For whom time flows for

~~R~~

As dusk slowly painted the horizon a vibrant shade of orange. A gentle pair of footsteps echoed off the walls of the alley. Renne had a relaxed expression as voices familiar to her followed.

"Damn, that bastard really got away!" Shouted Arthur, who was currently walking next to Apollo. His clothing was tattered. He held a chipped blade in his right hand.

"I mean, we are limited to how long we can fight. So I'm not very surprised." Apollo said in a very relaxed tone. "After all, as artificial wielders, we cannot fight without destroying our own bodies." Apollo was in a slightly worse state than Arthur, as his arms were covered in cuts and he had a black eye. He rested his arms behind his head as he walked toward Renne with a smile on his face. Renne scuffed at him.

"You know, you are oddly chill with the fact you got your ass kicked."

Apollo slapped Arthur on the back and looked straight into his eyes. "One word of this to anyone, and I'll make sure that the director docks your pay for a year."

"Heh," Arthur smirked, "You may be a womanizer and a pervert, but we both know that the director won't fall for you."

"Just you wait, I'll have her moaning my name in no time." Apollo threw a fist into the air.

"Whatever floats your boat, man." Arthur sighed and looked at Renne, then at his son. A droplet of rain fell onto his head. He then looked around at the damage in the alley.

"Is this from the princess?" Apollo asked while searching through the rubble. "Damn, she's gotten stronger." Renne looked away, neither confirming nor denying his suspicions.

Arthur spotted something underneath a collapsed wall that Apollo was rummaging through. "No…," Arthur pulled out a piece of clothing that looked like the remains of a man's boxer. "It was that boy. And judging by the burn marks all over the place, I'd say he lost it. Poor soul, now I can collect that pendant."

"He's not dead," Renne said. She walked up to Arthur and gave him a gentle punch to the gut.

"And when were you gonna tell me you had a son?"

"Tsk, stubborn brat." Arthur glared at Alan's sleeping body. "I was not gonna tell you because it wasn't important. He is just another burden of my past that I wish to get rid of. But as faith has it, I'm no longer allowed to kill him. Now that the higher-ups know he is a target and a key, they want him alive-" Three loud beeps interrupted Arthur. Renne, Apollo, and Arthur spontaneously raised their right arms to open a virtual hologram that they each navigated through.

After a moment of silence, Apollo spoke with a clear tone. "Hey, Seamon's daughter, today is not your lucky day." Evangela gave him a puzzled look. "Looks like your father had placed a bounty on your head. Luckily a private one, but a bounty is a bounty. So you have two options here: join us, or rely on that boy."

"You're not giving her much of an option-"

"Silence Renne." Arthur glared at Renne, causing her to back down. Her face tensed up a little. "You read the message too." Arthur glances back at Evangela. "This is your path to choose. We will not force you, but if you deny us, we will become your enemies once again." The drizzle from before came down heavier. Arthur took off his jacket it threw it onto Renne. "Take them home and watch over them, Renne." Renne tried to open her mouth to protest. However, Apollo pointed a gun at her temple. She walked over to Alan and tossed him onto her back and grabbed Evangela's hand. She glanced back at the two with tears and a purple mist devoured them. The mist dissipated, leaving nothing behind.

"Cutting your ties, huh?" Arthur glanced at Renne. "Even for me, that was cruel of you."

"We didn't have much of a choice. The government found out that she is a 1%, the same as your son. That professor dude will return for them. Before that happens, he needs to kill him." Apollo looked towards the rainy sky, letting the droplets of rain hit his face. "She doesn't need to be a part of our world. Unlike us, she can recover from her past." The sound of sirens echoed. "And if they stayed any longer, they would have gotten caught up in this mess. After all, we are on the public bounty board."

"Might as well go out with a bang, huh?" Arthur gripped his blade tightly as the sounds of men shouting approached them. "Let's go." Arthur grew a smug look. "We cannot keep the others waiting." Thus began a bloody night between the police and the terrorist group.

~~0~~

"It's quiet, too quiet…" Alan wandered through the dream world alone, with no one or anything nearby. "I really don't like this place." Alan gave up on walking and sat down. Upon doing so, a crimson-colored mist materialized in front of him. Alan got up and walked towards the mist. He reached out his hand and stuck it inside the mist. As his hand went deeper, he finally found something on the other side. However, it wasn't hard as he had thought it would be. It was soft. Curious about what it was, he tried to pull the soft object out.

"Ow!"

Alan paused. "Was that a voice I just heard?" With that, Alan stuck his other hand into the mist. Incidentally, that hand landed on a different soft object. Upon pulling, even more, he heard a sound of a pained moan. Alan, who was now weirded out by this, decided to have one more good pull. Upon tugging for the last time, Alan lost his balance and a naked girl with long silver hair came flying out of the mist, landing directly on her face in front of Alan.

"Ow Ow Ow," The girl looked up at Alan, "So you're that weakling that wields my soul, I see." She tried to play off her unelegant landing.

"And you're an exhibitionist, I see." Alan said as the naked girl in front of him became completely embarrassed. She quickly got up and hid her breasts with her long hair. "I can still see a silver forest down there."

"Y...You pervert!" She cried out in embarrassment as she summoned the Crimson Princess and hid behind it.

"Hmmm, if only I was turned on by it."

"!?" The girl suddenly went from embarrassed to annoyed.

Alan, noticing her change of emotion, rephrased what he said, "Look, I get that was kinda an offensive thing to say, but I'm not really into bold girls like you. I am more into the quiet, reserved types."

"I'm not bold," she rebuttal, "I just cannot summon clothes because of reasons…" She slowly drifted her eyes away from Alan.

"I won't ask why, but who are you?"

"Heh heh, I'm glad you ask." The girl, completely forgetting that she was naked, picked up the blade in front of her and pointed it at Alan. "My name is Alice Crimemila. I was once the princess of the house of Crimemila before my soul was brutally placed into this blade, of course. And on top of that, you are now my slave."

Alan looked at her with an annoyed expression. "You are still naked, you know."

"You're not turned on, so shut up."

Alan sighed, "Thank you."

"Huh," The sudden show of gratitude took surprised Alice.

"Thank you for saving me from whatever happened to me out there, and for giving me some eye candy."

"Pervert." Alice pouted.

The sound of a clock tick-tocking echoed across the dream world, interrupting the idle chat. A shiny glow emitted from the pendent around Alan's neck. The aqua-colored glow had faded into a crimson glow. The light show brought forth by the pendant confused Alan. A harmony of church bells echoed in his mind.

"It means that you passed the first trial. The change in color means that he…er the pendant, officially recognizes you as its owner and has deactivated for now. Meaning that the first loop has broken."

"But it's not over, is it?"

"Nope, not by a long shot." Alice smirked. "Although you are weak, I have taken an interest in you." She then turned away and said to herself, "Mostly because you're the first one in a while to not give me lustful eyes." She turned back at him, "So let's get along, slave boy."

"Once again, the cute girls are always assholes." Alan shrugged his shoulders, then felt a weird tingle.

"Looks like you've overstayed your welcome in this world. But there is still one thing I need to tell you. Your body has reverted to its former state, before the loop, so...have fun suffering."

"Well, screw you too then." Alan's mind had nearly left the dream world, but before it did, he heard a faint, quiet voice.

"Rely on me, not him."

With those parting words, Alan's mind drifted asleep as Alan now can rest well, knowing that tomorrow will finally arrive.