"You're nothing but a fool." The man says as he looks down at the purple haired girl beneath him, the enclosed area surrounding them covered in blood.

"You did all of that to get a power to beat me. And yet here you are, still beneath my feet." He says as he grinds his foot into her chest, causing her to scream and cry in pain.

"See? People like you are the reason why I hate this world. Crying on the floor after your allies gave up their lives for you to stop me. Disgusting." He says as he kicks the helpless girl across the room, not even finishing her off. This was being not merciful in the slightest however, as he gave her mind a grave scar that would never heal.

"No-no you'- you're wrong! I'll... I'll..." The girl says in between her sobs, but not being able to finish as she knew she had already lost, and that her friends death had been for absolutely nothing.

Karia's P.O.V.

"AH!" I wake up suddenly, quickly leaning forward on the soft material I'm laying on.

Seric and Dahai must have brought me back here.

Looking down at my arms, I'm shaking and in a cold sweat.

"Why... Why can't I stop thinking about him!" I think as I mentally punch myself in the face.

I put my hands over my face, and even though I try to stop it I start to cry anyways, trying to hold back my sobs as well.

"Damn it... It won't be for nothing... Sariel... I- I promise you, I'll never... I'll never be weak again!" I say trying to regain my composure, but failing completely.

Seric's P.O.V.

After defeating the three thugs, Me, Dahai and Suzie head back to the Gondola station on top of the Volcano.

Once again we sit inside one, and it starts to head down the Volcano.

"I don't know why I didn't ask you before, but why did people choose a Volcano of all places to live?" I ask.

"Haha, I was waiting for that. The main reason is really because of how little islands there are other than the Hopian Continent inside of the Hopian Territory. However, the reason why a civilization this big has formed here afterwards is because with Hopian technology we can use heat energy with an almost unlimited source, and do it in comfort as well with these heat resistant materials." Dahai explains.

I understand this to an extent but something still baffles me,

"Huh? Why don't more people just live on the Hopian Continent then? With all of your technology I doubt that it's facing overpopulation, especially since it's so big."

"The Hopian Continent is... in a dangerous state right now. A person will only live in the Hopian continent if they are poor, or if they are filthy rich. Even then... It is still not a... nice place to be." Dahai says with sadness in his voice, as Suzie looks down as well.

"Oh- ok. Sorry, if I brought up some bad memories." I respond, now feeling guilty.

"No worries, the past is the past. It's just a bit sad to think about." He responds, putting on a small smile.

"Didn't Karia say that we were going to the Hopian Continent eventually? Just what did I get myself into... Speaking of which," I think to myself.

"I wonder if Karia has woken up yet?" I ask Dahai quickly, trying to break the tension.

"Hm... Normally there is no way a person would, but considering it's her it certainly is a possibility."

That makes me a bit happier, and so for the rest of the ride we sit in silence and I look out the window.

🌋🌋🌋

A while later after we do some shopping for groceries, we start to head back to Dahai's shack. Suzie was even nice enough to buy me that cube with flowing lava inside of it that I saw before. Take that Karia.

At first I was nervous about exploring Magthera after those three men attacked us, but Dahai explained that those three are the only ones who knew that he was one of the people who beat Aeko, and so I reluctantly agreed to go with him

Although my trust for him has already been lowered quite a bit ever since then.

We finally arrive, and waste no time going in to finally take a break.

"That woman..." Dahai sighs as he looks over at the bed Karia is in.

I look over as well, and to my surprise, Karia is no longer there. Or anywhere in here.

"What?! Did someone take her?!" I yell nervously, feeling like it could be our fault.

"No, that's impossible. The door should have been locked, and there is no sign of anyone breaking it down. Karia most likely left of her own accord." Dahai explains.

"Anyways, I have a feeling you two will have to leave soon, so I'll check out your body now." Dahai says seriously.

"Huh? Why would we have to leave soon? Didn't he just say that we're under the radar now?" I think to myself.

"...Oh, right. So do I need to take anything off or?" I ask him.

"Just your shirt should be fine." He says.

I start to take off the aluminum shirt, and Suzie looks at my chest.

Her nose starts to bleed a little, which at this point isn't suprising.

"Hmph, not bad." She says with a thumbs up.

Normally I would take the compliment, but considering how young Suzie is it means nothing to me.

I look at myself in a mirror from across the room, and I actually have a pretty nice body, with half decently built arms and a chest with what looks to be a... two pack.

"So if I have a bit of muscles... I wonder how they work with the rest of my body, since I have no heart and all..."

Suprisingly, I also have no blemishes whatsoever on my skin.

"Well, have a seat." Dahai says as he points to a chair next to him.

I walk over, and sit down nervously being this exposed.

With no hesitation Dahai starts poking and proding my chest, both of them looking at me intensely which only increases my embarrassment.

"This isn't a peanut gallery you know." I say in annoyance, but none of them seem to care.

"This is... How can this be?" Dahai says in shock as he continues to examine me.

"W- what?! Is something wrong?" I ask nervously, scared of the answer I could receive.

"There's... Nothing. No organs, no muscles, nothing..." Dahai says in disbelief as he continues to prod me.

"What... What the hell?!??!? That can't be right! What the hell am I?!" I ask in a terrified voice.

"I... I don't know! I'm still trying to figure it out!" Dahai says, even he losing his composure.

"If I don't even have muscles, how the hell do I have a four pack?!" I yell, even more scared now.

I'm shaking as Dahai continues to prod me, a few tears threatening to come out.

A bit later, he finally speaks. "Ok. I... have come to a conclusion. Your body indeed does have some sort of nerve signals, which are being sent to the normal places that you would need to move, like your arms. How these work, is beyond me. Since like I stated before, you have no organs whatsoever... Including a brain."

