The sky, which had darkened suddenly, cleared when Leon’s golden glow began dimming as he turned away from Tiger’s roasted body.

Leon’s silver-black suit glowed when the sun appeared and shone its light on him as he stopped at the far end of the platform, waiting to be drifted back up.

Countless soldiers stood on their feet and watched as Leon appeared fully before them when the raft reached twelve feet above the Death Pit.

Some of the soldiers brushed the backs of their palms against their eyes when Leon passed before them. Other soldiers shifted their gazes from Leon as if he was a god that needed not to be seen with bare eyes.

"That wasn’t a fight," a voice rose from the far front and broke the suffocating silence after Leon had passed five minutes ago. "He didn’t even use a weapon to break them. What the FUCK!"

When the Yanlous saw Leon pass by their front, both of them bowed down and lowered their heads as if welcoming a newly crowned king. Beside them, the three soldiers who had sent out the broadcast under Tiger and Samir’s order and led countless soldiers to defame Leon’s name all lowered their heads in shame.

They didn’t bow to him in fear, but in the realization that Agatha had now gotten a single replacement for all their long-lost greatest warriors like Lieutenant Alanna, Longwei, and Andrew Storm, Leon’s own father.

At the far end of the shocked soldiers, the continuous tapping of Hayes’s fingers stopped when Leon reached a few meters away from them. In Hayes’s eyes, the first beam of golden light at Alchemania which happened years ago and the one he had just witnessed all played side by side the more Leon closed in.

’No!’ he screamed in his head as he stumbled back from his seat when Leon’s face intertwined with the warrior of Agatha who was then referred to as The Destroyer. ’That can’t be possible; he cannot be his father.’

Hayes ran off from the seat of officials like a madman while Hei Yung, Lu Wang, and Hei Luo slowly rose to their feet.

Lord Luo Fang sat there clicking his fingers together and watched as Hei Yung placed a hand on Leon’s shoulder and released it on the first trial.

’Whoa! That’s hot,’ Hei Yung said in his head, then tried a second time while gritting his teeth.

"Was that enough?" Leon asked as he slowly raised his gaze to Hei Yung’s.

"That was more than enough." He looked Leon in the eyes, then added his arm to Leon’s left shoulder. "You saved both yourself and the entire citizens of Agatha and Thule."

In a blur, Hei Yung pulled Leon forward and gave him a warm hug, despite the heat that was being transferred into his own body and sending evaporated air around them.

Lord Luo Fang stood up from his seat and walked like an eagle that had lost its feathers in a fight against a chicken. He didn’t even look back or scream when he tripped and nearly hit his face on the solid ground.

Behind Hei Yung, Lu Wang’s and Hei Luo’s chests rose and fell as they laughed their hearts out after the two Seol-Mujin officials’ faces reappeared in their heads.

...

In the only Bulwark, room 616, Leon sat on his bed, staring at the afternoon sky turning to night through the glass wall.

"Am I that strong now?" he asked as he slowly raised his right arm and began turning it sideways, watching every visible vein appear and disappear.

The moment he turned to the back of his arm and focused on where the rose flower had formed on the suit earlier in the Death Pit, he froze.

Tears slowly rolled up in his eyes when his mind sent him back to five days after they had survived their second mission at Chaos City.

"Hey Leon," Liu Yan’s voice called out after he had finished taking his bath. "Do you mind going for a walk with me this evening?"

"Sure, why not," he accepted and went on to his daily workout.

Liu Yan came to the male’s workout area and stopped at the section Leon was in, then smiled when she saw only Leon there.

"It’s time; can we go now? I want to show you something," she asked in a polite voice while slowly shaking her shoulders.

"Okay. I hope we won’t spend the entire night there like you made us do the other time?" Leon asked in a silly voice, then shook his hand. "Never mind, give me just three minutes to fasten up."

Snow was falling heavily when they exited from the training yard and began walking through the streets of Agatha Special Forces.

"So, what do you want to show me this time, white cat lover?" Leon teased, then tapped on Liu Yan’s shoulder when she frowned. "I was just using your own statement; why are you suddenly acting weird, as if you don’t remember?"

Liu Yan looked at Leon with sharp eyes, then pulled the red cloth off his shoulder. "Catch me if you can."

She let out a loud laugh, then set out running.

"Oh, no! Not again." Leon frowned mid-laughter, then chased after her.

Liu Yan ran sideways, crossing the road as if her father owned it, while MRAPs were unpredictably crossing by. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

When Leon finally caught her, Liu Yan hugged Leon so tight that he felt his bones cracking inward, but he smiled.

"Your precious cloth is now wrapped over my favorite flower," Liu Yan said after she loosened the hug and pointed at a rose flower tree that had grown up to ten feet high. "Go for it if you want it back."

Leon’s head snapped back as he looked at Liu Yan with a confused gaze. "Wait, I know what you’re doing."

He laughed then shifted his gaze to the tree. "You simply want me to climb up there so you can make me bring down some of the flowers for you."

Liu Yan bit her lower lip, then smiled. "Yeah. I knew that was the only way to make you do it since you clearly told me you’re afraid of heights."

Leon looked at her for a moment then shook his head. "You’re hilarious, do you know that?"

He brushed it off with a smirk, then began climbing the tree like a professional. When he finally reached the top and grabbed the red cloth, he shifted his gaze to Liu Yan and frowned.

"Now, how many would make you stop?"

Liu Yan squeezed her face, then raised her right index finger.

"One, seriously?" Leon said in a loud voice as his frown slowly turned into a grin. He unplugged two, then jumped down. "Here."

Liu Yan’s cheeks reddened with joy as she stretched her arms forward but pulled them back the moment the flower touched the tip of her finger. "Put it in my hair."

Cold wind flew into Leon’s room as he stroked his fingers through his hair while the memory slowly faded in his mind.

"Silly Liu Yan," he said the name out loud, then lowered himself onto the bed as his welled eyes slowly gave off, sending the tears to march down his cheeks and soak into the bedsheet.

His chest rose and fell as he remembered how Liu Yan breathed at the back of his neck as he carried the little part she had left after the Syrs had moved aside.

Sharp air began escaping from Leon’s nose and mouth, while his eyes reddened with rage as Aurelian’s smiling face reeled in his head.

When he forced his mind to shut down and closed his eyes to sleep, the manner in which all three of his Madhouse teammates died maneuvered through his head and caused him to have a restless sleep.

"Fine!" Leon screamed as he slammed his fist on the bed and jolted up. Sweat trailed thin lines on his face, chest, and arms when he caught sight of the gleaming light shimmering on the silver-black war suit he had hung by the wall.