“Come on, pretty boy. After what you did to all those girls, you can only take one punch?” Blinded by rage, Florent charged again. “Gaaargh!” This time, Florent aimed to grab Mark’s shoulder strap, pulling him closer to connect his balled fist against his smug face. It landed with a crunch, and he cackled at that. “Stand up, bastard. You want me to fight you? Then, I’ll give you one. Let’s see if I can break your teeth in the next minute.” Fortunately – or unfortunately for Florent – securities came and parted them. Mark laughed, holding his face in his hand as he shied away from the guard. On the other side, Florent was not that lucky. Two security guards grabbed his hands and pulled them behind his back. He was forced to stay still, or they’d pull his hands, making him unable to escape them. “Let me go,” he growled to them. “Let me fucking go or I’ll punch you!” “Did you hear that?” Mark said, still chuckling at him, “He said he’ll punch you. Maybe you should call the police

Ryan's breath hitched as he heard that word. "My son." Howard Ashford innocently said that as if he wasn't the lead role in every nightmare he had when he was a child. How dare he? Why was he here? How could he be here? [Target found.] [Please state your Objective.] TEETS's mechanical voice once again entered his mind. Ryan thought of the first thing that popped out to prevent himself from getting any more panic attacks. 'I want him dead.' [Objective submitted.] [Objective Four: Kill Howard Ashford.] "It really is you," Howard nodded in satisfaction. "I'm glad I find you now." "How did you know I'm here? No, that's not quite right. How did you know that I'm still alive?" Howard tapped his fingers against his thigh, "Why wouldn't I?" "Answer me." He sighed, surrendering at least for this once. "After you were trapped in that forest fire, I ordered my men to look for your corpse." "Why? Because you're afraid that I somehow survived and tell people what you did to me?"

Drops of water pitter-pattered against Ryan’s body. It felt good, like a thousand little massages, before they left wet patches and soaked him to the bone. His clothes clung to him like a second skin, and Ryan was glad that cold was the only thing he could feel. Howard Ashford had made a comeback into his life, barging and intruding. Now that he had a taste of freedom and to be his own person, his hated father returned to remind him of it all. A flash of red from the past crossed his mind, blinding him in an instant before another cold splash from the rain grounded him. It had almost been an hour since he stood under the cloudy, mourning sky. The rain itself, it almost felt like his current emotion now. Such coldness brings nothing but bad memories. Ryan didn’t want to remember his whole past, his whole bleak childhood. However, Violet’s presence through it all was the only bright thing in his past. And so, like a pathetic being, he wanted to remember it all – just for the sake of

Ryan woke to a banging sound. He groggily opened his eyes, flinching as bright light attacked him at once.'Where am I?'TEETS didn't answer him, either because the System didn't have a GPS feature or because it had no obligation to tell him that.'What happened? I know I'm in a good health, so how could someone attacked me from behind when Danger Void is always active?'[Danger Void is an Ability to automatically dodge any physical attack on Host. However, it is only effective against one opponent only.]'Seriously? How could you never mention that Danger Void couldn't save me from two or more attackers at one?'[…]'Don't tell me you deliberately keep that information from me?' Ryan grumbled to himself. 'Is that why you're not as good as other System out there?'[…]Before he could berate the misleading System any further, he heard footsteps through the darkness in front."Oh, look who's just wake