"YAWN! Can we do this some other time?" Jaku said to the hooded figure. "Boss. Look at this guy, disturbing my sleep."
The hooded figure chuckled. "There's no one here to help you," he said. "I have come here to settle a debt."
The man raised his arm, revealing a scimitar underneath his hood before pointing it towards Jaku's face. It glistened under the moonlight, showing its incredible sharpness.
"One of you…Dragonborns…bested one of ours. I have only come here to prove that it was not you who won, but one of us who failed. And I am here to correct that."
Michael watched this scene unfold from the sidelines. "Jaku's facing the Stone-Cold 2, meaning he's the second best soldier in their group."
And he wasn't even the only one among them who was approached by a hooded figure.
On the other screen, Michael saw Umisu sitting in a mostly empty library as a hooded figure approached her from the shadows.
"...oh no…," Umisu muttered under her breath. "What about the books…they're going to get destroyed…"
The hooded figure stopped in the middle of her tracks as she saw Umisu look in her direction. This startled her for a little bit before she chuckled.
"Impressive for a demi-human," the hooded figure said. "I didn't expect much, but it seems that Five lost for a reason."
The hooded figure took off her robe, revealing a long frizzy hair standing up above her head that was tied up into the shape of a giant number '3'.
"We're going to have to fight, you and I," she said.
Umisu shook her head. "Oh no…what about the books…I'm gonna destroy them…"
Just then, Michael's soothing voice came out of the shadows and reassured the anxious Dragonborn.
"Really, boss? You're going to replace them? Yipee!"
Stone-Cold 3 looked at Umisu with a strange gaze. She thought that the Dragonborn was crazy, talking to no one except the empty shadows.
Of course, Michael was behind those dark spaces in between the shelves.
"Master, there's one more hooded figure," Fudge said, pointing Michael's attention to the last rectangular screen in front of him.
This time, the vision showed a jungle-like scenery outside of Angora City.
Underneath the foliage of the trees, Michael saw a couple of evolved Red Mankeys camping under the stars. They gathered around a campfire, with the sounds of crackling firewood echoing in the woods.
They seemed to be quite exhausted after a hard training session, with some Mankeys massaging each other's backs and polishing their weapons.
Just then, a twig cracked in the distance, alerting the Red Mankeys of an intruder.
"Tsk. I thought I would be finding something valuable once I followed you guys here, but it was all for nothing. You're just a bunch of Mankeys. Not worth my time."
A large, burly man draped in a hooded robe came out of the woods and approached the apprehensive Mankeys. His tall height and the obvious muscles underneath the robe intimidated the small Mankeys.
"Please tell me there's a Dragonborn among you," the hooded figure shouted.
The Red Mankeys eyed the intruder before slowly grabbing their weapons from the ground.
"Come on, really? No Dragonborns? It seems I wasted my time. I'll go back to the City now."
Just as the hooded figure turned around, he suddenly felt the hairs on his arm stand up. His instincts flared, making his muscles contract and flex before he turned around to face whatever monster was hiding behind him.
But when he looked, there was no one there except the Red Mankeys.
"Hoho…I may not be as talented as those Dragonborns, but I would like to think that I can keep you company for a little while…at least, I think so."
The burly man codenamed Four scanned the Red Mankeys before his eyes set onto another hooded figure standing unassumingly in front of him. If he hadn't spoken up, he wouldn't have even noticed him.
"Who are you?" Four asked.
"I am just a relic of the past, young one," Grieve muttered with a laugh.
Meanwhile, back at the castle, Michael stared at the four screens in front of him.
That's four of them, he thought to himself. Originally, there's six of them, but Zion already defeated a guy named Five.
The Shadow Orcs are facing Six.
Jaku is fighting Two.
Umisu will battle Three.
And Grieve will engage with Four.
That meant that there was only one other member of Stone-Cold 6 left. And coincidentally, it was the strongest member of them all codenamed One.
If they were trying to defeat the Dragonborns in public to declare themselves as the superior company, then it didn't make sense why they wouldn't send out their strongest fighter.
Unless…he has a bigger mission.
Michael's question was soon answered as suddenly, a large creaking sound echoed around the walls of the castle.
Everyone turned to the gates and saw the drawbridge slowly lowering back down before smacking itself onto the stone brick roads.
On the other side of the castle walls, a beautiful adorned carriage bigger than anything they had ever seen, came gracefully crossing the bridge.
It was drawn by four chunky horses that seemed to have eaten nothing but whey protein.
The carriage pushed through to the inside, forcing the guests to move closer to the castle walls.
"Who is that? Wait, that emblem looks familiar…"
"It's from the Hephaestus company! Even their emblem is made out of Damascus Steel. I wonder how much they had to spend on the dwarven black market…"
The Duke had to stop his test drive of Michael's car as he awaited for the rude guest who came way too late at the party.
"Show yourself," Duke Stelmane demanded.
The coachman walked over to the door and opened it, bowing before the owner stepped off.
"We have arrived, young master. The party is delighted with the arrival of the leader and owner of the greatly touted HammerStone company."
The 'young master' stepped off the carriage, showing himself be a very young man, about the same age as Michael himself! This young master wearing a black and gold tunic waved and bowed to the guests looking at him.
"Greetings. I am Christian HammerStone, the proud owner of the 495th ranked company in the entire world!" he said confidently. "Pardon me for my late arrival. I have come from the Hepheasteus family estate, you see."
The rest of the guests whispered amongst each other, not expecting to see the owner of such a successful company be so young.
While everyone was looking at Christian, Michael looked at the man beside him.
It was Stone-Cold 1, the strongest member of their group. It seemed his task was protecting and serving their leader rather than fighting the Dragonborns.
Christian then walked over to the Duke and bowed to his presence.
"Duke Stelmane, I hope that you consider my offer. Our company is the best there is. I am sorry to say this, but there is no one better than our company."
He then looked at Michael.
"Excuse my methods, but I have sent out the very best of my men to defeat your employees. It is nothing personal, and it is only a way for the Duke to realize who he should accept as the sponsor."
Michael ignored him and looked down at his shadows.
The Dragonborns were there, listening to what was happening.
"Do you guys need any help there," Michael asked.
The Shadow Orcs, Jaku, Umisu, and Grieve all had smiles on their faces as they looked down at the shadow beneath their feet.
"Are you kidding me master? This is what we're made for!" the Shadow Orcs muttered.
"I'll finish this in just a minute," Jaku said, yawning.
"Master…teach that arrogant prick a lesson," Umisu whispered.
"Hoho…you can leave this to us, Michael. Such an easy thing hoho!"