Shu's departing figure froze abruptly. He turned back silently and looked at the empty space behind him.
The deep, lightless darkness of the universe suddenly filled him with a sense of fear.
He snatched back his gaze as if he'd been electrocuted. Shu subconsciously clenched his fists. Feeling the force in his hands, he finally calmed down a little.
There's nothing to think about... nothing...
I'm very strong now, and there are many people around me. As long as I'm careful enough, I don't have to worry about anything.
Right, Kiana...
I still have a promise with Kiana. When she opens her eyes, she has to see me.
Shu's gaze flickered, and then he shot downward.
Without the previous sense of urgency, Shu flew for nearly ten minutes before he found Kiana's location.
The giant crater in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea had not yet been filled with seawater, as if a bug had appeared in Earth Online, leaving a piece missing. Instead, it formed a magnificent underwater waterfall.
And on the edge of this magnificent landscape stood a short section of a broken bridge, more like an accident that shouldn't exist than the giant crater itself.
The moment Shu landed, he subconsciously retracted his overflowing energy. By the time he realized the canopy had been lifted, Shu, who had lost the support of [Hope], had already gone weak in the knees and knelt neatly on the broken bridge.
The wave of exhaustion that washed over him almost made Shu lose consciousness. With the last shred of consciousness he had, Shu gasped for breath, mobilized his energy again, and slowly stood up from the bridge.
Kiana lay in a pool of blood, still as quiet as a princess.
She and the hideous, terrifying bloodstains around her formed a sharp contrast, like a pure angel lying quietly in a bewitching rose bush.
She's still not awake?
Shu's heart twitched subconsciously. He quickly supported himself and, ignoring the weakness in his body, staggered toward Kiana.
Could there be another complication? Or did some potential enemy that I didn't notice or expect appear?
Damn it... how could I have forgotten that there's still a Herrscher's consciousness residing in the core beside Kiana? If it took this opportunity to do something to Kiana...
In his anxiety, Shu decisively covered the Kiana in front of him with his perception.
At that instant, Shu caught Kiana's eyelashes fluttering for a moment.
Shu's body froze. Almost at the next moment, Kiana, who had been lying quietly, leaped up from the pool of blood.
Even though Shu had already started to back away, Kiana still rushed in front of him.
Should I attack? Or should I dodge?
Both meant he had to use [Hope]. But the person rushing toward him was Kiana. In that instant, Shu felt an inertia in the [Hope] within him.
He still hadn't realized that Kiana had been freed from the canopy's control.
But what came was not an attack... but a powerful hug that was almost an attack.
The huge force still made Shu lose his balance. After stumbling back a few steps, he lost his balance and sat heavily on the ground, bringing the girl who had thrown herself into his arms with him.
"Kiana?" The fall made Shu ache all over, but his heart suddenly relaxed.
This reckless style, this heavy-handed force... this was definitely Kiana.
Kiana, who had buried her head in Shu's chest, nodded vigorously. Shu felt another sharp pain in his chest.
But a smile finally appeared on Shu's face for the first time since this cycle began.
"Haha... I told you, right? You'd definitely see me when you woke up..." Shu supported his upper body with his hands behind him to keep from lying down completely. But with Kiana pressing down on him, it was a bit of a struggle.
"Mm," Kiana's reply was still just that one sound. The smile that had just appeared on Shu's face vanished, replaced by a look of surprise.
"Kiana, are you... okay?" Shu asked with some concern. Kiana's unusual response really made his heart pound.
After a two-second silence with no reply, just as Shu was about to raise his hand to give Kiana another full-body check-up, Kiana, who had buried her head, looked up, her face written with the two large words, [WRONGED].
...Shu was not exaggerating.
Her eyes and cheeks were flushed red from crying. A crystal "pendant" hung from her nose. The tears that had flowed from her eyes were smeared all over her face, probably because she had been pressing her face against his chest.
"Shu, you're a big idiot!!"
A close-range roar made Shu's body tremble. A strange... feeling of fear? arose in his heart.
But Kiana's output was clearly not over yet. Shu, anticipating this, shrank his neck. The next moment, a series of curses, laced with a crying tone, rushed toward him.
"Big idiot, super big idiot!! You think you're so cool, don't you! You're so ugly! How can you be a hero when you're such a mess! If you've bled so much, just go and rest! You'd know I was awake if you just took a look..."
Thud—
Shu lay down, seemingly severely injured by Kiana's sonic attack.
Kiana also fell with the backward-falling Shu, her head hitting Shu's chest again. This time, Shu really couldn't hold back and let out a pained groan.
It was as if Shu's body had been electrocuted, and Kiana was the one who had been shocked. She shot up from Shu's body, then quickly squatted down beside him.
The backlash from his body finally came. Shu felt as if his limbs were not his own. The intense soreness made his brow twitch continuously.
Kiana squatted beside Shu, not daring to breathe loudly as she watched him.
After about a second, Shu, staring at the sky, suddenly let out an uncontrollable laugh. Although his whole body was sore, this laugh was genuine.
"What's wrong?" Kiana asked quickly.
"I feel like... I've seen this scene somewhere before," Shu said with a smile, his voice filled with a deep sense of death.
"Really?" Kiana was taken aback for a moment, then fell into a memory. "I think... you're right! Was it the time I found you after you sent the Herrscher of Evolution flying?"
"Mm," Shu hummed, then took a deep breath. He noticed that the core embedded in the Key of Genesis on Kiana's body flickered irregularly.
After another laugh that made his whole body uncomfortable, Shu slowly closed his eyes in front of Kiana.
"It's finally... over..."