The Last Paragon in the Apocalypse

”Pickle Berry, why do you look so gloomy?” Kaden asked, stopping his training the moment he sensed that Pickle Berry and Jane had arrived.

Usually, the two ladies would be full of energy whenever they came around. However, looking at them now, he could tell something wasn’t right, especially with Pickle Berry.

She raised her head and looked seriously at Kaden, almost as if she was weighing whether or not to tell him why she needed his help.

After all, where she was about to ask him to go with her was a place nobody had ever returned from. So naturally, she would be asking him to walk into his death without any guarantee that even her family was still alive over there.

For all she knew, they might have already died. However, even if there was only a small chance they were still alive, then knowing the kind of person her big brother was, she wanted him to help her.

Klaus wasn’t exactly an ordinary person, after all.

”Big Brother, I need your help.”

Tears started rolling down her face, causing Kaden to quickly rush to her side and console her. Klaus was only receiving Kaden’s memories because of Pickle Berry.

She had been his friend, support, and source of strength during his eighth incarnation. Pickle Berry had been his everything, even sacrificing her chance to awaken more elements after the initial five, just to save him.

So even if the heavens themselves were to offend her right now, despite knowing he wasn’t strong enough to face them, Klaus would abandon all caution and challenge them simply because it was Pickle Berry they had offended.

”Tell me, Pickle Berry, what do you need me to do?” he asked, holding her trembling body in his arms. Jane stood beside them, holding Pickle Berry’s hand as well.

”My family... they have been imprisoned in the Elemental Garden,” she said, already aware that Klaus knew about them since she had recalled all her memories, and she knew she had told him about her family.

She also knew that Klaus was aware of the Elemental Garden because she had told him about it, and he had even done further research on it.

”I am not going to ask why your family was banished there, but I want to know who dared to banish them there.”

Already, Klaus was furious with the Elemental Race simply because they were one of the five races that had aided the Heavens Court in attacking the Asura.

He had personally killed the Elemental Emperor during that battle, but he knew a new one would have been crowned later, and perhaps many would come after him.

So he just couldn’t understand why, after all they had done, they still had to offend his dear Pickle Berry so deeply that they had the audacity to banish her family to a place he had researched extensively in the past.

He knew it would be difficult to get there and nearly impossible to leave, but he had to go because Pickle Berry’s family was involved.

Pickle Berry was so emotional that Jane answered Kaden’s question instead.

”It was the Elemental Empress. Apparently, there was a Domain War led by Pickle Berry’s family. They won by killing the Elemental Empress, but she had contingencies in place that were triggered before her death.”

Kaden sighed, then nodded.

”I understand.” He looked at Pickle Berry and smiled, then wiped away her tears. ”I will help you get your family back. But we need more Elementals to aid us, so how about we form a team with the few we have first before leaving?”

She nodded, burying her face in his chest again as she continued crying.

Jane smiled and mouthed, ”Thank you,” to Kaden. She and Pickle Berry had been traveling companions for a while now, so seeing her sad made Jane sad as well.

Kaden then spent the next couple of minutes consoling Pickle Berry. When she finally calmed down, he summoned the first candidates for the mission...

Void, Nirvana, Fury, and Qilin appeared inside the training ground, each holding an ice cream cone. Although they were now adults, they still retained their childish nature.

So seeing them with ice cream didn’t come as a shock to Kaden.

”Big Brother, do you need our help?” Void asked, licking her ice cream with great enthusiasm.

”Yes. We are going to a place where nobody with a functioning brain cell would ever go. However, we are not like everyone else, so we are going, and I need you four on the team.”

”YAY!”

All four of them shouted in unison, excited to finally go on a mission after becoming Primordial Flame Spirits. Klaus didn’t have anything for them initially. However, he had planned to send them to the Ancient Battlefield when his other incarnation and his friends arrived.

Now, he had a good mission for them.

”You guys do know there is a chance we will all die where we are going, right?” Kaden asked with a chuckle, seeing how excited the four Flame Spirits had become.

”Big Brother is the strongest person in the universe. He would not die easily, so we are not scared,” Nirvana replied, causing Kaden, who knew that as long as he was alive, they would never die, to smirk.

Kaden then proceeded to reach out to three more potential teammates, and a few minutes later, the triplets—his elemental wives, who used to torment him back in the day—appeared inside the training ground as well.

Nova, Aria, and Stella arrived, having already been told they were going on a mission. Aria was the Ice Elemental, Nova was the Lightning Elemental, and Stella was the Flame Elemental.

They had lived during the Divine Era and had followed Knox around for thousands of years, using every small opportunity to tease him.

However, they eventually developed feelings for him, and although they never took the next step with him, they fought on his side during the Divine War and died with honor.

”When are we leaving?” Nova asked, red lightning dancing through her long red hair.

”You ladies have to understand that the Elemental Garden is a dangerous place, and we might never return.”

”Still, we want to go. We have heard of the Elemental Garden before and even met someone who came from there once, accidentally, of course. But from what he told us, it is a place of great danger but also immense opportunity. Every Elemental with a thirst for adventure would love to go there, so we will go and come back in one piece. After all, we have a Paragon on our team.”

The three of them were now Supremes, so they weren’t afraid of whatever awaited them there. But as they said, they had a Paragon on their team, someone who made the impossible possible, so they had nothing to worry about.

”In that case, we can leave now.” Kaden looked at Jane. ”You can’t follow us, Jane. That place only allows Elementals, and you are not an Elemental.”

Klaus had once become an Elemental during his 8th incarnation, thanks to Pickle Berry, so with that bloodline awakened, he could enter the Elemental Garden.

Jane frowned, about to protest, when Qilin spoke.

”Actually, we can take her with us by making her an Elemental.”

He waved his hand, and a flame rune appeared, causing Kaden’s eyes to widen.

”Is that...”

”Yes. It is a Primordial Flame Rune. Each of us has one, so I want to use mine to make her a Flame Elemental. It would finally give her the chance to gain a combat aspect to her unique class.”