A trickle of sweat could not help but form on Van's face as he heard Skylar's words. He was sure of it, the blue-haired woman with the number 373 on her clothes… she was looking at him.

But no, that should be impossible. The scenery in front of him now was nothing but a memory-- Mike's memories. What he was seeing now had already happened; with that thought surfacing in Van's mind, he started to calm down.

​​

But then, his eyes wandered off towards the woman named Skylar once again.

"!!!"

Van could not help but slightly back away. There was no mistake about it now, the woman was looking at him… looking at him straight in the eyes, and remained so for a few seconds.

"Can you…" With his curiosity and confusion reaching its peak, Van could only gulp nervously before taking a step forward towards Skylar, "...see me?"

"I--"

Alas, before the woman called Skylar could open her mouth, she was turned into smoke and swept by the wind as the scenery around Van once again changed. From a room filled with white light to a room that was only dimly lit by the candles that littered the walls.

Mike was still standing along with other enhanced humans, but this time, they were neatly formed into a line, with not even a whisper coming out from their mouths.

"This…" Van then squinted his eyes as he saw what seemed like a rope… No, a long tube, inserted into their arms leading to somewhere Van could no longer see. There seemed to be red fluid flowing through it.

"...Is it blood?" Van could not help but mutter. And as if in response to his question, a voice answered.

"The blood you have extracted is working well, Master Hearst."

"!!!"

Hearst!? Van quickly turned around to see who the owner of the voice was, but alas, it would seem that Mike's memories of this event were limited, as there was only darkness behind him.

Hearst… That was Sarah's family name.

Blood… Van could only think of one person-- Sarah's grandfather, Clark Hearst, the chairman of the Explorer Association. And of course, he won't easily forget his voice as well.

So… Hearst was involved in making these enhanced humans?

"You grant me too much praise, Pontiff Sullivan," Clark let out a slight chuckle, "And please, call me Clark."

"!!!"

Pontiff? The man that held the highest authority amongst the Circle!?

Although Van did not know much about the Circle, he knew at least that since he had heard it during his short stay in the Academy.

"Do not be so humble, Master Clark."

Hearing Clark's words, the Pontiff seemed to let out a laugh of his own, "I am sure we would have spent another hundred years of trying to extract the false god's blood if we did not have your assistance in this matter. It truly is our blessing that someone such as you have seen the light of this world."

Van's breaths started to get heavy as the conversation continued. It would seem that some important things were being revealed to him. Although he slightly felt uncomfortable sending another Neutral Soul to the [Fields of Punishment], it would seem that it was not in vain.

False god's blood? Could it be that they have already gathered one of Hercules' kin? Or maybe someone else? What if it was the body of Hermes or the Seraph that Hercules mentioned to him?

With those thoughts, Van could not help but frown as his curiosity once again reached its peak… It would seem that he would have to visit the Circle sometime soon.

"Then I shall take that praise!" Clark burst out in laughter, "Tell me, how many have we made so far?"

"We have had some hurdles," a slightly disappointed tone came out from Pontiff Sullivan's voice, "But once this batch is over, we will finally reach our first goal of 5000. 5000 people blessed by our holy church! With this, we will show the Messiah that our decision is right…

...She would have no choice but to accept us again!"

The Messiah? Van furrowed his eyebrows.

"That… that is good!"

"We are creating the world she wanted, a world where everyone has the chance to fight-- a utopia where no one has to die from the monsters because they could not protect themselves! System Holders or not… we can finally live knowing that all of us can fight!"

The Pontiff's voice started to tremble, almost to the point of bursting into tears. "We will--!"

Before Van could finish listening in on their conversation, the scenery in front of him once again changed.

"Listen up! Sinners have escaped the Pit. The most horrible of System Holders who abused their powers for their own gain, killing and pillaging without any regard to human life!"

They were once again back in the spacious white room. But this time, Van could no longer see Cynthia and the rest of the familiar faces… as well as number 373, Skylar.

The orange-haired man that approached Mike in jail, Ronald, was now in front of the enhanced humans, giving out some sort of speech about Prisoners… That could be no one else but them, right?

"The vilest of humanity is there, and we shall cleanse it once and for all!"

As soon as Ronald's words reached Mike's ears, he quickly stepped forward and kneeled.

"Please, send me!" He screamed, almost cracking his voice, "I shall fight for the Circle even if it means losing my life!"

