Ken left out a sigh of relief after getting out of that situation.

“Now that was epic,” Sora said while out of breath, lying on the floor. But Akane’s whispering moans reminded Ken that she was in danger. He immediately put her to the main dining hall located inside.

“Her body is getting worse. What is this poison?” Ken gently touched hr soft delicate body, seeing her veins pop up in purple shades. The poison had already reached her neck. Her whole body trembling out of pain.

“Someone fix this!” he shouted to the others.

Ryu came close, looking at her almost unconscious state.

“Can you do anything?” Ken asked.

“Medicine isn’t my field of experience.”

“God, you guys are damn useless!” Ken tapped his own forehead out of frustrations. Miku came out of the pilot room, setting it on autopilot.

“I think I can find what it is”

She pulled out what would seem to be a holographic cube and scanned her leg. After scanning the area, the cube expanded, and the scanner turned into a floating monitor where she typed.

“Found it. It’s a Piple Pexious. A blood poison. We have to get it out of her before it spreads and destroys the white blood cells.”

“SO, what do we do?”

“we need an antidote to cure it.”

“Great, where are we gonna get an antidote for this?” Sora asked.

Ken stared at the leg and back at Akane’s painful expression. After a few seconds, he uttered,

“This poison… is it made of meto?”

“What?” Miku felt confused.

“I’m asking, is this poison made of meto or not?”

“Well, it is found from a pexious snake, so it has meto imbued in it”

“Alright, Then I got it.”

Ken pulled his left hand closer, and in a split second, ripped a chunk off with his mouth without hesitation.

“What the hell are you doing?” Miku shouted.

His hand was dripping with blood. He pulled the hand close to Akane as it gently dropped in her mouth.

“When my powers are active, I am mostly immune to any type of meto poison. It might work as an antidote”

“How can you be sure it will work?”

Sora asked.

“We don’t have a choice, so shut it!”

Ryu looked at these actions, amazed seeing Ken injure himself without a second hesitation for a person he does not even know. Just thinking about it cracked a smile on his face.

As Akane gulped the blood, the poison slowly faded away. After a few seconds, she fully went unconscious.

“Did it work?”

*snore* *snore*

It seemed despite being a delicate, beautiful girl, she snored loudly as if fallen asleep.

“Seems like it,” Sora added.

Ken grinned with relief. His monstrous expression wasn’t meant for smiling, that was for sure, but that monstrous aura and look was slowly fading away.

“Alright, with this out of the way, let this adventure…. begi…’

He immediately fell down on the ground as his consciousness faded. Ryu picked him up instantly.

“You guys should also get some rest.”

Sora gave an enormous yawn and responded,

“Yea, I think imma head to bed too.”

Ryu looked at Ken’s unconscious body, a smile on his face.

“Kawasaki Ken, huh? You might just be the person I was looking for”

On the cliff to the east side, doctors rushing towards the fallen body of Axel. Sliced in half, but not dead. The situation had finally calmed down as thousands of outlaws had been captured, as well as the vicious program known as odyssey had been taken down. Yagami lit his cigar, closing in on the east side. The two medics there trying to reattach Axel’s body.

“I’ll kill him… if it's the last thing I do!” Axel slowly uttered.

Yagami exhaled the smoke into the sky, his face saddened for an unknown reason. Where others were partying after such a great success, he stared at the stars spacing out. A doctor tugged his clothes as they bowed down towards Yagami. “Sir, we have done what we could for Master Axel. If the serum activates as planned, he will recover within a month or two”

“Alright, head to your quarters and see if there is anyone else injured or not”

“Yes sir”

Sayin that they both left the site. Yagami sat down beside Axel.

“Don’t let your hate cloud your vision or your power cloud your mind. In either case, you will taste defeat.”

“Shut it, old man! I… will definitely kill them! I won’t let any of them escape, especially that bastard Ken Kawasaki!”

“Kawasaki?” Yagami’s face widened up a little but as he uttered those words. He took a last inhale of smoke as threw the cigar off the cliff. “Well, haven’t you found an interesting enemy” he got up and slowly walked away without uttering another word

A harsh rainy weather, thunder crackling as the wind moaned. A girl tearing beneath a tree whose leaves had all but dwindled. Her looks seemed to match that of Akane’s.

“I’m sorry… I'm sorry”

These words were the only things that echoed through the forest, but who would hear them? The loud drops o rain would cover everything not being able to hear, not being able to receive help, all alone trapped in that harsh atmosphere.

“Hwah!”

