Maybe because of that conversation earlier, Temar and Luman pushed through the forest path without speaking much.

“We’re going to be late.”

Only now seeming worried about how long the return to the capital was taking, Temar muttered under his breath.

“Why, you planning to leave Ren behind?”

“As if.”

If he had said yes, Luman had been about to answer, Then I’ll go in your place, but the thought fizzled out and he let out a short laugh instead. He had no idea how far they’d already run. Every stretch of forest path looked the same, so neither of them tried to think too much, focusing only on driving the horses on.

Then they heard a grating sound.

Someone’s ragged breathing. Before they could even register it and stop the carriage, the roof suddenly thundered with bang bang bang bang, and Jepeto’s urgent voice rang out.

Temar yanked open the carriage window while it was still moving.

What filled Temar’s [N O V E L I G H T] sight was Ren, shaking all over like he was having a seizure.

With his face drained white, as if clawing through some memory, those green eyes that had once been vividly, beautifully bright were drowned in unbearable grief and fear. The trembling of his lips and fingertips, the frantic sound of his breathing—it felt like it was crushing Temar’s heart.

“Stop.”

“Hiiiih!”

The horses reared so abruptly that their front legs kicked high into the air. The carriage lurched upward hard enough to feel like it might flip, and Temar leaped from the running horse and caught it on his shoulder while a spreading mass of light burst from Luman’s body and wrapped around the horses. The horse Temar had jumped from bolted far ahead, then slowly turned back, drawn in by Luman’s light. The breathing of the panicked horses echoed through the forest.

Luman jumped down in a rush, and before the horses had even calmed, Temar threw the carriage down as if discarding it.

Boom!

The carriage slammed mercilessly into the ground, burying itself deep. Smoke rose from the earth. Temar wrenched open the door like he was about to rip it off its hinges, then crammed his huge body inside.

“Ren.”

“What happened?!”

Luman bent down urgently and looked inside the carriage.

Ren... had collapsed.

As if he couldn’t breathe, he was clutching at his throat and chest like he was trying to crush them in his own hands. His ragged breathing looked like it might stop at any moment. Ren’s pupils shook. Seeing that unfocused gaze that didn’t seem to be looking anywhere, fear slammed straight into Temar.

“What’s wrong with him?!”

“I-I don’t know either. It just suddenly....”

The inside of the carriage was a mess. Ren’s things, Jepeto’s medicine case, notebooks, all of it had been scattered across the floor, and the flowerpot Ren had kept looking at whenever he had the chance had shattered into pieces. Dirt was strewn wildly across the carriage floor.

“Ren. Snap out of it, Ren!”

“H-hold on, don’t shake him! Hero!”

Jepeto, who had been stunned by Ren suddenly collapsing and the carriage stopping so violently, finally came back to himself. He grabbed Temar’s arm as Temar shook Ren recklessly.

But it was useless.

“Temar!”

“Hero!”

“Ren!”

Temar lost his mind.

He grabbed the arm Jepeto was using to stop him and hurled him into the carriage wall.

“Ugh!”

Jepeto curled in on himself, clutching the shoulder that had slammed into the wall. He must have hit it hard—dust came showering down from the wood. Jepeto barely managed to swallow the vomit threatening to rise in his throat.

Even holding back, he was still a Hero.

A man who could kill someone with brute force alone.

He covered his mouth with his palm against the sudden wave of nausea, and only then realized it was blood.

Temar lifted Ren into his lap and slapped his cheek.

Smack. Smack.

Ren’s head lolled weakly to the side. A vivid handprint bloomed across his pale cheek.

“You crazy bastard! Stop it. You want to watch your brother die?”

Growling, Luman grabbed Temar’s forearm hard enough to tear it off.

But Temar didn’t budge.

With Luman hanging from his arm, he simply kept doing what he’d been doing.

He slapped the cheek of Ren, who lay sprawled there barely able to breathe, and grabbed his shoulders and shook him. Like he truly believed that if he did that, Ren would wake up. Madness burned in Temar’s eyes. A pressure rose from him so fierce it made breathing difficult. Even Luman could feel the crushing force of it, so Jepeto was nearly suffocating. Scraping at the floor, Jepeto gasped and choked for air. Blood dripped from his mouth.

