The two boys watched in blissful glee as their hunched shouldered friend stood in silence for roughly a minute before continuing her story. She seemed to be deep in thought about what occurred back at Sibuco. Biting her lip as she looked away from the room but still told the rest of the scene.

Keiko looked at them with half-lidded eyes and talked after letting out a loud sigh. "Long story short, we trained under him for a couple of months. We got the hang of our powers and we were given one final assignment. She explained. Moving her shoulders as she crossed her arms and cleaned her throat. "As it turns out, the last assignment was to battle a monster that attacked our town, a monster like the one we are facing today... Gokuro was able to defeat it with ease..."

The two boys' eyes widened, filled with joy, and amazed to hear how their companions once fought a monstrosity like the one back at Arid City. The thought of individuals who could be a huge help to the situation sparked a small bit of hope within them. Something that they haven’t felt for a long time but still welcomed. "But what about you Keiko? How did you help defeat the monster?" Haruto asked excitedly. His eyes glistened as he expected to hear the most awesome thing from her.

She seemed to not want to answer the question. "I didn't..." She replied with a cracked voice and a crying face. Much to the shock of them both. Keiko slid down on the floor and shivered. Her hands moving from her face to her hair as she tried to control her emotions. "But... what was I supposed to do..?" She wept.

"I-I... remember... that day, when my stomach felt so sick from what I saw. Everywhere I ran the bodies of my people, my friends, and even my relatives. I saw the horrified looks on their frozen faces. But I had to keep moving, when I came back to our house to find it, my father was already trying to fight it..." She stopped midway as if she was hit in the chest. Keiko closed her eyes, wiped her tears, and took a deep breath. Speaking again in a more calm manner as she stood up again. "I was supposed to help him, but when I used my powers against the beast.., it did nothing... I watched as my father screamed for help. His eyes looking at me, he was sorry, but he couldn't live long enough to say it to us. I tried my best to protect my mother as well but it cornered us. If Gokuro hadn't arrived to save us—" 

"If I hadn't come to save you, we would've broken our promises. Right?" Gokuro interrupted as his over-looming shadow entered the room. Keiko rushed to her brother, hugging him tightly as he came walking and weeping.

"Are you okay? Keiko asked. Holding his face with both her hands. "I told them everything..."

"I'm fine..." Gokuro replied as he sat down, letting out a loud sigh, and trying to relax after a long day. His right shoulder had been bandaged appropriately and the bullet inside was removed. The area around the wound had been appropriately cleaned, it was almost as good as new. "Ah, this feels comfy." He said.

"How are you feeling Gokuro?" Haruto asked. "I see that the bullet has been properly bandaged." 

"I'm all fine and dandy, little man. No need to worry about me. I'm a tough guy remember." Gokuro replied mockingly as he flexed his arms. Everyone else had laughed. Except for Keiko who was still standing near the entrance Gokuro came in. "What's so funny?" He asked with narrow eyes and a tilted head. "Did I say something funny?"

"Oh, it's nothing. But we're glad you're okay. Remember, we're in this together. Bro." Kenriki replied as he smiled and give him a thumbs-up.

"Yeah, well I'm not sure how powerless people like you can help us. It's dangerous to bring deadweight with us." Gokuro explained as he placed his feet on the table. "Leave the job to us from now on..." 

"Come on man, if anyone can help you, it's us. We know everything around here, we just need to come up with something together." Kenriki tried to explain. 

The chair dug a bit into the floor for a moment before the cocky Muay-Thai fighter stared at him with both his hands grasping the wooden handles tightly, startling everyone as he looked the boy straight in the eye. "Listen carefully 'bro'!" Gokuro said as he flipped his fingers in the air. "We REALLY can't afford to bring you guys along, you'll only add to the casualties of this thing... Besides, we don't even know if we can kill that beast... If only my fists worked like they used to!" In frustration, Gokuro clenched his fist and swiped at the air as he was punching something.

Everyone went silent as they further tried to assess the situation that they were in, it seemed impossible according to Gokuro's words until Haruto stood up. Much to the surprise of the rest of the group.

"Haruto?" Keiko asked. "Is something wrong?"

Haruto looked at them with a wide and easy grin. "We can kill it..."

"What?! How?" Keiko said, everyone else in the room was surprised by Haruto's words. A way to kill the monster was something they didn't expect to hear tonight.