Akane jumped from her deep sleep. It was luckily not rain but a condensed aircraft she was in. Her heart was beating loudly as she touched her chest, calming herself down. A dream so grounded in reality almost felt like an eternity. She looked around, seeing Sora sleep on the floor. Ryu sleeping in a chair with one leg on top of another and a small book about the size of his face covering his eyes. On the only bed across the hallway Ken was sleeping, hugging his pillow as I it was the love of his life.

“What happened?”

she asked, staring at her leg .

“Oh, you’re finally awake,” Miku uttered while fixing her robot. Her robot was injured during that fight, but to her those things held more importance than anything. It was clear from the effort she was giving it without taking a break.

“What happened? I was at the edge of a cliff, then that human fought tat mercenary and…”

“A lot of shit happened. All I can say is that is one dumb bastard. Feeding you his own blood to cure you without even thinking of the implications it might cause, what a retard”

“He… did what…”

Akane stared at the distance towards Ken.

“You heard me. He bit his own thumb off just so you could heal from drinking his blood. Seems like his blood acts as a cure for any type of poisoning.”

She pulled up small metallic ball in her hands and nuzzled it while giving out a malicious smile. “He will be a perfect guinea pig for me,” she murmured.

“Did you say something?”

“Na… nothing”. Miku shrugged it off. She let out an enormous yawn and stretched her arms out, relaxing her muscles.

“Alright imma head out to bed. There is some stuff in the fridge but not appetizing to the eye. Well, goodnight.”

It had been almost 7 hours, as they were endlessly drifting in space. Ken woke up, falling right on his face. His restless sleeping position had finally ended.

“Oww!’ he scratched his chin, easing the pain. “How long was I out?”

He looked around and observed the room. It was a normal bedroom of a ship. Nothing but a bed, a lamp and a desk with a chair. The walls were all pained with a wooden colour.

“How does he sleep like that?” Ken asked himself, looking at Ryu. It was justified by Ryu’s weird sleeping position. The bench was at a 75 degree angle as he was sleeping with a leg on top of another and his face covered with a book. Despite such a position, the chair seemed to not fall down. It was quite the weird way to sleep. Ken got out of the room, not wanting to disturb any of the guys who were sleeping. He had finally noticed the interior of the ship. 7 rooms in total. One that seemed to have led to the control room where the pilot would usually sit. it also seemed to be located the far away from the dining room. 3 small rooms, each with one having a double size bed and the other two normal beds. One living room or dining room, one kitchen and a small, what decent sized toilet. Not the most spacious ship, but it was comfy. Rustic wooden designs and old portraits across each room, the sofa in the dining room and the old tv located across it were all majestic in their own way despite looking a decades old.. Ken gave a smile, thinking it reminded him of an old person’s home and, just like old people’s home, the kitchen was lit up. Just thinking about food made his stomach growl.

“Well, since I'm up, might as well eat something”

He entered the kitchen. It was also the same as old people's home: one sink, a small oven below the stove and a vent on top that would take out steam, an array of dishes on the top shelves and a mopping broom. Despite such things, only one thing caught his eyes. That was her,Akane. She was slowly slicing some carrots as the stove was heating, boiling water. The smell of freshly made noodles hit his nose like a fragrance. His sniffing noise could be heard loudly as his nose sucked in the delightful smell. Akane noticed him sniffing air. In her mind, he was already an idiot, but now it seems he was a creepy idiot.

“Can you stop sniffing like that? Creepy”

Ken snapped out of his noodles fantasy and realized what he was doing.

“Oh! umm sorry.”

He walked close to her, looking at the boiling noodles.

“So, some freshly baked egg noodles?”

“No, these are Copcn noodles”

“Kapa what now?”

“noodles that are grown on the planet Kasbur. It's quite a delicacy there”

“I see” he slowly reached out for a carrot slice. Noticing that, Akane jabbed his hand, “Don’t touch any”

“Oh, come on! I’m hungry!”

“Just wait and…”

She noticed the biting mark on his hands. The bite he inflicted upon himself to save her. The finger might have regenerated, but the mark hadn't left.

“Alright, I’ll wait outside” Ken rubbed his hand while walking away.

“And… thank you”

Ken stopped hearing those words. He looked back at her, seeing a flustered face which was not making any eye contact with him. A side maybe, she was hesitant to show. Ken grinned and responded,

“Don’t mention it. You’re part of my crew now, so you guys are my responsibilities!”

Why is that smile so… comforting…

A split second vision of a dark figure looking down at her flashed before her eyes.

No, I can’t let that happen again… I will not… let that happen again