Charles peeked his head out from the corridor by the stairwell. He asked a rather peculiar question in a sheepish tone: "Uh… Am I interrupting something?"0

The purple humanoid figure, formed from Colin's shattered body and cloaked in deep, shadowy hues, asked with Colin's voice, "Hm? Are you Charles Ryder?"0

"Yes, that's me, Charles Ryder. Did I come at an inopportune time? It looks like the captain and the professor are about to get taken out. Can I still turn back?" Charles scratched his head, his expression troubled, as though he genuinely regretted showing up at such a moment.0

"Ah, well. Just look at your captain and Mr. Sieg. They can't even interfere with reality right now. If you want to leave, I'll give you the chance." The purple humanoid waved dismissively, turning its featureless face toward Sieg and Hugin, who were trapped within a spatial distortion.0

The two hovered suspended mid-air as if frozen in time. Their bodies shimmered with a static-like distortion, reminiscent of the snowy interference on a broken TV screen. The distortion flickered, disappeared, and reappeared, rendering their forms semi-transparent.0

"You really are generous. But leaving now feels like a waste, doesn't it? After all, you're immobilized too, right? I mean, if I set this place to blow...0