The mountain summit at a very tall Mountain was shouldered by cloud and fog, appearing much like paradise.
It was a mountain that looked like it was still untouched by human civilization. Covered by tall trees and plants, this kind of mountain should’ve been almost extinct in this highly technological era.
However, because of the new changes of the world, this was now one of the many places newly born from Earth.
As if the world reverted back to its primeval era; pollutions, toxins, and contamination of the world were as if such things didn’t happen.
It was the world of Adam and Eve…a world akin to a paradise!
--- --
On a black rock jutting from the edge of the mountain cliff a blue clad young man meditated: he was training with his eyes closed, breathing in and out in a perfect cycle.
After a short minute of staying like this, he slowly opened his eyes. His shoulder length black hair was lifted by the wind and floated in the air.
“Mark, what will you do now?” Seeing that the young man had finally left his training mode, a red clothed youth leaning on a tree asked.
“Simple.” The blue clad young man turned his face and looked at the youth. With a smile, he answered, “Aren’t you missing the others, Daniel?”
“I did, but don’t forget we did something unforgivable to them.” The youth’s face was dyed with regret.
He fought down the bitter smile that formed on his face as he swallowed his bitter memory. “… I don’t know what they would do if they saw us…”
“Well, who knows if they could still remember it? Except for that troublesome princess, that is…”
The blue clad youth named Mark gracefully rose, furrowed his brows and shook his head with suspicion.
“Judging from the way she was acting, even being called as a Divination Princess, she should have returned just like us. As for the others, who knows…”
As he stood at the cliff’s edge, the wind brushed past, giving him a heroic feeling.
“Maybe she was with Keneth right now…”
Hearing that name, Daniel’s eyes narrowed and murderous intent flickered.
“That bastard!” Daniel gritted his teeth as he recalled the very human he hated.
“Calm down, Daniel. If he didn’t remember anything then he was without blame but if he does so,"
"I will also help you get your revenge.”
Daniel turned silent for a moment and then he turned his back to Mark.
“… I promised you that.”
Mark only watched his back; his face wore a bitter smile.
They have lost many things in that world, not just Daniel, even him or the others.
He has regretted many things.
... And one of them was the betrayal he did to his friends.
Although he also couldn’t forgive Keneth, as for the three, he really couldn’t find himself feeling anything but guilt.
They thought that that guy would certainly join them after knowing their purpose but who would expect he would kill himself before that.
Because of that, he despised Celty.
She actually betrayed humanity and joined the monster’s side? And although they know how she desired Allen but to capture him and forced him to be with her… she’s crazy!
She’s nothing but a lunatic!
At that time, they were so surprised they almost couldn’t believe it. They had thought that Allen and Celty would have joined hands together with Alma to lead the [ Dawn Alliance ] even without them but they had never expected for things to happen in the worst possible outcome.
When they were gathered in the hall, Celty suddenly appeared out of nowhere and cried out to them.
She’s gone mad from Allen’s death and even blamed it on them.
Because of that, Maria lost her senses in anger and attacked her, causing for their cover to blow up and died.
But they couldn’t blame her; Maria treated Allen as her little brother and even doted him.
And now all of it was lost…
Mark stared at the sky.
Regret, guilt, lament, remorse, sorrow… countless negative feelings colored his face.
They have betrayed their friends but they still couldn’t save their world. These regrettable actions, no matter how they justify it, it was all in vain!
Then he heard Daniel,
“I’m going to call the guys and tell them to find a way to contact the Bianchi Family. Or maybe we could just go over there, she should still be in Milan.”
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“Ah…”
With Daniel disappearing into the forest, Mark was left staring at the crimson sky.
A long while later, he finally let out a long breath. He slowly closed his eyes and the expression on his face held some bitterness.
Would they forgive them…?
--- ---
A lonely crescent moon hung in the pitch black night as its faint, cool, light blanketed the vast land.
Within the pitch dark forest, a weak bonfire danced gracefully, bringing threads of warm light to the quiet and dark night.
Besides the bonfire, a young man was leaning against a tree trunk and absent-mindedly prodded the fire with a piece of branch in his hand.
Including today, it has already been five days since Allen left Alkrasha’s domain.
Most of the initial freshness had faded along with his lonely journey. A faint feeling of homesickness instead began to slowly climb into the young man’s heart. – though it’s not with his hometown but to the people he left behind like his sister, Mia, Aileen and the others.
But for some reason, his recollection somehow included Alkrasha and Thumbeline.
After randomly placing another piece of a branch into the flame, causing it to once again burn brightly, Allen rested his chin on his palm lazily, “What should I do now?”
Looking within the vast, dense jungle, one could only see a never ending verdant-green color.
This forest was made up of giant trees that are probably hundreds of years old, all stretching up toward the sky for as far as he could see. However, the foliage was so dense he couldn't see very far.
A full moon hung in the black starry sky, emitting a bloody glow.
All around him, insects buzz and nocturnal birds sang. In the distance, he heard the roar of a wild beast.
The fragrance of plants tickled his nose.
A gentle breeze would occasionally blow over.
Immediately afterward, numerous huge green ripples would begin spreading through the verdant sea of trees from near and far, finally disappearing at the edge of one’s sight. It gave a very spectacular appearance.
--- ---
When he arrived at this forest, Allen was extremely thankful that he was now a Lv3 superhuman.
