Alarick and Arctaius continued their staring match. All the while, Asami remained a few feet behind Arctaius. As Zhao and Rhuskov stood at the side. As the two stood in silence, Asami kept her gaze on Arctaius’ back, before she began glancing around. Before she began to glance around, though the embers stopped, smoke still rose from the buildings and the damages were evident. Those in the immediate area were ripped apart and reduced to rubble, much of the many elevated roads were damaged as well. The charred remains of much of Shima's inhabitants lag sprawled on the ground. With these rather grisly displays. Many thoughts ran in her head, in specific, what Arctaius and these three men did.

“He...He’s dead… How could he kill him that easily..? No, it was self-defense...He would’ve kept going if he hadn’t stopped him.”

With all this said, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she needed to be warier of him. Even so, she began to inch toward him, though her walk was rather shaky. But, she soon stopped, as she heard footsteps approach them. Soon, around them were Akashi, Yudei, Satomi, And Shinto. Though, they looked more like they were ready to sleep than do searching of any kind, especially around here.

“Oi!!!”

As the words resounded through his head, Arctaius glanced over his shoulder. Taking notice of the ones who entered the scene.

“They’re alive...Good”

He turned away, fixating his gaze on Alarick once again. Something three of the four took notice of. Akashi, Yudei, And Shinto alike were the first ones to focus their gaze on Arctaius. They were relieved, to say the least. But, that was not to say there was not some confusion, only one of the three men by Arctaius were any they’d recognized… Satomi took note of them as well but opted to say nothing.

“I was so worried… We all were.”

“Yeah… All those people burned to a crisp. Even the ones that didn’t die were injured pretty badly.”

The weight of the deaths that happened there today clearly began to crush them, given the deafening silence, the rather uncomfortable expressions, Shinto soon putting two fingers onto the bridge of his glasses, pushing them up, as he spoke, in his attempt to break the silence.

“It looks like you guys are fine, but I must ask… Who are those guys Taius is talking to? If the blood on them is anything to go by, I'd think they just got into a fight.”

“Yeah, I've only seen grayhelm.”

Blood on them?! Tanabe perked up at this, and she took notice of the blood staining both Arctaius and Zhao. She was mortified, to say the least. Unlike the rest of those there, it wasn’t as if she’d known him since childhood. What reason did she have not to believe he, no, they were the cause?! Here they were, blood-stained, and standing there without a care in the world! In the end, she knew next to nothing about him. Was this why the guy was so secretive about everything, even around those friends of his? What was he, some sort of murderer?! As the ideas, the scenarios flashed through her head, she went silent… After all, she barely knew the situation either way. Could she have been reading this wrong?

Apparently, her thoughts went unnoticed. As Asami stepped toward them, she began speaking.

“Well… You see, I don’t know about those 3, but they helped Arctaius in taking care of the guy who started the fire. He was a proto-human…”

That calmed Tanabe down just a bit. At least she knew she wasn’t always hanging out with someone capable of doing this. Or, at the least, one who decided not to. However, another one of them, Yudei, stood there with widened eyes.

“What?! For him to do something like that, he’d have to at least be a mid-tier!!!”

Akashi stepped forward.

“It’s just like Arctaius to do something like that. We knew he was a proto-human, but not on that level.”

Yudei yelled.

“Taius, you alright over there?”

Arctaius looked over his shoulder at his friend, giving him a nod to notify him. Then, he turned his gaze forward once again. As they all went silent, Asami turned to gaze at Arctaius once again.

“Taius… Just what is going on right now?”

Elsewhere, one of the boys turned on his heel, stepping away from the rest.

“I'd stay here with you all, but... I believe our companion can handle this.”

“Huh? Where are you going, then?”

He pushed his glasses up once again.

“To see if I may somewhat mitigate the damages. He can handle himself based on the fact he contended with that adversary and defeated them uninjured. Besides, we know how formidable our old friend is from our previous escapades.”

Shinto soon continued to move away from them, down one of the many roads. Akashi and Yudei watched him as he left with blank expressions before they both said but four words.

“Talking like that again..?”

Arctaius ignored the conversation behind him as he finally spoke.

“Strange… A Von Zaisen, alive in this day and age? If the fact that we’re in the same grade is anything to go by, you must be the 8th.”

Alarick leaned back onto the railing on the road’s edge. Closing his eyes as he looked up into the night sky afterward.

“Obviously, Unless you’re suggesting my father somehow aged backward…But, that’s beside the point. Us all dying was the assumption they made. I, however, Survived the attack on the manor. My family, save some distant relatives, who I barely know, were killed by the Kaemerge in that attack.”

