The Acknowledgement - Volume One

Wrapping it up (Volume Final)

                Each soldier had a job, and worked it. Killing ants, burning eggs, and gathering the essence stones. "Looks like I receive experience points for destroying ant eggs," Winter thought, "Lucky bonus," Ultima commented, "Inventory," they commanded, "I'll have to organize all of these one day," he sighed, "Hm?" They ask, reaching out to a forming sword grip, "I forgot we had this," they commented as the blade in one hand. Keeping the tip pointed up, with an aquamarine aura and electricity emanating from it. "Let's give it a whirl-" they decided, swinging it in a circle in their right hand with electric trails streaking behind it. Swinging it across their body as a wave of an electric storm streaks across the room into the eggs, "Woah! It'd be a waste to keep this in my inventory!" They laughed, "I should use this to get rid of the remaining eggs," they continued.

                Off in Flore, a light was on late at night in a castle-like mansion. The TV was showing the events of the Kauai Island raid, "What do you make of this, Mr. Davis?" A middle-aged man with green eyes and blonde hair asks. He wore a formal business attire. "I watched the videos. I didn't realize how much time had passed. It's already well past four in the morning," a stocky middle-aged man with light brown hair that he wears in a small ponytail, blue eyes, and a neatly trimmed beard. He wore a simple white collared shirt and a pair of gray beige pants. "Director, sir-" the young man began, only to be interrupted by Mr. Davis- "You already know my answer, Mr. Hodge. Isn't that why you came to my house at this ungodly hour?" He asks. "A Mythic that can summon and command over a hundred beasts, Mr. Greats is truly one of a kind," Mr. Hodge replied, "I think I'd be a shame to let such talent go to waste. Klato is too small for a powerful man like him," he added. "I agree, but do you know anything else about him?" Mr. Davis asks, "This file contains details about the unprecedented explosion at the MDA Bureau a couple of months ago-" Mr. Hodge slapped a file on Mr. Davis' desk and slid it over to him- "Otherwise known as the 'Unprecedented explosive visit,' by Cyrus," he began, "According to Cyrus, the man knew his mother and asked for the whereabouts for his brother, Winter Greats. At first, we weren't sure if he was a human or monster, but he claims to be above us 'monkeys' and had a fling with Debris Throndsen," Mr. Hodge explained. "The information provided by Cyrus on this mysterious man at the time of the incident still remains on file in the MDA Bureau, but this man claims to be the father of Winter Greats by implication," he added. "We have been presented with the perfect opportunity, sir-" Mr. Davis looked through the file- "As of now, no one else has even hard of Winter Greats' name," Mr. Hodge explained, "We can't do the same thing we did with Billy Bob, Klato's MDA chairman is in affiliation with the President, and if we took another S-rank, it'd be a slap in the face," Mr. Davis sighed, "But Winter would be worth the risk, wouldn't it?" Mr. Hodge asks, watching Davis close his eyes, "Are you sure you can do this?" He asks, looking at Hodge, "I'll give it my best shot, sir," he replied.

~>System<{" The [Player] Has [Leveled up]!"}>It rang<~

                 "Did I reach level one hundred?" Winter asks, hearing the ring of the system. Stepping through the corpses of the ants with billows of smoke behind him.

~>System<{" MAIN STATUS: [Name: Winter Greats], [Level: 100],"}>it displayed<~

                He returns the sword to his inventory, "Finally," Winter sighed, letting go of the grip of the sword. "This one seems unusually troubled," he commented, looking down at the ant king's corpse. "Arise," he commanded and just like before with Hellraiser, a powerful darkness surrounds Winter. He looked around again, "Seriously, why is this happening? I can't feel or see anything," Winter sighed, turning his body around, "Does it happen because I'm extracting powerful shadows? Or perhaps it's the overwhelming mana that's doing this while their form is being constructed," he wondered, "Ah, good. I'm back again," he commented as the darkness melted away. Behind him, a figure of shadows stood up, and Winter turned back to face it.