“This is bad! This is so bad!!”

A girl screamed as she ran across the streets of the city. If one were to look at this scene from afar you would think it was someone on a vehicle.

Her blonde hair which was tied into a small ponytail and the skirt of her maid outfit frantically swayed from side to side with the wind.

“This couldn’t be worse!”

She shuddered and couldn’t help but remember what happened not long ago.

It happened only ten minutes ago.

☆

The maid had walked into a small a cozy house not too deep into the city.

She put down a few plastic bags full of groceries and other things as she walked into the living room.

It was a very small room. There was a sofa with an old looking TV placed on a wooden table across it.

The floor was covered with a soft silver carpet and the wall was decorated with a single gold phoenix-looking ornament. The same image of the golden bird decorated the girl’s maid apron.

She locked the door behind her before taking off a black leather belt around her waist. The belt in question held a sheath with the handle of a sword popping out of it.

Leaving her weapon in the living room, she picked up the bags and walked towards the kitchen.

“Noa, I’m home!”

She spoke to a tall girl who stood inside the small kitchen.

“Welcome back Liz~”

The girl whose hair was short and of a flashy green color was too busy cooking and replied without turning around to face the tiny maid.

She had a husky voice and despite her height difference with the maid, both were around the same age on their early twenties.

“I brought all the ingredients you asked for. Do I just leave them here?”

The maid promptly placed the bags over a small wooden table. This room was small as well, but just big enough for the kitchen to fit along with the fridge, a wooden table and a drawer with some dishes, as well as a sink.

“Go ahead, go ahead~”

“Noa, you are always too happy when you are cooking!”

“Of course I am! Oh-” The woman turned around, her blue greenish eyes stared into the maid’s clear and shiny pink eyes. “Where is the money?”

The maid froze in the spot being unable to give her a proper response.

“Well?”

The green haired cook extended out her hand as if waiting to receive something. Her gaze pierced into the maid who continued being unable to reply.

“Elizabelle. Where is the money?”

Her cheerful attitude while cooking had changed into a dangerous and threatening one.

“I…” The maid slowly stepped back. “I’ll be right back!!”

The tiny blonde maid yelled, running away from the kitchen. She rapidly grabbed her weapon from the living room and put on the belt around her waist again.

Immediately after, she ran outside the house as fast as she could.

☆

A few minutes later, she found herself running across the streets with the speed of a racing car.

“This couldn’t be worse!” She shuddered. “I forgot to take the money from the register! And I forgot to close the restaurant! Noa is going to kill me!!!!”

And as the maid ran, the earth began to tremble.

The city was mercilessly hit by an earthquake.

The maid did not know it yet, but this would set a large series of events in motion. It would all start at the place she was running towards and nothing would be the same again.

☆

A short blonde boy wearing glasses and a white lab coat stood inside the electrocenter.

“Everything is going well so far, yes, it’s perfect.”

He spoke to himself. He was standing behind a reception counter but quickly crouched down and sat on the floor to avoid being seen.

“They will definitely come. Yes, if it’s them they will. It won’t be easy, but that is precisely why this will be fun. Let’s start the prologue to our game.”

He adjusted his glasses as a grin spread across his face.

It didn’t take long before the sound of running footsteps approached.

Faith who had been running across the plaza had reached the building. The glass doors at the entrance had been shattered and there were many glass pieces spread across the floor.

Faith was cautious and entered the building slowly.

The place looked empty.

There was a counter in front of him and a board on the wall with strange circular looking devices attached to it. It looked like they were products that you could find at this location exclusively as they all had small labels, but they were too far for Faith to read them properly.

He looked to the sides and noticed there wasn’t anywhere else to go. The doors to the sides at the far ends of the room leading deeper into the building had been sealed off with shutters.

Looking at this and the state that the entrance was in, it was very likely that someone had broken in, but there weren’t signs of anyone else being inside the building.

Faith stood still for a moment, trying to think of what to do.

(So that’s how it is.)

