Amari was carrying me on her back, taking me out of that pce.

  "Sorry, this may hurt."

  The chain in her little finger stretched and pierced my body right in my heart.

  "It's the healing one, don't worry."

  "Amari...Stop."

  The girls looked at me confused, stopping to run.

  Amari tilted her head.

  "Uh? Why?"

  "Tell me, what did you do to the other 2 raccoons?"

  "Well, we had a brief fight again, but they quickly surrendered. We simply tied them up with some ropes that were there."

  "Hm... Well, Amari heal me faster."

  ...

  "AH?! WHY ARE YOU SAYING THAT!?"

  I was still lying on her shoulder.

  "There is still people I need to save. And besides, I don't know how strong Iulius is, I need to go back and help him!"

  Sayuri intervened.

  "Yo yo yo, wait!... First you're without Sankalpa so you can't move, and Amari's chain can only treat your wounds, and at most make you not tired, but it won't restore your Sankalpa. This takes a few hours to restore at least."

  "Hm... I don't care, I still can beat the ass of that guy, with or without Sankalpa."

  Sayuri talked quietly, like a whisper.

  "You intent to defeat him without any power?..."

  "Yeah, that's basically it!-"

  Amari shouted.

  "Oh hell nah! That guy... He seems strong, you were almost dying against him for a reason! If even with Sankalpa you can't win, imagine without!"

  Sayuri nodded.

  "Yeah yeah... And uh, can you tell me about that thing you were? Sankalpa purposes only."

  Tsk, goddammit I need to walk as soon as possible!

  There are things that are not settled down yet!

  Non-participatory narrator POV:

  Inside the rge stone space, with several holes in the walls, and now even in the ceiling, Iulius and the Raccoon'sProtector face each other.

  Iulius more or less in the middle of the pce, the Protector near the wall away from the gate (the one that had already been partly destroyed, by Kai in his battle with Blondie).

  The Protector said, without moving a muscle, or demonstrate any feeling through the voice.

  "You're not weak. Even without a leg. I could feel it just from our csh earlier. I'd say you're on the same level as that clown. Maybe a little less."

  Iulius made a smirk.

  "I'm fttered to hear that... Though."

  He opened his right hand a little more, the one carrying the sword, and many, many red rays came out of it and covered it, not small sparks like Kai's, some very rge ones, Sankalpa.

  Iulius changed his face to very focused and serious.

  "I have a purpose here, so I'm going to have to get you out of my way."

  With a quick leap towards the Protector, Iulius stood a few meters away from him and said.

  "Kami Mukae."

  And then, in a few thousandth of a second, he swung his sword from right to left, in a horizontal quick motion.

  The Protector was luckily able to dodge, moving his chest back, but-

  "The gulp is not to directly hit you... There's always something more."

  And when the sword finally "reached left", an enormous ssh appeared from where the sword moved, moving in a direction.

  The ssh was extremely rge even though it fit inside that pce. It was rger in the center, which almost reached the ceiling, than at the ends (reached almost the corners of the pce) which gradually became smaller and sharper.

  The cut itself was light red, with a bit of white in the center. It was quite irregur, looking like a horizontal lightning bolt that fidgets very quickly.

  And after firing it, it quickly went forward destroying what was the wall completely.

  Iulius stopped there, noticing that the Protector was no longer in front of him, having probably been sent flying by the ssh.

  He remained calm and serene, stopping to summon the red rays from his sword.

  "I doubt it killed him, so I intend to look for him."

  He raised his sword, again invoking the red sparks of Sankalpa.

  "Fuken Fubun."

  He then buried the sword into the ground.

  You can't see it, but under the ground the Sankalpa of Iulius (red sparks) are moving at an extremely fast speed, searching at a 360o angle for the target.

  "Found him. In the middle of the forest? Alright then..."

  He sheathed his sword and began walking out of the cave.

  Outside, the forest in the background had been badly destroyed, with several trees cut in half.

  But as soon as he took a step outside, he noticed the Protector in his distance, in front of the forest.

  Iulius made a small smirk.

  "Wow, my Sankalpa had spotted you in the middle in the forest and you already came here?"

  The Protector had a big ssh in his chest, that cut his clothes and left much of his chest exposed, red with blood.

  Iulius drew his sword from its sheath, quickly activating the bright Sankalpa.

