Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

319 Dead?

“REN!”

The man struggled to free himself from the annoying threads that were binding his body, but the thin and weak-looking threads were surprisingly strong. They didn’t even bodge no matter how much he pulled them.

‘He will die if he falls from this high-‘

No.

‘He will die if he is beside those bombs.’

And his brother had far passed the shield he had created.

Aaron didn’t stop attempting to free himself. It hasn’t been long. It has only been a few seconds since this all happened, but it felt like hours to him for some reason.

‘What’s with that look?’

He didn’t like the face Kairen was making. He hated that kind of expression. He was fed up with it. He didn’t want to see such an expression ever again, not to say that, he didn’t want to see his brother like that.

.....

“REN!”

In the end, everything he could do was to reach out his hand in pure desperation, and all he could do was scream that name.

BOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Something burst right under his feet.

A loud explosion, a light bright enough to blind everyone, and a huge shockwave. That was how the image of his brother faded from his sight.

“Uh-”

BANGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

A huge force struck the sparkling shield. The shield shook its inner layer and turned to dust, then the layer above that, and the layer above. Pure white light oozed out from the gap of the shield and brightened the building, like sunlight that was reaching earth after passing through the dark clouds. The building shook, the floor broke, the walls shattered, and the ceiling collapsed.

“Uh-”

Aaron was shot back due to the force of the explosion, not just him, but everyone else was helplessly flung away.

Crack

Before Aaron’s body hit the wall behind him, he saw the shield slowly cracking. Light shone out of the small cracks all over the shield, making it nearly impossible for him to keep his eyes open.

But he didn’t close his eyes. He stared at the shield without even blinking, scared of the thing that might happen if he closes his eyes.

He also saw something else. The threads of fate that were binding his body until a mere seconds ago were freely moving in the air. They circled around in the air a few times before slowly fading, vanishing as if they were never there.

And then-

BAAAAAAAAANGGGGGGGGG

The shield exploded, shattered to pieces, and lost its glow gradually. The broken pieces of the shield got separated into small cracks and all of them sprinkled in the air like small stars slowly dying out.

OOOOOOO

SHHHHHH

But then, something strange happened.

SHHH

A faint yet echoing sound was heard among all of the loud noises in the building...

And they glowed.

The small particles of the shield glowed despite being beside such a bright light. They glowed, like stars, real stars in a bright sky.

“Huh...”

In front of Aaron’s confused gaze, the shattered shield particles slowly moved toward each other. They moved to gather together, to create a wall, a barrier, a new shield.

In the slowed version of the world that he was still experiencing, he clearly saw all of these strange things happen with his eyes that were barely open.

Shhhhh

And the new barrier embraced the destructive power of the explosion completely.

Though... only for a few seconds.

BANGGGGGG

And the new barrier also exploded, lost its glow, and shattered in the air. This time, the light didn’t come back to the barrier, no new shields were made, and nothing embraced and held back the destruction.

BOMMMMMMMMMMMMM

The impact hit them all. The walls shattered, the floor crumpled, and the ceiling collapsed, and the few people who were still remaining there were sent in different directions.

“Gah-”

Aaron’s body hit a few things, rolled a few times, fell a little, then stopped after hitting something hard.
“Huuuu....”

Aaron heaved a deep breath. His breathing was ragged due to all of the injuries his body had taken and he was feeling dizzy because of the loss of blood. After making sure that his body has stopped moving, he opened his eyes.

‘I’m... Alive...’

That was the first thing that crossed his mind. He was alive. The whole place, all of those bombs exploded, but he was alive.

That meant one thing.

Kairen’s shield managed to protect them.

“...Ren...”

Should he be happy about the fact that he was alive? Should he feel relieved now?

He didn’t know where he was and where he had fallen, and he couldn’t see it properly either as his surroundings were blocked by dust and broken stuff. He could use his power to move and get away from where he was trapped, but he didn’t.

“Ren!”

