113 Aiko's Birthday

"Pitiful?" Black Devil turned his head towards Maestro of Death. He was deeply offended. He stood up and smashed both of his hands on the table. "With Overlord Sitan in our ranks. We are invincible! Do you doubt his-"

"Quiet." Sitan's eerily calm voice sounded out. His tone was that of a king's. However, it was different from Hayden's. Sitan's was more of a demonic king's, not a divine king's. "Sit down, Black Devil. As for you, Maestro of Death. Are you doubting the capabilities of the organization you've invested on?"

"N-no, Your Excellency." Maestro of Death was subdued by this aura. He was a mere Level 3 wielder. He can't possibly fight a Level 5. Even with his Touch of Death. "I-I'm merely reminding that Puting Araw's forces are much higher than ours. Compared to them, ours is indeed pitiful. Additionally, I should remind that they are allied with the government."

"Are you scared of Puting Araw?" Sitan asked nonchalantly.

"I-I'm just being careful, sir." A trickle of sweat went down the side of Maestro of Death's forehead from anxiety. The aura that Sitan was exuding was suffocating for everyone. Especially for him, the target of this. "I don't think it's worth it to wage an all-out war in the present."

"Do not worry about that." Sitan waved his hand. "As long as you have me, we're invincible. Rose merely weakened me during our last fight. And I came back stronger. How about you, Forest Giant? You have any qualms?"

"Nothing really." Forest Giant had a tranquil smiled plastered on his face in spite of the recent happenings. "I have anticipated for this to happen. Two Level 5 wielders in the same side is not something that Rose will not be able to take. I let you know that you have my whole support. Along with my Forest Guardians.���

"Smart man." Sitan complimented. "Regardless, what we should take into account is that damned Pangkat Anino. That is why we will attack every single one in Mindanao without going to Luzon. We will remove every single base of Puting Araw in Mindanao. Black Devil?"

"Yes, sir." Black Devil stood up. "Through my connections, I have found that Rose and his band of wielders is in Mindanao. I have sent her in a wild goose chase during the past few days to search for our bases. Such a cautious woman is easy to manipulate."

Black Devil paused to look around. He continued. "As such, Rose wouldn't be anticipating an attack right under her nose. And that's what we will do. With Lord Sitan's powers, we can destroy three bases in one fell swoop. Or, in the worst case, two. After all, Rose's protected base at Surigao del Sur, somehow wards my Ability, preventing me from opening a portal within."

Sitan laughed manically and diabolically. It was a terrifying demonic laughter. When he finished, he said, "Okay, take it away again."

Black Devil coughed to clear his throat. "Okay. Corrupter, Blood King, Graybeard, Earthquake, and Maestro of Death will be raiding the currently recovering Zamboanga Main Headquarter branch. Me, Forest Giant, and Fan Maiden will be raiding the Cotabato Branch. And lastly, Lord Sitan will be destroying Surigao del Sur by himself."

"Splendid." Sitan clapped with an uncharacteristic giggle. "Okay, make your preparations. We do this in Monday, during the Annual Youth Pride. That way, many of the Puting Araw agents are in the World Government Island."

"Then why the wild goose chase?" Fan Maiden finally spoke. "If we're going to raid their base while the Annual Youth Pride is happening, what's the wild goose chase for?"

"It's to wear Rose out." Black Devil replied. "By today, she and her band of Walong Sinag ng Araw has infiltrated eight fake locations. She's going to get mentally tired, and she's going to expect a preemptive strike. Now, since we're attacking on Monday, it is the perfect time when her guard is lowered."

"We are one step ahead of them." Sitan belly laughed. "Ah, it's so fun playing the bad guy. You have nothing to protect. Nothing to worry about at all. I love it. Okay, meeting adjourned. Make your final preparations."

"Yes, Your Highness." Everyone stood up as black portals was conjured behind them. They all stepped inside.

"Ah, this world is definitely much more exciting." Sitan chuckled.

Meanwhile, in Blood King's penthouse. When the portal closed up, Blood King's face contorted in rage. "Fucking hell. Why did he have to return? Now of all times. The second I was going to betray them.

Taking out his phone, Blood King contacted someone. "Hey. I need you to do something. A small favor. Shut up! Would you do it or not? What can I give you? Mhm…. We'll talk about that later. Meet me here in my penthouse, you know where it is."

With that, Blood King cut the call in exasperation. He walked out of the room and into the balcony. Since it was 5:40, the sun was already setting. He leaned on the glass railing.

