Verlaine floated in the air, not jumping or gliding like a bird, but truly defying gravity. Mysterious black patterns like runes crawled across his skin like living creatures as space continuously opened and closed with a grinding sound. Black particles swirled around him, falling like snow dust as he burst into laughter—a sound far beyond human, like thunder, like a piercing scream, like a large tree splitting apart. It was the voice of a beast, a demon.

The devilish spirit that was Verlaine raised his right hand, and a black sphere appeared above it, floating and absorbing the atmosphere to expand. Everyone was exhausted from the endless battle; the second stage, the most difficult and for many mafia members their last, had begun.

One mafioso turned to see a woman standing before him—a gifted person with freezing abilities, her white hair and white cape standing out against the darkness. She stared at the disaster above in a daze, her eyes showing no sense of danger, no fear, no hostility. She could only do what she was told and feel what she was told.

Destructive black spheres fell toward the woman. Without running away, she simply looked at the black sphere as if admiring a beautiful landscape.

"Karen!"

He moved before he could think. The young man's slender arms pushed the gifted freezer named Karen away. Immediately after, his back was torn away by gravity, which instantly swallowed the lower half of his body. As the black sphere sucked him in and turned him upside down, the young man kept his eyes on Karen. After he pushed her away, she rolled off the cliff, escaping the deadly danger.

Thank God.

The young man smiled, and a second later that smile disappeared too. There was nothing left of him.

Meanwhile, Karen lay unconscious far from the epicenter of the real war. Neither she nor the one who found her knew how long she had lain on the cold ground.