Checking back on Nathan and Lilith, Nathan materialized a car so they could leave the scene of dead soldiers.

"Ugh..." Nathan groaned with pain as he entered the driver's seat. Strangely, Lilith had not entered the car but was watching Nathan with concern.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Nathan asked.

"...Let me drive, Nathan," Lilith suggested.

"But why? I can drive...just fine."

"You're tired, aren't you?"

"Um..." Nathan murmured. Lilith's assumption was correct, and Nathan didn't have any counters.

"Just let me do this...at least." Lilith pleaded.

"Sigh...okay." Nathan relented as he got out, allowing her to take his place in the driver's seat.

"Thank you," Lilith expressed her gratitude to Nathan for relenting. After starting the car, she drove off.

The drive was somber as the couple was rather tired. Nathan, especially, felt an onset of drowsiness. Lilith recognized his sleepiness, so she drove slower to avoid wake him.

"I can see...that you've learned...to drive well," Nathan said in his drowsiness.

"Hehe, yeah. I did get my license."

"Ha...ha...ha." Nathan chuckled with exhaustion in his tone.

You were doing well for yourself...I'm sorry...Lilith.

With that, Nathan finally succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep, leaving Lilith to herself. As she drove, a vision flashed in her memory. It was her first killing just a few minutes ago.

Almost immediately, she reflexively put her hand over her face, as if trying to cover her trauma. Tears ran down her face as she started to sob.

No...now's not the time to cry...you can't let Nathan see you like this...you'll just burden him even more...

Wiping her face, she began to compartmentalize her trauma, so she could focus on driving. However, Lilith noticed an issue as she was driving.

"Uh oh...we're running out of gas," Lilith said as she noticed the fuel gauge nearing empty.

Fortunately, there should be a gas station nearby.

Little did Lilith know, her drive would not be normal, as they were spied on from several buildings away.

* * *

In the building were two super soldiers, watching Lilith as they drove past.

"Oh my! My infrared vision picked up something good, Cryostasis." The super soldier happily said to the other. His pupils were oddly bright red.

"What?" The man referred to as 'Cryostasis asked. "S-Class criminals, I'm assuming?"

"Yup! Nathan and a woman, probably an accomplice."

"Oh? Haha..." Cryostasis chuckled. "Looks like we'll be the first of the blessed hunters to get rid of an S-Class criminal in this war, Pyrostasis."

* * *

While Lilith drove, she noticed a gas station down the block.

Okay, good...let's do this quickly.

However, as Lilith made her way, Cryostasis descended from a building, landing right in front of her.

What!? Is that a super soldier!?

Cryostasis pointed at the car, making a finger gun gesture. Suddenly, from his finger, chilling air was fired off. Upon making contact with the road, the cold air immediately converted into ice, freezing a good portion.

Not grasping the situation, Lilith unknowingly drove over the ice. Almost immediately, Lilith found her control over the car to be severed. The car began to skid due to the reduced traction, frightening Lilith.

"OH NO!" Lilith shouted as she lost control, waking up Nathan.

"Huh, what's wrong--" Before Nathan realized, they crashed into a nearby tree.

"Oh my!" Cryostasis said.

"Ugh...are you okay, Lilith..." Nathan asked.

"Yeah...sorry about that." Lilith apologized. "We're being attacked...again."

My body's too tired for a fight...but I have to protect Lilith.

"Hurry and come out, guys," Cryostasis ordered. His super soldier uniform had a hood, which he was wearing over his head currently.

On his back was a circular, goo-like transparent container, having several transparent tubes connected to the goo. The tubes coiled around his arms until they went inside his forearms. The inside of the container contained a strange blue liquid, which flowed through the tubes and into his arms.

Having no choice, Nathan disembarked from the passenger seat. Figuring it would be better for them to stay together, Lilith exited the vehicle on Nathan's side too.

"Stay next to me..." Nathan whispered, which Lilith nodded.

"Cryostasis here," Cryostasis said.

"Pyrostasis here too," Pyrostasis said as he casually walked up.

Shit...two of them!?

Pyrostasis had the same attachments to his body as Cryostasis, except that the liquid circulating was red and not blue.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"We're here to execute you guys," Cryostasis said.