  "Round 2?"

  The Protector stood there for a moment, staring at absolutely anything, and then said.

  "Maybe if I hadn't used my knife as a shield I would be dead. I have plenty of knives. That's all I need."

  Iulius made a smile.

  "Really? Don't underestimate a swordsman..."

  The Protector simply moved his hand upwards.

  "The second most powerful ability in Raccoon's Secret. Lames d'Aurora."

  Iulius slowly looked up at the sky, and what he saw he definitely did not expect.

  The sky was covered in knives, lots and lots of them, taking up the entire sky, positioned perfectly, leaving a space between them equal to all of them.

  "Oh, I count at least 1000. It's right-"

  When he looked ahead, there was a small rock wall in his front blocking his view.

  With a quick swing of his sword, he sliced the wall, but the Protector was no longer on the other side.

  "How funny... But now I have to deal with these knives. That's why he disappeared?, so he wouldn't get hit? So it's an area attack?"

  Iulius smiled to the knives, preparing his sword.

  "Ok then, I'm waiting. I'm not going anywhere."

  And right after, many and many knives started to come in Iulius direction.

  They didn't all come at the same time, but they weren't one at a time, 3-5 at a time.

  Iulius saw the knives coming in his direction, and quickly realized.

  "Oh, it's not an area attack... It'll just come a few knives at a time until I open the gap. The problem is, I'm a swordsman who doesn't get tired and I don't open gaps."

  Iulius quickly started to deflect the knives that came with his sword.

  As soon as they were touched by his sword, Iulius stopped being the target of the knives and they simply fell to the ground.

  Iulius was simply there, deflecting the various and various knives that came at him extremely quickly, but he was still focused on his surroundings.

  "Well, I could use one attack to tear apart all those knives at once. However, maybe this is the opening he wants to sneak attack me, so I'll just continue to deflect the knives, that way I can still focus on my surroundings in case he attacks unexpectedly."

  Even with just one leg, yes, for Iulius it is easy to keep deflecting 3 to 5 knives every 3 seconds, while paying attention to his surroundings.

  "Zenketsu."

  Suddenly, a root of red blood went in his direction, Iulius managed to cut the blood before it reached him, but with that he was pierced with a knife in the shoulder.

  "A-Ahhh... Wait t-there's another?"

  As he turned back to deflect the knives, he noticed a bloodied blond man on the ground in the distance.

  Blondie muttered to himself as he y on the floor unable to move.

  "I-I'm using the blood that's already coming out of my body from all my wounds, I don't even need to stab myself anymore... I-I'll probably die soon, but it doesn't matter... Zenketsu."

  Another burst of blood came towards Iulius, this time he preferred to focus on defending the knives, so the blood pierced his chest, being quickly cut by him.

  But before he could even think, he just heard from behind.

  "Yuka."

  A great distance away from him, the Protector touched the ground and started an earthquake beneath Iulius, the ground quickly starting to split apart.

  "Zenketsu."

  And the Blondie made another blood attack.

  There's an earthquake happening making it difficult for him to stand (especially since he only has one leg), a rush of blood coming towards him and knives flying to hit him. All at the same time.

  Noticing all that, Iulius smirked.

  "You are all in my range... I don't like doing this because it takes a lot of Sankalpa, but anyway."

  He raised his sword, red rays shooting out from it.

  "Koritsumuen."

  Right before the knives and the blood reached him, from Iulius's sword came a huge explosion, a shockwave of light red energy, Sankalpa.

  Instantly, it filled a huge area, mostly horizontally reaching the blondie and the Protector.

  Red lightning bolts everywhere, the wound on Protector's chest instantly reopened, and he felt an enormous pressure that even made it difficult for him to stand, the blondie simply fainted.

  The knives in the sky stopped coming and instantly broke apart, tearing into many small pieces, along with the spray of blood that was also torn apart.

  The ground stopped shaking, Protector's Yuka instantly deactivating.

  After around 10 seconds, the explosion quickly contracted back into Iulius' sword, stopping, removing the red glow from everyone's vision.

  Iulius slowly turned back to face the Protector.

  "I wonder, you have all this abnormal speed and strength, is it part of your Sisu?"

  The Protector, with blood coming out of his chest and visibly tired, responded calmly and without emotion.

