truly was, but the guilt he felt became a heavy burden on his shoulders and he couldn't bring himself to verbally say it knowing that it would make things highly complicated.