First World: The Choice.

"Head."

"Head."

BAP!

"HEAD! How many goddamn times will you let me hit your head!?"

"...too fast."

"..."

It might've been several days for the others on the outside, but for him...honestly, Edison had no clue.

Including the guy in front of him who also had no idea, they resumed fighting each other, aiming to rip both of their throats out.

But of course, unlike the last time when Edison grazed his skin due to his opponent's ignorance and arrogance, it definitely had its guard up more often than it would admit.

"Hmph, you were just lucky."

"...?"

"Heh? I was just kidding about you making considerable progress, there's no such thing for someone like you."

"...?"

Excuses built upon excuses piled against one another, as it kept spouting such things while Edison would either have his ass laying on the ground or when it felt like mocking him.

Either way, it didn't particularly faze him that much, except where his mouth would involuntarily twitch.

No matter how cold-headed he was, there were still times when he would be annoyed due to it constantly spewing out insults. Of course, he didn't say anything, as it would just make it aware that its words were getting into his head.

As Edison stood up from the ground and dusted his clothes, he saw it sitting on the ground with a bored face. Although the constant spirals kept whirling in its body including the face, he learned how to read its expression when its bead-like eyes moved in a certain way.

Promptly after, he rushed towards it while simultaneously creating scenarios of various situations that would happen if he followed up with his rush.

Would it do that?

Would it move that way?

Would it counterattack?

What would it do?

He kept asking himself every time he engaged in close combat, it didn't matter which opponent he fought.

Being arrogant in a fight is a fool's way of showing off, where in most cases they would suddenly have the reaper's scythe cleave off their heads, costing their pitiful lives.

Unlike those protagonists who have the privilege to do said action because of some other interferences such as...friends and some weird interferences where they would get a sudden powerup.

In reality, though, every fighter especially when they enter the realm of peak mastery over their respective arts, they've long learned to never underestimate their opponents under any circumstances, doing such would only bring consequences they wouldn't dare to experience.

However even then...

"Whoop, nope...not ba-, I mean how shit."

As he closed the distance in a short period, Edison tried to throw an ax kick.

At last, it saw it coming and leaned to the side, but it quickly noticed him stopping mid-way to change its trajectory into a round-house.

Looking at him with no expression, it parried him with an elbow guard, before sweeping him off the ground.

Suddenly having his view change, Edison calmly grabbed its other arm which didn't form a guard from an awkward angle, and in less than a second had it into an armbar.

"..."

"..."

Only to realize that it was incomplete. Its arm wasn't completely locked in, rather the guard it held up was long abandoned to hold the arm up.

Now with it holding Edison's entire body weight, it let gravity do its thing by dropping him to the ground with full force.

Knowing what would happen, he immediately let loose to roll on the ground and targeted its leg.

"You...are a snake. An annoying one."

Saying such things while having a blank expression, it moved away before grabbing Edison's head and kneeing it with such force that threw him several meters away.

Crack!

Luckily, he had put his guard up, nonetheless, he could feel the numbness on his arms while he got blown away like a ragdoll.

Stabilizing his feet on the ground, he looked up only to see its punch inches away from his face.

Still, with the same calm expression, Edison leaned back so much that his back was parallel to the ground.

And from that awkward position, he tightened every muscle on his body and felt the kinetic force travel up from his feet all the way to his punch.

With all that power, he twisted his torso and felt his uppercut connect with the chin of his opponent.

BOOM!

"That was uncalled for, boy."

The next thing he knew, he blacked out.

"..."

Looking down at Edison's body which had his entire ribcage caved in, it suddenly touched its chin wherefrom black blood slowly dripped down.

It was only at the last second that it dodged it, but it didn't expect to have this fucking guy graze it again!

"Fucking shit, I can't contribute this to luck anymore, he's actually using all that he learned from the past decade into our confrontations now..."

Realizing that the boy on the ground was still unconscious, it quietly pondered something.

'Should I teach- EUGHH! No way am I teaching this brat. Why should I? He's just...just...'

Now with a blank expression, it looked at Edison again.

'...I sparred with this! This t-thing that came out of nowhere, if the stuff we were doing wasn't sparring which technically counts as training and teaching, then I might as well commit another genocide.'