  "No. I'm just like that. Training."

  "Hm, very well then."

  Iulius opened his right arm with the sword.

  "Let's see who's the best in speed and brute strength then?"

  "..."

  Thus, the two began a series of quick attacks, cuts and cshes at high speed.

  A speed so fast that anyone watching from afar would simply see 2 sparks moving back and forth.

  The Protector using 2 knives is his hands, Iulius using his sword infused with Sankalpa.

  A battle that sted a few minutes, but at the same time a long time, 2 very evenly matched opponents.

  But eventually, the Protector's right leg was cut off and it fell to the ground.

  With that, the two stared at each other.

  Iulius:

  "It's over?"

  "No. I fight with my 2 hands. You don't have a leg either. Now it's fair."

  "Hah, let's see then."

  And so, they went back to the same old thing.

  Meanwhile, inside the cave, inside the gate, Kai is already on feet (after being healed by Amari).

  Kai's POV:

  "LET ME GOO!!"

  I'm trying to go to the gate and open it, but Amari and Sayuri are holding me.

  Amari is holding my left arm, not wanting to let me go.

  "NO KAI, YOU STUPID!! HE TOLD US JUST TO GO AWAY!!"

  Sayuri is lying on the ground, grabbing my leg.

  "YOU CAN'T EVEN USE SANKALPA YET!! WHAT YOU WANNA DO!?"

  I tried to use as much strength as I walked, but the two annoying ones won't let go of me.

  "I NEED TO SEE SOMETHING!! RAHR!! LET ME GOOOOOOOO!!!"

  Eventually, I somehow managed to go to the gate, and with a tremendous effort opened it.

  After seeing what was in that open space, the three of us stopped and simply stared with our mouths open, a little scared.

  That pce was very destroyed, with several cracks in the walls, in pieces.

  Iulius was standing, holding his sword in his hand. He was extremely injured, with cuts all over his body and face, and looked quite exhausted.

  The Protector, on the other hand was sitting on the floor against the wall far from us, knives next to his empty hands, with only one leg stretched out.

  Also covered in cuts all over his body, but still hooded and with his mask attached.

  The three of us screamed at the same time.

  "R-RED-HAIRED!?'

  He looked at us and smiled.

  "Ah, don't worry... It's done."

  He looked at the Raccoon.

  "I really don't want to kill you, heroes don't kill, they save others. Let's just leave it as it is, I won."

  Despite all his injuries, the Raccoon didn't move or even breathe... I-Is he dead?-

  "You understand nothing. You really understand nothing."

  Oh, he's alive...

  "By doing this you bring the apocalypse closer. But well now it's too te."

  He slowly grabbed one of his knives, instantly Iulius pointed his sword to him.

  "Hey! Drop that!"

  "I tried to help you. I tried to protect you and the world. But I accept this.

  You chose this path."

  He threw the knife at a specific rock in that pce and then there was a "click".

  Instantly, everything began to shake and several rocks began to fall from the walls and ceiling, everything started to fall apart.

  "Ende Baumgartner. That's the name of the Raccoon. The name of the one who will bring the destruction of humanity. It was an honor to have met you."

  The boulder fell right on top of him, silencing him and covering him completely, the only thing visible was blood... H-He died... died...

  W-Well, this was not my fault and he was a bad guy, so I shouldn't feel bad... But he died...

  Ok, I know what I have to do!!

  Iulius looked at us, a bit worried.

  "The openings here have been closed, that means the only opening is the entrance, quick go there! I can manage on my own!"

  Amari and Sayuri looked around, seeing that the entire cave was colpsing, pieces falling from the ceiling.

  Amari broke a rock in half in mid-air with the chain.

  "O-Ok! We need to go!!"

  Sayuri shot Bium in another rock.

  "Yeah, quick!"

  "RED-HAIRED!!!"

  I yelled at him.

  "Have you seen a guy with blond hair!? IS HE FINE?!"

  He tilted his head a bit.

  "Hm, yeah I saw... Think he is ok."

  Good...

  I started to run.

  Amari shouted at me.

  "NO YOU DUMBASS! THAT'S NOT THE WAY, THAT'S THE CORRIDORS!!"

  I looked at her and giggled.

  "I'm gd I was right!"

  "N-No but... WHAT?!"

  "WAIT FOR ME, I WILL BE FINE!!"

