The sparring session quickly bore fruit, though through a rather painful process for Charlie.
In the first fifteen minutes, Charlie kept making mistakes due to his lack of mastery over his drastically surged new power. Aishia showed no mercy whatsoever. She beat him as if she were a wife furious at her husband caught secretly visiting a massage parlor.
Fortunately, Charlie's skin had become extremely tough thanks to the combination of God Hand and Armor of Fafnir. Otherwise, he worried his face would be bruised and he'd end up with black eyes like a panda.
Back to the main topic.
Once Charlie reached the point where he felt 100% adapted, he was no longer one-sidedly beaten by Aishia. Without using Spirit Art, the two fought evenly. Their speed and strength synchronized, their punches producing controlled vibrations instead of wild shockwaves.
"Enough, Aishia! Let's end the sparring here!"
Realizing the sparring had achieved its goal, Charlie stopped Aishia, who was preparing to attack again.
"Oh."
Just one syllable, but Charlie sensed something off in Aishia's monotone tone.
"Why do I feel like you're a bit disappointed, Aishia? Don't tell me you're addicted to hitting me? I don't remember offending you, do I? If there's a problem, just say it—I'll listen to your complaints."
"It's just Charlie's feeling."
"Really? I hope so."
Aishia's expression remained unreadable as usual. Charlie rubbed his temple, which had taken one of the hard hits that sent him flying earlier in the session.
(The wise say the more beautiful a woman, the better she is at lying. I hope Aishia hasn't inherited the unfathomable traits of human women. After all, she's not human but a Spirit.)
Charlie prayed inwardly that his Aishia remained pure and uncontaminated by the unpredictable traits of human women.
"You two were amazing! That fight was more spectacular than a Hollywood action movie!"
"Are all people from the other world that powerful? I'm so jealous~"
Kei approached with Est by her side, her eyes sparkling like a fan seeing her idol.
"Not really. The majority of individuals who receive Falna are only Level 1, but from the perspective of ordinary people like Kei, even Level 1 is already considered superhuman."
"I see… It's similar to the world in American comics where superheroes and supervillains are active in society."
Hearing Aishia's simple explanation, Kei gained a clearer picture of the power scale in Charlie and the others' original world.
"What's wrong with you, Charlie?"
Aishia suddenly noticed the change in Charlie. His previously calm expression turned grim—a drastic and unusual mood shift.
"…"
Charlie didn't answer immediately. He stared at Kei with a gaze full of pity and sympathy, as if seeing something heartbreaking in the girl.
"Why are you looking at me like that, Charlie-san?"
For some reason, Kei's heart was suddenly filled with a bad premonition. There was something in Charlie's gaze that made her uneasy.
"That…"
Charlie opened his mouth, trying to say something, but his words caught in his throat. The deep pity and sympathy now mixed with guilt.
"Charlie-san, you're scaring me. What happened to you?"
Her reaction only heightened Kei's fear. But she tried hard not to panic.
She clung to simple logic: The apocalypse had already happened—what could be worse?
"Charlie."
"Onii-chan."
Sensing Charlie's plummeting mood and the sudden regret overwhelming him, Aishia and Est immediately approached, their hands tightly grasping his palms, trying to calm him with their presence.
"Calm yourself, Charlie. You're not someone who easily loses composure except when facing the greatest evil."
Aishia comforted him in a softer tone than usual.
"I don't know what happened. But I'll always be by Onii-chan's side."
Est showed her determination with a steady gaze.
"Huuu…"
The actions of the two spirit girls were quite effective. Charlie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. His tight chest began to ease, and he was now a bit calmer.
"Before that, I want to apologize to you, Kei."
"Huh?"
Kei was shocked, completely unprepared for the unexpected apology. Her eyebrows raised in confusion.
"Charlie-san hasn't done anything wrong! On the contrary, you saved me from disaster, you even fed me! You're a good person!"
And just like that, Charlie received the "good person card" that women usually use to reject a man's confession. But he didn't care about such trivialities right now.
"No, you deserve my apology, Kei. Because I kept delaying, a great disaster has occurred."
"Charlie-san, please explain in words I can understand."
Kei grumbled because Charlie seemed to be playing riddles.
"…"
After a moment of silence, Charlie finally delivered the news that had shaken him earlier.
"This world is already over. 99.99999996% of humanity has been wiped out within four hours. Only 0.00000004% of humans remain on this planet."
"…"
This time, it was Kei's turn to freeze in silence. Her brain struggled to process the horrifying numbers she had just heard. It wasn't just an apocalypse—it was total annihilation.
"Including you, Kei, there are only three people still alive on the entire planet."
Charlie's voice was filled with restrained sadness and anger.
Just moments ago, he had received information from Gaia that this world could no longer be saved.
Charlie, Wang Jian, and Elena's teleportation to different locations was deliberately set near the Villains so they could quickly eliminate the main threats.
Unfortunately, the Abyssal Devourer in this Planar World didn't play by the rules. Instead of sending monsters to help the Villains besiege the incoming Saviors, it intensified global monster attacks.
Under the Abyssal Devourer's absolute control, countless monsters blindly hunted every human hiding spot, even digging deep underground.
The result?
There was no safe place. Every hideout was found one by one, and the monsters killed every human they encountered regardless of gender, age, status, or profession.
Though somewhat ironic, it was true that only death provided equal justice to all.
This was also why Charlie fought Heracles without interference from the invading monsters of this Planar World. The entire monster force of the Abyssal Devourer was focused on exterminating the human population, not supporting the Villain's victory.
"Oh, I see. That's all it was. You scared me, Charlie-san. Don't do that again."
Contrary to Charlie's expectations, Kei's reaction was extremely calm. She showed no signs of hysteria, tears, or loss of rationality after hearing the fact that humanity was truly on the brink of extinction, leaving only three people on the entire planet.
"Charlie-san must think my reaction is really weird, right?"
"…"
Charlie's silence answered Kei's question. Yes, he did find the girl's reaction highly unusual, even worrying.
"Honestly, that news doesn't surprise me."
Kei said in a flat voice, her eyes gazing far into the horizon.
"Ever since I learned those monsters were immune to conventional weapons, I've suspected the day humanity goes extinct would come."
"The fact that humanity survived for over a year only shows our race's persistence in defying extinction."
Kei's indifferent attitude and mentality of easily accepting a grim fate felt mismatched for a 16-year-old girl. Even most adults would fight desperately for their survival and that of their loved ones.
Charlie observed the girl closely, and suddenly a realization hit him.
(Ah, I get it now. Shirogane Kei has already given up hope.)
(She's lost everything—her friends, her older brother, her father, her mother. Everything. For her, survival no longer matters.)
(Live or die. The only reason Kei hasn't died is because she refuses to commit suicide. She prefers to die naturally or be killed by monsters.)
Charlie finally realized something he should have understood from the start. Kei's mindset as someone living in a post-apocalyptic world had fundamentally changed.
This case was similar to the difference between civilians living in a war zone and those in a safe country. Their perspectives and mindsets about life and death had a vast gap.
All this time, Charlie had unconsciously treated Kei like a normal girl in peacetime—vulnerable, needing protection, and surely wanting to survive at all costs.
This unawareness was what made him fail to see the reality that for Kei, living and dying might no longer hold significant difference.
"Charlie-san. What will you do now? Still planning to save a world that can no longer be saved?"