"You were followed." Said Lita

Violet turned to Ruby and said, "Followed? That's impossible. I only encountered one horned one, and I left him trapped back at the store. I brought his weapon, as it was incredibly powerful.".

"Weapon? If it was as powerful as you say, it was probably bounded to him so he should be able to track you from it if he's still alive...

For me, I was spying on the king, they noticed and tried to catch me But I got away and made sure there was nothing chasing after me." Ruby replied.

Regardless, the fact remained that they were caught

"Can we talk later?" Kylo asked. "If something is coming then we should start running... Now."

Several glances were exchanged. Everyone was nervous. Still, they nodded.

The group jumped right into work without wasting any more time. Their other three hiking bags were filled to the brim with as much as they could fit.

Whenever they deemed something useful, they placed it inside.

Violet's clothes went in with Aurora's since she was going to take both Gray and the hiking bag with supplies.

Lila returned to her normal self and was quickly briefed by Lara of the situation whilst they packed up their things.

Ria, on the other hand, didn't have anything to pack up so she helped the others with what they needed.

She went back to her brother, kneeling beside him as they were almost finished.

She whispered, grabbing his hand.

"This time I'll protect you I promise."

As soon as they were ready, they quickly left the underground basement without looking back.

They stood in the backyard of the mansion. Looking left and right, they wondered where they would go.

Kylo murmured, "Where should we go next...? It's too dangerous in the inner city... This is probably the best place we can find in the outskirts...".

Right, they had no idea where they would go now or whether it would be considered safe. However, they knew one thing for sure.

They needed to go somewhere that was far away from here.

"Give me the weapon, we need to leave it behind so that he cannot find us." Ruby said firmly.

Suddenly, her eyes turned to the top of the mansion as something caught her attention.

"Nevermind... It's too late." She murmured.

The top of the mansion ahead of them was occupied by a young, handsome man. He had short dark yellow hair and dark red eyes.

His face wore a carefree expression, and his eyes were deadbeats. His head was adorned with red horns and his hands held dark gloves, representing an ominous flow of energy.

However, that was the least of their worries.

Several bells rang rattling.

Then, ahead of the group. A single figure appeared.

An attractive woman with red horns protruding from her head.

Wearing a traditional eastern style of clothing. A white yukata and sandals. She held a fan on her hand that had a unique crest molded into it.

A bun of snow-white hair tied with deep silver irises adorns her head.

Ruby recognised her right away, it was the Duchess, Charlotte.

Time resumed and the colours returned to the hall. Gray could finally move now.

After the king had begun speaking, he seemed to have stopped time, which made him nervous. He realized this as the colours of everything around him changed, they became black and white.

Such was the effect which would happen whenever Gray stopped time previously.

Whenever time would stop however, Gray would always collapse from having his organs crushed from the inside.

The king didn't appear to have this weakness.

With his arms raised up in the pause fighting style stance. He took a step forward.

After that, Gray leapt towards the throne with a punch in motion.

He was aiming for the king's head.

Gray's eyes widened, his fist was implanted into the throne's chair, right beside the King's head.

He had tilted it to the right in the very last second, easily avoiding him in the process.

A split second after, air burst behind Gray three times before he was blasted away.

Airborne, he glanced back towards the throne only to find that the king was no longer there.

*WHAM!*

A kick suddenly crashed into his arms, blowing him away towards the ground.

*CRASH!*

His back crashed into the ground, getting partially implanted into it as a result.

The king fell from above, it's leg stretched out, aiming to stomp on Gray.

*CRASH!!*

Gray rolled over the left barely avoiding it.

The king stomped once more to where Gray rolled, but with his hands, Gray pushed himself off the ground, sending a kick towards the King's face.

*BAM!*

The king blocked, the king as he raised one of his arms.

[Pause]

Gray could now attack freely.

Or so he thought.

With the arm that he had blocked the kick, the king, suddenly grabbed onto Gray's leg before swinging him down to the ground.

As Gray's back crashed into the ground once more, his eyes widened.

'Pause failed?!' He questioned

As he went back up to get swung down again, Gray tried activating [Chronos Field] but that too failed.

He couldn't use any of his skills.

Instead, he waited right until the king had raised him as far up into the air as he could.

The moment he did, he kicked towards his, temple, swinging his leg as hard as he could.

The king raised other arm, his hands were open to grab it but then

[Pause Fighting Style Trajectory Shift]

Gray's kick shifted directions, in the last second, passing right over his hand, before digging into the side of his head.

*CRASH!*

The King threw Gray away, letting go of his leg before stumbling back a few steps.

As he flew across the hall, Gray rotated his body mid, making it so that his feet were parallel to the wall before he crashed into it.

Veins bulged out of Gray's thighs before he kicked off the wall, leaping straight towards the king.