  She sighed, worried and looked at Sayuri, who was the same.

  "W-We should just let him go?..."

  Sayuri gritted her teeth in nervousness.

  "Hm, I-I... N-NO! PROBABLY NOT!!"

  "Tsk, fuck it, HE'S ALREADY SO FAR AWAY!!."

  The two began to run towards the exit, climbing the stairs and dodging several rocks that appeared in the way.

  Sayuri said.

  "Y-You sure he will be alright?!"

  "No! DEFINITELY NOT! PRAY FOR HIM!!"

  Some time ter, the two are outside the cave, extremely tired and out of breath.

  Amari stood with her hands on her knees.

  "Jeez ah... That was tiring..."

  Sayuri threw herself to the ground, extremely tired as well.

  "Yeah ah... I hope he's fine..."

  "We can just wait now... ahhh..."

  She threw herself to the ground too.

  After a few minutes, when they were starting to get worried.

  "OI! AMARI! SAYURI!!"

  I appeared out of the cave, with a huge grin.

  The two quickly stood up, looking at me in surprise.

  Amari:

  "K-KAI!? YOU'RE ALRIGHT?!"

  My steps slowed down until I reached them.

  "Yeah, Yeah, I'm fine..."

  I fell to the ground.

  "Amari, I'm not ok, can you hold me?"

  "I TOLD YOU I HADN'T COMPLETELY HEALED YOU!!"

  With a sigh, she put me in her back and started to walk towards the forest.

  "Jeez Kai, don't scare us like that... You promised me that we would go home together."

  "Ah, sorry..."

  Sayuri tilted her head.

  "Ah? Home? What you-"

  Amari shouted.

  "N-NOTHING! NOTHING IMPORTANT!"

  "Oh ok, your goal is to return to your house outside of Beatitudo?!"

  "NO IT'S NOT!-"

  "Oh wait, YOU'RE BLOOD RELATED?! I NEVER-"

  "NO WE'RE NOT!! J-JUST FORGET EVERYTHING WE SAID, EVERYTHING!!!"

  I was just riding on Amari's back, with my tongue hanging out, very tired and hurt.

  "A-Amari... Can't you heal me?"

  "Tsk, I can only make you a bit less tired, I can't repce rest... It's better for wounds and stuff."

  "But... Can you heal me?"

  "No."

  "Oh c'mon!!"

  She smiled though, while we entered the forest.

  Sayuri looked at me.

  "Oh, Kai! You didn't answer me, what does your Sisu do?!'

  "Ahhhhh, I don't want to talk very much now... I'm sooooo tired-"

  Sayuri got angry.

  "OH C'MON!! I NEED TO KNOW NOW!! You looked a... I don't even know how to describe it!"

  "You said it was cool."

  "No I didn't."

  "You said."

  "No I didn't."

  Now I'm also angry.

  "YES YOU SAID!!"

  "I-I NEVER SAID THAT! AND FUNNY YOU SAY THAT, SINCE YOU HAVE NO ENERGY! Allegedly!"

  "OH BUT-"

  Before I could finish the sentence, a red-haired man appeared, Iulius.

  He walked out from behind the trees, and said with a calm smile on his face.

  "Hello guys."

  The three of us looked surprised but happy saying his name.

  He was seriously injured, and could barely walk with his only leg.

  Amari said.

  "Red-haired you're ok? You want me to heal you?"

  "No I'm fine, you don't need to worry."

  "Well then... Oh yeah, the reward, you want part of it?!"

  Sayuri got extremely worried, holding Amari's arm.

  "WHAT?! YOU'RE JOKING?! THAT WAS OUR ONLY GOAL HERE!"

  "BUT IT'S FAIR!! HE DEFEAT THE MAIN BOSS, NOT US!!"

  Iulius simply said.

  "No, it's fine. But I want one thing."

  He stopped smiling, instantly the 3 of us froze looking at him, scared of what he was about to say.

  "Call me Hero."

  The 3 of us shouted.

  "NO WAY!!!"

  Iulius instantly got angry and irritated.

  "AH?! BUT THAT'S WHAT I WANT!"

  Sayuri said.

  "B-BUT THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!!! Y-you should... A-Ask for something material!"

  Amari said.

  "That doesn't make any sense... BUT I AGREE WITH HER!!"