"Jeez. I hate calling my sister." Blood King sighed. "But I guess she's my best bet. I don't have a good feeling about the return of the boss… There's something off about him. If I want to live… Well, she really is my best bet."

…..

6:00 PM. Rain Sanctuary Hotel. The suite. The place was already decorated with birthday stuff. Especially the dining table part.

On the sofa were every CHORUS member except Aiko, Mi-sun, Jae-hwa, and Jin-ae. They all had casualwear on. On Mieko's lap was Dawn. On Chung-hee's lap was Dusk. The coffee table were full of wrapped gifts.

Hayden and Jin-ae came out of the kitchen wearing aprons. Hayden has got out of his jersey and currently wore a red polo shirt underneath his black apron, jeans, and sneakers. He carried with him a platter of 'Adobong Manok at Baboy' and Lumpia.

Jin-ae followed closely behind him. She carried with her a platter of Pancit Palabok and Sisig. Afterwards, the two carried out four more dishes, Carbonara, Lechon, Sautéed Garlic Butter Shrimp, and an enormous pizza that has various toppings of pepperoni, shrimp, chives, and many more.

The two set up the dining table. At 6:05, Hayden took out a two-part blueberry chocolate cake, with the base being larger. The cake was decorated with a message of 'Happy' on the side of the top layer and 'Birthday' on the side of the bottom layer.

Atop the cake was a miniature Aiko, surrounded by sugar flowers that were chocolate flavored. The sculpture version of Aiko was holding up the numbers 2 and 5, with a candlewick on each.

"Can't believe you're this much of an expert cook." Jin-ae stood in front of the dining table with Hayden. She was in disbelief. "Tsk, I'm kind of envious of Eun-ha and Sayuri now."

"Want me to teach Daehyun-ssi to cook?" Hayden lightheartedly nudged Jin-ae.

"Don't take the pleasure of cooking for my man from me." Jin-ae rejected with a pout. Hayden admired her for that. "Teach Eun-ha or Sayuri."

"His cooking is too complex for me." Eun-ha interjected without looking at them. "Also, he likes cooking for me."

"We don't want to take that away." Sayuri bridged Eun-ha's answers with her own response. "He's the man in the kitchen. We respect that."

"Psh, you guys just want to eat my food more." Hayden rolled his eyes. In response to this, the two laughed in agreeance. "You guys will stream this, right?"

"Yep. It's kind of required from us." Jin-ae nodded. "You know, an idol needs to do so. It's not that much of a hassle."

"When will you start?" Hayden took off his apron. "6:30?"

"When the text message-" Jin-ae was cut short by a scream from Madoka.

"They're arriving, they're arriving!"

"Okay, I'll excuse myself." Hayden walked to Mieko to get Dawn. He thanked her prior to acquiring her. The same with Chung-hee. At the elevator, Hayden was with Sayuri and Eun-ha. "You guys don't have to send me off, you know? I'm literally only going upstairs so that you guys won't be bothered while streaming."

"You're chasing us off?" Sayuri adorably pouted. "You don't want your 'see you later' kiss from us?"

Hayden formed a dry smile and blinked innocently at the two. This caused the two to titter. They kissed Hayden on the lips before he went to the roof.

On the roof, Hayden sat on a bench and inhaled the cold breeze. He put Dusk and Dawn on his lap. It was a rare moment of peace for Hayden. He patted Dusk and Dawn on the head.

The two rubbed their heads on his clothes to show their own affection. It was cute. An idea popped up in his head. "Do you guys know of what triggers the Lagusang Itim?"

Dusk and Dawn stared into Hayden's eyes. Telepathically, they expressed their own cluelessness to this matter. "Then what can you tell me of the Kabilang Mundo?"

Voila. Dusk and Dawn both had information for him. A few minutes of talking later, Hayden found out a little more of the Kabilang Mundo, or The Other Side. Or at least from where Dusk and Dawn was from.

From the continent they were from in the Kabilang Mundo, named Welyania, it was full of things that humans on Earth couldn't fathom. The short version of it would be: It was a complete fantasy in the Kabilang Mundo.

Each and every living organism was considered a form of cognizant. Trees? Cognizants that are much stronger than the trees here. Fruits? All of the fruits in the wild had at least one effect!

The two also informed Hayden of one thing. The two most human-like creature on Welyania was: The Kizea (Singular: Kizeum) and the Ashirothir (Singular: Ashirothis). These two terms have no direct translation to English.