It happens so that this guy's definition of 'sparring' was quite sophisticated in its own way.

Twisted was perhaps the right word, but no judging.

'...'

Lost in its thoughts, it didn't realize that Edison was slowly turning into light particles.

Shrugging, it looked down only to see him gone.

"Oh..."

With another lost expression, it also started turning into particles while the Void quickly shattered into pieces of fabric.

...

..

.

"...tness."

"...overload..."

Hearing these cut-off sentences, he groggily opened his eyes.

"Must not succumb to cuteness overload."

"...?"

Confused thoughts kept sweeping through his mind, and with it came the feeling of pain in his chest and arms.

However, the pain swiftly disappeared as quickly as it appeared, making him plop his head back into the soft pillow.

'...it's cold.'

The pillow was unexpectedly cold, though in a comfortable way.

'Someone changed it regularly.'

Coming to this conclusion he looked up again only to see a pair of wide eyes staring at him.

"Hello."

"WAAAHHHHHHH-"

THUD!

"OUCH."

A question mark appeared above his head, while he quietly crawled to the bedside to see...Musashi on the ground rubbing her head with a pained expression.

Seemingly done with her act, she pointed her finger at Edison with a trembling gaze.

"Did y-you hear that?"

Hearing such a question upon waking up was really weird for him, shouldn't it be something along the lines of...you good?

'Hmmm.'

Perhaps Madison would have an answer to this predicament.

Nevertheless, he looked at her with his deadpan expression.

"Must not succumb-"

"SHHH!"

"Hmhmhm...hmhmhm?"

With his blank gaze looking at her hand which had covered his mouth, he still mumbled the rest of the sentence.

Though, that didn't seem to amuse her, as she said with a firm tone.

"Do not speak of this. For I will do everything to silence you if you do so. What happened now remains a secret, okay?"

Her expression had a look that resembled someone telling their greatest secret ever, but he could still see the edges of her mouth twitching.

"Hehe! Just kidding! However, please don't tell anyone...would be quite embarrassing ya know?"

Now sitting on the bed with a cheeky smile, she looked at him.

He quietly glanced back at her only to return his gaze to her hand which still masked his mouth.

Raising his hand, he smacked it away.

PAH!

"..."

Seeing that it didn't budge at all, he continued smacking the shit out of it.

PAH! PAH! PAH!

"..."

PAH! PAH! PAH!

"...so cute..."

Musashi quietly muttered under her breath, as she amusingly watched him smack her hand with an annoyed expression.

However, upon seeing his fist being formed, she unhurriedly uncovered it.

With his mouth free again, he looked at her...

...then smashed his fist against her face.

Boop!

"...ahh..."

With a blank face, she fell backward onto the sheets.

Edison looked at her with his cold face.

'It felt like steel.'

That might've been why he couldn't move her hand away at all. Well, it's only expected since Musashi is inhumanely strong.

The fact that she threw him like a kite out of the coffee shop to prevent him from being damaged only proved it more.

Unclenching and clenching his fist, he glanced at Musashi from the corner of his eye to see if she was still functioning.

"..."

He questionably raised one eye while looking at her with an uncertain gaze.

Her eyes were for some reason closed, while her breathing went into a steady flow.

Yet, that weird-ass smile on her face raised some...

BANG!

"MR. CADDEL, I KNEW YOU'D WA-"

Upon seeing the scene, the individual who interrupted, awkwardly looked away.

"Well, it looks like she caused you some trouble I assume?"

"..."

Edison quietly nodded at Jared.

"Yes."

"That was a late answer, but it's to be expected since you just woke up from a coma."

"...coma?"

"Uh, yeah. A state where-"

"I know."

"Well, I'll explain what happened in the meantime..."

Looking at her still unmoving figure, Jared communicated using his eyes, sending some signals.

Seeing the meaning behind his gaze, Edison nonchalantly kicked her off the bed.

THUD!

"Edi-san, you bastard...~"

Looks like she was pretending again, though she still didn't move.

Though, it couldn't cover up the fact that Jared went slack-jawed.

"W-what the fuck!? I MEANT MOVING HER SAFELY SOMEWHERE ELSE!"

"I consider this safely."

