“. . .”

  I slowly opened my eyes, and all I could see were flames everywhere I looked.

  “URGH!!”

  I felt immediate burning pain as soon as my consciousness fully came back to me. I also realized that I was lying on the ground with my back facing the sky, though currently, the sky above is clouded by thick smoke from the burning forest.

  “HRRGGHH!!”

  I force myself to get up and sit on the ground despite the pain.

  “Argh!”

  I felt that the burning pain from earlier intensified as I tried to get up. I look below to check my body.

  *!*

  And I realized that most of my tummy was burned quite horribly, though the damage was nowhere it was supposed to be, thanks to my Vein armor’s strength, and the bodysuit’s. The bodysuit that covered my tummy was completely burned away in the process.

  “Tch! How powerful was that explosion? Someone who’s behind all of these is this powerful?”

  *!*

  I quickly realized that I am all alone in the middle of the burning forest, where every tree nearby is burning brightly. I feel the heat stabbing through my entire body.

  “Urgh! Hot! But where is everyone? Is Diva-chan, okay?”

  I tried to stand up.

  “URGH!!”

  And the pain in my stomach intensifies yet again, though I endured it and eventually stood up.

  “DIVA-CHAAAAAAAAAAANNNNN!!! WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUUUUUU????”

  I have no idea where she is, so I started calling out to her.

  “DIVA-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!!! WHERE ARE YOUUUUUUUUUUUUU???”

  I increased the volume of my shout, and I did not get any response. I summon my pistol and point it upwards.

  *BANG*

  I shoot the gun towards the sky and swap places with it once the bullet is high enough for me to get a glimpse of the entire deep forest.

  *!!!*

  “This is worse than I thought. . .”

  This entire deep forest spans about 3x5km square, and almost 90% of its trees are burning brightly, causing smoke everywhere in the vicinity, though there is a clear spot in the deep forest where it was just a clear open area, 100m in diameter, with no trees, and the ground was all blackened. That has to be where the explosion happened. The sky above is a clear, beautiful blue sky with no clouds at all. It seems like there is no way rain would happen anytime soon.

  I see to my south and see that the mansion that we infiltrated was also burning brightly. Not even that was spared from all of these flames.

  Seeing that I myself didn’t get completely caught up by the explosion means that the force of the explosion sends us all away from the giant pillar of fire.

  “(Phew! At least this means all of us should be okay. I hope. . .)”

  I look in all directions, and the closest way out of this forest is to the south.

  *BANG BANG BANG BANG*

  But then, as I started falling, I kept shooting towards the south and kept swapping places with the bullets I shot until I was outside the deep woods and only saw open ground below.

  *BANG*

  I shot downwards once and swapped places when the bullet almost hit the ground, and I landed on the ground safely.

  “Nobody’s here. . .”

  I walk forward a bit to get away from the heat of the burning forest behind. I sit down on the open ground five meters away from the burning forest after turning around.

  “. . . .”

  Without realizing it, I slowly closed my eyes and fell asleep on the ground.

  .

  .

  .

  “Eissen-kun! Eissen-kun!!”

  *!!*

  I open my eyes and see Diva’s face so close to mine. She was facing me as I was lying down.

  “D-Diva-chan! You, okay?”

  “I am fine! What about you?”

  I immediately get up and sit up. I turn towards her to check on her.

  *!!!*

  The first thing I saw was her tummy, fully exposed and burned horribly, similar to mine. Her tummy looks to be in a lot more horrible state than mine, simply because my Vein armor has better defense than hers.

  “Y-Your belly!”

  “It’s alright, Eissen-kun! This doesn’t hurt anymore!”

  “Don’t lie to me, Diva-chan!”

  I saw that her sleeves are entirely gone, but her hands are completely unharmed.

  *!*

  And then I realized that there was a cloth wrapped around my burnt tummy. She tore off her sleeves to give me a DIY first aid while I was sleeping.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  *SHRT SHRT*

  I also immediately tore off my bodysuit’s sleeves.

  “Lift your hand up, Diva-chan!”