"If it weren't for the helicopter back at Talisay, I wouldn't have been able to know if it was real or I was just seeing things back then. It has a weakness."

"Well, what is it?" Gokuro said as he leaned forward, hands on his chin and lap, intrigued by this revelation brought by Haruto.

Haruto looked at Keiko and smiled. "Keiko. You can defeat it!" He said as he approached her. "You're the key to beating it!"

Keiko took a step back, telling him to calm down for a moment. "W-what?! Me? How?" She asked. Her widened eyes complimented her surprised tone.

"During my time at the grocery store, when the police came to help us, they started shooting at the beast and it merely absorbed the bullets. But one officer who was pinned down managed to hurt it using his knife. And back at the temple when we saw how the helicopter blades easily cut off one of its limbs. That's it! That's what it's vulnerable to!"  Haruto explained.

But Keiko sat down and looked back at him with slumped shoulders. "How do we know that my powers will work on this thing? Gokuro wasn't even able to land a dent on it." She asked, sitting right next to her brother, and holding his hand. "Even then... we don’t know much about this thing, let alone what exactly are the military planning to do. We’re stuck in a rut." 

Everyone thought for a while. They finally had a fighting chance against the very thing that threatens their hometown, hope had flooded their hearts, and they needed to plan something fast. For the first time in a while, everyone in the room felt excited but at the same time scared of what was going to be the outcome. Like the feeling of jitters when you want to board a roller coaster. Kenriki stood up and patted Haruto on the head. "But we can't give up hope. We finally found something that we can use against it. But we need to know more..." He said.

"But how? There's no signal to use, the lines and towers have been broken." Haruto said as whipped out his phone to show the others the signal.

"Not to mention, the network might've been jammed by the military because we couldn't access the internet the moment we got here." He thought to himself, walking towards the window and staring at the moonlit sky. "Haruto's information isn't enough, we'd have to go to a library in this situation to find out anything related about it. But with the military killing anyone they spot and the monster ravaging the buildings, I doubt we'd make it out unharmed or alive, the question is: are we willing to risk it?" 

Haruto sat back on the couch as everyone else lowered their heads. There was no way they'd force the maids and butlers to fetch the books themselves, anyone would only become casualties at this point if they try to find a library under a city of rubble. As the group continued to fall into a pit of doubt, the sound of a man clearing his throat near the door caught the group's attention. Sir Andres stood still as he interrupted the group in their fruitless discussions. Hands behind his back and glasses positioned in complete balance on his nose.

"Sir Andres! How long have you been standing there?" Haruto asked. 

"I merely overheard your conversation regarding the public library, master Amaterasu. However, I believe I have the solution to your knowledge predicament." Sir Andres said in his black tuxedo uniform with the family symbol, tying his tie.

"Really? Please show us!" Haruto replied.

Outside, the sounds of crickets were completely blocked by the golden walls that the group was walking in but somehow everyone could feel it. Sir Andres guided the group past the lines of maids and butlers who were watching the house for the night, patrolling every corner, doing their duties for supplies, and searching for any intruders on the island. Haruto and Kenriki looked at the maids and butlers who refused to make eye contact with each other as they bowed down their heads in front of everyone. The hall was dimly lit with warm-colored lights and at the end of the area was a door that was next to a window that showed a tree.

Haruto looked around the vast expensive paintings on the wall, the boy wasn't able to understand how he felt about them and quickly started a conversation to get rid of the unnerving dead air. "Um, Sir Andres. I know this might sound silly, but do you know anything about what we are dealing with?" Haruto asked as they continued to walk down the hall.

The man continued with his unaverted gaze as he talked to the curious boy. "I've encountered many things master Amaterasu, but this one is peculiar... to say the least." Sir Andres replied casually. Confusing Haruto as he tried to think of something else. 

After taking one last step, the group had arrived at the end of the hall. Standing next to a wooden door with a metal handle, Sir Andres opened it and revealed a dark closet full of cleaning supplies and a janitor's yellow uniform, surprising everyone who thought something was interesting. 

"What the fuck is this old man? Are you trying to waste our time?" Gokuro said in an irritated fashion before being scolded by her sister.

