*thud thud*

  *SPLAT*

  His cut body falls lifelessly to the floor, and a little bit of blood splatters towards Quroe. Though none actually touch him. He moved away from the body at the speed of sound and appeared outside the building through the gap that he created earlier.

  He grows his pair of aura wings from his back and summons about a million of his aura blades in the air. His wings moved on their own, and all one million of his blades pointed their tips towards the building.

  *SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH*

  Within an entire second, the entire building was stormed and cut piece by piece by one million of Quroe’s aura blade. Within the blink of an eye, the entire building was cut into a size smaller than dust, and the building, complete with everything inside, including all the corpses, firearms, blood, and whatnot, had disappeared, leaving a giant square hole about 50 meters deep behind.

  Quroe dismisses all of his aura blades as well as his pair of wings.

  “. . .”

  “(It’s finally over. Now, no one shall ever hunt her down ever again. At least for a while. But if that man, whoever it was to Luna, still wants to bring her back. . . I might have to discuss this with her.)”

  Quroe has single-handedly shut down the big underworld organization WASP without breaking a sweat.

  He engulfs himself again with his black and red aura and flies over towards Luna. He reaches her in no time, lands in front of her, and turns off his aura.

  “Luna! I’m done! How are you feeling? Better?”

  *sobs sobs*

  Luna is still crying and sitting down on the snow, though not as intensely as she was. The pain is still overwhelming and hurts so much, but she’s getting used to it bit by bit.

  “No. But I am *sobs sobs* starting to get used to the sharp pain*sobs sobs*.”

  “I see.”

  Quroe crouches down to her level on the snow.

  “Our deal is done! Nobody else is going to come after you now!”

  *!*

  Luna looks at Quroe’s face.

  “Thank you, Quroe-san! *sobs sobs* But . .”

  “But?”

  “In the past, when one chaser failed to capture me, that guy*sobs sobs* hired a new one the next day! So I don’t think the main issue has been solved here *sobs sobs*.”

  “That guy. Is he your father?”

  “*sobs sobs* That isn’t quite right. . . He’s not my father. . .”

  “So who is he then? A distant relative of some sort?”

  “The only way I can describe him is that he’s my mother’s husband.”

  Quroe scratches the back of his head in confusion.

  “Isn’t that. . . what a father is to the child? What is going on inside your family?”

  “It is a long story. The Eriniva family; they are not exactly my family.”

  “Huh?”

  “Quroe-san! Please use the bright sword that you use to absorb someone’s negative emotions from people on me! I’ll share with you my past!”

  “. . .Are you sure? This is basically an invasion of privacy.”

  “I don’t mind it if it’s you, Quroe-san!”

  “Is that so?”

  “Please knock me out gently, Quroe-san! That would at least made me not have to endure this pain for a while.”

  “No, there’s no need!”

  “Eh? Why? Doesn’t the Sword only work when you use it on someone’s unconscious?”

  “I always knocked them out to make sure I get the right memories. When someone is being knocked unconscious by someone they have no idea about, they’ll mistakenly think that they’ll die, so their heart will automatically recall the strongest emotions they currently have, no matter what! But if the person themselves is willing to share their memories, we don’t have to knock them out.”

  “Eh? Is that so?”

  “Yeah! Then I’m taking a look at your memories.”

  “Be my guest.”

  Quroe summons the Sword of Purification in his right hand, and he stabs Luna right in her chest. After a few seconds, the Sword turns black, and Quroe pulls the Sword out and stabs himself in the chest with the blackened Sword.

  *!!*

  And so, as if a bunch of videos appeared inside Quroe’s head, he receives the painful memories of Luna’s past, where she was unloved, unwanted, and being chased to the ends of the world.

  .

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  .

  .

  In the skies of the Southern side of the South Pole, there are two people flying high above the clouds freely.

  *FUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHHHH*

  “Brrrrrrrr!! It’s cold!!”

  “Hmm, that really is obvious! Maybe it is not a good idea to wear a no-sleeved shirt to a cold place!”

  Light is currently flying with Lily being carried on his back.

