- Escape! -

Khun couldn't stay in that place for too long. As interesting it was to see these all these memories, his main purpose to enter the chrysanthemum tree was to find Charlotte.

When he reached the end of the memories, he found a door. A brown door without a door knob.

It made him uncomfortable to open the door, because he was not sure what was waiting for him behind the door. But he had no other choice since that was the only way left for him to get out from the hall of the memories.

He felt like he was playing to someone's palm, but it was not like he could do anything about it.

'Just find Charlotte and leave from this place.'

Their friends and comrades were waiting for them back. He shouldn't be distracted again.

By the time he extended his hand, he had thought about pushing the door when a black door knob suddenly appeared. It amazed him when he saw that door knob suddenly appeared, but in the same time, it made him vigilant. To be honest, the moment when he came in the Chrysanthemum tree, he felt like he was in another realm. He felt like he was being toyed with. And he strongly believed that it had something to do with the mysterious voice who he heard.

He saw everything that the mysterious voice provided, went to wherever he wanted whether he liked it or not. But as much as he hated it, he was powerless.

The little authority that he had, connections that he had built and maintained, the skills and tricks he learnt, in front of someone whose strength was extremely stronger than him, he was powerless.

He held on the black door knob and opened the door, stepping inside with confidence that he had.

As soon as he entered another room and closed the door, the door vanished instantly.

And the scene that he saw next made him drop his jaw and held his breath.

The brown- haired woman who he was searching for was in the middle of a fight, fighting against the one who she was looking for and the sole reason for her to enter this complicated tree.

'Isn't that...?'

He recognized her sworn enemy; her old self.

The current her and her old self may share different hair color, eye color and life, but their facial structures and heart remained strongly similar or perhaps the same with each other. Without a future there wouldn't be any past, without a past there wouldn't be any future. Perhaps it was because the two of them were very similar with each other and were closer to each other than what they thought, the fight was kind of interesting to watch. No, it wasn't just interesting.

The shinsu swords were dancing against each other in perfect sync. If it wasn't for the fact that they were seeking to kill each other in this fight, this could have been a happy and fun friendly match. As beautiful, firm and clear their movements were, Khun couldn't imagine how Charlotte was feeling to have to fight herself. Unlike him, she was so warm and kind- hearted that she easily sympathize and cared for anyone else.

The fight was hardly fair, for Charlotte Everest was physically wounded and had worn out from the continuous fight. However, with the last flame and determination that she had, she was still capable of moving, although a little bit slow. And 25th Charlotte adjusted her strength as her last respect which became one of the reasons why Charlotte Everest still survived until now.

When she swung her sword towards her, 25th Charlotte lowered herself to dodge the sword and was completely unscathed, not even a single strand of hair was cut with her sworn enemy's sword. Taking that chance, she raised her sword and pierced her sworn enemy's heart.

Those big purple eyes widened as blood spurted from her mouth. It was a precise attack landed by the 25th Charlotte towards her heart. She said nothing and withdrew her blade immediately.

'Although I know that this is a result that I should expect....'

'But I.......'

Those purple eyes began to lose their light. The last thing that she saw was the surprised and saddened look of the brown- haired girl. She looked regretful even though she had agreed on the fight before.

'Stupid.'

That was the last thing that she thought before what was left from her was an empty shell of corpse.

Charlotte watched her sworn enemy fallen on the ground helplessly. In that moment of silence, sadness and helplessness were shown clearly on her eyes. Seeing herself dying, those golden eyes seemed to grow a little bit colder.

The life in the tower was truly sad. She just thought of receiving her enemy's forgiveness, but never once that she thought that she should take her life. For that reason, she felt sad.

However, when she thought that this was probably what her sworn enemy desired, a simple desire that she could ask and grant for now which was to fight and dance freely with her own feet as a prove that she had regained what she once lost, she felt that this fight wasn't worth to be sad.

"Charlotte!"

Her golden eyes blinked in surprise when she heard that voice. A voice that she never thought would be hearing at that moment and in that place. She thought that she was hallucinating when she turned around and saw the blue- haired man, looking at her straight to her golden eyes.

She thought that she had prevented anyone from coming inside, though she didn't use her full power in restricting them and instead estimated how much energy she had to spent in order to stop them from following her. She thought that it wouldn't need much of her energy to stop Khun, but now, she felt ashamed. She was wrong.

Charlotte weakly smiled at him and tilted her head.

'Really, I shouldn't have tried to calculate something. It just won't work according to what I thought.'

But even though this time, things didn't go according to her wish, she didn't quite feel that this was a bad luck.

The view was so beautiful in that place. It would have been prettier if there wasn't a bloody fight before, or they were stuck in another space playing and dancing on someone's palms.

He looked at her. Honestly, he was so relieved to see her again. It was worth it to take the risk and walk this far. He started his first steps towards her with walks before he began to run towards her. However, when he was close enough, he suddenly hesitated and slowed his steps and walked again. He walked towards her.

