“Maho. What do you mean, save him?”
Raen asked, looking up at Maho.
Maho did not answer right away.
After staring for a moment at the spot where Nereia had disappeared, he opened his mouth curtly.
“I don’t know. I wasn’t the one who said it.”
Raen’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Huh? What’s that supposed to mean now?”
Even as Miryeong listened, she could feel Bido’s body trembling a little more.
The legs that had barely been holding her up until now were slowly losing their strength.
“All right, that’s enough. Let’s go back in.”
Miryeong spoke firmly.
“It’s still too much for you to be out this long.”
Bido wanted to say she was fine.
But before she could open her mouth, she already knew Miryeong was right.
Her breathing was gradually growing ragged,
and even just standing while holding her wounds together was still too much for her body.
“…Yes.”
Bido answered softly.
When she turned and began to walk again,
Raen immediately pressed close and carefully held Bido’s arm.
Miryeong matched Bido’s steps from the other side.
Maho, left behind, watched their backs and clicked his tongue shortly.
“Tch.”
Then he spoke in a low voice.
“Bido.”
Bido stopped without turning around.
“Recover first.”
Maho’s voice was still blunt,
but those words alone were strangely straight.
“That way, there’ll be a next step.”
Bido said nothing for a while.
Then, slowly, ever so slightly, she nodded.
Stopping Roan.
Was that truly the path to saving Roan?
She still could not know.
But even so, what she had to hold on to now was not that distant answer.
For now, she first had to be able to stand on her own feet and walk again.
Carefully steadying her breath, Bido took one more step.
—
“Gaaah…! My, my foot…!”
“Damn it… Why, why won’t it work?!”
A man with blood-red eyes was reaching a trembling hand toward Roan.
Roan merely walked slowly toward him.
The space around him was subtly misaligned.
Perfectly ordinary straight lines seemed to twist ever so slightly, and the closer he came, the more the sense of distance blurred.
The people collapsed around the area wore all manner of weapons and armor,
but every one of their legs was bent at an unnatural angle.
With their ankles and knees twisted, they scraped at the ground,
letting out short, harsh screams.
At last, Roan stopped in front of the man and muttered softly.
“Now… there isn’t much left.”
The man hurriedly drew the sword at his waist and swung it at Roan.
The blade was fast.
But the instant it brushed Roan, it passed through emptily, as if cutting through an illusion.
The man’s eyes shook wide.
And in the next moment,
Roan’s hand seized the man’s face.
“Urgh…! L-let go…!”
Roan spoke quietly.
“It’ll be over soon.”
His voice was so calm that it was instead eerie.
“Stay still. I’m going to put it all back anyway.”
The man’s body shook violently.
“You, and everyone else.”
“B-boss!”
Someone behind them shouted in a trembling voice.
From the head of the man Roan was holding, black light began to seep out like threads.
The man’s pupils gradually lost focus.
A moment later,
all strength left the man’s body.
When Roan released his hand, the man dropped limply to the ground.
Immediately after,
Roan’s hand visibly trembled.
“Urgh… kh…”
His face contorting, he sank to his knees.
Gasping for breath, he clutched his chest with one hand.
It was the breath of someone enduring by force, pushing himself up by force, moving on to the next by force.
“Just a little…”
Roan muttered through clenched teeth.
“Just a little more…”
His wavering breath finally began to settle little by little.
Roan slowly rose to his feet again.
Then cracked voices came from around him.
“What did you… what did you do to the boss…”
“You devil bastard…!”
“Give us back our feet…! Please…!”
Roan’s eyes darkened even further.
He slowly looked over the fallen people.
Faces filled with pain, legs that could not move, eyes looking up at him in terror.
And then, as if he had finally made up his mind,
he spoke in an extremely low voice.
“Right…”
His voice was quiet enough to shatter.
“I’m going to put it all back anyway.”
A moment later,
Roan opened his mouth again.
“It’s better if there’s no pain.”
It was then.
The necks of those collapsed across the area twisted at the same time.
Crack.
Crack.
Short, horrifying sounds rang out one after another.
Their screams did not have time to grow long.
Roan did not close his eyes even before that sight.
He only muttered in a slightly trembling voice, as if soothing someone.
“It’s all right…”
“It’s all right….”
“I’m going to put it all back anyway.”
“They’ll come back to life.”
“So it’s all right...”
Muttering so, he slowly turned around.
All that remained around him were twisted corpses, the smell of blood,
and the pain that, until moments ago, had belonged to living people.
Roan no longer looked back.
He simply moved slowly once more,
toward his next target.
In the shadows some distance away, three figures in black armor were watching the scene.
Set into the chest of each suit of black armor was a red fibula.
That bloodlike color was strangely vivid even in the darkness.
The one standing in front was the first to speak.
“Daph… What do you make of that…”
The black-armored man called Daph stared at Roan’s back for a moment, then spoke lowly.
“What’s there to make of it? There’s no answer.”
He clicked his tongue briefly.
