The Dark Dragon's Vessel.

Max was walking toward a door, surrounded by five guards. Their expressions were filled with hatred, but why, for whom? Max was handcuffed with special cuffs that prevented you from using your drive. He had a tired expression on his face, dark circles under his eyes, and an unusual skin tone.

Opening the door, he entered the courtroom. The place was packed with people who all looked disgusted. In front of him stood an elderly man. Max recognized him as the prosecutor after seeing the suit he was wearing. He appeared unprepared, but why would he? There was no way he could lose.

The judge stood high, a lady who was very young to be a judge, she must have been a prodigy to reach this position so quickly. She had dark brown hair and black eyes, she carried her hammer with might and pride.

"I'm sure you were previously informed of your charges."

Her voice was attempting to seem natural, but it was full of unpleasant anger against Max.

'I have your honor.'

"Then there's no need for me to drag this. Max rose. I condemn you to 10 years in prison and revoke your adventure license, you will also not be allowed to participate in any guild-related activities. Did you understand?

'Yes, your Honor.'

"Okay, carry him away now."

The sound of her hammer signaled that the judgment had been finalized.

Walking up to the guild special jail, Max couldn't help but blame himself, if only he'd kept his mouth shut.

...

Finally, he and the Dragon Watchers were ready to embark on their quest. Without Max, the party had five members, two females and two guys.

Jake, the scout, served as both the party's main attraction and the reason for the edgy name. He was a dragon vessel for a weak dragon, but nevertheless, he was still one. He had red hair and eyes, a scar across one of his eyes, and a responsible demeanor that was cold on the exterior but warm on the inside. He was wearing a black light armor designed for speed. He was a scout who could also fight.

Mark IV, the tank. His class suited him, he was gigantic, towering almost three meters tall, and could crush Max if he jumped on him. But, in actuality, he was really soft, just like Arthur, what's the deal with huge men and kindness? He was wearing heavy armor, but he had to since he was the tank. He had a warmer shade of brown, but his eyes were on a darker shade of brown, so the quick change in hue was strange to see.

Kali, the archer. She was a dark elf, which confirmed what Fay had informed Max earlier about what [Species] meant. Her skin tone appeared to be hot chocolate, she had brown hair and almost black eyes, she was dressed in leather armor with a bow with vines latching onto it. She was a sweet girl who was also shy and had enormous dreams. 

Avalyn, the thief. She was wearing a mask and hood to disguise her face, so Max wasn't able to take a good look at her to notice her facial characteristics. She was also very quiet and mysterious, and she was on the smaller side.

Now onto the goal of their adventure... to get some herbs, yes herbs after all it was an E-rank quest.

The bad thing about going with a group was that it was hard to keep up with their pace in his state. So of course he snached Jake's attention.

"Remind me why did we bring this kid with us again"

Kali looked and him and answered happily.

"He's part of the Rose family that's why."

Jake was fast to respond.

"Well, he sure isn't acting like one."

Max grunted he didn't like this guy that much, and he wasn't the only one, Azel too, but not Jake, the dragon inside of him. Continued walking, the night was approaching and they still hadn't found one of the herbs, it was becoming pretty annoying.

They set up a tent, and when I say they I mean Mark, and went to sleep taking turns to to watch for danger.

It was past midnight when Max was awoken by Avalyn, it was his turn. So he stood up and climbed a rook to have more visibility.

He had to say this felt quite comforting, but it also didn't help with his recovery. Max had started hating his injury, it was keeping him back too much. He wasn't making any progress towards his oath, well at least he was on the kingdom's good side.

As he was deep in thought someone approached him, it was Mark.

Max looked at him surprised and worried.

'You should rest, it's your turn next and you're going to need it.'

He looked at Max with empathy and kindness.

"I can't just sleep knowing a child is putting his life on the line to protect me."

Max chuckled at him exaggerating the situation.

'Truly I'm fine. You know you remind me a lot of my father.'

Mark was surprised but also looked touched.

'Were more like my father figure.'

Max turned his head to the ground when he said that, and when he looked back he saw Mark tearing up. He then had to spend the night calming him.

The next day, Max was tired from spending the whole night calming a giant, but at least he was rewarded when he spotted one of the herbs they needed, the party celebrated by killing a sheep and eating it. Max had never eaten lamb before so it was a new experience to him, but he liked it.

A crack noise was heard throughout the forest, looks like the smell attracted some monsters. What Max didn't expect was the number of them, and they were surrounding them.