Not wasting any time, Nathan materialized an assault rifle and sprayed them with bullets. It was ineffective, however, as the bullets deflected off their body, even the seemingly fragile-looking tubes connected to them.

Those things on their bodies are tough, too?

Pyrostasis slowly raised his right, causing Nathan to go on guard. Not waiting to find out what he's planning, Nathan placed a couple of vehicles to shield himself.

Suddenly a burst of air was generated from Pyrostasis palm and travelled to the couple. Upon reaching them, the air inflicted light burns on Lilith and Nathan.

"Ouch!" Lilith yelped.

Shit!

Grabbing Lilith's hand, Nathan began to run.

"Running, are we?" Cryostasis asked with a smirk. "Not a bad decision."

* * *

Although running a bit sluggish, Nathan tried his best to escape with Lilith from their enemies.

"W-What do we do?" Lilith asked. "You're too tired...Maybe I--"

"No...not this...time, Lilith," Nathan said. "Even if you fight...these guys...are too strong."

"HEY GUYS!" Cryostasis yelled as he was chasing them on the roofs of buildings. "LEAVING SO SOON!?"

He suddenly made the finger gun gesture again, to which Nathan noticed. Cryostasis sent a chilling wave of air at them, but they barely avoided it with a clutch car placement by Nathan. As the air touched the car, however, it quickly froze the entire side.

"HAHA! HOW MUCH CARS DO YOU EVEN HAVE!?" Cryostasis shouted. Following up, chilling air generated from his hand, forming into a sphere of pure ice.

"HERE! CATCH!" Cryostasis warned as he winded up to throw it.

Does this guy have an ability--

Cryostasis tossed it, and Nathan placed yet another car. However, the ice ball was tossed with so much force that it lifted the car on impact, thrusting it towards them.

Shit!

Before the car slammed into them, Nathan recklessly touched it, re-storing it in his inventory.

"AH!!!" Nathan yelled as he clenched his hand, which was throbbing from making contact with the car.

"I-Is it broken!?" Lilith asked with concern filling her voice.

"N-No...I don't think it is...I stored it quickly, so I didn't take the full brunt...but still..."

Why doesn't this guy just charge at us...I'm sure he's physically superior...besides, where's the other guy...? Nathan thought as he squinted his eyes in suspicion.

"Wow! You aren't bad for a criminal!" Cryostasis complimented. "How about this then!?"

Raising his hand in the air, Cryostasis released a plume of chilling air into the environment, which immediately froze into the form of ice spikes. They began to rain down on Nathan.

Pulling Lilith close (making her blush), he materialized a riot shield to cover them both. As he ran, his riot shield was collecting ice spikes. Seeing this, Cryostasis simply smiled.

As Nathan blocked the spikes, Cryostasis abruptly appeared right in front of them, making the finger blaster gesture as before.

With widened eyes and a dumbfounded expression, Nathan couldn't react. At point-blank range, instead of punching them, Cryostasis released a large gust of chilling air on them. The wave blew them back several feet as they rolled across the ground.

The air in the atmosphere was chilling. It was as if it was winter now.

"Wow, I was half expecting you guys to die from that.' Cryostasis said.

Just as he said, they survived, however, they were in a bad condition. Lilith's right arm was covered in ice. She had frostbite on parts of her neck as well.

Nathan's skin was cracked on his entire left arm and there was ice and frostbite on different parts of his body. Every breath they took was visible, due to the coldness of the air.

Just when it couldn't get worse, Pyrostasis casually walked up from behind.

"What the hell...are you...guys." Nathan strained to say. He held Lilith close as that was the most he could do with his condition.

"Oh, you probably haven't seen any other super soldiers with things like these," Cryostasis said as he turned around and pointed at the goo-like container. "Let's just say after many...many experiments, we were turned into people that could withstand extremely low and extremely high temperatures," Cryostasis explained.

"Because of our resistance to those temperatures, we got this stuff," Pyrostasis interjected. "Liquid nitrogen and highly reactive liquid flowing throughout our bodies at all times."

"Our arms were even modified to be like a firearm! Look!" Cryostasis said as he screwed his hand off to show the inner workings. It was comprised of various mechanisms. "So the flowing liquid is the ammo and our arms are the guns."

