The night after Kunter's departure was too quiet.
Almost unnatural.
The sky over Tema HQ was cloudy, the city silent, as if the world itself was waiting for something to go wrong.
Inside the main hall, the heroes gathered again to find a solution towards this.
Clementess sat curled in a corner, hands tight over her mute throat.
Bandy had both hands over his ears, trembling.
"He… he'll come back, right…?"
Bandri held him, but she wasn't calm either.
Her grip was too tight.
Poppy adjusted her notes with shaking fingers.
"The Probability of Him returning is very high. I have a feeling he will return sooner than expected."
Water Beauty hugged her own arms.
"Should I record the entire incident and post on my socials?.... actually nevermind."
Mr. Monkey sat on a broken sofa, silent, screen dimmed.
Chitki tinkered with her damaged radar glove.
"Tema… I scanned the air again.For now he is out of our area."
Tema stood in the center, eyes closed,she was thinking something very hard.
The trio stood behind her—Bear silent, Tuka tense, Chiki tapping his foot too fast.
Tema opened her eyes.
"…This isn't over."
Tuka snapped, "Why didn't he kill us then!?"
Chiki's smile twitched.
"Maybe he was bored."
Everyone glared at him.
Chiki raised both hands.
"Kidding. Please don't hit me again."
"Anyway! We survived! Barely! Amazing right?"
No one laughed.
Chiki grunted." Oww C'mon guys now is the right time to build motivation and spirit to be powerful!"
Tema said."What you are saying maybe right but the way you are doing is horriblly wrong".
Meanwhile in the Forest.
Kunter dragged a half-eaten beast into his house, blood dripping behind him like a trail.
He sat on a chair, tearing flesh with sharp teeth.
"Hm… their fear tasted good."
His phone buzzed.
He smirked without looking.
"Calling again already?"
He answered.
The voice on the other end was the same cold, emotionless tone.
"Phase One complete."
Kunter chuckled.
"Oh? Breaking them was that easy?. Their HQ must be smellling like a panic now."
A pause.
"Good. Now listen, Kunter."
He leaned forward.
"Permission granted.
Proceed to Phase Two."
Kunter's grin slowly stretched.
"Phase Two…? So you mean—"
"Yes."
The voice was calm.
"Exterminate them."
The forest went silent.
Wolves were howling.
Kunter's pupils narrowed to deadly slits.
"Heheheheh… finally."
He stood up, muscles bulging, hunger rising.
"The hunt begins again."
He cracked his neck.
"And this time… no one runs."
In the meantime at Tema's Headquarters
Tema gathered the trio and other members in the living room.
No one sat.
Everyone waited.
Tema rubbed her forehead, frustrated.
"Kunter didn't come for a hostage. He didn't come for territory. There's something we're missing…"
Poppy flipped through her files.
"I feel it was for breaking our morale and seperate us. Usually the smart guys do this to finish things easily."
Bandri nodded.
"He didn't even try to kill us. He only observed."
Peppy gulped.
"Doesn't that make things even scarier…"
Chitki tightened her grip on her digital tablet.
"Let me try to find his location if possible."
Tema inhaled sharply, ready to speak again—
BBZZZZTTTT!!
BBZZZZTTTT!!
A loud, sharp emergency alarm cut her off.
Everyone froze.
Chitki looked down at her tablet.
The radar screen flickered.
One by one, the HQ's security layers began blinking red…
The outer fence was broken, the gate lasers went offline, the motion sensors were disabled, the heat shields died, the internal barriers became unresponsive, and the corridor collapsed.
Chitki's eyes widened.
"T-Tema… the system… it's breaking by itself."
Tema's face drained of color.
"HOW? There's no hacker inside—"
On the screen, the entire map slowly turned black, piece by piece, as if something was erasing the HQ from existence.
Everyone leaned closer.
Even Mr. Monkey stood still.
BEEP.
BEEP.
BEEP.
The tablet struggled.
Static filled the display.
Then—
A single red dot appeared.
Right outside their HQ gate.
Chitki's voice cracked:
"…He's back."
The room went silent.
Even breathing stopped.
Tema whispered:
"Oh no."
No roar.
No footsteps.
No warning.
Just that one red dot, pulsing…
closer…
and closer…