"Stay out of my way before I make you!" Artorias Roared and shrugged off any attempt to halt his advances. "Either you join me silently or you leave it all up to me!"

"What's gone into you? What happened to keeping a level head because of the mission!? This is a completely different planet from ours! There's nothing that says that the locals should act the same way we do and have the same customs! Maybe cannibalism and smiling all the time is normal for them!" Kai spoke with a shaky voice, trying his best to be for once, the voice of reason in the group.

"Shut your mouth! This is the work of heretics! It's none of your concern maggot!"

"H-Heretics?" Kai raised an eyebrow and pulled back from his marching leader.

"You know… Kai might actually be right… I'm not sure why you're doing all of this. We should do some scouting first or something! We can't get this mad over a bunch of random aliens. We're soldiers, we should be ready for anything, especially such atrocities," Even Regrit agreed with Kai who he hated more than any other. "What do you think?" He glanced over towards the pale, blank-faced Elizabeth.

"Did… did I eat the flesh of a child…"

She was walking as though she was a zombie, and only hearing Regrit's words did her soul reenter her body.

"Oh wa… Yeah… Yeah sure…" She shook herself several times, taking many deep breaths.

"Hey, Hikari, you cold?" He sighed before asking.

"Oh-oh, don't worry… These new clothes are really warm, I'll be fine!" She brimmed with her usual air of happiness, but beneath her initial look lied a hint of sadness.

They were now almost halfway up the mountain, the fog and coldness of their surroundings seemed to get more severe with every step. It appeared that there was nothing that he could do about it.

Regrit felt a massive headache creeping up in his subconscious. Artorias seemed to be no longer trusted as he was consumed by something else. If anything, he was surprised that he did not rush ahead of them and leave them in the dust, might that mean that even he was not confident in facing whatever lied ahead all by himself?

For once, he wished that Moby was there with him to help clean up this mess.

And, luckily for him, his pleas were answered with a voice from behind, but, unlucky so, it was not bearing the calm, good news he was expecting…

"Runaway!! Get the hell out of there!! NOW!"

"Huh?" He turned around to see a frantically running Moby, and before he even had enough time to process his words, he heard a crashing sound followed up by a high-pitched shriek.

His world was suddenly consumed in a thick layer of foggy snow, and in the midst of the panic, he tried to burn it all away with a blast of fire, only for his flames to be consumed in the icy storms.

"WHATTT!?" He whaled unable to believe his eyes.

Clanking sounds were heard from all around him, a battle had begun, and amidst the chaos, he heard a voice whisper in his ears, one that at first sounded like nothingness until his translator picked up on it.

>

It was a voice cold and almost otherworldly, chilling down to the very core. And as those words came to an end, another voice overpowered it… A female-sounding screech that almost deafened the ears.

And not too long after did Regrit notice red slowly flow by his feet… Fresh blood, and when he traversed the storm to see what had happened, he witnessed the corpse of his own sibling, cleaved clean into, his eyes white, turned to the back of his skull with a beyond disturbing face that spoke one thousand words. His guts were leaking out of his flesh, his intestines flat on the ground gushing blood like a sprinkler right in front of him.

He couldn't believe it, it almost did not feel real… He did not once imagine he would witness Kai's life end in such a way, it was rather peaceful and anti-climactic from what he had envisioned in his head… Part of him was sad that it was not he that put him in his coffin, but there was another part of him celebrating over the sea of blood engulfing his sabatons.

He wanted to laugh at his miserable state, especially after all he had done for him. But, he could not allow himself to do so… No, he would not be consumed by personal greed. Not at a time like this when both his teammates and his chances for a successful mission were in jeopardy.

If anything, now was finally his time to distinguish himself in battle. He smiled in the face of danger, brimming with adrenaline as he activated his fox-like spirit mode, engulfing his body in a fire that incinerated the snowstorm circling him.

However, as he prepared himself for battle, a sudden grasp wrapped itself around his waist, and before he knew it, he found himself high up in the air, close to the chest of an unknown man.

Out of instinct, he tried to escape, but once his face became clear, his tenacity was replaced with confusion.

"Instructor?! What are you doing?! Let me go! I can help!"

"YOU FOOL!! YOU ARE NO MATCH FOR THEM!! THOSE TWO ARE MONSTERS!!" There was fear in that man's eyes, fear unlike anything Regrit thought to be possible of a hardened elite of the military, it more than caught him off guard to the point that he was lost for words peering into his eyes.

"Boss! They're coming! Kevin won't hold out for much longer!"

"I know that! We need to hurry! Did you get all of them?" The lead examiner spoke in a panicked voice as he set down Regrit.

"No, there were two of them I couldn't reach! One is confirmed dead while the other one I can't seem to find!"

"Doesn't matter now! Okay! We don't have much time! Listen up kids! Those guys are way too strong for you! We will now be sending you away and fight these guys off to let them off your tail! Whatever you do! DON'T DO ANYTHING!! We contacted the school and they should be here as soon as possible! STAY PUT AND WAIT FOR THEM TO ARRIVE!! DON'T BE A BUNCH OF IDIOTIC HEROES!!"

The storm was so heavy that Regrit could not even see who was standing to his side, all he saw was a certain glow come from up ahead where the voice of his instructor was, and all he heard was the sound of clanking battle.

The glow ahead eventually expanded and drove back the thick storm, and as it engulfed him and the people around him, he managed to witness the face of those who attacked them… Their skin was pure white, their eyes were blood-red, and distinct lines bearing a crimson glow flowed down their right eyes all the way down to their blackened garbs, a single horn protruding high from their head…

It was only a split second, and he could instantly identify who it was… But before he could utter a word, he found that he could no longer speak as the power of the light completely consumed him and all he saw now was white...