“Submit and give it up!” Ver said, pulling Rote’s body close before tendrils grew from her chest and started reaching into Rote’s pockets. Sensing Ver’s probing, Rote slapped her hands aside as blood continued dripping around him and air slowly cutting off all over his body.

“He’s losing his strength…Unlike Braka, he doesn’t get stronger from his injuries, but rather his rage…” The Kraken said quickly, binding Rote’s body with his tendrils before reaching into the pockets.

There was nothing there.

“Ah…ah…” Rote slowly let out his breathe as his eyes started to open, “Who…who would have thought that…I…I would trust…”

“WU!” Ver shouted as the Cerberus tore through Wu and Lera’s shells and launched forward to bite them down. She immediately threw her hands out, the sensation of the Whirlpool Purple forming at the tip of her fingers as the space around the Cerberus started to warp with the purple fluids spiralling into existence.

Sensing the stirring Waves from Ver's troublesome cast, the Cerberus activated his own Wave manipulation abilities, preparing to tear through that ability when Wu projected his Void Domain right in front of him, bathing and locking down the Cerberus' counter move.

“WU!” Lera mirrored Ver's call, diving forward towards her love as the moving Whirlpool Purple swept through the ground, swallowing up Wu, the Cerberus, and Rache all at the same time.

She landed hard on the ground and rolled forward, but Wu was nowhere to be found, “Ver! You need to bring me there too!”

Ver nodded, when Rote’s Wave in front of her suddenly exploded, and he finally blew through the looping of the Water Weaving Sword.

The legendary weapon flopped within the grasp of the Kraken, and Rote has finally built up enough of his Wave to alter the shape and length of the loop of Water Weaving Sword by forcibly injecting his Wave into taht weapon. Finally freed from that terrifying experience, he leaped back while looking at Ver warily, not wanting to be in the same position as before anymore and his cockiness completely gone.

“You should have killed me when you had a chance!” Rote declared, “And now, you have just killed Wu, and it's all your fault!”

Ver stared dead straight at Rote, and she twisted her hand when a Whirlpool formed right underneath Lera’s feet as she started falling through it. However, Rote had already moved upon sensing the change in her Wave, covering that distance as he tackled Lera by the waist, knocking her out of the range of Ver's Whirlpool Purple.

Lera shouted and started elbowing Rote before trying to blow him away with spontaneously forming short-ranged Wave blasts, but Rote latched onto her with the same tightness that Ver’s Water Weaving Sword once had on his neck, trusting the Cerberus and Rache to finish that pesky annoying man.

“Let…let me go!” Lera screamed, slamming into the back of Rote’s head with her fists repeatedly as he bore it all and slammed both of them onto the ground. Then, he sat up and rode upon Lera's body, pummelling into her with his punches when Ver came from behind and stabbed him with the Sky Splitting Sword straight inthe back.

The blade tip pierced through Rote’s skin as it pinned into between his scapula bones, but he still grabbed onto Lera’s wrist as he prepared to break it when Ver twisted the blade, causing him to let go with a grunt of pain.

“ARGH!” Lera rolled up as a bright orb formed from her palm before it flashed in front of Rote’s eyes. The explosion snapped his head straight back, though his body was suddenly latched onto and held in place as the Kraken once again trapped him with the Water Weaving Sword.

"Stop fighting!" Ver shouted, pinning down Rote as he struggled to break free while taking on attacks on all fronts, "You leave us no choice!"

“I…I must hold on…” As Rote's eye became completely bathed in his animalistic instincts, only one thing remained in his mind, “I…I must live on!”

The year was 3012. The world was prosperous and connected through the Wave as multitude of humanoid races roamed the earth and kingdoms thrived in each corner of the two continents. Then, everything started to crumble as the Cast known as Through Space and Time became activated suddenly, thereby opening up dozens of dark portals all throughout the continents.

The age of the demonic invasions had arrived.

Rote was but a simple country farmer, focusing on nothing except taking care of his family on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Clover capital on a day-to-day basis. Then, on that day, countless knights flew overhead on their broomsticks as dark hazy semi-transparent columns rose up from beyond the horizon. A sudden crack of thunder in the background summoned the clouds and snatched away the sun and he hurried inside to check on the baby being rattled by the sounds.

“It’s going to be okay…” Rote said, when the earth suddenly quaked as if a titan had torn through the belly of the planet. He quickly scanned outside as massive cracks formed along the ground before he picked up the baby and sprinted to the back of the house where his wife was working.

“What’s going on? Why does it feel like doomsday out there?” She held onto the clothes that she’s fixing and looked at Rote with fear, but he ran past her before kicking the door down.

“I don’t know! We need to get out of here!” Rote shouted, looking back as the back of the house collapsed down. His wife sprung to her feet before she got to running as her hands glowed with the Wave.

Then, she created a chariot Cast under their feet before Rote hopped on with the baby. It was a rarity for commoners to know about the use of chariot Casts, and knights typically relied on fast-activating broomsticks, but she was someone special, which often made Rote think about why she ended up choosing to be with him.

“Hey…hey…It's okay...it's okay” Rote spoke gently, kissing the baby on the forehead when both his wife and the baby let out pained grunt. Underneath them, tides of creatures of the dark swept through the ground from beyond the horizon as his wife watched with horror, “Are those…”

“Demons…I didn’t think they were anything more than legends or night time stories…” She ground her teeth together before pouring her Wave into the chariot, rapidly accelerating upwards as the demons on the ground started to notice them and started firing off long-ranged attacks, “We need to get into the capital!”

