However, no matter how loud he screamed into the mind-link, she would not respond, all he received was silence... That silence was almost enough to drive him crazy... He had already used mind-link multiple times so why now of all times was it not working? Something was undoubtedly wrong... Something most definitely happened to Abby and Jayden...

'FUCK MY LIFE! Was I too late!? Was I too slow?' Alex inwardly yelled, the unease in his now machine-gun-like pumping heart growing even more, flashbacks of his old friend playing over and over in his head.

'NO! NOT AGAIN! PLEASE NOT AGAIN!'

His brain started to hurt as his breathing became more and more irregular... The many different possibilities of what he thought could have happened began to play over and over in his head. The scenes of both Abby and Jayden dead, impaled by a spike, the looks of pure horror on their bloody, ghost-like face... hung from a tree, their eyeballs rolling to the back of their heads showing nothing but white on their eyes... completely beheaded, blood gushing out of their neck like a fountain of blood... sliced to pieces, their entrails and innards littered all throughout the forest, dying the green grass crimson red.

Yet despite everything he witnessed, that was still somehow not the worst of it all… Without fail, in every vision, they would always curse him for not getting there fast enough, or for being a terrible, selfish person, a liar, a shitty friend, a mother fucker, and many, many more words that although were not a reality, shattered and eroded his already weak heart as what he saw and heard could very well soon be a reality due to his actions. Hearing those words come out of his friend's mouth felt almost unbearable, echoing and shaking his very core, making sweat begin to drip down his face like a waterfall.

*Crash*

Suddenly, the sound of shattered glass rang wildly in the air, filling his ears.

Out of the corners of his eyes, he managed to witness that the yellow barrier that was once surrounding where Moby was had just suddenly shattered into a million pieces before fading away into nothing.

Yet, despite that incredible spectacle, Alex was too lost in his own thoughts, fears, panics, and paranoia to even react or bat a single eye. At this moment, nothing was more important than the safety of his friends, his mind would not be at ease until he was certain that both Abby, Jayden, and Ray were all safe.

Using his knight vision, he sensed that there were 3 entities ahead. He gritted his teeth and gripped his spear so tightly that they both almost cracked, the breath coming out of his mouth growing even more irregular, his anxiety increasing as he readied himself to witness the fate of his friends...

'RIGHT THERE!' He screamed to himself, running through a large, spike filled bush like it was nothing in order to reach his destination.

When he did, he was not able to believe his own eyes... It was like he came face to face with his worst nightmare…

He was met by the morbid scene of Abby being firmly held in the Black version of HikariYami's hands, her face showing nothing but pure disgust and annoyance... Abby's neck was being tightly squeezed, her eyes closed as she was lifted high up in the air making her limp body fall straight towards the ground like it was a lifeless corpse. Although she had no signs of blood anywhere on her body, the look of pure anguish was still visible on her face, confirming to him that she went out in an extremely unimaginably painful manner.

Right at her feet laid Jayden, her 2 daggers thrown right in front of her hands. Her eyes were still wide open, yet their usual dark blue colour was now replaced with an ugly, lifeless gray. And, just like Abby, she had no signs of blood or severe injuries yet the look on her face told a completely different story as it was paler than he had ever seen before in his life and her mouth was wide open, drooling on the grass underneath.

"I told you that you shouldn't count on those 2 idiots to get the job done! If anything they now seem like traitors! Fuck! I'm not sure that I can take them all out at once!" She scoffed in disgust, mumbling under her voice.

'A-Abby... J-Jayden...'

Alex's eyes grew wide, shaking immensely as he did not want to believe his eyes… Seeing the state of all of his usually happy, smiling friends blew his already dusty and eroded heart into the wind. Despite all his efforts, he was still unable to protect their smiles as the scenes of what had happened before played over and over in his head once again.

All of his fears, worries and anxiety that he wished were only visions were now, just like he feared becoming a reality.

Yet, he could not allow himself to stay in such a sorry, pitiful state. Things were not too late, his friends were still both well alive, meaning that he still had an opportunity to save them. He had not broken his promise just yet and he did not plan to do so anytime soon. He was the reason that all of this had happened and that meant that he must be the one to fix it.

If it weren't for the filthy skank in front of him, none of this would have happened… The more he looked at her half-covered face of superiority that looked at his friends like nothing more than insects, he felt his blood begin to boil and rise, making him feel like he was about to erupt like a volcano.

He took a deep breath, shaking away and channelling all of his previous worries and unease that were once in his heart, completely changing and twisting into pure, unfiltered hatred.

