- Torment -

The fight between Bam and Urek against Hell Joe has finally ended with Bam and Urek Mazino as the winner.

Taking that chance, Urek Mazino wondered whether Bam was willing to take his younger sister and him to join the Wolhaiksong despite knowing that the two of them were the part of FUG already as the slayer candidates. He said to them that after all, they were the one who chose their own paths. It has nothing to do with the FUG or anyone or any other organization, but themselves.

When Bam returned and reunited with his comrades, Charlotte was the first one to jump and hugged him tightly like they hadn't meet for ten years.

"Charlotte, remember of your wounds! They aren't completely healed, aren't they?!" Nathan reminded her.

"You are hurt?!" Bam asked in surprise as the two of them broke their hug.

Charlotte replied with a smile, "It's not a problem anymore."

"How could you be injured!?" Bam asked her again.

"That.....I will explain to you later" said Charlotte. She believed that if she told everything to Bam right now, there will be no end for the discussion.

Bam declared that he and the others were safe....and that they also had defeated Hell Joe as well. Just like what Charlotte said, so far, there was no one dying.

"Hm....are these guys your companion?" asked Urek Mazino who was walking on the air as if it was nothing. After all, he was a ranker and also an irregular. Of course walking on the Shinsu was nothing for him. His red eyes looked at all of them and added, "They look different from before."

It was Charlotte's first meeting with Urek Mazino. And just from their first meeting, Charlotte could feel a different aura from Urek Mazino. At the first glance, he did look like an unyielding person. She could tell that there was an extremely huge gap between their strengths.

'Well...it isn't like I'm going to challenge him on a fight.'

"Who...?"

"Ah, let me introduce myself" said Urek Mazino. "My name is Urek Mazino."

"What?! Urek Mazino!?"

"I ended up getting involved in this battle. Nice to meet you all, babies!"

Charlotte awkwardly smiled after she heard the last word. His personality was the same with the Urek Mazino in the manhwa.

"U....U....Urek Mazino?! Really!?" The others asked in disbelief.

"Well, there is no need to be surprised! If you want an autograph, there's plenty of time so don't worry" Urek Mazino said with a proud smile.

"........."

There was a moment of silent.

"A...are you okay, Bam? I've heard some bad rumors about him!"

"Hm?" This shouldn't be their reaction seeing a famous(infamous) ranker and irregular.

"Apparently he's a pervert! They say he has a beam that comes out of.....there."

"Shouldn't we run away?!"

"Bam, didn't he do something to you?!"

"H...hey, I'm not that kind of guy!" said Urek Mazino, trying to clear his name right now when the regulars weren't hearing.

"Did he do anything super weird to you? Like trying to drag you away somewhere!"

Bam pondered about it seriously before he replied, "Hm....I think he did tell me to join something."

"I...I knew it....!"

"H....hey, everyone......?" Urek called them, but neither of them responded.

"But Urek Mazino isn't really a bad person" said Charlotte honestly as she tried to remember the Urek Mazino from the manhwa. "I'd say that....he's quite loyal and persistent. I don't really think he's a pervert or something."

"Yes! She's right! You have good eyes, girl!"

Charlotte remembered how Urek Mazino never gave up in trying to get Garam's heart and had always tried to protect her and make her feel happy. It could be considered as loyalty, right?

Urek was happy that there was someone who didn't misunderstand him and even thought him as a good guy!

But for the others, the others took her honesty and sincere judgment of Urek Mazino as the innocent side of a little girl who has never seen the world. In their eyes, Urek Mazino was a pervert and Charlotte looked like an adorable girl who was also naive.

Celeste pulled Charlotte into a hug immediately.

"Hm....?" Charlotte was confused with Celeste's sudden action.

Celeste who hugged Charlotte then patted her head gently, "Charlotte....there are some people in this tower who you couldn't judge by their appearances. This poor little girl has been deceived by his good looks...."

"Don't grow up too fast" said Altaira with a smile. "It's good to be naive."