He didn’t take long before coming to a conclusion.

Faith placed a hand over the counter, jumping over to the other side. Without a second of delay, his hand reached for the person hiding under the counter. He grabbed the boy with glasses by his shirt, forcefully pulled him out and slammed him against the wall.

“P-P-Please don’t hurt me!!” The glasses boy screamed with an expression of panic in his face. “P-Please! If you want to take anything else I’ll give it to you! Just don’t hurt me!!”

“What are you taking about?” Faith couldn’t help but feel something was off. “If you want to talk, give back whatever you stole first.”

“I-I-I didn’t steal anything!!!! I’m just an employee here!! This person came in, trashed the place and stole our core reactors!! S-So we had to close, and they left me here to keep watch!!!”

“An employee?” Faith wasn’t convinced and instead put more force behind his grasp on the boy. “Then prove it.”

“I-I can prove it! L-Look, here is my ID!”

The glasses boy frantically searched the pockets of his lab coat, pulling out a card and handed it over to Faith.

Faith examined the card without letting go of the glasses boy just yet. The card had the logo for the company, it looked like a lightning bolt with a blue circle behind it. The logo was also at the top of the board with the strange devices and it matched up perfectly.

Examining the ID further, it also had a picture of the glasses boy with an awkward smile and the name “Viktor Nihil” just below the picture.

“You can also use this card t-to open the locked areas there if you need further proof…”

“If you are just bluffing, this will cost you a lot more later.”

Faith walked towards one of the shutters while pulling the boy with him. The glasses boy couldn’t help but internally grin as Faith slid the card by a sensor just next to the door.

With a click, the door opened without problems.

“There you are!!” A third voice reached them.

Wish entered the building while running at full speed and rapidly grasped the boy’s shirt. She placed her hand just next to where Faith’s grasp was, and slammed the blonde boy against the wall.

“W-W-Who are you?! Please don’t hurt me!!!” Viktor screamed in panic.

“I’m here to catch you thief!”

“I thought so too, but it looks like we were wrong.” Faith glanced at Wish who now stood just next to him.

“What do you mean? Are you trying to trick me so you can catch the thief and take the credit?!”

“Not a chance.” Faith shook his head and let go of his grip on the boy. “He’s just an employee. Here, look.”

Wish received Viktor’s ID from Faith and examined it.

“Y-Yes… I just work here. Y-You can also use that to open the shutter there if you want.” Viktor added, his voice trembling and worry becoming more and more apparent on his face.

“Just so you know, if you are lying I’m beating you both up.”

Wish began to walk towards the opposite end of the room while dragging the glasses boy with her.

“Sure Sure.” Faith replied uninterested.

(Damn. This is scary~) Viktor spoke inside his mind in a playful tone of voice. (Hah, of course it would be. These two are truly something else. Being this close is nothing like just observing them. But it’s fine, this is fun, at this rate… at this rate… they will get to shine after all.)

“By the way,” Wish stopped for a moment before sliding the card on the sensor and glanced over towards Faith. “Did some super suspicious looking person go to you as well and asked you to come here?”

“You too, huh? In that case…” Faith pondered.

“Yeah,” Wish slid the card, opening the only door that remained locked. “He was trying to set us up for a trap.”

“I-Is there something bad happening?” Viktor asked as his hands trembled.

“I won’t stay long enough to find out!” Wish let go of the boy and started to make her way to the exit “I suggest you to come with us if you want to be safe!”

Faith was quick to catch on and followed Wish. If that suspicious man was trying to set them up to come here, it was a terrible idea to remain there any longer.

(Yes, perfect!!)

Viktor couldn’t help but grin as he stared at the backs of the two that ran towards the exit.

“W-What is going to happen? Don’t leave me here!!” He ran after them, his tone voice not matching his thoughts in any way.

Just as sudden as before, the ground began to shake once more.

They wouldn’t have enough time to make it to the exit safely.

“Again?” Faith clenched his fist.