Everyone looked at the man as he bent over the wooden floor and revealed a metallic lever on the left wall of the closet, it looked like it had been untouched for over a decade. With a pull, the closet floor started shaking and the back of the closet started moving, revealing a set of stairs leading to a mysterious dark room. With a lantern in hand, he handled them into the room. "This way." Sir Andres said respectfully.

Haruto noticed Gokuro shiver for a moment. "Oy Gokuro, are you fine?" He asked.

"I-I think I'll stay here for a while." He explained. His sweat started landing on the floor as he kept shivering. But Keiko held her arm and they slowly descended into the quiet room.

The sounds of creaking filled the room with each step they took, the stone walls were cold and spiders were crawling on the ceiling. Everyone except Sir Andres walked slowly as the light from the lantern partially showed a wooden shelf, but before they could see what was on the shelves, the group was thrown into complete darkness. The lantern had abruptly burned out after the door behind them closed. Everyone stood still as they tried to call each other. No windows for moonlight to shine through nor any holes near the wall to emit a sound from the outside. The sound of wood thumping caught their attention before the floor near Keiko started to shake, his brother was shivering. She lost her grip and the boy started breathing shallow breaths. Gokuro wouldn't settle down, running around and bumping into Haruto as he tried to find a door, his movements becoming so erratic that nobody wanted to go near him or else they'd get knocked over. The sounds of wood being moved and knocked over startled the group. "Turn on the lights old man! It's too dark in here!" Gokuro demanded as voices of muffled cries and rising panic filled the room... "I-I don't want it! Please!" His head was filled with the sounds of laughter and tubercular coughing, two red eyes flashed from a distance as he swayed his arms in the light's direction.

"Gokuro, calm down, we're here with you!" Keiko said. Trying to reassure her brother who she lost her grip with.

"Shit, it's too dark, I don't wanna be here anymore! Somebody! Help me! Papa... please! Don't! It hurts so much!" Gokuro kept panicking, trying to hold anything within his touch.

Everyone could hear Gokuro get distressed as he moved around the room, trying to find an exit. Keiko looked for her brother as he called his name. While Haruto and Kenriki could do nothing but stand still. Sir Andres was able to turn on the two lamps on both sides of the table, revealing a dusty stone room with various bookshelves that stretched to the west side from where they entered, its stone covered walls were covered in dust and cobwebs while at the center of the two large bookshelfs was a path that lead to complete darkness, presumably an area with a table and more books. It was a huge room full of books of every kind, the perfect place for a bookworm to indulge their time in. But they weren't surprised by it, what surprised them was a teary-eyed Gokuro who was holding a shocked Kenriki close to him. The group was in awe, especially Sir Andres. But Gokuro immediately let him go and cleaned himself.

"Anyways," Gokuro cleared his throat and wiped the sweat from his forehead while he avoided eye-contact with the others. "Let's get back to searching..." 

As the group tried to pull themselves together despite the awkward atmosphere, Sir Andres approached one of the dusty lamp posts and lit it with his candle. "I must light up the rest of the candles before you can go deeper section of this library. Please search on the first shelf for now." Sir Andres explained. With a candle in hand, he approached the other lamp posts to illuminate the area. Revealing a beautiful vintage library filled with the delicate carvings on the wood and the another acacia floor underneath their feet.

"This place is kinda creepy. Right Kenriki?" Keiko asked, only to find him amazed and drooling over the vast array of dusty books from the shelves. 

"Woah... So many books! It's like an ancient library!" Kenriki said excitedly. His eyes glittering at the sight of hundreds or possibly even thousands of old books waiting to be opened.

"You're a bookworm?" Keiko asked as she wiped the sweat off her brother's face with a napkin from the meal trays earlier.

"Yeah, my friend over here has a thing for books. Novels in particular work like a drug to him." Haruto explained as he took one of the candles. "Come on Kenriki, let's find what we need!"

"Oh right! Let's go, by the way, it'll be much faster if we split up. I can't wait to look at all of these books!" Running towards Haruto, the duo ventured into the right side of the shelves.

"W-wait! What are we supposed to be looking for?!" Gokuro shouted.

"Oh right! I forgot, find a book about Zoology or anything that can tell us about animal biology!" Kenriki shouted back. The sound of his voice echoing throughout the room and disappearing.

Keiko jumped as she heard the sound of a wall behind her being pounded. "Dammit!" Gokuro clenched his fists in anger. "I panicked again..." 

