From the day Zane saw the new world that Adam showed him, he had never seen a single tear mean something so heavy. He instinctively relaxed his grip but still kept it in place to pin her down.

Eve flailed her arms trying to get away from Zane with her strength but couldn't pry away his hand away. Tears then started to pour one after the other while she continued on to kick Zane away. After trying for a few futile moments she slapped Zane across his face.

Zane didn't move despite Eve's attacks but that one single slap seemed to hurt more than all his other injuries combined. He backed off and slowly walked away from her.

Now half a room's distance away, Eve got up and viciously stared at Zane, her throat was a bit hoarse from Zane's earlier grip. Despite only being pinned down for a bit, Zane's strength grew tremendously this past month, he was no longer comparable to what he was a month prior.

Zane sat down beside his chair and decided to apologize, "I'm sorry, Eve. I figured that you should've faced it headfirst."

Eve was stilling touching her aching throat and spoke in a rough voice, "I know I should but that doesn't give you the right to force it upon me. You don't know what I've been through nor what I've done, not everything's as easy as you think it is."

"Then tell me, I decided to help you and I'll stand by it but I can't help you if you can't help yourself."

"You want to understand, right? Didn't I already tell you what's hiding behind these gold plated walls?"

"Human trafficking, assassinations, child exploitation, and entertainment for the sick-minded. Is there something else you haven't told me?"

Eve sat down by her chair and hugged her knees, "I know that you already know what happened to me but that doesn't mean you understand the whole context."

Eve then stared at the blank city and saw the once-bustling view of vendors selling their goods and entertainers doing party tricks to rile up the crowd turn into a city filled with insatiable greed and desire.

Zane looked at what she saw but didn't see the same change she did, "Then stop avoiding my request. Tell me your past."

Eve's heart dropped and said, "It might be better to show you. First, you have to promise me to not make a move. Only then will I show you."

Zane's gaze steeled and his determination slightly wavered, if it was something that Eve needed Zane to not make a move then it must mean that it'll be something that went against his morals.

Zane wanted to lie and promise but couldn't say it, "That... I don't know... there are things that I just can't turn a blind eye to."

"Yeah, I figured, you have an annoying righteous ideology but also annoyingly aligned to the wrong one. Adam isn't a saint, I can't even say he's working for his own good. That's why I can't even show you what my past is."

Eve then took the initiative to ask about Zane instead, "You're so keen on knowing about me but I barely know anything about you."

Zane just simply replied, "The soul has no body, the body has no mind and, the mind has no soul. Adam's not lying but I just don't wanna believe it."

Zane then gazed into nothing as he continued, "Nothing he does or says or worthless, everything has a purpose and everything comes together in the end."

Eve then interrupted Zane with a chuckle, "Look at this, this was supposed to be about us but it still revolved back to him."

"Then how about this, quid pro quo, this seems like something we've been making into a habit. We might as well go all in. We don't hold anything back, deal?"

Zane stood up and reached out his hand towards Eve with a slightly calming smile on him. A smile that'll make someone feel safe.

"It's a deal, however, I still need you to keep your promise to not make a move. It's not that I don't want you to but it's not yet time."

"Might as well, friends can't be strangers, right?"

Eve mumbled to herself in a voice only audible to herself, "Yeah."

Eve grabbed Zane's hand and shook on it. No special paper showed up, no magic circle was activated, no curse was cast but instead, a simple agreement between friends was made. A bond that was stronger than any contract was made.

Eve stood up and wore the black cloak Adam gave them, something that was enough to hide with. Eve's unnatural stealth ability and Zane's cloak, which was previously Adam's, was enough to slip through any gaps in security if they were cautious enough.

"I might as well start, follow me."

Zane nodded and got up, he wore Adam's previous cloak and followed her. Their disappearance was something no one noticed.

They slid past all kinds of people and guards, there could only be glimpses of their shadowy figures among the seemingly peaceful streets of the kingdom. Eve went on to go deeper and deeper into the heart of the kingdom where people started to appear more and more wealthy and abundant.

Zane realized that their destination was something going to be hidden in plain sight. Eventually, he needed to supply his cloak with even more mana since being in a more lit and crowded area seemed to weaken the cloak's effects.

Seeing Eve slip by the crowd with ease, it seemed as if she was quite experienced in this kind of movement.

Eve started to fade out of existence as her figure disappeared from Zane's eyes, it was getting harder and harder for Zane to follow Eve. Luckily enough, Eve stopped in front of an obscure spot in the middle of the street.

"This is one of the hidden arenas, I don't know if we're lucky or not but do you see that sign?"

Zane looked at what Eve pointed at and there was a slight misspelling on the sign. The sign was about advertising an unknown place with the date and time slightly off. Other than being handwritten, there was nothing else of note on it. It was even less noticeable since there were many more advertisements that were grander than this.

Eve looked directly into Zane's eyes to see his commitment, "The code behind that is saying there's a show happening right now. If you really wish to see for yourself then follow me."

Zane didn't falter at the very least but instead nodded his head and resolutely stood his gaze.