  Iulius gritted his teeth, and pced his hand under his chin.

  "Tsk, but that's the only thing i wanted... Oh!-"

  He suddenly changed his expression, looking up as if he had realized something.

  "Yeah that's right! A hero helps people without expecting anything in return! My goal is to be like Hero, to be worthy of meeting him, not to be him!"

  He suddenly started running through the forest.

  "HAHAHAH! ALL THIS WAS WHAT HERO WOULD DO!"

  Before he disappeared completely, I screamed.

  "THANK YOU- Augh..."

  I managed to scream, but I felt a huge pain in my throat.

  It is my duty to at least thank him, he defeated my trauma.

  Amari looked kinda confused as Iulius vanished, and then simply started to walk again.

  "Well uh, that was unexpected."

  Sayuri then looked at me.

  "Hey Kai, what the heck were you doing that took so much time!?"

  "Yeah right, Why didn't we ask this as soon as he showed up?!"

  I was kind of taken by surprise.

  "Oh... Ah it doesn't matter, everything is alright."

  Amari:

  "It does!! You scared the shit out of me!!"

  I started to giggle in her back, ugh.

  They looked at each other and then at me, both confused.

  "Hm, Kai why are you... Everything alright?"

  "Oh, there is nothing wrong hehe... It's just that, everything is alright."

  Yes, there's nothing to worry about anymore.

  That guy died, and they and I are alive and well.

  Everything is fine.

  "Well uh, ok..."

  I don't think they understood what I meant, but I don't care, I've just never been so relieved.

  Sayuri got excited.

  "Well, when we get home, we're going to have a huge party to celebrate our victory! Or rather, we're going to the guild-"

  Amari calmly said.

  "Sayuri... It's already night and everyone is completely exhausted... Kai even fell asleep."

  Sayuri checked to see if I was really sleeping on Amari's back, and then said, somewhat embarrassed.

  "O-Oh right... WAIT! WHY DOES HE GETS A PIGGYBACK, BUT WHEN I ASKED HIM, HE IGNORED ME!!"

  "Ahhh, stop crying for attention loli."

  "YOU-"

  Suddenly, they heard a voice from behind us.

  "WAIT!! I'M HERE!!"

  Amari thought out loud.

  "Ahn? Is that Clown? Oh yeah, we need him for that box-... Wait it's a female voice."

  As soon as the two turned back, they saw simply the green-haired girl with the Raccoon mask.

  She was intact, just tired from running and with some cuts on her clothes.

  Amari and Sayuri looked at disbelief at her, then Sayuri yelled.

  "AHHHH! WE TIED THEM UP IN THE HALLWAYS, AND THEN IT ALL FELL APART!!"

  Amari noticed that and got extremely worried.

  "OH NO!! FUCK WE-... Wait she's here."

  The green-haired girl calmly said pointing at me.

  "He saved us. He went there and rescued us both."

  The two girls looked in amazement at my sleepy body on Amari's back.

  Sayuri:

  "AH?! HE DID WHAT?!

  Amari:

  "Oh so that was what he was doing..."

  The green-haired girl crossed her arms.

  "The brown-haired one was already passed out and he just put him there at the entrance, but I'm fine. So, I'm going to join your crew."

  Amari and Sayuri didn't react for a while, just blinking their eyes, then both screamed.

  "EHHHHH!? WHAT-"

  "YOU'RE WELCOME!!"

  I said that, raising an arm and with a smile on my face.

  The girls looked in shock at me.

  "Y-YOU'RE AWAKE?! A-AND YOU SHOULDN'T JUST SAY YES TO A COMPLETE STRANGER!"

  "Oh please, stop being so picky."

  I jumped off Amari's back, keeping myself standing with some difficulty.

  I approached the girl.

  "She was actually the first person I met on this worl-"

  Amari made a "humpf"

  "P-Pce... And I ate all the sweets in front of her, BUT THAT WON'T HURT ME AND LET YOU IN!!"

  She simply said.

  "The candies? Uh, I don't care about it."

  I opened a wide grin.

  "See? She is totally good!"

  "THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!"

  Sayuri screamed that.

  Amari said.

  "She was literally trying to kill us ON THIS SAME DAY!! YOU CAN'T"

  But before she could finish, the green-haired girl calmly interrupted her.

