"Should we really be staying here? Maybe they need our help?"

"Seeing as no one is still attacking us with Charlotte already gone, it would seem they have no other army waiting for us."

​​

Those who were on top of the New Wall could not help but talk amongst themselves as they waited for any signs of movement from the dark.

"You think Van followed granny?" Harvey approached Beatrice, his eyes not leaving the darkness.

"Where else would he be going?" Beatrice let out a long and deep sigh, "Van will always be where the action is… remember the time he carried Mr. Jacobs like the two of them were jousting?"

"Pft," Harvey quickly covered his mouth to prevent himself from laughing. Since the atmosphere was a bit tense, it might be distasteful for him to laugh. Although it was only months ago that that happened, it was as if it was already ages ago.

A lot has already happened, but what's important is that they were all once again together. Whatever happens now, Harvey would make sure that their group would never separate again. That is what he promised himself, that is why he needed to get stronger…

...to keep everyone together.

"Hey… what's that?"

"Hm?"

Harvey's thoughts were then disrupted as he suddenly heard Edward's voice.

"What's what?" Beatrice asked as she looked to where Edward was pointing to-- the skies,

"I…

...don't see anything."

***

"...This brat," Charlotte, who was once again descending from the skies, could not help but let out a smirk as he felt Van going faster and faster, "Fast…

...but not enough."

Charlotte then rotated her body away from the running Van, opened her palm as she took in a long and deep breath… before clapping.

"Grah!"

The enhanced humans who were directly below Charlotte could not help but cover their ears as a loud explosion echoed from the skies, as if the air itself was cracking.

Van also felt a snap whispering into his ear as he continued to run away. He was about to turn his head back, but before he could do so, he felt something pass him.

"!!!"

Van quickly turned his head back, only to see Charlotte with her arms stretched together forward.

'W… what the fuck?' Van could not help but pause for a second… With the time he had unlocked his System…

...This was the first time that someone had ever passed him, and what's worse was that there was a smile on Charlotte's face.

'Is she… really trying to kill me!?' Van thought as he stared at Charlotte, whose palm was now heading for his butt. She said that she was just going to spank him, but coming from Charlotte, she might as well have said she wanted to kill him.

Seeing Charlotte's hand approaching him, Van's heart felt like it started to scream. He could feel it thumping faster with each beat.

Van then closed his eyes, trying to call forth everything he could from his System.

'I… I am not going to die here!'

He held his breath as he tried to focus everything in his legs, enough to the point that the golden lightning that was trickling around him started to concentrate on his legs, expanding the wings of light that fluttered beside his ankles.

'Run…' Van thought, 'Run faster than I have ever run before!'

Van could feel his whole body starting to heat up, the blood that was trickling from his arms almost seemed like it was boiling. And then…

'Let's fucking go!' He roared as he opened his eyes, which released a web of lightning, almost like a hundred golden snakes coming out from them.

"Eek!"

The enhanced humans that were now scattered all around the place all looked up as another noise, louder than what they had heard before, pierced through their ears. But this time, it wasn't a crack in the air, but rather a whistle… no, a howl. It was as if the skies themselves were howling.

They all looked up, only to see what seemed like a huge set of golden wings, leaving a trail of light as it flew straight towards the horizon.

"What the!?" The sudden wave of heat that passed by her caused Charlotte to open her eyes, but instead of shock forming on her face… it was glee.

"It's been so long," the smile on Charlotte's face turned even wider as she looked at the trail left by Van, "Show me more!"

Charlotte screamed as her skin started to turn darker, no… It wasn't her skin. Her veins started popping out from her flesh, seemingly re-arranging her once already muscular physique into a monstrous one, completely forgetting why she was currently in a bout with Van in the first place.

And once again, she clapped. This time, the enhanced humans that were below could not even react. No… how could they, when all that was left of them were the ashes of their life, mixing with the earth that was now as if a raging tidal wave that razed everything in its path.

And Charlotte, as if an arrow that was shot from the strings of a bow, completely disappeared from her spot, all that was left was her silhouette, made from the dirt and dust that was previously sticking on her body.

Van, however, continued to run as all he could hear was… nothing at all. Van always thought that one day he would once again be running for his life, running to the point where he was starting to once again feel nauseous.

But he never knew that it would be because of a crazy grandmother that wanted to hit him for such a petty reason, he thought, as that was all he could do right now.

The New Wall was starting to get bigger and bigger as Van got nearer to it, he wanted to slow down, but he didn't want to risk it. His plan was just to run in circles around the perimeter of the New Wall so that Charlotte would at least limit her strength.

'Almost there!' Van thought as a small smile appeared on his face.

But then, suddenly, out of nowhere…

...Something emerged from the clouds above…

...something colossal, as if a whole city raining from above.

"What the fuck is that?" Van blinked a couple of times. He still had his [Time Perception] on, but even then, the colossal block of earth that was falling from the skies was moving at a speed that still caused Van to move his eyes…

...towards the New Wall, towards the Portal…

...Towards Latanya and the others.

Van's feet then slowly started to slow down as the colossal… rock was only a meters away from their base, the colossal rock's size almost comparable to the size of the perimeter of the New Wall.

"N… no!" Was the only word that escaped from Van's mouth before he could feel his skin tearing off from the barrage of debris and dust that was heading for him.

Van, however, did not even mind the pain as he continued to stare at the New Wall… crumbling into pieces as the colossal rock crushed it without any resistance. For Van, it almost looked as if the colossal rock were the jaws of death, swallowing the entire base whole…

Harvey, Latanya, Nisha, Victoria, Beatrice, and Gil...

...His friends were still inside.

"No!"

"Boy!"

Charlotte's voice was the last thing that Van heard before everything turned dark…

...everything.