Their eyes stared at the ceiling, the gentle pattern shook uncontrollably and without a pause that lasted longer than one second, dust tore apart from tiny cracks unseeable by the mundane eye.

  Exchanging glances, his fingers wrapped around a syringe prepared in his pocket before injecting the liquid inside into the body in his hand, adding another one to the floor that was littered with bodies. It was a pity that the knockout syringe was soon to be gone at this rate. Especially with the fluid being difficult to acquire.

  His legs paced around the floor, skillfully wandering in places that had the most probable chances of having a staircase, and soon the spiraling rows of stairs faced his gaze.

  Footsteps following him echoed through the knocked out floor, inching just behind him. The bright ceiling lights reflecting off the pure silver hair that was Jayden, alongside the detective and his assistant.

  The cracks grew even more as the building wobbled uncontrollably, the feeling of an earthquake constantly rang from above as the dust clustered in the air.

  “Up?” Ema asked, coughing slightly as dust entered his lungs.

  Eridanus nodded before bolting through the stairs, the stairs creaked as splitters flew from below his feet, into all directions.

  Annoyed by the fragileness of the wooden stairs, his pace steadily slowed. Not too fast where the wood could break, and not too slow to the point where he was moving at the regular speed.

  ‘Looks like they’re doing the same thing.’ He looked at them, expression still the same as curiosity as his eyes landed on Jayden.

  He hadn’t expected her to be here, in this very city. Last time he heard from her was in Nightlights, it was something about her enjoying herself, loving the vibe or something. He didn’t recall correctly, the only thing he was clear about was that she went to Nightlights.

  However, he was more than joyful.

  There were more missions he could finally take due to her presence.

  When Eridanus first heard of her departing from Ashnafal, he pondered all day long about safety. Such a thing was needed to worry about as the usual appointed tasks carried the risk of offending the other party which in turn could lead to having a hitman being hired.

  While he believed in his strength to knock 3 Overlapped on his own, insane he was not to take 10. Of course, an Overlapped was as rare as finding a diamond in a bag of sand and finding 10? Quite the fortune to spare.

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  Even if it was ridiculous, he couldn't properly guess the insanity humans had.

  Now with her around, he was quite certain about his safety as 20 Overlapped was the minimum. Now this was a problem even money couldn't solve.

  Leaving the problem of the past behind, his steps carried him to what was presumably the second floor. The shutter of a window spread gently as his gaze confirmed the situation.

  The second floor of the building.

  The tiny spaces between each tile were filled to the brim with ceiling dust, unintentionally emitting a tense atmosphere.

  One floor above.

  His legs squeezed, veins covered by clothes protruded through the skin, and…

  His swift and abrupt sprint dragged the air, the dormant dust between the tiles rose, grabbed by the air as it clustered behind him, chasing Eridanus before clashing with more dusts.

  “Slo-Slow down would ya?” Tired breaths sounded out beside his rapid body, almost catching his pace.

  Not bothering to look at the voice whom he already knew, his leg only carried more speed.

  “T-The dust is getting in their e-eyes.”

  Jayden’s voice carried concerns for them, whilst her steps skillfully landed a mere cm away from the cracks, contrasting Eridanus’s trail of dust with an almost perfectly clean one.

  He sighed deeply, slightly slowing his cycle before avoiding each space with even more accuracy than Jayden as if taunting her.

  The building shook repeatedly as they ran, the hallway now becoming a heaven for powders. The dust trail before seemed little now.

  Among the chaos, a metallic door revealed itself just before they missed it. His legs crawled into the miniscule crack on the floor, ceasing his speed almost instantly as the floor creaked at the sudden halt in movement, launching particles into the opposite direction of the shoe.

  As his eyes landed on the opened door and the melted lock seeped into the floor, the rest arrived shortly after. His fingers extended to below, the freezing cold of metal met the tip back as he expected.

  Chains of the broken lock tangled on the door, frozen in a state of dripping to the floor as it shined in the dark. Reflected was an ominous staircase, etching emotions of all and none to the air around.

  With the enhanced senses that came along with the power of being able to swing devastating damages at the palm of his hand, the feeling of a thousand being screaming wasn’t something he could put on the back of his head.

  However…unexpectedly

  “Keep it down, asshole.” An unfamiliar voice of a drunk man rang across the hallway, emitting from the third floor as it bounced off each wall.

  His ears picked up the sudden voice of them as his head rose slightly, eyes fixated the hallway beyond the trio blocking his view. Following the exact action he took, Ema peeked in the hallway, careful to allow Eridanus to see incoming threats.

  After all, as the strongest in the group it was natural for others to rely on him.

  The lights, the paintings stretched further in the distance as the dust fogged the hallway, reducing anyone’s vision to only a few meters.

  Nobody dared to move forward into the fog, and confidently an entrance to what seems to be the basement was already present in the room, welcoming anyone that got near its vicinity.

  Having seemingly no choice other than facing the person that could possibly lead to being exposed and getting groups of people to attack them, potentially getting the officials involved if what they thought was false or going down this basement, both seem horrible to all. Jayden and Eridanus could defend themselves against a group of people but if the officials were involved they were as good as dead. Ema and Remi on the otherhand… were doomed to fail from the start.

  Their fate would already be sealed shut if they’ve been caught and yet no other viable option, their feet slowly made their way onto the stairs.

  Even if they didn’t want to.