Learning of the situation, Zane's dark sight opened up and adjusted to the attached body of Erika, her lower half had scars like they were sewed with the lost skin of dead bodies that flooded the crackling ground.

Her breathing was tough but relaxed at the same time, Zane took this opportunity to grab Erika by the wrist and deliberately dragged her across through the piles of ruptured building walls, laying her down beside the other crewmates afterwards.

Gunfights were distant, explosions calmed down after a long six minutes of ongoing deteriorating, all Zane could do in this circumstance was to protect the soldiers he worked within this invasion project.

Sweat poured down Zane's dusty face, his eyes wandered around the unaffected building where only the windows were smashed in, Zane glanced outside, catching groups of dead mixed with injured bodies lying across the outside disaster.

"Leaving us behind in a hurry...what bastards we work for" An injured, middle-aged man roughly groaned from in the group, grabbing Zane's attention as he jumped up onto his standing feet to investigate the wounded voice.

There laid a lightweight man covering his pouring wound around his left hip, moaning in a military suit with a badge of a great seal printed descending downwards on his right arm, labelling him a government soldier.

"All because of the damn retarded rebels rebelling about allowing dangerous figures into our peaceful world" The middle-aged man moaned once again, gradually pulling himself up to a sight of legs facing his way, legs that had evil intent.

"Peaceful world?" Zane suddenly spoke, jolting the middle-aged man in a panic expression.

Once the middle-aged man figured out who Zane was working for, he insisted on grabbing hold of his assault rifle before Zane stomped on his scavenging hand, following the kick with another kick for the gun that skidded across the ground far away.

"Y-you bastard!" The middle-aged man growled, moving into a punching move which was prevented by Zane quickly jabbing the middle-aged man on the nose, knocking him back onto the ground painfully.

"So peaceful" Zane perked a grinning, monstrous smile, sending punches towards the middle-aged man's way, dirtying him all up with blood blemishes.

"A-a monster! You're the d-devil, no sympathy! YOU! Accepting devils?!" The middle-aged man fumbled his words out in a more groaned manner, covered in his blood.

"Calm down old man, I'm just fulfilling my work as a rebel soldier who kindly welcomes the devils" Zane responded motionless in a crouched structure.

After Zane eventually got bored of messing around with the old man, he pulled out the pistol from the old man's gun pocket and cocked it, pulling the trigger with no hesitation.

Zane rubbed his hands together under the frigid temperature, turning his attention back on the soldiers he saved from the explosion, roaming back inside the building to settle next to their resting bodies.

"What a fucking shitshow" Zane mumbled to himself in a weakened voice, glowing from the expanding sunlight warming up the coldness that flooded the scenery of an inhuman battleground.

Buildings fell to their death pit, colliding with the damped ground, causing massive waves of dust hordes blinding the far vision, leaving all the affected people inside abandoned and not knowing where to head towards, secretly being poisoned by the dust destroying their ravaged lungs.

Birds chirped over the grounds, looking down on a long field of destroyed towns humans can create just because two sides turned from peaceful to not lasting boiled up hatred over one disagreed decision.

Captured civilians under government's watch finally were answered to their yearnings, they finally knew how messed up the world became throughout the three years of civil war conflicts, the only question that wasn't answered was what side was truly winning?

Was it the government since they wanted unexplained creatures, what were just friendly topics for groups to laugh upon to vanish by letting the rebellion groups destroy their land and scare away the creatures?

Or are the rebellions winning because they are fed up with the government not allowing these creatures to roam their earth and coexist normally so they are outraged and place pressure on the government for killing their people?

Furthermore, hours turn into days, days turn into weeks, both sides were weakened massively from consistent battles, ammo and food were running low, inactive bodies covered the air with the disgusting smell of death.

But one thing was very certain, that was the rebellion group winning the fierce battle as more government soldiers flopped to the collectable grounds of more flopping corpses.

Three months pass by with the very last government soldier being beheaded in front of beastly stares.

Loud cheers penetrated the sky under the shining sun, congratulating all the efforts they put into making the government soldiers vanish from captured civilian towns.

Groups of civilians came outside their broken-down houses with welcoming smiles spread all over their faces.

"I'm guessing this is your first win?" Erika chuckled in Zane's direction.

"Looks like it" Zane smiled for an acknowledgement, being unseen from the mask he was wearing.

"I wouldn't have had the courage if you weren't here" Alvis laughed, shaking Zane's shivering hands.

"Yay! We finally have an awesome guy on our team" Bexley giggled, clapping her hands against each very quickly.

"I guess you're cool" Brea coldly said, remaining with her poker face, making it hard to read her thinking.

Zane glanced at the group stood in a line, cuddling each other in an exciting behaviour, he felt his heart weirdly tingle, feeling his muscles in his face uncontrollably form a smile he desperately wanted the group to see but he didn't want his identity to be seen.

He finally felt something he never felt from his past, hazy friendships he had, Zane felt like he was welcomed into a warming friend group, something he always wanted in his past childhood memories.

It was like he was awarded for all the hard, struggling work he did to survive in today's standards, it was like the shine from the appreciative shadows that watched his every movement.

"So this is what she meant by creating me a better path" Zane quietly laughed to himself.

"What was that? I didn't hear quite well" Erika curiously asked.

"It's nothing, don't worry about it" Zane replied, gradually shaking his side to side with a soft chuckle.

Zane felt comfortable.

To Be Continued...