"V… victoria?"

Once again, Van's breath stopped as someone he was not expecting to be here, was now right in front of him. He tried blinking a couple of times, thinking he might still be dizzy from the punishment that his System has given him.

​​

But no matter how many times he blinked, Victoria was still right in front of him. Behind her were 4 other cloaked individuals. And as soon as the three took off the hoods hiding their faces, Van quickly knew that he wasn't hallucinating anymore.

It was Victoria's mother, Paris, Edward, as well as Beatrice. Then… could that mean the tall one who still has not taken off her hood was…

"!!!"

Van could not help but gulp as soon as his eyes met the still-hooded individual's eyes. The gaze felt like it pierced through him, almost causing his bones to tremble. Without a doubt, the one that still had her hood up was none other than Charlotte Gates.

Gil was also there, his eyes wider than it ever was before as he looked back and forth in between Van and Latanya, "I… I forgot I have some other things to do," Gil said before slowly backing away.

"Wait, who are these people?"

But before he could walk away, Latanya called for him. Latanya's eyebrows furrowed from seeing these unfamiliar people. Were they from one of the other Cities inside the Pit?

No… since they knew Van, that was probably not the case.

"Gil, who are these people?" Latanya once again repeated.

"They… they are from the outside," Gil stuttered.

"You let someone from the outside into our base!?"

"They knew Van!" Gil quickly replied, "And Gerald confirmed it as well. One of the visitors is his brother who is with him right now. I… shall take my leave now and call the others, ha… hahaha!" Gil awkwardly laughed before quickly running away.

"Hm…" Latanya then squinted her eyes as she scanned the group. She was about to introduce herself, but as soon as she stepped forward, a heavy pressure suddenly crawled all over her skin. She quickly looked towards the source, only to see the only remaining individual that still had her hood up looking at her.

"..." She only felt like this once, Latanya thought. It was when… Hercules first appeared.

"My… my name is Victoria."

However, as soon as one of Van's friends introduced herself, the pressure surrounding Latanya instantly disappeared.

"I… am called Latanya Bo--"

"Boss and Van kissed!"

Before she could finish introducing her words, Gil's fleeting screams from afar whispered into their ears, "It's confirmed, they're together!"

"..."

"..."

"Perhaps we should find another place to talk and get acquainted," Latanya let out a short sigh, "We are… currently being watched by an enemy. They might get suspicious of your arrival."

"You mean this?" A slightly husky but feminine voice then slithered through Latanya's ears as the still-hooded individual slightly raised her hand. And in it, was what seemed like a pair of bat wings. It was hard to figure out what it was since most of it was almost… crumbled into powder.

But seeing the black residue coming out of her hands, it could be none other than the Observer's Eye.

"You… you destroyed it!?" Latanya could not help but furrow her eyebrows, "Now they know that we're aware of their existence!"

"That's not important right now," even with Latanya's slightly panicked voice, the cloaked individual only took off her hood calmly, revealing the lines on her face and her hair which were already grey with age.

It truly was Charlotte, Van thought.

"The important thing right now is who you are," Charlotte said as she looked straight towards Latanya's eyes.

"...Excuse me?" Latanya raised an eyebrow.

"Are you and that… little boy together?" Charlotte slightly glanced towards Van.

"Sorry. But you might be Van's friends, but I don't think that's any of your business."

"Is that a way to talk to your elder?"

"I could say the same thing to you," although Latanya felt the heavy pressure earlier, she had already seen her fair share of monsters through Hercules and Van, she wasn't going to back away just from a little provocation.

"Oho, the ignorant truly are brave," a small smirk appeared on Charlotte's face as she slightly stepped forward, "My granddaughter and that boy are engaged."

"What?"

"Grandmother!"

"..."

As the commotion between Charlotte and Latanya continued, Van's focus was completely elsewhere-- Beatrice.

Beatrice has been avoiding his gaze ever since they got here, not even once did Beatrice look towards Van's direction as her head was turned downwards.

"Beatrice," Van muttered. The others were too busy trying to stop Latanya and Charlotte from bickering with one another that they did not even notice the weird atmosphere between Van and Beatrice.

