Under The Veil of Night

"So you come back," Aria remarked calmly.

Kanae and Kevin looked back at Aria. Most of the time, Aria would wear a cap, which hid part of his face. Now that he didn’t wear it anymore, they could see his face very clearly. It was a face that they remembered because of the incident in their childhood.

"You’re that guard who let the door open?" Kanae pointed her finger.

Kevin’s eyes flashed as he looked at the man before him. Memories of their past when they got out of the lab were replayed in their mind.

...

*9 years ago*

The young Kevin was kidnapped when he went back home. As his uncle was on rampage because of his girlfriend’s death, no one paid much attention to Kevin. As for Kevin himself, he didn’t try to ask for any attention because he was also trying to forget his sadness.

"Is this Kevin Kalin?" the guard who guarded the door asked.

The man nodded his head. "Yes, be careful. Even though he didn’t show anything in his face, he had attempted to escape a few times."

"I understand."

The door behind him was opened and the boy was flung inside. He crashed on the floor hard as the other children around him shrieked. There were only a handful of children around the age of 7-12 years old.

Their eyes studied the man with interest, but Kevin didn’t pay any attention. He sat down near the wall, trying to find a way to get out. Not long after that, a young girl came inside from another room with a female researcher. From the way the woman treated the girl, it was apparent that they were mother and daughter.

"Remember what I told you before, Okay?���

"Yes, I understand," the young Kanae nodded her head. Different from her future self, her hair was not tied and she didn’t wear any glasses. Her long and slightly wavy hair moved around as the girl sat down on one of the chairs.

Time passed swiftly, but Kevin still didn’t know whether there was a way out or not. He felt rather frustrated because his father had warned him before that this place was terribly dangerous. They wanted him not because of his position but because of the blood that flowed in his vein and the gene he had.

As the other children talked with one another, Kevin didn’t even try to get close to them. His eyes were cold as he looked at them.

There were a total of 7 children, three of them were girls. One girl stood out the most because of her blond hair. From her happy expression, it was clear that she didn’t know what was waiting for her in this place.

"Are you a mute?" one of the girls asked him.

He glanced up and saw the newest girl. Frowning slightly, he ignored the young girl. On the other hand, Kanae didn’t give up immediately. She sat down near Kevin.

"I’m Kirei. What’s your name?" Kanae asked curiously.

Kevin looked at Kanae coldly and ignored the young girl once more. Knowing that her presence was unwanted didn’t make Kanae give up that easily. She stayed close to him as if she wanted to share her warmth with him.

Her eyes followed after Kevin’s gaze as she noticed that he was looking around, seemingly looking for a way out. When her thoughts reached that point, she remembered the message that her mother left for her. She had to get out when it was the time.

Her mother didn’t say anything about taking someone else out too.

"Do you want to get out?" Kanae asked curiously.

Kevin looked at Kanae for the first time. "Do you know the way out?"

"Yes, just follow me later."

Seeing the confident girl, he felt even worse. However, he knew that it wouldn’t do him anything good if he didn’t do anything. There were only two doors to this room without any window. He was not sure about the air ventilation, but even if there was one, it should be at the faraway ceiling.

"Fine."

Kanae smiled.

The two of them sat down quietly until it was the time for sleep. Several men came inside and handed them some beddings to sleep. Afterwards, they left and locked the door again.

Kevin looked at Kanae who prepared her bedding with displeasure. Did this girl want to get out or not?

However, he found out that she was placing stuffed dolls underneath the blanket. It looked as if someone was sleeping there even if there was actually none. Knowing that she was making a diversion, he followed what she did pretty quickly and neatly.

"You’re really good with your hand," Kanae commented.

Kevin didn’t reply. He just stared at Kanae as if asking her when they will get out of this place. Kanae pointed to the door and stood near them.

After a few minutes, the door was opened and a large man walked inside to check the children. Kanae and Kevin used this chance to move outside the door and ran across the hallway. Even though they only saw the man for a brief moment, they still remembered the face of the man who opened the door that day.

....

"I didn’t let it open," Aria replied calmly.

Kanae smiled. She didn’t expect him to admit too. "Thank you for that day, but today is different. You’re our enemy now."

"I know."

Kevin’s eyes narrowed slightly when he saw that Aria had prepared his weapon, a knife. "You don’t have to fight us if you don’t want."

"I have a debt that I must repay," Aria answered with a serene tone.

The two of them moved forward at the same time and started to attack Aria. Using the knife on his hand, he deflected the attack from the two of them. No matter how many times they tried to breach his defense, the man would be able to guess their trajectory and blocked their attacks.

However, Kanae exerted the most of her speed. She kicked the wall to give her acceleration as she slashed the man’s back. Her brows creased for she understood that the wound was not a fatal one. When she landed on the ground, she fixed her eyes on him again and saw that the wound she just made healed at a visible rate.

Her eyes widened. ’Regeneration ability?’

With that kind of ability, no matter how dire the situation was, there was no way Aria would die. This kind of terrifying ability caused chills on Kanae’s back at the thought of being unable to die.

When Kanae found out, Kevin also found out because he attacked the man’s knife. His sword made a cut on the man’s arm, which healed at visible rate too.

Kanae looked at the wound she made with astonishment. "If you have such a great healing ability, why do you still owe him?"

"Every single kind of ability has its limit," Kevin answered in Aria’s stead. "Let’s go!"

The two of them dashed forward again. This time, Kevin took out the beads that Alice had given to him. He threw them to Aria right after he pushed Kanae back. Some kind of smoke enveloped the man’s body, but it disappeared not long after that.

Aria glanced at the two of them. "This kind of petty trick won’t do much..."

He sensed pain on one of his arms, he turned around and saw that Kanae had made a deep cut on his arm. Turning his body around, he attacked the girl, clashing his knife with her sword. As Kanae moved back, she somersaulted on the air and landed on the ground safely.

"it won’t last long," Kevin reminded her. "Just fight him with all you got, Rei."

"Alright."

With that, the two of them started moving once more, attacking Aria rapidly and made numerous wounds on his body. However, every single one of them healed at visible rate.