His previously shaky, weary eyes regained their vigour and became solid as they started to bleed again once more, the wounds that had been closed by his demon regeneration were now reopened as well.

The cloak of lightning around his body started to glow and crackle even more widely than before, his hair that went down under his eyes started to float until it almost fully stood up. His keen, hate-filled, purple eyes were now light blue with a lightning aura flowing all around them.

He tightly gripped his spear with all of his might and used his demon powers to enhance himself once more with no care for the added pain or his own safety in the slightest, the safety of his friends was far more important to him than his very life.

Ignoring all of the beyond immense pain that would have undoubtedly killed any other person in his situation from the pure shock, he firmly planted his feet on the ground and boosted off with such speed that his initial step caused a crater and several cracks on the ground, it was almost like he had completely disappeared from the sheer speed he was going at.

In the next instant, gusts of wind violently surged in his wake, causing several trees to shake and move in his direction, a trail of lightning flowing right behind him and under his feet, setting the grass on fire from the combination of his lightning and pure speed alone.

"How dare you hurt my friends! Stay the fuck away from them!" Alex roared, blinded by his pure, unbridled rage, the urge to protect his friends taking charge of all of his senses as he held his spear out in front of him, ready to thrust it straight at her heart for a decisive blow.

Everything, every fibre in his being was stored into that 1 strike…

He wanted to make her pay 1 million times over for what she had just done...

He channelled all of his anger, his feelings towards his friends, his hopes and dreams, his sense of justice, and the promise he made a long time ago all into 1 decisive blow.

HikariYami who was being sped towards by Alex had only just noticed his presence. And yet, despite that fact, she seemed to have no big change in her expression other than a small vein popping out from the top of her forehead. She did not move at all, like she had already given up and chose to accept her fate, making Alex feel like his victory was imminent. He was certain that if half her face was not covered, he would be able to fully witness the look of despair on her face.

However... He soon found out that he was more than sorely mistaken...

"Insect! I don't have fucking time for this!" Yami yelled back, clear annoyance and urgency in her voice.

*Slap*

With but a single slap, she managed to completely break and halt Alex's advances, both physically and mentally.

Before he even knew it, his body had already gone numb, floating and flipping in the air, the skin on his cheek where he had just been slapped getting completely removed like it was never there, revealing his teeth and pink flesh tissue underneath.

'W-what just happened... How is she that strong...' He thought, unable to accept reality as it all happened so unexpectedly and abruptly, his anger turning into pure despair…

He had failed… He had broken his promise… He was useless…

He was… too weak…

He had put his heart and soul along with the urge to protect his friends all into that attack. He had used every morsel of his being, boosted his power far beyond what his body was capable of, but he was taken out so casually with but a single slap, making the truth hit him like a speeding train.

His assumption that she herself was extremely weak and was only strong due to her puppets got immediately flipped on its heads and spat on for how wrong they were.

In fact, the truth was that he never even stood a chance against her in the first place, she had just been toying around with him and Abby like puppets the entire time, trying to enjoy some sort of show of entertainment.

The glow in his eyes faded away into something that seemed more lifeless, his lightning cloak dissolving as his skin was ravaged by the pain of pushing his body too far beyond its breaking point and from the slap that felt more like a meteorite than an actual slap.

Yet, despite all that immense pain, his almost lifeless expression did not at all change... He could not care less about his physical anguish... The pain of his failure grew further and overshadowed everything else that was going on around him.

His mind fell into chaos, he did not know what or even how to properly think anymore... Everything around him was now but an ugly blur, his entire world turning into a mushy meld of black colours, the sound of static hissing filling his ears.

Along with various teeth, his limp body fell on the ground with an immense crash. He was not yet unconscious but he was still unable to move a single inch of his body. No matter what he did, it would just not respond which even further added to his helplessness and sorry state.

When he looked up at his opponent with his dark, mushy, hazy eyes, he managed to just somewhat make out her figure.

She scoffed once more, taking a look at him before shifting her focus onto Jayden who was unconscious right beside him.

And in what seemed like a quick hurry, Abby's body still tightly gripped in her hand, she jumped back to the direction that Alex had just come from.

Then as soon as she left, Alex snapped back into reality and realized what had just happened... colour came back to his previously dead eyes and the first tears that he had cried in years fell down his face as he tried to move his body only to be reminded that his efforts were completely futile.

"DAMN IT! It's all my fault! She fucking kidnapped her! WHY! WHY! WHYYY!" His voice echoed all throughout the forest, causing several crows from kilometres away to flee, trying to force his broken body to stand up only to be reminded for a third time that all his efforts were still futile no matter how hard he tried or how strong his urge to protect his friends was...