“I delivered the item now, Lorthew. Please allow me to come there too. There is no more life for me in this world.” Val said with a smirk. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the person standing by the door. The look on his face was so…

… captivating. ‘It makes me go and destroy his whole world. Let him know everything he knew was a lie, and he was nothing but a toy. I want to play with him. I want to break him piece by piece. Starting with that sweet, virgin brain of his!’

“Val!” Miles entered the room as he looked at his best friend in disbelief. “Why?”

“Why did you do all those things?” He asked with a mix of emotions. He was angry, betrayed, sad, and many more. “Just why?”

He failed to notice it, but the question was almost the same as John’s just before he died. Coin caught this irony, but Miles was too hurt to realize it.

“You are still not getting it, are you?” Val asked with a grin. It looked so strange on her face. For the years Miles knew her, she had never displayed such emotion on her dainty face. And still, he couldn’t believe it. “You were nothing but a pawn for the grand plan of my lord. You are nothing but a puppet.”

“What are you saying, Val? We were friends! I thought what we had was real. How can all of them be false?” Miles asked in heartache. Although he declared coldly that if Val was sane when she attacked Alex he would exact vengeance, when he truly stood against his childhood friend, against Val, his mind couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t even move.

“Hahaha! You are truly a pitiful boy. I cannot believe you realize only now!” Val said as he pulled out two orbs. One of them turned into beautiful armor with a black base and brown shiny pallets. It was the very armor they got from the Monkey King.

“That armor is not suitable in this battle.” Miles took out the sword as he looked at Val with a listless face. Since Val wanted to battle, he would. Then, only then would he get the truth out of her.

“Heh, you are overestimating yourself,” Val smirked as the second orb melted. For a second, Miles lost his composure. The power that was emitting from the weapons was so overwhelming, he thought instead of a lifeless item, there was a giant monster in front of him. Just the aura of the weapon was this dangerous, then how strong was it going to be, when it hit him?

Miles pulled himself together by releasing small amounts of lightning. Only after that, could he look at the weapon in Val’s hands. It was actually a pistol with blue and purple colors mixed together.

“Dual Elemental?” He asked in disbelief. “What is the tier of that weapon?”

“Oh, it seems like you know your stuff,” Val smirked. “Yes, this is a Dual Elemental Pistol with Water and Lightning Elements. Its tier… Hehehe. Well, let’s say, it will kill you in one shot!”

As soon as she said that, she aimed and fired a beam of lightning. Miles’s pupils shrank to the limit as he jumped left. As soon as he did that, he raised his hand. A black pillar of light shot out of his hand and covered the room in no time at all. With it, the room was buried in darkness.

“Darkness element. You have a nice superpower!” Val said with a laughing tone. “But it is useless.”

In the next second, Miles felt her energy passing over him. Following that was a pillar of water passing right beside his ear. Luckily the darkness he created wasn’t affecting him. He was also using Energy Vision to keep track of Val.

‘Fuck! Right, Val can use Energy Vision as well!’ Miles cursed under his breath and changed his tactic. The darkness vanished and a beam of light shot out of his hand. Val, with no other choice, closed her eyes.

“How is this possible? Your superpower allows you to use two extremes!” Val shouted in shock.

Taking this opportunity, Miles dashed with Frontal Rush. When he was in front of her, he swung his blade to her shoulder but the armor pulled the weapon down towards the center of the armor, and to Miles's surprise, she was protecting that part with almost all of her energy.

“Haha! You said this armor is not suitable, but I used it perfectly right?” Val jokingly said as Miles was trying to pull the weapon out. “There are many things peasants like you don’t know. Energy can make orbs stronger. And by using the armor’s element, I can use energy in a single point to protect myself better instead of distributing my energy equally. See, this is the advanced usage of energy.”

Miles jumped back as he finally got the sword back from the gravitational zone of the armor. When they first got it, Val tried it, and Miles had a clear idea of how strong the armor’s powers were. But this was at least tri-fold stronger.

“How can you know all these?” Miles asked in despair.

“Lorthew taught me of course,” Val said with a smile. “Join us! Join my lord. Let him show you the true wonders of Energy. Let him liberate your superpower and make you stronger. Let him free you from the shackles of the backward world you call Earth!”

Miles looked at Val in disbelief. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing or what he was hearing.

“Miles, pull yourself together. She is not Val!” Coin’s voice reverberated in his mind and pulled him out of his stupor. Only then Miles realized. Val knew he had failed to awaken, so when she saw him using two elements, she shouldn’t have assumed he had a superpower. Also, the Val he knew wasn’t anything like this. Also, the techniques she was using, were beyond anything he had seen so far.

‘But, the power she used is Val’s. The energy vision and that armor. I am certain it is the same one Val had.’ Miles asked in his mind.

“I don’t know how that person has them, Miles. But I am certain she is not Val!”

“Who are you?” Miles asked after thinking. Coin was right. This person couldn’t be Val. He wouldn’t believe it. “Are you shapeshifting? Are you a monster or an Alien?”

“Who am I, you ask?” Val blasted a laugh. “I am Valerie. Who else can I be?”

“You are not her! I know you are not!” Miles dashed once again and lowered his sword to the ground. In the next second, the sword shone with glorious shades of orange and yellow lights. But if one were to take a closer look, they would realize it wasn't the sword that was shining, but everything else lost its luster. As if this sword was the only thing in existence.

“This is?” Val said in shock. “You cannot be…”

“Royal Blood Sword Art!

Sword of Dusk!”

Miles raised the sword from ground to sky. A beam of light, akin to dusking sun split open the darkness, bridging Miles and Val. It was starting from the tip of Miles's sword to Val’s shoulder. At this time Val was looking at Miles in disbelief. Her eyes were wide open.

“You! You are a Cross. A traitor!”