Eve then talked to one of the bums on the side of the street and said, "You don't deserve to be here, someone as repulsive as you should have never been let inside this glorious kingdom."

The bum then shivered and curled up in a defensive position, "D-Don't hurt me! I got nothing to my name!"

Eve then pointed to the sign with the advertisement, "Then you should really start looking for a job! Look at that one!"

The bum then realized and slowly crawled away into an obscure place in an alley. Eve and Zane followed him slowly to fix his posture and turn his sloppy attitude into one worthy of serving nobles.

"I cordially apologize for this new way of entering the show. I do, however, guarantee that it'll be to your liking. Now, please."

Eve then tossed a bag of coins towards the bum and he knocked on the ground below him, suddenly a gaping hole appeared out of nowhere showing a staircase leading into an unbelievably dark place.

Eve and Zane went down the stairs to slowly hear mild laughter and the sounds of metal clashing. Before they could see anything out of the ordinary, they saw an expensive-looking store, hand-designed carvings of unknown symbols, and magical tools laid out in the open with the obvious function of magnification.

There were a few people chatting and discussing a topic related to their finances and livelihood. Their clothes and mannerisms obviously made other people realize they were nobles.

Zane and Eve didn't purchase anything nor did they strike a conversation with anyone there. They, instead, walked along without anyone noticing them walk past. Finally, after a relatively long tunnel, the sound of child-like screams started to prevail.

Zane then slowly understood the scene that was going to unveil in front of him. He started getting a little agitated, Eve saw this and reminded Zane.

"Don't make a move, this is something you'll have to endure. Besides, if I recall correctly there's at least someone who'll try to save them. Let's see if they manage to do it."

As they finally reach the end of the tunnel, it wasn't a dark nor bloody place rather it was pure white with skillful carvings into it. There were seatings all around the arena, similar to a gladiator arena but more luxurious.

There was a glass dome covering the arena, which Zane noticed strands of mana coming in and out of, signifying that there's mana inside the glass dome making it essentially a solid barrier between them.

Below the glass dome, however, was one of the most disturbing scenes Zane has ever seen. It was a simulated forest with a roaring river, dangerous wildlife, and worst of all, children slaying each other as they wished.

It wasn't even adult nor teens fighting in there, it was actual toddlers who could barely think straight slaughtering each other inside. Their eyes were hollow, their bodies were bleeding, their faces sunken and their hands bloodied.

Zane tried to step forward to help only to stop himself from doing so. He gripped his mouth shut trying to keep himself from vomiting everything from his stomach. The lavender scent in the room that everyone here was enjoying was different in Zane's senses.

The lavender coated scent was instead replaced by the bloody bodies of the people he tried to protect, the stench of such an event was something he could never forget, nor was it something he wanted to forget.

Zane saw the faces of bodies laying everywhere, their upper half and lower halves obviously torn apart, and their bodies mangled, unable to be even given a proper burial. Instead of the children's faces, it was the people he swore to protect that appeared, apparently, Eve wasn't the only one who was traumatized.

Zane slightly weakened his expression, "Eve, I- I can't do it after all. I'm sorry..."

Eve stared blankly at what was happening and just replied, "Yeah, I knew you never could hold back."

Zane then walked forward, each of his steps was heavier than the last, the mana that was going into the barrier was beginning to get sucked into Zane's body causing him to slowly fill up with mana.

"I never knew I'll be using Exhaustion to this state so fast. It might be sting but it's nothing compared to them."

Zane placed his hand on the glass dome and started sucking in the mana from it. A burst of mana started to envelop Zane in an extremely quick manner. Something of this scale was not a person like Zane could simply take in without any repercussions.

Veins started to pop out from his body as this all too sudden influx of mana disrupted the flow of mana within his body causing it to slightly crack. The crystal veins that he had couldn't take in this sudden burst of mana.

He couldn't integrate it into his own as he needed to have a clear mind and slowly work on his Condensation step by step, with his mind in disarray and thoughtless actions, he couldn't integrate it in a perfect way as Adam explained.

The glass dome suddenly started to slightly dim which made the onlookers baffled and confused, some started to panic as it was something that shouldn't have had happened, at least not until a few years ago.

The audience started to speak out.

"What's going on? Is someone breaking them out again?!"

"Dammit! Just finish this round! I know I won the bet!"

"You're all too annoying! Just shut up and watch!"

They looked around and saw no one near the glass dome which meant it had to be related to management.

Zane still continued to suck the mana supporting the glass dome but an even larger amount of mana entered the glass dome supporting it, this was management's attempt to curb the problem at hand while they try to find the root cause of this problem.

The initial mana inside the glass dome was something Zane couldn't handle already so this sudden influx burdened him even more.

"Dammit! I might as well go all out."

Zane reached out his sword and started to infuse the insane amount of mana inside him into it. Though before he could do anything with it a giant claymore appeared from behind him and bashed the glass dome into small pieces. That strike was so precise that it struck the glass dome's weak spot.

The masked boy with a giant claymore pointing towards the audience said, "No one's coming out here alive."