"I figured you'd need the exercise, grandma."

"Ha?"

Charlotte could not help but look back and forth between Van and the stranger walking towards them in confusion. When a loud thunder erupted right in the center of the city, she and her daughter-in-law were talking about her son, and how he was aimlessly traveling all around the world without any purpose.

But even before she heard the loud bang, she had already detected that someone was coming towards the city at an incredible speed. So, unlike the rest of the residents of the new city, she wasn't that alarmed as there was only one person capable of that kind of speed-- Van.

But due to the city and the castle going in to panic, she sadly had to cut her interesting conversation short as she had to personally tell the people that it was alright. But still, the pressure was high as there was an ongoing war with Circle, so the people weren't convinced and Charlotte had to once again personally enter the Pit, where the trail of golden lightning was last seen.

And lo and behold, she was right. It was Van. What she did not expect was that he was with someone else, and whoever this man was, he looked quite familiar to Charlotte. But after a few more seconds of staring at the brown-skinned man approaching them, she finally recognized who it was.

"...Aren't you Bong Padilla?" Charlotte said as she furrowed her eyebrows, "What is going on here, boy?"

"He's with the Circle, we couldn't really fight inside the hidden base, so I brought him here," Van quickly explained, "And also, his… body is too tough for me to even damage. So I brought him to you."

"...All the way from the reservoir?"

"A little bit father since it was already floating in the air," Van shrugged nonchalantly as he once again turned around, walking towards the Portal. But before he passed through it, he let out a long and deep sigh, "Will you be able to handle him? Do you need me to help you fight?"

"..." Charlotte once again placed his attention towards Bong, who was now idly standing a few meters away from them before shaking her head and letting out a small smile, "Nah, this guy is fucked."

"Alright. Also, after you're done with him, tell Andrea and the others to go inside the Pit."

"What aren't you telling me, boy?"

"If we fail, there's a chance all of us might die… but Evangeline said it will be safe inside the Portals. Good luck."

"...What?" Charlotte wanted to stop Van to ask more questions, but he was already gone.

"..." And so, Charlotte could only focus on the situation at hand.

"Was that really a wise decision, Mrs. Gates?" And as soon as Van was gone, Bong finally opened his mouth to talk, "It would have probably been better for you if he assisted you, you will not be able to defeat me otherwise… even if you have a home advantage."

"I actually think I can," Charlotte let out a chuckle as she started taking off her outer garments, stretching her arms and body to the limit.

"I do quite remember us fighting when both of us were younger," Bong only shook his head as a pair of wings emerged from his back. The wings then lifted him up, once again leaving the lower part of his body to stand on the ground.

"And I have forgotten how disgusting that fight was."

"I remember you losing," Bong then flapped his wings, causing the trees and the ground behind him to be blown away as he shot towards Charlotte. His lower body as well started running towards her like it had a mind of its own.

Charlotte, on the other hand, continued to stretch her body calmly even as Bong's two parts started rushing towards her, "Well…

...I also remember being pregnant then."

"!!!"

***

Van could see the scenery in front of him change several times in a second. He could remember his first run from the Academy to the Relic Graveyard, and he remembered the elation he felt that time… and now, as he was running at a speed several times that, the feeling hasn't changed.

Perhaps it truly was fate, as Van couldn't think of any other power that would have been perfect for him. This feeling of rush, excitement, and freedom wrapped around him like a caring parent… but at least it was how it imagined it would be.

He continued to run until the colossal island that Evangeline was keeping afloat came into his view. However, he suddenly stopped as the ongoing war between the forces of the Resistance and the Circle caught his attention.

He blinked a couple of times, looking up and down between the floating island and the cries of war in front of him. And finally, after a second of thinking about it, he chose to pass through the warzone.

"W… what the!?"

"What's going on!?"

The soldiers of both sides could not help but stop as some of the men from the Circle started exploding and bursting into pieces. However, the people that were from the Pit quickly realized what was happening as a wide smile appeared on their faces, which soon quickly turned into a cheer.

"President Van!" One of them screamed.

"It's the Ghost! The Ghost is helping us!"