  "Calm down, I am not actually affiliated with the Raccoon'sKillers or anything, I was an infiltrator."

  She took off her bck hood of the hoodie and her Raccoon mask.

  What was revealed were green eyes and long, straight green hair tied up.

  And what definitely caught the most attention were rge, pointy ears.

  She said with an emotionless calm face.

  "My name is Lotte, and I'm an elf."

  ...

  "W-WHAT?!?!?"

  Amari and I started running like crazy, not believing what we were witnessing.

  I said.

  "A-AN ELF!? A REALLY ELF!? GOOD! I ALWAYS KNEW THEY WERE REAL!!"

  Amari put her hands on her head in shock, screaming.

  "A-AN ELF!? A FUCKING ELF?! T-THIS CAN'T BE REAL, Do dwarves also exist?-"

  Sayuri, the only one calm said.

  "Yeah she's an elf... Yeah they are very rare, I thought there were literally 0 in Beatitudo, but their existence is known..."

  Amari quickly approached me and whispered on my ear.

  "Hey Kai, It seems they are well known in this world, so we shouldn't act surprised... Act normal."

  I nodded, and she realeased me.

  The three of us stared at the elf.

  "AN ELF!!"

  Amari quickly gave me a "friendly punch".

  Some time passed and the girls decided to do an interview with her, because they are still suspicious.

  I already told them she was! goddammit..

  I'm sitting on the floor, with her in front of me also sitting, the other 2 behind me with their arms crossed.

  I scratched my chin, activate intelligence and analyze mode!

  "Hm hm, so you're an elf..."

  She said with a small smile.

  "Indeed. My name is Lotte, I'm 185 years old."

  "1-185!?-"

  Oh wait, she's an elf right? So I think she lives more than us... But damn, she is even shorter than Sayuri!

  I tried not to act surprised, that was what Amari told me to do!

  "A-Alright, alright..."

  Sayuri said.

  "This is equivalent to 18 human years and 6 months."

  I slowly looked at Lotte.

  "BUAHAHAHHA! 18?! ARE YOU TELLING ME SHE IS 18!? AHAHAHAH!"

  Lotte frowned, getting a little irritated and embarrassed, while I was ughing out loud.

  "E-ELVES DON'T GROW AS MUCH AS HUMANS!... But well, it's not like I care about that."

  Amari simply said.

  "You're acting very tough and cold now, but before you were crying like a bitch!"

  Lotte got extremely embarrassed.

  "N-NO I WASN'T!! T-THAT NEVER HAPPENED!"

  "It did."

  "NO!"

  "It did."

  "AHHHHHH!"

  ...

  A little time has passed, and here we are back to the interview.

  "Hm hm, you're an infiltrator?"

  "Yes, I don't like them or anything, I have no interest in them. I only stayed with them because I had no one else to stay with, because I recently became an orphan and ended up in this city. Things come and go, I ended up joining the group kind of out of necessity."

  "Hm hm, I see..."

  I opened a wide smile.

  "Well then, WELCOME TO THE CREW-"

  Amari gave me a friendly punch.

  "IT'S NOT ENOUGH!!... Jeez, who thought appointing you to do the interview would be a good idea."

  Sayuri said.

  "It was you."

  Amari ignored her.

  "Well, Elf... W-"

  Lotte interrupted with her friendly yet apathetic smile.

  "I prefer to be referred to as Lotte, or my full name Charlotte-"

  "Elf... What you learned about them then?"

  "A lot... Firstly, they only accept members who are of the 'Harbinger' css, that's why there are so few members."

  Amari and I looked confused at Sayuri.

  Sayuri:

  "It's a css that basically allows the user to use Sankalpa in their surroundings, as well as at great distances. They can't imbue their body, or a weapon with Sankalpa, but rather things like the ground and even the air."

  Amari was pissed.

  "Goddammit SAYURI, WHY DIDN'T YOU TOLD US THAT BEFORE?!"

  "Because you never asked to."

  "Tsk.."

  The Elf continued.

  "And so, since they were basically the first ones I met in this city, as soon as I learned Sisu I chose theirs, Raccoon's Secret."

  I think Amari took over my interviewing position...

  "Yeah we know how it works. But still expin better."

