For a moment, as Noah gazed in disbelief at the woman standing before him, he forgot the last month. He wasn't a powerful Touched who had survived countless battles, vanquished mighty foes and strolled through the Hollowed Depths as though he owned the place.

  No, as he locked eyes with Voidstrider, Noah had once again become the powerless and helpless man encountering a force of nature, he could do nothing against.

  Instinctively, Noah took a step back, but as he did, he stumbled into Steve, who was standing right behind him. The undead guardian glanced at Noah before shifting his focus to Voidstrider and the radiant sphere behind her, from which more people began to emerge.

  ‘That’s right... I'm not helpless anymore.’

  Noah's chest swelled with anger and indignation as he again met the crimson eyes that had haunted his nightmares.

  ‘I'm not that easy to push around anymore.'

  ***

  “Oli, you listening to me?”

  “Hmm? Oh, sorry...”

  Olivia Winter, known by her moniker 'Voidstrider', was sitting in a shuttle heading south of Arcturus City, along with her team, several hours before encountering Noah.

  “I said we should be arriving in about ten minutes.” Luna, Olivia's best friend, smiled softly and rested her hand on Olivia's knee. “You’re not alone, you know?”

  Olivia glanced at her friend, wanting to nod and say that she knew, but it would have been futile, as Luna was a skilled empath and would know better. Instead, she forced herself into half a smile.

  “Oli...”

  Luna’s beautiful face was radiating warmth and support, as her kind, amber eyes studied Olivia with sad understanding.

  Silas had been a mentor to Olivia, and for that reason, his betrayal hurt her more than it did the others. Even though she knew that no one blamed her for his escape, considering their power differences and that she had nearly died in an attempt to take Silas down, Olivia still faulted herself.

  "Since you know, then stop feeling guilty!" Luna demanded in her charming manner.

  Olivia couldn’t help but smile again, this time more sincerely.

  A number of days ago, August, the leader of The Vanguard, known by his own moniker 'Stormbinder', was scouting the mountains south of Schuler's Pyramid when he sensed Silas' presence. However, before he could investigate, August was attacked by what is likely specimen 731, the being responsible for the enthralled horde infestation, and was forced to retreat.

  Since then, drone surveillance of the region had found no trace of the traitor. Earlier today, however, the corpse of specimen 731 was spotted on the other side of the mountain range, along with a horde of slain monsters. And so, now Olivia and her team were heading there to search for any trace of Silas.

  “There’s no way the traitor would be powerful enough to take on that... eh, brain thingy, with his new vessel, right?” Conrad, the resident hothead of the team, sitting behind Olivia and Luna, asked.

  ‘New vessel...’ Olivia grimaced.

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  The vessel was called Noah Orvel, and Silas had not yet finished taking over his body when Olivia encountered him. He begged and pleaded for Olivia to have mercy, utterly terrified and unaware of what was happening. Orvel's last moments of being alive were filled with dread and pain, because of her, before Silas completed his possession.

  Olivia investigated him after returning to The Arc and recovering from her injuries – Noah Orvel was just an ordinary 31-year-old man, working nine-to-five and entirely uninvolved.

  “Probably not.” Olivia finally responded to Conrad’s query. “But never underestimate Silas, he’s incredibly crafty.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about a thing; with all of us here fighting by your side, the traitor wouldn’t stand a chance!” Conrad slapped his arm on Olivia’s pauldron.

  Luna shook her head and chuckled a bit.

  “We’re approaching the location of specimen 731’s corpse.” Alwin, piloting the shuttle, announced over the intercom. “The area is swarming with monsters feasting on the corpses; I need someone to man the weapons station.”

  “I’ll do it!” Conrad declared, before giving Olivia or Luna a chance to volunteer. The tall, muscular man even used his Touched speed ability to dash to the station, knocking over unsecured items in the pristine hall.

  Strapping into the weapons station's seat, Conrad donned the VR headset, and immediately four medium-sized railguns deployed from concealed compartments along the shuttle's front and underbelly.

  Conrad got an aerial view of the ground through the shuttle's optics. He was looking at rocky mountain slopes, littered with corpses, at times piled into rotting mounds and being devoured by scores of all manner of creatures. Four red reticles appeared, locking onto four monsters. Once the reticles began to flicker, Conrad clasped his hand around the joystick and pressed the trigger.

  Dark Steel tipped rounds, supercharged by electromagnetic power, tore through the monsters until Conrad released the trigger and the red reticles began locking onto the next four monsters.

  Alwin continued piloting the shuttle in circles, while Conrad dealt with the monsters, hooting and cheering whenever he would decimate a group of them.

  “Alright, looks like the rest of the monsters got the message that dinner time is officially over and fled. I’m setting us down.” Alwin announced.

  The thrusters at the underbelly hummed gently, emitting a blue light, as the shuttle began to descend smoothly. The Raptor MK2 was the most advanced and expensive combat shuttle that a non-governmental organization could be licensed to purchase in Arcturus City. However, given that The Vanguard members were all Touched, expeditions for mining and retrieval of Dark Steel and rare monster parts became fairly lucrative and successful; thus, funding was never an issue.

  Once the shuttle landed, Olivia unbuckled her seatbelt and ordered her team to gear up. Alwin, Conrad, and she all wore black, tight-fitting, heat-retaining suits, while Luna preferred a blue robe. All four were equipped with a set of Dark Steel polymer armor and melee weapons: Olivia with a short sword, Luna with a spear, Conrad with a pair of daggers, and Alwin wielding a longsword.

  As soon as the ramp door lowered, all four lunged out, weapons drawn.

  “Oh, God! The stench!” Conrad immediately complained and covered his nose, as the smell of the rotting corpses hit him.

  Ignoring his rant, Olivia glanced at Luna expectantly.

  The empath concentrated, arranging her long, sandy blonde hair over her shoulder before pointing. “There, behind that rock.”

  Olivia nodded, then vanished, leaving shimmering red vapor where she stood, and almost instantly reappeared behind the rock indicated by Luna. Thrusting her short sword twice in quick succession, the reptilian monster that had been hiding there emitted a guttural screech before collapsing.

  “There too.” Luna continued.

  “I got this one.” Alwin proclaimed, raising his arm and releasing a jet of fire into the hiding spot, igniting a monster. The creature ran, engulfed in flames, before tumbling down.

  Luna continued utilizing her empath ability to detect nearby monsters by perceiving their emotions, even if they were as simple as 'fear' or 'aggression'.

  “Alright, I think that’s it,” Luna eventually declared.

  Covering their mouths and noses, the team began heading towards the corpse of specimen 731. Unlike the other rotting monsters, scavengers had not dared to approach the terror, even long after its death. However, try as she might, Olivia could not find any signs of damage on specimen 731, aside from the scorch marks inflicted by August.

  “Olivia, over here,” Alwin called out.

  In the area thickest with corpses, around a cliff wall, there were a number of skeletons that appeared as though they were destroyed while locked in battle with the other monsters. True, the scavengers had been feasting on the corpses, but only Silas’ power could pick a skeleton this clean, without even a scrap of flesh remaining.

  ‘He was here...’