Fiora, the new rookie Greyman, was now facing the strongest monster ever recorded in the history of their agency. With a power level exceeding the maximum limit of nine thousands, far beyond the capability of any scaling system, it would seem foolish of her to go confront it alone without any help from her comrades. Even though it was unsure they would be of any help. A five thousand power unit would be categorized as an S-rank monster, with the potential damage skyrocketing up to the destruction of a city and would require a minimum of at least five veterans Greymen. The problem was the organisation didn’t have many Greymen in the first place.

Greymen were individuals who had developed psychic power through a natural or in some case, artificial mutation of their DNA, turning them into Espers. However, they were incredibly rare with the proportion of finding one in ten millions. Furthermore, not every Esper could control their power properly and could become consumed by it. In that case, their mind would not be able to handle the overload of information coming to their brain and would die as a result. Usually, only one out of five Espers would survive this process, further decreasing their number.

As part of this small minority, Fiora herself was an Esper and was chosen as a Greyman. But there was a reason why she has stayed as an ‘office worker’ for the last three years, being confined to do odd jobs by Kennedy. Her ability simply wasn’t very battle-orientated, or rather, it has not yet developed into one yet.

“Don’t move!” the woman shouted at Alastor.

“And what if I do?” the monster said in a ghastly voice.

“What? A talking monster? What are you?” Fiora has just realized something. Unlike the usual creatures she has seen, this one didn’t have a monochrome skin like the others. Instead, it was a pure dark skin with some parts that looked like stone while others like some kind of black smoke emitting from it. This creature was not a Monochrome, or at least not like any type that has been observed.

“Shouldn’t you say who? Is courtesy not a thing in this place? If you want to ask for someone else’s name, then the first thing to do is to give them yours.” At this point, Alastor has realized that he wasn’t in the same world as Astora. Else how would he explain the strange landscape around him? He remembered that the two Goddesses have said something about how miasma could break the barrier between worlds. That would mean that he was now currently in another world, completely separate from Astora in term of time and space, a parallel universe. ‘What a situation I found myself into!’ he thought.

“Name? You are a monster. How come you have a name? Don’t try to deceive me! That won’t work, not against me.”

“Monster? Me? …..oh right I am in beast mode. That’s why you think I am one. Then how about this form? Does this suit you better?” Alastor changed back to his human form, a small white haired kid with a crimson eye and an azure one for the other.

“A kid? ….No! I still don’t trust you. You could try to mimic our appearance just so you can lower my guard.”

“You seriously have some trust issues here, do you? But I suppose I would do the same in your place. Then how can I prove that I have no intention of harming you or anyone here?” asked Alastor. If this was a new world, then it would be advisable to not incite any unnecessary conflict the moment he got here. Until he gathered more information about this world, he should stay on their good side. And if he could convince one to be his guide, that may help him in his quest and even find the way to go back to his own world.

“Let me touch you!” said Fiora.

“…..Do you like touching kids, lady? I mean I don’t mind but I already have someone so…..” Alastor enunciated.

“What? Nooo! I want to check the authenticity when you say that you don’t mean us any harm. I admit that you are different from the monsters I have seen but I still need to take precaution.” Fiora affirmed. It was her first time seeing something that came out of the rift and could actually talk. That alone has made her curious about Alastor’s identity but she needed to confirm that he wasn’t deceiving her. And she had the ability just for that.

“All right then….here!” Alastor extended his hand to Fiora.

Slowly coming closer to him, she took off her gloves and gently grasped his hand. “”. Fiora’s talent was Telepathy, the ability to read the mind of the people around her. Just by a simply touch, she could determinate if the person was lying and even looking through their memory. Of course her full potential has yet to be discovered yet but for now, mind reading was one of the few things she could do. But scanning Alastor’s memories right now could take too much time and without the proper restriction, the person might go berserk on her so Fiora only wanted to confirm the fact that he was telling her the truth.

“…Ok, you seem to be telling the truth. I will trust you….for now. My name is Fiora, a Greyman. A pleasure to meet you!” Fiora presented herself.

‘A mind reading ability without using mana? Interesting!’ he thought. “I am Alastor, Devourer of Gods, Prince of Zagon and perhaps Demon Lord, though I am not very sure about that.” The boy presented himself.

“What? Demon Lord? Devourer of Gods?” Fiora was confused by the terms. Was the boy trying to make a joke? But her instinct and her power was telling her that he wasn’t lying. Still she had no idea of what he was talking about.

“Don’t pay much attention to it! You ask me to be honest so I am. In return, I would ask you to be the same to be.” Alastor casually said.

“So what are you doing here, Alastor?” asked Fiora.

“Beat me. I am dragged into this world by a monster and the next thing I know, I am already here. What is this place?” Alastor said.

“You are currently in district C of Europia, the largest city of Europe. You said that you were dragged into this world by a monster. Does that mean you come from another world?”

