"Oh, okay. Thank you for the clear explanation" Layla thanked Muku.

"No need. It was my pleasure. Now, if anyone has questions anymore. Feel free to ask me" Muku addressed the group.

"Well... It seems no one has any more questions. If that's the case. Feel free to go advance. Oh and, remember that even if you haven't encountered your spirit beast. You can still imagine it from your life experiences or some other clues you might have. For example, let's take Emily. Her element is fire. Her class has the word "phoenix" in it. For that reason, I think it's safe to assume that she should probably try envisioning a phoenix before any other beast. The chance of a phoenix being the one is quite high..." Muku gave the girls one last piece of advice before they went to do their thing.

They were all quite grateful for it. Emily was especially grateful since he had pretty much handed her a quicker advancement process on a silver platter if he was correct. Which he probably was. After all, Muku was seldom wrong... In fact, she couldn't remember a time when he was wrong in such matters.

After that, all the girls left except for Hope. She seemed to have something on her mind that bothered her quite a bit.

"Is something the matter Hope? Do you need help with identifying your spirit beast maybe?" Muku asked softly.

"Ah... No. I think I already know what my spirit beast is. However, I don't know what y'all will think of it if it really is the one. I feel like you'll look at me differently because of what it represents. Or more of, how it's looked at by people" Hope told Muku what was bothering her.

"Oh. So that's what is bothering you? Well, let me give you my take on the matter then... No matter what beast your avatar looks like. It won't change my opinion of you. I mean, it literally is nothing more than a creature which resonates with your power. It has nothing to do with your personality. It doesn't change how you behave in any way. You can take it from me since I've already gone through the process. And even if it did change you in some way. I'd embrace that change. After all, you're my little sister. And I'll love you no matter what. Even if the whole world turns against you, I'll always stand by your side and take it on with you... Though I don't think the world could bear turning on such a cute girl like you" Muku replied as honestly as he could.

His answer was so freaking perfect for dealing with Hope that it made her heart skip a beat.

She was in his arms hugging him too tightly before she knew it.

She stayed like that for a few minutes without saying anything and Muku let her be. The two just enjoyed each other's warmth without saying anything.

"Thank you Big Brother. I really needed that. And I promise you that I'll never put you in a position where you have to go against the world for me. However, if you were ever to go against the world for your own reasons. I'll be right there with you..." Hope spoke softly after the silence.

Muku didn't say anything. He just hugged her tightly as his response. And that was enough for her.

After that, Hope suddenly freed herself from his hug and ran away.

"Wait for me Big Brother. I promise to be the first one to advance and come show you!" Hope shouted as she ran up the stairs without looking back.

"Sure. I'll be waiting... I do wish you had told me about this beast you suspect might be the one though..." Muku spoke in a soft voice with a smile on his face as he watched her go.

...

In Hope's room...

"What was that?! Why did my heart skip a beat? And why did that hug feel different to me? It was like I wanted more than the hu.. could what Layla said back then really have some truth to it?... No. It couldn't possibly... There's no way... Argh! Whatever, it doesn't matter right now. Let me advance first. I probably felt weird because I'm too excited about the advancement..." Hope spoke to herself as numerous feelings swirled around in her mind all at once.

After a while, she decided to put it all aside for the time being and focus on what mattered most.

After that, she took a meditative pose on her bed and started the advancement process...

.....

Back in the lounge...

"Oh look at that... We're almost at the stadium. I wonder what has changed in the last two years..." Muku spoke to himself as he floated out of the mansion.

He decided to live it up in the sky under concealment while he checked the situation with the stadium.

Which wasn't uncalled for after he literally found the place in a terrible situation the two significant times he went there.

The first time was the punk gang. The second time was the Ares subordinate whose name he forgot...

Speaking of Ares, that bastard and petty Monarch was the major reason why he was being so cautious. If it weren't for the ladies he promised to come see again, he'd have rather avoided the place altogether.

After all, of all the opponents he has faced so far, Ares scared him the most. He wasn't the only one who could kill him. But he seemed like the only one willing to go all out to do it.

And that was when they didn't even have a big issue between them. Ares literally wanted to kill him because he refused to be his puppet.

For that reason, it was reasonable to assume that Ares' desire to kill him would increase each time they met and he wasn't able to get what he wanted. Which would mean, he'd be willing to use costly methods that, he, as a Monarch obviously had...

Anyway, Muku made his way toward the stadium under his invisibility domain with the nightmare armour on. One can never be too careful when there is the risk of encountering Monarchs...

For that reason, he even had Raya on speed dial ready to be pulled out at any moment.

"Well well, look at this... I guess calling this place "stadium isn't accurate anymore. Calling it a mini fortress is more accurate..." Muku spoke as he looked at the magnificent building in front of him...

In place of the stadium from before, now stood a tall wall with some buildings peeking out from the top.

There were even guards standing on the walls...

From how the barrier was still active. It was easy to assume that the walls and guards weren't meant to guard against beasts. They were to guard against other humans...

"Honestly... There's always something going on with this place. I don't know why I was naive enough to think that I would find no issues here. But hey, maybe they just felt like revamping things and I'm just jumping to conclusio... Nope, I was right" Muku spoke to himself as he got closer.

He was about to rationalise what he was seeing by saying that the women were just paranoid... But as fate would have it. An army of rough-looking men showed up from a distance.

Their auras and evil expressions as they approached clearly signified their bad intentions...

"LISA! COME OUT YOU STUBBORN FOOL!" One of the many men called out after they reached about a kilometre away from the barrier.

"Draco! What does your dog ass want back here?! Was the last loss not good enough for you so you want another one? If that's the case, I promise you that this one will be better for I will make sure it's your last!" A familiar voice was heard from behind the walls.

It wasn't a shouting voice like the first one. And yet it was just as audible to all. That effect was obviously done through magic...

"HAHAHA. TO THINK YOU'D GET SO COCKY AFTER WINNING A FEW TIMES. WELL SORRY TO SAY. BUT THE ONLY BATTLE WHICH MATTERS IS THE LAST ONE. AND I PROMISE YOU. I WILL WIN THE LAST ONE. YOU CAN HOWEVER, MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR GROUP BY SURRENDERING NOW. I PROMISE TO TAKE YOU AS MY WIFE AND TREAT YOU ALL WELL!" The man named Draco shouted back with an arrogant reply.

"And what makes you think you can achieve that when you've failed so many times before?" Lisa asked as calmly as she had been from the start.

To her, fighting Draco was nothing but part of their routine at that point. The idiot had been troubling them almost every month for the last six months.

And he has lost every time. So there was no reason to take him seriously now.

Though she was serious about this being their last battle. She was prepared to go all out and take care of him for good.

After all, these constant battles draw unwanted attention from whatever is close enough to hear. Which was not something they wanted in the apocalypse...

"HEHE. I KNEW YOU WOULD ASK THAT. WELL, IF YOU MUST KNOW. UNLIKE BEFORE, I NOW HAVE A MYSTICAL BEING BEHIND ME! SO IF YOU DON'T GIVE UP NOW. ALL OF YOU WILL DIE!" Draco replied arrogantly again.

Hell, he was getting more and more arrogant the more he spoke.

"Well now. This is quite interesting... I wonder what this mystical being he's talking about is..." Muku who was now sitting on the wall beside Lisa and the ladies spoke to himself.

He was invisible so no one knew he was there. He decided to enjoy the show for the time being...