“I see...” Ursa answered, letting out a long breath. “Fine. Alright!”

The blonde, who still borrowed Rin's form, wore a big grin on her face before she put her two hands up in the air. She looked straight at Celia with a somewhat acknowledging gaze, and conceded, “You win.”

“...Eh?”

Ignoring the orange-haired girl's confused look, she continued, “It doesn't seem like you're going to go down even if I did decide to kill you, so...” She put one of her hands at the back of her head to show she gave up. “Yeah, I'll bring her back to you.”

The blonde slowly turned around while using her other free hand to wave goodbye at Celia. She concentrated her Aura more strongly than before and covered her entire body. Her blue eyes glowed brightly and her grin widened even further.

“The real Rin, I mean.”

Less than a second later, Ursa's figure disappeared as though it wasn't even there to begin with. All that she left to remind of her appearance was a slightly strong gust wave and an utterly confused high school girl.

“W-what..?” Celia spoke, falling on the ground despite herself.

◇

“Hahahahahaha!”

A burst of terrifying yet surpringly charming laughter resounded throughout the entire Galia city. Amusement could be clearly distinguished inside it, contrasting against the devastating reality.

Specifically four ‘ lines of speed’ could be spotted, moving around at incredible velocity. Those lines were, as you'd have guessed, human—No, only three of them were humans while the last one was just a female monster that has taken on a humanoid appearance.

Ariel was currently engaging against three Rank I Elite but, despite that, she showed no sign of concern. She was happy to be able to fight against high-level player for the first time in a while.

The Elite, however, didn't share her amusement. Having reached the highest tier of power humanity has ever reached, they should have been able to fight against any opponent singlehandedly. Their speed, which had far surpassed the speed of sound, should have been far superior to any others. Strength above theirs shouldn't have existed. What's more, there were three of them present here.

No threat should have been able to resist them.

Yet, that was exactly what was happening. They were being outmatched by a single individual.

‘This is nuts!’ Abel thought, bringing every ounce of his power to fight against the vampire.

The battle was on a whole other level than that of Rin's.

It couldn't even be described.

‘Line of speed’ just passed around the area, destroying the ground, the building—the entire area. Shockwaves don't even need to be mentioned as it would be more difficult to spot a time where they didn't shake the air.

Seconds and minutes passed, rapidly transforming the most prominent city of Gram into a wrecked ruin.

The worst is, all of that didn't even qualify as a warming exercise.

“This is good!” Ariel shouted, landing her slander feet on the roof of a building.

The three strongest Elite took that as a cue to put a brake on their fight. In a matter of seconds, they all stopped moving on three different buildings adjacent to the monsters. Their focus and cautiousness never fading.

“You guys are nothing like the weakling on that side.” The 'Queen' spoke in an overly excited manner.

“Should we take that as a compliment?” Abel responded as the representative.

“That's what it is, yes?” Ariel replied with a smile. “I really love strong people, you see.”

Abel returned the smile and continued, “Then can I ask you a question?”

The queen slightly tilted her head. Her giant scythe was still clenched tightly in her right hand and if she felt like it, she could resume the fight without warning. What's more, she wasn't the type that liked talking, so she was really tempted to do just that.

However, as she was in an especially good mood, she responded, “What do you want to know?”

The vampire could see that Abel, too, was surprised by her reply. Though, she didn't pay it any mind and waited for the question.

“...Why now?” Abel began. “It's been more than ten years now since one of you, Beyonder, came to this side. Why did you return?”

Ariel tilted her head even further. “Why, you ask?” She repeated, a little confused. “Originally, we were supposed to wipe you all out ten years ago, you know?”

Abel shuddered at that statement (and at the easygoing way Ariel pronounced it). ‘Monsters are monsters, alright.’ He thought, erasing any doubt that the girl he faced was human.

“But then, you guys succeeded in killing one of us first, so we decided to back down.” The scarlet girl continued. “Well, this is embarrassing to say but I guess we got scared.”

