HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

The moment Archie and Eve left the bar, he saw a group of people hanging out on the street with cigarettes in their hands. He knew those people were Axis Humans because they could sense it but something felt off about them.

Those Axis Humans were strong but the way they wore their attire, they were like an office worker. He was curious about them and wanted to ask about something but Eve was already far ahead of him that he had to catch up on her.

“What’s wrong?” Eve asked as she looked at Archie.

“Those people back there, don’t you think they look weird?” Archie replied as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

Eve turned around and saw a group of people in a suit enjoying their cigarettes on the sidewalk.

“Weird? They look like normal Axis Humans to me, there’s nothing wrong about it. What makes you think they’re weird?” Eve looked at Archie with her eyebrows raised.

“They’re strong Axis Humans like Ruby or even stronger than her, don’t you think? I believe this is the first time I saw their faces because I don’t think they’re from the Valor special force,” Archie answered and kept staring at those people.

“While you were unconscious back then, I took a stroll around the city with Nova. You might know or may not, but there are a lot of people like them in the city,” Eve answered and Archie looked at Eve with a bit of a surprised expression, he didn’t know that at all.

“I see, that’s why I said that earlier that there might be Axis Humans that are working under one of the Adams. Nova didn’t realize that nor Faye, so I think there’s something is going on around this nation that we don’t know,” Eve explained as they left the city.

“You should have told them about that, Eve,” Archie said while he shook his head and chuckled with disbelief.

“I forgot to mention that because I was busy thinking about something else back then. I believe they will notice it anyway, so there’s no need to tell them everything,” Eve replied with a smile on her face. “Anyway, are you ready to leave?” Eve asked and looked at Archie.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Archie nodded his head.

Archie and Eve flew up high into the sky in the dark night where most of the people were already asleep. He looked down and saw how big the city was and if each corner had that same kind of people, there would be thousands of them.

While they were on their way to Borneo, Archie felt like someone or something had been following them from behind ever since they left the city, it wasn’t the wind witch because he could sense her presence in front of them. He looked at Eve and she looked a bit unsettled because of the presence as well, and then suddenly the wind blew so hard from behind them and made turbulence.

They both stopped flying and Archie couldn’t sense the wind witch’s presence at all as if the wind that blew was the wind witch got pushed away by something.

“What do you want,” Eve suddenly said and stared at nothing in front of her which made Archie look confused.

Archie couldn’t see anything but Eve seemed to be able to see something or someone in front of her that he couldn’t.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Eve asked with an annoyed expression. “You’re saying that I’m not allowed to help him in this mission? Then why did you give me a warning back then?”

Archie realized that Eve might have been talking with Cherubim, and they didn’t want to show their appearance in front of Archie. That meant Eve wouldn’t be able to see Throne even if she wanted to since they could hide their appearance like Cherubim.

“You want me to watch then?” Eve crossed her arms and she looked angry at Cherubim.

Archie couldn’t imagine himself challenging Throne’s words because the outcome might be far worse than he could imagine.

“Why suddenly you forbid me to find the other Adams?” Eve flew forward as if she was really challenging Cherubim which made Archie a bit uncomfortable because bad things might happen soon.

Eve scoffed and raised her eyebrows. “The rule has changed because I have chosen my Adam? And not to mention it’s for my own safety?” She repeated the words that Cherubim told her and that made Archie understand the situation from her words alone.

The presence disappeared and it felt like the air disappeared with it that making it hard for Archie to stay floating in the air. He struggled to maintain the altitude while he stared at Eve who looked furious about the conversation she had because, in the end, she couldn’t go against Cherubim’s words or so it seemed.

“Are you alright?” Archie asked after he managed to recover.

“You heard what they said right?” Eve replied as she looked at Archie.

“No, I couldn’t hear what they said not even their appearance,” Archie answered as he shook his head. “But I understand what you were talking about by the responses you gave to them,” Archie explained.

“I see, but yes, I can’t help you on hunting the Adams because it’s your job, not mine,” Eve said as she looked at Archie with a bit of concern.

“Yeah, I heard everything,” Archie nodded his head. “If I failed and died, what will happen to you then?”

Eve didn’t respond and stared blankly at the vast see below her, Archie waited and was curious about the answer she was going to make.

“Everything went back to normal, finding a new Adam,” Eve answered with a flat tone in her voice which made Archie a bit unsettled because he couldn’t tell if she was sad or felt nothing about it.

“I see,” Archie said and then he looked at the Borneo island in the distance. “I guess I will be on my own now,” Archie flew toward the island and left Eve behind because she couldn’t do anything about the situation anyway.

Archie didn’t expect Eve to follow him but knowing that she really didn’t follow him to the island, it gave him heartache. He knew that Eve couldn’t do anything or she might get punished if she went against their order, and he remembered how painful it was for her to lie.

“It’s just you and me,” Archie looked at the presence of the wind witch right next to him.

The wind witch showed herself and looked at Archie’s expression so that she could tell he was heartbroken.

“I know that I might not be useful, but I will always stand by your side and give you a bit of help,” The wind witch replied.

“That gives me a bit of relief,” Archie smiled, and then he slowly descended.

Archie landed on the island safely, he looked around he was amazed by the massive forest that covered almost the whole island. It reminded him of Fallen Continent, and he believed that the island should become one of the Fallen Continents after knowing the danger on the island.

At that moment, Archie didn’t want to think about anything else because it would only make him unfocused. If he wanted Eve to stay by his side, all he had to do was to make sure he killed Adam on the island, and that was the most important thing.

- “Can you give me a vision of the island for me?” Archie asked the wind witch who walked next to him.

“That might take a while, maybe I can give you all the information about the island in the morning. How’s that sound, Archie?” The wind witch answered and looked at Archie.

“That’s fine by me, you can take your time while I explore the island a bit on my own to check what kind of parasites that I’m going to deal with,” Archie nodded his head with understanding.

“Then be careful, I will be back when the sun is up,” The wind witch replied and then disappeared and became one with the wind.

Archie spent hours wandering on the edge of the island and weirdly enough, he didn’t encounter a single parasite at all. It was fine by him but at the same time, it made him uncomfortable because he had never been in that kind of situation before.

The morning came and not a single parasite was seen, Archie decided to enjoy the morning breeze and the warmth of the sun on the beach. He then felt the wind witch’s presence coming toward him from behind, he turned around and saw the wind witch walking on the sand which made her look a bit happy.

“Thank you for helping me. So? What did you find?” Archie asked as he looked at the wind witch.

“It would be a bit troublesome for you because they’re all in the middle of the island, thousands of them,” The wind witch answered.

“I see, that won’t be a problem if I can kill them one by one,” Archie said.

“No, that’s not what I meant,” The wind witch replied. “The parasites were cross-breeding and the parasites were nothing like you have encountered so far. They’re terrifyingly far stronger than Ex-Axis Humans,”