When he finished his talk with Mark, Axel returned to the back of the store to see how his friends were doing, only to find that they had already finished their battles.

"How was everything? Did you win?" Axel asked.

"I did," William replied.

"Me too. But mine was easier because I battled against a rank one world." Adam confessed.

"Well, if that's the case, it would be weird if you had lost," Axel replied while laughing.

"And how about you? You left before us, so I suppose the battle has been one-sided, right?" William asked.

"Not exactly. It has been a duel, but I won because I had a good matchup." Axel confessed.

"And where were you right now? Why did you leave?" Adam asked curiously.

"I was talking with Mark. He got me a vacancy in a rift this midnight."

"Oh, so you accepted the leftovers. Not the best option, but it is a rift after all." William said.

"Don't call it leftovers. You never know what you will get from a rift. Maybe Axel will get an overpowered add-on that will change his world forever." Adam said.

"Well, since I decided to exchange the rewards from my first two rifts for a convergence gem, no, I'm not going to get any overpowered add-ons from it," Axel said.

"Well, then, it is a shitty situation for you no matter how you look at it," Adam said while laughing.

"I don't think it is that bad. In the end, I was the one to ask for a rift, and he got me one very quickly, so I think it is a win in the end." Axel said.

After that, the three friends continued talking for a while before leaving the comic store. Before leaving, Mark reminded Axel to pay attention to his phone, as he would send him the rift's details soon after.

Because of this, Axel returned home soon after. He made dinner and put it in a tupperware to eat after the rift, and as soon as he got the address where he was going, he left his house and started walking there.

The location was far from his home, but since he didn't have a car and still had a few hours until the designated hour, he decided to walk there, a decision he would regret halfway there.

When he finally arrived, he found himself in front of an abandoned building.

It was a four-story structure. All the doors and windows were missing, and the painting on the walls was mostly gone.

'And I'm supposed to go in there by myself?' Axel thought to himself.

"Scary, right?" asked a voice from behind him.

Not expecting to hear anything, Axel couldn't help but jump scared.

As soon as he turned around, he found a teenager dressed in black. He had long hair that covered one of his eyes, and the nails on his hands were painted black.

"Who the hell are you? And why did you scare me like that?" Axel asked angrily.

"Sorry to scare you. I'm one of the participants in the rift tonight. Aren't you one of my companions?" The teenager asked.

"Oh, right. I guess you are from the "Black Demons of the Dark Seventh Hell"." Axel said.

"Exactly. I'm Black Lotus, but you can call me Thomas." the teenager said with a smile.

"I'm Axel. Nice to meet you." he replied."Do you know where the other participant is? I suppose he should arrive soon."

"Maybe he is already inside. We should go in and check it." Thomas suggested.

"Ok, let's do it," Axel replied, trying to hide his fear.

After that, they both entered the building and began to go upstairs.

There wasn't much in the whole building, just some debris and rubbish lying around, but nothing interesting. When they arrived on the third floor, they realized there was light.

They neared it sneakily, as they didn't want to alert whoever was in there, but as soon as they saw what it was, they relaxed immediately.

There they found a middle-aged man sitting on a folding chair with a mini fridge by his side, from which he took a can of beer.

"Oh, so you have finally arrived. The rift is yet to open, so you can come and sit with me for a while until then. You have two more chairs there, and you can get a beer if you want. Don't you worry, they are alcohol-free." the man said cheerfully.