  Lily is shaking and trembling from the extreme cold temperature in the sky.

  “BRRRRRRRR!!!”

  “Lily, can’t you use your power to block the cold?”

  “I can! But it’s complex when I am touching you. . .”

  “Ah! I get it! Let’s do this then!”

  *?*

  *BWWWOOOOOOOOSSSHHH*

  Light suddenly leaned down and blasted himself diagonally downwards towards the snow, 1200m below.

  “HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

  Lily was startled, and she gripped both of Light’s shoulders as hard as he can out of fear. She also leans her face against his back in fear.

  “OUCH!! LILY!! YOU’RE GRIPPING TOO HARD!! IT HURTS!!”

  “YOUR FAULT, LIGHT-KUN!! WHY DID YOU SUDDENLY GO DOWNWARD FAST LIKE THIS? HIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!”

  *THUMP*

  Contrary to how fast Light was descending, the impact when he landed on the snow was very underwhelming. Both of his transformed feet absorbed any impact, velocity, acceleration, weight, mass, gravity, and so on. He didn’t make a mess on the snow at all.

  *TRSH*

  Lily hops off Light’s back, and she immediately sits down on the snow.

  “HIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! COOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!”

  “What do you think is gonna happen if you drop your ass into the snow. . .”

  “L-LIGHT-KUN!! PLEASE, DON’T TALK ABOUT MY ASS SO CASUALLY!!” shouts Lily embarrassedly.

  “That’s not what I was getting at. . .”

  “IT’S BECAUSE YOU SUDDENLY NOSEDIVED LIKE THAT THAT I AM SHAKING RIGHT NOW!!”

  “I apologize, Lily. . . It’s really weird seeing the deadly Queen of Time being this bothered by speed.”

  “I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU, IT’S BECAUSE I AM USUALLY THE ONE IN CONTROL OF MY SPEED!! WHEN I AM NOT, IT’S STILL SCARY FOR ME JUST LIKE FOR ANY OTHER PEOPLE!!”

  “I-I apologize, Lily.” said Light as his face frowns a little.

  *!*

  Lily immediately jumps up and stands up. She runs to Light and embraces him.

  “I’m sorry, Light-kun! It wasn’t that much of a big deal! Please don’t be sad! Please don’t make such a sad face!”

  Lily apologizes and leans her face into Light’s chest.

  “I-I’m sorry too, Lily! I didn’t mean anything with that frown! I promise! It was just me expressing my apology to you. . .”

  Light hugs Lily back and puts his right hand over her head.

  “I’m sorry too, once again, Light-kun, for making such a big deal out of the silliest matter. . .”

  “I don’t mind it, Lily. You look lovely and adorable when you’re full of expressions like that.” said Light with a smile.

  Lily lifts her head away from his chest and looks up towards his face. They are both staring deeply into each other’s eyes.

  “(She’s so pretty. . .)”

  “(He’s so dreamy. . .)”

  They both secretly admire each other’s faces in their own heads at the same time. Without realizing it, their face gets closer and closer together. It’s like they both are drawn by each other’s gazes subconsciously.

  *!!!*

  They both immediately let go of each other’s hugs and immediately turn away from each other and enter their battle stance.

  “. . .”

  But there is literally nothing in the vicinity. This is just an empty, open, and vast snowfield in the South Pole after all. They both drop their stances and guard down. They face towards each other once again with such a defeated mood.

  “I genuinely thought that she was here to interrupt us. . .” said Light with a disappointed tone.

  “I thought the same too. . . How annoying it is that her antics have been so planted into our minds that we are now being overly cautious when she’s not even here. . .” said Lily with a disappointed tone.

  *SIGH*

  They both let out a disappointed sigh in harmony.

  *FUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHHH*

  A cold breeze suddenly brushes against their skins.

  *!!!*

  “BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! L-L-L-LIGHT-KUN!! I FORGOT!! DIDN’T YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS COLD? T-T-T-THE REASON WHY WE STOPPED HERE ALL OF A SUDDEN?”