"AND how can you be so rough with her!?"

"There's no distinction between genders when it comes to battles."

"WE AREN'T IN A BATTLE!"

Edison was getting confused about why this hot-headed teenager was yelling at him for no apparent reason.

However, it might be because of his wordings, so he tried changing it into something that made this kid understand.

"Treat everyone equally."

"So, you'll also kick me with no hesitation."

"Not without reason."

"So a yes?"

"Hmm."

Nodding his head, Edison focused his attention on the thing he was interested in.

"Information, I want it."

"You...got no shame, do you?"

"Shame is unnecessary in bat-"

"Yeah, I know, I know. We could do this all day, but we don't have the time for that."

Pulling a chair nearby their bed, he sat down and seriously looked at him.

"Rather, I'm afraid this is getting out of hand now."

Now with this atmosphere, Edison put his focus on his next words with a serious expression.

"Proceed."

Unknowingly, Musashi slowly crawled back up and attentively listened as well since she didn't go out at all when Jared and Kojiro went out on their 'cleaning' sessions.

Sighing with a hate-filled expression, Jared patiently explained.

"I'll start with this then. So..."

An hour passed rather fast, and with Edison being caught up with the current predicament, he already understood.

The situation as of now is getting worse with all the continents experiencing similar situations like Japan. The Lost One of this world has significantly increased his influence, penetrating his vile hands into the core of every association.

Asia had it the worst as death counts kept totaling up, heroes and villains have been fighting non-stop for days, riots happened across the globe, as Europe was the second most affected.

America, South America, Africa, Australia, and every single place have been attacked.

Death bodies piled up to immeasurable amounts, while terror and fear have already enveloped the entirety of the planet. The hidden nature of humans slowly came out as well, making the overall situation even worse due to increasing crime.

Yet that didn't stop that douche from kidnapping.

At first, it only started with little kids, however upon realizing that his bases were getting raided by Jared, Kojiro, and several other heroes throughout the world, he initiated a global scale panic.

Thousands upon thousands of people kept disappearing daily, families have broken apart, loved ones crying their hearts out wondering where their child, husband, wife, father, mother, and everyone else have gone missing.

Yet all of this...

"...happened in a week."

Finishing his words, Jared looked at Edison with a bitter expression.

"We tried...to do everything we could but...we're too weak."

Biting his lips until they bled, he continued.

"I don't know what to do, I thought I could change the situation around, but I...hah, guess it was all but naught."

Slumping his shoulders down, he was at a loss for words.

In fact, he already started losing hope ever since the large-scale massacre at Okinawa Island, but he didn't dare show it less it would make him look weak as their Admin and Leader.

However, it seems like, shutting off your pent-up emotions only made it worse and worsened his performance in magic.

"..."

Edison looked at Jared with a complicated gaze.

Somehow it reminds him of someone...

"...We can't give up now can we?"

Musashi quietly said while clutching the hem of her sweater.

"No...No, this isn't about giving up anymore, Musashi."

Jared looked at her with an emotionless face.

"This is...about survival now."

"..."

"..."

Edison suddenly plopped down on his bed...while putting his hands under his head.

"Edi...-san?"

"Mr. Caddel..."

Hearing his name, he looked up at the ceiling with a blank face.

"...let's use this time to train."

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!"

Jared had a crazed expression on his face as he fiercely shook his shoulders.

"Millions of death every single fucking day...but no that isn't fucking enough is it?! Huh, robbery, rape, assault, rioting, and thousands of kidnappings. Yet you! YOU want to fucking TRAIN?!"

Practically screaming at his face now, Jared was on the verge of tears.

"Goddamnit, this..."

Musashi was frozen up.

What is this?

She asked herself.

Weren't they good a moment ago...?

Ahh, no this isn't the time to be optimistic.

Yeah...

Her cheery countenance immediately disappeared, while a cold gaze was cast upon her face.

Yet someone's words shook her and Jared to the core.

"You're being awfully irrational."

A bone-chilling voice laced with such heavy murderous intent leaked out of his body while his gaze bore a hole through the teenager's head.

Edison looked at Jared like he was about to kill him.

"Hey."

He slowly said each word carefully.

"The lives of this planet or the multiverse?"

...

..

.