"..." Van then squinted his eyes as he noticed something different with the enhanced humans. The ones that were here now… all had a circle mark burnt on their foreheads.

"Then you shall be one of our vanguards!" Ronald then pointed towards Mike, his voice almost trembling as the passion in his words exuded, enough to make Mike almost tear up.

"..."

"But this isn't just a simple mission," Ronald's voice then turned melancholic, "We… would only be sending 6 of you. Some of you may die, but you will die knowing that you have served the Circle well!"

Ronald then clapped his hands and smiled. Afterward, he picked the remaining 5 that would be coming along with Mike.

"Why didn't they pick me!?"

As soon as Ronald was gone, almost all of the group huddled and gathered around Mike and the others that were chosen, complaining why they weren't chosen.

"You guys are so lucky to finally be of use!"

"I wanted to test my strength, why wasn't I picked!?"

"Pft," with the voices of envy flattering the air, one voice of disdain showed itself, "Didn't you hear what Bishop Ronald said? This is probably a suicide mission. They are just a sacrifice to check the strength of those criminals."

"Aren't you just jealous you weren't picked?"

"Who is jealous!?" The man quickly rebuked, "I overheard them talking earlier. They will be sending more of us after they are all dead, along with some of the Acolytes."

Acolytes… According to Mike's memories, they were those who have fully adapted to the god's blood.

"Right, you're just jealous."

"I already told you I am not--"

"Anyway, what did they give you?" Before the man could even utter his complaint again, he was already ignored.

"Oh, this?" Mike raised a black ball, the size of a baseball, "They said they'll be able to see through here."

Mike then tapped the ball three times before it split open, revealing what seemed to be an eyeball.

"Eek! What's that!?" Hearing the disgusting squishing noise, one of the enhanced humans surrounding Mike slightly backed away.

"That's… a Portal Artifact!"

"Really? Looks creepy, What's it do?"

"Bishop Ronald said it would let them see what was happening through it," Mike let out a short breath, "All we need is to throw it in the air."

"W… wow, that's so--"

A thunderous noise echoed through the air as Gerald suddenly appeared in front of Van's vision, completely stomping the enhanced humans and turning them into dust as the scenery once again shifted.

"..."

Mike was now fighting Gerald along with 5 of his comrades. No… This couldn't even be called a fight. Gerald was playing with them, it was almost a massacre.

Seeing Gerald move like this, he could not help but wonder what his level truly was. According to Harvey, Gerald had been taking in huge amounts of Crystals ever since he was young. With the Lauder's resources, Van could only imagine how many Crystals they had access to.

"N… no," Mike's voice which was filled with desperation disrupted Van's thoughts. Gerald was now right in front of him, his fist ready to cave in his face. But before he could do so, a dark entity flashed beside Mike, pulling him away.

"..."

It was Van, once again shown as a dark cloud. Van only shook his head before closing his eyes for the rest of the memories, he already knows what will happen from this point on.

[Penalty of Hades is over]

"!!!"

A thunderous noise filled Van's ears as he woke up from his own gasp. He looked around him, and as soon as he saw Nisha, his whole body once again fell to the ground as he grasped his head which was rippling with pain.

"Y… you're finally awake!" Seeing Van wake up, Nisha quickly kneeled on the ground to check on him, "What… what just happened to you?"

Van's breaths started to stabilize as he saw the panic in Nisha's eyes. And after a few seconds, he tried to stand up, "We… we're being watched," he muttered.

"What!? What are you say--"

Nisha could not help but shut her mouth as Van suddenly fell on top of her, "What… are you doing?" She stuttered, her face slightly red as she could definitely feel Van's hand on her bosom.

"There's… there's a Portal Artifact..." Van, however, seemed to be oblivious of his hands' whereabouts as he continued his words, "...watching us from the skies-- a black ball. The Circle is watching us from it."

"A black ball… You mean an Observer's Eye!?" Nisha furrowed her eyebrows as she heard Van's words, "Wait, what do you mean watching us?"

"I… I saw it," Van let out a stuttered breath as his head still throbbed with pain.

"Why didn't you say so earlier!?" Nisha hollered as she quickly carried Van like a princess before running outside. She then squinted her eyes as she scanned the skies above. Afterward, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

"What… are you doing, Miss Nish--"

"Ssh!"

"..."

Nisha remained like this for a while. But finally, after a few seconds, she opened her eyes and quickly looked in a certain direction.

"You… you're right!" Nisha hollered, "It's there!"