The sun began to drop, and so did the temperature.

"There." Veritas stopped and pointed from the top of the snowy hill.

From grooming lights at the edge of the horizon, stood a dark silhouette of an enormous structure stood wrapped in the blizzard.

"Is that?...." My voice began.

"Yes, the centre, The Fortress of Night." Veritas finished off.

Bits of the legend came back to me. Sartorius had told it to me back when I first came across Runannan's cut. Which reminds me RIP Sartorius and the other veterans whom I didn't get to learn their names.

May all your souls rest in heaven...

"I sense 3 heat signals below." Kuro said all of a sudden.

"Where?" I asked instinctively.

She silently pointed down.

Even without the blizzard it was already to see, since it was all white and the landscape and the sky were pretty much blurred into one. Then after a good hard look, I spotted 3 tiny dots moving sluggishly across the snow.

"It's them: the annoying red hair man, the noisy Roshan women...and a blue hair girl..." Kuro's brows ceased.

"Huh...I thought it was only 2 a group...oh wait that means they met up?"

"Correct. Their situation must be very much like ours." Veritas commented.
Silence was exchanged, as our trio stared downhill again.

"Should I shoot them?" Kuro asked with a poker face.

"NO!...Actually go ahead and shoot Rumble, I don't care about him." I said, being a true friend.

"Still a waste of ammo."

At that remark, I let out a bursting chuckle, then quickly regained myself again.

"Veritas." I said, facing her.

"Yes?" She replied with a smile.

"Can you take us down there with your flight magic again?"

***

Carrying two people, especially one inside a MS put a greater strain on Veritas's magic, but if that was the case, she wasn't showing it. And there we were. The 6 of us face to face, reunited under the pale moon spotlight. Neither side spoke a word. Using the time of silence, I took the moment to analyze them all. Lebi looked the same as the last time I saw her, with a few more splotches of dirt on her uniform. Rumble and Isa on the other hand were wearing their MS and covered in a green goo. Surprisingly Lebi, probably the shyest of all of us, spoke first:

"Veritas? Oh, sorry, sorry, I mean Lady Aeolus." Lebi waved her hand frantically in apology.

"There is no need for formalities here, Lebi. We're are all friends here right?" Veritas smiled with ease.

Isa narrowed her eyes at Veritas, but said nothing. The silence stretched on a little wee bit too long for my liking, and seeing no one would break the ice, I spoke up:

"You guys must be heading to the centre as well right?"

"Centre? I don't know what that even is. We were just running away from the night claws back there. You guys should have seen Lebi in action, she was like Bala-bing and bala boom! And BAM! All the night claws chasing us are all dead in the water!" Rumble exclaimed.

"Stop it! You're flattering me!" Lebi flustered.

Since when did the two of them get so close?

Isa cleared her throat loudly, and everyone turned her way:

"So what is this centre?" Isa looked to me and silently demanded an answer.

"Allow me to explain instead." Veritas cut in. "The centre of the testing ground is the Fortress of Night, where the Crown of Midnight is placed. Whoever wears it in the end, is rewarded with a rare magic tome from the IIMT's grand archive."

"I see. Then there must be other strong parties heading there as well, or am I wrong?" Isa asked with an icy dare in her voice.

"No, you are absolutely correct. But I fail to see your point." Veritas brushed aside a strand of hair.

"The point is, we cannot afford to fail this test. And engaging in such crossfire is no more than suicide."

"Oh. If that's what you were worried about, then I can assure you, you're taking this worry too far upon yourself." Veritas titled her slightly and smiled.

"Worry? Myself?" Isa growled, and I could already feel the intense heat radiating from behind her helmet.

"Correct." Veritas said with a plastered smile. "Forgive me for being straightforward, but I do indeed find your worry unnecessary."

Silence.