Arctaius soon shoved his hands into his pocket.

“That so… Then I guess we’re in the same boat, Half-pint… That man was associated with them. They were the ones who supported Frost's Rebellion in the NAF, Providing them with their weapons. My family was killed by them as well…”

Alarick stayed silent for a moment, before he opened his eyes, and lowered his head, his gaze falling back upon the Youth. He stood up straight once again.

“We've done some research on their actions. They seem to have no qualms with dragging mass amounts of people into their plans, whatever those may be.”

Zhao began walking to the two, swiping his blade in the air, to rid it of the blood. Sheathing it afterward.

“We don't know much about them. but at the very least, We know their organization is quite large and widespread. They apparently center this “Empire’ Of theirs around a being they consider Divine. To our knowledge, they call him Ardam…”

Arctaius put his hand on his chin, as he began to think up his future strategy. As of right now, he would have to be wary of them. They could just end up being some more enemies from his past, after all… Being cautious never hurt too much. He’d get information for them from now, and see how things went.

“Divine… Looks like a bunch of fanatics to me… that aside, I’m aware of their worship, could you elaborate on the size of their organization?”

Zhao went silent for a moment, before letting out a sigh.

“Unfortunately, to that end, Is a mystery. We don't have an exact number, but it's very large. It's likely that they have strong proto-humans in their midst. From what the soldiers we interrogated told us about their leadership... we can only assume they are the strongest within their ranks. They were tight-lipped about everything else.”

Arctiaus turned away from them in silence, as he fell into his thoughts.

“With all that considered...I could end up having an issue with whoever they have running around. Especially if we can’t calculate for what abilities they have, or how effectively they use them. Looks to me like I'll need to be extra careful.”

Arctaius put his hand on his chin, as he began to block out the sounds around him, in favor of continuing to build his strategy. Though, eventually, he would snap back to reality, putting his gaze back onto the three as he spoke.

“What is it that you all do, Hunt after them or something like that?”

Kazimir nodded.

“Yeah... We were all brought here by one goal. vengeance for our families…Our plan is simple, attack em’, and get what info we can.”

For a moment, the youth went silent once again.

“In that case, I'll join you…. I need to get my revenge as well.”

As Arctaius closed his eyes, he thought back to his past. A mass of buildings burned around in a city. What was most notable, however, was the boy in the center he stood there shaking, his eyes tearful. His gaze fell upon at the back of a broad-shouldered older dark-skinned man, with short coily hair. He breathed heavily in his exhaustion. His body covered to the brim in cuts, and bruises. his bleeding. With his piercing gaze, he bore a striking resemblance to Arctaius. Or, rather it was the other way around. The man, Ajax Corde soon turned back to the boy, before speaking.

“You… must escape, live on regardless of me, Arctaius. Your grandad and I can handle him… Don’t worry about us, we ain't that old yet.”

His words came out gurgled, interrupted by fits of heavy breathing... Though the young boy wanted to believe him, he was not a fool, there were certain thoughts creeping into his head. Was his father going to die, to this man? His gaze drifted over to another in the distance, a rather well-built man with long hair stood within the smog, only partly visible to him. Completely visible, however, was the steel hand, covered in a dark blue glow. Despite his father’s words, he was glued to that spot. If this man was strong enough to kill his father, one of the strongest proto-humans he knew...Then what could he do to him? He was frozen in his fear, not making any attempt to escape.

His older self stood looking off into the distance as the memories came to him again. All in all, what happened on that day still affected him, very much so. As his gaze fell to the ground, he said only one word as he clenched his fist.

“...Father.”

Apparently, his words, or, lack thereof, did not go unnoticed. Asami began to step toward him as she yelled.

“Corde!”

This much snapped him out of his stupor. He turned around, to face the approaching brunette, who would stop much closer than she’d gotten beforehand.

“If you thought I’d just sit back and say nothing after what I just heard...You have another thing coming!”

“What's this about getting your revenge. Don't tell me you're planning to fight more guys like that”

Asami closed the distance once more. Though her expression was at first fearful, due to the past events. Something had changed, it was filled with determination, perhaps, even a bit of rage. To one who walked by, it almost seemed as if she wanted to burn through him with her gaze. Regardless of this fact, Arctaius seemed to be unfazed. He simply turned on his heel, as he began walking away from her. His expression unchanged, and his voice in its usual monotone.

“I’m going to fight more guys like that…”

His response would catch Yudei’s attention, who soon dashed over to him. And, as Arctaius continued walking toward the four, he simply did the same, walking by his side.

“Think about what you're doing for a second, You probably know nothing about these guys, and yet you're going to go fight more?!”