These two races didn't co-exist in any way whatsoever. Which is why Welyania was divided into two sides: The western side where the Kizea civilization lived, and the eastern side where the Ashirothir lived.

Irrespective of this, in the very middle of the continent, there was the Pilvus Thorias (Chaotic Border). The Pilvus Thorias is a ridiculously large expanse of forests that was hard to cross due to the dangers it carried. One danger was that it was filled of hostile cognizants, such as the Desrothir (Plural of Desrothis) and Hazia (Plural of Hazium).

Going back to the two civilizations. First, the Kizea. The Kizea is a powerful human-like creature with powers belonging from the heavens. They all had angelic-like wings and a halo atop their heads. They were basically the angels that humans describe.

A Kizeum, at birth, is powerful enough to fight against Level 1 cognizants. It was proof that they were indeed cognizants themselves. As for their Ability, they all share one: The power to manipulate light and tap into 'celestial power,' like how Dawn and her parent did. Except more powerful

On the other hand, the Ashirothir was the polar opposite. Most of the Ashirothir had purplish skin with black horns made of black shells-like organic matter that acts as natural armor. The same black shell also covered their tails and acted as spaulders, poleyns, and gauntlets.

Likewise, an Ashirothir, at birth, is powerful enough to go toe to toe against Level 1 cognizants. Dusk, the Desrothis, expounded to Hayden. "You humans in this realm might think that the Ashirothir is the villain in this story. You can't be more wrong."

"What do you mean?" Hayden asked Dusk.

"You see, in ancient times, these two species lived in harmony." Dawn was the one to speak. "That was when the sixteenth Zirus Kiza (Zi-rus Kit-sa), or simply, The Pontifex Celestial, became greedy. He secretly trained an army of elite Kizeum and ordered to kill every single Ashirothir in the western side, declaring war on the Ashirothir. At least that's what the story all non-human creatures living within the Pilvus Thorias knows. Nevertheless, we all do know one thing for sure, the Desrothis are… By your standards, kind."

"Ah, greed is such a common cause for war." Hayden shook his head in disappointment. "Guess the Kizea is pretty stupid and human-like."

"Now that I think of it. Your Ability, Indestructible Devil, is slightly reminiscent to that of an Ashirothis." Dusk had a pondering expression. It was awfully human. "I wonder why?"

"Well, all I know is that my Ability is a hybrid of two races: The Indestructible Titan, and the Phantom Demon." Hayden explained. "If this Ashirothir is the Phantom Demon, maybe. The thing is, I don't know the appearance of a Phantom Demon, hence, we can't confirm this."

"How about your second Ability?" Dawn verbalized herself. Well, it was more of a growl as they were communicating telepathically, not verbally. "Divine Perception?"

"Well, its origins are unclear to me as well." Hayden shrugged. "My Origin Crystal did not give me any information on it whatsoever. I treated it as a simple stroke of luck that I came to possess it."

"Curious." Dawn rested her back on Hayden's torso and stared into the horizon. "There has never been a precedent of somebody to possess Abilities of conflicting natures. At least not in the Kabilang Mundo."

"Huh." Hayden wasn't surprised by that. "Guess I'm a paradox, huh?"

"Indeed." Dusk jumped off of Hayden's lap and laid down on the couch, with her head on Hayden's leg. "I miss mom."

"Will you go back to the Kabilang Mundo if we encounter one again?" Hayden abruptly asked the two.

"I don't think that we should." Dawn yawned. Hayden liked that. "You see, your Earth couldn't begin to fathom how large Pilvus Thorias truly is. If I am correct, we are at a country called Philippines, in a continent called Asia. The Pilvus Thorias is definitely larger than Asia. Much, much, larger. Estimate Pilvus Thorias' size. Exaggerate it even more. And another time. You get Pilvus Thorias."

"What the fuck?" Hayden couldn't help cursing in surprise. "The Pilvus Thorias is that big?"

"Not only that." Dawn shook her head as she jumped off and raised her right hand as if stretching. "From stories of mother, the realm of the Ashirothir and Kizea has a land size considerably greater than Pilvus Thorias. And there are seven other continents much larger than Welyania."

"That's a tiring world to roam." Hayden couldn't wrap his mind around at the revelation of this information. "Goodness. Now I'm wondering what's the cause of this Lagusang Itim."

That was when his phone notification rang. Hayden checked it and saw that it was from his social media. For some reason, he was trending again. He opened it. As he watched it, Hayden smiled dryly.