Ah. It’s such a disgusting power it makes me want to part ways with him already.

But the situation wasn’t helping. A flash of bright light streaked through Luman’s golden eyes. His body moved before his thoughts could catch up. Just as he reached to grab Temar’s shoulder—

the fading, nearly extinguished presence he had felt when he passed through the light carrying Ren came back to him, and Luman’s breath caught.

“Hhk—”

Clutching his heart, Luman dropped to one knee.

Ah, if a Hero who says he’s retiring uses his power like this, how many pages of reports am I going to have to write? Luman deliberately forced himself to think lightly, crushing the memory down.

A hundred pages, two hundred....

Luman steadied his breathing, then rose and dragged up his power. The authority he summoned shone with brilliant light, wrapping around his own body and Jepeto’s as though protecting them.

“Temar.”

How many times had this been now—authority used without permission.

Even if he hated it, was there really no escaping it?

Luman poured authority into his hand and seized Temar’s forearm hard enough to rip it loose. Tiny blood vessels burst, the skin reddened, the flesh tore—

and still Temar only shook Ren.

Ren dangled limply in Temar’s hands.

Temar’s crazed eyes glowed blue.

If Ren dies....

That one thought—the bare possibility—struck Temar’s mind like lightning.

A frail human who could die at any time.

Luman’s warning to be careful.

The anti-Hero weapon that had gone off in the carriage.

His own arms and legs blown apart and flying up through the air along with his blood. The horrifying pain of severed nerves and muscle. Ren throwing himself off the cliff....

The naked crimson sword that had driven long and deep through Ren’s chest.

And when he had gone to save Ren, willing to be drenched in blood, with that hellish, boiling desperation in his heart—

Ren was already hurt.

Ren’s face, smiling as he said he was fine.

And now.

Ren’s face, sprawled on the carriage floor, suffering.

His eyes held no trace of Temar in them.

That couldn’t be possible.

“Ren. Snap out of it. Ren.”

His voice echoed through the carriage, almost absentmindedly gentle.

Unlike before, when everything had been so frantic, Temar was now softly trying to wake Ren, as if denying the reality of what was happening.

But Ren...

With this strength and brute force, Luman couldn’t beat Temar.

“Luvien.”

If they left Ren like this, it was obvious he was in danger.

Without hesitation, Luman called Lante.

A snow-white fox with long ears and a pointed muzzle appeared, stepping through the air. Its wounds from last time still hadn’t healed, and it looked gaunt, like dried-up bones. But the light pouring from the fox was brighter than before.

Wooooong.

The blue force wrapping around Temar’s body and the golden force surged and crashed together in midair.

Lante circled once through the air, then lunged at Temar so fast only an afterimage remained. Just before Temar’s hand could seize the fox’s throat and crush it, Luman’s light flared and swallowed Temar whole.

The blue force of the Hero, Temar, convulsed violently under the forced restraint. A savage power worthy of the king’s Seventh Star writhed in radiant fury, surging like it meant to devour life itself, as if fully prepared to roar out and explode at any moment. Faced with Temar’s immense force, which looked ready to erupt without warning, Luman had no choice but to burn the light of his own life. He pressed down on poor Hero Temar’s mind as though trying to break it open—Temar, who could hear nothing now. The instant Luman failed to control what had already once overwhelmed him, Temar’s eyes finally rolled white under Luman’s power.

Boom.

Temar’s massive body crashed into the carriage floor. Broken splinters flew in every direction, scratching at their skin.

“Haaah—!”

Jepeto finally expelled the breath that had caught in his chest and forced his spinning mind back into place.

Lante, now even more gaunt, scattered apart into light, and Luman sank down to one knee.

Then, carefully, he picked Ren up.

His body still twitched in small spasms. His eyes were still searching some empty place in the air.

“Doctor Jepeto. I’m sorry, but please look at Ren first.”

“Y-yes....”

Both Jepeto’s voice and Luman’s, though he had spoken as calmly as ever, were hoarse.