In the front stepped a gigantic but majestic white wolf.

When Max saw the monster, he pulled out his wooden blade and prepared to strike a stance, but Mark stopped him with a comforting smile. Max wasn't particularly pleased about it, but he chose to let it happen.

And he was met with the greatest surprise of his life, they were actually defeating the monsters. Jack was using his dragon's fire dragon, while Mark was in the front, taking hits and charging at the enemy. But Kali had to be the MVP, she was up in a tree, sniping as many monsters as she could and doing an excellent job. Finally, they were able to defeat them with minimal casualties.

'Mark came up to Max.

"See, we can handle ourselves, and your soul is injured, it will worsen if you use it."

Max laughed.

"So you can see someone's soul? That makes you a ruby class, right?"

"Indeed, it did."

Ruby, He was really worried about a Ruby class, he could have been so idiotic.

They spent the rest of the day looking for more herbs but had no luck today. At night, they gathered around a campfire, with Max located near Kali.

He was watching the fire when he overheard her laughter.

'What's funny?'

"Oh, nothing, you simply had something on your face."

Her voice was clearly sarcastic. When Max realized this, he frowned.

"Okay, I thought it was funny that you were so worried about us earlier."

Max blushed slightly due to the embarrassment.

"But it's not funny in reality, is it?"

Her tone was unusual, he had never heard her speak in such a sad voice.

"You must have lost people close to you, which is why you don't want people around you fighting, and why you accept blame for their death whether you were the actual killer or not."

Ax's eyes widened as he heard this, and a tear almost fell from his eyes.

The next morning, they resumed their search and, by chance, discovered one near a cave. Max reasoned that if there was a rare herb here, the things in the cave would as well.

And he was correct. It was full of rare ores that would make them wealthy, well, not exactly, but it was sufficient for E-Ranks.

Then they discovered an enormous door.

'What is this, a dragon's treasure?'

He joked.

But some didn't realize it. Kali pushed the door open to enter the room, they naturally followed her, but the door closed.

This reminded Max of something.

The place resembled a royal palace, why was it hidden in a cave? Perhaps a dragon treasure was actually present.

He chuckled.

The walls were made of quarts, the floor was smooth stone, and the quart pillar was gold-plated and torched.

But what piqued Max's interest was something written on the wall.

'Puer natus est, qui mundum subvertet. Hoc extraordinarium, ut vas regis notum, robur obtinebit quod fines huius regni transcendit. Exsurgens de profundo servitutis, Hic puer ad solium ascendet, Implens prophetiam, quae libratus est Fatum reformare. etiam fatum in faciem potentiae suae inclinabit. What did this mean?'

Then he heard clapping. He turned to see a teenager with blue hair that matched the hue of the sky at midday. He wore a plain blue T-shirt and shorts, but it was his eyes, which were like the ones of a dragon, caught the most attention.

Max attempted to unsheathe his blade, but as he blinked, he was already going to be impaled, what happened? Max wondered until he noticed a blue electricity around the kid.

As the sword was going to puncture him, Mark stepped in and took the damage, he should be OK, given that he was a ruby class.

But Max looked terrified as he watched the blade emerge from his back and Mark fall to the ground.

Kali screamed as she saw this, but it only drew more attention to her, so she became the next person to die, in her last moment she looked at Max, crying but with a smile.

Max felt sick and barely stand up looking at the dead bodies of his party, he had only known them for a few days, yet it brought so much sadness to his heart, It felt like he lost a father and a sister. He was of course referring to Mark and Kali.

But he couldn't cry about it, he was about to join them, all of them, he had people waiting for him so maybe death wasn't that bad. But then a thought came to his mind, it felt like it was more put in than made by him.

Kali shouted when she witnessed this, but it just brought more attention to her, and she became the next person to die. In her final moments, she gazed at Max, sobbing yet smiling.

Max felt sick and could barely stand up, in front of his party's dead bodies, he had only known them for a few days, but it caused so much pain in his heart that he thought he had lost a father and a sister. He was clearly referring to Mark and Kali.

But he couldn't cry since he was about to join them all, and there were people waiting for him, so perhaps death wasn't that horrible. But suddenly a concept

sprang into his thoughts.

He couldn't die.

He forced his soul to utilize dark matter to grip the blade. But it accomplished nothing.

'Damn it.'

However, just as he was going to die, the blade came to a halt. And the man started to leave.

Why was he letting him leave, and more importantly, did he believe it would make him happy?

...

'I will butcher you if it is the last thing I do.'