“No, there’s something…” Wish wasn’t able to finish her sentence.

Something was different.

The way the earth moved. That sensation altogether, there was no way for them to tell, but Wish couldn’t shake the feeling that this time, something was approaching them.

Just as Wish spoke, a really strong impact came from beneath the floor.

The impact released all its strength upwards, sending them all flying into the air for over a meter along with small pieces of ground.

“Ahhhh!!! What is happening?!?!” Viktor screamed in panic.

As they were lifted up, part of the ground beneath their feet cracked and broke down into pieces, letting all the ground fall into an eerie abyss.

Faith and Wish immediately took action.

They tried to use all their upper body strength to push their bodies in midair and towards solid ground before they fell.

However as this happened, Wish noticed the glasses boy was unable to react as well as them, he was going to fall to the bottom of the abyss at this rate.

She extended out her arm and pushed him towards safety, but that action made her lose sight of her own position.

Wish continued to fall as Faith and Viktor reached solid ground.

Even for someone like her that was good at many things, for someone that had great reflexes and a perfect feel for combat, she didn’t know how to react.

She closed her eyes tightly as a cold sensation of fear spread through her, preventing her from thinking or finding a way out from this kind of situation.

“What the hell are you doing?”

She could hear the familiar voice of a boy she knew well.

A floating sensation enveloped her.

Her body was still suspended in the air and she could immediately tell someone was holding her wrist with a lot of strength.

She slowly opened her eyes and was able to see Faith. The black haired boy was holding her while being inside the abyss himself.

He was using his other hand to hang right from the edge of the giant crevice.

“Don’t go giving up in a place like this you stupid idiot!”

Faith yelled at her. He was putting every bit of strength in not letting go of her while still hanging from the edge. He had managed to catch her, but he wasn’t confident on making it back up so easily.

“S-Sorry!”

Faith was unable to reply, the hand that was keeping him from falling was rapidly losing strength, and before he realized it, it let go of the solid ground.

“H-Hang in there!!”

And yet, Faith didn’t fall.

Viktor had managed to grab his wrist and catch him almost immediately. With Viktor’s feet in solid ground and in a better position than the other two, he was able to help them back up with ease.

They walked away, far from the collapsed ground and sat down on the floor by the fountain of the plaza.

Both were short on breath and unable to say anything.

(That was magnificent, that was perfect.) Viktor was struggling to hide the smile in his face. (If you were able to make it through that, then, I have no more doubts. If it’s you, you can surely handle this. Now, let’s do it. Show me. Show me what happens when the sun and the moon come together. Show me that radiance than only you possess, and then, let me take it from you!!)

They couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

It wasn’t because of what just happened. It was because of what caused it. Wish was faintly able to sense it before, but now Faith could feel it too.

“Faith!” May’s voice who had been quiet all this time suddenly spoke. It was coming from the receiver Faith wore on his ear.

Her voice sounded full of panic and way different from her usual self.

“Get away from there there’s-!!!!” The communication was cut.

Something was coming.

A faint sound could be heard coming from within the hole. It was the sound of electricity.

A large amount of blue sparks continued to shoot up like a fountain. They started coming together in midair and spreading around.

The sound of electricity became louder and louder. In seconds, the fused sparks had taken the shape of a giant blue orb of lightning that radiated with energy.

(WONDERFUL!)

Viktor celebrated in his head as the radiance of the giant orb reflected on his glasses.

As if to demonstrate its power, the orb flew up into the sky and fell down with its full force towards the electrocenter.

The sound of thunder roared through the plaza as the entire building collapsed and was brought down into the abyss that had just become bigger from the blast.

Faith and Wish stood up, staring in awe at the image before them. They had never seen or experienced something like this before. They had trouble comprehending what was happening, if that blast of energy came after them, then that would be the end.

☆

“I did leave it open after all!”

The maid frowned as she stood before the building of her restaurant.

“I hope I can still find the…” She stepped inside and was completely shocked by what she saw. “…Money? W-Wait! W-W-What happened here?!?!”

