Under The Veil of Night

Kanae watched Carlo with indifferent eyes. She had guessed the content of the vial, and the real purpose of the battle was to hand this over to the strongest person. However, those who were at the peak instead handed it over to someone cunning, yet strong like Carlo.

The man screamed for several minutes before the pain subsided. Sitting on the ground, Carlo looked towards Kanae with sharp glare.

"What’s that?"

"I don’t know," Kanae replied calmly. She would never tell him that she knew the content of the vial was designed to awaken their real potential forcefully, resulting in the pain and tremendous leap in their ability.

Carlo stood up. He frowned. "It seems, they’re attracted by my scream."

Unbeknownst to them, their surrounding was already filled with monster. Each of them was bigger than the one before. Their gaze was fixated on Carlo, seemingly ready to devour the man.

At the same time, they heard a loud explosion not far from them and a large building collapsed.

"Randy sure takes his time," Dean prepared his sword. "Men, this is the last fight, let’s give it our all."

"YES, Boss!"

Kanae looked towards Jason and Tommy. "Can you two fight?"

"Yes."

Not long after that, the field already became a battlefield as they fought here and there against the monsters. Their number continued to increase as they targeted Carlo and the people around him. Even if they wanted to get away, they have to get out from the encirclement first.

At first, there was nothing different from Carlo’s fight, but Dean soon noticed that the strength Carlo hold already increased by leaps and bounds.

"After this, I don’t think we can face Carlo again," he sighed after numerous hours had passed. Right now, only a few dozens of them left, surrounding Carlo who fought tirelessly.

"What do you mean, Boss?"

"Until his body can’t hold his power, we won’t be able to defeat him," Dean shrugged. "This is the law for those who had awakened their power."

His subordinate frowned. "But Boss, aren’t you one of them?"

"I am," Dean replied shortly. However, he himself knew that his real ability didn’t really have any connection whatsoever with martial arts. Among the awakened person, his ability lies in different things.

"Rei, are you alright?" Tommy tapped Kanae’s shoulder.

Standing in front of numerous fallen monsters, Kanae was completely drenched in blood. She fought and fought for hours, enduring enormous pain and tiredness. Every cell in her body screamed for rest, but she couldn’t possibly rest during the fight as it would spell her death.

"I’m fine, Tom," Kanae nodded her head slightly. "I just feel a bit tired from all the fight."

"You can’t sleep here, Rei," Jason frowned. "We have to get out and find Shin as fast as possible."

"Yeah."

Standing like a statue, Kanae watched as Carlo finished the fight. It seemed that the one who made this already arranged so that the monsters would head towards Carlo from the moment he drank the medicine. The purpose was to test his ability and ended the fight.

The moment the last monster fell to the ground, the barrier surrounding this place dispersed. Looking up, they could see the familiar blue sky once again.

"It’s really beautiful," Kanae murmured.

This was the first time she felt relief to see the sky again. Every single day, she had seen them to the point that they were nothing special. But now, she felt extremely happy to see them again.

It marked the end of the battle in Lima School.

Finally... she could end this hell.

Jason activated the communication device again. "Shin, can you see the buildings now?"

"I can," Shiro answered. He was looking towards the television with complicated feeling. "How’s your condition right now?"

"Not really good. Can you prepare medicine for us as fast as possible?"

"Sure. Also, Oro, your car is parked not far from the place. If you can drive, you should go to the abandoned building."

"I can drive."

Closing the call again, Jason walked towards Kanae. "Captain, let me carry you out of this place."

"You can’t carry me," Kanae answered. Her eyes were looking toward the front door, several men were coming towards them. "The holder of the vial that manages to get it can’t show his weak side."

Jason heaved a sigh. He knew that Kanae wouldn’t listen even if he forced the girl to. "Alright Captain, you have the final decision."

After that, he took out a cloth and covered Kanae’s face. He took another one for himself too. At the very least, they couldn’t let their face known to the men.

"What about me?" Tommy asked.

"I only have two."

"You’re truly an annoying man," grumbling, Tommy tore his clothes and covered his face too.

"The fight has ended?" Carlo also asked. His sight was getting blurry because the monsters were practically targeting him, resulting in him being extremely tired. At the same time, he knew that he had grown much stronger, which made him felt elated.

The man that came towards them was a middle aged man. He looked towards Carlo with sharp gaze.

"Who’s the one that get the vial?"

Dean crossed his arm. "Do you mean the one who drink the vial or the one who takes it from its place?"

Staring at each other, the two of them locked their gaze. The middle aged man recognized Dean, so he didn’t get angry at the nonchalant attitude this man has. On the contrary, he replied calmly.

"I want to know the two of them."

Kanae frowned when she got the answer. Did it mean they were not watching the fight from outside?

Dean pointed to Kanae. "Rei from Fiore Group is the one that get the vial while Carlo from Oval Group is the one that drink it."

"From what I know, you’re the strongest group in this city, why don’t you take it for yourself, Dean?"

"It’s Master Dean," Dean snorted. "I don’t need it and that brat is quite strong too."

"Is that so?" the middle aged man looked towards Kanae. In that very second, Kanae felt as if this man was trying to see through her, making her raised her guard in an instant. Her eyes were looking back cautiously. "Indeed, he’s not bad."

Dean yawned. "Now that the show is over, I want to go back and treat my comrades."

"We have prepared the meds outside."

"There’s no need. We have our own doctors."

The middle aged man nodded his head and allowed Dean and his group to pass. Afterwards, he turned his attention back to Kanae and the two man behind her.

"Fiore Group, are you willing to come with us?"

"No," Kanae replied immediately. Her voice turned strange because she tried to change it with cloth covering it. "We prefer freedom over than serving someone."

"It’s too bad," The middle aged man took out a card. "If you change your opinion, you may call here."

"No, thank you. We don’t have any intention to sell ourselves."

As she said that, she started to walk with the two others following behind her. The middle aged man watched for several seconds before adding. "You can use the meds outside."

"We also have our own doctors. Thank you for your concern."

The middle aged man acted amiably as he didn’t force any of them. Lastly, he turned his attention to Carlo. "Please follow after us, Carlo."

Carlo frowned. "Don’t I have the right to choose?"

"Please follow after us, Carlo," the middle aged man repeated in monotone tone.

Carlo knew that they wouldn’t let him go, unlike the others. He didn’t understand the reason, but he knew that he didn’t have any choice but to follow after their order.