415 Fros

"I'll give you one last chance, kid. Are you going to leave or not?" With the hostile glint intensifying even further, Reign questioned again.

Of course, Virus didn't need to even think before finally responding, "Not."

He had only chosen to reply due to his increasing sensation of annoyance at the arrogance and idiocy of Reign.

"You!" 

"Will please shut up now? You're annoying."

"I'll fucking kill you!" With even more veins showing up around his neck, Reign had, at last, lost control. Therefore, he was just about to start utilizing his special Trait when he was suddenly stopped by the grasp of a hand belonging to one of the two women beside him.

And then, having already stopped him in his tracks, the owner of the hand, Thread Mistress, uttered, "Calm down, Reign, a lot of eyes are watching us. If you attack, you'll be held accountable by the Abnormals Association."

Indeed, assaulting someone around the vicinity of Rift, which was equipped with many surveillance cameras, was forbidden and in case such an incident ever happened, the person who started the fight first would be gravely punished since the Abnormals Association didn't take matters regarding the Rifts and their respective rules lightly at all.

After a brief glance into Thread Mistress's pupils in return, understanding she was right, full of irritation, he said, "What's your name, kid?"

"Me? I'm DS." 

"And what does DS stand for?" Several new ticks also formed on his temple while he inquired.

"Hmm, it stands for you're in Deep Shit, Reign." Casually putting one hand beneath his chin, a contemplative shine showed up over Virus's face as he answered without holding back.

"You bastard motherfucker! Just you wait, you'll regret ever offending the Dominators! I'll get back at you for this." Turning around with that, he was just about to leave, when he was interrupted by a cracking noise.

SHATTER~

'Oh, finally, the Rift's about to open up at last.' Retracting his focus from Reign who he considered nothing but a pathetic clown, Virus patiently began to anticipate the prospect of the incoming beasts from within the Rift.

'Hope it spits some Six-Eyed Bears at me.'

Very quickly, one beast after another was discharged from the Rift.

One monster…

Two monsters…

Seven Monsters…

Only when the figure hit eleven was the Rift done with the process as it quickly disappeared from their line of sight.

'Hmm, nine among them are full-fledged bears,' Thought Virus while throwing a deep look at each and every one of the bears, 'but… unfortunately, I can't seem to be able to find a Six-Eyed Bear among any of them. All of them are peak Five-Eyed Bears which are probably on the very verge of evolving into a Six-Eyed Bear.'

Examining the physique of those two humanoid creatures which had great similarities to bees, he pondered with further interest, 'Their heads and antennae resemble those of bees too, and their yellow and black trunks and those bee-wings behind them are also clearly screaming bee. This should be somewhat entertaining.'

'Well, I'm lucky I guess since I can also test if Origin can suck the energy out of them too. Good.' Following that, he was just about to charge into the middle of the horde of monsters, when a feminine voice attracted his attention to itself, "There are too many monsters here. If you want to handle them all by yourself, a few of them will inevitably escape and that might even cause a lot of casualties and harm upon other people. Later on, you would be even punished if that happened, so how about we help you? You just need to give us half of every beast we kill."

Simultaneously, she flicked her fingers as numerous nearly invisible threads began to surround and cover the eleven creatures, forcefully binding and trapping them in their standing stop for the moment.

Turning toward the Thread-Mistress who had just offered her aid while temporarily helping him confine the beasts, a grin found its way on Virus's face. Afterward, he was just about to open his mouth and say something when Reign beat him to it.

"What are you saying, Thread-Mistress! Why do you want to help him? Did you even ask me if you can do that?!" Without any pause in between, he went on, "Furthermore, didn't you see how he treated me just now? We should just leave the area and let him handle his own shit!"

'That's what you get for treating me like that, motherfucker.' Exuding clear signs of malice and ill will, Reign was fast to prevent the Thread-Mistress from interfering. All he wanted to witness now was to see Virus failing in successfully dealing with the Rift on his own before being dragged to the Abnormal Association so as to be gravely punished.

However, just as Reign assumed he had successfully stopped the Thread-Mistress, it was Ella's turn this time to jump into the middle of the conversation. Therefore, while her head was still somewhat lowered and even quivering due to some unknown notions, she stutteringly suggested, "I-I'm w-willing t-to help too… Ai- DS. Please let me assist you." At the beginning of her sentence, she was clearly stuttering, however by the end of it, she was reeking of unshakeable determination. She was finally facing the man she wanted to come across and meet both day and night, hence, she wasn't willing to let go of this chance that easily. 

She also couldn't prevent dumb notions from passing through her head, 'I wonder, will he feel moved, impressed, or perhaps even emotional after seeing how strong I've become?'

'Will he look at me again after seeing that I can take care of myself now?'

Seeing Ella offering her assistance, however, Reign felt shocked. He had never expected Ella to insist even after he had just forbidden Thread-Mistress from lending a helping hand.

"F-Frost, what are you doing, damn it? Didn't you just hear me say we're not going to assist the bastard?"