Liluh, Vinar, Betty and the referee appeared in a strange area.
The short alleys, smell of blood and flesh, and the old fashioned crammed buildings gave away the locality.
A slum. They were in a deserted alley.
Before their brains could process the information, the referee bent down and spewed out blood.
Simultaneously, Betty's eyes widened as her face paled. Her lips quivered as she shivered uncontrollably.
Memories she thought she buried surfaced.
Her chest felt heavy, her whole body started to sweat and she felt like someone was choking her.
…A panic attack!
"Betty!" Vinar held her hand with a worried expression.
Thankfully, Betty was a level 5 awakener. She quickly recovered physically, but he emotions were a mess.
"Fuck you!" Liluh slammed his fist into the referee's face.
Kacha!
The referee slid across the ground as he kept coughing blood. His face turned whiter and he almost looked like a ghost.
But he wasn't down. His level 6 aura was weakened, but still dangerous to them.
The only plus side was that he was still coughing out blood and his aura was still weakening.
The price to activate that treasure must have been high.
"Betty, let's go!" Vinar held her hand and yelled. He knew slum areas like these and could better navigate through them.
At the same time, Liluh grabbed her other hand and looked into her eyes with incomparable seriousness. "Betty, follow me."
Beads of sweat rolled down Betty's face. She was given a choice. "Liluh."
She grabbed his hand and said in a trembling voice. "P-Please don't leave me."
Vinar's heart twisted at her choice as he blankly stared at her. Eight…eight years of wait, was this it?
"Let's go." Liluh transformed into snake man form and hugged Betty. Slithering across the ground, he quickly left the alley and headed towards a desolate neighborhood.
"Betty!" Vinar clenched his fists and followed them.
"You fuckers! Wait!" The referee followed him.
Boom!
Boom!
Vinar dodged the lightning bolts as he rolled down, bent over each time. These bolts hit the apartments and instantly cursed them to pieces, including the people in them.
Ash rained from the sky symbolizing the deaths of hundreds.
"Are you crazy? Why attack them?" Vinar yelled, only to get answered by a lightning bolt.
"He's nuts and you nutcase, stop following us." Liluh screamed from ahead.
"I don't trust you with her." Vinar said and sped up.
"Betty trusts me." Liluh said and increased his speed.
"Y-Yes." Betty muttered as she continued trembled under Liluh's embrace.
When she was 11, she was kidnapped.
She would never forget the tight ropes on her wrists, the darkness she had to live in for hours, the smell of blood and rotten flesh amidst the darkness and the damp feeling of sitting in a messy place.
The poor beggars she used to donate regularly lured her and kidnapped her. Why?
Because she was rich.
"Do you think we poor people have time to talk about kindness and morality? We need to survive! Survive, I say!"
"Aren't you from some rich household, little miss? Let your dad spend some money one you."
She didn't completely understand what they were saying back then.
But a few beliefs were entrenched in her little brain that day.
'1. The beggars are poor. These beggars are bad. Poor people are bad.
2. They target me because I'm rich. They are poor. Poor target me because I'm rich.
3. They don't follow morality or kindness. They're poor. Poor people don't have any good qualities and are secretly conspiring.'
A ridiculous set of beliefs took place that day and only grew stronger and stronger since then.
The kind and lively Betty who used to go out of her way to help the poor and needy because an arrogant and haughty girl who looked down on everyone and everything.
And of course, of everyone, she hated poor people.
Over the years, her definition of 'poor' evolved into everyone below her.
Being the only daughter of one of the strongest of Valos, her bar was a bit too high to reach.
In no time, despite all the riches and power, she found herself alone.
But now, someone was risking their life for her.
"Betty!" Vinar's scream reached her ears. Still in Liluh's embrace, she turned back in annoyance.
For some reason, she couldn't get angry.
Vinar…he was right behind them, trying to distract the referee from attacking them.
The referee was already far weaker from his peak and his attacks were no longer in the range of level 6.
In fact, he looked like he could die at any moment.
But instead of stopping and attacking, the boy carrying her did the opposite.
"Betty, hang on tight." Liluh said and his body blurred.
In the blink of an eye, he crossed hundreds of meters and reached a deserted warehouse.
For some reason, Betty felt an ominous feeling in her heart.
"Cough! Cough!"
The referee coughed out blood and collapsed onto the ground. His body shriveled at a visible rate.
At death's doorstep, his life flashed before his eyes. Having grown up wanting to do justice for the world, he was proud of what he once was. But when he couldn't confront the injustice in the system he believed in, he joined what he previously despises.
But he didn't regret it.
If his death could make that person pay…then it'd be worth it.
As such, even during his final moments, he raised his fingers and tried to channel his mana.
Pa~
When Betty tried to sense the referee through her fire sense, all she saw a bag of bones.
"L-Liluh, he's dead." Betty said as Liluh was only a few meters away from the warehouse's entrance.
Liluh didn't stop.
Betty suddenly shivered. The warehouse…it was giving her a very bad feeling.
"Betty, careful! That warehou—" Vinar's shout made her instinctively realize something was wrong.
She channeled her mana and was about to struggle, but Liluh was quicker and threw her into the warehouse.
"Hueek?" As she flew in a parabola and crashed onto the cold floor, Betty's face contorted in pain.
Pain of betrayal hurt her more than the pain in her body.
The space around her was completely solidified. She couldn't even move her eyelids.
'Liluh…I trusted him.'
"Bastard!" Vinar was enraged at Liluh's action and hurled a lightning spear at him.
"There's no more time." Liluh's eyes narrowed and he revealed his true power.
High level 5.
"Wha—"
Vinar didn't even have a chance to exclaim as he was knocked out in an instant.
Then without hesitation, Liluh knocked himself out.
Two seconds later, Hina teleported into the warehouse.
She should've been her way earlier, but some technocrat bastard was messing with her comm. She was late by a couple of seconds.
So, she was in a hurry and directly teleported to the location instead of teleporting to a nearby place and analyzing the situation.
Seeing Betty unconscious but safe, Hina didn't regret the risk and sighed in relief.
But it didn't last as she felt the space around her was completely blocked.
Due to being a level 7 Space Awakener, she could still move like a normal person within the warehouse.
But moving out was out of question.
This blockage…they underestimated the enemy too much.
"W-Who?"