Are You Larot?

"Hey, you girls are here too!" Leila shouted as she saw her friends Rachel and Ada approaching. With them came Eduard and Riota. The giant fox, which had been fighting fiercely, suddenly transformed into a child wearing a fox mask—it was Benjamín. From the fox's back before its transformation, Floud, his teammate, descended and joined the group with an alert gaze.

"Well, boss, I see you've had quite the trouble," Eduard remarked as he surveyed the scene, pointing toward where Adia was fiercely battling Geros.

"Yes, but it's not time to celebrate yet," Drake replied without taking his eyes off the clash between the mage and the dark entity.

"And how did you all get here, my friend?" Drake asked, turning to Eduard.

"It's a long story," Eduard began, but Gat interrupted him abruptly.

"Less talk, more combat, old-timers!" Gat exclaimed with his usual impudence, earning a scathing glare from Drake.

"You little devil, just wait until we get back to base," Drake muttered under his breath, though Gat only responded with a mocking grin.

At that moment, Reia's voice echoed in Podbe's mind: "Quest completed."

"Alright, come to me. My 2000 points... Now there are 3000 left," Podbe said in a somewhat disheartened tone, reflecting his frustration at not reaching the desired level.

"Don't worry, you'll earn them if we help Adia," Aiden interjected, entering the shared mental space with Podbe through their telepathic link.

"Aiden, good to have you back, buddy. I see you've healed," Podbe said cheerfully.

"Yeah, thanks to Maria," Aiden replied with a smile.

"So, your friend is a healing mage," Reia commented from within that mental chamber where everyone seemed connected.

"Well, with you by my side, everything will be easier and better," Podbe affirmed with determination.

"Yes!" Aiden shouted enthusiastically. He was about to tell Podbe about the two crescent marks on his forehead.

"We'll talk later; we need to help," Podbe instructed, and both nodded before returning to the real world, leaving the mental space behind.

Everyone quickly regrouped and ran toward where Adia continued to fight Geros. Just then, a cold voice boomed over the speakers: "Damn fools." It was Maos, whose face appeared on one of the nearby monitors. "Do you really think you're going to interrupt the boss's fight? Not a chance."

Before they could intervene in Adia's battle, someone stepped forward, blocking their path.

"You again?" Eduard said, immediately recognizing Sir Larot, The Dark Knight, standing before them in his imposing obsidian armor that gleamed under the dim light.

"I see this guy isn't much of a talker, unlike last time," Gat commented as he prepared to attack.

"That's true," the children added. "Last time, he went on about how he'd destroyed us all, and that thing even helped us at one point. We thought he might change, but I guess not," Aiden reflected, trying to say something to The Dark Knight, who remained motionless before them.

"I sense that he's not the same," Podbe murmured, noticing an alert in his system that Reia read aloud within his mind: "Imminent danger. You must flee the area."

"What the hell was that?" Podbe exclaimed, confused.

"The system has warned us about things like this before, but if we've defeated him sometimes… I think it's mistaken," the canine said, trying to calm his anxiety.

Gat launched his signature shots, but none hit Larot, who blocked every projectile with his sword using supernatural precision. Without giving them time to react, The Dark Knight vanished into thin air, only to reappear behind Gat. With a devastating kick to the stomach, he knocked the wind out of him and sent him flying toward one of the nearby walls, where he crashed with a deafening thud.

"He's incredibly fast," Riota muttered as he watched Larot move with superhuman speed. However, the young man didn't hesitate to charge at him. "If I can touch him, I'll be able to acquire that ability," he declared resolutely as he ran closer. But before he could even graze The Dark Knight, Larot unsheathed the scabbard of his sword and struck Riota hard on the back, incapacitating him instantly.

"Oh no! Riota!" Benjamín shouted, horrified as he saw his companion fall. Without a second thought, the boy transformed back into a giant fox, but this time his tail had taken the form of octopus tentacles, giving him an even more imposing appearance.

"Wait! Benjamin, don't do it! Something's wrong with that guy," Eduard warned from behind, raising his voice in an attempt to stop him. But it was too late. The boy, enraged by his friend's defeat, lunged at Larot with an ear-splitting roar.

Larot, however, moved like a gazelle, dodging each of the giant fox's attacks with almost insulting ease. Even the octopus tentacles emerging from the fox's tail failed to reach him. With a precise motion, The Dark Knight extended a finger and struck the back of the fox's neck with surprising force, rendering him unconscious on the spot.

"Well, that makes three," Zeus remarked from above, observing the scene on a hidden monitor. A sinister smile spread across his face as he reflected on what was unfolding. "Everything is going according to plan," he said to himself, rubbing his hands in anticipation. "Almost all the pieces on the board are here now. I wanted it to happen another way, but this will work just fine."

Despite his initial plans for world domination through the controlled beings being thwarted, Zeus didn't seem worried. "Even though they've ruined my first plans, I still have another ace up my sleeve," he muttered with an evil laugh, licking his lips as he watched the chaos unfold before his eyes.

Entering this zone, Aragon observed with growing concern. "But what's wrong with my disciple? Something bad has been done to him... I don't sense his aura the same way as before," he murmured to himself, frowning as he tried to perceive more details. "What did you do to him, Maos? And why did you allow it, Zeus?" His mind was torn between intervening or not. He felt used, like just another piece on the chessboard of someone far more powerful, and that feeling was slowly consuming him.

"He's strong," Eduard commented, watching as Larot moved with inhuman agility. "If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have lost my arm," he said, addressing Drake.

"So that one you're wearing is a prosthetic?" Drake asked, pointing at Eduard's arm with curiosity.

"You forget that I can regenerate myself. Well, my cells can do it through a machine I designed and that Adrian built, of course, using my blueprints," Eduard explained proudly, though his tone turned reflective. "It was still in the testing phase, but apparently, it works. Maybe we can make your arm grow back, and you won't have to wear that long glove covering your entire arm."

"Perhaps," Drake replied, sinking briefly into a memory of his past, his expression melancholic. "But this is a mark that will remind me for life of what happened long ago with my brother."

Meanwhile, Geros, communicating through earphones with Eros Laos, smiled maliciously. "Well, well, they sent him so soon. It seems there's going to be a very, very good reunion here. Only your foolish son is missing," he muttered to himself, reveling in the chaos unfolding.

"What do you mean by that?" Adia asked, trying to stay focused while casting magical shields to protect herself from Geros's attacks.

"All in due time, girl. All in due time," Geros responded calmly, launching another torrent of dark energy toward her.

"That one's going to finish us all if we don't act quickly," Drake remarked as he tried to keep up with Larot, who was attacking relentlessly. The girls from Squad C used their telekinetic powers to shield him, raising improvised barriers that barely managed to withstand The Dark Knight's blows.

Eduard launched one of his most powerful attacks at Larot, but he simply took his sword and deflected the impact with almost insulting ease.

"Impossible," Eduard muttered, surprised and frustrated. "But I know that if this one uses AURA like Aragon, he's an extremely dangerous opponent."

"Nonsense! Let's attack him," Podbe instructed Reia, preparing to face Larot. With his hardness ability activated, the canine summoned his courage. "I don't need to hold back with you," he thought to himself, advancing resolutely toward The Dark Knight.