They are coming...

The ring was shrouded in thick darkness, almost like fog. "Even with my darkvision, I can't see anything."

"But isn't this like your skill?"

"At first glance, it appears to be the same, but I'm not sure if it's a difference in esp or a difference in skill grade... I can't tell." Reda, a dark attribute hunter, stated he was the same guy Karl detected at the airport.

Meanwhile,

~whish~

~whish~

~whish~

'I can't read it, whatever is walking in this darkness,' she thought to herself.

~kangh~

She stepped aside and blocked the clash. "What did you do? Using cheap tricks now?"

"Does it constitute as a trick when it's part of my skill, or are you making up excuses for your loss?" Karl mocked.

'Damnit!! 'How come I can't read the movements of whatever that object is?'

Karl equaled NightKiller's speed in the dark and used it against Eloise; of course, the only place he knew he'd win was in the dark, which is why he never regretted possessing that skill. Even if he lacked the expertise, he could always draw the opponent into the dark castle. Eloise was struggling to deal with two opponents; while she could see Karl's attack coming, she couldn't see the Nightkiller's, giving the impression that she was still being hit by Karl's strike.

'...is it a clone?' She couldn't clearly wrap her head around it.

~wooosh~

~splurt~

Karl and NightKiller crossed her while she was distracted, blood poured from both of her arms, and her wings were severed.

~vrrrrrrr~

A massive tremor was felt across the area, and the ground rocked violently. The squad leaders realized it was time to call it quits, but what were they going to do?

"Is there anyone with a light skill?! You're there!" A slim long-nosed man, the third squad leader, yelled while pointing to Rachel.

"Aren't you a user of the light attribute?"

"Ah..." Rachel was irritated, but the man did not allow her to respond.

"Take action against the darkness right now!"

"Skill activation; illumine!!" she yelled as she pulled her shield from her inventory and the shield flashed briefly before dimming. Then she noticed a notification window appear in front of her.

[Skill activation has been canceled.]

"Eh?" she exclaimed, astonished.

[The target skill cannot be negated.]

[If usage continues, the skill will be devoured by the target skill.]

"Eh? Will his darkness swallow my light skill?"

Rachel was still attempting to reach when another agent jumped above the darkness and began to twirl what appeared to be a rope in the air; the rope began to light brightly as it spun faster, and before everyone knew it, everything had brightened up.

[Continuous use of a skill results in skill consumption and loss.]

Demian was a light attribute hunter in the first squad as well.

The darkness became heavier and, like a tempest, swallowed both the rope and the skill. Demian was puzzled, looking at his palm and wondering why he had just lost a grade A skill. While it appeared that Eloise was losing control of herself since her wings had been severed and she was literally encircled by a tornado thunderstorm, he was being forced back by the powerful wind when he suddenly noticed.

[Skill: Darkness has consumed a new skill]

[Skill grade has increased]

He didn't get a chance to breathe because something heavy fell from the sky and his darkness vanished. 'Huh?'

Karl looked around and saw Eloise in the arms of the man standing beside him. Everything was clear, the bulbs were blinking, but everything was silent, including the soldiers and agents.

'The director? ...how did-? ...oh, my chest!'

Karl grasped his chest, feeling his heart squeezing.

[Karl, don't move]

"Look at you, so lively, you just came in today and you're already having this much fun..." he said to the unit commanders. "Let's discuss this tomorrow."

He took off through the ceiling through whence he had come in.

'What was that?' Karl collapsed on his buttocks.

He utterly slumped. '...does anyone know about that bastard, I mean... what is this tremendous power, others may not see it, but he was controlling something inhuman, I definitely saw it, is he a necromancer... it was not particularly an undead, but it was also nothing with life in it,' Elfin thought to himself as he walked away. 'What should I tell my father about this step cousin?'

The others began to depart too quickly, and Rachel approached Karl, who was laying on the ring. Karl stared at her from where he lay and asked, "what?"

"You were incredible," she said

Quinn dashed in, "What did I miss? What was that tremor and thunderous sound?!" Quinn stated that as he looked around, he noticed a massive dent on the wall, the floor, the middle of the ring, and several dents on the ring's floor. "What happened?" Quinn inquired quietly, but was ignored.

Pascal extended his hand to Karl, who took it and stood up.

"Wait, why are you suddenly warming up to Karl?" Rachel stated.

"Because I appreciate his courage," Pascal responded honestly, smiling. He assisted Karl in getting out of the ring, and they exited the compartment together.

....

"Are you insane? Why, after all, would all the runic texts on a rune stone vanish if you only used it once?!?"

"I swear, I just used it once...I chose the guy because he had white hair and I just decided to test it on him, but he didn't react like you claimed."

"What exactly did you mean?" Paige inquired as he relaxed and brushed a strand of his hair that had fallen on his forehead.

"You claimed the rune stone of fear and despair was supposed to make its target experience fear, the effect being that it would unleash a horrible memory and allow such its target to be caught in that memory forever, but I was so sure, he was agitated, he almost killed his opponent, and you said I'd see the memories, the runestone would show me the memories, but all I could see was broken pictures that didn't even add up, I mean I was seeing a man in old armor that seemed over five millenium ago, things we only get to see in ancient world encyclopedia."

"A3, are you sure you used the correct incantation?"

"Commander, you should know who I am by now; I may be pompous, but I never forget an incantation," he said.

A bald man wearing black sunglasses entered the room "Take it easy on them, Paige," he said as he approached the commander and placed his hand on his shoulder, "besides, aren't you too concentrated on A3, forgetting that the issue might be from the targeted person, which you should know by now. The true power is the rune text written on it, and they are considered to be words that can hear, feel, talk, and act. A rune can decide to inscribe itself on a subject with or without permission, as long as the subject can give it what it needs, who is this kid out of the six?" As he pulled out images of all six of them, the man remarked.

A3 chose the one with Karl in it right away. "This is the one! It's impossible for me to miss him!!"

"Oh-oh, this one is quite unknown... but we shall meet, if the rune is on him, we will be capturing him alive, I think Doc will want to experiment on him," the man said as he selected the photograph.

"Thank you, Takeshi-kun, for taking the time to address this, but your visitation was somewhat unexpected; may I ask why you're here; I'm sure it's not just to settle our argument."

"Haha Paige, ever vigilant, yeah... I was assigned here by Edmund, and I was very startled myself."

"Edmund..?. This is my mission, and I will not let you man it."

"Calm down, Paige, you don't have to be so rude... With this fellow here, this mission isn't just important to you Paige... it's vital to the OUTLAWS in general, and the success of this mission will play a significant role in our hundred-year plan, I mean, why did you think Doc gave you the mods knowing how attached he is to them?"

"Tsk," Paige said as he stormed out of his own office, "...whatever."

Takeshi stared at A3, who had been frozen the entire time, then grabbed his belongings and went.

A3 brought out the black stone which was supposed to be the rune stone,

'I can't wait to meet you' He muttered this while gritting his teeth and leaving the office.