“I’ve got him,” Rote said, holding the baby closely before ducking down as wind rushed overhead. She nodded and formed a shield Cast underneath the chariot, protecting it from further ranged attack.

The magnificent castle of the Kingdom of Clover’s capital city came into view, but a shield Cast was raised equally as quickly as it moved towards them.

“COME ON COME ON!” She pressed even further as the chariot Cast started to heat up but the shield Cast completely closed up before her chariot could have entered the boundaries.

“Don’t leave us out here! Please!” Another chariot full of people cried before they were shot down by the demonic forces on the ground and fell to their deaths.

As the armies of the Clover mobilized from beyond the shield, she looked back at the half of the earth behind her that’s been turned black completely by the invading forces and turned the chariot to the side. Rote soon found themselves flying towards the forest to the east of the capital.

“We are making a run to the woods.” She said, looking down as the demonic forces started striking against the shield Cast of the main castle while ripples rose through the main body of the Cast.

The guards on the other side of the shields had their books of Casts ready, and lights flashed as the first demon finally broke through.

As the floodgate opened, the ocean of demons rushed through.

“What is happening…” Rote was holding onto the baby so tight that he didn’t even realize he was hurting him until the baby started crying in his lap. He quickly looked down and kissed his forehead again to calm him down, "Is this even...real?"

“I don’t know…” She said, rapidly dropping down to the levels of the trees as only a fraction of the demonic forces started traversing through the woods, “But this is our best chance at getting away…”

The strange growls of the demons soon filled the forests as birds rattled and fled in all directions. Down at the ground level, the chariot nimbly ducked around the trees while maintaining a constant speed. However, the sounds of tree leaves being stomped on and branches being crushed came from all directions.

“Listen to me.” After leaving behind sets of winding Wave lines at the front of the chariot, she turned and held onto Rote’s face, “I have weaved for this chariot Cast to return to the Academy of the Northern Kingdom of Spade. It will be moving slower since it has to draw power from the environment, but it will take you there. I am sure of it.”

“Why are you telling me this…” Rote asked when she leaned in and kissed him roughly on the lips, their teeths lightly bumping into one another. Then, she held onto his black hair before wiping away a tear as a trapping Cast looped around Rote’s chest and bound around his body.

“I love you, Rote Zorn. Please live. Keep living. Don't you ever give up...”

Forming a second and much smaller chariot, she then leaped out and away from him before he could even realize what's happening. Rote screamed and reached towards her, but the trapping Cast slammed him against the chariot as it continued flying straight back.

Minutes later, sounds of explosions came from way behind him, and he finally yanked himself free as the trapping Cast tried to sit him down again. Looking over the edge of the chariot Cast and through his tears, he saw a trail of smoke rising from the other side of the forest as the attention of all of the demons within the woods were drawn to it at the same time.

“No…no…” Rote gripped his fist so hard until his nails pierced through his skin. Then, he bit into his lips and tried to suppress his tears as the chariot rushed deeper into the woods, and a strange silence surrounded him, fooling him into thinking that nothing’s wrong.

He was a good-for-nothing man. He was a simple country farmer, and one day, the injured angel came to his town after fainting in his fields. And now, the angel's gone...devoured by demons.

She was a retired knight from the kingdom’s capital, expelled after disobeying her senior's demands. They chased her down, and she fought them off before flying away until her Wave ran out.

He bandaged her up, and tried and failed to stop her bleeding with his clumsy skills. However, he did make a hell of a bean soup.

She did not know the life of the commoners, and did not understand the day-to-day struggles of those without advanced abilities in the Wave. However, she did like the rustic flavors of his bean soup, and so she stayed.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months.

“You are more than healed now.” Rote said, his face red as his heart pounded in his chest, “Are…are you going to go back to where you were form?”

She held the wooden bowl with the same old bean coup in front of her face, and her throat moved as she drank the last of the soup. Rote watched her eat and smiled, though he also lowered his head with sadness. Then, she slammed the empty bowl down as her lips were dirtied by the oil from the fried rabbit skin.

“What?! You are kicking me out?!” She asked, knocking her knuckles on the table as a sign of thanks, “I knew it. You hate me all along.”

“I don’t hate you!” Rote shot up as his shirt tucked at the bottom of the table and lifted it up, tearing a new hole. He looked down as his belly button was on full display, “Damn it! I had just fixed this shirt!”

“HAHAHA!” She laughed out loud while holding onto her stomach, “Maybe you hate your shirt more than me!”

“Like I said…I don’t hate you! I…I…” Rote struggled when she stood up and walked towards him. Then, she placed her hand around his face while running her finger through his hair, "I just don't know what you are doing here! What you are doing with me!"

With her eyes getting closer and closer to his, she kissed him as their teeth bumped lightly.

“Do you still hate me now?”

“I never...” Rote became frozen in place, and his mind was spun into a frenzy, “I…always thought you are going to leave me when you…”

“I don't want to.” She smiled, "Therefore, I won't."

“You promised…you promised…” Rote repeated those words as the baby had finally calmed down within his hug, “You promised…you promised…”

He felt something touching his chin, and the baby looked at him with his eyes opened up wide as his tears bounced off his puffy cheeks.