CHAPTER 35: HOPELESSNESS

"REN!!" Hiroshi and Kami screamed, their voices echoing through the broken laboratory.

Leon blinked, vision blurred, mind numb. Wha... what happened? I should be dead...

The mana blast should’ve hit. His broken body should’ve been reduced to nothing.

But he was still alive.

Painfully, Leon opened his one good eye. His skull throbbed, jaw dislocated, blood clouded his vision. Glass shards pierced his limbs, his clothes tattered—but not fully destroyed thanks to their high-grade material.

Then he saw it.

A body—charred, bleeding, torn open from below the chest. Blood covered the floor beneath it like a pool of sacrifice, that same blood was on Leon’s face. Burn marks spread across the motionless figure.

That figure was...

Ren.

"Le... Leon b..." Ren coughed up blood, eyes dull but smiling weakly.

"Br...other...are...you...fine...?"

Leon’s mind shattered in that instant.

R-Ren...? Why...? WHY?!

He tried to stand, tried to crawl toward him, but his limbs wouldn’t move.

I can’t... I can’t move...!

---

Alexia and Lucas stood frozen. No words came.

Even Squad 4, nearly unconscious from the mana drain, stared wide-eyed at Ren’s sacrifice.

"He... thinks dying like that makes him useful?" the rich boy muttered.

"He’s still useless," Celestine said flatly.

---

"Ha? You wanted to be a hero?"

Minus 1’s footsteps echoed as he approached Ren’s broken body.

Ren was still breathing—but barely.

Hiroshi and Kami collapsed from mana exhaustion.

Squad 4 followed soon after.

Lucas and Alexia, already drained, were barely standing.

"I’m going," Alexia whispered, gripping her sword. "Even if it kills me."

"Then I’m coming too," Lucas muttered, lifting his weapon.

They charged.

But before they reached him—Plus 1 waved his fingers.

A sigil lit up beneath Alexia and Lucas. A teleportation spell.

"No!" Alexia shouted, reaching out—

But they vanished.

The last thing they heard was Plus 1’s mocking voice:

"I don’t need that flat body—I already got your mana, uhuhahaha!"

With a flash, Alexia and Lucas were thrown outside of PA-4. All the peoples available in school were present.

Students. Student Council. Defense Force. Higher ups.

"President!"

"Lucas!"

Saera rushed over, helping prop Lucas up against the wall.

"Lucas! What happened?!"

He tried to speak, lips cracked and voice faint.

"Leon... and..."

"Leon and who? What happened?!" Saera urged.

"Leon and the others... they’re inside... they need help..." Alexia managed to say.

"Are they injured?" asked one of the elders—an old man in a coat similar to Arthur’s.

"One... dead... another on the verge..." Lucas added, before collapsing.

"Lucas!" Saera panicked.

A teacher checked his pulse. "He’s still alive. It’s mana imbalance."

Alexia added, "There is a mana extracting weapon inside, that is draining all the mana. If we don’t act now, all of them inside will die."

Then Alexia’s head lowered. She fainted next.

Saera looked down at Lucas—so pale, so frail.

He won’t last... not without help.

Without hesitation, she lifted his chin, closed her eyes, and placed a kiss on his lips.

A soft glow passed between them.

Her mana, pouring into him—to keep his will from fading.

---

Inside PA-4, Minus 1 lifted Ren’s broken body casually in one hand, like he was holding a piece of meat.

"Hmm... looks tasty... fried human," he muttered.

"Uhuhahaha! That’s a good one!" Plus 1 howled with laughter.

"Then eat it!" he said, his voice thick with cruel amusement, a sinister grin forming.

No... no... no!

Leon’s heart screamed inside his broken chest. He tried to speak, but his dislocated jaw made it almost impossible.

"Uuont uu dat...eh..." he croaked, blood spilling from his torn lips.

Minus 1 and Plus 1 turned toward him, entertained by the spectacle.

"Uhuhahaha! You want some too? Want a bite of ’Ren Fry’?" Plus 1 mocked, clutching his stomach as he laughed uncontrollably.

Leon, through sheer force of will, lifted his trembling hands.

His bones cracked under the strain, blood dripping from his fingertips.

"Ha?" Minus 1 tilted his head. "Trying to fight? In this state? How pathetic."

His faceless head twitched in disgust, though no visible eyes or mouth moved—only a hateful, chilling presence.

Leon didn’t swing.

Instead, he slowly joined his hands together, lowering his forehead to the cold, blood-soaked ground.

His broken body bowed low.

Begging.

"Udont iiet hem... i-i-i baeg...u..."

His voice, though shredded by pain, pleaded with every ounce of his existence.

The room fell into an eerie silence for a second.

Minus 1 paused, tilting his head again, trying to decipher Leon’s mutilated words.

Then he snorted coldly.

"Tch. I’ll listen to your pathetic cries after I eat ’Ren Fry’."

Minus 1’s featureless face began to split open—horrific rows of sharp, inhuman teeth emerging from the void.

Leon’s good eye widened in horror. His body trembled uncontrollably.

"Eleade uuont iet imh... i...baeg u..."