His sister stood close to him, holding his arm tight, and putting her head down his shoulder. "One day, we'll get through that fear of yours. I promise you, little brother." Keiko said as she kissed him on the cheek. "I'll always be by your side." 

As each pair started searching for their intended objects, they came across several novels, stories, and even journals that date back as old as the 16th century. Each shelf was crawling with spiders that covered the books with webs. Kenriki took one look at each shelf and immediately grabbed what piqued his interest, ranging from novels to encyclopedias and even books about myths. Haruto walked around the corners of the shelves for a while and found nothing interesting, that is until a peculiar book fell next to him.

"Is this good?" Haruto asked. Revealing the book titled 'The Theory of Evolution'. 

Kenriki nodded and added it to his collection. With both arms full of books, he decided to venture deeper into the library and found a table with a candle already lit. Dust and spiders crawled out as he placed the books and sat on a creaking chair.

"These should be a good start," Kenriki said. Placing all the books he was going to read in order, Haruto walked over to the table and sat down right in front of him. "You gonna read too, Haruto?" He asked as he wiped the dust off the books and started flipping the crusty pages.

"I'm not a fan of reading... but if it's to save our home, I'd gladly do it with you." He replied, grabbing one of the books and opening it. Dust came blowing into his nose and he suddenly sneezed, blowing out the candle that was next to him. "Sorry..."

"Oy Kenriki, where are you?" Gokuro asked. "We got the book you were looking for, it's all about dinosaurs!" 

Kenriki leaned back on his chair and smiled. "Hey guys, change of plans, let's go back to the living room. We have everything we need now." Haruto came over to his side and helped grab the books as he hurried over to the entrance again, the door opening to reveal the light from the hall. When Kenriki arrived back into the living room, everybody already had their noses buried in a book, focusing and gathering information. "Oh, you guys already started?" He asked.

"The sooner we get to know what to do, the sooner we can get this thing over with. Besides we’re just skimming everything," Keiko said.

The light was perfectly set to prevent their eyes from getting strained while reading. Sir Andres came back into the room and asked what else they needed before returning to the underground library.

"Well then, let's get to reading!" Kenriki cheered.

The night had gone by, a few hours had already passed as they started reading book by book. One by one each book had its pages swayed with their hands as they skimmed for information. Slowly, they were able to learn some things about their world but little to nothing about anything related to the monster. The table was slowly getting cleared as each person threw their books on the floor to read another in hopes of finding an answer.

Haruto yawned and slowly closed his eyes. "I feel sleepy..." He said. Nodding his head as his chin fell onto his chest. The sounds of his snores irritated Gokuro as he skimmed the books even faster.

"What the fuck am I supposed to be reading?!" He blurted. Throwing the book into the wall in his frustration. "This is fucking useless, Kenriki, let's call it a day for now and try again tomorrow."

"Do we even have another day?" Kenriki spoke in a serious tone as he looked straight into his ally's eyes. Standing up as he grabbed the book that Haruto showed him. "The more we tell ourselves that we can do something tomorrow, the more we're letting the enemy destroy our home." He explained. Keiko and Gokuro were both caught off-guard and immediately grabbed another book to read after hearing his words. Kenriki walked around the room for a while, looking outside the window. The sky had lit up with beautiful sparkling diamonds. It was a sight to behold that reminded him of the times that his father sang him to sleep under the moonlight. In front of the window was an apple tree, the leaves near the trunk started shaking as a squirrel fell on the cold grass. Kenriki looked at the squirrel as it stared back at him, aggressively itching itself, and running around as if it was trying to catch its tail. He chuckled, the sight of nature being nature somehow relieved his stress, the book that Haruto gave him was in his hand, dust-free and ready for reading. When he opened the first page, a quote from Charles Darwin caught his eyes. 

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one most adaptable to change."

Widened eyes and a sudden gasp paved the way to a sudden realization. "Flea ancestors sacrificed their wings in favor of being able to cling on fur. Could it be—? No..? We don't even know its biology let alone its history... But if that's the case, it must've sacrificed something to gain an advantage against heavy force." He thought.

Gokuro continued to skim aggressively before pounding the book on the floor and turning to his ally. "Oy Kenriki, stop daydreaming and help us with this bullshit," Gokuro said. "I feel like a fucking slowpoke when doing this stuff..."

