[Initiating [Zone]...]

[All Physical Stats will be doubled for 5 seconds.]

[4.9987]

The timer appeared on the edge of his vision, and Aiden knew exactly what he had to do. He could feel a huge amount of energy surging through his body. The feeling was divine, however, he didn't have time to enjoy it.

Alex had coughed some blood a moment ago, and now his body was weak. He struggled to maintain the [Water Prison], his second high-grade skill.

He had never thought that any human could escape, and now Aiden was on the verge of breaking it. "But how?" Alex mumbled. Aiden, who had stopped struggling a moment ago, was now awake.

*Boom*

Water splashed all over the place as the water prison broke and the drawback forced Alex to spit more blood. Aiden pounced at him as soon as their eyes met.

He wasn't in a position to fight, yet he stood up with the support of a water spear. Alex was forced to swallow his blood as he cast his innate skill. The three water rings had begun to rotate around him, but Alex could not relax.

Although Aiden had shown an enormous amount of strength, he knew very well that it was temporary. Rather than magic or strength, it was a matter of stamina.

[Author note: As you know it Alex had two innate skills, [Multicasting] and [Water Defence] (The one with three rings.). Even if he didn't have mana, he didn't have a problem activating them.]

Aiden appeared in a flash, and Alex stabbed his spear. It pa.s.sed through Aiden's heart to his utter disbelief.

Aiden had moved through the outer two rings with a spear stuck to his chest. His b.l.o.o.d.y hand was a hair breath away from Alex's face.

Alex looked into Aiden's lifeless eyes with fear. Blood was flowing out of his mouth, his breath was ragged. But looking at him, Aiden smiled and muttered.

At the next instance, Alex's legs gave away, he fell to the ground. His blood flowed like water from his mouth, his nose, and even his ears.

He couldn't understand what kind of magic Aiden was using. At that time, he felt that someone had hammered three thick nails through his solar plexus, his right chest, and his face.

[Second Officer Aiden used his innate skill [Skill Mine].]

His ESS explained to him. Even a moment before his death he wanted to know how Aiden had done it.

[Second Officer Aiden had planted three [Air Spike] skills with the three shots he had landed on the host.]

'Why didn't you tell me before?' He wanted to scream but he had no energy.

[This innate skill is untraceable until it is activated.]

Alex wanted to say a few more things, but his consciousness slowly faded. Aiden, on the other hand, was not good either.

[Due to the forced activation of the [Zone], the host will be immobilized for 30 minutes.]

'I'm not going to survive that long.' Aiden smiled at his fate. 'This is where I die, then? Mother, father, I'm so sorry. Arya, Aaron... With the money I left for you, you won't have to worry about anything.'

His chest was heavy and breathing was hard. He couldn't move his eyelid, 'If for the last time..'

"He did it." Those words sent a jolt to his body.

'Elijah, where are you now? I can't see you,' he shouted in his heart. Gathering the fumes, he tried to open his eyes again. One of them did not hear his plea, while he forcefully opened the other.

"He had two innate abilities from the look of it." It was a voice he had heard before, 'It's Asher. Why is he with her?'

"He dared to lie to me." It was only then that Aiden could feel that something was casting a shadow over his body.

He couldn't see the face at all, 'Are you Elijah?' Aiden asked in his heart, but none of them answered, neither the system nor the person. Yet he was able to feel someone poking his head.

"Hey, are you still alive?" The voice came closer, and she poked again.

'This is Elijah. I'm sure. But why are you acting like that? Aren't you supposed to be sad?' However, Elijah could not hear the words of his heart.

"Tch, man. Alex had destroyed his heart. Otherwise, it would have made a great mana stone." Elijah felt sorry, not for Aiden, but for the effort, she had made to cultivate one mana stone, "I had felt that our mana was compatible."

"If the heart had not been destroyed, would you have been able to make one?" Asher was curious about that.

