Van stepped out of the bathroom, leaving Beatrice to tend to Andrea. He slowly looked around the house, his breaths turning heavier with every second.

He didn't notice it earlier since he was panicking and trying to find Andrea, but their house really was a wreck. It looked like it was ransacked by thieves and bandits, except they didn't take anything and just destroyed their things.

​​

The table that he and his friends eat at, the sofa they lazed around when there really wasn't anything to do but relax. Even the walls were covered in letters written in red paint. Words like 'beggar' and 'stay away' were written all over the place.

Their windows were smashed and the black fumes that they saw when they rushed to the house were actually their clothes burning, all of it. Van's jaw started to shiver as he imagined what they did to the house, how they tied up Andrea, who had no way to fight back.

The sound of his teeth chattering filled the empty living room as he saw the stain of blood on the kitchen. Van could not help but fall to his knees, picking up the pan and cleaning out the litter of wasted food on the ground. He then grabbed the small knife that was also on the floor.

It was a bit sticky, probably from Andrea's sweat and the oil she was cooking with. Van's eyebrows started to tremble again as he thought of Andrea pointing this knife helplessly to the trespassers.

Why? He thought. Why would they even do this?

They were living peacefully.

And they just had to ruin that.

He then stood up as he retrieved his pouch full of crystals from his pocket and quickly grabbed one of the two remaining Yellow crystals that he received during his first day in the Academy. And without any hesitation whatsoever, swallowed it, going into superspeed so as to not explode from doing so.

[Gained 1500 EXP!]

[Base Lv. Up!] x1

[System Lv. Up!] x1

...Only one? Van furrowed his eyebrows.

He was deliberating on whether or not to use the other one that's left but now decided not to. It would probably best to save it as there might come a time when he needed to use it to recover his HP and SP. He didn't even bother checking his Status Window as he allocated all his points to INT.

He has been neglecting INT a lot, and with what he experienced in the Portal, he now knew that battles could go on for a long time, running out of SP during that time would be… disastrous.

The four men that they saw running out of the house couldn't have gone far, he thought as he walked out of the house while still holding the small knife in his hand. He quickly hid it, however, as soon as he was out of the gate.

It would seem that Harvey's incessant screaming has garnered the attention of the neighbors.

"Van!", Harvey waved his hand when he saw Van stepping out of the house, "The city guards are coming, and a healer is also on her way", he said as he walked towards him.

"...Thanks, Harvey", Van said in a low voice as he looked in the direction where the 4 men ran off to. He was about to go into superspeed, but before he could do so, Harvey spoke.

"Van…", Harvey whispered, "...If this was my brother, then--"

"It doesn't matter", Van quickly breathed, not even letting Harvey finish his words. Harvey couldn't help but gulp as he saw Van's eyes, but still, he did not break eye contact.

Harvey wanted to help, but again, before he could even say anything, Van disappeared, only leaving a trail of golden blur as he ran to the nearest intersection.

Where… could they have gone? Van let out a stuttered deep breath, his nose twitching from the heavyweight that he was feeling in his chest.

One of the four had a distinct red-hair that was similar to that of Gemma's, so he shouldn't be hard to find. He once again let out a breath as he rotated his ankles and stretched his arms.

His eyes contained a certain calmness to them, a calmness that would drown you if you look too deep into it. He then looked around him, trying to choose which path to go. But in the end… It didn't really matter, he thought as he slightly shook his head.

He could choose any path he wanted, and the result would be the same. No matter how long it would take, he would hunt them down.

He would hunt every single one of them down.

***

"F*ck, man! You think the woman is dead!?"

"Why did you even hit her head!? We were only supposed to wreck the house, you moron!"

"What did you want me to do, just let her call for help!?"

"F*ck, whose house was that anyway, Lucas?"

"Damned if I know", the red-haired man called Lucas could only click his tongue as he heard his subordinates' unending argument, "And can you guys get even louder!?"

Even if they were in the part of the city where no one usually walks to, it would still be bad if someone hears them talking like this.

"We were just paid to do a job", Lucas added as he let out a tiny sigh.

"Damn, I wonder what the owner did to offend the young master like that?"

"Probably just some unlucky brat", Lucas shook his head.

"You think-- Gah!"

"What the!?"

"What's wrong, Desmond!?"

"I... it hurts!"

Lucas quickly turned around, only to see one of his men, Desmond, groveling on the ground while holding his leg. "That…", Lucas could not help but squint his eyes as he saw Desmond's foot, which was loosely swinging from the ankles, with only the skin left to connect them.

"!!!"

Lucas' ears quickly perked up as he heard a sort of whistle growing louder, "Dodge!", he shouted as he jumped and rotated in the air, and before he landed to the ground, a new pair of arms suddenly protruded from the side of his scapulas, with each thick veins pulsating violently.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but it felt like he saw a pair of eyes looking at him as he was in the air.

"Gah!"

His two other companions, on the other hand, were too slow to react as they dropped to the grown, once again, with their ankles almost cut completely.

"W… what was that!?", one of the men wailed as tears fell on his face. His eyes were turning a different color, but it would seem the pain on his leg was too much for him to bear as it quickly reverted back to its original color.

"B… boss!? What is it, can you see what it is!?", Desmond cried as looked around.

Lucas could only furrow his eyebrows as he heard footsteps coming from the intersection behind him. He quickly rotated and readied his stance, his four arms completely barricading his body.

"Come out!", he roared.

His eyebrows then could not help but widen as he saw the individual that stepped out from the street on the left.

"...A boy?" He muttered. It was a small boy, slowly walking towards him while casually holding a knife, half his face covered by his hair.

"Who… are you--"

Before Lucas could even finish his question, the strange boy suddenly disappeared, followed by another shout from one of his men.

"F...F*ck!"

Lucas quickly turned around, only to see the boy crouching beside Desmond. The knife he was holding completely stabbed through Desmond's leg, with now only the hilt exposed.

The boy then let out a tiny breath as he stared directly at Lucas' eyes.

"I…

...will be the one asking questions"

***

[Base Lv. 6 -> 7 EXP: 28/1700, System Lv. 5 -> 6 EXP: 313/1600

HP: 210/210 -> 227/227 | SP: 39/39 -> 91/91

STR: 50 | (Atk: 120+0)

AGI: ??? | (Speed: ???)

VIT: 20 | (Max HP: 210 -> 227, Def: 29 +0)

INT: 5 -> 15 | (Max SP : 39 -> 91, MAtk: 47+0)

HP Regen: 5 | SP Regen: 3

Status Points left: 0 ]