"What?! What do you mean no? I'm your brother! And how could you say it so resolutely?! So cold!" Chris's confidence immediately crumbled.

He was expecting Jade to happily jump into his arms while expressing her happiness in having him around. Yet it seemed like she didn't even want him around.

"I said no. I can already see you preventing me from doing anything because of your overprotectiveness. There's no way I'd be able to improve my strength with you around. I say we should separate here. You go your way, I go mine. We now know that the other is alive. And that's enough for me" Jade replied.

"Well, too bad. I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. And I promise I won't get in your way. I know very well that you can properly take care of yourself. You won't even know I'm there, I promise. Please, let us do this civilly. I beg you. You don't want us to embarrass our family anymore, do you?" Chris resorted to threatening and begging at the same time.

If he only threatened her, Jade would resist with all her might. If he only begged, she would walk all over him. So, he went with a little bit of both.

"Tsk. Let me talk to my partner first...("They can come" Emily agreed immediately)... Well, it seems she's okay with it. But you better keep your promise. I'll ditch you the moment you step out of bounds" Jade helplessly agreed after Emily said it was okay.

As for what Emily was so quick to agree. It was because she understood where Chris was coming from. She was also an older sibling, after all. In fact, she felt that he was a lot more agreeable than herself. If it was her, she would have dragged Elsa away with her whether she wanted to go or not. There was no way she would leave her younger sister alone in the apocalypse. Even if she was strong and had a strong team among other good things.

Anyway, the group didn't linger in the area anymore. They began making their way toward the mansion with Jade in the lead.

They weren't in any particular rush so she didn't use her flight ability while dragging everyone along with her. That would require quite an amount of mental energy as well. Mental energy she wasn't willing to expend. Not to mention that she was still tired from her battle with the slime...

She also wanted to take the chance to show Chris that she was good enough to take care of herself. Maybe that way he will go away sooner.

"Wait..." Jade suddenly paused while scrunching her nose. She turned back to look at a specific person in their group.

"What?" James asked nervously while being stared at by Jade's seemingly disgusted eyes.

If he didn't know how strong she was. He would have definitely shouted at her for giving him such a disrespectful gaze.

"Can you do something about your pants. I really can't take the smell anymore. If you're going to stick around, you can at least get rid of that urine scent on you, right?" Jade spoke her mind without holding back.

Scarlett giggled in amusement. She was liking this little sister-in-law of her's more and more. Not only did she make Chris seem more human, but she also embarrassed the hateful James. And anyone who can embarrass James is a good person to her.

"Umm... I... Ah," James stuttered not knowing what to say. He thought that he was hiding it well. He was also walking a bit behind the rest. Yet the hateful brat still called him out. Couldn't she say it in a less embarrassing way? She could at least pull him to the side and speak, right? How was he supposed to face Scarlett now?

His face was red from embarrassment. He wished he could just dig a hole there and hide in the ground...

"If you don't mind. I can help you with that..." Emily suddenly chimed in. She was wondering if she should burn Jade's mouth off. The girl really had no filter when talking to strangers. It was something Emily had forgotten about after everyone got close.

Jade had toned the tendency down by a lot. And she wouldn't be bothered to speak when they meet new people in most situations.

"Yes, please!" Chris exclaimed immediately. Tears of relief and gratitude were leaking out of his eyes. He didn't know how she was going to help, but anything was okay as long as she helped him. Emily looked like an angel to him in the moment. Especially with her golden hair and eyes.

"Okay", Emily replied with a smile on her face, then...

Whoosh!

"Ahhhh!" James screamed like a pig in a slaughterhouse.

It was understandable though. After all, Emily had just set him on fire with a smile on his face.

He was regretting accepting her help. Who knew that her help was burning him to ash? Sure, he wouldn't stink anymore after that but.. He wouldn't be alive either! What kind of help was that?!

He had been tricked. She wasn't an angel. She was a demon in an angelic skin! And why weren't Chris and the others doing anything?! Were they in on the deal as well?! He had been betrayed!

With such thoughts going through his mind. James continued crying with his eyes shut tight... He continued doing that until he realised something... He didn't feel any pain at all. In fact, he felt quite good. Like he was being gently kissed by the sun...

That's when he opened his eyes. He was met with the sight of everyone giving him weird gazes. He looked down at his own body and realised that he was still perfectly fine. Not even a single hair on his body was burnt by the fire.

The best part was that the wet spot on his pants was gone and he no longer reeked of urine.

It was almost like the whole incident of a R3 Evolver pissing himself never happened. One had to know, R3s no longer needed to go to the bathroom. Their bodies could destroy all the waste inside them completely. Yet James still managed to wet himself... Quite surprising and greatly embarrassing.

"Umm. I'm sorry about that. I guess I should have warned you first. I guess I assumed you'd understand after not sensing any killing intent from me that I didn't mean to harm you. You know, like your teammates did.." Emily apologised.

Though her apology could also be seen as an insult to James's capabilities. After all, only he thought that she was attacking him. Which was understandable considering that he saw Emily tossing a flame his way. But still, his showing was terrible.

He even confessed his love for Scarlett and cursed Chris and Gnoth for being better than him. Which was why everyone was giving him such weird looks.

Fortunately, he didn't say anything unforgivable. So, while it was now set in stone that he would never get Scarlett from her look of disgust after he confessed. Everything else could be discussed.

Anyway, James accepted the apology with an ugly smile on his face and the group continued their journey.

They would meet some beasts from time to time which they took turns to deal with.

James also got his turn to take care of a beast. And quite frankly, his ability disgusted Emily and Jade. His body stretched like a bubblegum and completely wrapped around the beast like a snake and suffocating it to death. His head looked at them with arrogance while resting on top of his elongated neck.

And quite frankly the sight made both girls gag a little. They immediately understood why Scarlett was so disgusted with him. His ability wasn't fluttering at all.

They also learned what the domain of a physical-type Evolver looks like. James's domain was a clear dome which suppressed the enemy's power, improved the speed at which he stretched as well as made his skin a lot more resilient...

So, it can be said that a physical-type barrier gives the owner a strong buff. Jade's barrier also had that effect, but it wasn't too apparent since unlike James, she had an element in the form of her Beast Aura. So her domain's effect was mostly apparent in her beast Aura despite her body being improved as well.

So, it can be said that Jade was a hybrid. She falls in the battle-mage category instead of warrior and such physical classes.

She was basically the envy of both Mage-types and Physical-types. And Muku had joined her in that category after his soul link with Raya. Hell, he was even above her after his trial ground experience.

Anyway, there weren't any major issues in their journey. They fought when they could and avoided when they couldn't fight...

....

Later on...

"Why are we running?! Didn't you say you took care of a PR3 beast on your own once before? There are only two of them in that small group. Why aren't we fighting them instead? You can take one, Emily and I will take the other. Your teammates can take the remaining three. Were you lying?!" Jade shouted at Chris as they ran away from a small group of beasts.

There were only two PR3s and three LR3s. It looked like the two PR3s were the parents of the three weaker ones...

"No, it wasn't a lie. I just forgot to mention that it was a heavily wounded PR3 and I caught it by surprise. Now shut up and run!" Chris replied while the group was getting propelled forward by Scarlett's wind while standing on a barrier platform Chris made...