Seeing someone challenge Isa's authority is not something you see every day, and usually it results in their lifespan being shortened. But this was a whole different case. Veritas was, is, much more powerful than Isa, probably more powerful than all of us combined. She was the one directly challenging Isa's authority; for what reasons? I didn't know at this point, but I will tell you this for sure, when two powerful entities clash, I best stay the hell out of it. And Isa, despite being probably half-cooked inside her armor, didn't stab Veritas in the guts or anything, which meant she was well aware that Veritas was stronger than her and could easily ended her if she wanted to.

"If that is the case, then I order the whole team to stay away from the centre." Isa said, her voice like cold steel.

The situation had became stale bread at this point, hard to digest, but still digestible. But it just can't wait any longer.

"Alright guys just chill." I said, holding up both hands. I could feel Isa's murderous glare from behind her helmet. I pressed on. "We're pretty close to the centre anyways, it's right there on the horizon. Plus, we can't just stay here in the open, we're going to freeze to death! Not to mention other players crossing here as well..." I said, scratching the back of my head, as I looked back and forth between the two.

"Are you disobeying my order fresh meat?" Isa pushed forth the question.

"No sir. But I am just thinking, this is probably one of our few chances to test out our abilities and skills in actual combat again. I want to know how far we are apart from those 'strong' ones. Plus, I think we all got enough points from killing those monsters right?" I said, as I scanned across the group for approval.

"Monsters? You mean those night claws?" Rumble rubbed his neck.

"Night claws? Huh...I think you mentioned about them before..." I said, as I searched my mind for the memory.

"Yeah. Except the ones I fought before had fur, these ones don't." Rumble added.

"Hmm, well either way, we should all check our points first. Now let's see, how do these things work again?" I frowned as I tapped the little black screen of the smart watch, and a brief moment later, the screen came to life, with a black number printed on it:

21.

"I...I mean we got 21." I looked to Veritas guiltily, whom responded with a small giggle.

"Not bad for a brat. We got 12 here."

Rumble commented.

"24." Isa chipped in.

"How many did you get Kuro?" I looked to Kuro, who's been almost non-existent the whole time.

"...17. If you count taking out my partner." Kuro said, as a new kind of silence fell over the place.

And after what felt like an entire ice age, I cleared my throat and broke the ice again:

"I suggest the 6 of us form and mutual alliance for now and head to the centre, so what do you all say then?"

Silence.

Just as I thought my proposal is going to be left alone in the cold, surprisingly it was Rumble who first voiced his opinion about it:

"If I stay and let a wimpy brat like him go, I will make fun of myself for the rest of my life." He sneered at the end, and I could just already picture his grin behind his helmet.

"I will go as well!" Lebi stepped up and offered.

"Whatever." Kuro scoffed.

"It was my proposal in the first place, it would be a disgrace if I went back on my word." Veritas chimed in.

Isa, seeing all the confirmation around her, sighed and finally gave in:

"Fine. We will go as a group then, but just know, if things go wrong, everyone retreat no matter what."

With the generous mood of consensus in the air, we turned and began to set course for the centre, with the moonlight as our guide.

***

"My lady, do you think vice president is serious?" the man said with a sneer.
"Who knows? After all, love is madness." Amare's smile widened.

"Then what should we do about it?" the man asked, stepping over a night claw corpse.

"Nothing." Amare licked her lips.
"Aren't you curious what will happen next?"

"Not really, though I am looking forward to fighting him and beat the complete utter decimate CRAP OUT OF HIM AND PUT HIM IN THE PLACE WHERE HE BELONGS WHICH IS TRASH!!!" the man whirled around and proceeded to using his arm blades and dealt several more slashes to the already lifeless body of the night claws. And by the time he stopped, the corpse was now no more than bloody mud.

"Forgive me my lady for cursing in your presence." He said, flinging the blood on his hand to one side.

"You are forgiven. But if you are addressing about the underling, then there is no need to refrain from cursing." Amare smile flickered back on again.

That's right, humans is just another word for trash.

Q: Do you see yourself as a risk taker?