Van stared at the individual in front of him. Out of all the people that Van wanted to meet during this predicament, the person in front of him was probably one of the worst individuals he could meet… besides the guards and the people from the Explorer Association, of course.

"I am utterly perplexed that they haven't found you yet. I could smell you even through the foul stench of shit from the gryphons…

​​

...You beggar."

"...Gerald."

Gerald looked at Van straight in the eyes, his eyebrows slightly knitted.

"What do you want?" Asked Van. He was about to turn on his skills, but suddenly, he found that Gerald was already directly in front of him. His hand gripping Van's wrist.

"Don't even try it, you f*cking beggar."

Van couldn't even react. The only thing he could do was stare at Gerald, hearing his words that only sounded like breaths in his ears.

Was he… really that tired? Hasn't it only been like 3 hours since he started running and hiding away? Or was it 4? Are the Crystals not doing their job anymore? He knew that using Crystals over and over again at a short period of time would take its toll on his body, he learned it from class, after all.

His class… wouldn't he be late tomorrow if this continued? Wait, maybe his class was already starting?

With the Academy completely covering the skies, he didn't really know whether the sun was still up, or if a new day had already started.

"M… Move." Van tried to slap Gerald's hand away, but alas, he couldn't even budge it.

"Did you really kill your father?"

"...What?"

"Your father, did you kill him? Why?" Gerald let go of Van's hand as he asked the question again. But his words still sounded muffled in Van's ears, as if there was a wall between the two of them…

Van quickly turned on his skills as he tried to run, but alas, he found himself rolling on the floor. His speed, the only one working.

"W… what did you do!?" He shouted, the saliva collected in his mouth spewing out.

"I don't even need to do anything. By the looks of it, you have absorbed too many Crystals, your body is clearly not used to it." Gerald slowly approached Van, walking towards him casually with his hands inside his pockets.

"8 hours. You've been running away from the guards for 8 hours. It's a miracle they haven't caught you yet. This sheer will to survive, I suppose it is to be expected with a beggar like you who would even kill his father, right?"

Although Van was still unable to hear Gerald clearly, the hostility in his eyes was clear.

"What do you wa--!"

Before Van could even finish his words, he felt his vision shift as a pain covered his entire cheek. He blinked a couple of times, and it was as if he was pulled from the water, his ears started to hear the sounds of the Academy once again.

"You probably shouldn't be shouting like that. There are guards near here."

"..."

Van quickly looked at Gerald as soon as he heard him. Was… he trying to help him? No… he just probably wanted to enjoy seeing him groveling on the ground, helpless.

"Did you kill your father?"

"...My father?"

Father? Ah yes. That was the reason why people were chasing him wasn't it? Murder. For killing people that wanted to harm him. He really was out of it, isn't he? To even forget the whole reason why he was running away.

"How did it feel when you killed him?"

"I don't remember," Van said as he slowly lifted himself up from the ground, his legs were still shaking, but it would seem Gerald's strike completely woke him up from his stupor.

"What do you mean you don't remember?" Gerald clicked his tongue as he heard Van's answer, "Did you feel pain? Sorrow? Did you feel satisfied? Happy!?"

Gerald's voice was starting to get louder by the second, the expression on his face becoming the erratic expression that Van was ever so familiar with.

What did it feel like? He still doesn't remember if he really did kill his father. But when he heard from the hospital that his father died, the only thing that he felt was…

"Freedom. I felt free." Van let out a quiet breath that seemed to echo throughout the forest. But still, that silent breath pierced Gerald's ears, reaching the deepest parts of his heart.

"...Free?" Gerald whispered as he looked at his palm. If he killed his father, will he too, finally be free?

Seeing Gerald seemingly lost in his own thoughts, Van took this chance to walk away. If there was one thing he should avoid right now, it was wasting his strength trying to fight Gerald. Besides, in his condition, he knew that he wouldn't even last a second against him.

And so, Van limped away, letting out a disgruntled sigh as he dragged his trembling and fatigued feet on the ground.

"There are guards down that way."

