Ryan looked at Gary incredulously. “So … you’re not really a newbie assassin, are you?”

“No, of course not!

“Would you like to explain what’s really going on?”

“Well, no. Since you’ve just joined Sky Haven, there are rules you have to follow. For example--”

KABOOOOM!!!

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gary was interrupted by an explosion, before loud sounds of gunfire echoed in the hallway. Everyone rushed to take cover, before heavily armed men stormed the hall.

“Take cover!!” instructed Gary, and Ryan proceeded to follow his instructions, before he remembered that bullets could not kill him.

“Eh … What’s going on?” asked Ryan. Wasn’t Sky Haven like a secret organization which not many people knew about? So, why were there heavily armed people shooting at everyone?

“I don’t know either! However, we have to leave right now!”

“How do you suggest we do that with--”

Loud sounds of gunfire interrupted Ryan, who was about to say something truly sarcastic. It was a good thing that he was interrupted.

“Follow me!” Gary began to crouch towards a door which led to the stairs. Right, they were in a basement. Ryan had forgotten. However, this wasn’t the way he had come in, so where did it lead to?

KABOOOOMMM!!

Behind them, another loud explosion occurred. Ryan turned to look, and he realized that someone had thrown a grenade towards the invaders. Whoever that person was, they deserved a medal for “stupid person of the year”! Had they forgotten that they were underground? Or were they trying to commit suicide bringing along everyone else?

Well, either way, Ryan wouldn’t be killed by something so …

BANG! BANG!

His attention was violently brought to the staircase, where Gary had shot someone. The dead corpse fell down the stairs, and Gary signaled Ryan to follow him promptly.

Two figures rushed along the not-really-short staircase. In Ryan’s case, he was moving so slowly. If he could use his movement technique, he could basically kill those invaders with ease, while even having time to spare for a cup of coffee. Then again, sometimes it was best to preserve his strength. He didn’t know what was going to happen, so it was best to keep his immortality a secret.

Reaching the end of the stairs, Gary turned left, and went towards one of the offices.

“What are--” the lady in the office did not manage to finish her sentence. Actually, it’s safe to say she finished it with an, “Oh…”

Ryan followed inside, and as he saw the person in the office, his face changed into various expressions. There was shock, mixed with a hint of grief.

“What are you doing here??” asked the lady, not paying attention to Ryan.

“MOM????????” It appeared that not paying attention to Ryan was a terrible mistake.

“Nightingale, we have a problem!! We are under attack! We have to leave immediately!!” replied Gary.

Meanwhile, Ryan was stuck speechless. The person currently in front of him, was his supposedly dead mom. Wait, he knew she was alive back then when Rose told him about her mission. So …

“Ahem. Mom, you have a lot of explaining to do”, with a cough, he straightened his posture, before assuming the face of someone who had everything under control.

Nightingale and Gary: “…”

More sounds of gunfire echoed in the corridor before silence resumed. Nightingale pulled a gun, and then leading the way, she started walking towards the door.

Ryan followed the two, who had pulled ahead. It looked like he was being protected, since the others had guns. However, if they knew that the person, they were protecting was invulnerable to bullets, Ryan wondered how they would feel.

Nightingale and Gary shot every single enemy that appeared in front of them, to the point where they ended up running out of bullets. Thanks to the dead enemies, however, they managed to restock. In a matter of minutes, they had escaped from the building.

“Where are we going?” Ryan could not help but ask. He was just following without knowing where they were headed. It wasn’t the only question he had, but now was not the time to ask the others.

“You will see”, was the reply he got.

Getting into a black van which was parked outside in the back alley, they began driving away from the building. While they were driving, however, the sky darkened. Immediately, dark grey clouds began to cover the clear sky, while the wind began to howl.

Sometime before all these events happened, on a planet quite distant from Earth, dark clouds covered the serene green skies.

There was a … eh … person, with green skin and large horns. This person was called Mondo, and he was in charge of gathering their tribe’s forces to prepare for the invasion of a distant blue planet. The person who had put him in charge had killed his predecessor, before going into closed-door seclusion. What a way to assert dominance!

“It appears Excellency is breaking through! These are the tribulation clouds …” Mondo muttered. The clouds looked so frightening; he was afraid of going near that person’s residency.

The first bolt of lightning struck a house quite distant from the place where Mondo was standing. The entire house was reduced to ashes, which showed how powerful the bolt of lighting was. A figure came into view from the ashes. There was no damage to this figure whatsoever. The figure looked like a young man, of age seventeen, with short blonde hair.

Even after being struck by divine lightning, the young man’s clothes, were still intact. The black jacket with ‘Yankees’ written on it, did not look that indestructible, yet had survived a bolt of tribulation lightning.

Of course, after that terrifying bolt of lightning, the heavens were not done with the young man. Seven more bolts struck the young man, to the point where no amount of barriers he could cast could keep the bolts from striking him!

Each of the bolts of lightning were much more powerful than the previous one. However, after being struck by seven bolts of tribulation lightning, he was now charred black, and the clothes he had been wearing before had been reduced to ash.

The cloud-covered sky darkened some more, as it seemed like the heavens were getting more and more annoyed with the resilient cockroach they had been trying to eliminate.

This time, a massive, purple bolt of lighting began to descent! It then struck towards the already charred figure! This purple bolt took the shape of a massive, purple dragon.

“Bring it on, you old villainous heavens! I will not cower in submission! I will rise and until I tear you apart, I will not rest!” declared the charred figure. It would have been awe-inspiring, if the person saying this was not so charred and black with ash and soot.

As if spurred by the speech uttered by the charred figure, the purple lightning dragon began to grow even bigger!

ROOOOOOAAARRRRRR!!!!

The purple dragon roared, causing the hairs of everyone who heard it to stand on end.

“Eh?” Even the charred young man’s eyes widened.

And then it descended towards him! Thanks to the pressure being released by this lightning, he could not move at all. Channeling all the qi in his body, he began a desperate attempt to resist the pressure.

Casting a divine spell, various barriers made of bones materialized, forming a giant triangular formation! However, none of this proved effective, as the bones were incinerated to ashes before the lightning dragon even reached anywhere near them! That was how powerful this bolt of lightning was!

The young man frowned, and then continued to cast even more divine spells. However, the lightning dragon still descended, and when it struck, there was a massive explosion!

Thick dense lightning bolts which resulted from the lightning dragon, struck even the surrounding areas, causing so much devastation that Mondo was beginning to wonder if the planet itself would be able to survive.

After a long time, as the dust had settled, a massive crater could be seen. Well … rather than calling it a crater, it was safe to say a large bottomless pit had resulted. Why? Because the bottom of the pit could not be seen, and the diameter of pit spanned thousands and thousands of kilometers, which made one wonder what the heavens were thinking.

Mondo looked at the pit, before muttering something under his breath. He didn’t want to make casual assumptions. Someone had died after doing so.

“Do you think he survived? I can’t sense any sign of life!” spoke a female voice behind Mondo.

Before Mondo could say something in response, a figure slowly rose from the bottomless pit!