Nine patted Mephisto on her rather large head, as she was still in her original form. The Toxic Spider was an alarmingly large size and was enjoying being this big. The things that looked so big to her whilst she was small were now small whilst she was big. What a great feeling!

Nine silently instructed Mephisto to help her look around the highly concentrated areas of undead, where the darkness lingered the strongest. Since Mephisto was technically a darkness aligned Magic Beast, she was more sensitive to it.

Mephisto clicked her fangs happily and was about to wander off to complete the mission that her Master had given her before she turned around and devoured the Undead Titan. Nine stared but didn't stop her.

The Toxic Spider consumed all of the Undead Titan, her body size growing even larger. Bits of black flesh and black blood flowed freely as Mephisto hungrily devoured the delicacy in front of her. Nine could sense that she was nearing her evolution into something else, which was one of the reasons why she had set Mephisto off on a mission as well.

Nocturne's lips couldn't help but twitch and thanked the stars that he didn't have arachnophobia, unlike Jasper and Deltan.

Before long, not even a scrap of the Undead Titan was left, as if it had never existed in the first place. The undead in the area had long fled or been reduced to dust from the might of Nocturne's Eighth Circle spell.

Mephisto moved to Nine, dropping a crystal about the size of a basketball in Nine's hands, before leaving with a goodbye chirp.

Nine and Nocturne stared at the basketball sized crystal in stunned bafflement. The crystal looked roughly cut, but it shone even in the depths of the night, like a luminescent glow in the darkness, a beacon for those lost in the darkness.

"Well.. this changes everything," Nocturne said blankly.

X

Zenith had been having a blast lately. There wasn't much he wasn't enjoying. Even real life's daily chores only put him in a better mood once he dove back into the game.

He wandered all over the different parts of Cosmos City, both upper and lower, and felt like he was having the time of his life. There were so many different colours gathered in the city, forming a beautiful palette of colours.

Even the despair that was sometimes found on the streets, mixing with the little happiness and tiny joys, only made him feel like he was experiencing a blissful life.

When he was tracing a path on the outskirts of the city, hand on the wall, he spotted someone that made him excited. It was a painter, a player, hanging on the Cosmos City wall as he clutched the canvas, painting quickly and extremely.

Instantly, Zenith felt like he had met someone who would understand him.

"Hello up there!" Zenith called out, squinting into the harsh light of the sun.

The player's brush stopped moving as he looked down at Zenith, waving at him with the brush he had been using. "Hello!"

Zenith struggled to hop up onto the wall but managed to do so with some effort. "What're you painting?" he said absently but stopped when he saw the familiar breath-taking style that had been permeating the city's artistic scene.

"Eh! Are you Valerius?" Zenith questioned, his excitement levels shooting through the roof. "I'm so glad to finally meet you!" Zenith grabbed the painter's hand, pumping it up and down. "I love your artwork!"

Bemused, Valerius couldn't help but feel proud when someone mentioned that they loved his work. It was so nice to feel appreciated. "Thank you very much. It's always nice to meet a fan."

Zenith was staring at the half completed painting that Valerius was working on, eyes flitting to the wonderful mix of colours that were painted on the canvas. "What a wonderful execution of the way light hits the surface of Cosmos," the eccentric man praised.

As he spoke, Zenith settled in next to the painter, prepared to wait until he finished painting.

"Ah, you really understand?" Valerius said, squinting at his own painting. He still didn't know how they could tell, but this other player seemed to be quite genuine. He could even tell that Valerius was looking at the way the sunlight hit the various angles of buildings on Cosmos City.

Instantly, Valerius felt quite endeared to this random man who had come up to him whilst he was painting. He felt like he found a kindred soul and true fan of his. Valerius sent a friend request to the man, beaming when he accepted it.

"I'll give this painting to you once I'm done with it," Valerius said happily.

"Really!?"

Below the wall where people were walking and working, they shuddered as they heard the conversation between the famed painter Valerius and the other eccentric man who had been randomly joining conversations here and there with strangers.

The passer-by's quickened their footsteps as if lingering would cause them to be caught. The two largest eccentrics of Cosmos City had met! They did not want to be near when disaster eventually befell them, because it would.

Word quickly spread in the city that Valerius and Zenith had met, and the news was met with wonder, horror, amazement, etc. all sorts of feelings were born at the news of the union of two eccentrics.

Some thought that they might calm down a bit, whilst others thought that things would only get crazier from here on, but no one went to drag them apart, because though they might fear for their sanity, there was just something innately lonely about the two that seemed to tug on people's heartstrings.

Some quietly hoped that they would be friends, then maybe they wouldn't project such lonely eyes whenever they saw someone in the distance having a conversation. They couldn't even look at the two properly when they did that! It was like puppy eyes, but a hundred times worse, because while they seemed to join in the conversation so easily, they didn't seem to feel like it was enough!

Maybe eccentricity meeting would help them somehow.

By the time the sun set, Valerius reluctantly put away his brush as he finished the painting. He handed the canvas to the other man, delighting in the way his face lit up. The other was so straightforward that his joy was practically infectious.

Valerius never felt like the time passed this quickly with another person before. Their conversation topics were all over the place, but he very much enjoyed it. Though there were times where there was nothing he could introduce to the conversation, the other never seemed to mind it, chattering on.

"I have to log off now, want to meet again tomorrow?" Valerius said, waiting for an answer.

"Of course! Where else am I going to find another conversation partner like you?"

Valerius grinned before logging off. As he stepped out of the pod, he exited to the bathroom to wash his face and relieve himself.

In that span, Zenith had quickly exited the pod himself as he yelled for Lily, his assistant.

"Lily! Get me the contact information of the player 'Valerius'!"

Lily angrily slammed the door open after Zenith shouted for her. "That's against the company policy! But here," she said, grudgingly handing him the player's contact information.

"Thanks, Lils! You're the best!" Zenith said, whipping out his phone as he frantically typed on it.

Lily flushed at the praise, feeling tingly at the rare praise that her eccentric boss hardly ever handed out. When she looked back at him, he was already gone, shocking her briefly before she went back to her equilibrium.

"Men," she muttered.

Valerius activated his phone, startled at the almost frantic pinging on it. He was just about to look at the messages before a call from an unknown number came through.

He cautiously picked it up. "Hello?"

"Valerius! Hey, hey, hey! Want to meet up for a drink?"

Valerius pulled the phone away from his ear, staring at it with bewilderment before placing it back. "Zenith?" he said, baffled.

"Yeah, yeah. It's me! How about it? Drink? Yes? No?"

"How in the world did you get my number?"

"Never mind that! Come on, come on! I'm already at your door!" Zenith said, hanging up the phone.

Valerius, "???"