【？？？？】

“Strange… The humans of this world should have already perished. Why in the world are they still alive?”

Within a dark room, a number of silhouettes had gathered. Situated in the middle of the room there was a round table, and on top of the round table there was a floating sphere that was showing an image.

“Are there really that many of them left?”

The image in the sphere was showing the humans of Earth.

“We assumed that there would be people who would awaken to abilities in that world, however it’s ridiculous to think that they could defeat the that we sent over.”

“Especially Titan, Hydra and Vishnu. Even we have a hard time when dealing with them. We even had to borrow the power in order to send them to that world…”

“Do you think that a human that can rival the appeared?”

“I do not know… Either a human that awoke to some unexpected power appeared or…”

“Are you implying that there was an interference by someone?”

“Either way, we must deal with this hindrance.”

One of the silhouettes sitting at the table turned around and looked towards one of the room’s corners.

“Hubris!”

From within the darkness, metal sounds of clashing metal were heard as a single silhouette appeared. He resembled a knight from the middle ages and donned a set of jet black armor.

“Go! Take care of the hindrance.”

Without a word the black knight set off on his mission, once again disappearing into the darkness.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

“No matter where I go, there’s nothing.”

I was currently looking around while flying over Antarctica. The land was definitely here, however snow and ice covered everything as far as the eye could see.

Within the Great Sage’s Archive, the only place without a rank was Antarctica. I had already been here to look around a couple of times, however I was yet to find something.

“There’s no way I can find it if it just points me to Antarctica.”

‘I’d be grateful if there was at least an arrow or something, showing me where I’m supposed to go…’ Thinking that I decided to once again go back empty-handed.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

A press conference was currently taking place, and Leo was there, standing in front of all of the reporters.

“Do you mean to say that the one that defeated England’s BOSS wasn’t actually you but rather the mutant named Gojo?”

“That is correct. With us alone it would have been impossible, that is why we borrowed his strength.”

“However we were told that you announced to the United Nations that you were the one that defeated it. A lot of people also believed that to be the case.”

“Yes I did do that, however it was in order to prevent the chaos that would occur should we have publicly revealed his overwhelming power.”

“So it would turn out that you in fact lied. What do you have to say about that?”

“What I did was all under my own discretion, that is why I will take all of the blame. If a lot of people don’t oppose it, I’m planning on retiring from The Sanctuary Knights as a way to take the blame.”

Due to Leo announcing that he was the one that had defeated the BOSS in England, he was currently the object of a lot of criticism from the media and a number of people.

However, that still didn’t change the fact that he helped in settling the problem this time and due to himself announcing that The Sanctuary Knights had cooperated with the Japanese Government and Gojo in order to deal with England’s subjugation, the criticism wasn’t that bad.

The ones who received the big portion of the criticism were the United Nations and the European Parliament. On top of delaying information, the disappearance of President Hans had turned out to be a huge blow to them, which only ignited the fire of hatred within the hearts of people throughout the world even more.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

“Good job.” said Carlo, welcoming me just as I was leaving the press conference.

“Still people really are awful beings. There’s no way there are gonna be people that would want you Leo Garcia, the world’s hero to retire from The Sanctuary Knights. You said all of that, completely aware of it, right?”

I had known Carlo for a long time now. It wasn’t a surprise that he was able to see right through me…

“I’m completely serious about taking the blame. To me taking the blame means sacrificing my life to protect this world.”

“That’s just like you. So that’s one thing dealt with right?”

“Yea, I can take a bit of a breather for the time being. From now on circle all of the media’s requests to me, I don’t want them to impact The Sanctuary Knights’ activities.”

“Don’t push yourself too much. There’s no point if you break down in the process.”

“I know. Don’t worry, I’m made to last.”

“I see, well then I won’t say anything else. There’s just one more thing I need to report.”

“What is it?”

“A message from Suzaku. Apparently one of their members has gone missing. They don’t know the reason.”

“Gone missing…”

“Maybe he just ran away because it got too tough?”

“I can’t deny that… Either way, keep an eye on it.” after saying that, both me and Carlo left.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

“A miss again huh…”

Alexander was currently here on Leo’s orders in order to look for strong ability users. It could be seen as a scouting activity in order to strengthen The Sanctuary Knights.

If there was any way they could fill the hole that Freya had left behind, they would do everything they could.

“Due to the Magic Particles density being high in the United Kingdom, it was deemed to be a place where a lot of people awoke to abilities, however I guess the recline in population has really taken its toll.” said Edgar, a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that had been sent by the English Government in order to be Alexander’s escort.

He was there in order to convey the information gathered by the Government to The Sanctuary Knights.

It was night time and both of them were walking through a road that was rarely frequented by people. Suddenly they heard footsteps coming from the darkness ahead. If it was Alexander probably wouldn’t have batted an eye, however the person that appeared was a knight donned in black armor that was holding a sword tinged with a murderous aura.

“What is it? Do you have some business with me?”

The black knight slowly began walking towards Alexander, however with every step he took his speed drastically increased.

Seeing that, Alexander clicked his tongue in anger because he hadn’t brought his weapon. If it was a normal human, then he could have taken him down with his bare hands, however the enemy that was drawing closer was clearly strong.

Even though Alexander didn’t have Appraisal he could still feel his strength, it was a simple feeling that had appeared after numerous battles.

He moved Edgar behind him and went in to welcome his opponent with his bare fists. The black knight accelerated, reaching Alexander in an instant.

[Dimensional Slash]

Fresh blood danced through the air, and Alexander that was just standing there was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing that Edgar lost all strength in his legs and fell on the road, trembling. The black knight looked at him for a moment, however afterwards he just turned a way as if saying that Edgar wasn’t worth his attention at all, and once again disappeared into the darkness.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

Upon hearing the news, every member of The Sanctuary Knights fell into shock.

Alexander had died.

Upon hearing the unbelievable news, Leo immediately flew towards Scotland.

“Do everything you can not to let this information get leaked to the public. I’ll explain everything later, so for the time being get me to Scotland’s hospital as fast as possible.”

A member of the intelligence agency welcomed Leo at the airport, after which both of them got in a car and rushed to the hospital.

“Can I talk to the person from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that was together with Alexander?”

“He suffered a huge shock and is currently accepted into the hospital as well… People that talked with him said that they were apparently attacked by a person wearing a black armor.”

“A black armor?”

After arriving at the hospital both of them immediately headed for the morgue.

“Is there something wrong with the body?” asked Leo

“That is… I guess it’s going to be faster just to show you. It’s hard to explain this abnormality…”

Hearing those words, Leo made a serious expression. After a bit they reached the morgue and opened the door. Inside they saw a handful of men all wearing suits and surrounding a table that was covered with a sheet. Leo headed straight for that table.

“We do not know how he ended up like this. We just managed to gather as much as we could.” said one of the guys pulling the sheet and revealing what was under it. Upon laying eyes on it Leo was left dumbstruck. The thing in front of him couldn’t be classified as a corpse.

What was there, was a mountain made from countless pieces of meat, cut cleanly into square pieces.