I arrived too late. That was my only thought since I saw Alex lying and bleeding on the ground, with Chosen ones around him. Not to mention that Lila was also there, trembling and crying from the recent event. I bit my tongue. If I had been faster, I could have reached them and protected them. No, no, that doesn't matter now. I need to focus on the enemies in front of me.

The masked man I had struck was slowly getting up from the ground. He spoke softly and coughed as he looked at me. He's probably nervous I said to myself.

Finally, he got up and dusted himself off with his hands. I need to hurry, I thought to myself. If I don't hurry, Alex will die from blood loss.

The masked man hadn't said anything to me yet, at least not until now. When he finished dusting himself off, a light appeared in his right hand. After this light, a long black knife with a slight upward curve appeared. He has a spiritual weapon? That's quite problematic.

"Are you their leader?" I asked the masked man as I looked at the other men.

"Hm? Why do you ask? Do you consider me their leader because I'm the strongest one here?" the masked man asked. Even though he had a mask on, I could tell he was smiling. I responded with a raised eyebrow. "You, strong? I could say that the wall behind you is the strongest in this store because I couldn't destroy it with the blow I gave you."

And it's true. I threw him into the wall, but the wall only had a few cracks on it extending from the middle to the floor. That annoyed the man because I could read his anger in his eyes. That was the plan, the weak point of the Chosen ones with spiritual weapons is that if they can't calm their emotions, the spiritual weapon will disappear.

"Seriously? Seriously seriously? I'm weak? Fine, Lunar. Perfect, great!" the man shouted as he grinned. Meanwhile, I saw him coming towards me, the knife in front of him, aimed at my abdomen. He probably wanted to attack me like he did with Alex. So... when the knife was about 10 cm away from my abdomen, I grabbed his wrist. I could see the surprise on his face, but I couldn't allow him to be more surprised. While I had his wrist with the knife in my left hand, I pulled his entire arm towards my left side. His body followed along, leaving his abdomen and back exposed, and because of that, I took my chance and started to elbow him in the back. When my elbow hit his back, I could hear his bones separate and break at the same time. As all my force spread across his entire back, the masked man fell to the ground. There was no blood, but his screams of pain echoed throughout the store.

To silence his screams, I kicked him in the face. With that force he rolled back into the wall again.

The other men, who had been silent until now, remained surprised. None dared to fight me. They are probably just ordinary people, I thought to myself. They stood tense, but as soon as I looked at them, they started to take a step back, and one of the three masked men took something out of his hoodie.

"This... this doesn't end here, we won't give up until we have her," the man said, his voice trembling. At that moment, I realized what he wanted to pull out of his hoodie. It wasn't big, but he held a red crystal in his hand. Fuck! I can't let them escape. So I put my divine power into my leg and took a step forward.

When I did that, a small tremor was felt. The whole store began to vibrate from the pressure of my foot on the floor. Not only that, but the other guys were vibrating along with the store. The lights flickered on and off, and pieces of the ceiling fell slowly. But it wasn't enough; the man crushed the crystal with his hand, and the next second, black smoke emerged from it. The smoke spread more than I thought because to my surprise, it spread throughout the entire store. Not only that, but it had such pressure that the windows and doors were thrown open because of the smoke.

Unfortunately, when I opened my eyes, none of the men were here, not even the injured one.

I cursed. If my bosses find out about this, I'll be severely punished. I have no choice; I'll take responsibility.

"Fuck, Alex!" I said to myself when I realized I had lost too much time with these men. Alex was on the ground, not moving. When I rushed to him to see if I could stop the bleeding, a shock hit me. He wasn't breathing. Not only that, but his face and body were already pale.

"No! No! No! No!" I shouted as I applied pressure to his abdominal wound. The blood coming from the wound was pooling in my hands. I need to do something, quickly! I looked around to see if anything could save him. The only solution would be if Lila brought me the phone.