“ 'You', scared?” Abel retorted, not believing the word one bit. “With that monstrous strength?”

“Hey, rude!” Ariel put her left hand on her hips and pretended to pout. “We're living beings, too. We're all afraid of death.”

After that, the scarlet girl swung her scythe around, signaling it was the end of the chit-chat. An ominous red aura immediately sprang on her slender body, bringing back the sense of despair.

She put one foot forward, and even that alone nearly destroyed the entire building she was standing on. She licked her two-pointy fang with an expression of ecstasy and used her otherwordly power.

In an instant, without the slightest hesitation, she broke the barrier of sound and appeared in front of Abel, as though she had teleported. Her devious scythe at the ready, she swung it down like she was the grim reaper.

Unexpectedly, though, she encountered a surprisingly hard surface.

“I'm sorry to say this, but,” Abel expressed. “This isn't a three vs one.”

As Ariel figured the man used some kind of barrier to protect himself, she felt a heavy amount of pressure on her back.

It didn't take long for her to guess from who those pressure came from.

All around the scarlet-haired girl, placed in tactical position, were the Atlas family, ready to strike.

◇

“No!” Winter immediately refused with a firm voice. “No, no, no! There's no way I'm doing that!”

She turned her head fiercely toward the black-haired girl who was laid on the ground. Her expression wasn't so much of anger than bewilderment. She looked as though she just heard the most insane idea ever.

“...Winter,” Rin tried to retort, having recovered some of her strength.

However, the grey-haired girl didn't let her. “I get the logic behind that singularity, that's why I know...” She trailed off with a look of aberration. “If I do that, you will die!”

Rin closed her eyes before she opened her mouth again, “Winter—”

“—I'm the one who took you here, and I knew the risk that incurred. But,” Yet again, the grey girl interrupted, adamant to not let the black one speak. “I won't— I don't want to be the one that send you to your death. I—”

“—You won't kill me.” Rin, this time, forcefully finished the other's words.

She looked straight at Winter's face with a determined yet pleading expression on her face. She stayed motionless for a second while resisting the cold wind that collided against her bare skin.

Then, after she made sure the grey-haired girl wouldn't interrupt her again, she continued, “You know, I've thought about it since you've shown me that future.”

She let out a small breathe as she tried to move her beaten-up body. Some droplets of her blood fell on the ground with an eerie sound but she didn't mind them. Nor did she mind the pain of moving around.

“As far as I can tell, this is the only thing that I— that you and I can do.” Having succeeded in reaching a seating position, she broke her sight away from Winter and looked ahead at the destroyed city.

“No! There has to be some other wa—”

“—Winter, please.”

She let out yet another sigh, closing her eyes to find the perfect words to persuade her new genuine friend. She put on a weak smile and resumed moving her body. Placing her strength on her two slender legs, she did her best to stand up again.

“I already said it to you, didn't I?”

Her breathing accelerated a little because of the effort. Nevertheless, she continued, advancing toward Winter with slow steps. Her eyes were not fixated on the grey girl but on a more distant past.

“I don't have anything anymore.”

Her goal had disappeared from the moment she accepted Aiden's deal. Her family would surely become her enemy from now on. And that included her sister as well as her brother. The only two people who ever loved her.

“Even if we can somehow survive this fight, I...”

What's more, she had stepped past a certain fundamental line. She had killed someone. In her eyes, that was the worst crime she could have ever committed. And that was also why—

“I won't be able to come back to the way I was.”

—she couldn't face her first and most important friend anymore.

“I won't be able to be on this side anymore.”

In other words, she's lost everything.

“So, please Winter,”

But, despite that—no, precisely because of that, Rin was able to gather her last remaining resolve.

She looked directly into Winter's black vivid eyes, and pronounced her wish,

“Let me do something good—let me be the hero this time around.”