Beautiful lanterns illuminated the city as the sun dipped below the horizon, and the moon began its ascent into the sky.

We reached Maceria's Transport gate at nightfall. Guild Master Gray was seated on a bench near the City's Transport Gate, and his surprise was evident when he noticed me accompanied by a young female foreigner.

Suppressing a laugh at the Old Man's expression, I approached, introducing Dia.

"Who is this beautiful gal, Asriel?" Old Gray inquired. "Dia, one of my friends from the US," I replied.

"Good Eve, Sir..." Dia greeted. "Dia, let me introduce you to this city’s leader, Guild Master Gray," I said, presenting the Old Man.

"Diana Eisenhawk, Sir Gray," she added, shaking the Old Man’s hand.

"It’s safe now to go outside, but be sure not to go alone," I advised. "Did you defeat the attacker, Asriel?" Old Gray inquired.

"Ah..., about that! I’ll tell you the details later, but now I should go to the Bellflower Diner and meet my friends," I said, a bit flustered.

"Okay, and take a good rest, young man," Old Gray suggested.

"What do you mean, 'good rest,' Old Man?" I asked, confused, as I began walking toward the Bellflower Diner.

"Nothing" Old Gray replied with a smile.

Dia smiled faintly and then followed me a few steps behind my back.

The enticing aroma of delicious food enveloped us as we stepped into the Diner.

Finding my friends in the left corner, I noticed Claire and Rain enjoying their sweet dessert, Neil dozing off, and Ash lost in thought while munching on fried Sand Fowl.

Claire's eyes lit up as she saw me, and she walked over, playfully punching my chest.

"I’m glad that you’re alright, Asriel," she said happily.

"Is she your girlfriend, Riel?" Dia chimed in.

I saw Neil waking up from his nap, while Ash and Rain's eyes shifted toward Dia.

"Not yet, I guess," I replied.

"You never change, Riel," she teased.

"Who is this blondie?" Rain asked.

"Diana Eisenhawk, a friend of mine who lives in the US," I answered.

"Did you find the attacker?" Ash inquired.

"Yeah," I replied nonchalantly.

"Did you defeat it?" Neil asked, still half-awake.

"About that, I’m gonna explain while we eat," I replied.

Dia looked at me with a hint of guilt.

"Uncle Ed, two portions of my favorite, and make the other one spicy," I ordered.

"So what happened to the attacker?" Rain asked.

"The attacker is my friend Dia, and it seems that everything was just a misunderstanding," I replied, doing my best to explain.

"Misunderstanding? She almost killed us," Rain stated, a bit annoyed with what she heard.

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to attack you guys.

I just thought that you were the bad guys," Dia apologized, attempting to provide some context.

"What do you mean, bad guys?" Rain questioned.

"All I saw was the fight, and a person there just slashed his opponent in half," Dia continued.

"Normally, a common law-abiding person wouldn’t slash someone without a second thought," she explained while looking at me.

I averted my eyes and started eating my dinner.

"I never thought that it was Asriel since I couldn’t very well see his face because of the smokescreen, even after using my skill Hawk-Eye," she stated.

Hawk-Eye is a Ranger’s base skill that allows them to see far distances, similar to a scope or binoculars.

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"So why did you kill that guy, Riel?" Dia asked.

"That person killed someone I know and held my friends hostage," I answered.

"And it seems that he is part of Gladius," I continued.

"What do you mean, Asriel?" Dia asked in confusion.

I grabbed Durandal from my inventory and showed her.

Her eyes widened with surprise as she looked at the sword more closely.

"Why is the legendary sword Durandal with you? Asriel, answer me!" she commanded.

"My cousin got it from one of the random box rewards for getting a high rank on the HEO Beta Test," I answered.

The reason why Dia was so flustered is that Durandal is under the jurisdiction of Genesis Third Branch.

"Tell me, Dia, are all the five swords kept in the First to the Fifth Branch also missing?" I asked.

"The swords just vanished a few days after Reichsschwert and Joyeuse were stolen," she stated.

My mind went numb for a bit with all the information; it seems what’s happening now is connected to Gladius.

I looked at my friends' faces, and I could understand their confusion.

"Asriel and I used to be part of a secret group under UNION," Dia explained.

