Fon glanced sideways at the teenage boy – Harry, as he had introduced himself – as they walked through the run-down remains of the town. Starving individuals threw wary glares their way, aware of their power and protectively hunching over what little food they had. She could see in their eyes that they were willing to die just to have the luxury of eating tonight.

While she herself would never steal another’s food, she too was quite hungry and had been for a long time.

The fact that she didn’t see Harry throw their foodstuffs even a single longing glance spoke realms of his living situation. Either he was brought by Jonathan from a place of great abundance and was yet to truly understand how the situation here affected him, or he genuinely held no fear for it. Judging by the company he travelled with, Fon understood why perfectly.

She hadn’t visited the unconscious man, even in the three days that he had been comatose, although the boy had. He was a strange one and was oddly… what was the word… insensitive? It was little comments and things he’d say at the wrong times, and while she knew he didn’t truly mean anything by it, it still annoyed her.

He was also quite talkative, and that talkativeness had led to a profound image of the man he followed being painted in Fon’s mind eye. One of great care and empathy yet goofiness and an astoundingly horrifying amount of idiocy. Rarely did the boy mention his power, more so focused on the man himself. She could tell he trusted him deeply.

She may have been scared by the casual display of might, but that was all that she needed to know. That the man was someone worthy of her trust. Although, she had never gotten his name nor felt the need to ask. That was the first step to establishing a relationship between the two of them.

Idly, Fon wondered if one day, she’d be that strong, able to grasp upon freedom and help others when she can simply because she could. She knew firsthand what it was like to feel scared and alone and hungry, and she wouldn’t wish any of that on anyone.

Together, they continued their way down the street, and finally, the man’s aura entered her range of detection. It still remained feeble and weak like she had felt that last time she’d seen him when he’d passed out, although it now possessed an undeniable… quality to it. Far more so than before. The only explanation that she found was the strange benefits offered by the Aetherweb.

No amount of levels changed an aura’s quality, she had seen. Only quantity.

From the way it ebbed and flowed to the whims of his emotions, she knew he was awake. The boy beside her didn’t seem at all surprised, and she surmised that with his far higher level, he had long sensed that the man had awoken. It was probably why he had decided to bring her along on his check-up this time. If not for the other three of her comrades being currently comatose, she was sure they’d be tagging along too.

Gael hadn’t been comatose. At least until he thought trying to attack the boy was a good idea.

In the past three days, Harry had not once forced her to stay put. His paralysis effect had worn off a few hours after it had been inflicted and he had mentioned that it was mostly because he wanted to make sure no one tried to attack his friend. Afterwards, all he did was talk with her, making it readily clear she was free to leave at any point in time.

Fon had considered it but quickly discarded the thought. This was her ticket out. Out of the murder for survival and the starvation and the fear. This was her path to a better life. A life she could be proud of.

The small cottage located on the outskirts of the town loomed in her vision, and Fon halted mid-step as she felt the Ascendancy inside her skip a beat. It was minimal, but she sensed faint aura traces clinging to the area, pressuring her increasingly as she tried to study them. She didn’t know how, but whatever had happened to the man’s aura had made the oppression… physical.

His remnant aura looked no different to her discerning eyes, yet it was undoubtedly changed. She looked over, and upon seeing Harry barely notice the traces, she settled down a bit. Clicking her tongue quietly, she followed behind him.

Harry strolled up to the door and barged in, uncaring of whatever the man had been doing on the other side of it, “Brock! You’re finally awake?”

Blessedly, as Fon peered inside, ‘Brock’ - as he had been called - was merely lying down in a bed, glancing over at the arrival of his companion. Curiously, Fon stepped within and tried to stop herself from flinching as she noticed that the dark fog permeating off his frame had gotten thicker.

“Unfortunately.” He rubbed his eyes and made to sit up, “How long was I out?”

Deciding this was as good a moment to introduce herself as any, Fon hurriedly spoke before Harry could, although her voice came out far faster than she’d wanted it to, “Three days.”