"Yes, his mana stone was close to maturity. Father taught me a way of extracting mana from the secondary mana vessel and condensing it in the heart."

Looking at the ragged body of Aiden, she shook her head, "But the stone could only condense into the heart of the manbearer."

"That's a b.u.mmer. Even if he is still breathing…"

'What are you talking about? Mana stone, heart, Director?' Aiden could not understand them at all. No, he didn't want to believe that at all. 'There's no way, it could be true. There's no way that this is Elijah. I love her. She loves me. We've been together since the age of 6. There's no way she could have…'

"Wow, man! Is he still alive with the wound? "Asher has voiced his astonishment. "He's still alive. Wow, he's crying."

Aiden was shocked, 'Am I crying?' Aiden had no control over his body. He didn't know why tears were leaking at a time like this.

"He's crying. The great 'King of Combat' of Base 3 is crying. Can you believe that?" Aiden could see two people inspecting his face as the voice of Elijah sounded close to his ear.

"He's in love with you, I think."

"Huh? You've got to be kidding me. I, the daughter of the desert base 3 director, will never go out with a slumdog. He was just a guinea pig for my dad. I've just been taking care of him."

'I am a guinea pig. Yes, I was just a stupid guinea pig.' Aiden laughed in his heart, 'Alex was right. He's been right all along. Perhaps he knew...'

Aiden's consciousness faded more and more in darkness. All he could see was the shadows that were moving in front of him.

Suddenly, Elijah jumped up and looked at every direction before yelling, "Run, it's here."

Elijah didn't wait for Asher to understand, and she ran into the forest. Though Asher was confused, he followed without a word. He knew of her sixth sense, a sense that had never been proven wrong.

*Dong* dong*

'Cowbell,?' Aiden was trying to find it. Fear? No, he didn't feel an ounce of fear, he was happy. 'I want to die,' he said.

And his wish had been fulfilled. He could see the red ring, 'The Red Ring of Death.' Looking at the hand coming towards him, Aiden closed his eyes. His consciousness faded into eternal darkness.

"Stop, don't touch him." The voice was hoa.r.s.e, it sounded like stones grinding against each other.

Aiden was unable to hear it. He didn't see that the hand of the fearful devil had stopped an inch away from him. It was looking back to see the speaker.

A deer emerged from the forest at the moment. A deer made of vines, mosses and stones. Flowers bloomed all over the body. The eyes were red crystals. They were s.h.i.+ning even in the dark, grey environment.

"Father?" This voice was feminine, and it came from the hollow mouth of the devil. She was running to the deer. Even if it was called a deer, it had the same height as a horse. Like a gleeful child, she jumped on its back.

"Have you been talking about this child of a man?" The devil nodded vigorously to his question. On the other hand, the deer shook his head as if he had smelled something awful.

"The smell of death is so strong. No, it's not just death, there's grief, guilt, and ... what happened to him?" Although the smell is intense, out of curiosity, he still came close to Aiden's body, "This is a good find."

"And this one?" Deer moved to Alex's dead body. "This one had a perfect heart. No, there is a slight imperfection."

"Susrut" The deer spoke again, and something came out of the forest. It wasn't more than 30 centimetres in height. Looking at it, you could confuse it with a mushroom.

Yet it was alive. There was a mushroom cap on his head, which looked like a wizard's hat. It had a white body, and there were a few pairs of whiskers that reached the ground.

"Take that boy and that heart with you."

"But, Master, the boy isn't dead…" He sounded confused, "He's not alive either."

"Father. Said. Do." The devil spoke.

The one called Susrut smiled at her, "But we can't take a man's child to the sacred land."

"Just do it."The little guy complied with the deer's order.

"Okay, Master." Susrut bowed, "Wisp, big guy."

The dark forest began to shake as if a giant were running. And after all, when it appeared, it was a giant. A head-s.n.a.t.c.her, with only one face on his chest.