Hearing Van calling for him. Beatrice slightly fidgeted. But after a few seconds, she finally opened her mouth, "...Van." She turned her head towards Van's direction, her eyes, however, still did not know where to look as it trembled.

"What are all of you doing here?" Van asked, "And Harvey is here as well??"

"Y...yes," Beatrice stuttered, "He is with his brother… we were supposed to rescue you but then we saw a huge… Wall surrounding the area where the Pit should be. I don't even see the Dome that's supposed to wrap around the Portal…

...Just what happened here?" Beatrice said as she looked around the place. There were people casually walking around, people who didn't even seem like Prisoners.

"It's… a long story," Van let out a small breath.

"I… I see," Beatrice once again stuttered as she heard Van's sigh, "Can… we talk later?"

And finally, she was able to gather her courage and looked Van straight in the eyes.

"...Sure," Van quickly nodded before putting his attention back towards the others.

Beatrice could only close her eyes as she turned her head to the side once again. She thought of a lot of things to say to Van… She wanted to apologize to him, for being the reason why he was caught… for betraying his trust.

"Okay, enough, enough!"

Beatrice's thoughts were then disrupted as Latanya clapped her hands, "We must get ready, this group called the Circle might attack us anytime soon now that the thing they are using to spy on us has been destroyed."

"I don't think there's a need for that for now, lewd-looking woman," Charlotte once again went against Latanya's words.

"What do you mean?" Latanya furrowed her eyebrows, "You think they'll just sit around? We were supposed to think of a plan to fool them while they still think we don't know they're spying on us, that plan has been grounded to dust now, literally, thanks to you."

Latanya could not help but shake her head as she looked at the black powder around Charlotte's feet.

"That's exactly what they're doing right now," Charlotte said as she looked in a certain direction.

"What?"

"They're just sitting around and not doing anything," Charlotte once again said as she closed her eyes, "I can hear them, there has been no difference with their steps since we got here."

"You… can hear them!?" Latanya walked closer towards Charlotte, "Where are they right now?"

Although she was still annoyed with how Charlotte was speaking to her, knowing their enemies' movements comes first.

"They are about 4 kilometers away from here in that direction," Charlotte pointed towards the east side of their new base.

"4 kilometers, that's not too far," Latanya placed her hand on her chin as she looked at Van, "You think you can see what they're doing?"

"Hm." Van nodded his head.

"Good, let's wait for the others to arrive so we can discuss our next plan," Latanya lightly closed her fist as they finally got the location of their enemy. They lost a disadvantage, only to gain an even better one.

"Are you… the leader here?" Victoria's mother, Paris, who had been keeping quiet the whole time, approached Latanya.

"No," Latanya quickly shook her head, "He is our leader."

"What?" Not only Paris, but the rest of her group all looked towards Van as soon as Latanya pointed towards him.

"He's the President of our world… The Pit, you people call it," Latanya nonchalantly shrugged.

As soon as Latanya's words reached their ears, different expressions could be seen slowly crawling on their faces. Charlotte's sudden burst of laughter, however, was what stood out the most.

"As expected of the only man who has gotten my approval," she said as she approached Van, lightly patting his back. Van, on the other hand, gathered almost all of his STR just to not fly away from Charlotte's hands. He was already of a much higher level than he was before… So why were their physical strengths still too different? He thought.

"We came here to rescue you, but it turns out you're the head honcho of this place now," Charlotte's laughter continued to ripple through the air.

"That--"

"Van bro!"

Before Van could even say a word, another loud holler, rivaling that of Charlotte's burst through everyone's ears. The group quickly turned their heads to see who it was, but before they could do so, someone already went up towards Van and hugged him.

"I missed you, bro!"

"...Harvey," Van slightly let out a breath as he could feel his feet no longer touching the ground.

"I'm sorry I couldn't go and rescue you sooner, bro!" Harvey's muffled words continued to reach Van's ears as a single tear almost trailed down his face.

"I…" Van once again let out a short breath as he looked at Harvey's face,

"...missed all of you too."