Eyes widened, Kenriki realized another thing. "Slowpoke! Snails, Turtles, and other shelled animals. But this thing isn't a snail or a turtle, did it somehow lose its shell? Keiko’s ability is to slash anything her hands can get to, but if she couldn’t use it back then at Sibuco, did the monster perhaps have something else?" Kenriki felt a small tingle on his spine. He knew something was off about Keiko's story. To confirm his theory, he rushed to ask his comrades to ask about their past again.

"Keiko, describe to me what this monster looked like," Kenriki said.

"Describe it? Let me see..." Keiko replied. "W-why?" She asked, hesitant to describe what she saw.

Kenriki looked at her and understood. "Keiko... I know how hard it must have been to lose your father and the memory of it is something we don’t wanna think about too much, we both bear the same pain. But we need to know... so we can save other children from losing theirs." He said. Keiko looked at him and nodded. "Did you notice anything peculiar about it? Maybe a reason why your attacks could 'harm' it?" He asked.

"Oh, I remember now!" Hurrying over to a table, she grabbed a pencil and paper and started sketching the beast. "It's not that different to the one we're facing today. But it did had a lot of notable features on it." As Keiko continued to sketch, Haruto woke and asked as to what they were doing but leaned over to watch what his friend was doing. 

"Hey... what are you guys doing?" He asked. Yawning and rubbing his eyes from his short nap.

With the final stroke of her pencil, she placed it down and showed it to everyone. Both of the boys were shocked at what her pencil revealed on the paper. A monster that looked just like the one back at Talisay but it only had four legs instead of six and had several plates all around its body and legs.

"That's it. The monster... I still remember the sound it made when I struck it with my hand." She murmured.

"What sound did it make..?" Kenriki asked.

"It sounded like... metal clanging."

"Metal clanging? Are you sure?" Kenriki asked. "If you attacked it at your house, was it somehow slower than what we're facing right now?" 

"Now that you mentioned it, yeah, it was a pretty slow thing, I could barely outrun it and its grasp but it was pretty powerful." She explained.

He grinned, taking the pencil and paper and starting a sketch beside Keiko's drawings. "What is that Kenriki?" Haruto asked. But his friend only focused on his drawing, he realized that what he was about to show them was important. A few seconds later, Haruto and the rest of the gang could see four animals on the paper. The monster Keiko drew, the monster from Arid City, a flea that looked like it jumped, and another flea but this time with wings.

"Take a look at these. What do you think they are?"

Everyone took a good look at the sketches. Confused but trying to figure out what Kenriki was trying to tell them.

"A bunch of annoying shits that's for sure," Gokuro grunted with an annoyed face.

"Well you're right about that, but what these guys have in common is that they evolved."

"What?" Everyone said in sync.

"Listen, I'll make it short. fleas didn't jump to get on their host in the past. Their ancestors were huge and had wings to find food. But as time went on, harsh conditions coerced them into adapting to what they are now. In a way, we can connect this to the monsters both from your story and the right now. It's just a hypothesis, but I think they are the same thing."

"Evolved? But how could its kind evolve to its weakness if I killed it? How did they know that I could be a threat against them? More importantly, why not make itself invincible to both slashes and brute force?" Gokuro asked. Scratching his head in confusion.

Kenriki stood. "Right now all we can say is that this isn't the first time our homes have been invaded and it's safe to say that it won't be the last as well... these things... they must be everywhere..." 

Gasps of realization struck the room. 

"But if they attacked different regions in Maharlika before, how come we never heard of it in the media?" Haruto argued.

"Remember what the military did to us? They said they wanted to "extract" us to get to a safer place. This gives us two things, first is that we can assume that the military will avoid using high-destructive firepower to kill it, and two is that they must be taking precautions and orders from higher-ups to prevent it from leaking to the press. If this is the case, we can assume that the reason why this thing is immune to bullets and punches is because it has been fighting them for a long time." 

"But why would the government or the military attempt to keep the truth from us? Keiko asked. "Wouldn't it be better to tell the people for them to evacuate?" 

"When you see something you don't understand, your first action is to hate it, fear it, treat it like it's only there to kill you. People will most likely panic and riot if they told this story now, they'd go even as far as to manipulate the media before executing them. It may sound bad, but I don’t think we can trust the authorities anymore, there’s something off about all of this." He stood, walking over to the staircase before turning his head and speaking. "No doubt, we're on our own from now on."