  "Okay. There are several skills that the user can learn, for now I only have a few: Select, which teleports what I touch to a pce I want, as long as I've already been there, Gurandosefuto, which steals the target's most precious thing..."

  She gred at Sayuri.

  "I'm sure... You know this well. And Healkalpo, which simply restores the Sankalpa of the target I touch in a few minutes."

  ...

  "YOU TOLD ME IT HEALED PEOPLE!!"

  "Uh, it's basically the same right?"

  Amari simply sighed, calming down herself.

  "Anyways... What's your goal here?"

  "What's your goal? I mean, the crew's goal?"

  I quickly replied excitedly.

  "Ah! Our crew's goal is to help me find the Crown and make me the Emperor of this World! So that Amari and I can return to-"

  Amari herself gave me a friendly punch.

  She's right now...

  Sayuri said.

  "But I have a goal besides that! A personal one! Because I, Sayuri, I'm the one who will become the-"

  "I see. Then, I think if I join your crew my goal would be the same as yours."

  "D-DON'T INTERRUPT ME-"

  Amari tilted her head, a bit suspicious.

  "That's... Weird. You don't have any personal goal?"

  "Survive I guess. I'm in an unknown city, surviving would be enough for me, wouldn't it?"

  "Ok..."

  ...

  "ALRIGHT THEN, WELCOME TO THE CREW!!"

  Amari stopped me.

  "Hold on, I'm not against her coming in, but everyone should be in favor right?"

  Nobody said a word.

  "Well... Welcome to Kai's crew- HOLD ON! THAT'S NOT THE NAME-"

  "YEAHHHH!!"

  I quickly jumped into Lotte, hugging her while smiling and ughing a lot.

  "A NEW MEMBER, A NEW MEMBER!! AND IT'S AN ELF!! HAHAHA, THIS IS SO COOL!!"

  She was left speechless, falling backwards as I hugged her, her face apathetic and expressionless.

  "That's your leader?... He's always like... this?"

  Amari said as a soft sigh.

  "Get used to..."

  Sayuri shouted.

  "AND THIS IDIOT IS NOT OUR LEADER!!!"

  Well, then we decided to continue our journey together. There are several free rooms in the house so she can stay in any of them.

  On the way, we introduced ourselves to her and expined everything about ourselves, including me telling them about my Sisu.

  Amari had to carry me on her back...

  When we got home, we went straight to bed to sleep

  What a crazy day.

  Somewhere quite far from Beatitudo, perhaps even outside Pseudo, a man entered a tavern.

  That man is me, Roger, an undercover middle-aged cop.

  I became a police officer for the simple reason that I wanted to fight all injustices in the world.

  I hate any kind of injustice, my dream is to create a free and equal world for everyone. I know it's impossible, but I always try to help.

  I have a very specific mission that I need to find a certain man and investigate him.

  This man is suspected of having committed several crimes, and I was sent to have a little chat with him.

  Well, it's already dawn, I just entered the tavern and opened the door.

  It's a very calm pce with just a few people drinking, a welcoming silence with background music.

  Okay, I can already identify him right away, sitting at the counter, face down on the table. He's wearing a dark brown overcoat, dark brown pants, a bck turtleneck, and bck boots. It's him.

  I walk over and sit next to him.

  "Good night, you are Ende Baumgartner right?"

  Ende quickly lifts his head from the table, somewhat surprised.

  "O-Oh, hm sorry hm... Yes, That's me."

  He took a sip from a gss of alcohol.

  "Well, how could I help?"

  He is very calm and rexed, although he was probably asleep a few seconds ago, he seems to be in perfect condition, without showing any signs of tiredness or anything like that.

  His face is so young, I would say he is at most 25 years old, at least 18. He has medium curly hair, a bit of an afro, he is tall, thin and in shape.

  "Would you like a drink?"

  He made a small smile while saying that. His face is so calm and quiet, just looking at him makes me consider him less suspicious.

  "No, thank you. I don't intend to waste much time on this."

  "I see..."

  He turned around and took another goal, always smiling.

  "Why are you looking for me, police officer?"

  W-What? H-How did he-

  "Oh, you didn't expect me to know? Well sir, all undercover cops talk the same way, something only someone who has been around many of them can tell."

  "T-That's t-that... That means you admitted to being a criminal-"

  "I invoke the 5th."

  He took another calm sip, seeming to have everything under control.