I thought of stopping her, but then I realized that my friends should know this.

"We were members of GENESIS, a group tasked with protecting and retrieving world relics at any cost," Dia continued.

"Dia functioned there as our Sniper," I added.

"Sniper, you mean a military personnel that shoots from afar?" Neil asked.

"Yes, to put it simply," Dia answered.

"And Asriel?" Claire said in curiosity.

"He was our Close Combat Specialist," Dia stated.

"But Asriel is just 17, and he is probably in his early teens back then," Claire said in disbelief.

"Genesis Zero Branch is composed mostly of people in their early teens with extreme talent in combat," Dia stated.

"I was still thirteen when I became part of Genesis.

After all, Dia and I were Zero Branch's very first members," I stated.

"And the last surviving members, excluding my grandpa, who was the Zero Branch Commander," Diana said in a sad voice.

"What do you mean the last surviving members?" Claire said.

"On our last mission to retrieve Durandal, we were set up by one of our information brokers.

It was our ninth mission," she answered.

"We were outnumbered and cornered, fatally injuring three of our precious members," she continued.

"Is that the reason why you lost your left eye?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, kinda," Dia replied.

I felt numb as I looked at the dog tags of my precious teammates hanging on my neck.

"So you really still keep those close to you, Asriel," Dia looked at my hand touching my fallen comrades' dog tags.

"It's a reminder for me when I'm about to make a big decision and whenever I miss them," I answered.

Dia teared up for a bit as she remembered.

I removed the silver chain from my neck and slowly detached the three dog tags.

I held them in my hand as I read the names.

"Alexander Makarov, our Driver and Dia's Spotter, loves cooking and always acts as an older brother to Dia," I stated.

"Dakarai Spear, Zero Branch Demolition and Explosive Specialist, and lastly Zero Branch field commander and gunner Yui Hasegawa," I continued.

I could see the sadness in Claire and Rain's eyes, while Neil looked at me, wondering, and then suddenly he asked.

"I'm just curious, but if you guys are ambushed and cornered, how come Asriel seems unscathed?" Neil asked.

"Neil!" Claire shouted.

I just gave a smile, saying that it was okay.

"The reason was someone took the bullet for me," I answered.

Dia looked at me as if she was going to say something.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself, Riel.

Yui saved you because she loves you,” Dia stated.

“And you are the only reason why the whole team managed to get back home,” she continued.

“What do you mean the reason?” Ash asked.

“Riel took a pill back then, a secret drug made by the first branch, a last resort if ever we were in a pinch.

It greatly increases the user's speed and strength as it unlocks the physical limitations for an hour,” Dia answered.

“That is a wonderful drug!” Ash said. “But it cost Riel a lot…” Dia continued.

“What do you mean, Diana?” Claire asked.

“The side effect of the drug is it drastically shortens one's life if they luckily did not die after taking it,” she answered.

“I’m still alive though,” I said with a cheerful smile.

“And the best thing was Riel took the pill twice; the second one was during the tenth mission, where he went alone after our fallen friends were cryogenically frozen before they died because of their fatal wounds,” Dia said sarcastically.

My friends just looked at me in disbelief.

“Before I forget, Grandpa wanted to give this to you,” Dia said as she handed me a rolled-up document.

Why would General Eisenhawk send his granddaughter to just give me a document, I thought to myself.

“It’s a compilation of Mom’s last research and the sixth branch encryption of the recently found ancient scrolls,” Dia said, as if reading my mind.

“Granda didn’t say it's confidential, but I think you should read it first alone,” she continued.

I put the documents in my inventory as I finished my dinner.

Claire and Rain’s eyes were throwing daggers at me, while Neil and Ash were still taking in all the information they just heard.

“You’re not gonna die, right Asriel?” Claire asked worriedly.

“I won’t promise,” I said while giving a faint smile.

It was already late in the evening when everyone headed home.

I escorted Dia to a nearby Inn where she could safely spend the night.

We both agreed that bringing her home would probably be a very bad idea.

“Goodnight, Riel,” Dia said softly as she headed to her room.

“Goodnight, Dia, see you in the morning,” I replied.

I headed home at a quick pace as my mind was thinking about what information Dia’s Mom and the sixth branch left us.