“Besides, he already knows we’re here.”
At those words, one of the armored figures beside him flinched.
“What?! Th-then shouldn’t we run?”
“Shut up, Eda.”
Daph cut him off in an irritated voice.
“Didn’t you see? If that thing really meant to target us, we’d already be finished.”
Eda shut his mouth,
but he turned his head uneasily and glanced toward Roan again.
“But… even if they put a bounty on that thing, is there anyone who can kill him?”
Daph shrugged once.
“Who knows. The Blood Demon died in the end too.”
A brief silence passed.
Then the other armored figure standing behind them spoke as if laughing lowly.
“There must be another monster out there.”
Only then did the armor that had spoken first look away and say,
“In any case, our job isn’t to deal with that thing.”
“We only had to confirm what state the Moon Demon was in.”
Eda asked cautiously,
“Then are we really pulling out now?”
Daph answered,
“We’re done with the Moon Demon’s side.”
He paused for a moment.
“Now we just have to wait for news about the black-haired one.”
Eda’s voice was still doubtful.
“But I heard three Shadows are already dead. Doesn’t that mean that one’s no ordinary monster either?”
Daph gave a short snort.
“Well, we don’t know yet.”
Then he added, utterly composed,
“We just have to do as we’re told.”
With those words,
the three black-armored figures slowly withdrew.
Their black silhouettes blurred as if seeping into the shadows,
and soon vanished into the darkness without a trace.
All that remained was the sound of the wind rolling in from afar, and the smell of blood that had yet to cool.
—
When Bido returned to the room,
the heaviness inside her body felt clearer than the air outside.
She had only stepped out for a short while, yet her legs were already trembling faintly,
and her wounds were throbbing again.
Only after Miryeong and Raen helped her lean back against the bed could Bido let out a short breath.
Miryeong asked,
“How do you feel?”
After catching her breath for a moment, Bido said softly,
“It hurts… but I feel much better.”
Raen also leaned in with a worried face.
“Does it hurt a lot, Bido…?”
Bido smiled faintly.
“I’m all right, Raen.”
Ed, who was sitting beside the sword and chewing bread, tossed out,
“Maybe because you’re half Haraya. You recover fast too.”
Miryeong looked at Bido for a moment, then said,
“Let’s rest for now. If you push yourself any further, you’ll only reopen your wounds for no reason.”
The medic also slowly approached, loosened Bido’s bandages slightly, and checked her wounds.
After examining her condition for a while, he let out a small breath of relief.
“Still, you’ve truly improved a great deal. That’s fortunate.”
Bido picked up a piece of bread beside her and slowly began to chew again.
Seeing that, Miryeong laughed softly.
“That’s right. You need to eat well to heal quickly.”
Then she turned and said to Ed,
“I’m going to go see Raymond for a bit, so Ed, you watch this place.”
Ed frowned as if he were about to complain again,
but in the end, he answered reluctantly.
“Ah… well… yes.”
Miryeong left the room,
and the sound of the door closing followed.
Bido slowly swallowed the bread she had been chewing.
Then she turned her gaze to Tiamar’s sword set in one corner of the room.
After staring at it for a moment, Bido said to Raen,
“Raen, just for a moment. Can you help me up?”
At those words, the medic immediately spoke with a startled expression.
“Uh… please lie down.”
Bido quietly shook her head.
“I’m not going outside. It’ll only take a moment.”
As if she had understood Bido’s intent, Raen quickly rose from her seat.
With Raen’s support, Bido very slowly lifted herself from the bed.
It was a distance of only a few steps,
but her breathing grew rougher little by little as she approached the sword.
Watching her, Ed swallowed without realizing it.
At last, Bido stopped before the sword.
Then, carefully raising one hand,
she gripped the hilt of Tiamar’s sword.
As always, the sword was quiet when she held it without drawing up Idrin.
It was merely cold,
heavy, and sunk into silence like an ancient beast.
Bido closed her eyes and slowly steadied her breath.
And this time,
she suppressed Mirkin.
The sensation she had first attempted for the sake of treatment.
The sensation of briefly sinking and pressing down the flow that had always held firm inside her body.
Then, it changed.
The energy sleeping inside the sword began seeping very slowly into her fingertips.
It was a ferocious and rough energy,
one that seemed ready to burrow in the moment she gave it the slightest opening.
Bido did not lose hold of that sensation, accepting it quietly.
So this is what others feel when they grasp this sword.
Bido thought in silence.
Soon, she returned Mirkin to its original state.
Then the sword’s energy that had been digging into her fingertips slowly withdrew as well.
The presence that had been writhing viciously grew quiet again.
Bido let go of the sword,
and looked down at her palm.
It was a small hand, roughened, with scars left here and there.
Bido slowly clenched her fist.
I can put this violent energy to rest.
And now, it is not only the sword.
The moment she clenched her fist, her wound pulled slightly,
but even through that pain, Bido did not avert her eyes.
I can do it.