What?! The Gamemaster And The Top Player Are Dating?!

This demon king was far more powerful than Taki and to see him be defeated this easily, it was at this moment that Zhihao finally understood how powerful this Akuma was. There was no way in hell he would be able to beat this Akuma with just Taki's powers or by Shuang.

Zhihao took a step back as his brain started analyzing the situation further. He took in all the small details, hoping that there was something here that could help him. Wasn't it always like that? The one who understands the game best wins it. It was a rule that never changed and Zhihao felt like he was already halfway there in understanding what this level was about.

If he could just collect a bit more of the information, he would really be able to get out of here with ease.

Li Ling looked at Mastermo who was checking Kazan out with his eyes going up and down the demon's body, "A-Zhi, this isn't the time for you to check your ex out."

Zhihao almost choked on air as he heard this, "What do you mean? I'm not checking him...." He stopped and thought about it for a minute before continuing, "I am, aren't I?"

He was checking him out.

He was checking to see if there was anything that could become a weakness for this Akuma.

[Pervert.]

"Hey! I'm not a pervert!" Zhihao tried to defend himself.

He was innocent! His mind was too pure to be labeled a pervert!

Kazan looked different and maybe not in the best way possible. His pupils had dilated and his eyes were now pitch black, his skin was already considered rough, but now it was even more so; rough and thick, now turning completely ashen. His veins were protruding out all over his body, from his head to toes. His face had a few veins popping up and so did his hands that were choking Taki's father. It almost looked like the veins were ever ready to burst out. His muscles had also undergone a change. They were already bulky but now they had grown even bigger. His teeth seemed to turn sharper and his canines grew longer and bigger. He wasn't looking like a vampire since vampires were supposed to look hot, he looked more like one of those demon paintings Zhihao saw online with red skin, an ugly expression, and big canine teeth that seemed to be blood-thirsty.

Li Ling decided to change the topic from perverted Zhihao since they had a more pressing matter in need of their attention, "Do we have a plan?"

Zhihao nodded, "We get the demon king to help us."

Li Ling, "That's your plan?"

"Actually no but the more the merrier. If the demon king is on our side, we'll have a better chance."

Li Ling suddenly wanted to laugh at the way Zhihao was trying to hide his real intention. Zhihao wasn't looking to gain the demon king's aid, he was planning on making a bait out of the demon king and Li Ling knew this man well to have guessed what he was planning.

However, although Li Ling knew this, he wasn't going to call Zhihao out on it. He'd rather let the man think that he had fooled everyone into thinking that he was all about 'the more the merrier'.

Zhihao summoned Shuang and the lightning he had mastered was now wrapped around the sword.

[How did you know you could do that?]

Alvi was amazed at this player who seemed to have figured everything out without ever being told anything about it.

"Of course I can do this. If you ask the right questions, you'd be able to figure out a lot more than you'd think."

"Right questions?" Li Ling was a bit confused.

"The right question." Zhihao nodded, "Why?"

"Huh?"

"We are supposed to ask the reason behind everything that is happening instead of just accepting it. In this case, I asked myself why we were only able to use high-grade equipment?"

"Why?"

"Because as Alvi said, it is already registered in all the levels so if this sword is something that exists in this world and level then it can interact with other things that exist in this world."

[You are right.]

After having listened to this much, Alvi now approved of Zhihao and felt like this player's future was bright. If there was a person qualified to beat the Gamemaster it must be this player in front of her.

Li Ling suddenly frowned.

"What happened?" Zhihao asked as he saw the man's face suddenly looking displeased.

"I don't think I'll be much help then. Itsuki is a human with no powers." Li Ling replied.

"Ah..." Zhihao hadn't thought about that but it wasn't like he was going to depend on Li Ling in this level so everything was still good, "It's okay."

"Hmm?" Li Ling looked up at the man who was smiling at him

"Let me protect you this time," Zhihao spoke with a smile that took Li Ling's breath away. This man really knew how to play with his heart without even being aware of it.

Li Ling chuckled as he saw this, "You... Okay, Mastermo. I guess you'll have to take responsibility for me this time."

Zhihao's smile grew wider unconsciously.

[Again with the flirting?]

Li Ling glared at the little bot. This little cock-blocker always had the worst timing. He should really change her for some other shipper bot that would support them instead of becoming a bone in between.

Zhihao nodded, "Just stay back and if something attacks you, throw her in front of you."

[...]

[You backstabbing bitc-]

Zhihao moved forward and the evolved lightning sword Shuang chopped down the hand that was choking the demon king.

