"?"Cole didn"t get the chance to ask why Felicia swore all of a sudden before she teleported everyone back to the〈Neutral Zone〉
In the literal blink of an eye, everyone was back home again. She had teleported them right in front of the house"s front porch.
But a new sight greeted their eyes. The usual dull sky of the〈Neutral Zone〉was replaced with a beautiful galaxy as a natural ceiling.
The sky was filled with shining stars and a mix of purples, blues and pinks filling everyone who saw it with awe and appreciation for the sight.
"Woah!!"
"That is a unique sky."
Eva especially so since this was the first time she had ever seen the〈Neutral Zone〉"s night sky.
Eva was always cooped up in the house and always went to bed early and never had the chance to see it.
Libra just gave it a casual glance as if they were already used to such a sight. There was a faint streak of sadness in their eyes in that one casual look that only Libra knew the cause to.
"No matter how many times I see it, it"s still beautiful… Despite my dislike for bright and colorful things."
Cole thought that it was weird for a place that explicitly was called "Neutral" to have such a colorful sky.
"I still hate nights here."
"Hmm? Why do you say so, Felicia?"
When Cole looked back to see Felicia, he noticed that she wasn"t right behind him but was now all the way at the door as if she had just teleported there.
Felicia stopped midway from opening the door. When she turned to face Cole, she simply pointed her finger to something in front of them.
Faint, glowing red eyes lit up in the dark and prowled around the perimeter of the house.
Cole also checked the mountain behind them and he could also see a few glimmers here and there.
"…Grrr…."
Growls and snarls echoed throughout the〈Neutral Zone〉which would give the listener a sense of unease and dread.
"What are those?"
Cole calmly asked Felicia in a way that that made him seem as if he was not bothered by the unfamiliar creatures at all.
"Those are called〈Xenos〉, creatures that roam the〈Neutral Zone〉at night. They"re also the reason why no one from any Zone would be able to stay here overnight and why Central Academy has so many forms of protection. For some reason, they don"t attack any Mechanicas."
"Wow, how original."
He thought sarcastically since the name literally meant "foreign" in Greek but it also piqued his interest as to why there were named such as.
Eva was still focused on the〈Neutral Zone〉"s pretty sky and hadn"t noticed them yet.
"Okay, time to go back inside."
Cole swooped up Eva in his arms causing her to snap out of her state of awe but her eyes were still focused on the night sky.
He handed her over to Felicia and she sat Eva on the sofa and then proceeded to make dinner.
"Hmmm? What are you doing, Cole?"
Libra raised an eyebrow as Cole started walking to the nearest set of glowing eyes.
But the raised eyebrow was also how Cole was walking while managing not to make a single sound from the gra.s.s underfoot.
It was also done as if it was his normal way of walking and it didn"t hinder his usual pace.
Coles eyes had adjusted quickly to the dark lighting but it was still fairly bright with the presence of the many stars and white moon above their heads.
When he got a closer look, Cole had felt that maybe "foreign" really was the best way to describe the creatures.
The one he was walking towards was reminiscent of a wolf with its four legs and overall form and fur.
But it wasn"t a wolf entirely. Its stature was definitely too big for a single wolf and their legs had a metallic sheen and when Cole came closer, were cybernetic in appearance .
The creature was looking towards the direction of〈Central Academy〉in the distance and so Cole could only see it"s back view.
There was also a few metal parts that he could vaguely notice under it"s fur along it"s spine.
The creature hadn"t noticed him and Cole had moved so he could get a good look of the creature"s head from the side.
What he saw caused him slight surprise due to its unfamiliarity but he kept calm and observed it.
"Grr…"
It was a normal snout of a wolf that was making a usual snarl sound if you excluded the eerie glowing red eyes and rotting face.
Blood trickled down the dirty and yellowed fangs protruding out of its jaws. The side of its face was exposed to the elements that had just made it rot even faster.
There was this long line across its neck that didn"t cross all the way back that also had blood spewing out from it along with exposed bone and rotten flesh.
Cole then wanted to check one last thing and his eyes lowered to the stomach area of the "wolf."
A faint glow through its fur could be seen that confirmed Cole"s suspicions.
"The unusual and fantasy-like size similar to that of the monsters living in the〈Fantasia Zone〉, technology advanced enough to be from the〈Avant Zone〉, a rotten face like the zombies told of old from the〈Times Zone〉and a core said to be located inside it like the beasts from the〈Huaxia Zone〉"
Cole muttered to himself after realizing all this. He also a.s.sumed that it was probably capable of magic, ESP and had cultivation like that of the other Zones.
Heck, he wouldn"t even be surprised if it could shoot a barrage of bullets or laser beams from its mouth.
Cole walked back to Libra as the "wolf" had started to head over to somewhere in the distance.
Other pairs had also started to do the same while the ones on the mountain stayed within their territory.
"You aren"t going to kill one to see what"s inside?"
Libra asked with a hint of disappointment. Cole simply glared at them and walked back to the house.
"Scaredy-cat."
Libra said along with a pair provoking eyes if you could see them past the prizes he was carrying.
"It"s called being cautious and I don"t want to hear that from a wo/man that wasn"t brave enough to go on a ride that had a short, dark tunnel."
"!!"
Libra"s faced turned a bit red from the embarra.s.sment that came from that memory and desperately wanted to yell something in response but couldn"t find anything to say.