  "I-I... I need to talk to you in a more private pce."

  He answered right away.

  "No problem, we can go to the terrace, I believe it is empty."

  A few minutes ter, we are on the terrace in the darkness of night.

  The strong wind makes our clothes and hair sway, he further back by the railings, I near the entrance at a considerable distance from him.

  For some reason, I don't think it's safe to approach him.

  The problem isn't physical, I'm armed, but I just can't... Am I scared? Nervous?... Anyway, I just need to do my job.

  "Let me make this clear. Ende Baumgartner, you are suspected of having committed several crimes, mainly for leading a rge criminal organization, a group responsible for committing robberies, trafficking, murders and much more. Do you have anything to say in your defense? Or do you admit it?"

  He was simply smirking, with his eyes almost closed, and said very calmly as he looked into my soul.

  "Roger, a man who has worked in the police for over 10 years. He has 1 daughter, is divorced, lives alone and has serious family problems reted to his parents. He has a strange habit of waking up at 4 am every day to brush his teeth, and then he simply goes back to sleep."

  W-W-What... W-What's g-going on, h-how does he-... I-I...

  I got extremely nervous, I didn't understand anything that was happening, everything he said was correct. Drops of sweat started falling from my forehead, while I could only open my mouth without being able to say a word.

  "Before becoming a police officer, he was a soldier who fought in a great war in defense of our country."

  He tooo 1 step in my direction.

  "His role was simply to watch the enemy position, and see if they made any advances during the night, and if so, to sound a horn so that his comrades would know of the attack and prepare themselves. His role was simply to stay awake during the night, keeping an eye on the enemy position to prevent surprise attacks."

  A-Another step...

  "However, one night he ended up falling asleep, and it turned out that that night was the night of a surprise enemy attack. When he woke up, he only saw his camp in fmes, the enemy soldiers had already destroyed everything and everyone in a sudden attack."

  S-Stop... J-Just stop.

  "Luckily for Roger, the enemies did not see him or mistake him for a dead soldier, leaving him alive. As soon as he realized everything that had happened because of him, an allied soldier came to him, desperate, crying and weeping, completely furious with Roger."

  N-No... NO!! S-STOP!! STOP STOP STOP!!

  "The two, with no other option, decided to join forces and flee from there and regroup at a more distant battalion. They managed to go unnoticed, and even managed to reach the other battalion further inside our country. They really did it."

  N-Not this part... S-Shut up S-STOP!...

  "During the crossing, the comrade agreed not to tell anyone that it was Roger's mistake, because then Roger would be executed. His colleague decided to save Roger's life and not notify the battalion about his mistake. However, when they got there..."

  I-I... I-I didn't want to...

  H-He came really close to me.

  "Roger was the first to open his mouth, and out of fear or some other reason, Roger accused his colleague of being responsible for all of this. Roger lied, accusing those who protected him, just because-"

  "S-STOP RIGHT THERE!!!"

  I-I pointed my gun to him.

  I'm very breathless, sweaty and nervous, b-but- b-but-

  "Are you going to kill me, Roger? Just like what they did to your honest colleague? Roger, you are a huge sinner, you are far worse than me and any other criminal. That's pretty unfair, isn't it Roger?"

  U-Unfair... I-Injustice... N-No...

  "SIR!!!"

  A man appeared desperately opening the terrace door.

  "S-SIR, is everything alright?! S-Sorry, I fell asleep and when I noticed you weren't there-"

  Ende replied calmly.

  "Ah don't worry, everything is alright. Our friend Roger won't st much longer."

  Roger, in disbelief, with tears in his eyes, and unable to think or say a word, slowly walked into the tavern again.

  Ende's henchman approached him and whispered something in his ear.

  Then Ende raised his eyebrows for a brief moment, still smiling.

  "Oh really? My son died?... Well, I didn't expect that, to be honest. You can go."

  The henchman simply went back to the tavern.

  Ende turned his back and walked towards the railings of that pce, pcing his hands on them and enjoying the breeze as he looked at the city.

  "Am I smart or is it just my power? Or is it both? What makes me so powerful?... I'm sorry, I still haven't been able to fulfill my promise, Mate..."

  He turned his back, and began walking back to the tavern, hands in his pockets with a smirk.

  "Finally, the apocalypse is closer to happening."