This caught Akuma's interest as he changed his target and glared at Zhihao now.

Zhihao had never thought Kazan looked ugly and on the contrary, he thought Kazan looked kinda handsome but now that he looked at that distorted face that was not even recognizable anymore, he felt like he had never seen anything uglier than this. Why would people go around watching horror movies if they could just play this level and get scared for life?

Kazan opened his mouth and muttered a low growl.

The demon King who was lying on the floor got rid of the amputated hand that was still clasped around his throat. He coughed a few times and stood up without further delay.

"Thank you." He showed his gratitude to Zhihao who had saved him.

Zhihao spared him a side glance and nodded.

[If it was Taki, he wouldn't have saved him.]

Zhihao wasn't too worried about going OOC as he had already realized something.

They can go OOC as long as they don't get found out. Taki would have never saved his father whom he hated, but that didn't mean that by saving him, Zhihao would go OOC since no one else knew that Taki hated his father, and so, there was nobody who would be suspicious over such a small detail. It was the same case for when Alvi told him that Taki would've kissed Kazan goodbye, no one else knew Taki would have done such a thing since they didn't know the details of the relationship between the two and so, Zhihao got out with not having to kiss the demon.

The demon in front of them let out another growl as it looked down at his hand that was not there anymore.

"Does it not feel any pain?"

[It doesn't.]

[That's not Akuma's body so the pain would naturally not be felt by him.]

The demon king who couldn't hear Alvi thought that the question was for him and he was suddenly enthusiastic to see his son showing interest in interacting with him. In his mind, he felt like this son of his had finally forgiven him, or at least he was finally trying to forget and forgive. This was good and it bought the old demon king happiness.

"Akuma can't feel the pain inflicted on the vessel. The original soul of the vessel will be the one tortured by the pain."

Zhihao was stunned as he heard this. He immediately reacted by glaring at Alvi who had made it a habit of giving him incomplete information.

[Well at least now you know.]

Alvi folded her arms and looked away. She was only doing her job, not trying to purposely make the player hate her.

[The attacks would be felt by Kazan.]

If that was the case, it made things a bit more tricky. If Taki knew that his attacks would be felt by the original Kazan, he would not attack this Akuma since it really did nothing but just torture Kazan however, Zhihao wasn't as nice as Taki. Although he knew this, he would still attack the Akuma because he was now sure that he won't be triggering the OOC.

To everyone else, Taki was a demon with a cold personality and only some people were aware of his Tsundere nature. Cold on the outside and warm on the inside.

Although Taki won't attack Kazan, the others didn't know this. They expected Taki to be cold and unaffected by hurting this demon in front and so even though Zhihao would be going completely out of character by attacking this Akuma, he would not be triggering the OOC alert.

Sadly, everyone was going to see their perception of Taki come true today with him turning into a really cruel cold-hearted demon.

Akuma let out a breath and glared back at Zhihao after having noticed that his hand was cut by this demon in front of him. He was mad. Zhihao was unaware if this madness was caused by him or if this was just a natural trait of the demon who always seemed to be angry at something or the other. Well, this was Akuma, the diety of demons so he really wouldn't be surprised if he got to know that this anger was a natural trait of this god.

Zhihao saw the arm on the body grow back and he cringed at the sight.

The new arm that grew out of nowhere wasn't identical to the old one and on the contrary, it was far more hideous. There was bone, there were veins and there were muscles but that was it. Everything else was missing including the skin that was supposed to be wrapped around all of it.

When Akuma reached his re-grown hand out front and got ready to attack Taki, Zhihao saw the veins hanging down from the hand and the muscles hanging on the bone with no other support. One touch and Zhihao was afraid that everything from this DIY hand will start falling off.

At this moment, Zhihao suddenly felt like this game should have a warning displayed to all the players: THIS GAME IS NOT FOR THE WEAK HEARTED AND CHILDREN. IF YOU GET UNCOMFORTABLE FROM SEEING BLOOD AND GORE, YOU ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE.

The outstretched hand increased in length and reached out for Zhihao's neck but before it could get close, it was burnt up. It was the demon king who had saved him this time and with that, they had no debts left in between them.

At this moment, Zhihao knew what was the demon king's power and he also understood why he had walked in on Akuma choking this father of his. It wasn't that the demon king had been defeated, he was just caught in surprise. Now that Zhihao thought about it a bit more, it was understandable. This demon Kazan had just kissed the demon king by force, taking him by surprise. It was too much for this demon king to react immediately and so he was dumbstruck when he suddenly saw the low-ranked demon in front of him turn into a monster and get a hold of his neck.