Chapter 60: The Peace We Made For Ourselves

"Wait, who are you?"

Andrea could not help but blink her eyes a couple of times as she saw a stranger stepped into their living room. Her entire body slightly shivered, but even then, she reached for the knife that was sitting on the counter.

"O...Oi, someone is here!"

And it would seem the man was as shocked as Andrea as he could not help but stutter as soon as he saw her.

"What!? He said no one would be here at this time!", another man stepped inside the living room, slightly pulling his red hair as he turned his head towards Andrea.

"I… I think you have the wrong house! Please leave!", Andrea shouted as she hid the knife on her back.

"Tch", hearing Andrea's shouts, the man with red hair clicked his tongue, "No choice. Tie her up!"

"N… no!", Andrea quickly waved the knife she was holding as two other men stepped into the living room. "S… stay away or I will stab you!"

"Oi!", one of the men approached Andrea even with the knife pointed at them.

"Help! Someone, please hel--"

Andrea once again screamed, but before she could finish her cry for help, the man who was walking towards him suddenly disappeared and hit her on the back of the head, causing her to drop to the ground like a puppet who had her strings cut.

"W… Why did you do that!?", the red-haired man could not help but widen his eyes.

"She was calling for help!"

"F… f*ck! She's bleeding, man!"

"G...gh", Andrea groaned as she felt her vision slowly slipping away.

"She's still alive! S… shit! What are we going to do!? She saw our faces!"

"Just tie her up somewhere!"

"Evans…", Andrea once again groaned as her eyes started to blink rapidly,

"D… don't… go… home"

***

"Man, that was crazy. Victoria talked to you!"

"That was a bit scary, wasn't it?"

Van, Harvey, and Beatrice were now walking home after being officially invited by Victoria to come and visit her house. And although Van was initially really the only one that was invited, the two seemed to be more excited than him.

"Do you think we'll be able to meet her grandmother?", Beatrice muttered, her eyes glistening with the thought. To meet someone standing on the top of every other Enhancer-type System Holders, truly. It made her excited.

"...Is she really that great?", Van raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean!?", Harvey jumped in front of Van as soon as he heard that, "She is the strongest Enhancer-type in the world!"

"Hm", Beatrice nodded in agreement as she fixed her spectacles, "I bet she could just breathe and throw away Harvey like a ragdoll!"

"W… why are you using me as an example!?"

"Because you have the same System Type!"

"Van, do you thi--"

Before Harvey could finish his words, he noticed the sky slightly turning darker.

"...Smoke?", Harvey said as his nose slightly fidgeted, "I… I think it's coming from your house, Van!", Harvey then shouted as he realized that the dark fumes were coming out of Van's house.

"!!!"

The three quickly rushed towards Van's house, but as they were about half a block away from the house, 4 men suddenly came running out from the small gate, "H… Hurry up!"

Van, Beatrice, and Harvey could not help but halt their steps as they saw the men running away in the other direction, not even noticing the three of them.

Van's eyes slowly widened. Andrea… Andrea should be in the house right now.

"Andrea!", Van screamed as he rushed inside the house with his superspeed, not even bothering in turning on his [Time Perception] skill, which caused him to roll violently as he entered the house.

However, he didn't even mind as he continued to scream for Andrea. "Are you here!?", he roared.

"Andre--"

Van was about to shout again, but he heard a muffled noise from inside the bathroom. Van quickly opened the door, and there, he saw Andrea tied up, her mouth gagged by cloth.

Her neck was covered in blood, mixing with the sweat and the tears that trailed endlessly from her face.

"A… Andrea", Van's jaw trembled as he took off the gag from Andrea's mouth.

"Evans… sorry… they destroyed everything", she stuttered as her tears continued to fall.

Van did not respond. Instead, he just untied the makeshift rope that was wrapped tightly around Andrea. His nose and eyebrows were trembling, his teeth chattering as his breaths became heavier and heavier.

"Miss Andrea!"

Beatrice quickly rushed towards Andrea as soon as she saw her. "Harvey, call for help!"

"W… where!?"

"Anywhere!"

Harvey could only grit his teeth as ran outside the house, his screams for help could be heard even from inside the bathroom.

"Miss Andrea…", Beatrice gently examined the injury on Andrea's head.

"I… I'm alright", Andrea stuttered in a weak voice, "I'm… just a bit dizzy"

Beatrice could not help but furrow her eyebrows as she saw Andrea's injury. Although the cut was small and the blood she lost wasn't really that much, she might be bleeding internally.

"I'm fine… I'm fine", Andrea repeated as she held Van's trembling hands.

"You're not fine, Miss Andre-"

"I'm fine!"

Before Beatrice could even finish her words, Andrea suddenly raised her voice and looked at her straight in the eyes, shaking her head repeatedly.

"I'm fine, Evans", she then once again said as she turned to Van.

Van, however, still did not respond. He just stood up. Andrea wanted to pull him back down, but Van was not even budging. She tightened her grip on Van's trembling hand, but Van just gently took them off as he started to walk out of the bathroom.

"Please…Evans, don't do anything rash!", Andrea once again raised her voice.

"Van, where are you goi--!?"

Beatrice stepped in front of Van, but as soon as she saw Van's eyes, she could not help but flinch and slightly step to the side. "V… Van?", she stuttered. The first time she saw this kind of expression from Van, was when he was about to gouge out her eyes. No, this was different. Van's eyes were calm back then… but now, seeing him like this, she could not help but feel a lump on her throat.

It was as if she was staring at a crazed animal, ready to bite off her hand without any warning.

"This home…", Van then whispered, "No one… trespasses in our home, Andrea"

"I will not forgive... those that disrupt the peace we finally made for ourselves. They will pay...

I will make sure...

...that they know the price for what they have done"