Their cheers drowned the cries of war, as with one simple action, the tide of the battle was decided. Even though Van only mowed down those that were directly blocking his path, it was enough to shake the core of the already losing forces of the Circle.

Add to that the boost of morale that the Resistance received from having "The Ghost" help them in the battle, the only thing that remained was to decide whether they would be taking prisoners, or killing all of them.

But as they were cheering, Van could not help but be slightly disappointed. He thought he would gain EXP from doing what he did, but most of the people he killed were Enhanced Humans. He got excited earlier because of Clark's death, but it would seem that his System did not really deem him to be the one that ended his life.

There was also the other Platinum-rank Explorer, but he couldn't even penetrate an inch of his skin. And now, this… it had been a long while since he had received any EXP at all. The God Souls weren't really giving him any EXP, only Skills.

"Tch," with that thought, Van could not help but let out a short sigh as he finally used his [Air Step] to go back to the floating island, only stopping as he got back inside the hidden base.

"How long was I gone?"

"What the freak!"

Angelica almost jumped as Van suddenly appeared in front of them.

"...That was fast, you defeated him?" Angela could not help but blink a couple of times as Van seemed to return completely unscathed. Has he really improved that much since they last saw each other?

"...I brought him to Charlotte."

"Oh, makes sense," Angela shrugged before proceeding to walk across the hall, "Wait, you brought him to New Wall?"

"Yeah."

"...That was fast," Angela let out a short but deep sigh as she looked Van straight in the eyes, "You really are becoming more and more a god."

"Still far," Van shook his head as their group continued to go deeper into the hidden base. He was getting stronger, that much is obvious. But a god? Van could still remember how Artemis treated the three of them when she still had her God Soul intact.

Charlotte struck with all of her strength and she only managed to break a couple of Artemis's fingers. And once she pulled the strings of her bow, with her teeth, he could feel the whole world crumbling into pieces.

That was the strength of a god. He might be getting there, but it was still far off into the future.

"You will get there, Van," Artemis then slightly approached Van as she patted him on the shoulder.

"Hm," Van nodded as he touched Artemis's hand.

"I still can't believe you got someone pregnant, Mr. Evans. You didn't even wait for me to have my own children before you go and create one of yours," Angela let out a sigh.

"Can your small body even carry a child?" Angelica mockingly giggled.

"My height is average in some countries."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that."

The two continued to bicker with each other as the group walked. Van was worried at first that they would alert someone due to the noise they were making, but to his surprise, the only people they encountered were sprawled on the floor, probably already dealt with earlier by Angela and her sister.

And without any more delays, they reached the area where Hermes was being kept. The group slowed down their pace as they passed by several glass tubes, each containing a human inside of them.

"It's there."

"You don't need to point it to us, it's hard not to see," Angela quickly pulled down her sister's hand as she pointed towards the gigantic glass tube right in the center of the spacious white room.

And Angela was right, one did not need to point to it as the glass tube practically reached to the ceiling.

"...Hello, father," Van was the first to approach the glass tube. His eyes looked straight towards the unresponsive eyes of the gigantic man floating in it.

"What have they done to you?" Artemis was the second one to approach, touching the glass tube that contained Hermes's body. Artemis could only look at Hermes for a second before averting her eyes.

What the Circle did to his body, was in a word, inhumane. There were almost hundreds of needles, as thick as Van's body, pierced into different sections of his spine. One could also see the needles' markings littered across his emaciated arms and legs.

Hermes's body almost looked like a dried tree that was still being drained of its sap. Artemis then stepped back as she turned her attention towards Sarah.

"Please, I don't know how you'll do it, but please free him."

Sarah could only nod her head as she stepped forward. Ever since she entered the room, there was this drowning feeling like she was being surrounded by a thick ocean due to the blood of rivers that traveled like roots around her.

It was an extremely uncomfortable feeling… and to think it was her grandfather that did all of these. It was sickening.

And so, Sarah closed her eyes as she tried to see the safest way to remove the gigantic needles from Hermes's body. But before she could even do anything, a loud voice reverberated through the hall.

"Stop what you are doing right now!"

It was an old man wearing a long white robe, with a golden circle adorning the front of his garb; clothing reserved only to the highest authority of the Circle-- the Pontiff.