Five figures draped in black cloaks stood at the rim of the colossal crater that had once been City F. One of them stepped closer, peering into the abyss, and sighed.
"It's incredibly deep… Archibald, do you think Allen has reached the limit of Growth Level One—or surpassed it?"
The hunched figure addressed shook his head beneath the hood.
"You're mistaken, Zack. Allen has no Growth Level. Trying to confine him to something as insignificant as a system is meaningless."
Zack chuckled and waved dismissively, a gesture that visibly irritated Archibald. Two red lights flared beneath Archibald's hood where his eyes should have been.
"Are you challenging me, little tidal wave?"
Two blue lights ignited in Zack's own hooded face.
"What's wrong, old man? Want to argue?"
"Both of you. Enough."
The two fell silent immediately when the lone woman among them spoke. Her voice was cold enough to still the air.
"Our priority is Allen—capturing him alive, delivering him to Lord Aegis, and advancing to the next phase of Project Perfection."
Her words made all four figures bow their heads in quiet acknowledgment. Then she approached the crater's edge and extended her open hand over the void.
"Well, Elisse? Can you locate the little knight?"
Archibald stepped forward again.
"I've known where he is from the beginning. The problem is where he ended up. Do you remember what Lord Aegis taught us about the origin of monsters?"
One of the members—who had not yet spoken—trembled and stepped ahead with clenched fists.
"The Negative World…?"
"Correct, Thomas. The Negative World—the nesting ground of monsters."
Thomas shook harder, twin red lights glaring from beneath his hood, accompanied by heavy streams of steam rushing from his nose.
"To reach the Negative World with raw force alone… what kind of monstrous power has Allen awakened? Elisse, are you absolutely certain Lord Aegis was correct about Allen's Growth Level?"
A white glow radiated from Elisse's palm, and within seconds a luminous staircase formed—descending deep into the crater.
"Lord Aegis was not mistaken. Allen's potential remains at Level One. But something happened when he defeated Marc in his monster form—something that sent every balance in the gene charts into absolute chaos."
Archibald, the oldest among them and the one closest to Aegis' experiments, remembered the sole phenomenon capable of destabilizing gene charts like that.
"Allen is being influenced by the element of darkness…?"
Realizing he had spoken aloud, he immediately fell silent. But Elisse fixed him with an inquisitive stare.
"So you do know what the Onyx and the other Stones truly are."
"I know how they formed… where they originated… the reason for their existence… and—"
Archibald stopped himself.
Elisse did not. With a sharp gesture, she urged the others to descend the radiant staircase. Only then did Archibald speak again—words that left Elisse visibly stunned.
---
Time flowed differently between the Negative World and Earth.
While Elisse and her group spent mere days preparing to pursue Allen, the citizens of displaced City F—and the heroes trapped alongside them—endured several weeks of relentless monster attacks. The weakest of those monsters were Category 3.
Titan and Shinobi eventually revealed their intent to overthrow Aegis, and their cooperation with the city's villain guilds. Ironically, this revelation forged a more organized resistance among civilians, heroes, and "villains" alike.
Category 3 monsters could be handled by groups. Even Category 4 no longer posed severe danger.
But Category 5 monsters… that was a different story.
Allen—recognized by all as the strongest hero among them—refused to fight. Sometimes he even threatened those who tried to force him.
As a result, more than ten people often ended up gravely injured and in need of emergency care.
Now, Shinobi and Crimson Shadow stood a short distance from Allen, who sat on a bench beneath the eternal black sky, staring into nothing while rolling a small round black stone between his fingers.
"He's the same as always," Crimson Shadow muttered. "I told you already, brother."
"Can't you do what you did months ago? Tell him the hard truth and knock some sense into him?"
Crimson Shadow shook his head with a firm, somber expression.
"It's not that simple this time. Back then he was consumed by hatred toward Calibur. But now… it's different. A wise man once said, 'Time is the best cure for love.' That's what Allen needs now."
"And since when are you an expert on matters of the heart? As far as I remember, you've never had a girlfriend."
Crimson Shadow coughed awkwardly and looked away.
"You remember how Grandfather used to throw shurikens and kunai at me for disappearing all day?"
"Yes… wait— You don't mean…?"
"I met someone in the city. A good woman. Her name was Elisse. But she moved to City A and we lost contact. I still wonder whether she's doing well."
At that moment, neither Shinobi nor Crimson Shadow imagined that Elisse—together with four others—had just emerged near the city through a spatial fracture.
And on the other side, Elisse and her team could not imagine that Allen felt the ripples in space the moment they appeared.
A distorted smile crept across his face… though tears still clung to the edges of his eyes.
"So… you send your dogs now, Aegis…?"
Allen tightened his grip around the stone and lowered his gaze. Two trails of tears spilled silently from his eyes.