The place looked absolutely trashed. Most of the ornaments and chandeliers had fallen and broken and all the chairs and tables were missing.

The reason they were missing wasn’t because of someone stealing them. It was because the entire ground between the entrance and the counter of the building had fallen.

Elizabelle stood just a step away from the large abyss before her.

Upon seeing this, there was one simple thought that crossed her mind.

“Noa is going to kill me. She will kill me for sure.”

The maid was shocked. She didn’t know what to do.

“Wait, wait! What about the money?! It should be in the register just over the… counter… Ahhh!!!!” She yelled in panic upon realizing the entire counter had fallen down as well. “Wait, no! No Elizabelle! Don’t lose hope just yet! That’s right, let me take a better look first!”

The blonde maid nodded to herself and stepped closer to the abyss before her.

“Aw man, I’m really rusty in this kind of thing. But this much should be easy.”

She clenched her fist and jumped down into the large hole. She continued to descend for a long amount of time, but she didn’t crash against the very bottom. Instead, a gust of wind spread around her, it was almost like she was the source of it.

The gust of wind reduced her speed as she fell and cushioned her landing, turning that fall into a very short hop for her.

The place was pitch black and she wasn’t able to see anything, but it was no problem for her. She snapped her fingers and the area was illuminated by a dim purple light. The light was coming out from the hilt of her sword. The area wasn’t fully illuminated but it was just enough for her to see properly.

“W-What is this place? Ah! Don’t get distracted! First find the money! Time to search, I guess.” She sighed as she stared at all the rubble before her.

While the maid started her search, something else was happening closer than she expected.

It was just in the room at the end of a large hall. A circular room covered with screens.

☆

A black haired girl lied unconscious in the floor. In front of her, a brunette girl with sunglasses on top of her head and a tall boy with spiky hair slowly stepped back.

The door before them had opened on its own, and right after, a voice had faintly whispered in their ears.

“Welcome.”

The two glanced behind them immediately, but there was no one to be found. The moment they returned their sights to the door that had opened in front of them, a figure stood there.

The mysterious person wore a black, long sleeved, hospital gown. In fact the sleeves seemed to be too big for them, so much that they even covered their hands. They also wore a metallic looking choker with two tiny blue lights tilting on and off.

“Is this better?”

The person before them spoke in a soft tone of voice. They had white hair that fell just below their neck, but it also fell over their eyes, completely covering them. It was difficult to read their expression because of this, but there was a very passive, yet, eerie aura coming from them.

“Who are you?” Ryuusei asked. He had to do his best and put a strong front. He didn't know what was going on, this was no time to question whether this was friend or foe, keeping his guard up regardless was the best choice.

“I believe I should be the one to ask that. No? Maybe not. Hospitality? Ah. Right. You came to visit me so I should show some manners.” They paused for a moment. “You are Ryuusei Uehara, the girl with chestnut hair is Caroline Malheur and the one that passed out is Eri Mireille. Is that right? No. I am fairly sure, it is correct.”

Caroline and Ryuusei didn’t answer. They slowly stepped back, preparing to protect Eri if anything were to happen.

“Oh? Right. I didn’t give you a proper answer yet. Who am I? That is a good question.” The strange person scratched their neck through their long sleeve. “Do you need a name? I apologize. I don’t have one yet. If I had the freedom to choose one, yes, you can call me Raiko. I like that name.”

“Raiko.” Caroline was the one to speak this time. Eri’s condition was causing pressure to build up inside her, making her sound cold and serious. “Can you tell us how to reach an exit? We are in a hurry and have to go now.”

“Eh? You want to leave already? Hmm,” Raiko brought a hand to their mouth as they started to think. “Weren’t you trying to look at the messages in these screens earlier? There are two more in the next room. I can’t read them myself so I got quite curious. Maybe if we force your friend to wake up she can do it for us. What do you say?”

“Wha-” Ryuusei was promptly cut off by Caroline who stepped forward.

