The highway stretched long and empty under the late afternoon sun.

Brandon sat in the passenger seat with his elbow resting on the open window, watching the scenery blur past.

Charlotte was driving with one hand on the wheel, the other occasionally tapping the gear shift.

Brandon turned his head to look at her "Did the government make any move against you?"

Charlotte shook her head, "The World Leader hasn’t contacted me since that day. I think they’re still... hesitant."

She let out a short, dry laugh. "I killed an Empyrean and destroyed an entire Great Noble House. They probably don’t know whether to arrest me or try to negotiate with me."

She shrugged one shoulder "Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll just continue clearing towers anyway."

Brandon tilted his head slightly, curiosity sparking in his blue eyes "Towers, huh... I’ve never tried one."

Charlotte sighed as her expression turned more serious "Towers are very strange. You can clear normal dungeons relatively easily if you’re strong enough, but towers... they’re on another level. Some are difficult even for someone like me."

She glanced at him briefly before returning her gaze to the road.

"There’s one specific tower where my time skills won’t even work. The time field inside completely shuts down my time abilities. I have to rely on pure physical skill and weapons."

Brandon’s eyebrows rose in genuine surprise.

"I see..."

Charlotte nodded, "You should try towers sometimes. Might be good training for you."

"Yeah, I have been thinking... I am staying at S rank for a while now, so fighting in towers will be new experience and I can also quickly rank up."

Charlotte hummed under her breath "Hmm, then we can go tomorrow. What do you say?"

"Sure..."

The car continued gliding smoothly along the nearly deserted highway.

Suddenly, Charlotte’s foot slammed on the brakes.

*screeech*

The tires screeched sharply as the car jerked to a halt in the middle of the road.

Brandon’s body lurched forward against the seatbelt and he looked up quickly.

A figure stood motionless in the center of the highway, cloaked in a dark hooded robe that fluttered slightly in the wind.

Charlotte’s eyes narrowed, "An SS-rank awakener..." she muttered. "Sent by the government, or what?"

The hooded figure slowly raised both hands and lowered the hood.

Charlotte let out a long, tired sigh and leaned back in her seat.

"Oh... it’s you."

Lyssandra’s lips curved into a cold smile. In her right hand, she had a small glass container with a green gem inside it.

She crushed the container in her palm without hesitation. The glass shattered, and the green gem flared brightly.

"Let’s die together, Charlotte."

In the next instant, the air around the car warped violently.

The space itself cracked like breaking glass and jagged black lines spiderwebbed through reality as a powerful suction pulled at everything.

Charlotte’s eyes widened and she tried to activate her time skill, but the green gem’s power completely nullified her abilities.

"Brandon-!"

Before she could finish, the world folded in on itself.

The three of them were no longer on the open road.

*swoosh*

Brandon blinked hard as his stomach lurched from the sudden displacement.

When his vision cleared, his boots were sinking slightly into coarse, hot sand and the air was dry and scorching.

He looked around, stunned.

"I am in a desert?"

Golden dunes stretched endlessly in every direction under a burning, cloudless sky.

The sun glared down mercilessly, making the air shimmer with heat haze.

There were only sand, rock formations in the distance, and an oppressive silence.

He turned to look at Charlotte, who was standing beside him.

"Charlotte,"

Charlotte gaze was locked on Lyssandra, who stood motionless in the sand, her dark cloak fluttering in the hot wind.

"I see..." Charlotte murmured under her breath "So that’s your plan, huh."

She turned her head toward Brandon "Don’t panic, Kael. Currently, we are inside the tower I was talking about earlier."

She gestured vaguely at the endless desert around them "The Dead Clock Spire. My time-ether abilities don’t work here because the time field in this tower is strange."

"And the gem she used belongs to this tower, which can be used to teleport to the tower."

"But to get your hands on that... someone on Empyrean status must have helped her."

Lyssandra’s smile widened. In her bleeding palm, the shattered remnants of the green gem still glowed faintly before fading completely.

"Miss Maevrith..." she whispered, her voice trembling with grief and rage. "I will avenge you here. In a place where even the strongest Empyrean is nothing but flesh and blood."

Charlotte exhaled slowly, rolling her shoulders once "Just because I don’t have my time skill... don’t think you can defeat me."

Lyssandra dropped into a low combat stance and ether flickered around her body for a moment "Try me."

*swoosh*

Charlotte shot forward like a bullet.

She closed the distance in a single explosive step and her fist slammed into Lyssandra’s midsection.

*THUD*

Lyssandra’s body folded around the punch and her eyes bulged before she was launched backward.

She flew across the sky in a high arc before crashing down hard into a distant dune.

*THOOOM* A massive cloud of sand erupted on impact.

Charlotte didn’t stop.

She leaped into the air instantly, chasing after her with terrifying speed.

Mid-flight, she twisted her body and delivered a devastating downward kick to Lyssandra’s chest the moment the woman tried to rise.

