There was a glow of light, and soon, Venessa faded away to be respawned at the beginning in the town.

Tears continued streaming down Ji-Min's face, feeling lost. "Why am I not strong enough? Will I need to keep seeing those I care about die?" She held herself in an attempt to find any kind of comfort.

"Bella!" A woman's voice happily yelled out.

Registering the name, Ji-Min started to look up and see the numerous balls of light floating about. Before she was able to ask what the lights were all about, there was a feeling of strength pouring into her body. All the dark thoughts trying to drown her were evaporated in the ether.

At the same time, as the strength seemed to wipe away their darkness, the monsters around them began to act differently.

Ji-Min got to her feet, her mouth agape at what she was seeing.

Han had begun sending waves of ice, shattering the opponents. Jennifer was once again a goddess of fire. She lay waste to all that stood in her way and turning them into charred corpses.

The others in the group, such as Jessica was raining lightning on the monsters.

Seeing the renewed efforts of everyone, Ji-Min was confused and didn't know what to think. Looking back at the balls of light, "Are those things the cause for everyone's renewed energy?"

"We've finally found our comrades! Let's push back those things! Show them the fruit of our training!" A woman's voice roared in the hallway.

As though answering her call, everything around them brightened.

With the fading of the darkness, Ji-Min felt energy coursing through her body as though it were tapping into an unlimited power source. A bright white light drew her attention. Ji-Min saw that both of her stones were glowing brightly. Usually, Ji-Min would feel a little cold from the power of the stones, but this time there was no such sensation. It was like the stones were calling out to her, for Ji-Min to use their power to drive back the darkness.

No longer being chained by her inner darkness, Ji-Min straightened her back. A righteous fury welled up as she looked at the monsters. "I don't know what has allowed me to gain my strength, but I'll pay you back for what you stole from me!"

"You heard the woman! Let's push these monsters back!" Han yelled out to them. "Together!"

Breaking out of their group formation, it looked as if Han were being covered in a white mist. His sword glowed with the same light as Ji-Min. Pulling his weapon back, he swung the massive blade.

For a second, everything froze before a wave of frost flew out and struck dozens of monsters and trapping them inside a thick layer of ice. Instantly, there was a wave of explosions, and the things trapped shattered into a fine mist.

Looking like a dragon, Jessica clawed a monster near her, and soon, a thick bolt of lightning flowed out, killing hundreds. A crack of thunder made the air tremble in fear. "A mother can't let their children do all the work." Lightning sparked around her figure, making it impossible to approach her.

"Can't let these juniors show us up!" Ji-Min spoke to Liz.

Liz crouched and pushed back the enemy. In response, the stone in her shield glowed purple, increasing in intensity. "That's right," Liz agreed with Ji-Min. Once she had enough room, Liz grabbed her shield like it was a sword. Swinging the slap of metal, her enemies were flung into the air as though she were several times her size and strength.

It wasn't long before the group that had shown up had reached them.

A woman went to where Katya was fighting, "Didn't expect you to have so much difficulty in fighting such easy prey." Her voice taunting Katya.

"I'll show you who's having difficulty," Katya yelled back before renewing her efforts to kill as many of the creatures as she could.

As though noticing Ji-Min, the woman introduced herself. "I see you were able to help our group. My name is Bella, Squad Leader of the Special Operations team belonging to PentaSoft." Bella turned her head to look at Catharina, "I'm happy to see that Catharina has been healed. Is this the work of your group?"

Feeling a sense of camaraderie, "Yes, but let's talk after we take care of these things." Pointing her blade in front of her, Ji-Min grimly said, "We still have a guest we're expecting."

"The cause of the tremors?" Bella asked.

Nodding her head, "I'm getting the feeling that even beating all the things hear, we'll be in a worse position."

Bella pointed at the wall of monsters, a beam of energy shot out and began cutting through the enemy as though it was as easy as melting wax.

Words couldn't describe the thoughts rushing through Ji-Min's mind. "What did you do?"

Laughing, Bella answered, "We can talk about my new abilities once we destroy these things and welcome our uninvited guest."

-------------------

Han grinned at the pace they were killing off the eldritch creatures. Drawing out the power from inside of himself, he channeled it into his weapon before swinging it.

"A bit too strong," Han winced as he saw twice the number of enemies becoming encased inside caskets of ice.

Glancing at the balls of light, "It seems as though Bella has become able to harness her ability to a degree." Though he felt guilty at giving such assistance to the woman, he sighed. "If I hadn't, then I'd likely be showing too many of my cards right now. It was unexpected to run into such a large number of enemies, especially ones able to kill so many of us." Thoughts of Ivy being killed didn't sit well inside of him. "Though it's better to be killed inside of this place compared to the world outside of The Facility."

Thoughts of the first time they trained inside of The Arena came to mind when they were being trained by Jade's group, learning that the peace experienced inside of The Facility was being barely maintained. "If I want to keep this cover, Ivy and everyone else needs to become several times stronger than they currently are in order to fight back against the Modified Humans and any other threats inside of the world. Flashback to the two humanoid Modified Humans came to mind, "Those things, the way they talked, there are beings even stronger than them."

Grinning at the thought, "Being able to experience such things is the reason why I came to this world. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store for all of us."

Han flinched from the crack of thunder from his mother's attack. In front of her were the smoldering remains of the creatures. "It's like she's a goddess of thunder, not much more different than my precious sister." His eyes flickered over to Jennifer.

Jennifer looked like a creature who crawled out of the pits of Hell, the way the flames covered her body.

Scanning the number of enemies left, "At this point, it's just a matter of mopping things up." Looking ahead at the dark hallway, Han muttered, "Which is perfect timing since it looks like our guest is getting ready to make an appearance."

Below his feet, the tremble of the floor had increased and acted as a constant reminder of the thing approaching them.

Gritting his teeth, "I may be forced to increase how much of my power I'm using at the moment." Han looked at Abigail and her companions.

"Even with the fortuitous arrival of Bella and her team, I get the sinking feeling as though it's not going to be enough." Glaring at whatever was approaching them, "I'm not going to allow that thing to kill off our new friends. It's going to regret making me serious."