"These eleven are really gunning it down, huh?" Hayden scoffed. "Tsk, saying that I approached them to 'cook for Aiko as I know it's her birthday.' What a lame excuse. Don't get me wrong, it's effective, but it's lame."

…..

Below, in the suite. Madoka, Sayuri, Mieko, Hsiao-Han, Eun-ha, Chung-hee, and Shu-Ching all stood around the dining table.

"She's here, she's here." Jin-ae came running from the direction of the elevator. With her phone, she dimmed the lights. She sandwiched herself beside Sayuri and Mieko.

That's when Aiko came in with Mi-sun and Jae-hwa in tow. The happy birthday song escaped CHORUS' mouth. Of course, Aiko was shocked of this. This was dwarfed when she smelled the freshly cooked food on the table.

She itched to rush towards the food as she recognized Hayden's cooking. She resisted it as she grasped that she was on stream. "Oh my god, you guys! This is a grand celebration unlike the last few times. Carbonara! Pizza! Goodness, that's an enormous pizza! And that cake! You guys overdid it! Where did you get all the money from? And that smell? what's that amazing smell? What are these?"

"Most of these are Filipino cuisine." Jin-ae optimistically said. "Guess who cooked it?"

"Don't tell me it's you?" Aiko talked with a lighthearted tone. She narrowed her eyes. "You learned all of these in a span of a few days?"

"What? No?" Everybody laughed. "Okay, I'll tell you. This is the courtesy of Hayden Emperador, the fan and big local celebrity that we met last time. He messaged our Eun-ha-ya here, asking if we have plans for Aiko's birthday. He cooked all of these with me and without anybody else's help."

The current stream was flooded with comments. They were envious of Hayden's involvement in all this. Yet, when they saw all those dishes, this was all gone. Especially that cake. How beautiful was that cake? And that miniature Aiko was awesome.

It was a known fact that Jin-ae was not a gifted baker. Hence, there were two scenarios that could've happened. Either Jin-ae learned how to bake, or it was Hayden who baked the cake. The latter had a higher chance of being true as Jin-ae herself stated that she wouldn't want to bake anytime soon during a recent stream.

"Let us all thank Hayden for this scrumptious meal." When Jin-ae said that, all of them stood up and bowed towards the screen. Including Aiko. "Thank you very much for the food, Hayden-ssi."

On that note, the birthday song began once more. This time, Aiko closed her eyes and blew on the candles.

With this, everybody took a plate. They all resisted the urge to charge in and take colossal amounts of food on their plates as they were on stream. Otherwise, the place would have probably been a havoc.

On the roof, Hayden was watching the stream. He was laughing at how hard the eleven wanted to fill up their plates, but didn't. "Ahh, good thing I mastered every type of cuisine prior to meeting them."

Hayden watched on the Streamlink with a smile plastered on his face. Jin-ae spoke to the camera. "Before we eat, we will first showcase the various gifts that Aiko received. Including one from Hayden. Again. Hayden sure is showering us with love."

Once again, the eleven bowed and thanked Hayden. It was a bit cringey for Hayden. 'Why are they needlessly thanking me time and time again?"

The stream shifted into the sofa. Aiko started opening the gifts and thanking the members. As well as Hayden. When that finished…

Jin-ae talked to the camera. "This is just a surprise stream for Aiko-noona. We will end it as we start eating. Goodbye guys!"

The stream ended. Hayden picked up Dusk and Dawn. He returned to the suite through the elevator. When he got out, CHORUS was ravenously gobbling up the food that Hayden served. There was no exception.

Aiko rushed to him and hugged him. This caused him to drop Dusk and Dawn, who ran back at Mieko and Chung-hee. "Thanks for the food, Hayden-ah."

"No problem." Hayden tapped Aiko on the back. "It's my pleasure."

When Aiko let him go, Hayden picked up a plate for himself and put a little bit of everything. He didn't have to worry about Dusk and Dawn as Mieko and Chung-hee were already feeding them. It was a cute sight for him, an animal lover.

He sat on the sofa with Sayuri and Eun-ha. Eun-ha talked to him, "Why is it that your cooking is addictive? Did you put drugs in this?"

"Yes." Hayden rolled his eyes. "The drug is called love."

Everybody said 'ew.' They never imagined that Hayden can joke in that manner. They all laughed. All in all, it was a merry event full of laughter and cheerfulness. Hayden thought of only one sentence. 'Life is good.'