Shhhh

Pebbles and dust rolled around as he barely rose his body up. His head hit something hard and his left arm scratched against something else. Aaron kicked the broken piece of wall that was blocking his pass. The huge thing fell back down, making a loud noise. A faint light shone on his face as soon as the thing blocking his sight was lifted and a scene entered his view.

A scene of pure destruction.

“...Ren cough-”

He didn’t pay any attention to the blood that was oozing out of his mouth and stumbled forward, staggering and leaning on the broken debris on his path.

The whole place was in ruin. They were underground but Aaron could see sunlight brightening the area, which meant the whole place was destroyed until the very surface of the ground.


TAP

“Huff...”

TAP

“Huff...”

He stumbled forward. He had a good idea of where he was. The lowest floor of the building. The place where the bombs were stored until just a few seconds ago.

“Ren...”

He walked to the center of the floor, where the ground had sunk down even more, and looked around.

“Cough- gah!”

At the center of the floor, someone was coughing and breathing heavily. The person slowly raised his trembling body and looked around, then scoffed.

“Hah! That dams bastard!”

Among all the broken pieces of the building, large and small stones, weapons shells, and everything that was on the ground, something caught his eyes.

An old, rusted crown that was rolling around on the floor, unscratched and unharmed.

“....”

Aaron stopped the crown from moving with his feet before looking at the man at the center of the fool, who was also looking back at him. The white-haired man whipped the blood off of his mouth and raised an eyebrow.

“Ren...”

DANG

Aaron kicked the crown aside, making the white-haired master jump up in surprise.

“Where is Ren?”

No matter how much he looked around, he couldn’t find his little brother anywhere. There were no traces of him, he couldn’t even sense his presence.

“Where is Ren...”

.....

He looked at the white-haired man. Kairen had fallen down here. He had fallen to the same place as the white-haired master. He had to be somewhere around here as well.

“Where is he?”

He asked the white-haired man, who was the only one around.

“Hah!”

The man scoffed.

“Where?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“Probably in hell?”

“....”

Aaron closed his eyes.

“Where is he?”

“Huuuu!”

The master took a deep breath and forced his body up. He was injured from head to toe and was bleeding, yet, he was alive. He was still breathing.

Then... Where was his brother?

“Can’t you understand it?”

The master, who was moved up to his feet, glanced at Aaron with the same smug smile on his face.

“He is dead.”

“....”

“He died.”

“....”

“He is not here anymore!”

“....”

Aaron kept his eyes shut and remained in his place, yet, his trembling hands and short breaths he was taking betrayed his calm image.

“His...”

He stopped midway through his sentence. He didn’t want to say that word, but he had to ask somehow.

“His corpse.”

He finally cracked his eyes open. With a voice he couldn’t stop from trembling any longer, he asked the question on his mind.

“Where is his corpse?”

“....”

The edges of the master’s lips curled up.

“Do you really think...”

He staggered a step towards Aaron.

“...That a corpse could remain from him after such an explosion?”

“....”

Aaron didn’t say anything.

“I thought he might survive but... I guess I was wrong.”

He looked around once before moving towards Aaron again.

“Still, the shield he created was impressive.”

“....”

Aaron didn’t say anything.

“So? Where were we left off?”

“....”

The man moved toward Aaron again and again until he was a few steps away from him.

“You don’t look really good though.”

And examined Aaron’s face, who had been silent since before and was staring at an unknown place with a blank face and eyes that had no light in them.

ZZZZ

Just then, something sizzled and something else shone.

“Huh?”

Electric currents were jumping on the surface of the stone on Aaron’s cloak.

GRAB

Two hands moved at the speed of light and grabbed the white-haired man’s collar.

“Smiling...”

Before the shocked man could do anything, the person grabbing his collar started to laugh while mumbling.

“You are smiling, huh?”

A pair of hazel eyes, which looked golden under the light that the stone was emanating, were staring at him.

ZZZZZZ

“Smile.”

Aaron smiled.

BANNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

And the whole place blew up.