Chapter 322 Monarch (1)

Taking a shower after a tiring fight was no less than bliss for Ashton. Especially ever since he started fighting these weird monsters. Also, showering made his mind focused, helping him to come up with his next plan.

He might have defeated Jacklin, but he knew people like him all too well. As long as Ashton had something that Jacklin wanted, he would cause some trouble for him. Not directly, but he will. At first, he thought the guards would do something since he had caused trouble for the second time.

But his worries were unfounded. First of all, it was Jacklin who picked a fight with him, and second of all, Ashton had all the right to challenge the alien for the fourth seat. Thus, legally, there was nothing anyone could do to him.

'Obviously, those bastards might bend some rules to get their revenge. If they come I'll just have to do what I have always done.'

He turned the knob and warm water rushed out of the floating shower head to hug his body, momentarily taking his worries away from him. After spending a good time inside the shower, he finally stepped out as the water droplets gently flowed down through his hair, down to his body, while carefully tracing his muscles.

After drying himself and wrapping a towel around his waist, he headed toward the room to inform Anna the shower was free for use.

As soon as he opened the door, Anna was standing right there. Her mouth was open, as she panted heavily. She stared at his shirtless body momentarily, before focusing on the lower regions.

"Go take a shower first, I'll feed you later," Ashton said and immediately rushed inside the room.

He could still feel her eyes on him, even though he couldn't use [Perception] anymore. That was the kind of lustful hunger Anna had for him.

"The longer you stare at me, the more your hunger would grow. So get going already."

N0 v el Next. CoM

"Y-Yes..." Anna mumbled before rushing inside.

"It's gonna be a long night, isn't it?" Ashton shook his head, "So much for getting some rest."

[Getting ready for a night of passion, are we?]

"You sure would like that, wouldn't you, fucking pervert?" Ashton glowered, "Well, now that you're up, there's something I would like to ask about."

[Shoot.]

"Like Hydra, Ursa must also be someone from Xyran history, correct?" Ashton proceeded once Astaroth confirmed his claims, "So tell me about it. Maybe I can figure out something about the trial from the story."

[Very well then... But I'm not sure if you'll like the story or not. I personally hated what happened to Ursa. Well, until she got her revenge. Mind you, taking revenge on a Xyran overlord is almost impossible, look at me-]

"I want to hear Ursa's story, not yours."

[Alright, you ungrateful brat. Here it goes.]

Back when the Xyrans became the new rulers of the galaxy, many high-ranking officials were sent to thousands of worlds to spread their legacy. To cement their place as the new 'gods' of the galaxy and force the lower civilizations to serve them.

One such official was Zorbak M'vilo, who happened to be one of the few males who served under Ibis. He travelled to the planet called Anvari, the home of golden-skinned people just like the Xyrans called the Gilori. But apart from their skin tone, nothing was alike between the two civilizations.

They did not have any hairs on their body and had spikes coming out of the back of their heads, which gave them a unique appearance. Once Zorbak arrived on their planet, due to his 'holistic' appearance and large wings, the Gilori immediately thought he was a messenger of the gods.

Zorbak was made the king of the city he had landed in. Over time, his influence grew and so did his family. Although he had a Xyran wife with him, that did not stop him from having multiple concubines.

As a result of his... libido, his wife made sure none of her maids was trying to form a physical connection with him. The last thing she wanted was to have her maids be a part of his disgusting harem. But there was one Gilori woman who caught his eyes.

She was Callisto, who was the head servant of the queen. Thus as a servant, she had sworn celibacy. Zorbak made countless efforts to sway her but failed time and time again. However, one day, Zorbak used his shapeshifting powers and changed himself into the form of the queen.

Once Callisto became unsuspecting of him, he revealed his true Identity and had his way with her. He ended up impregnating her with an illegitimate child. Calisto tried her best, but the child could not be hidden for long as her belly began to show.

Zorbak was scared that the queen will have his head if Callisto revealed the truth. After all, his wife was a vicious and unforgiving woman who had killed her brother for doing something similar to what he had done to Callisto.

Thus he used his shapeshifting abilities on Callisto, placing her in a curse thta transformed her into a Cerolion, a bear-like monster that the Xyrans used to train their young ones to fight. Once transformed, she couldn't speak the truth anymore.

Then Zorbak proceeded to have her taken to Euphoria in secret. Back then, Euphoria was used as a training base to train the upcoming soldiers.

The queen got worried that something might have happened to Callisto, but Zorbak filled her ears, saying she might have broken her vows and fled in shame. The queen didn't quite believe her husband, but in front of the evidence, she couldn't deny the possibility of that happening.

As for Callisto, she might have lost her ability to speak, but her conscience was still with her. Which made it more troublesome when she lost her child, due to being transformed into a beast. Following the death of the child, she gave herself a new name since she was no longer a maiden and called herself Ursa, the cursed.

Nobody knew of it but Callisto slowly learned more about shapeshifting, and after half a century successfully transformed herself back into being one of the most beautiful Gilori women and escaped from the planet with the help of some sympathisers to reveal the truth to her queen.

Zorbak was completely unaware of the approaching tragedy. Ursa knew every nook and cranny of the castle, thus the soldiers were just as clueless as anyone else. By the time Zorbak learned about it, it was already too late. The beans had been spilt.

For some reason, this angered the queen and instead of punishing Zorbak, she banished Ursa back to Euphoria. Only this time, her punishment was going to be a lot worse than merely transforming into a Cerolion.

Ursa, surprised by the turn of events, swore vengeance upon the Xyrans. But there was nothing she could do to Zorbak or to the queen, as she was now forever imprisoned on Euphoria.

"Wow, you Xyrans really are shitty bastards."

[Tell me about it! Tch, I'm so glad I decided to leave that part of me behind.]

"Yeah, that was your intention when you died."

[You are cruel, has anyone ever told you that yet?]

"Nothing I'll ever do would be able to compare to what the Xyrans have done. Enough of that... I'm still as clueless as ever to what the trial could be." Ashton sighed.

He had tried accessing the wristband to see if it would show him what the trial was going to be. Unfortunately, it wasn't possible. A wristband would only reveal the contents of the trial once the participant had entered the trial.

Obtaining information about the lower half of the trials wasn't a problem. Those who had completed the trial often sold that information for a suitable price. The new participants would use these information brokers to get the details.

Obviously, Aamon had already given them information about the trials he had cleared. But being a C-grade Xyran, he only managed to get 9 out of the twelve trials. Information about these 9 trials was already with Ashton and the girls.

Sadly, Hydra's, Ursa's and Draco's trials were not the ones the progenitors or Aamon knew about. On the positive side, none of the girls had any of the three mentioned trials, hence they did not have to worry about unnecessary things.

"The only ones who would have the information about these trials would be the seat holders of the trials." Ashton mumbled before embracing the futon, "They are not going to give up that information... probably."

[Especially after what you did to the Fourth seat fellow. The trials serve as a protective layer to their seats as a low-levelled challenger most likely wouldn't be able to overcome the trial and die.]

Ashton nodded and was about to say something when the bedroom door was thrown open and over a dozen armed guards entered the room. However, unlike the usual guards, these people were dressed in black uniforms.

"Mr Ashton Fenrir, you have been summoned by the Monarch of the first seat."