There was a blue fireball, a will-o-wisp. As it stopped in front of Susrut, a little child's body began to take shape out of the darkness. It looked frightened of Susrut, even though it was of a double size.

"Wisp, lead the big guy to the place. And you, "He pointed to the head s.n.a.t.c.her, "Take him away. Don't play around. Go straight to the sacred land." The one, with the head of a fireball and the body of darkness, nodded vigorously.

Susrut, on the other hand, moved to Alex's body. As soon as he got close to Alex's chest, his whiskers came to life.

Those four whiskers drove straight into his chest without spilling a single drop of blood and took out a heart made of crystal blue water. Without a word, they all vanished in the darkness of the forest. Leaving Alex's heartless body behind.

*************

2 weeks before reaching earth.

Captain's quarter, s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p.

"That a.s.shole!?" Alex slammed his fist on the table in frustration. "Can you believe that? Those a.s.sholes were planning to kill my man even before we could start our mission."

Sitting in front of him was a teenager with an asymmetrical haircut that covered her left eye. Alex's indignation didn't affect her at all. She took a mana candy out of the bowl and popped it in her mouth.

"What are you doing?" Alex yelled at her.

"Huh?" The girl looked as if she had never expected such a question. She showed Alex the wrapper with an innocent face, "I ate candy. Can't I do that?"

The veins on his forehead almost popped, he clenched his fist, and... Alex sighed and released his taunted nerve, "Come on, Lyla. Can't you see the situation? Aren't you mad?"

"Being angry, huh? Why am I supposed to? It's not my problem." Alex was surprised by Lyla's nonchalant words.

"Nothing to do with you? "Alex mumbled, his surprise soon turned into anger. He said, "You're the team's vice-captain, and you're saying it has nothing to do with you?"

"I'm the team's vice-captain. The team is made up of Levi, Elijah, you and me. I have nothing to do with any of the other four." There was no hesitation in her face, "If they survive, I'll be happy to cooperate. If not, then..."

"But Aiden has the same level 5 battle rating as you do." Alex tried to reason her.

"But he's just a mage of level 2."

"Levi is level 2 as well."

"[Mana Cost Reduction] is an innate skill of Levi. It can reduce the cost of mana to a fourth. His 97 mana can be rated as a 388 mana unit."

"Hey, come on, Lyla. That is not what I am talking about. He's the best close combat fighter ever. You, too, have a hard time fighting him."

"Only if I don't use innate skills." Lyla never tried to hide her frustration. "Even when you don't have an innate skill, those mana beasts won't go easy on you."

Alex was not able to refute to this point, nor was Lyla intended to let him do so. "What's your point? The federation has already approved this, and it is a Desert Base 3 experiment. Even if we're on the planet Will, there's very little you could do about it."

Those words are nothing but the truth. Even if Alex didn't want to protest, he couldn't stop it. "But what Elijah is doing is inhumane."

Lyla shook her head, "If you ask me, it's a good thing. With her Grade A innate skill [Clairvoyance], she's going to be a better teammate than Aiden. It could increase our chances of survival. Rather than Aiden, I think she should have high-grade mana stones."

Alex's frown grew deeper with each of her words. He was trying to say something, but...

"You can't save yourself, why do you worry about others? "That one sentence poured on him a bucket of cold water. "We're here because we're all expendable."

"You, the perfect geniuses who pa.s.sed his prime. Me..." She paused for a moment to sigh before adding, "The dirty spot on one of Planet Will's greatest mage families."And there followed an awkward silence.

After some time, she asked, "How many days do you have?"

"I might live beyond the task time." There was a sad smile on his face.

"What about your recovery rate?"

"I can't recover at all. I am on potions and shots."

Lyla broke into laughter, "Look at you, A mana rejected is worried about a mana poisoned patient."

"No, he is not poisoned yet. We can still stop…"

"Stop it." Lyla screamed as she stood, "Do whatever you want. I'm not going to help you." And she left without a look. Leaving Alex behind even more puzzled.