Everything around Rudy turned into dust that withered away into nothing.

  The concrete circular pedestal he was standing on slowly turned soft from sand to a cotton-like feeling. The sand fell like a waterfall, and Rudy found himself hovering in the air on top of the desert.

  The sand mixed with the sand of the desert with a soft gushing sound.

  Rudy looked down and saw a massive tree with blue fruits on it. He looked at the moon behind him, and it was indeed blue.

  He also found Jane standing under the tree, but she was alone. He still couldn't see the cloaked figure.

  His eye sockets were still black, and there was no light coming from them. So he decided to take advantage of it and absorbed all the colors from the surroundings.

  Everything lost its color except the blue, which somehow managed to dominate all the colors.

  Now, Rudy could see the cloaked figure that was the same as what he saw from the pedestal.

  Rudy landed between Jane and the figure and snatched the blue fruit of the figure's hand.

  [How did you manage to break through the dark dimension! Who are you—!]

  Rudy squished the blue fruit in his hand and threw it on the ground. Then, he placed his hand on the blue moon tree and turned it. However, unlike the trees that would turn into ashes upon burning, the blue moon tree melted like rubber and submerged into the sand.

  Rudy glared into the figure's pearl-like blue eyes and absorbed their color.

  The figure let go of the staff and tried to run away, but that was futile. Everything was futile.

  Rudy grabbed the staff, and it turned the blue orb on it turned black, which further absorbed all the colors, but it soon shattered and exploded.

  The figure ran fast with its long nails, thinking it was safe from Rudy. But Rudy moved his hand in the air, and a colossal hand emerged from the sand that grabbed the figure with zero effort.

  Rudy simply used his telekinesis and formed a hand shape with the hand. He brought the figure in front of him and crushed it.

  "Who are you?" Rudy asked with a furious look on his face.

  [What are you? How could you have such unfathomable powers?! It's almost as though you are the—]

  Before the figure could finish speaking, its body began to burn with blue fire. And the next moment, everything, including the cloak and the skeleton inside it, was incinerated and turned into ashes.

  The colossal hand of sand Rudy made turned into the pure transparent glass, and the blue moonlight illuminated on top of it, spreading the azure shade in the vast desert.

  "……"

  Rudy raised his brows with a confused look on his face and stared at the ashes of the figure.

  "Why did you burn it?" Jane asked in a calm voice. "I wanted to know who it was and what it was after. There were so many things I wanted to know!"

  Rudy glanced at Jane and noticed she didn't seem angry, but she looked sad and disappointed.

  "That wasn't me. I was also looking for answers."

  "Oh…"

  "Yeah."

  Jane hugged Rudy and muttered, "A part of me wanted to eat that fruit and know all the answers. But I was afraid of losing everything, losing myself. I didn't want to become someone else."

  Rudy hugged Jane back but didn't say anything. He was more conflicted than Jane herself.

  "I would have eaten the fruit if you hadn't arrived at the right time. I had to choose between the two; you or me. Then I realized you were more important to me than the answers I was looking for my entire life."

  "That's a sacrifice…" Rudy placed his forehead on Jane's forehead and muttered, "That's love."

  He kissed Jane on the lips before saying, "I promise to you that whatever happens, I will always be with you. I will stay with you and never leave you behind."

  "I know."

  "It's not just empty words. You sacrificed the most important thing in your life for me, so I will make an equivalent exchange."

  "You saved me. You came back for me." Jane held Rudy's head in her hands and said with a gentle smile on her face: "You already did your part. You fulfilled your promise."

  Rudy's eyes turned back to normal after hearing that.

  Jane continued caressing Rudy's face as she said, "Do you want to know why I fell in love with you?"

  "Why?"

  "Because you defeated me. Because you are stronger than me, and I am sure as hell that you can protect me from things I can't protect myself from. But that's not it."

  She kissed him on the lips and continued, "I fell in love with you for the same reason Rias fell in love with you."

  "And… I still don't know that reason…" he sighed with a soft chuckle.

  "Why don't you ask her when she wakes up?"

  "That would be like asking for a suicide," he sighed again. "I already frustrated her by not accepting her love confession, and when I did… I didn't get a chance to do anything for her. Now, if I asked her what made her fall in love with me, she would eat me alive."

  He scoffed softly before adding, "And just saying, I do not blame anyone for what happened back then. I was angry at you because my anger was directed to Virgil and then to the Lord. However, after knowing the reason why the Lord made a rule like that, I can't help but agree with that. Honestly, if I was the Lord, I probably would have done the same thing."

  "I want to tell you the reason, but it would be for the best if you find it out yourself. You will learn it sooner than you think," she reassured before moving her hands from his face to wrapping them around his neck.

  She kissed him a few times before jumping on top of him and wrapping her legs around his waist. She kept kissing him passionately as though she wanted to eat his lips and suck everything from his mouth.