Practically crawling over the floor, Jepeto moved toward Ren.

He examined Ren’s condition closely. He checked his pulse and kneaded his arms and legs. After pressing an ear to Ren’s chest and thinking hard, Jepeto opened his medicinal bag. With trembling hands, he hastily mixed several herbs together into a rough clump and tried to wake Ren.

But Ren was unconscious.

His jaw, fingertips, arms, and legs still twitched.

“Hey, he needs to take this medicine—”

Luman snatched the bundled herbs from Jepeto’s hand. Without hesitation, he chewed them up, then carefully held Ren’s cheek and fed them past the small opening of his lips. When Ren’s mouth didn’t respond, Luman lightly bit his lips, and little by little, Ren swallowed the medicine.

The tremors in Ren’s body began to ease, and the stiff limbs that had stretched out and shaken slowly went slack.

With an exhausted face, Luman smiled.

“He’s asleep, correct? It’s all right to relax now?”

“Yes.... From the symptoms, it seems like a panic attack.”

Doctor Jepeto nodded tiredly.

“What is a panic attack?”

“...It’s a psychological condition. It can happen sometimes after someone goes through something traumatic. They can end up unable to breathe like this, and they can convulse too.” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“Then what should be done? Is this likely to happen again?”

“Yes... I think we’ll need to watch him. This is... a mental issue, so....”

Jepeto swallowed the rest of what he was going to say.

Because seeing the boy convulsing in panic, pale as death, was painful for him too.

“......”

Was it because of that day?

In Luman’s mind, the sheer cliff and the drop below it rose like a hallucination. Swallowing the memory back down, Luman shook his head.

“Uh... I’ll treat the Hero too.”

A doctor really was a doctor, apparently.

Though he could barely stand on both legs, Jepeto still said it to Luman.

Luman shook his head. Instead, he took out a blanket, spread it over the carriage seat, and carefully sat Ren upright, resting his head against the inner wall of the carriage.

“Please keep watch over him.”

“And the Hero...?”

Jepeto’s gaze went to Temar, who lay embedded in the carriage floor. The impact must have been enormous—the floor itself had sunk in. Blood was running down Temar’s face where one of the jagged, upthrust wooden boards had cut him.

“Don’t worry about him. Get some rest. I’ll stay nearby, so call me when Ren wakes up. Ah, and it would be a good idea to wipe the blood off.”

With a light smile, Luman grabbed Temar by one arm, dragged him brutally out of the carriage, then slung the giant man upside down over his shoulder. Jepeto stared in shock.

No matter how flashy the appearance, a Hero really was still a Hero.

To lift a giant like Temar in one hand, all at once, without effort—

With Temar thrown over his shoulder, Luman headed into the forest. The light he left behind quietly restored the carriage to how it had been before it broke, as if nothing at all had happened.

***

Dropping Temar to the ground as harshly as if he were throwing him away, Luman panted for breath. Fresh blood spilled from his mouth.

He raised a hand and wiped at his wet lips. Bright red blood smeared thick across his hand.

As if it were nothing surprising, Luman smiled and spat out more blood. The dirt darkened to a blackish red.

“Hoo....”

He lifted his head and looked up at the sky. Sweat-soaked hair clung to his forehead.

Between the tall trees, the patch of blue sky visible overhead looked small as a spring well, bright and frozen solid.

Suddenly it felt as if air sharp enough to slice had seeped deep into his skin.

A cold unlike anything he had felt in his life stabbed straight into his lungs.

Luman’s golden eyes flew wide open.

“Hhk....”

It was an unfamiliar sensation.

The instant the startled Luman forgot even to breathe, the cold vanished.

His skin was still as hard as metal, his body still as solid as stone. There was nowhere in him that winter wind should have been able to penetrate.

Then what had that cold just now been?

A chill of dread wrapped around his whole body.

Watching the trees bend like they might snap in the wind, Luman became aware of the season for the first time.

His dazed gaze traced the small patch of sky overhead.

Just like that day when he first awakened the authority of a Hero.

As if searching for a god.