  “T-There’s no need for that, Eissen-kun! I’m fine!”

  “Your wound looked worse than mine! Just do as I say!”

  “. . .”

  Diva eventually gave up and lifted both of her hands above her head. I immediately wrap my torn sleeves around her burned tummy.

  “URGH!!”

  “Please endure it, Diva-chan! We’ll treat it properly back in the lab!”

  “Then make sure you also got treated properly, Eissen-kun! I can’t afford to lose you! You’re too valuable!”

  “. . .Are you saying that regarding me or my Faith power?”

  “Both!”

  “I see.”

  I finish giving her DIY first aid.

  “Have you seen the others?”

  “No. I assumed everyone was on the other side of the forest! We all ran away in different directions, trying to escape the explosion after all. That, or all of them died, either from the explosion or inside this burning forest.”

  “You’re right, probably.”

  “Let’s go home, Eissen-kun!”

  “Alright!”

  I stand up.

  *THUD*

  But then I see Diva trying to stand up and end up falling on her ass to the ground.

  “D-Diva-chan? You, okay?”

  “Y-Yea! I was just feeling weak all of a sudden.”

  I offer my hand to help her stand. She takes my hand without a second's delay.

  *?*

  I see her face very close again. I didn’t notice it before, but her cheeks were slightly wet, and they had started to dry up.

  “Were you. . .crying?”

  “H-Huh? No?? What are you talking about?”

  I see that she is trying to play it cool. That honestly made me let out a joyful sigh a little, and I smiled sincerely towards her.

  “W-What?”

  “Nothing!”

  “S-Stop smiling already!”

  “Nope!”

  We walk back slowly towards the lab as we keep holding our hands subconsciously.

  .

  .

  .

  9 hours later

  “. . . .”

  Me and Diva were still a distance from the underground laboratory, but we saw that the bunker door was blasted open by something from afar. We immediately thought about something very horrible had gone wrong inside the laboratory. We were going home at our own paces, not trying to be in a hurry despite our wounds. We simply wanted to enjoy our alone time, which we rarely get.

  On the way back, we spent so much time just sightseeing. In the desert, we walk leisurely as we see a group of camels walking alongside us. We reached an oasis with the pack of camels, and we sat down, enjoying everything that we saw. The camels were all drinking from the oasis, and they all sat down in front of the water, resting for their next journey.

  We walked through a completely abandoned and ruined city. I took her to an abandoned convenience store, and we grabbed some food and ate together. I also tried to spoon-feed her, but she was too embarrassed by it. That got me a bit down, but I dismissed that feeling really quickly.

  When we walked out of the convenience store, as we tried to leave the abandoned city behind, Diva tried to sing, but she didn’t know any songs, so she was humming randomly. But surprisingly, she ended up creating a harmonious melody out of nowhere. I enjoyed her humming so much that I had my eyes closed, trying to deeply absorb her melody into my heart.

  Next, we went through a small abandoned village, outside of a deep forest where the lab is located. We went into every house and saw that there were no people anywhere. We saw a lot of dried-up blood smudges on the ground and rotting corpses, showing just how long this village has been abandoned.

  Seeing all the various designs of the houses, we started talking about settling down and marrying one another after we accomplished our dreams. I suggested to her that we should disappear from the world and retire from the Underworld to spend the rest of our lives just the two of us. She ends up really liking the idea, and she even made me do a pinky promise to her. I told her that this seemed a bit childish, but she insisted on it, so we ended up doing it.

  When we walked into the forest towards the lab, I ended up losing myself in my feelings. As we were talking casually about our everyday life, I kissed her on the lips. When she realized it, she was startled a bit, but she didn’t back down. She kissed me back instead, and that was our first kiss ever.

  But then, all of those beautiful and cherished memories felt like they came crashing down as hard as possible on both of our shoulders. We jumped down towards a hole where the bunker door used to be. This reminds us of that incident when we were ambushed by the army in the bunker.