Finally, it seemed like he noticed her presence, and his vibrant blue eyes bore into her own amethyst ones, a side effect she realised that was from her ocular-based Ascendancy. His expression changed from impassive to one of surprise as he appeared to recognise her, “You’re… that girl in the gang?”

Fon blinked, “It… wasn’t really a gang.”

His eyes narrowed and he nodded slowly. Fon could tell he was letting her have this victory despite not believing her claims. Her lips straightened and she noticed his did too as his eyes adopted a more apologetic gleam.

“I’m uh… I’m sorry about those people…” He appeared somewhat uncomfortable – and also slightly confused - talking on the topic, and Fon could see why. She didn’t know what the situation was in Australia where he seemed to have come from, but he certainly seemed like he hadn’t seen a Skin Walker before.

She gave a wry smile, “It’s… ok. They weren’t really… people anymore…”

That was what she said, but still, it hurt. She had known Maya and Chris her entire life. Hell, her parents had known their parents before they were all even born. And now, they were dead. Consumed and replaced by the very scourge that gave her the largest reason to live in fear. At least they wouldn’t be here to have the world twist them further than it already had.

“Still…” he insisted.

“Really. It’s fine.”

Fon could tell he wanted to say more, but she really didn’t want to hear it, and he seemed smart enough to judge that off her body language. Inwardly, she was somewhat glad her other companions were still unconscious. If they had been here, she was sure the conversation would have been far more… volatile.

Jonathan would have certainly tried to capitalise on Brock’s weakness and exterminate him, which she could guarantee would either result in Harry cutting him down or the target himself just taking the blow and lashing out. Gael and Xavier probably would have thrown the blame for their friend’s replacement on her, using her ability to see energy as some sort of sick reasoning.

They weren’t exactly what she’d call a functional group of people. Just more reason for her to leave, she assumed.

The conversation kind of died out afterwards, with her having nothing more she really felt like saying. Harry, on the other hand, didn’t even seem to notice the somewhat sombre mood that had befallen them and instead rushed up to Brock, eagerly asking about what Technique he had chosen for his second selection.

Fon piped up on this part, having been curious about what kind of Techniques one got at level 25 for a long time. Her comrades had never really cared to tell her, although she had noticed the common trend that they were allowed aura projection. Whether it was related or not was yet to be seen. Until now.

She listened carefully as Brock spoke of his choice and the effects it seemed to have. For the most part, his assumptions were right, though the part about it empowering his aura to be able to influence the material world was slightly incorrect. From what she could tell from his mild demonstration, his aura converted itself to physical energy upon contact, therefore allowing him to interact physically with things around him.

Of course, this resulted in a tad bit of his aura disappearing due to the conversion and expulsion of physical energy. Based on what she could observe, that was the only energy cost of utilising the Technique.

It was a simple matter for Fon to share her findings in an attempt to curry favour, and she was inwardly delighted when Brock appeared to become far more interested in her own Ascendancy. Even the teenager among them was somewhat amazed by her insight into energies. She called him teenager, but she wasn’t really all that much older. Maybe a few years or so.

After readily explaining to the man her Ascendancy and the utility it had to offer, she saw the incredulous gleam in his eye. Quickly, it turned cheekily mischievous. Harry appeared to notice it too, but the boy genuinely looked to have no idea why. To him, energy was just energy. At the end of the day, if he couldn’t see it, then who cared?

With this turn of events, Fon barely managed to hold herself back from smiling. Her goal was a disgustingly simplistic one. Surviving in this world required power. Her comrades had possessed a modicum of that, and they had readily misused it.

So, by that very same logic, who better to anchor herself to than the most powerful man she had met so far? He seemed to be a decent person and was still retaining his humanity despite his clear strength. Most of all though, Fon knew that if she followed him, while bloodshed might not escape her, it certainly wouldn’t be an existence where she’d have to unfairly harm others just to survive.

“Is it…” Fon spoke, although her voice trailed off toward the end.

Brock stopped ruffling Harry’s and looked her way, furrowing his brows, “Huh?”

“Is it… ok if I come with you? Please?”