His blue eyes appeared to be relieved to see her unscathed. He was happy to know that she wasn't in danger and that she was safe.

Charlotte didn't notice that. Her mind was pretty tired. It would take a little meditating with the lotus to recover her strength again.

"Khun, you came despite what I told you," she said, looking a little bit sad. "You don't trust me?"

Khun looked at her, pondering about what kind of answer he should give to her.

"... to say that I don't trust you... I.... am just worried about your safety," the blue- haired man answered.

Charlotte sighed as she had expected the answer with a smile.

In their eyes, she had always been an immature teenage girl. Such a person, could she receive trust from others properly without making them feeling worried? Even if they weren't worried whether she would fail the task or not, they were worried if she would get hurt. Because children were usually clumsy.

'In the past, I was too afraid of growing up. I don't want to be people like mother and father,' she thought. 'But I know, growing up a little doesn't seem to be too bad.'

She looked again at the blue- haired man and continued, 'And they could trust me more.'

'But it is fine, for things are not too late yet. I still have the time to prove that I'm not entirely a small child already.'

"Anyway, you come here on your own? The others couldn't possibly be following you and get lost, right?"

"Of course no," he answered.

"I see," she replied.

Khun looked at her for a moment before he flicked her forehead.

"What was that for again?" Charlotte asked, holding her forehead like usual after he flicked it.

"You are a troublemaker," he answered. "And a troublesome one."

Charlotte put her hands on her waist and argued with him, "I've said that I'll be back soon. I just need to talk with my sworn enemy first. I've asked my permission for brother!"

"Yes but I don't think Bam ever said that he gave you that permission," Khun argued back. "You just ran without explaining things to us. How can we be sure that you are not doing anything stupid?"

Charlotte glared at Khun. Of course, not really in a hostile way, but to show her unhappiness as she crossed her arms.

"Can you please not always treat me like a child? I'm no longer six, okay? People from my world, at my age, is already dating and married. I don't always need permissions to do something and to go anywhere."

"Dating? Marriage?"

She nodded her head. It was the truth and a fact. And when she nodded her head, Khun looked somehow displeased.

"You're too young for that."

She felt that an arrow hit her chest. Too young? That was the last thing she expected to hear coming from a Khun Aguero Agnes who was usually rational and put his brain in front of his feelings and actions. Someone as smart as him couldn't tell how old she was? And even said her young? Was that a mockery?

"I'm already more than twenty years old and you're saying that I'm too young for those things? Who believes that?"

"Bam," he answered without slightest, tiny bit of hesitation.

"......"

She couldn't argue about that.

The sudden glow from the sky above distracted them from their arguments as they looked at the sky. The first miracle that they saw after being reunited with each other was that some words, colored in white, were written on the sky.

[ Congratulations for conquering your fear and reuniting with each other again ]

The sentence started with congratulations and good- will that made Charlotte smiled. Now that she had regained the approval of her sworn enemy, she could leave this place.

"We're going to go home soon..." she spoke with sincere happiness.

Khun looked at Charlotte who was smiling. Although it was nice to see her smile, he couldn't bring himself to smile at this moment.

'It's still unclear yet... whether we could go home or not.'

The mastermind in that place hated Charlotte for some unknown reasons. He tried to search for her identity in her memories, but he couldn't find the memory where Charlotte made a mistake and offended someone this bad to the point that the person was willing to do anything, including to build such a huge space, just to torment her.

'What does he want to do?'

His question was soon going to be answered. More words were added underneath the congratulations that was directed for the two of them.

[ Congratulations for conquering your fear and reuniting with each other again ]

[ And now, it is the time for the show to end and us to get down the stage ]

[ As this place going to be destroyed soon...]

[ Good luck on escaping :D ]

Charlotte's expression turned into a shock while Khun's blue eyebrows frowned deeper.

'What?!' 'So this is your plan....'

Their thoughts were different the moment they saw the last line that was colored in red, but they knew that something bad was going to happen towards them.

And they weren't wrong.

The trees at the forest were starting to die and turned black in color before they disappeared as dusts. It started with the trees first before the destruction was moving towards the bridge within few seconds. However, the bridge was now destroyed into pieces like what they thought. Just like the trees, it turned black before disappearing into dust.

And if they don't run, they will end up like that as well.

"Run!"

Khun pulled Charlotte's hand and dragged her to run as fast as they could. The destruction was following them from behind to swallow them up.

[ Time Manipulation- Acceleration ]

She accelerated their speeds so that they could run faster. It didn't take long for them to reach the other end of bridge which was blocked by the giant wall used to chain her sworn enemy and forced them to stop.

"Damn it!" He cursed. Why must the wall stop them at the time like this? He was sure that the mysterious bastard who created all these must be smirking while looking at them troubled and trapped.

Just then, he felt headache in his head and heard the mysterious bastard's voice.

"Be assured. I'm not that cold- hearted to trap you all here. Her death... isn't supposed to be now."

'Is he capable of reading my thoughts as well? That bastard, does he want to torment Charlotte first before killing her?'