I walk for the whole day. Sh*t!
If he wasn’t, Allen would have been drenched in sweat. He would be on the ground trying to catch his breath.
He would then be desperate to look for a water source to clean and refresh his body.
“Now then, what should I do…?”
“Chu…?” Lightning raised its head and cutely tilt its neck.
“I don’t even have any clue as to where am I right now.” The corner of Allen’s mouth opened as he laughed dryly: “…the VIT Communicator is still not working so I can’t use a map or GPS.”
“Chu…”
“Well, it’s not that bad. This really feels like as if I’m on an adventure… I feel like I return back on those days where I’m still alone, wandering from place to place… well, of course, I’m not alone this time, cause you are here~”
Allen affectionately pets the little guy’s head before lying on the ground and closed his eyes.
Truthfully, within a forest like this, monsters roam around… night or day. It’s extremely dangerous and not the least bit safe.
You could get attacked any moment by wild beasts or monsters.
However, Allen didn’t the least bit care. In the first place, just with his semi-passive skill [ Monster King’s Prestige ] as long as the monster isn’t Lv5 and above, they won’t even dare to pass through the place where he was at.
Allen closed his eyes and immediately entered a half-sleep mode, or in fact only a shallow sleep. Allen trained this kind of skill whenever he could to avoid being attacked while sleeping.
This is the best method to rest your body and mind as well as avoiding being ambushed in sleep, especially in this kind of place. And so, even if just a bit of movement could immediately wake him up.
With that not enough, Allen’s body suddenly lit up for a moment and what followed after was small Kindle golden lights that looked like fireflies floating around the place. Glowing and then disappearing as if it was just an illusion.
When these small lights touch other lights, it will suddenly cause a spark before separating again.
With these lights, he had total confidence that any ripple in the air caused by something approaching, or any disturbances in the wind caused by something moving rapidly to him, would immediately awaken him.
Because with these lights, he is able to listen to the electrical sound waves that traverse the very air itself.
This was one of the greatest skill he came up with from using the [ Goro Goro no Mi ] when he noticed that he could control the electrons existing in the air to analyze his surroundings. It gives him a radar-like sense of everything around him.
He called this skill; [ Sonar ]
A peaceful smile was on Allen’s face, as he began to drift off into sleep.
The night slowly grew deeper. Curled in Allen’s bosom, the little [ Lightning Mouse ] ‘Lightning’ also began to emit extremely light, quiet snoring sounds.
Besides the bonfire, the young man lied on the ground with his hands crossed behind his head and the surroundings once again became quiet. There was only the soft crackling sound of the firewood and the low ringing sound of the insects.
The night wind grew cool as well, but right now, it was summer in this forest. Only at night would it feel cool and refreshing. In the day, it felt stiflingly hot.
The whole night went smoothly…not even little mosquitoes came disturbing, giving Allen a good rest.
--- ---
When dawn broke out the sky and the blushing sun came peeking out from the clouds, Allen was already wide awake. Stretching his limbs, he prepared himself for a long walking journey once again.
Chuuu…
Lightning rubbed its eyes with its paws and copied Allen’s movements, stretching its limbs.
Deeply breathing in the fresh and cool morning air, Allen turned around and walked towards the dense forest without looking back.
Another long journey would start again!
He didn’t know where this place was and what part of the continent was he in. The VIT Com was still unusable.
Just as Allen was walking through the woods, a giant shadow flew over him overhead.
Two reptiles were flying high up in the sky. Furthermore, these were black pterosaurs with only the difference was these flying lizards could breathe fire like small dragons.
The flying monsters were spreading their wings casually, gliding through the air.
“Should I try flying…right now?”
Allen thought for himself. Well, since there aren’t any pressing matters to attend to at the moment, in short, I’m bored, now would be a good time to try it out.
Besides, the weather was great today! The vast expanse of the sky seemed like a large blue crystal, with nary a blemish in sight.
It was a great day for training…
However, the only issue one might find would be that the clarity of the air caused the sunshine to be rather glaring on the eyes.
Well, of course, Allen wasn’t thinking about flying using his electric powers as he wasn’t good enough to become like a certain Railgun. However, generating wings to fly isn’t impossible.
Allen clenched his fist and instantly black carapaces were growing closely packed from his back then to his shoulders. The pupils of his eyes vanished was then replaced by a white, compounded eyes.
[ Insect Wing Manifestation ]
Like a blossoming flower, Allen’s back suddenly blooms a soft and fragile looking pair of wings that looked like those from a Swallowtail butterfly. The sized almost reaching a meter and was dyed in black color, with a trademark green-blue splotch in the shape of a half-moon on the hind wings.
The forewing has a border of cream-colored, oval spots and in the middle portion of the wing was a light blue colored, moon-shaped spots.
The wings were small and crumpled, however, Allen suddenly feels as if something was surging from within his body towards the pairs of wings on his back. And within four to five minutes, it was already looking normal, with the size easily bypassing the one-meter mark.
However, the wings were obviously still too soft to fly. As Allen tried moving it, to no avail... It only moved a bit and then stopped afterward.
Looking at this, Allen could only bitterly smile and decided to walk while waiting for it to completely hardened.
And finally, within a couple of hours, he finally managed to open and close them.
However, there is still one last problem…
How do I fly…?