“That's all the more reason I need to get going... By being here I endanger you all, and I don't believe they care about collateral if they sent someone that reckless in.”

Endanger you all, huh… This much sprung Asami into action, she soon ran as well, stepping into Arctaius’ path.

“I need to get this off her chest, especially if it’ll stop him.”

“No! if it's anyone's fault, it's mine... if I hadn't stopped you from getting to the ruins, then what happened to those people… And even then- you can’t just disappear and-”

He soon cut her off

“Even if I had gone, it would only have averted it for a time, they’d simply have sent more. If we go back on what they did, they could do something similar here…”

Asami parted her lips, as she prepared to respond. But, her mouth closed once again… If she were to convince him, she’d need to be smart about this. Knowing how stubborn he could be, she thought of annoying him until he stayed but threw the idea to the side. This likely meant a lot more to him than going to school or something of the like. All that said, annoying him would only do good to make him dislike her. Though, while she didn’t speak, a shaky voice came from the one behind her, Satomi.

“Corde, you should reco-”

“Sorry, But I'm not changing my mind. I’ve found my targets, and I won’t be stopping until I've taken them down myself… It’s better to defeat your enemies before they get to you.”

Shinto commonly found himself agreeing with Arctaius’ statements, today was no different.

“If we look at this from a logical standpoint, he's right…”

Arctaius soon began to walk around her, but, Asami moved, grasping Corde's hand. As she did, he stopped once again. For a moment, there was silence between them, as Arctaius’ gaze moved back to her.

“If you really do want to leave, promise me one thing...Come back alive!”

Arctaius removed his hand from her grasp. As he began walking past her, waving goodbye. ,

“Well... I didn't plan on dying anyway… So, fine I’ll keep that promise… Alright, I think it's time that we get moving.”

His words provided some solace to his friends. A small smile came onto Asami’s face, in stark contrast to her previous expression. At the least, he wouldn’t do something reckless. Well, they hoped he wouldn’t. As arctaius walked past Alarick, the blonde turned, before he began walking with him. Zhao and Kazimir soon followed. Arctaius looked over his shoulder at them as they began to catch up. Eventually, they reached each other and began walking in a group. All the while, his friends said nothing, as they watched him leave. Though what took place meant something to him, not so much for the other Youths around him.

“Alright then, Delinquent, let me explain what we’re doing here... About a week ago, we began following that man that appeared from Niopolis in Santa Maria. We assume that they have a presence there. So we're going back to check. For activity.”

Arctaius glanced over.

“Well, I'd assume that we don’t have the credits to afford 4 plane tickets.”

Beside him, Kazimir smirked as he pointed at himself, his thumb pointed at his face.

“You’d be right, Luckily for us, We have a charming, Handsome Mechanic with us. so getting there will be easy!”

His words had lukewarm responses at best. Two of them said nothing, While arctaius only gave him a blank stare.

“That's strange… I don't see him”

Kazimir sputtered.

“What do you mean.. I'm right here?!”

He pointed at himself once again.

“Neither of those words seem to describe you.”

Rhuskov stopped pointing as he turned his gaze forward.

“I'll have you know that I'm extremely popular with the girls!”

Arctaius went silent for quite a bit.

“More than a few things make me doubt that…”

To Be Continued

Elsewhere, within an ornately decorated, harshly lit room, lined with marble pillars on either side of the purple rug that lay in the center. Two masked men kneeled beneath a man on a throne, within a darker section of the room, his body mostly obstructed by the darkness.

“So tell me...What made you come here?”

The men stayed silent, as they glanced at one another. A silent debate beginning between them. Who would be the one to break the news? The man tapped his fingers, as he began to grow impatient. Eventually, the man on the left spoke.

“Your Excellency... I am afraid to announce that Torushima has been eliminated.”

The one on the right soon joined in.

“Not only this. But footage from our Quicksilver drone has told us that the Fourth tide has joined up with the other 3.”

However, the man was rather calm about the situation, despite the damages that had been incurred, and the death of one of his subordinates, in fact, he looked to be unphased.

“As I expected. I found it unlikely that he didn't gain any strength… If nothing else, he served his purpose… Though, we would do well to cut back on activity for a time. Anything else?”

The left one continued

“We also heard him make the declaration that he would gain vengeance, as the other 3 would. It's possible they're going to our base within Santa Maria.”

The man shifted in his throne, leaning back as he continued.

“In that case, inform the Santa maria base… Continue to observe them… Otherwise, retain status quo.”

The two saluted.

“Yes!!”

Soon enough, they made their exit, dashing out of the room.