He was the only person who could tell what Charlotte meant by her words earlier and one of the people who could tell that Urek was wronged. But he didn't bother being Urek's lawyer and instead, he hugged both Celeste and Charlotte as well.

Charlotte frowned and broke from the hug. She looked at the others.

"I'm not being naive. Isn't Urek Mazino that kind of person? The first time when brother and him first met, he even helped brother to pass the test when he was an E- rank regular...."

"But that comes with a price, isn't it?" Altaira asked again with a smile.

Now, Charlotte was confused. Confusion and doubt were shown on her beautiful and adorable face.

Urek Mazino was indeed a good man. But in the same time, when brother had to find a Zigena Flower to pass the test prepared by a despicable ranker, Urek Mazino made her brother injured severely.

"But......he doesn't look like a bad person.....does he.......?"

"......"

Really, it was just hard to disappoint and sadden the heart of a delicate girl.

Bam just smiled and patted her head while Urek was sighing. His image was that bad in the eyes of these regulars. Clearing a misunderstanding will definitely be harder than fighting with a thousand of rankers.

"Hey, you! What are you chatting with those kids for?" Yuri who was floating on the air asked Urek.

"Yuri....what happened to that guy with horns?"

"He said he was going to save Hell Joe and disappeared. But anyway-" she pointed her index finger at Urek and began to interrogate him, "I want a straight answer from you! How do you know Garam Zahard?! Tell me everything and don't hide anything!"

"Whoops...I forgot about Joe!" said Urek as he began to run away from Yuri.

"Where are you running off to?" Yuri followed Urek who was running away for his life.

"Yuri Zahard and Urek Mazino appearing in the same panel...even as someone from the Ten Great Families, that's difficult to imagine" Khun said with an awkward smile and sweated dropped. He looked at Bam, "It looks like you are involved in something big again, Bam."

"Y....yeah...." Bam agreed. He then sighed in stress as he admitted, "....it feels like the scale of this whole thing is growing as time goes on."

"....you'll have to get used to it" Khun advised.

While Endorsi was annoyed, Charlotte appeared in the middle of them and said something surprising to them.

"But Urek Mazino and Ha Yuri Zahard aren't the only surprise you will get" she said with a playful smile as she lifted her index finger. "There will also be another great person showing himself."

"Another great person?" Khun echoed. "Who is he?"

Charlotte smiled at him with her eyes closed and answered, "It's a secret~"

His face immediately darkened at that answer.

Without hesitation, he lifted both of his hands and pinched both of her cheeks hard.

"Ah-- it hurts! Let go of me!"

"For someone as simple- minded as you, how could you possibly have so much secrets?!"

"Khun, spare me, spare me! Go easy on me! please I surrender!"

"Go easy? Tell me, what else do you hide from us?!"

"Haha....."

Charlotte who was glaring at Khun then noticed that there was something wrong. She felt that there was something wrong as she turned around and looked at the people from the Floor of Death whom Bam knocked out in his fight against Hell Joe.

Her golden eyes widened.

"Brother, look at them!" she pointed at those people.

Those people....something white came out from them as if that white thing was being sucked out from them. After that white- colored smoke was sucked out, those people didn't move. They fell on the ground without moving even an inch.

"What happened?!"

"W...what's going on.....?"

"I'm not sure. There was this tremendous light everywhere..."

"Those people down there aren't moving."

"Are they d....dead?!"

"BAM!"

Hockney's voice shouted through Bam's pocket that was now working normally.

"Hockney?"

"M.....MATA!"

Knowing that there was something wrong about their new friend Mata, the regulars went to look for Hockney and Mata where they found Mata collapsed at his own Blue Orb. As if the sudden phenomena wasn't surprising enough, Hockney also said that his eyes could no longer see the future.

"Bam, could this mean....a problem has come up in that spirit room?" Khun asked.

"The spirit room...."

Right, all the souls of these people were trapped in the Spirit Room. If the white things that came out from their bodies were their souls, then there must be someone who tampered the Spirit Room

"Come to think of it, Karaka....is heading over there."

"BAM--"

This time, it was Yuri who looked for Bam and asked him to show her the way to the Spirit Room.

