"Lila, I know it's hard right now, but everything will be okay. Once we get to the base, you'll be given the best medication to recover. Maybe some pains and feelings won't go away with just medication, but I promise that with time, everything will be-"

"No! No! It's not about that at all!" Lila yelled. "I don't care about myself! I don't want to hear about that. I want to know if Alex will be saved. I want to know what's happening. Who are those people? What do they want? And why did Alex have to get hurt because of me? Lunar... or Apollo, I don't even know who you are. You haven't even seen what Alex did for me. Maybe you're strong and have your magic, but Alex stood up to defend me! Do you understand what that means?? Do you understand how I feel?" Lila continued to tell me. When she finished the sentence, she looked at me with hatred and tears in her eyes. Her short blonde hair and some bandages on her face came loose due to her abrupt movements.

I stared blankly. I didn't know how to respond to what she said. But what can I say now? That Alex might die? If I tell her that, she'll feel guilty. I was stuck in my thoughts, but I could see Melissa reaching out and putting her hand on Lila's arm. With a warm smile, she looked at her and said,

"You're right, Lila. We don't know what Alex did, and we don't know what you've been through until Lunar arrived, but I guarantee you, we both realize what Alex did for you and for us. If he wasn't there, Lunar could have come into the store and not found you, or worse, found you both dead." She paused for her words to sink in. She held Lila's hands and looked into her eyes. Then she continued.

"That's why, Lila, I promise you, we will save Alex. I guarantee we will do everything possible to save Alex."

Lila looked at Melissa with tears in her eyes. Her hands and feet started to tremble, and she began to cry. This time harder and worse. So bad that even I felt sorry and hated myself for what happened.

"If... if Lunar had come... sooner, this wouldn't have happened! Why didn't you come? Why did this have to happen!?" Lila said amidst tears.

"I... I couldn't, I didn't know this was going to happen, and I'm sorry this happened. I'm really sorry. Lila, I promise you we'll save Alex and find those who did this. I promise," I said as I took her hand and held it tightly. The blood on my hands setting itself on her hands too.

"Hmpf... hmpf... fine... but then, if it doesn't happen... I'll kill you. Got it?" Lila said with a voice full of hatred. Her words made my heart beat faster than usual, and I began to sweat. This time, out of fear. What was that? For a second, I could feel her aura? But that's impossible... that means she is-

"Alright, now that we've relieved ourselves, I'd like to tell you that we're about to reach the Soco base. Lila, do you know what Soco is?" My thoughts were interrupted by Melissa, who quickly changed the subject.

Lila turned her head towards Melissa and shook her head. It's quite normal; not everyone knows this, and only the people who work here know.

"The Society of the Chosen Ones, or Soco for short, is an organization that investigates, hunts, kills, and studies monsters. In every major city in every country, there is a Soco base. We are here to deal with those monsters. We believe that monsters are demons from hell," Melissa explained briefly.

"Hell? Do you mean that hell? Where bad people go after they die?" Lila asked curiously.

Melissa nodded and continued, "Exactly! That hell with flames, lava, and I don't know what else is there. I'll explain all the details later, but for now, we'll have to wait until our friend, Alex, is okay, right?"

"I agree; I don't want to know more until I see him back on his feet," Lila said directly.

"Perfect, then that's settled because..." Melissa smiled as she said this and then turned her head to the window. "...we've arrived."

During this time, I looked out the window and could see the castle where our base was located. In Nuremberg, there's a castle in the middle of the city, one of the most popular tourist spots. But what many people don't know is that this castle is our base, where we receive missions, live, and train.

The helicopter descends slowly onto one of the two towers of the castle. Once the helicopter settles on the tower, we wait for a few seconds. Here, we can hear the helicopter pilot speaking for the first time. I can't make out what he's saying, but he's probably asking for permission to descend to the first level. Once he receives the response, the platform on the tower descends, and along with it, we descend too.

Once the platform stops, the lights on the first floor hit my eyes. Not only that, but even from the helicopter, you can hear the sounds from outside. The helicopter door opens, and I step out first. What I see in front of me is the first floor. Here, all the people come and go from missions. It's a gigantic hall, long and tall. I believe it's about 80 meters high and 500 meters long. The entire tunnel is made of black metal. On each side of the tunnel are symmetric doors, proportional to those on the other side. Not only that, but there are also small shops here for food, sweets, and drinks.

Every 20 meters, there's a screen showing a mission and who's there. Not only that, but it also shows the mission's rank. And in the middle of the tunnel is a platform. People from above come here to report something important to us or to show us what they've discovered about the monsters.

This place is super-populated with people like me, but also with regular soldiers, which is normal because a base like this is more protected than any other regular military base.