He clenched his fists, 'As if I would let that happen.'

"Khun!" Charlotte called his name worriedly, making him relaxing his hold on her hand. "Are you okay?"

Khun turned around and looked at Charlotte, remembering that he shouldn't have clenched his fists tightly because he was holding the girl's hand. The girl was genuinely worried for him and her hand that was holding his immediately activated the lotus effect to ease his pain and calm his nerve.

'Right, she doesn't know that I had a talk with that annoying bastard.'

"I'm fine," he answered. "It's thanks to your lotus."

'Let's focus on looking for the way to escape first. I couldn't let anyone hurt her further.'

To their surprise again, the second miracle, two doors, or something that you would say as portals, appeared before them.

The first one was colored red, but surrounded with white butterflies. The second one was a green portal with shattered pieces of glasses surrounding it. There were only two choices and nothing other road.

He gritted his teeth, 'So this is what he means. He's giving us the chance to survive. He's telling us to choose.'

"I'll use the hourglass to see the future," she answered as she closed her eyes.

"No! Wait-!"

Before Khun could finish his sentence, Charlotte had acted first.

[Time Manipulation - Flash Forward ]

Black hour hands and black minute hands appeared on her eyes with small numbers from 1 until 12. The black hour hands and black minute hands showed the current time until the minute hands moved forward several minutes ahead for her to read the future.

Charlotte rarely used this skill because it wouldn't allow her to look at the present time. This time, she used it to see the future to determine which choice was the best for them and when she tried that, this was her first time failing in seeing the future.

"Ugh!"

She was forced to close her eyes and her empty hand covered them. She gritted her teeth in pain and took two steps backward. Her hand that was holding Khun's hand was getting tighter.

"What's wrong?" Khun asked her. It couldn't be because she tried to break her limits to see the future. Now that her strength had reached this point, her future- reading ability was not limited to six seconds.

"Something is stopping me from reading the future," she answered, still with her eyes closed. "This... how can this possibly be?! I've never failed in using this skill before!"

'It must be his doing again.'

He blocked Charlotte's [Flash Forward] because he wanted them to gamble for their lives. They couldn't cheat and could only obey his will and play in his hands, because that was the right of the one with overwhelming power.

"If you are willing to abandon her, perhaps," his voice was echoing again in his mind. This time, somehow, he didn't feel any headache. "I'll tell the two of you which path is the right one."

"Go to hell," he cursed the bastard for making things complicated.

He glanced to his back. The destruction was going to catch up with them in ten seconds. And Charlotte's power was restricted on purpose and for temporary, she couldn't even see anything.

'Are we going to die just like this?'

"The world never waits for you to choose an answer."

'... damn it.'

"Charlotte, you trust me right?" He asked to the girl who still couldn't open her eyes.

She nodded her head, "What about it?"

The way she gave her answer made Khun felt that his question was wrong in her eyes. It was pretty obvious already that she trusted him deeply, that was why she hadn't let go his hand. They had been through life- and- death together that they no longer doubted each other's sincerity.

Or from the very beginning, she never doubted his trust.

Charlotte couldn't see, but she could feel that Khun was letting go of his hand.

"Khun?" Why did he suddenly let her hand go?

Then, she felt another touch at her right shoulder. She was confused, and startled when she realized that both of her feet were no longer touching the ground. She felt another hand was carrying her legs.

Khun chose to carry her in his arms as he made his decision.

"Support me with your hourglass," he said.

Charlotte, although she was bewildered, she hummed and activated again the [Acceleration].

'Khun must have figured things out already,' she thought as she opened again the hourglass with her right hand.

His body felt lighter again. The destruction was just one step behind him when he positioned himself before leaping forward, running towards the first door.

"You couldn't be thinking that the road that you choose is the right path? Or that you have the ability to protect her with your own hands?"

His head was disturbed again by the bastard's voice. Even though his words stated that he felt regretful for things not to go according to his wish, his voice sounded as calm as he could be. It would have been better for the bastard to get angry and shout in his mind, because the more he disliked the path that Khun chose, the more Khun would be certain that the choice he made randomly was correct.

And if he made the correct choice, Charlotte would be safe.

"You could have just chosen the second road or the safer method by pretending to agree my words and then escape with the woman. But you just have to act this daring."

If he did as what he said, then his actions would give the bastard an excuse to kill him and Charlotte. Well, he didn't need excuse to kill the off, but he didn't want to pretend abandoning her. She had never abandoned him before, even if it was supposed to be just an act.

"You now choose the first door without further thoughts. One day, you'll definitely regret it."

That was the last line he had spoken inside his head as he jumped to the door and escaped from the destruction that was following them.

Behind the red portal was a white and empty space. Just like how the light from the door of first entering the chrysanthemum tree blinded his eyes, this time, his eyes were also blinded by the light. But as blinding as it could be, he didn't feel any worries.

Because he knew that he would survive.

He would survive with the girl who he was carrying. Together.

At the outside, Raisin couldn't help but to point out the strange things that began to appear on the tree.