“We are not making her read anything anymore. We want to leave this instant and that’s all there is to it.”

“I see.”

Raiko’s soft tone of voice didn’t change. Instead, they turned around, and started walking into the room beyond them.

“?!”

Ryuusei realized something was wrong.

“Caroline, what’s-?!”

“I don’t know. Don’t take your eyes off Eri not even for a second.”

The moment Raiko stepped into the next room, their bodies started moving forward, almost as if they were being pulled into the room by magnetism. The moment they were already inside, the door behind them closed with a clicking sound.

This room was almost the exact same as the previous one, but it was way larger. There were only two screens at the very far end of the room, but they weren’t what illuminated the room this time. The room was illuminated by a large amount of tall blue tubes that circled around the entire room. The sound of roaring electricity was constantly coming out from them.

“It’s locked!!”

Ryuusei panicked as he ran and tried to open the door behind them with all his might.

“Sky said not to interact much with anyone. But… this isn’t my core body, so I believe it is fine like this.” Raiko’s head slowly turned around to face Ryuusei and Caroline. “I apologize, but I cannot let you leave.”

The mysterious person disappeared just as if they had become completely transparent. Soon after, they reappeared just between Ryuusei and Caroline.

“Ah, that’s right. Sky also said to keep things fair. I will allow you to struggle and I will stay visible to you, that will be my handicap.”

They then walked towards Eri who was lying down in the cold metallic floor just behind Caroline. The strange person stared at the troubled expression on her face. They crouched down and gently caressed Eri’s hair through their baggy long sleeve.

“This person is valuable to me right now. I won’t have to be curious anymore if I have her.” They disappeared again and became visible once more while standing at the center of the room. “I will erase you and then I will take her, that will be my reward.”

“Ryuusei,” Caroline glanced at the spiky haired boy. “Do you have any combat experience?”

“Yeah, more or less.” Ryuusei hated having to give out this response, he hated having to fight. But this wasn't a situation where he had the leisure to try and talk things out anymore.

The two of them began to take a battle stance. Ryuusei clenched his fists while positioning his arms in front of his body. Caroline began raising one of her legs, she positioned it so her knee reached the height of her stomach.

“I take it you chose to struggle after all.” A small smile appeared in Raiko’s face. “Perfect. I will accept your sacrifice.”

Caroline and Ryuusei charged towards Raiko at full speed. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to escape, a full force direct confrontation had begun.

The brunette stepped right in front of her enemy, immediately, she sent out a flying kick right towards Raiko's head.

The spiky haired boy instead released a powerful punch against their chest. They weren’t going to give Raiko any space to dodge their attacks.

The strange person however, was not distressed by any of this.

Raiko's expression didn’t change and they didn’t jump away or move to dodge the attacks either. They simply moved their hands, they moved with perfect precision, catching Caroline’s kick in midair while using the other hand to catch Ryuusei’s fist.

The two of them were prepared to launch a new attack, but Raiko’s grasp on them was stronger than they thought. Caroline was unable to pull her leg away, and Ryuusei couldn’t remove his fist. Even if it required a lot of force, Raiko simply hurled the two of them against the floor with ease.

“So the two of you excel in close range fighting, is it?” Raiko moved their head to the side, letting a cracking sound come out of their neck. “Allow me to try it out as well.”

Caroline and Ryuusei rapidly got back on their feet. They had a few bruises and their body was in pain from that attack, but it wasn’t nearly enough to bring them down.

This time however, it was Raiko that charged towards them.

The mysterious person with white hair moved at an insane speed, to the point Caroline could barely follow them with her eyes. Before she knew it, Raiko was standing right next to her and released a strong blow with their elbow against her stomach.

Caroline used her knee to block the hit. The force of the impact was higher than anything she would have expected, but her will to bring her opponent down allowed her to endure it. The moment she blocked the attack, she twirled and released a kick against Raiko’s stomach instead.

Finally having been able to land an attack, Caroline was decided to go all out.