BOOM.

Lyssandra was driven straight into the sand, creating a deep crater.

The force sent another shockwave of sand exploding outward in a perfect circle.

Charlotte landed lightly on the edge of the crater, "You came all this way just to die?" she asked flatly.

Lyssandra coughed, spitting blood onto the sand.

She pushed herself up on shaking arms and her eyes were blazing with hatred despite the pain.

"I... won’t... die alone..." she rasped.

She lunged forward again, throwing a wild, powerful punch aimed at Charlotte’s face.

Charlotte sidestepped effortlessly and countered with a sharp elbow to the side of Lyssandra’s head.

The blow sent her staggering sideways, but Lyssandra refused to fall. She spun and tried to sweep Charlotte’s legs.

Charlotte jumped over the sweep and brought her knee up into Lyssandra’s stomach, lifting her off the ground again.

"Guagh-"

Brandon watched the entire exchange from where he stood. He wanted to join the fight but it might hold Charlotte back.

*THOOM*

Lyssandra crashed down again, rolling through the sand before forcing herself back to her feet.

Blood dripped from her mouth and nose.

"Haaa... Huff..." Her breathing was ragged, but the fire in her eyes hadn’t dimmed.

"You... took everything from me..." she growled. "Maevrith was my everything. And you... you killed her like she was nothing."

Charlotte’s expression didn’t change, "She tried to harm my little brother. That was her mistake."

"Ahhhhhhhh!!!" Lyssandra screamed and charged again.

But Charlotte kicked her gut, making her fall to her knees.

Lyssandra laughed wetly, spitting even more blood.

"You think... this time field makes us equal?" She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "You’re still stronger than me... even without your precious time magic."

Charlotte’s eyes narrowed "Then why are you here?"

Lyssandra’s smile turned feral "Because even if I can’t kill you... I can make you suffer."

With a sigh, Charlotte leaned down and grabbed her by the hair "The hell are you even saying?"

She pulled her hair making Lyssandra grunt in pain "I-I know... I can’t defeat you... that’s why... Hahahaha... HAHAHAHAHA..."

"Do you know what time it is?" Lyssandra gasped between laughs as tears of pain streamed down her bloodied face.

"For this tower... this is peak season for time storms."

’Time storm?’ Charlotte’s eyes widened.

Behind Brandon, far in the distance but moving with terrifying speed... an enormous wall of sand is rising.

It wasn’t a normal sandstorm. The air itself seemed to warp and twist around it, colors bleeding strangely as if time itself was being shredded.

Charlotte’s pupils shrank in horror "Brandon-!"

She released Lyssandra instantly, shoving the woman aside as she exploded forward in a desperate sprint.

Lyssandra collapsed onto the sand, still laughing maniacally even as blood poured from her mouth.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! LET’S ALL DIE TOGETHER!!"

Brandon turned his head and his eyes locked onto the monstrous storm barreling toward him.

He reacted on pure instinct and formed two spinning ether discs beneath his feet.

He leaped onto them, using the makeshift platforms to launch himself upward and sideways, trying to evade the storm’s path.

But it was too fast.

In the next instant, the sandstorm swallowed him.

*SWOOOSH*

The world turned into chaos.

Sand whipped around him like a thousand razor blades, stinging his skin even through his clothes.

The air howled so loudly it drowned out everything else.

One second he was rising; the next he felt like he was falling for an eternity.

"Charlotte-!"

He tried to call out, but the sand filled his mouth and lungs.

Charlotte reached him in the final second.

She dashed through the outer edge of the storm like a comet, her eyes locked on his figure amid the chaos.

Her hand shot forward desperately.

"Brandon!"

Their fingertips brushed... just for a second.

Then the storm surged.

All she managed to grab was a handful of sand that slipped through her fingers like water.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Charlotte’s scream tore from her throat was swallowed by the roaring wind.

The storm continued its rampage, dragging Brandon deeper into its heart...

Seeing this, Lyssandra laughed in satisfaction "AHAHAHAHAHA, now you will know the pain of losing someone you hold dear..."

She threw her head back, laughing even harder "HAHAHAHAHAHA... you are arrogant that you are the strongest, aren’t you?"

"Look at you now... YOU CAN’T EVEN SAVE SOMEONE CLOSE TO YOU!"

Charlotte looked at the raging storm and without a second thought, she dove right in to save him.

"BRANDON!"

The moment she crossed the threshold, the world inside the storm hit her.

She pushed through it all as her ether flared desperately around her "Brandon! Where are you?!"

She spun in the chaos searching for any sign of him... but there was nothing.

Only endless, violent sand and the sickening distortion of time.

She reached out again and again, grabbing at shadows, at gusts of wind, at nothing.

"BRANDON!"

Her scream was torn apart by the storm.

Deeper and deeper she went, refusing to give up, even as the storm tried to tear her apart...

...but she found nothing.