  *!!*

  Once we were inside, we saw that all the doors inside the bunker were blasted open, every single one. Not one door was left open. We ran towards a long hallway with many doors on both sides. We both checked each door to see what had happened.

  On the first door, we saw that all the scientists had been killed by gunshots. Not a single one was left alive.

  “TCH!!”

  We both immediately darted out of the first room towards a room on the other side. We saw the same scenery in this room as well. There was so much blood on the floor and the walls. We rushed out of the room and checked every single room without fail.

  All the scientists are killed by gunshots, their blood splattered on the wall and floor, sometimes onto lab equipment. Every single machine inside this lab has been destroyed, and they all end up burning as a result. The simulation room was also destroyed, with its door completely missing and the console in the center blasted to pieces.

  *THUD THUD THUD THUD*

  We immediately ran back towards the observation room upstairs, where we used to observe either me or Diva doing the simulations. And it’s all the same. Most of the equipment was burning and broken, and all of the scientists were killed in cold blood.

  We both clenched our fists really hard, seeing everyone die, but then Diva reminded me of something.

  “Eissen-kun, we still haven’t seen Anna-san.”

  *!*

  “Oh, right. Let’s check her room!”

  We both run to her room and slam the door open.

  *BLAM*

  . . . . .

  And there she was, lying in a pool of her own blood on the floor, near the wall, in front of her desk. We walk slowly, approaching her while holding back our tears. After checking her whole body, we found out that she was shot 43 times in her torso alone, 18 times on both arms, 21 times on her legs, and 7 times on her face. Her condition looked very horrible, especially her face. No normal and sane person would kill someone this cruelly; there has to be some type of personal grudge involved in this.

  Diva then whispers to me and explains that every wound on her entire body was slightly older than the one in her head, meaning she had to have experienced the pain of every single bullet on her body before the murderer decided to kill her afterwards.

  This makes my heart boil in rage. I may not have been the closest person, or at least should have been the closest person to her. But thinking back, this is the one woman who took care of us, giving us a home, giving us food, giving us clothes, so basically, she was already our mother.

  We both shed tears silently as we kept staring into her face full of holes. We both hugged her cold body together for a few minutes.

  .

  .

  .

  Two hours later

  In front of the gate to the capital city at 23:00, there were four people standing outside. This city is entirely surrounded by a 50m tall brick wall. The capital city is completely blocked off from the rest of the country. Unlike the entire country being in a poor state, the capital city is full of rich people who live in luxury every single day without a single second to worry about anything in their lives. There is only one entrance to this capital city, through the main gate, North of this city.

  The level of security to enter is very strict, and there are at least four pieces of paper with permissions to even be considered inside the capital city, just considered without any certain chance of actually being allowed in.

  Two people suddenly walked from behind, joining the four of them.

  “Ah, there they are!”

  “So, you two survived after all!”

  “I guess I should’ve expected it!”

  “It’d be a bummer if they didn’t!”

  “You all survived, I see!”

  “We two are fine too!”

  Eissen, Diva, Raven, Martina, Robert, and Raiya have all gathered right in front of the main gate to the capital city. They are standing side by side, each with a stern look of determination.

  “So, what are you guys doing this for?” asks me.

  “It’s a bit personal and humiliating to talk about our past, but just know that we both hate this rotten country with all of our hearts all of our lives!!” said Martina, and Raiya nods in agreement.

  “How about you guys?” asked Diva.

  “Both his parents and both mine, and several other unrelated people were unfairly executed by this stupid government!” said Raven as he pointed to Robert mid-explanation.

  “They are being framed for crimes they did not even know were possible, yet because the president already said it, they are executed nonetheless!” adds Robert.

  “What about you two?” asks Raiya to me and Diva.

  “To make things short, this country made our childhood feel like hell all the way to today!” answers Diva as I nod in agreement.

  “I see! So all of us are in agreement, then?” said Robert.

  Everyone nods.

  “Well then, it’s decided! LET US DESTROY THIS COUNTRY STARTING FROM ITS ROOT!!”

  I declare our first step in achieving our dreams.