"....do you really plan to return to the Spirit Room, Viole?" Hwaryun asked the dark brown haired male.

"Hwaryun....."

"If what you say is true, then there's a high chance that Karaka is there. Wouldn't it be best for you to let the rankers fight among themselves and stay here?" Hwaryun asked.

"B....BUT.....! I made a promise to De Jah....plus, I can't just stand by and watch everyone here on the Floor of Death disappear!" said Bam. "If I can go and be even the slightest bit helpful.....!"

"That sounds good to me too.....besides, we have two high- rankers with us....." Endorsi agreed.

"What about me? I'm also a ranker!" Nathan pointed to himself.

"If you have a match with both Karaka and White, you will be beaten until neither I or Celeste could recognize you."

"Well....since Urek Mazino is on our side...."

"T...that's right!" Bam was happy that his friends were on his side. "Plus, we still haven't heard from De Jah about where the thorn fragment is! I have to go at least for that!"

"Don't you have Nox to tell you that?" Hwaryun looked at Charlotte.

"Well, we gotta keep things on the right path right?" Charlotte asked with a nervous smile. "Besides, my brother also need to see someone first."

Hwaryun pondered about it before she agreed, "....alright....in return, I want you to go with me. Don't put yourself in danger."

"Okay....."

"You really are enthusiastic, Mr. Viole" said Ai.

"I'll go with you as well" said Noah towards Charlotte.

"Do you want to come as well, brother?" Charlotte looked at Altaira.

"No thanks. I'm perfectly fine here. You may want to take Celeste and Nathan instead with you."

"If you insists....."

At the end, few of them left together with Yuri, Urek and Nathan to check on the North Castle. In the North Castle, Grand De Jah had also collapsed. Judging from how quiet the place was, it seemed like the two slayers from FUG had run away. Urek wasn't pleased with this.

There were two paths that they could take. First, the ordinary path. Second was the path that only people from FUG knew about it. Hwaryun could guide both the high rankers to walk on that path but with their speed, they might not arrive right on time.

But Urek didn't care about that. Someone made his friend Joe lost his soul and he definitely will make sure that person will pay for his sins.

"Wait, Charlotte, you could read the future right?" Bam asked. "Then you could tell us which way should we take."

".....I thought you aren't going to ask" said Charlotte. "Well, I don't really think it's a wrong thing to change this part slightly....considering that it is just the matter of time before we catch up with the culprits.

In the Spirit Room, someone set a special spell or a curse....that will prevent anyone from taking the power of the souls. White thought that he had broke that curse....but as the price of absorbing the souls, he couldn't leave this place."

"Doesn't that mean....!"

"Yep, no matter how fast or slow we go, we still could catch up with them" said Charlotte. "And I suggest we take the ordinary path. Karaka must be using that path since he knew that Hwaryun was with us."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Urek asked as he turned around and left the room. "Let's go now!"

Bam noticed that there was something off with Charlotte. Charlotte was looking at De Jah with an unreadable expression.

"What's wrong, Charlotte?" Bam asked.

".....I'm not sure....." Charlotte answered. "But I feel that.......I just have an ominous feeling....."

There was something inside her that told her to not go with them. There was something that made her feel restless, but she was unsure what it was. But she felt that she shouldn't ignore this one.

'......Just what on earth is this feeling?'

Before she could figure out what was wrong with her, she had to calm her brother first.

"Never mind....I think it's because I'm still worried that Brother Altaira might come up with a way to tease me later. Let's go now, brother."

≪ ◦ ❖ ◦ ≫

They took the same path that Charlotte suggested them for and found the culprits, Karaka and White.

White's complexion was even paler than before. He looked like he has been traumatized by something or someone. He lied on the red liquid helplessly and hopelessly, staring at the ceiling.

Seeing this, the regulars were confused and surprised.

"Hoaqin has lost the will to live and is floating around!" one of them said and Celeste couldn't argue with that since he did look like someone who has lost the will to stay alive.

