[T-this.., bitch!] The Dragon's focus disappeared making his vision go upside down with a nauseating feeling. [—Argh!]

Blood oozed out from his mouth and from his chest, which had an arm-sized hole dug into it. Along with the perpetrator's hand, his monster core, and therefore his lifeline, shattered and turned into dust.

Death crept onto him at an alluring rate that he couldn't even waste any time cursing his opponent and his carelessness. Though, despite that, everything around him seemed to be going in slow motion as though it was warning him of the last remaining time he had.

His eyes moved and witnessed his would-be murderer, Rin, slowly falling down with an irritating serene face at his side. Pride and anger kicked in and before he even knew, his scaly hands grabbed the slender neck of the girl.

However, there was neither resistance nor even the slightest bit of reaction from his opponent. Of course, no pulse and breathing could be felt either. Death had already taken care of these.

Still, with no time to care, Tenma spread his wings. He planned to use the borrowed time he had left to find a way to continue on living. As hopeless as it may have appeared.

He lifted his head and looked at the sky through a nauseating lens as he had no focus at all. Then he jumped and flew clumsily with his tattered body and his messy five sens toward his only way out, the gigantic Rift plaguing the sky.

Although short, there was no doubt that this was the most difficult straight line Tenma had ever taken. Rin's corpse always in his hand, he barely managed to cross the large dimensional gate.

And as he did, the ever-increasing crack around Rin's body stopped altogether. Ironically, less than a minute after the girl had breathed her last, or at least what appeared so, she stepped—crashed unto the land of another world.

What needed to happen, happened. As a normal human, devoid of an Elite's protective shell, devoid of Aura, the ambient atmosphere characterizing the other world, specifically the M■■ flowing in the air, entered Rin's body.

◇

“In the end, I was still kicked out.” Aiden complained while sitting on the rooftop of Rin's house.

A long while has now passed since Ursa had left Celia unconscious on the street in front of Rin's house. Fortunately for the girl but unfortunately for Aiden, though, the orange-haired teens woke up after a few ten minutes.

And as you would expect, with Ursa now gone, nothing stopped Celia to continue her search for Rin. Obviously, the first thing she did was to see, and eventually to enter Rin's house.

Aiden, leader of ‘unchained’, had no choice to escape from the comfortable mansion with a sullen look. Of course, Flame as well as the bald man, Simon Acacius, were brought along with him.

Nevertheless, escape may have been the word but in the end, they just hid on the rooftop of the house.

“...This is boring,” Having just woken up, those were Flame's words. “I'll go find something to do elsewhere.”

“Yeah yeah~” Aiden nonchalantly answered as he completely disregarded him.

Instead, the man's focus remained on the bald man, who was currently his source of information. His interrogation was not over yet and considering how long he procrastinated about doing it, the task was even more important.

“Moon, huh...” Aiden repeated the name he just heard from his 'prisoner'. “Seriously? I thought he was just an urban legend.”

“He's real, alright,” Simon replied with a grim face. “Though, there's no doubt the world would be better off if he wasn't.”

Aiden turned his head to the sky and sank into silence to ponder about the situation. It was not often that the man acknowledged a threat that was sent to him, however, this time he couldn't just shrug it off.

‘As much as I don't want to admit it,’ He thought with a bitter face. ‘If even one of the rumor I've heard about Moon is real, I might be in deep troubl—’

“—hm?”

Suddenly, without being able to come to a satisfying conclusion, Aiden's thought was cut out. His head tore away from the sky and reflexively turned to his left to gaze at a distant location.

“Shit!” He cursed despite himself as familiar bad feelings coursed through him. “I really should've picked her up!”

He stood up with a complicated expression on his face.

“...What is it?” Simon, a little confused, asked.

“It's slowly disappearing,” Aiden clenched his hand and concentrated on maintaining his singularity. “My boost is leaving that girl!”

Aiden can only give his upgrade to three different people at the same time. By doing that a small connection is formed between him and the one he 'choses'. Naturally when that connection is broken, so is the boost he had given.

However, there are only three ways to break that connection. First, if Aiden himself chose to undo his upgrade, and he certainly didn't this time.

Second, if the upgraded leave Aiden's range, which isn't likely since it easily covers a little less than an entire continent.

And third,

“Damn, don't tell me you're already dead,” He spoke with a fierce tone. “Rin.”

◇

“Wow~” Ursa expressed, a whistle escaping her mouth. “Do you think maybe I should have intervened?”

Remaining seated at the edge of a destroyed building, the blonde looked up—always with an amused smile completely devoid of worry—toward the sky, or specifically toward the gigantic rift covering it.

“I think it's a bit late for that miss Saith.” The holographic woman next to her, who was the recipient of her question, answered with a serene kind of smile.

“Hm~” Ursa hummed, shifting her gaze, “Aren't you a heartless one, I thought you came here to observe Rin. Why'd you let her die like that?”

The blonde asked, well aware that she, too, hadn't lifted a single finger to save the one she was supposed to bring back.

“Even if I did decide to do something, this outcome probably wouldn't have been avoided,” The long-haired woman said, looking at the four remaining people—Elites—

of the city.

‘Look at Winter's action for example,’ Placing her closed eyes on a certain white-haired girl, the woman continued in her thought. ‘Even with a replicate of my singularity, she couldn't change anything. That is because the future isn't so easily manipulated.’