“Probably since I don’t recognize anything around here. You have all these weird machines running around and even this thing that shoots people, which don’t exist in my world.” He explained.

“I see. Either way, you should come with me. I can’t let you wander around like this.” The woman directed.

“Hold on a minute! We might be cool and all but I still need to find this monster so I can get back to my world.” Said Alastor.

“What does this monster look like?”

“A large humanoid creature coloured in black and white.”

“Then I know just where to find one! Come with me and I will lead you to it! I promise I will help you getting home but for now, please follow me!”

“I hope you are not lying to me. I don’t like being lied to.” Said Alastor.

“Believe me, I am not that much of an idiot to trick you at this point!” Based on the data which the machine has provided, Fiora knew that Alastor was not just a simple kid. And judging from his transformation earlier, he wasn’t even human, at the very least not a normal one. He also claimed to have come from another world, an outrageous allegation which she would not believe if she has not seen it first-hand that he came from the rift. Either way, this boy was an unknown factor and Fiora must keep him around her for further investigation.

* * *

Jora lifted her thin arms and directed all the surroundings metallic vehicles diving into the monster. Her talent was Telekinesis, the ability to move objects with just her mind. Upon contact with the monster, they blew up and created a series of explosion engulfing the whole thing. However, as the smoke parted away, it revealed that the monster was practically unharmed. How could it be? Did she miss? Or perhaps the monster’s defensive capabilities were just too strong? Neither of those. Simply because it did hit but the behemoth could regenerate much quicker than the actual damages done to it, making it seemingly invincible.

But throwing things wasn’t the only thing she could do. No, telekinesis was much more than that. To move an object was a very vague statement. To move an object, telekinesis Esper must be able to control the particles of that object and induced the force into those particles to create the movement. The more particles the person could control, the more precise and complex movement the object could do but that demanded more skills and a perfect manoeuvre. But what if a telekinesis user could push half the particles into one direction while the other half into the opposite? That object would be either crushed or torn apart by its very specks because of the opposed forces.

Focusing her sight onto the beast’s arm, Jora clasped her hands together. At the same time, the limb was compressed by the invisible force of her mind before she separated her hands away, tearing it from the monster.

But Jora wasn’t the only person doing the work. Edmur, the tall man in grey cloak, fixed his sunglasses and all of the sudden, his hands were set on fire. Pyrokinesis, the ability to control fire, was his talent. The fire didn’t just come out of nowhere. It was the result of the friction of floating particles in the air that created a spark before resulting in a chain reaction. This ability also turned his body to an ember-like state with burning hot vein on his skin and made him immune to all kind of fire damage.

“”

Fire busted out from inside the creature’s body as it panicked and tried to subjugate the fire, to no avail. Without letting it get a moment of rest, Edmur fired a constant blazing beam of pure heat energy at the creature, piercing it together with a few buildings behind it.

“Now, Pat!” Edmur shouted.

A flash passed by Edmur with imperceptible speed and slammed against one of the beast’s legs. The impact was so sudden and weighty, causing the giant as tall as a three story-house to plummet to the ground.

Acceleration, the talent that allowed oneself to move at light speed from one point to another, belonged to Pat, the large man in a suit that seemed almost too tight for him, with his muscles showing through his cloak on the verge of bursting out. By being able to control his speed at will, combined with his body mass, Pat became an unstoppable force. The faster he went, the more powerful the impact. However, manipulating this power was very difficult. Knowing that all body exerting a force would receive an equivalent force, under normal circumstances, Pat would be dead by such an impact. That led us to his second ability, Body Strengthening. Only a few Espers were able to wield multiple talents at once and Pat was among them. It gave him a temporary boost in his strength and hardened his muscles beyond the human limits, to the point it would negate the side effects from the counter-force he received from Acceleration, creating a wonderful synergy.

With such a trio and the monster eating dirt, the fight seemed to be over.

“…Persistent freak…” Jora muttered as she watched the monstrosity beginning to stand one, his leg completely healed. But the amputated arm she cut off earlier didn’t. All of the sudden, a shiver went through her spines as she realized that the hand which fell off was gone. And her realization came too late. A shadow appeared above her. It was the hand of the monster. While the three were distracted by the main body, the hand has relocated itself on a roof using its fingers to move around, waiting for the chance to jump on an unsuspected victim.

If there was one thing a Greyman always carried around with them when they were on a mission, it was a way to kill themselves. Being the front liners who had to deal with the threat of the Monochromes, they were aware of the danger and the fate that awaited them if they were to fail. The Monochrome had the ability to consume its victim and assimilated their body into them. This granted these abnormalities the power of their preys, allowing them to constantly evolving into even more dangerous threats. And that was not even the worst thing. The victims, during this time, would still be conscious, unable to do anything but watching the beast killing their comrades using their own power as they were being devoured alive. But the Monochromes, for some reasons, would never touch a dead body. That was why if a Greyman ever found themselves in such a situation, they would commit suicide to avoid that fate.