As they monologued, Nathan and Lilith's conditions were slowly worsening. Suddenly, the elemental-like users appeared on a building far away. Of course, neither Nathan nor Lilith could have perceived their fast movements.

"Do you...know what happens...when cold air is rapidly heated?" Pyrostasis asked with a sadistic smile, alarming Nathan.

From his palm, warm air started to get generated.

Shit...I have to...do something...

The air Pyrostasis generated started to increase rapidly in heat as it acquired visibility. The air quickly became pure fire.

I won't...let you die, Lilith!

Right on time, Nathan placed several steel beam cages over himself and Lilith. Pyrostasis fired a blast of flames, which superheated the molecules in the cold atmosphere, resulting in an explosion.

The explosion was so powerful that a lot of the city block was affected by it, severely damaging buildings in the process and blowing away many of the steel beam cages that Nathan placed down. In one combo attack by the duo, destruction was brought to the environment.

Reveling in the destruction, the super soldiers spectated as they waited for the smoke to clear to confirm the criminals' deaths. When the smoke was gone, Nathan and Lilith were both lying on the ground.

"Hmm..." Pyrostasis said.

Suddenly, Nathan returned to his state of consciousness as he slowly got up. With disoriented vision, severe burns, and excessive blood loss, Nathan was conscious because of his adrenaline.

L-Lilith...?

He slowly looked around as his vision became slightly more clear.

"Wow, to think that he survived that...that's what you call annoying," Cryostasis said.

He located Lilith, who was lying on rubble. Her body was set in a very uncomfortable state while she was unconscious.

"L-Lilith...!" Nathan weakly called out as he slowly got up.

N--No. Please no!

Using the remainder of his strength, Nathan slowly made his way to Lilith. Her right arm and parts of her neck were significantly burnt, and she was also excessively bleeding like Nathan.

Seeing her state devastated Nathan. He was stunned to the point where he did not move any part of his body.

"L-Lilith?"

Suddenly, memories of their time in school started to flash in Nathan's mind. Of the times where she cooked food for him.

* * *

How does the spaghetti taste, Nathan?

Amazing, as always!

* * *

When they would always hang out.

* * *

You wanna watch the Talking Dead?

If you're watching it, I'm down.

* * *

And especially when she would always be there for him in hard times. In times when he'd get reduced to nothing more than tears.

* * *

Don't worry...it'll all be okay. You'll find the light...you always do, Nathan.

* * *

"Ahh...AAhhhh.." Nathan stuttered as tears started to fill his eyes. However, what might be the first fortunate thing that has happened to Nathan in a long time, or just another cruel ploy to regain his hopes, Lilith's chest was rising and falling, which Nathan realized with widened eyes.

Wasting no time, Nathan picked Lilith up and held her in a princess carry.

S-She's alive! Thank God!

"Let's put an end to this now!" Pyrostasis declared as he aimed at Nathan from the building he stood on with the finger gun gesture.

I...I can't even run...I'm in so much pain, that it feels like I'll pass out any minute! But I'll protect you! Even if I have to die!

Generating a fireball from his fingers, he prepared to shoot.

You said...your characters were valuable...so at least try to help...BASTARD DEVELOPER!!!

"SAY GOODBYE, CRIMINAL!" Pyrostasis said. However, as he was about to shoot, the container on his back, along with the tubes, started to glow.

"Huh?" Pyrostasis uttered in confusion.

"What the hell--" Before Cryostasis could finish, Pyrostasis's liquid combusted, engulfing them in a large explosion.

Nathan had used his body as a shield to protect Lilith in anticipation of the enemies' final blow, but he was confused why he felt a large gust of wind (from the explosion) instead.

His confusion was quickly dispelled as someone approached.

"H-Hey, Nathan." It was none other than Zack. He was still heavily injured due to the altercation with Leon and Ada, but he still came to the rescue.

"Z...Zack?"

"Yeah. Your friend...is here...to save you!" Zack declared.

"Ugh...I'm not...your...friend." Nathan muttered as his adrenaline wore off. Losing the remainder of his energy, Nathan fell unconscious. Zack watched as Nathan fell to the ground, lowering his head in sorrow.

"Sorry, Nathan..." Zack muttered in a downtrodden tone. "It's all...my fault..."