(Please don’t eat him... I beg you...)

But Minus 1 was deaf to mercy.

He brought Ren’s half-destroyed body closer to his monstrous mouth.

"Eleade uuont..."

(Please don’t...)

Leon’s voice was a broken whisper through his shattered jaw.

He bowed low, hands trembling, blood streaming down his face. He wasn’t fighting now—he was begging.

Minus 1 paused, then sighed.

"Fine. I’ll leave the corpse... if you tear out your last eye with that sword of yours."

Leon looked up slowly. His only remaining eye, bloodshot and hazy, met the faceless shadow.

A crooked smile stretched across his ruined jaw.

His hand, shaking violently, lifted the sword into the air.

"Wait, is he really going to...?"

Even Plus 1 stopped laughing. His usual mocking grin faded into irritation.

"How far will this fool go...?"

Minus 1 stood, silent.

"Go on," he said.

Leon took a breath.

The sword rose higher.

Then—he muttered.

"E uuont ant to uose anivan..."

(I don’t want to lose anyone...)

SLASH!

Blood erupted from his face.

He tore out his final eye.

His body swayed—but he didn’t stop.

"Again," Plus 1 commanded, smirking cruelly.

SLASH.

SLASH.

SLASH.

Each cut was wild. Blind. Desperate.

Blood sprayed across the ground like a storm of pain. His face was now soaked in red—fresh and old blood mixing together, dripping onto the shattered floor.

Eventually, his arm gave out.

The sword slipped from his hand with a clang.

He fell to his knees, blind and broken, but... smiling.

"Aow... eeive em arone..."

(Now... leave him alone...)

Then—he heard it.

Crunch.

The sound of bones snapping.

Chewing.

Dripping blood.

A burp.

Minus 1 licked his stained fingers.

"Who are you talking about?" he said, casual, cold.

"The one I already ate?"

Leon froze.

Plus 1 burst into laughter again, this time louder than ever.

"Uhuhahaha! That motherfucker thought we’d really spare that corpse!"

Leon didn’t scream.

He didn’t speak.

He just sat there.

Trembling. Blind. Broken.

Leon—blind, bloodied, broken—sat motionless on the shattered ground.

Then...

A memory flickered in his mind like a fading ember in the dark.

A rooftop bathed in morning light.

The sky stretched wide above, soft clouds floating lazily. Ren leaned against the railing, eyes gazing upward.

"What are you trying to see?" Leon asked, standing beside him.

Ren smiled. "My future."

"In the sky?" Leon chuckled, scratching his head. "Isn’t that a bit ironic?"

He moves beside Ren.

"I haven’t asked you but, what’s your dream?" Leon asked.

Ren didn’t respond immediately. He raised a hand to his chin, thinking deeply.

"Hm... My dream?"

He looked forward, eyes clear and calm.

"Ever since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to explore the world. I mean, just look at it—this planet alone is massive, and there are countless others out there. I always imagined going out there with my family, living without regrets.

"But... after my parents died to those entities, all I had left was my sister. She gave up everything to raise me—didn’t even study herself. That’s why my goal... is to make enough money to take her around the world. Just the two of us. And eventually, when she gets married, I hope I die and get reborn as her child... Sounds dumb, right?" He smiled nervously.

Leon’s eyes had widened.

No... it’s not dumb at all, he’d thought back then.

The memory shattered.

In reality... Ren was gone.

Eaten.

Gone forever.

And Leon was still alive.

Deep in thinking...

You left this world, Ren... but you left me behind with regrets.

I don’t like revenge... I don’t want to kill for the sake of killing. That’s never what I lived for.

All I ever wanted was peace. A simple life. A place where Mom and Sis could live with me... peacefully.

But Mom’s gone too...

All I have is my sister now.

And that’s why I keep fighting... or maybe just losing.

Another memory flashed.

A stone-and-mud hut in a quiet village. The Person with his long black hair tied back sat by the doorway, strapping on armor.

Inside, a woman stirred a pot. She was beautiful, with long white hair and soft red eyes—much like Alexia.

"Are you leaving so soon?" she asked softly.

"Yeah," The Person nodded, tightening his gauntlet. "The battlefield calls."

He kissed her forehead gently.

"Take care of Kaal... and yourself."

"I’ll be waiting for you, dear."

He smiled, waved goodbye, and marched off to war.

Months passed.

He returned victorious...

Only to find horror.

His wife—lifeless—lay on the dirt floor, her body bare and full of white fluid, that was spilled on her body — she was forced to death.

Her skin was bruised, her lips cracked, her neck cold.

"Arlshuwiya...?" he whispered in disbelief, checking her pulse.

Nothing.

He staggered into the hut—

And found his son.

Beheaded. Blood everywhere.

"Kaal...?"

"Wha- why?"

He dropped to his knees.

Tears streamed down his face.

His voice broke into a scream—

"AAAHHHHH! ARLSHUWIYA! KAAL!"

He collapsed, sword in hand. He placed it at his throat.

Everything gone.

By the hands of the very friends he trusted, The ones who now fled.

Leon felt the same helplessness like the Person.

Then, the memory shattered again.