She kicked Raiko’s chest and then kicked their shoulders to force their arms to swing behind their body.

The way Caroline moved looked as though she was dancing. Her footwork had perfect coordination and every kick had her full strength behind it.

The brunette then decided to finish it by kicking Raiko’s chin upwards, then immediately jumped up high, twirled in midair, and slammed her leg against the back Raiko’s neck until they landed on the ground with a resounding impact.

Caroline stood just before Raiko who continued to lie face down on the ground. She was out of breath and her legs were shaking from the damage she had taken before.

Ryuusei couldn’t help but stare in awe at the scene before him, but he couldn’t relax just yet. Caroline may have been too tired to notice right away, but their enemy wasn’t truly defeated yet.

Ryuusei could see Raiko’s head slowly moving up, their hand slowly reaching out for Caroline’s ankle.

“Look out!”

Ryuusei ran towards her, pushed her away from danger and stepped back from Raiko as they slowly stood up. There weren’t any bruises on Raiko, almost as if they had taken no damage altogether.

“That wasn’t effective, I see.” Raiko stepped back.

“Wait, Wait a moment!” Ryuusei yelled while glaring at the white haired enemy. “Why do we even have to do this!? Why can’t we talk things out?!”

“You ask a strange question,” Raiko tilted their head. “If we were to talk, would you agree to hand over your friend? Would you agree to stop living?”

“That’s what I'm talking about! Why are you making those stupid demands?! What do you have against us?! Why can’t you just let us be?!”

“Ah, there is some miscommunication between us, I see. I have the answers to that, but unfortunately, I’m not allowed to disclose that information.”

Ryuusei clenched his fist harder, he was not able to find any words to reply with.

“Forget it, Ryuusei.” Caroline gave it her all to shake away the pain in her knee, taking a fighting stance again. “We can’t reason with them.”

“Don’t worry,” Raiko extended out their arms. Small blue sparks of electricity began running across their body. “If you are so distressed, let me end this fast. I have to show some good hospitality after all.”

Ryuusei couldn’t help but to stare at the image before him in shock.

A sudden surge of electricity swirled around Raiko's body, gathering in a single point in front of them, and then, it shot towards the spiky haired boy at a high speed, missing Ryuusei only by a few centimeters.

“I missed, that is strange.” Raiko pondered out loud. “Is it because I’m focusing my skill somewhere else? Yes, that’s likely. It’s okay, that takes priority after all.”

Sparks of electricity started to gather around Raiko again, this time it all focused around their fingertips.

Once Raiko fully went on the offensive, Ryuusei and Caroline barely had any time to react.

Raiko had stepped next to Ryuusei in an instant. Their hand charged with electricity rapidly reaching for Ryuusei’s arm.

The spiky haired boy tried to step away, but his reflex wasn’t fast enough.

In moments, he could feel his body being slammed to the side.

But this happened thanks to Caroline who had reacted faster and pushed him away.

Raiko’s hand however, reached for Caroline’s shoulder instead and grasped it tightly.

The brunette couldn’t help but to scream as intense pain mixed with the tingling feeling of electricity began to spread through her body.

She tried launching a kick to push Raiko away, but her leg wouldn’t react. The pain from the attack she had taken on her knee before was staring to affect her more than she thought.

Ryuusei rapidly reacted. He ran towards Raiko and put all his weight behind a body slam. The moment he did this, Ryuusei felt as though he had ran into a wall of steel. The attack hadn’t done much damage, but it was enough for Raiko’s grip on Caroline to loose.

The brunette didn’t waste this chance and stepped away as far as she could.

She had succeeded in escaping the attack, but quickly fell down into the floor.

“I have to protect Eri.” Caroline struggled.

Her leg wouldn’t react but she still crawled on the ground, trying to move towards her enemy.

“I have to…”

She could barely let her voice come out.