  “BRRRRRRR!!! Y-Y-Y-YEAH RIGHT!! WAIT A SECOND!!”

  Light transforms his right hand, and it blackens. He pointed his blackened hand forward and opened a wormhole, two meters tall, 50cm wide, in an oval shape.

  “Let’s change into our winter clothes!”

  “Oh, good idea!”

  Light pokes his head and both of his hands into the wormhole. This wormhole is connected to a space in front of a drawer back in Light’s room. He opens the drawer and searches for a pair of winter clothing, one for him and one for Lily.

  *!*

  “Wait a minute, Light-kun! How are we gonna change our outfit? You can’t possible asked me to change here in the middle of a snowfield, do you?” asks Lily with a face that turns slightly red.

  Light can hear voices coming through his wormhole, so he heard Lily’s words perfectly, like normal.

  “Lily! Who do you take me for? Are you saying I am the kind of guy who’ll let his girlfriend be naked in the middle of the South Pole? We’re just wearing the winter clothes over our current clothing! That way, it will be even warmer than actually changing our clothes!”

  “. . .”

  Lily’s face went even redder, and she pouted her mouth.

  “I apologize for doubting my Light-kun. . .” said Lily in a rather quiet volume with her head slightly down.

  “Huh? What was that?”

  “N-Nothing. . .”

  After a few seconds, Light finally gets out of his wormhole and closes it.

  “Here!”

  Light gives Lily the winter clothing.

  “T-Thanks!”

  Lily takes it, and they both quickly wear them.

  Light is now wearing a long-sleeved black turtleneck over his hoodie, and Lily wears the same outfit as well.

  “Uuhh, Light-kun. . . This is not exactly winter clothing. . .”

  “Y-Yeah, sorry! Indonesia is a tropical country, so I never really had to buy winter clothing before. . .”

  “A-Anyway, let’s continue, Light-kun! This feels better already! We’re close! I can almost see a shadow far away in the distance.”

  “Yeah! That should be the South Pole branch of the facility. I hope this is the right facility this time.”

  Lily hops onto Light’s back. He transforms both of his feet and jumps high above the clouds. He gathers two whirlwinds on both of his feet and flies forward towards the shadow below.

  “How many facilities have we visited again, Lily?”

  “I memorized them, Light-kun! This would be our 59th facility! All the other 58 facilities we’ve trespassed so far have zero connection to the one from my past. This is so confusing. What exactly is this facility, and why is it so elusive?”

  “Two possible options! Either it is a complicated mess, and the UNO is involved, or this is just Martin’s doing.”

  “. . .”

  Lily froze a little bit after hearing Martin’s name, and Light noticed this quickly.

  “Sorry, Lily! I shouldn’t have brought up his name so suddenly. . .”

  “It’s alright, Light-kun! You didn’t do it with ill intent. I understand.”

  “Prepare yourself, Lily! We’ve arrived!”

  “Alright!”

  Light suddenly nosedived again, but this time Lily was prepared, and she didn’t freak out.

  *THRS*

  He lands safely on the snow with underwhelming impact as per usual. Lily quickly hops off his back.

  About 20 meters in front of them, the South Pole branch of the facility stands tall. It is a wide building standing about 20 meters tall, and is 100x250m square. It has eight floors based on the rows of windows on the front side of the wall.

  The building is mostly white to help camouflage it within the blizzard and hailstorm, which often happens in this region. There is a giant metal circular door, the kind that is often seen in secure bunkers, on the front and the center of the building. This seems to be the only entrance to this building. The building itself is surrounded entirely by a brick wall, three meters tall, that has been painted white, with a single gate on the same side as the giant metal door.

  “Lily, that metal door seems similar to the one from your past. No other facilities have this giant metal door if I’m not mistaken.”

  “Yeah! High chance we are in the right place.”

  Light turned towards Lily.

  “So, are you ready?”

  *Inhale exhale*

  Lily takes a deep breath before she answers.

  “Yes, Light-kun! Let’s go!”

  *!!*

  But before they even took the first step forward, something was shot towards them.

  *BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM*

  And it exploded on contact right between where they stand.