As the students were led into the jet, it rose high up right after, before becoming a beam of light, quickly fading into the distance.

But that wasn’t the only jet that came in.

There was a dark, sleek-black jet in the clouds, unmoving, and quietly, two figures appeared out of thin air at the mouth of it.

"Vice Rohan."

A man, blue-haired and blue-eyed, seemingly in his early thirties, called out to the tall Vice, a tablet in hand, which his fingers continued to tap on even as he bowed.

"Tomran, did you get the statistics?"

Vice Rohan asked, looking beneath the clouds at the city.

"Yes, Vice Rohan. We’ve done an estimate of the Supernaturals left in the city. The number has gone down from 1,000+ to just about 17."

He said, and a small grin opened up on the Commander’s lips.

"I knew they were the ones for the job."

"Tell me, how many of them did we lose?"

He continued further.

With so many Supernaturals killed, it’d be weird if there wasn’t damage of some sort.

"A total of 27 students died."

The man replied.

"Unfortunate. But it’s well within our estimated range."

Vice Rohan nodded.

"Send in Gione to clean up the remaining Supernaturals and then a message to Humanity Ascension that we’re done with their job."

He ordered, turning to leave for the jet, but then paused as he noticed something at the corner of his gaze.

He turned fully, and Rohan saw that the instructor had his eyes furrowed deeply at the panel.

"Is there something you think I should know, Tomran?"

He asked, snapping the man out of his shock.

"I... I think so, Vice Rohan."

"And what may that be?"

"The 27 students we lost are those in the lowest bracket in the academy."

"Basically, the weakest Newcomers." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Vice Rohan completed.

"Yes. But there are two names on the list that... don’t make any sense."

He said.

"And what are they?"

"Inumaki Horaga, and Rukun Malevolent."

"Big Four Members..."

Vice Rohan said.

"Not just that. They’re strong too. Rukun is ranked 18th on the Newcomer ranking, while Inumaki is ranked 13th."

"Geniuses aren’t above death. I’ll see to their families..."

He said, turning to leave.

"Sir..."

Instructor Tomran called out, and Vice Rohan paused.

"I think you should see for yourself... their corpses."

He said, passing Vice Rohan the panel.

What he saw made his brows crease, shock gleaming in his eyes.

He swiped, looking at image after image of the headless bodies, the remains that remained on the ground.

With that, he could easily picture the deaths.

’A separation that seemed almost unnatural. It wasn’t a cut from a blade or similar. It was like...’

"Shadow Severing!?"

Vice Rohan said, his face morphing to complete shock.

"That’s exactly what it looks like, sir. But Shadow Severing is something only Shadow Walkers can do, and our past reassessment has revealed there were no Shadow Walkers at all within this swarm."

"Besides, both of them seemed to have been killed at the same time. The only one with the power to take on two students and make their deaths so swift and almost without any fight should be a Deltadoid-grade creature."

"There was a Deltadoid creature, right?"

Vice Rohan remembered.

"Yes. The Magzilla. But it’s not responsible for this."

"If the Magzilla was the one that destroyed them, it would have left an abyss of flames in its wake, burning their bodies to a crisp."

Instructor Tomran said.

"So there’s someone out there, not a Shadow Walker, who can use Shadow Severing."

"And all he killed were two students. Inumaki Horaga, an S-rank awakening Otherworld Summoner, and Rukun Malevolent, an S-rank awakened Malevolent bloodline."

Vice Rohan said, before his brows creased deeply and he asked,

"Who was the first on the ranking again?"

"Huh? White. White Deadclaw?"

The Instructor read out.

"White Sinclaw."

Vice Rohan said, his brows narrowing deeply in both confusion and suspicion.

He knew well there was enmity between White and Rukun. It was what was resolved the last time on the challenge.

And he had also watched the fight White had with Inumaki, where he defeated his summon, Irasul, and won too.

’But Shadow Severing? White is a Limitless Boy. There’s no way he can use Shadow Severing.’

He said, but then paused as his eyes gleamed.

’He was a Limitless Boy... until the fusion with that body.’

"Call up Geneva."

He said to Instructor Tomran.

"I want her onto that scene and a memory orb of what exactly happened to both Inumaki and Rukun! Summon her now!"

Vice Rohan said, and the Instructor bowed before jumping off the jet, disappearing into the distance.

It left just Vice Rohan, who whispered out his thoughts.

"Presumed dead by us."

"Somehow survived the Aether Beyonder destruction from the Supernaturals, and suddenly related to and held in high regard by Humanity Ascension."

"Killed a Punisher, only to be swept under the carpet by Xtremcyber higher-ups, and now, two geniuses with a history with him, dead."

Vice Rohan mused, his hands folding tightly in his grasp before he relaxed them, looking at the mothership that disappeared into the distance.

"This better have nothing to do with you, White Sinclaw."

____________

"Didn’t see you at all during the mission."

The words reached White as he sat in the jet, turning his head to the side, and there he found a familiar face.

"Nova."

He called out with a smile.

"I saw you already joined a team, along with Morgaine. I added, and it would be overkill, so I decided to let it go."

He responded to her question.

"And who did you team up with?"

She asked.

"With me..."

The reply came, and Nova turned to the seat by his side, finding a girl with peculiar dual-coloured eyes.

She paused for a moment, trying to remember the face, but shockingly enough, nothing came to mind.

As the class representative, she had tried memorizing the Newcomers’ and Pseudo 2nd years’ names and faces, especially the girls.

"Nova. This is Zisel."

"Zisel!?"

Nova called in surprise, finally remembering the name.