“You are the most dangerous one, currently.” Raiko’s soft voice reached her ears. The white haired enemy stood before her, electricity was gathering at their feet. “So I am afraid I’ll have you retire out of this game first.”

Without any remorse, they shot a blast of electricity combined with a strong kick, sending Caroline flying towards the locked door behind them.

A loud crashing noise resounded at the moment of impact. The brunette collapsed on the ground with a small trail of smoke coming out of her body.

☆

“Huh?”

A certain blonde maid that wasn’t too far from there reacted the moment she heard a loud noise come from deeper in the area where she was.

☆

Caroline’s body hurt all over and she could feel part of her skin burning.

“I… have to...” Her sight was blurry, she could feel all her energy leaving her, and even then, she didn’t care about her own pain. “Protect her.”

Ryuusei stared in shock. His body was shaking but his blood was also rushing towards his head.

(I don’t know how this person is doing it, but they can manipulate electricity to some extent.)

The spiky haired boy could feel his heart pounding hard on his chest. Adrenaline was rushing through his body as it mixed with his intense fear. Ryuusei threw a punch, but Raiko dodged it with ease. The boy continued to release attack after attack, but he wasn’t able to land a single hit.

Raiko was quick to respond and launched an electricity charged chop towards Ryuusei’s neck. The spiky haired boy rapidly ducked, dodging only by a hair. He rolled to the side just in time to avoid an electricity charged kick and rapidly stepped back, preparing himself to go on the offensive again.

(Damn it, damn it, damn it!! I have to be careful, if I touch their hands or their feet it’s going to get ugly. On top of that none of my attacks are doing anything! Think Ryuusei, think!)

Ryuusei had difficulty timing his attacks. Knowing that what happened to Caroline could happen to him made him nervous. He had never fought someone like this before, not even his encounter with the blonde girl had felt this dangerous.

“You are not bad, you are being cautious.” Raiko spoke in a calm manner as they continued to dodge Ryuusei’s attacks. “Your lack of information however, will prove deadly to you.”

The spiky haired boy didn’t reply, instead he released a strong punch to the side of Raiko’s face. His hand was in incredible pain the moment the hit landed, as if he had hit a solid wall, but that didn’t stop him.

(Mira, what would you do if you were here? Would using that thing work?)

He released another consecutive punch, this time his hand felt as though every single bone inside it was breaking.

(No, No. It’s no use! Even if I used that, we are locked inside here, there is nowhere to escape! Don’t run away Ryuusei, don’t run away!)

Even with his hand crushed, the adrenaline was helping Ryuusei withstand the pain. He wasn’t sure how much damage that attack made, but it was strong enough for Raiko to step back and lose their balance for a moment.

He could feel sweat rolling down his forehead, tears rolling down his cheek. His right arm limped to his side as blood dripped out of his hand. He knew very well he couldn’t use it anymore. His breathing was rapidly deteriorating and his heart felt like it would burst out of his chest at any moment.

(That’s right, Ryuusei. You can’t be this pathetic. You can’t save anyone if you are like this.)

This time the spiky haired boy clenched his left fist with all his might.

(That’s right. You can do it Ryuusei. I can do it. Not just for yourself, but for everyone. You are the only one that can do this. So step forward, give it your all, make it happen!)

The spiky haired boy launched himself towards the enemy, he put his absolute full force behind this attack.

It was do or die.

He would bet everything on this.

He put all his weight behind his fist and slammed it against Raiko’s face as they tried to regain their balance.

But Raiko didn’t fall.

Raiko stood still, taking the hit and then glanced at Ryuusei with a smirk on their face.

A small blue spark came into Ryuusei’s field of vision. It had quickly run towards Raiko’s face, followed by a larger amount of sparks.

The spiky haired boy was unable to react. He was blasted away by a surge of lightning.

Ryuusei lied down in the floor, his clothes tattered and almost burnt. His arms and legs full of bruises.

Both Ryuusei and Caroline rapidly lost consciousness. They weren’t able to continue fighting after taking this kind of damage.

They had failed.

It was over.