Finally, I sighed and turned my head to Lila and Melissa, who also descended from the helicopter. Lila took a few steps forward and looked at the whole tunnel. Amazement was written all over her face, as her mouth had been open since we arrived.

Melissa came to my right, the sound of her shoes on the hard metal sounding louder and more dominant with each step. She smiled, looking at Lila, and said, "Haha, welcome to Soco, dear."

"This... is bigger than I expected. How come I didn't know about this huge place until now? It's incredible!" Lila exclaimed so loudly that people around us began to wonder and be cautious, but they didn't approach us because of Melissa. She had authority as a Major, so it's normal for soldiers not to question her.

"Simple, regular people are not allowed to know about this base, and the others like it. We have special people who can take care of those who know about this place, but now is not the time," Melissa said, walking towards Lila. Once she got closer, she continued, "And now, I'll have two people take you to a room where you can stay while Apollo and I go to see how Alex is doing."

The happiness in Lila's eyes disappeared at Melissa's words, and frustration began to show on her face.

"I don't think it's fair. I want to come too. I want to see how Alex is doing; that's how it should be, right?" Lila said.

Melissa nodded and replied to the blonde girl, "I know, and yes, you're right. You deserve to see how he's doing, but not now. You're injured; you need to calm down and rest because of what happened today. Plus, I need to talk to higher-ups about the entire report."

Melissa was right; a report needed to be given, and more than likely, the higher-ups would want to know what's happening, especially when civilians are injured or worse.

"As I said, I don't think it's fair; I deserve to know the most about him since I'm alive now because of him, right?" Lila said flatly, and again, I could feel an aura coming from her. This time, it felt stronger than the last time. This caught the attention of those around us, and I could read on their faces that they didn't know what to do. Moments passed as the two women stared into each other's eyes.

In the end, Melissa conceded defeat and sighed.

"Fine, this time I'll make an exception, but only if you don't say anything and stay behind us. Are we clear?" Melissa continued, taking a step forward, this time louder, causing an echo because of the metal under her shoes.

Lila nodded and lowered her gaze.

Then, I approached the two of them. Melissa put her hand on her own neck and began to rub it gently.

"Alright, let's go to the fifth floor," Melissa said, heading towards one of the doors on the side.

"Wait, are there more levels?" Lila asked in surprise. I followed Melissa to the door and pressed a button next to it, causing the door to open like an elevator and revealing a real elevator inside.

"There are more levels than you think," I said as I typed on the elevator screen the number 5. When I pressed the green button, the elevator doors closed, and I could feel us descending.

"How deep is this place?" Lila asked again. I responded directly, "Very, very deep." Neither of us said anything else, but I could feel that the closer I got to the hospital, the more unprepared I felt for any response we might receive.

The elevator door opened without warning, and this time an even brighter light hit my eyes. A bright hospital light and noises. Here's another hall, but this time it's not as long as it is tall. This waiting room is circular-shaped. With a diameter of no more than 80 meters, the hospital is located here, and with a height of 200 meters, this place looks like a cylinder. With several glass elevators on each side of the cylinder, you can easily reach any floor.

Melissa looked at her phone and then continued to walk forward towards the door on the other side where we are now. As we walked with her, Lila looked around and shuddered at how many injured people were in the waiting room. Some people had bandages all over their bodies, others were missing hands, legs, or even eyes.

When we reached the door to room 56, Melissa entered without knocking on the door. When I saw the room from inside, I was hit by the sounds of machines. Pulse measuring devices, operating machines. In the room was an elderly man, with short white hair and round glasses. The man was wearing a mask and sitting in a chair, looking down. The other person was next to Alex, taking off his blue gloves. He was a younger boy, almost my age, with long hair.

Melissa entered and asked without wasting time.

"Doctor Nathan. How is the patient?"

Nathan? I said to myself. I recognize the name; he's a Chosen One of A rank. Wait, does this mean we still have hope?

We must, an A Rank is better than any machine created by man, and if he is a doctor of that rank, it means that- I couldn't continue my thoughts because Nathan started crying and shouting, "No... No, Major Melissa, I couldn't do anything! He came to me like this already, I tried as quickly as I could to heal him with divine power, with my hands and with all my powers and abilities, but it was too late, I can't bring him back."

What...? What could this mean? I started to feel weak in the legs, they began to tremble, and my breathing became increasingly difficult.

Melissa asked again, this time making it clear that she needed a concrete answer.

"How is the patient, Alex Leyson?" She said with a frightening voice and a voice of despair aswell.

The doctor took a step back, and this reaction made me feel even worse. Then he opened his mouth to speak. But I felt as if I didn't want to hear this response.

Finally, Doctor Nathan said, "Alex Leyson is dead."