"Hm?"

Van quickly turned around as he heard Gerald's voice. Gerald, however, was already gone. Only his footsteps that were dug deep in the ground remained.

"Ha… f*ck."

Van once again looked at the direction that he was previously heading to. Were there really guards here? He thought. But as soon as he heard the tiniest sound coming from it, he quickly walked the other way.

***

"What did you do!?"

"I did what's best for you and this family, Sarah."

"How could you even say that when you collaborate with the city guards to arrest one of my friends!?"

"A friend!? Are you hearing yourself, girl!?"

Sarah's grandfather, the Chairman of the Explorer Association, slammed his fist on his desk, completely obliterating it in pieces.

"You call that… that thing your friend!? Why do you insist on being so close to sin!? That boy killed his father, his own father!"

"His father was a monster! He raped him and abused him!"

"He was still his father!"

"...What?"

Sarah's face twisted as he heard his grandfather's words, slightly backing away as her head tilted to the side in disbelief.

"Are you hearing yourself?" Asked Sarah, repeating his grandfather's questions towards him, "Ever since you've befriended these… government freaks, you've been--"

"Do not disrespect the Circle, girl! Everything we have came from them!"

"Everything we have came from you! Not from them! Last I checked you are old, grandfather, but not senile! Have you forgotten who you are!? You are Clark Hearst, the first ever System Holder in this country!"

"Enough! I want to hear no more of this!" Clark stomped his foot on the floor as his eyes turned red with blood. The huge scar on his face as well, seemed like it was opening up as blood streaked down from it.

"I have already tolerated your sin of bedding other women, but befriending… befriending and supporting another sinner!? You think I would allow such atrocity in this house!?"

Seeing the frenzied look on his grandfather's face, Sarah could only let out a deep and long sigh as she turned around, no longer wishing to provoke his grandfather's wrath.

"I am going to save my friend, grandfather. Whether you approve of it or not."

"I am afraid that's not going to happen."

"!!!"

As soon as his grandfather's words reached her ears, Sarah felt as if she was suddenly trapped in the desert, desolate, warm… but a certain chill crawling on her skin.

She found herself unable to move her body, and only pain awaited her if she even attempted to do so. Her eyes quickly turned red with blood like her grandfather, only to disappear a few seconds later.

"You are right about one thing, child. I am old, I was there when we started to fight back against these… unholy creatures. I know more than you will ever do. You will understand that I am doing this for you."

Her grandfather's words entered her ears forcefully, like a sharp knife being jammed in her mind.

"I know Charles the most. This is what he would have wanted for you."

"!!!"

Hearing his father's name being uttered by his grandfather, Sarah wanted to scream, but alas, even her own voice was gone.

***

"This is…"

Whether he searched for it, or his feet found it for him, but Van found himself in a very familiar place. And seemingly untouched by even time, the relics he had were still here. Even his blood on the platform stained it still.

He was in an abandoned arena. The arena where Gerald and his group almost beat him to death. The place where he unlocked his System.

Come to think of it… this is where it all started.

Van took in a deep breath as climbed up on the stage, stumbling and rolling on it as his body no longer had the strength to lift him up. He lay on the cold hard marble, staring at the skies… or at least it would have been if it wasn't covered by the Academy's barrier.

He had so many dreams. He had so many dreams coming to this place, and in a way, they were already fulfilled. Was that why everything was ending now? Because everything he ever wished for was already in his grasp?

And now, the System Holders that he once so idolized were hunting him like an animal. Well, at the very least, he experienced what it meant to have a normal life, even for a brief moment.

The only thing he worried about now was Andrea. She doesn't know that Sarah was the one who reported him… she might be in danger. He thought as he wanted to get up once more. But alas, his body was no longer following him.

"...Oh." He muttered. I guess this was it? The end of the line for him?

His breaths and the beating of his heart were once again the only things that he could hear as he sprawled on the ground, almost lifeless. His eyes, which were no longer gleaming, slowly shut themselves closed.

But then… another familiar voice whispered into his ears, stuttering.

"V… Van?"