"Lila, I know you've suffered, I really understand, but the moment now is crucial. We need to save Alex. My phone is on the table in the smoking area. Can you please bring it to me?" I said a little louder, but that didn't matter. The girl needs to know how critical our situation is. When I looked at her, she got up. Her whole body was trembling, but that didn't stop her from passing by me and going to the back. Before she brought me the phone, I took off my shirt. I wrapped my shirt around my hand and applied pressure again on the wound to stop the bleeding.

Lila came running with the phone and asked, "Uh... should I call the police? An ambulance? What should I do?" Her voice was trembling, but at least she was trying to help, that's good.

I shook my head and only extended my other hand, the one not on the wound. She immediately understood what to do and gave me the phone. I turned on the phone and went to the contacts. There I found the only woman who could help us at this moment.

So I called Morgana Moonshadow.

"This is Apollo, I need help. We have a red code b2. I need a research team, doctors, and an investigation team. The location is the store where I work!" I shouted panicked into the phone. I waited a few moments to receive a response that helped me calm down. "Received, Apollo. I'll send help now." A cold and direct voice from a woman could be heard briefly on the call. And after those words, the call ended.

"Phew," I sighed in relief. After calming down, I finally turned my gaze to Lila. She was standing in front of me. Fear, terror, and despair could be seen in her eyes. It's traumatizing for a young girl like her to experience something like this at her age. It'll be okay, I thought. Once the team arrives, we can save them. Especially him, and I looked down at Alex. His body became colder, and his skin was pale. I hope it's not too late to save him, I really hope so.

Alex has always been a cold person, always looking at me and the people around with disgust, but I can't blame him. I hate people too, but... over time, I've learned that some people deserve to be saved.

"And now, you deserve to be saved, Alex," I said aloud.

A trembling voice came from Lila. "He... he'll be okay, right? He's... he's not dead, right?" Tears were forming in her eyes.

I looked sadly at Alex. Even though it's a mortal wound, I know he can be saved, so I replied, "No, he won't die. This boy is stronger than anyone, I know it." And it's true, I have a feeling he's always been stronger than many people. Heck, even stronger than me. That's why you need to fight, Alex! Please fight! Don't give up yet, you have no reason to. I know you want to live. I said to myself as I continued to apply pressure to the wound on his abdomen.

My palms had been covered in blood for some time, but that didn't stop me. Finally, after some time, the bleeding stopped, but it wasn't worth it. Alex lay on his back with his eyes closed, and around him was a pool of blood that continued to flow onto the floor.

Finally, I could hear sounds coming from outside. First, there were sirens, most likely from the police. But the loudest sound was that of a helicopter. Finally, the blue and red lights filled the store. I couldn't tell how many cars or helicopters there were, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that help had arrived, so Alex, please hold on a little longer.

I knew I shouldn't take my hands off the open wound, so I continued to apply pressure until the doctors arrived. I felt like seconds were passing slower. There was commotion outside. I could hear words, shouts, and footsteps from other people. Finally, many soldiers entered through the door, while others jumped through the already broken windows. Among the masked soldiers were some people in black suits with masks covering their entire faces. These soldiers surrounded me, and the other normal soldiers went into the store to check. There were 8 soldiers around me. Some of them had pistols, others had assault rifles, and others had briefcases in their hands. Three people with briefcases stood next to Alex, and the other person with a briefcase went to Lila.

The only person who didn't have anything in their hand approached me and took off their mask. When she did, some of her brunette hair fell on her face, and she pushed it back. When she looked at me again, I realized who she was.

"Melissa," I said her name and nodded in greeting. I met the eyes of my former coworker. Her brown eyes looked sharp. In that moment, I could see her only birthmarks, which were two moles on her right cheek. She straightened up and said my name back.

"Apollo." A few seconds passed, and I waited for her to ask the most likely question. She leaned against the cracked wall that I had made when I hit the masked man. She positioned herself so that she could look at me but have the doctors between us trying to save Alex. That's when I looked at him. The doctors took off his shirt so they could see the wound better.

