Under the Veil of Night

In the building, Kevin and Patrick continued their journey. Patrick eyed Kevin confusedly. Ever since he got into the room to check on the two people, his nephew seemed off. It was not like his skill deteriorated, but it looked like something bothered him to no end.

"Brat, do you find her in the camera?"

Kevin shook his head. His eyes narrowed when a monster leaped up to them. Slightly changing his course, he moved sideways and cut the monster into half. Right after that, he continued his run without paying any attention to the one he cut.

"Why does your face look extremely scary?"

"It's nothing," Kevin replied. He just felt that Iris's words rang loudly in his ears. Even though he wanted to meet with Kanae again as fast as possible, if meeting her meant her death then he wouldn't want it to happen. What he wanted the most was her safety and moreover, her happiness.

If something happened to her because of him, he would never be able to forgive himself.

The two of them continued their advance and went down another floor. They were surprised to see that the hallway was directed in two sections. One way was heading to the left and the other one heading to the right.

"Brat, where do you want to go?" Patrick asked.

Kevin didn't immediately reply. He glanced to look at the two directions as he wondered which path they should take. He knew that the left part was heading towards the building again, which meant, the laboratory should be there. However, he was not sure where the path to go down again was.

The camera didn't show the way very clearly as there was barely any that watched this building. It was as if Ferdinand was confident that his men would never betray him.

Never betray?

Kevin was immersed in his thoughts when he heard a loud voice coming from the right direction. The two of them looked at one another before they rushed to the right side, wanting to know what caused the voice. It didn't take long for them to see a man standing calmly in the middle of the hallway: Jeff.

Beside him, the doors to the other rooms were open, but the light was turned off. Kevin had never gone here before, so he was not sure what was inside the rooms. Just as they were about to approach Jeff, a surge of monsters came out from two of the rooms, blocking their way completely.

"You go to Jeff!" Patrick bellowed. "I'll handle them!"

As he said that, his spear danced and killed the monsters. He made himself their center of attention as he attacked rapidly. With each thrust, a monster would fall down and die.

On the other hand, Kevin charged forward. He slashed the monsters before him and dashed forward, making a straight line. As there were simply too many monsters around him, it took him some time to reach the end and found Jeff standing not far from him.

Jeff smirked. "It's quite amazing for you to reach this far, but this is your end."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Kevin shifted his position as a monster attacked him from behind. His hand bent down slightly, making a trajectory to the back as he thrust the sword into the monster's chest. Blood flowed out of his body as he fell down to the floor.

All along, Jeff watched Kevin's movement calmly. It was as if he knew about Kevin's prowess, so he was not surprised to see this man managed to fight like that.

"Next will be your head," Kevin remarked coldly.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Jeff raised a device near his mouth. "Protect me."

Kevin didn't know who Jeff said that to. He stomped on the ground and made his way to Jeff's place. Just when his sword was about to reach Jeff's position, a shadow made its way to him and blocked the attack.

Clang!

Kevin wanted to attack again when it dawned to him that the one standing before him was none other than Kanae. His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the familiar face in front of him. She was the same person he vowed to never hurt in this lifetime.

"Kanae…why….?"

Kanae pushed Kevin back using her power and the man willingly stepped back. He eyed Kanae with confusion filled his eyes. Although his expression barely changed, his eyes told everything to her. He didn't understand why she was standing for an enemy.

Even she herself knew that she didn't want to do this. Unfortunately, the device Professor Taren planted caused her to follow the direction of Jeff unconditionally. She hated herself for it. If not because of her carelessness in that fight, she would never get caught.

"Kevin, I…"

"Shut up," Jeff said again to the device.

Kanae shut her mouth unwillingly. Her eyes were staring deep into Kevin's eyes as if she wanted to tell him that she couldn't act on her own freewill anymore. Once the order was given, she couldn't deny it.

Realization dawned to Kevin. He looked at Kanae and the device on Jeff's hand as Iris's words rang in his head.

'Because you… kill her….'

Fear enveloped his body as he looked back at Kanae. No…. He didn't want to be the one to kill her. There must be a way for him to reach Jeff without having to pass Kanae.

If he had to kill her, he would prefer killing himself first.

There was no way he would kill her. His eyes showed deep worry and anxiousness as he stared at Kanae's eyes. Was there no other way than fighting and immobilizing her?

If it was only someone who looked like Kanae, he would never hesitate to kill that person. But it was different when the person in question was the one he loved so much. He wanted to protect her, indulge her, and make her happy…

Killing her was the thing he would never want to do the most.

Jeff snickered when he saw the two of them stood in a stalemate.

"You won't be able to reach me, Ryukalin Clan Head. Just stand there and accept your fate. You'll die in your girlfriend or fiancée or whatever's hand or she'll die in your hand."

Kanae looked back to Kevin. Thanks to Shiro tampering the medicine last night, she could slightly control her power a bit. However, it was not enough to completely suppress the controller. At most, she would only be able to make sure that she would not fight him to death.

"Jeff, I won't let you get away with this," Kevin said through gritted teeth.

Jeff arched his eyebrows. "After you have finished fighting with her, do you think you will still have the strength to fight with me? Dream on!"

Kevin's eyes narrowed. He lunged forward to attack Jeff once more. However, Kanae dashed from her position and blocked Kevin's attack once again. Even though her power was not as big as Kevin, her speed was slightly faster than him. After all, she focused her ability on her speed more than strength.

Clang!

After the loud clang, Kevin jumped back again. Looking at the speed that Kanae showed him, he knew that it would be close to impossible to pass by her and reached Jeff. Her speed alone would be more than enough to surpass him in terms of protecting.

There was only little chance that he could bypass her.

Jeff laughed. "You two are the most powerful people in this city after Ferdinand. But if you two face one another, I wonder which one of you will come victorious."

The two didn't say anything. They had never fought each other before as they usually fight side by side.

Jeff shook his head and raised the device to his mouth with a large smirk on his face.. "Fight him to death."