"Ha... Haha... I guess I must be pretty stupid than huh... Haha." I say, my sanity pretty much gone at this point.

"But fear not. Blessings are miraculous things, and so this is definitely strange, but not an impossible occurrence. It truly is strange though, because if you do not have a brain, how can your body send nerve signals? And how can you digest food without a stomach?" He responds, semi-talking to himself at the end.

"Wait... If I don't have a stomach doesn't that mean that the food I ate is just sitting inside me?" I ask grossed out, still feeling woozy from this new information.

"Most likely not. The reason being that since you obviously do breathe, the air must be somewhere, and since you have no lungs that would mean that the air  simply goes inside of your empty chest. If the food was still there than that would mean that the smell of rotten food would taint the air you breathe out, and therefore make your breath smell worse than a skunks." Suzie then leans close to my face, and starts smelling.

"Mmm... Nope! His breath smells like nothing." She says.

"My point stands." Dahai says proudly, puffing out his chest a little as he calms down more.

"Oh! Dahai why don't you do that thing to him where you check how old they are!" Suzie says with a smile on her face.

"Good idea! Seric, you said that you forgot you're past up until a few days ago, so how about I check your age?" Dahai says.

"You can do that, really?" I say with little enthusiasm, scared of what I may find out next.

"Yes, my blessing can tell me how long nerve signals have been being sent through a person's body. Now stay still." I close my eyes, awaiting what he was going to do.

"I wonder how old I am... probably somewhere from 13 to 16 I bet." I think to myself.

"OW!" I yell out as Dahai jabs his index and middle finger into my arm, piercing my skin a little and causing a bit of red blood to come out.

"What the hell?! How am I bleeding if I don't even have a heart?!" I think to myself, panicking a bit but not saying it out loud as to not disturb Dahai.

"Hm... Even the inside of your flesh feels different than a normal humans... It's much tougher. It seems like you have some kind of strange substance underneath your skin which works similar to muscles in a normal person." Dahai explains.

"EXCUSE ME?! EXCUSE ME?!!! WHAT THE FUCKING DONKEYS ASS?!!!!!" Dahai yells, making me jump and I'm about to scold him for saying that when Suzie's here. Although, she already has the maturity of an adult.

"AGE... AGE... ONE HUNDRED... AND GODDAMN SIXTEEN?!?!"

"Huh?" Is the only thing me and Suzie can manage to say.

"Yes! 116 years old! You old geezer!" Dahai yells in shock and laughter at the same time.

"WHY THE HELL DO I HAVE A BODY LIKE THIS THEN!?" I yell out in disbelief as it starts to sink in.

"Tch... Now I can't even enjoy looking at your chest anymore Gramps." Suzie says in annoyance as she looks away.

"This... Is all a dream isn't it?! It has to be, with all of these powers and cities, why wouldn't it be?!" I yell with a confused smile on my face, until suddenly I fall unconscious.

🌋🌋🌋

A few hours later, I wake up after being punched in the chest.

"AGH!" I yell in pain as the air is forced out of my chest.

"Hmph. That's what you get for sleeping in so long, you senile turtle." Suzie says with no mercy.

"Stupid brat...." I say while gritting my teeth.

"Ah, sorry for that Seric. She has always been like that ever since I found her on the streets of the Hopian continent and adopted her. I was going to be more civilized and pour hot water over you, like a cooked lobster." Dahai explains.

"Oh... So that's how you two met. That's a actually a pretty heartwarming tale... And wait what were you going to do?!" I respond with happiness and then anger.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

A loud banging suddenly starts on the door, and I'm scared that it's more thugs after us. Maybe even Aeko, if he's alive...

"Hey! Seric! You in there?!" I hear from outside, and luckily it's Karia's voice instead.

Dahai quickly goes over to the door and opens it, with Karia standing there impatiently.

I try to cover my chest, since I don't want to be bombarded with millions of comments right now.

"Oh, hello Karia. What's wrong?" He asks with concern.

"Spirit of Kodan: Strike!" Karia yells out as she punches Dahai with a giant red ghost fist, launching him into Suzie, causing them both to fly into the back of the shack.

"Curses! It seems like we've been found out, Suzie!" Dahai says in pain, in which Suzie nods slowly in pain as a response.

"That's what you get you perverts. The next time I come back here, you're paying me for every single grope." She says angrily.

"Every one!?" Suzie and Dahai cry out.

"Hmph. Never underestimate me when I'm sleeping. Anyways, Seric did Dahai examine you?" Karia asks.

"Oh, yeah he did. I definitely learned something... 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 to say the least." I laugh a bit while saying that, and before I have time to think Karia responds,

"Ok, cool. Because we've gotta get out of here, like right now." She says with a half guilty, half happy smile.

"Why...?" I ask nervously.

"There may or may not be a few hundred soldiers trying to find me right now." She responds casually.

"Hey! There she is!" I hear a man yell in the distance outside.

"Oh shit! Why couldn't you just stay here, I thought you were injured?!" I yell out as I get up and start to shove my aluminum clothes back on.

"Hehe, nothing can keep me down. Now, let's go! Bye, Dahai, and uh, little girl!" Karia says with one last wave as she gets ready to run.

"Yeah, thanks for everything, Dahai, Suzie! I promise I'll come back to see you guys again!" I yell out as I start to get ready to run as well, feeling guilty about not being able to say a proper goodbye.

"You better keep that promise, you old geezer!" They both say as they wave as well.

"Hey! Karia!" I yell out as I see that she's already a distance ahead of me.

"Take him not me!" She somehow laughs carelessly.

A/N: If you're wondering about the recap, I decided not to put one in this chapter to make the first scene of the chapter more intense.

Thank all of you for your support recently!

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