The dark night spread across the sky. Dark and Ingrid walked through the forest; the only sounds were their breathing and the steady rhythm of their footsteps. It was an almost absolute silence.

  Dark walked slightly behind Ingrid, trying to stay close to her. His sword was in his hand, and he seemed ready to strike anything that appeared.

  Ingrid sighed, annoyed that Dark was behind her instead of acting like her “knight” and protecting her. She walked while scanning the surroundings for monsters that might attack them.

  “Hey, Ingrid, are we going the right way?”

  “I don’t know… I think so.”

  A loud, sharp sound echoed ahead. Ingrid and Dark heard a piercing, high-pitched buzz. It was something small and fast. When Ingrid realized the danger, Dark was already shielding the both of them, putting his sword in front of her. He pulled her back immediately.

  Ingrid, still a bit stunned, thought: He predicted an attack before I did? But how?

  She looked at Dark — once again, there was that change: his eyes had turned greenish.

  When Ingrid looked forward, she saw Takumi holding what seemed to be an experimental weapon. A weapon that wasn’t supposed to exist.

  “I thought a bullet would be faster and more effective to take Ingrid down,” Takumi said, checking the weapon to see if it still worked. Then he shifted his gaze to Dark. “And who might you be?” His tone became more serious. “And… how did you predict my shot?”

  “I’m Dark Fiore…”

  “Oh, that kid who’s terrible in class?” Takumi mocked, still finding everything strange.

  “But that doesn’t explain how you dodged… unless…” He paused, thinking. “Are you using some sort of drug that boosts your power? No, you’d be showing symptoms if you were… is it your ability, then?”

  Takumi tilted his head, analyzing Dark from head to toe, evaluating his body and physique.

  “I…” Dark was about to say he had no powers, but then remembered what Lavin said about keeping it secret. “I don’t know. Why don’t you come find out?”

  Dark dashed toward Takumi. Takumi stepped back, trying to shoot, but Dark could predict where the bullet would come from before Takumi even reloaded.

  The first one could’ve been luck, but this much? Who is this guy… Takumi thought, but he was interrupted by Dark’s blade.

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  Dark didn’t want to kill him — and wasn’t allowed to — so he tried to strike with the flat side of the sword.

  Takumi dodged to the side. The blade hit his arm, but it left no wound — only a mild pain from the strength Dark applied.

  Takumi inserted something into his weapon and threw it toward Dark, smiling wickedly as he backed away. Dark grew worried as he saw the object approaching.

  The weapon exploded. Everyone on the island heard it. When the smoke cleared, Dark’s chest was completely wounded by shrapnel.

  Ingrid saw this and immediately got up, shouting his name.

  “Shit…” Dark tried to stay on his feet, but fell to his knees, supporting himself with one hand. His sword beside him dissolved and returned to his body. Takumi watched this, looking even more intrigued at the phenomenon.

  Takumi approached Dark, standing right in front of him. Dark couldn’t see properly — his vision was blurry, and his hearing was overwhelmed by a piercing, ringing noise.

  “The prototype was interesting… too bad you destroyed it. I’ll show the results to my father,” Takumi crouched down, smiling like a madman. “But… what was that thing your sword did? How did you retract it? What kind of sword was that?”

  Ingrid approached to attack Takumi, but purposely missed, slicing only lightly across his sleeve.

  “Well, I should go while Ingrid is too worried about you…” Takumi said. “But know this — I’ll get that sword. Whether you want to give it to me or not.”

  Takumi vanished into the darkness of the forest, smiling obsessively, already imagining everything he could do with that technology.

  I need that sword… If I study it, I’ll finally be fully recognized by the world…

  Ingrid knelt beside Dark, helping him stand. She tried to stay calm, but she was visibly worried.

  “We need to get out of here as fast as possible. That explosion was too loud. It’s dangerous to stay.”

  They walked as quickly as they could. Dark was short of breath from the pain; each movement of his chest made more blood seep out.

  After some time walking, Dark leaned against a tree.

  “At least it was the chest… none of them seem to have gone too deep…” Ingrid murmured, worried.

  She began removing the iron shards with her hand, while Dark groaned in pain.

  “Careful!” Dark shouted, trembling, his whole body flinching when Ingrid pulled out another piece.

  “Wait, I am being careful,” Ingrid sighed. She placed a stick wrapped in cloth into his mouth to keep him from screaming.

  When she finished treating him, she removed the stick. Dark breathed extremely fast, as if he had finally gotten a breath of fresh air.

  “Feeling better?” Ingrid wiped his chest with a cloth.

  “Yes… but… where did all these bandages come from?”

  “The school sent first-aid supplies inside the dimensional space of our suits. You didn’t check yours?” Ingrid tied the cloth around him firmly.

  “Well… I tried, but I couldn’t.”

  Ingrid checked Dark’s suit.

  “Of course you couldn’t. Your suit was destroyed… probably during that fight with the half-demon boy — whatever his name was.”

  “You’re kind of heartless about enemies, huh?” Dark joked, trying to lighten the mood. “Do you think I can still fight normally?”

  “Yes, you can fight as long as you avoid sudden movements,” Ingrid said, looking around. They had walked a long distance; now the top of the giant tree was visible. “You should rest. Tomorrow is the last day. If we don’t reach the center, we’ll lose a lot of points.”

  “Are you sure we still have a chance of winning? We barely have points.”

  Ingrid smiled and tossed him some monster cores.

  “I’m also pretty fast, so I ‘borrowed’ a few points from that guy.”

  “But how?” Dark sat up, curious.

  “I just pretended to attack with my ‘injured’ arm to scare him and took some from his dimensional space.”

  “You can open someone else’s dimensional space that easily?” Dark asked, shocked.

  “Of course. Otherwise how would we collect items after eliminating enemies?” Ingrid stood up. “Almost twenty minutes have passed. Think you can walk?”

  Dark stood with ease.

  “Yes, I can. I’m injured in the chest, not the legs.”

  “Then let’s keep moving. Grab your sword.” Ingrid headed toward the giant tree.

  “Alright!” Dark summoned the sword into his hand and walked beside her.

  “Dark… why did you seem scared of the fragments too?”

  “Forget it…” Dark looked away, embarrassed.

  “Don’t tell me you’re scared?” Ingrid teased, laughing lightly.

  “Shut up!” Dark stomped ahead, irritated.