"Mister Gil!"

Van could not help but cough as the dark smoke covered his entire body, his eyes, reflecting the blazing fire that seeped through the cracks of the fog.

​​

The fire was slowly starting to swallow the forest, but still, Van was able to swiftly avoid danger due to his speed and reached the shores of the lake. But alas, Gil was nowhere to be found there.

"Mister Gil, where are you!?"

Van once again screamed, but his loud voice was drowned by the sound of embers and leaves crackling around him, whispers, but still too many enough. Add the thunder that the trees were causing as they separate from their roots and fall to the ground, one would barely even be able to hear themselves.

"Tch," left with no choice, Van used his [Air Step] to carefully climb through the air. However, he could not help but once again cough as the smoke thickened and became worse the higher he got.

Van covered his mouth, squinting his eyes to carefully look for any signs of life within the forest. And finally, just after a few seconds, he saw a movement in the forest-- Gil. Gil was running through the thick forest, waving his hands to dissipate the fires that blocked his path.

"Mister Gil!" Van once again shouted as he carefully descended from the air, using his [Air Step] like a ladder.

But halfway to the ground, right as his feet could touch the leaves of the tallest tree, he saw Gil dropping to the ground, blood profusely gushing out from his neck.

"!!!"

Van's eyes then turned towards another silhouette that suddenly showed himself, its arms stretched, a knife in tow.

"...Mister Reed?"

Van's face twisted as he quickly let himself fall to the ground, not even using [Air Step] to soften his landing.

"Reed!" He could not help but scream as he rushed towards where Reed and Gil are at, swiftly avoiding the trees and the bushes blocking his path.

"You--" Reed turned his head towards the sudden voice that entered his ears, but before he could fully turn his body, he saw Van approaching him at a very high speed.

"!!!"

Reed quickly dodged to the side, but alas, he was not able to fully avoid Van's rush. His vision shifted as he felt half of his body seemingly being hit a huge boulder. The blood from his mouth trailed as he rotated his body in the air, making his landing soft, albeit clumsy.

Reed wiped the blood on his chin as he looked towards Van. He was only able to dodge him because he heard his scream. If he didn't, he would have surely taken the whole brunt of Van's attack.

His eyes then followed a blur, no, followed Van, who rushed to Gil's side.

"Mister Gil!"

Gil's neck was still bleeding, but even then, a smile crept onto his face as he saw Van approaching him, "V… Van?" Gil could not help but stutter as his mouth coughed up a huge amount of blood. He then chuckled as his eyes scanned their surroundings.

"S...shit," he whispered, his eyes reflecting the fire that surrounded them, "Did… did I just burn the forest down?"

"Let me bring you to Boss so she can heal--"

"!!!"

Van quickly went into superspeed as soon as the sound of rushing footsteps entered his ears, quickly dragging Gil out of the way.

He then looked towards the direction they were previously in, only to see Reed back on his feet, his knife brandishing towards where Van's face used to be. And without even a word or a slight hesitation in his movements, he once again rushed towards Van while carrying a weird smile on his face.

Van gently pushed Gil to the side and backed away to avoid Reed's incoming attack.

"..." Come to think of it, this is the first time that Van would be fighting someone who also specialized in speed. Van carefully followed the movement of the waving knife in Reed's hand, backing away as it threatened to slit his throat.

Nisha also specialized in speed. But he hasn't really gotten the chance to fight her and has only seen how she moved against monsters. This would probably be the best chance he will get in learning how people who prided their speed fought. But alas, he couldn't take his mind off of Gil, whose skin had already become as white as snow from the lack of blood. But it would seem that his bleeding has stopped, burning his flesh to cauterize the wound and giving him more time.

Van needed to finish this fast, or else Gil would truly die. Van let out a short breath as he proceeded to grab Reed's wrist, causing him to let go of the knife he was holding.

Van was about to punch his throat, but he didn't realize that Reed caught the falling knife.

"!!!"

Van quickly backed away as he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. A part of his shirt was ripped as a tiny hint of blood started to trail down his waist.

"..." Did Reed actually let go of the knife willingly? Van turned his head towards Reed, but before he could fully turn his head, he saw a knife already shooting in the air and threatening to penetrate his skull.

Van quickly dodged to the side, only to find that another knife was coming at his face. Once again, he was forced to twist his body to dodge… but another knife threatened to pierce his eyes as he did so… and another from his back.

"!!!"

Van jumped this time around, spinning his body in the air and successfully dodging three of the knives that were coming at him. But unfortunately, he was not able to fully avoid 1 of the knives as it grazed him on the neck.

When did Reed even have the time to throw all of them, and from where? Van's thoughts were once again disrupted as soon as he landed on the ground, with Reed already rushing towards him.

And once again, without noticing when they were thrown, the knives were also already coming at him from different directions.

He could handle Reed's speed without any problems, but the speed of the knives was a different discussion. Could it possibly be… a Skill?

This time, Van tried to avoid the knives with minimal movement, his eyes not leaving one of the knives for even a single moment even as it passed him, not straying until it hit a tree. But to Van's surprise, instead of the knife being embedded through the tree, it bounced off of it.

...Yup, it's a Skill. Van thought as he returned his attention towards Reed, who was only a few feet away from him now, the smile on his face still menacingly looking towards Van.

Van only let out a small sigh, before the golden sparks that were flying out of his eyes grew brighter and more erratic… and then, he moved.

"!!!"

"What!?" Reed quickly stopped in his tracks as Van completely disappeared from his sight. He then expertly caught the knives that were flying towards him one by one.

He could still manage to see Van's slight movements and where he would go previously, but his last movement… Reed was not even able to follow it with his eyes. Reed was about to scan the area to find Van, but he didn't have as a voice whispered into his ears.

"!!!"

He quickly turned his back, only to see Van a few meters behind him.

"I have been thinking of ways on how to fight well with the speed I have. What techniques I would use, what tactics I should use. But with you… All I really need is my speed." Van said, a hint of disappointment clearly being released from his breaths.

He has seen how Charlotte moved only once, and it was enough to make him fear for his life even when she wasn't even looking at him, but Reed… Reed was almost nothing.

"You!" Reed swung his arms, once again throwing the 4 knives in his hands…

...But there was nothing, the only thing that emerged from his hand was the empty air that wrapped his arms. "Wha--"

Before he could even say anything, a clanging sound whispered into his ears, ringing a couple of times right in front of him. He once again placed his attention towards his opponent, only to see him dropping the very knives that were in his hands just a moment ago.

"When did you--!"

Before Reed could even finish his words, he felt a pain on his cheek as his vision slowly shifted to the side.

"You have a very hard face, Mister Reed."

Reed could only let out a small utter as he looked at Van, who was currently swaying his hand and massaging it. Reed was about to open his mouth to say something, but before he could do so, he felt another pain on his cheek, this time on the right.

"W… what?"

He didn't even see Van move from his spot, he didn't even see a blur. "What did--"

Once again, before he could even finish his words, he felt another pain on his cheek. There were no blurs, and not even the slightest signal in Van's body that he was going to move-- All Reed could see was a sort of static wrapping Van's entire body.

"We're done here, Mister Reed," Van then turned around, completely exposing his back to Reed as if he was just an ant he could deal with at any time, "You're only alive...

...is because you're under Miss Boss."