I looked back at Melissa, who was now more focused on Alex than before. A little upset and sad, she spoke to me, her gaze not leaving Alex.

"Now seriously, Apollo, what was on your mind? Why didn't you contact us immediately when you saw a problem or a danger sign for the residents?" Melissa said coldly, but I knew it had to be that way, especially when other soldiers and workers from Soco were here.

Here, I swallowed and stood up leaving my shirt down. I put my hands behind my back. When I did, I could still feel the fresh blood flowing from my hands onto the floor.

"When I got here, the boy in front of me, who is also my coworker, had already been stabbed. I arrived too late, but I tried to do the most realistic thing, and that is to save him and Lila, our new coworker," I said the truth and pointed to Lila, who still hadn't said a word, even though a doctor was trying to talk to her while treating her wounds.

Melissa looked at me and then at Lila. She crossed her arms and remained silent. I waited for her to ask me more questions.

The woman with brown hair and in a suit sighed and looked back at Alex.

"What's the boy's condition? How severe is the wound?" she said as she approached the team of doctors.

At first, no one said anything. The doctors continued to help Alex. Only now did I notice that there were screens in those briefcases. One of the screens showed Alex's body statistics, such as his weight, height, blood type, and allergies he has or may have. The other screen showed several possibilities of how he could be helped. A kind of aid for doctors to guide them as quickly as possible. And the last screen was closed; I couldn't really tell what was there.

While I was lost in thought, one of the doctors stopped and turned his head towards Melissa, who was behind him.

"We don't know, Major Melissa. His wound is deep, too much blood has flowed, and the wound is in the organs. We can't do anything here. With our ranks, we can't save him, but I think if a Rank S medic... no! An A rank medic, could be possible," the male doctor said.

Melissa put her hand on her chin and looked at Alex, this time more attentively than before.

"An S rank medic is hard to find, but I think we have some A ranks in the base," she said slowly.

"Okay. Apollo, you and the girl Lila will come with me to the base. The doctors will take the injured boy in the other helicopter, and we'll take him to Soco to save him. The others who are here continue the investigation!" she continued, this time giving orders to everyone present.

Before we left, Melissa put her hand on the shoulder of a soldier with an assault rifle and leaned towards his ear. She whispered something, and then she turned towards me and gestured for us to go. Before I turned, the man with the gun saluted and most likely went into the basement.

When we exited the store, I could finally see all the commotion. In front of the store were three police cars, four army trucks, and two helicopters. There were policemen, soldiers, and Soco soldiers everywhere, each with an S on their shoulder.

The doctors put Alex on a stretcher and hurried as much as they could to get him out of here as quickly as possible. That's when I could see that they had bandaged his entire abdomen, and he had an oxygen mask on his face to breathe.

I clenched my fists, really hoping everything would be okay. I thought to myself. I headed towards the second helicopter where Melissa and Lila were already waiting for me. I sat down on one of the seats. This helicopter didn't have much space, but it was enough for four people. The seatbelts were already fastened, and Melissa knocked twice on the helicopter door. The doors closed, and I began to hear the rotor blades starting up. The noise seemed to amplify more and more, and I could feel us ascending. This wasn't my first time in a helicopter, but seriously, I'm always amazed by the view.

Through the window, I could see the store and the whole neighborhood with its lights. It was almost 6 pm, and sunset had begun. At this height, the sunset could be seen in all its glory. The sky was filled with shades of red, yellow, and orange, while the city began to light up. I must have been staring out the window for too long because Melissa had been looking at me for some time.

"You know, instead of looking out the window, you could ask the girl next to you how she's doing. I think what happened today was traumatic, don't you think, Lunar?" she asked, this time not as cold as in the store. The light of the sunset accentuated her facial features more than anything. Her brown eyes appeared denser than the sunset light. Anyway, that doesn't matter now. I turned my head towards Lila and could see her looking down. She was pressing her thumbs together and didn't even have the strength to look at me or Melissa.