The moment Kan opened his eyes, Cole felt intense pressure weighing down on him. Cole broke out in cold sweat. He was afraid, even terrified of what he was feeling. His entire body was urging him to run away and get out of here immediately, but he couldn’t move. Even his heart felt like it had stopped beating.

“Get your dirty paw off me, you filthy beast.”

This sentence was said to the bear and the bear immediately did as it was commanded. Even though it was simple sentence, to the bear it had felt like a death sentence. If he hadn’t done what he was told to do, it felt like it would die that instant.

Kan stood up and looked at the bear. The Bone Bear felt even more pressure than what Cole felt. He was right in front of Kan and Kan was also directing all the pressure towards it. It was scared. Having lived in this forest for so long, it had felt this kind of fear before. It was the same kind of fear it felt when it encountered monsters stronger than itself. These monsters looked down on the Bone Bear and wouldn’t even bother to kill it, and the Bone Bear knew that. No matter how much it struggled against these monsters, it had no chance of winning at all.

Kan was emitting that exact same kind of pressure. The bear felt like an ant in front of Kan. It’s animal instincts were telling it to run away, and it did. It didn’t stay any longer to find out what would happened.

The bear began running at its fastest speed. It didn’t want to stay anywhere close to Kan. Without any hesitation, all the Bone Bear’s armor shot off of its body. The armor on a Bone Bear’s body was very important to a Bone Bear, and in any circumstances it would never abandon it’s armor. A Bone Bear’s armor would take years and years to grow, and is what allows it to survive in the wild. But this Bone Bear didn’t hesitate at all to shed its armor to gain just a little more speed. That was how much it feared Kan at the moment.

Kan and Cole stared at how fast the Bone Bear ran away. It was running at an incredible speed, and was gone from their view in a matter of seconds. Neither of them had the energy to chase after the Bone Bear.

Cole stared at Kan in shocked. Everything that just happened, occurred so fast that Cole still couldn’t process it. Cole contemplated whether this naked young boy in front of him was the same happy go lucky boy that came over almost everyday to train. The same boy that came over to play just because Cole looked lonely or even the same boy that would ask him to shower together, so they can become friends.

They were different, the Kan that he knew and the Kan standing in front of him. Looking deep into the eyes of the little boy in front of him, Cole could see so many deep dark emotions. Those were the eyes of someone who had been through hell and back. They were not the eyes a 7 year old boy should have.

Cole had seen these types of eyes before. Cole could only think of one person who has the same eyes as this Kan. This man had been betrayed, sacrificed his life to protect his family, seen his friends and family disappear, given up his ideals, and even abandoned his emotions.

“Who...who are you?”

Cole could only meekly asked who this person was. This wasn’t the Kan he knew. But Kan didn’t reply back. All he did was stand there, but then he smiled.

“It’s me Big Brother.”

Cole was shocked. The instant Kan smiled, his entire aura changed. None of that intense pressure was left and Kan was back to normal. No longer under pressure, Cole was finally able to relax all his muscles and breathe again. But as soon as he relaxed himself, his vision started turning blurry and then he fell unconscious.

Cole was about to fall to the ground but Kan went up and supported him.

“Thank you Big Sister.”

Over the years, Kan had suspected Cole of knowing Nicole, but today he finally realized that Cole was Nicole. Today he had concrete evidence that they were the same person. When he had woken up and scared the bear away, Cole was standing across from them. He had white hair and red eyes, just like how he remembered Nicole from the eighth set of memories.

Looking at Nicole’s tattered clothing and injuries, Kan was grateful. Kan hadn’t believed it when the voice within him had told him that she had abandoned him. For the past 2 years they had spent a lot of time together, so Kan knew that, although she was strict and ruthless when training, she was also caring.

Kan picked Nicole up and began carrying her like a princess. It was easy for Kan to carry Nicole because she was slim and light, while he was also a combat locksmith. He unlocked 2% and began running back towards the village.

Although the battle was over, he still needed to take Nicole to get her injuries treated. Through her tattered clothing, Kan could see two gaping holes on Nicole’s body bleeding. She also had various claw marks all over her body but these were not as severe as the two bleeding holes. Besides getting Nicole treated, he needed to also get treated for his wounds. Jane’s necklace had helped him through the worst of the injuries, but his body and organs were still damaged.

……

The first to arrive at the alarm tower was Claire. She immediately scanned the area for any signs of Kan or Cole but didn’t sense anything. She grew more anxious because she couldn’t find them. Clive soon arrived at the location with Jane in his arms.

“Are they here Claire.”

“No, I don’t sense them.”

Hearing this, Jane and Clive also grew more anxious. Clive began to think up of places Kan could possibly be at, but his train of thought was interrupted.

All three of them felt an intense pressure overcome them. Clive and Claire braced themselves against this pressure and was able to keep their footing. Jane on the other hand couldn’t, her knees gave out and she fell on her butt. Both Clive and Claire were stronger and had experienced more dangers in their lives, so they could stand up against this pressure, but Jane couldn’t. They all stood still, staring into the forest where the pressure was coming from.

‘Is that Bal Vo?’

Claire began to question whether this aura had come from the dragon Bal Vo. When she had gone to Bal Go’s mountain range, Bal Vo had emitted pressure just as strong as this. Claire immediately scrapped the idea of it being Bal Vo because it would never leave it’s mountain range.

“Clive be careful. This type of pressure is as strong as the dragon Bal Vo.”

Hearing his wife’s comment, Clive immediately prepared for any unforeseen circumstances. He stood in front of Jane and unlocked 40% of his whole body. The pressure on Jane lessened and she was finally able to breathe. She was terrified of what she had just felt and was even more worried about Kan.

All three of them had their own thoughts about this pressure but after a few seconds passed, the pressure disappeared. It had disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

“Clive i’m going to go check out where the pressure came from.”

“No, you stay here with Jane and i’ll go check it out.”

“That’s reckless Clive. I can fly so it’ll be easier for me to escape.”

“No. What if the enemy is faster than you? What will you do then? My body is sturdier so I will go.”

“No, you can’t go Clive. You’re always endangering your life. I can’t let you do that again. I’m just going to scout out the area, so it should be fine.”

“No, Claire. Your life is too important to be put in danger. I can’t let you risk your life like that. What if you die, what will I tell your grandfather, what will I tell the mayor, and what would I have to tell Kan. Kan needs a mother to return home too, so stay here and i’ll go check out where the pressure came from.”

“It doesn’t matter how important my life is. What if you die Clive? There has been so many times you were on the brink of death. Do you know how I felt then. I was devastated. Kan would also be devastated if you died. He needs a father to come back to.”

Clive and Claire continued to argue on who would go into the forest. They needed to go into the forest to check if Kan was there and to see what type of monster would emit that kind of pressure. They wouldn’t let the other person go into the forest, because there was a high chance of the monster in the forest being dangerous. Going into the forest would mean that they had a high chance of dying. Neither of them wanted each other to sacrifice their lives.

Jane could only watch as they kept on arguing. She was slightly jealous of their relationship. The two of them loved each other so much that they were willing to sacrifice their lives for each other.

Jane kept her attention on the forest. For some reason she had a feeling that someone was coming towards them. And she was correct. A naked young boy came out of the forest with a woman in his arms.

“Kan!!”