Xin's sense of time felt like it was slowing down as she saw the end of the bridge coming up.
The last of the metallic wires that held everything together.
She saw that her brother had already transformed, and she wanted to reach out and grab him.
But she was afraid that doing so would put him in more danger.
Then, as the car passed, she saw it: Harvor had started to descend toward them, the heavy wind produced by the flap of his wings could be felt.
It was like a giant plane right on their backs, and it would catch up to them regardless.
Jayden's feet leapt off from the back, and he was seen in the air, glowing bright. He lifted his clawed hands, feeling the weight of the air growing heavy.
The feeling behind Jayden's fingertips was like pulling thousands of tons, and then he let go.
Giant wind strikes left Jayden's hands, far heavier and stronger than he had ever performed before, even stronger than when he fought against Harvor with his anger in the AFC.
The giant strikes crossed Harvor's face, causing him to flinch and go off course.
The scales on his face and his giant shoulder slightly bled as they were cut.
Now Harvor was above the water where the bridge was, and Jayden had landed right on Harvor's face.
Jayden could tell that his strikes were stronger than before, and he started to think about the difference.
"I thought the angrier I was, the more I wanted my revenge, the stronger my strikes would be. But now I can tell, this strength I'm feeling now is because I want to protect them all. This is what I can do."
As the car continued to drive, they could see Jayden fiercely fighting, scratching and swinging his hands on top of Harvor.
Harvor's giant dragon body was swirling around, trying to knock him off violently. At the same time, the strange golden mist was trying to attack Jayden as well.
"That was his plan, huh?" Austin said. "To fight the damned giant dragon while we get away."
"A warrior's death," Ice commented.
"He's not going to die!" Xin shouted. "Don't you dare say those words."
"But I'm surprised. Jayden was hurt in the AFC fight, right? And Harvor seems far stronger now. He's even changed to his Altered form. So how is it that Jayden is even able to put up a fight?" Austin asked.
"There are many tales throughout history—talks of battles between the mythical white tiger and the dragon," Daphne said.
"You should know that all mythical tales of ours have some truth to them. That's why even Mythical-type Altered exist. Jayden is that mythical white tiger.
"Perhaps this fight is his calling."
As the car continued to move, they were soon completely out of the city and onto the highway, and that's when they saw it.
Both Jayden and Harvor ended up crashing into the river. The dragon's body was skimming across the surface. Jayden's attacks didn't seem to stop as large scratches were made across Harvor's face.
Eventually, they were both seen sinking deep into the water. The car turned, and buildings blocked the sight of the river completely.
All they could see in the distance was a figure flying high in the air.
Golden beams of energy started to gather into a singular large ball, and then with the opening of the dragon's jaw, a large light beam shot out.
The beam of energy spread wide, and the shockwave was seen exploding out until it broke, shattering several windows of buildings.
Even with how far the group had gotten, the car shook, moving on its side before falling back.
"Jayden..." Xin cried, continuing to sob, and the rest were left in silence.
They wondered if Harvor would come after them or if they would see him coming, but he never did, leaving the group to their own conclusions.
Maybe after all the fighting, Harvor was too tired and weak. Perhaps he was still fighting Jayden or was too hurt from the fight to continue the chase.
As for Jayden's state, nobody knew, but they could take a good guess. Instead, they wanted to believe that it was because of Jayden that all of them were able to get away safely.
Suddenly, Park turned the wheel of the car and lifted the handbrake. The car screeched across the floor until it came to a stop.
"What the heck?" Park said, opening the door of the car.
The others slowly got out of the vehicle as well, wondering what was going on.
The road was empty. No cars were present heading toward Slough. They hadn't noticed during their escape, but now they had a good reason why that might be.
"Kai!" Park shouted.
Kai was standing on top of a large delivery truck, and behind him was a fleet of different cars, buses, SUVs, pickups, and more.
Each of those in the vehicles wore the infamous Howlers uniform—black and gold.
"Is everything okay? Is everyone here? Where's Gary?" Kai asked as he rushed over.
Still in the car were Gary and Xin, both of them together.
"What are you doing here?" Austin asked.
"We saw what happened on the news, and we guessed something must be up," Kai said. "I wasn’t taking any chances. There was a good chance that we would be in a full-out war to get Gary back."
Kai, standing about five meters away, could see Gary was hurt, blood covering his clothing, and he was completely passed out.
"What happened to him?" Kai asked.
"It was Harvor... he was too strong for all of us. We luckily managed to make it out alive."
It was only then that Xin noticed all of the cars and that they had stopped. For a moment, when she saw Kai, her face lit up.
"Kai, you brought the whole Howlers gang. That means we can go back, we can go back and save Jayden... right!" Xin asked.
****