“What needs to happen, will happen no matter what.” With an even deeper smile, the woman returned her attention to the Rift. “However, I'd like to add that Rin Kagane doesn't need my help.”

Ursa simply chuckled while silently agreeing.

◇

With Tenma now gone from the city, all that remained were the fodder monster that flooded it.

Certainly, since the beginning of the fight hours ago, their numbers decreased significantly—more than half of them were gone if one were to count—thanks to the hard work of Ark's Elites.

However, that is not to say the half remaining could be dealt with that easily. Tenma may have been gone now but in the end, he was just the strongest of all the monsters, and not their leader. His disappearance had little to no importance to the brainless monsters. It was even a good opportunity for the one aiming for the top of the food chain.

Destroying the human was the monster's objective, and, unfortunately—at least as far as Talia city was concerned—it wouldn't be a stretch to say they had succeeded. It was obvious the Elite had lost since, except for four of them, no one else was left alive. Of course, it was possible some people may have survived by hiding, by faking death, or just simply by some kind of impossible miracle, but even those miracles wouldn't last eternally.

What's more, among the four survivors left, Raven was still unconscious, Winter had lost her will to fight and had her knees kissing the grounds, and Lia had trouble breathing and was unable to bring her Aura and singularity back.

Strictly speaking, Rena was the only one able to put up a fight.

And fighting she did.

“Aaaaaaahhhh!!!”

Her scream—her cries echoed throughout the city, engulfing even those of the monsters like a goddess's war cry. Her petite body moved and killed countless numbers despite its devastating state without ever stopping. Her will and determination stood tall without despair despite having been crushed.

Although not comparable to what Rin had done, the little sister had already transcended her limits.

Her Aura overflowed like never, protecting and boosting her to a strength she had never reached. Her psychokinesis displayed fluidity on a whole other level, reaching, crushing, and killing her opponent like flies like an invisible killer.

“Aaaaahhh!!”

However, Rena's cry couldn't have been more painful to hear than at this very moment.

Blood, bruise, injuries. The little girl's veins even popped up and were visible on her forehead and hands, but, it was, without a doubt, the tears flowing down her eyes that showed just how much she was hurt.

It is said that the worst pain in the world goes beyond the physical.

How true that was.

“Why!?” The girl screamed her thought despite not meaning to. “Why'd it have to go like this!? I....I don't understand.”

Threatened by her inhuman onslaught, the monsters backed away from the little sister while eyeing her with caution.

Rena, on the other hand, despite moving around with such incredible speed, was forced to stop in her track—immobilized at the center of the monster— as Reality cruelly caught up to her.

“Why? Why does it have to hurt so much!!?”

Rena's emotion got the better of her.

Her hand clutched her throbbing chest as though trying to quell down her beating heart. Her tears overflowed and coursed through her slender cheek like a river. Although blood was still oozing from her nose, snots soon came to add to it. Her breathing continued to hasten requesting her mouth to seek for air.

“Sis....”

The image of her beloved sister came to her mind. Unfortunately, that image wasn't that of a smiling Rin nor that of a remotely distant, comforting memories, but exactly that of the previous scene she had witnessed.

The image of a dying Rin had come to her mind.

It happened just a moment ago, yet it felt so far away as though it was completely detached from her reality. It felt completely unreal for Rena. Or perhaps, she had wished it was unreal?

“Even though I came here to protect you!” Regrets assailed the poor girl.

Yet, even that—at least for the moment—wasn't allowed for her.

Shrewd as they were, the monsters on her surrounding didn't miss Rena's weak display and took it as an opening. Just like insects swarming the light, they jumped with their disgusting jaws and claws toward the petite figure that was their enemy without an once of hesitation.

However—

“—Die!!!”

With the same amount of hesitation—which is to say none—Rena used all of her power to create a powerful forcefield that blew away everything around her, monsters and environment alike. It was a little similar to Lia's shockwave except hers was exponentially stronger and covered a 360° radius with her at the center.

The monster that approached her were killed instantly with only a few lucky survivors and the ground on which she was standing was destroyed in a somehow perfect half-circle, leaving her aimlessly floating in the air.

Of course, not for long.

Although she somehow managed to control her fall, her lack of strength gave her no choice but to stand on her knees, exhausted.

“..Not...yet!”

Among cough of blood, the valiant girl refused to stay still and tried to gather her strength once again. Some monsters remained—or rather their numbers didn't seem to be decreasing all that much.

That was because they kept on increasing. The Rift was still open, after all, and obviously, its job wasn't to just be there to make the atmosphere eerier. It was for a reason why some people called the rift a ‘gate of monsters’.

The only silver lining was that the rate at which Rena killed her opponent was superior to the rate of their increase. Unfortunately, though, the girl's stamina wasn't infinite. It had already reached the bottom.

“I....will....”

Using her emotional state—using her grief, sadness, and anger as fuel for her strength, Rena barely managed to stand up again.

What awaited her determination was a row of monsters that seemed to be grinning at her weak self. Nevertheless, the girl did not shrink and even took one step onward without an ounce of fear.

“Not lose!!!”

Following her will, the monsters advanced savagely—

—Only to be met with a powerful torrent of shockwave.

“Right...” White and blue hair fluttered along with two different voices surprisingly saying the same thing. “This is not over yet.”

Side by side, Lia and Winter stood in front of Rena—their two pair of hands trembling after having used the singularity of shockwave—as though to protect her.