And with that, she laid her hope out naked to him. She had been an administrator for some large lawyering firm prior to the System, and she was certain she knew her way around managing things. While it wasn’t exactly applicable to the world they were in now, she was confident her skills could bring a lot to the table.

At first glance, the two boys looked very… unorganised. Haphazard. Random. She could pin a few words to describe them.

“You… wanna come with us?” Brock raised a brow at her, clearly surprised by the declaration.

Fon was prepared in case he needed some convincing, however, and instantly responded, “Well, yes. I’m an archer and can offer ranged support in battle, and my Ascendancy is very benefi-”

“Yeah,” Fon cocked a brow as Brock cut her off nonchalantly. He appeared to stew on the idea for a few seconds, his face impassive as he seemed to weigh the pros and cons, before he slowly nodded, accepting her proposal, “yeah ok.”

She was left speechless. Fon had organised an entire argument and speech about her ‘undeniable usefulness’, a phrase that was literally a part of it, yet the man had accepted her so easily. This time, the smile did manage to break out on her face, and she blushed as Brock snorted at her eagerness, the humour of it clear in the noise.

They spent some time getting to know each other afterwards - just a few hours where all three of them merely chatted - and Fon learned that like she had thought, he was originally from Australia. She even became privy to the increasingly unbelievable experience he had in place of the Tutorial.

In fact, more than that, she was surprised that he was so open about it, although, she knew there wasn’t all that much she could even do with the information. Even if there was, she still doubted she’d be able to overcome the man in a fight when he found out that she used it against him. Not for a very long time at least.

It seemed almost meagre in comparison to what she had shared. A simple upbringing in Paris with a loving family and no siblings, just those friends she once had. Her life was about as boring as boring could be, yet Brock had still appeared to be satisfied with the knowledge.

He had actually been shocked at her evident lack of motivation to find her parents, though she had explained it was because she felt them a waste of such worry. Her folks were getting there in age, but they were far from the helpless people many assumed them to be. If anything, she worried for the survival of her newfound companions more so than her mother and father.

Monsters be warned, her father had always been a strong man. And her mother just as much so.

On the other hand, she hadn’t been shocked to learn of their joint quest to find their own families. It was a relatively common story these days, and many people had passed through the town before now on their countrywide search. Unfortunately, many of them had been seen as half-devoured corpses strewn about the very next day only a short distance from the town. Fon gritted her teeth at the thought. Everyone here knew it wasn’t a beast that had done that.

It was one of those things.

If an escape from her current situation was her main motive to escape the town alongside Brock and Harry, then she could consider leaving the growing threat of those creatures behind as another motive. No one knew exactly how many, but her team had been certain a significant portion of their town had already been replaced by now.

In fact, two of those very team members had been replaced. And none of them had even known. They were undetectable, their assimilation perfectly mimicking both the demeanours and personalities of those they disguised themselves as, let alone the identical appearances. Even their smells were the same.

Upon their deaths, they simply melted down to a bloody sludge, leaving not even a corpse behind as their fluid slowly evaporated into the air and disappeared. The few times she’d witnessed it occur was enough for her to realise their energies didn’t react like other beasts. No, whatever these things were, they weren’t a natural occurrence.

Those previously mentioned travellers searching for their families brought stories along with them, news of other towns that had perished, populations entirely erased without so much as a trace, just the blood to prove of their deaths. Many had fallen already, and Fon knew it was only a matter of time before this town did too.

Unfortunately, even her Ascendancy was unable to discern them when they were disguised, with the monsters being somehow capable of imitating even energy emissions. Hell, Chris had even used a Technique. His Technique. It was horrifying to think that they can even replicate a person’s powers.

She hadn’t even known old Graham had been one of those things until he was caught transforming and trying to eat his wife alive while she slept. She hadn’t known either, and they had been married for 30 years. All she truly knew these days, were that things were getting dire.

In the end, Brock got himself out of bed, albeit still being somewhat weakened, and Fon helped him to his feet as he was led outside by Harry. She didn’t decide to protest his movements despite the aura depletion only days prior and instead followed behind as the Australian man surveyed the town around them and whistled.