Karaka, on the other hand, perhaps it was because he had a short but scary fight with Urek, he had to explode his body and there was only his head floating around in the air. But he wasn't the person or people who the regulars and the others cared for.

In fact, there were two important figures standing in the Shinsu, looking down at the regulars and the people down there.

One of them was a brown haired man with a pair of glasses. On his hand, there was a blue- colored glowing ball which must be the souls of the people in the Floor of Death. That person took back the souls that White stole and purposely let White stayed alive.

"GUSTANG!!"

Urek Mazino shouted as he knew what the person called Gustang was holding.

"Urek......." Gustang called his name back. ".....are you also here for the power of the souls?"

"Of course not! My friend's soul is inside the souls you are holding!"

That brown haired man....Charlotte recognized him. Even though this was supposed to be their first meeting, but she knew who he was. He was one of the Ten Great Leaders, Poe Bidau Gustang

He was the important person Charlotte mentioned to Bam, Khun and Endorsi.

But compared to him, Charlotte felt that the person beside him was even more dangerous. She could feel it. When she looked at that person, she could feel that her heart was beating fast in restlessness.

And Noah and Celeste also felt the same thing.

"F- FATHER?!" Celeste asked that person in shock.

"Father?!" The others were surprised.

"Why are you here, father?" Celeste asked, ignoring the others.

That man who both Charlotte and Noah looked in restlessness looked similar to Noah. His appearance was elegant, with snowy white hair and a pair of dark purple eyes, he looked like the grown- up and adult version of Noah.

But those dark purple eyes looked so dark and lifeless. There was no warmness in those eyes but coldness. His dark purple eyes looked cold and dark....in the same time, they also looked tired.

"I was curious who hurt my puppet until she couldn't contact me....." He said with a cold voice, sending shiver to Charlotte. "So you're the one who harmed my puppet, Noah."

Noah gritted his teeth.

"You should have understood Noah, if you keep going against me like this, I, as your father, will have no other choice but to hurt you" the man said again.

"Father?!" Noah frowned when he heard that. He looked displeased to hear the word "father" coming from that person. That person didn't deserve to use the word "father" when he wasn't a real father. "Since when you have been a father for us?! If you are truly our father, why would you murder our mother?! You aren't our father, but a vicious beast!"

That person grinned as he looked at Celeste.

"But your younger sister doesn't think the same as you."

Celeste who heard that looked away and lowered her head. She was unable to look at the others since it was the truth.

'At the end, I still couldn't hate my own father.'

"All right. I don't have much time. Today I don't come for you, but someone else" said Noah's father, Christ.

He lifted his right hand towards Charlotte and then, a soul came out from her body.

"You- what are you doing with that soul?" Charlotte asked him. She knew that the soul that came out from her body was Charlotte.

"This soul belongs to me from the beginning. Do I need your permission to take what belongs to mine, fake?"

Charlotte frowned when she heard that.

This Christ- Noah had told her about him. He was the one who create this body, the one who created Charlotte. When he said that he was taking something that belongs to him, Charlotte knew that he was there not only to retrieve Charlotte, but also to take her life.

If you mess with someone, then you should know the consequence. After causing lots of problems in her lifetime, she knew about that rule. You beat someone, prepare to be beaten up. You messed with the others, prepare for their revenge.

When Christ sealed Noah, she saved Noah. When Christ created a puppet, she replaced that puppet. Again and again she ruined his plans and now he was going to punish her for that.

It would have been strange if he didn't come here to punish her as well.

'But....I don't want to....die yet....'

"You are quite bold for a fake. Again and again you stand on Noah's side, hurting my puppet and freeing Noah from the train. Since you keep meddling with my business.....then you must have known the consequence from getting on my way....right?"

As the man flicked his fingers, suddenly there was a green vine appeared below the regulars and bind them. The green vines circled around them and there was a sharp green vein pointed to each of their throats. The green vines move rather fast that it was hard for them to dodge it. At the end, they were caught by those green vines.

"Brother!" Charlotte shouted as she turned around and looked at the others who were caught.

"What the hell?!"