"FIRE!!"

​At Justin’s command, the soldiers of the Red Fire Platoon unleashed a synchronized volley. The sound wasn’t the sharp crack of gunpowder, but a low, rhythmic hum. Instead of lead bullets, tiny projectiles enveloped in a pulsing red light streaked through the gloom. They struck the charging goblins with surgical precision, the energy bypassing their thick hides and detonating internally, killing them instantly.

​’Such powerful weapons... It can easily kill even a Lv100 Goblin. This is crazy,’ Eve thought, her eyes wide with shock. ’When did Earth develop such technology?’ She turned her gaze toward Justin, who watched the perimeter with a practiced, stoic intensity.

​’He mentioned Evolution Stones,’ she mused, her mind racing. ’What exactly are those? Is that how they’re powering these weapons without spirit energy?’

​"Wow, I didn’t know the United States military already had such a powerful weapon," Stellar yelled in surprise, her voice echoing in the concrete garage. "It seems Earth can actually be taken back!"

​"Sorry Miss, it has only been some months," Justin answered, looking over his shoulder with a grim expression. "Earth doesn’t have a weapon that can kill a General-level monster yet, let alone those higher... For now, we can only deal with the small flies."

​"Oh... Um..." Stellar turned to Eve, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Captain, what exactly is a General-level monster?"

​"How would I know that?" Eve snapped, a slight frown crossing her face. The pressure of leadership and the mystery of this "new" Earth were beginning to grate on her nerves.

​"Eh... Sorry Captain, I forgot," Stellar quickly added, realizing the absurdity of the question. "Although we are both from Earth, we didn’t stay behind to see how things evolved here."

​BAM!

​The final echoes of the energy fire faded. The soldiers stood upright, their discipline unwavering. Justin walked toward a fallen goblin and squatted down, drawing a jagged military dagger from his thigh holster.

​Eve and the students watched in hushed confusion as he placed the tip of the dagger precisely at the crown of the goblin’s skull. He drove it inside with slow, deliberate pressure, moving with the care of someone terrified of damaging something fragile and precious hidden within the bone.

​The sixty students leaned in as Justin retracted the blade. He reached two gloved fingers into the dark crevice and withdrew a small, pulsing green stone that bathed his palm in an eerie light.

​"Is that the Evolution Stone you mentioned?" Eve asked, staring at the gem, which was still slick with dark monster blood.

​"Correct... Well, that’s what the scientists call them," Justin replied. He pulled a specialized metal bottle from his belt. As he unscrewed the cap, a thick cloud of cold steam billowed out, indicating a cryogenic storage environment. He dropped the stone inside and sealed it shut with a metallic click.

​"Take the rest," he ordered his men. As the soldiers began the grim task of harvesting the remaining corpses, Justin walked back to Eve.

​"This is the lowest grade of Evolution Stone. Anyway, we will need some time to finish the harvest... Please, after we are done, we will head to New York University, then take you to our headquarters," he explained. He looked over the crowd of students. "Would you guys wait for us, or follow us to the university?"

​"Well." Eve looked back at her team. Seeing the exhausted but hopeful nods from Stellar and Blade, she turned back to the soldier. "Okay, we will go with you... But we will only stay for three days."

​’Three days? Will they be returning to Galaxy Fall?’ Justin thought, perplexed by the short timeframe, but he simply nodded. "Okay. We move as soon as the harvest is complete."

’I can no longer sense the energy from the goblins, I also can’t turn it to Monster cards... Are these evolution stones the reason why we can absorb the energy from monsters?’ Eve thought, a small frown on her face.

__

​[Two Hours Later]

​The combined force moved like a ghost through a narrow, debris-choked alley, the military vanguard leading with silent hand signals. Eve followed closely behind, her eyes scanning the jagged skyline and marking the landmarks in her memory. This wasn’t the New York she remembered; it was a graveyard of steel.

​In their two-hour journey, they had intercepted several smaller pockets of students. The whole students had joined the formation, bringing the Eagle Academy total to 145 survivors.

​Eve looked over her shoulder at the weary faces of her teammates. ’We lost 55 members already. At least we didn’t lose a full hundred, but it has only been a single day. What will happen in three?’

​"Something isn’t right here!" Justin suddenly hissed, halting the column at the exit of the alley. He stared out at the ruins of a wide plaza.

​"A huge battle happened here," he noted, stepping cautiously into the open. He moved toward a pile of dead wolves—monsters that dwarfed the goblins they had fought earlier. He knelt by one, digging his knife into its skull, but he recoiled in shock.

​’This is strange... there is no sign of a surgical cut, so someone didn’t steal the stone, but... how come this wolf doesn’t have one? This is a Captain-level monster. It should have a high-grade stone.’

​"What happened?" Eve asked, as the students and soldiers formed a defensive circular formation around their leaders.

​"Two things," Justin said, standing up and holstering his dagger. "One, this wolf doesn’t have an Evolution Stone in its skull; second... Haven’t you noticed it?" He gestured broadly to the surrounding blocks.

​"Yeah, you’re right," Eve answered, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I haven’t seen a single living monster in sight. The area is completely silent."

​"You said there are more teams like yours," Justin asked, his green eyes scanning the rooftops. "Do you think another team passed through here and cleared them out?"

​"Well... Compared to the other teams, we are considered the weakest," Eve admitted truthfully, her gaze drifting toward the distant silhouette of the university.

​"Oh? How powerful are the other teams?" Justin asked, clearly taken aback by the idea that there were humans even more dangerous than the group he was currently escorting.

​"The strongest team belongs to Captain Mirabella," Eve answered. She didn’t blink, her voice heavy with the weight of the truth. "She has the power to wipe out this entire city by herself. If this place is a ghost town, I think she did this."