The next day…
Dawn soon came. The sun rose past the horizon, eclipsing the city of future. In a few seconds, all the neon lights turned off after sensing sunlight. People around the city also began waking up. Particularly in the Unarmed league's participants buildings, in a specific room, Janus was soundly sleeping. Abruptly, his digital alarm went off. He grunted and rolled over. He slammed his palm on it, turning the clock off.
He groggily sat straight, blinking. Wiping his eyes, he removed his blanket and stood in his pajamas. Looking out the window, he saw the mesmerizing view of humanity's second greatest achievement. He yawned and marched to his closet. He pulled out a two sets of clothes and closed the closet. Wearing his T-shirt and shorts, he sat on the bed once more and checked the time.
'6 o' clock… damn…'
He put the clock down and went around the bed. He crouched, looking under the bed. There, he reached his hand into the darkness and grabbed his shoes. He spun around and put his matching sneakers on. After, he jolted up and exited his apartment with the other set of clothes. Walking down the hall, he could hear the other participants or the eliminated ones waking up. Eventually, he entered the elevator and headed to the ground floor.
The elevator dinged and he reached his destination. He stepped onto the floors of the lobby and strolled around. After a few minutes, he made it to the gym. When entering, he saw a familiar figure greet him.
"Hi~" Adam waved.
"What's up?" Janus lifted his chin.
"Nothing much." Adam turned around with him. "How are you feeling about the tournament so far?"
"Pretty good." Janus replied.
"Pretty good? Dude, you made the Quarter-finals. That's a huge achievement."
"Well…" Janus stopped, placing his clothes on a stool. "I've got standards."
"You, nonchalant son of a…" Adam also placed his extra set of clothes on the stool.
"Now, let's get on with our workout, shall we?" Janus jumped into a handstand.
"Sure." Adam did the same.
Both teenagers did a few handstands pushups with ease. After that, they did a few sets of muscles ups. After that, they held a hollow body hold. They did this for a few minutes or so before rounding up their routine.
"Oh! That was a good warmup." Adam threw a bottle of water.
"Yeah, it was." Janus panted, grabbing it.
The quarter finalist twisted the cap and gulped down the water. Adam carried two towels and handed one to his friend. Both wiped the sweat off their bodies and headed to their showers. After an hour or so, they exited wet and fresh with towels wrapped around their waist.
"Amazing! I feel so fresh." Adam shook his head.
"Cool – cool. Mind keeping your thoughts to yourself." Janus entered the changing room.
Adam shrugged off Janus's comment. He picked up his clothes and entered the changing room as well. After a few minutes, the two exited in their new sets of clothes.
"Wanna explore the city?" Adam inquired.
"Alright." Janus replied.
The duo threw their dirty clothes into a laundry jet. It sucked their clothes like a vacuum. Then, they headed out. They passed the lobby, exiting the Unarmed league's competitor building. They stepped onto the street and strolled around. The duo could see many people also walking around Rush city at that time. All of them were enthusiast of the tournament.
"It's still crazy to me that I'm here at Rush city at this moment." Adam closed his eyes, talking in the air.
"For sure…" Janus agreed. "The HQ of the EOC is not some place you get to visit every time."
"But it is bad that there isn't an airport. You have to get here by land."
"What can they do? They need all the space they can get. Chaos mutation research just exploded because of Sir Sterling's and Charles findings on the forbidden continent."
"I haven't read the contents of that yet…where did they release it?"
"The EOC's official website. There's a whole lotta stuff on there. I guess that's what we were missing on for the past eight hundred years or so."
"Eight hundred years?! We haven't been able to get anything on the forbidden continent for eight hundred years?" Adama blurted in shock.
"It took a supreme commander, two generals and lieutenant generals. Plus, the first units of both the PEOC and AEOC to finally get it." Janus chuckled. "The last expeditions had a bunch of adventurers sure, but their the bare minimum for chaos incarnates."
As they continued chatting, the city shook violently. Like an earthquake, it rumbled the ground but the earthquake-resistant buildings held on. Then, in a matter of a second, the shaking stopped. After a moment, a loud yet chilling echo resounded. Janus's vision suddenly disappeared in a flash. He panicked, falling down but in the next second, he could see again.
"Chaos…" He whispered under his breath.
Even Adam's clothes changed colors rapidly until they eventually returned to their original state.
"A chaos fragment?" Adam blurted.
Just then, Hell broke loose. Civilians screamed wildly, running like madmen. From every corner, the people were running away from a portion of the city. Janus stood up and turned around, pulling Adam with him. Adam didn't resistant and also spun around, running with the crowd.
***
In the stadium, Dante met with Missio. Just then, they also felt the quake. Then the echo. Dante heaved a sigh.
"Mythos." He called out.
His glasses show, seemingly responding to him. Then, he heard a ring only he could hear.
"Have you detected a chaos fragment?" He asked.
[Affirmative.]
"Get Bellum Flamma on call right now."
[Calling Bellum Flamma…]
A call was initiated. Dante waited and eventually, the call went through.
"What's up~ Dante~" A voice came from the other side.
"Bellum, are you heading to the fragment?" Dante inquired.
"Of course, ~, Kaiser's tired and the PEOC Apex force is out of commission. I'm the only one left! So unlucky…"
"Alright - Alright. Just wanted to check"
"I'll catch you later, then. I'm getting quite close to the fragment." Bellum said.
Dante cut the call. Then, he spoke to the AI assistant.
"Mythos. How's the anti-gravity system?"
The AI immediately gave a response.
[Anti-gravity system – Unaffected. Status – Excellent. Output – Excellent.]
Dante heaved a sigh of relief. He glanced at Missio who was looking at him in confusion.
"What happened?" Missio asked.
"Don't worry. Everything's under control." Dante patted his brother's shoulder.