Jora was no exception. For the last five years ever since she was on the field, she would always carry around a small needle containing a potent toxin capable of killing her or anyone in just a second. Everything was ready. Keeping it in her wrist at all time, all she needed to do was to press on it to release the substance into her body. No pain, no suffering, one second and it would be all over. Yet, now facing death itself, Jora was hesitating. The fear of death has taken over her. Why was that?

For someone to take this kind of job, you would expect them to always be ready for death. That was what they were facing everyday: death. But it was human nature to cling onto hope, no matter how delusional it may seem. Perhaps they were different. Perhaps that terrible fate they heard so much about would not happen to them. Perhaps it was all a lie and they could still find a way out of this. Such were the thoughts of Jora at this moment, and many others before her. In case you wondered what happened to those who thought that, they ended up in the belly of the beast.

But that didn’t happen to Jora. A second earlier, she was flying next to a nearby building where she was ambushed by that hand. However, the next second she opened her eyes, Jora found herself on the ground, in front of a man in a grey military uniform.

“Wh…What?” Jora uttered, confused by what happened.

“That was close. I barely make it in time.” The man said. Despite his large scar on his face, he gave off a gentle smile at the crouching woman who was paralyzed by fear, unable to stand up.

“Kennedy? What are you doing here?” Edmur, turning himself into fire, flew himself and landed next to Jora. He didn’t expect to see the admiral here at all. Last time he heard, Kennedy was forced to retire from the field by the higher ups and ended up with an office job.

“This old timer isn’t done just yet. Or do you really expect me to sit in a hole watching my students to jump into danger like the idiots they are?”

“….Old man…you haven’t changed a bit.” Pat said.

“And you, on the other hand, have grown so much. But let’s not let this touching reunion makes us forget about the uninvited guest over there. Can you stand, Jora?” Kennedy extended his hand to her.

“Yes…teacher!” finally regained her composure, Jora grabbed his arm and stood up, facing the monster.

* * *

“What does this button do? *pressed*”

“Good morning, brothers and sisters! God has truly blessed us with another beautiful day. Before we begin our daily sermon, let me remind you that all donations can be made by calling this number 08-XXXX-XXXX. You can donate any number you like but remember: the more you give, the more God will reward you. For the tops donors, you will also receive in addition a bottle of holy water exclusive to our church. Hallelujah! pressed* ”

“Today is the release of ‘Star Wars XX: Mickey strikes back!’. This is the latest episode of the franchise and according to IGN, this is going the movie of the year. A direct sequel that fans have been waiting for two years after the last episode ended with a major cliff hanger where Mickey has turned to the dark side as a result of his best friend Donald’s betrayal, and became Darth Mousy. What will he do now that he has become a Sith? Will he take control of the Death Star and use it to take revenge against Donald and the council of Disney? Or will he ally himself with the rogue Sith, Darth Goofy? Available at your local cinema right now! *pressed* “

“Wow, this is like a crystal ball but with much more interesting things to watch. And the flatness makes it much easier for the eyes. Why hasn’t anyone back home thought of this?” Alastor said with excitement, pointing at the flat screen in the car.

“It’s called a television. There are more like a thousand channels that allow you to watch practically everything around the world nowadays. They also have the 3D-screen thing but that’s too expensive for me.” Said Fiora.

“I have no idea of what you are talking about but it sounds amazing.”

“So what is your world like?” asked Fiora. After their short exchange earlier, she believed that Alastor came from a world that was not very advanced in term of technology. Some sort of medieval world was what she had in mind.

“…A cruel world with Gods and demons killing each other, where the strong dominates the weak. That’s about the gist of it.” Alastor spoke in a detached voice.

Realizing that perhaps she shouldn’t push further based on his voice, Fiora tried to change the subject but instead she hit another landmine. “What about family?”

Alastor watched the world outside through the glass window with distant eyes, as if he was not really there. His mind overflew with his memories of Astora. For most of them, he wanted to forget, to stash them up into the depths of his consciousness, never to be seen again. That was not to say that his life was full of unhappy memories. His childhood, although uneventful, was peaceful and tranquil. At that time, he didn’t have to worry about anything. He could just keep on living day by day. But it all ended with Morgan’s death. Fortunately, now he had Ikarus, Morrigan and Alice as his family and other people he was close too like Maria. But what if he never met them? What would he end up as if they never entered his life?

Sometimes he just wanted to leave everything behind and went live with them somewhere cut off from the rest of the world. He just wanted to be left alone with his family. Was that something too much to ask? Yet troubles kept finding a way to come to him. And that attitude of uncaring has led Odium to her demise. The price for this lesson cost him a daughter, a harsh price, and unlike anything else, he couldn’t just let it fade away or else it would be meaningless. Alastor didn’t do anything for her when she was alive. But her death would forever stay in his mind. He must change, even if he must force himself to.

“Alastor..?”

“Ah..sorry. I kind of lost myself there. You were saying?”

“Oh it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it!”