Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

The man stared dazedly at the water on the ground that was the result of his whip losing its shape. After staring at it for a few seconds, he turned to Kairen.

“Huh?”

With a blank face and the blood dripping down from his bloody nose, Kain sure looked like an idiot to the others.

-Sir, can you hear my voice?

“Gasp!”

Kain flinched and jolted up at the angry voice that came from the other side of the communication device.

“C-can you repeat your words again?”

-...Sure

.....

“What the-”

SLAMMM

The Fifth was still slamming the cracks with his sword. A few cracks were cut down and turned to dust every time he hit them with his sword. At this rate, he would be able to destroy the shield in no time.

-We’ve found all three bombs.

-The deputy commander has ordered us to retreat.

-She has dispatched the bomb disposal unit. They are currently working on the three bombs.

-But there is not much time and we are not sure if they will be able to do anything to Phliomns bombs. It is likely that the most we will be able to do are to evacuate the citizens around the bombs.

-Have you found the last bomb? If you have, then please report the location and help the citizens leave the place as soon as possible.

-There are only about 10 minutes left so please hurry back in 5 minutes even if you haven’t found the bomb.

“....”

The man on the other end of the communication device spoke so fast that it was hard to keep up with his words. Still, everyone got what he said.

“We have...”

Kain looked at the supermarket behind The Fifth

“We have found the last bomb’s general location.”

-Great. Then do as I just told you.

“....”

Kain glanced at The Fifth then looked back at his watch.

There were only ten minutes left.

“What do you think you are doing?”

BAANGGG

Finally, the shield made out of the cracks broke down and The Fifth once again rushed towards Kain.

“You damned bastards!”

SLAMMMM

But his sword was once again stopped by another shield of cracks.

“Fucking shit!”

BANG BANG

“I will cut that head of yours!”

BANG BANG

The shield of cracks only covered half of The Fifth’s way. Meaning that if he wanted, he could just turn back and attack other agents who were there. But he didn’t. He seemed to only want to cut down Kain and maybe Kairen at the moment without even using his brain.

Kairen didn’t know if it was an order or something about taking revenge or a grudge, or maybe his pride that he insisted on breaking through the shield. And he honestly didn’t care.

“What should we do now?”

Kairen ignored the cursing and struggling man on the other side of the shield and looked up at Kain.

“Tsk!”

Kain clicked his tongue and looked around.

The Fifth couldn’t pass through the shield, and nor could they. They too were stuck in this place, unable to enter the building and find the bomb.

“I informed the agents and the police to help evacuate this area before coming here but...”

He looked at his watch again.

9 minutes remaining.

Kain and the others arrived here less than five minutes ago.

In such a short time, it was for sure that most of the citizens were still in this area.

“Kairen!”

Kain suddenly turned and grabbed Kairen’s shoulders.

“Yes?”

“Ariyan!”

He looked inside Kairen’s eyes.

“Take him and run away!”

“What?”

“Ariyan’s kindergarten isn’t too far away from this place. If you hurry, you can take him and teleport somewhere else!”

Kairen was dumbstruck.

“What are you talking about?!”

He pushed back Kain’s hand.

“What do you mean by run away? What about you and the others?”

Forget about the citizens, if Kairen wasn’t there to activate the teleportation device, then even the agents wouldn’t be able to escape the explosion.

He didn’t want such a thing to happen.

Kairen was selfish.

He knew he had a shitty personality and most people would curse or hate him if they knew how he really felt deep down.

But he couldn’t deny the truth himself.

He didn’t care that much about some citizens.

Of course, he didn’t want people to die in vain, but if he was given a choice, he would rather save his friends rather than those citizens whom he didn’t even know their names.

He wasn’t like the others who cared about everyone’s lives. He would save and help them if he could, but not at the cost of losing someone dear to him.

Screw the others. He only cared for a few people and nothing more.

That was also why he had come to the city center.

If he couldn’t stop the bomb, he would at least teleport everyone else to a safe place.

“I can stop that thing by using my shield!”

He pushed Kain back.

“What will happen to the others if I run away?”

If he used his shield, then Ariyan too would be saved.

“No!”

But Kain didn’t seem to want to accept Kairen’s words.

“You can’t do that!”

He shook his head.

“You can’t stop the bomb a second time!”

.....

His words made Kairen frown more and more.

Tik

There were only 8 minutes left.

Drip

Drip

Drip

The heavy rain was making everyone’s clothes wet, but there was no one to care about it.

“You’ll die!”

“....”

Kain shook his head, seemingly not caring about Kairen’s blank face.

“You’ll die if you use that power too much!”

Kairen opened and closed his mouth several times before he was finally able to say something.

“What do you mean? Why would I-”

ONNGGG

WIIIINNGG

Kairen’s eyes moved down on their own to stare at the bracelet that was glowing once again.

“I don’t know!”

Kairen then looked up at Kain.

“But...”

His eyes opened wide as he did that.

“Kain, your eyes!”

“You can’t do that...”

SHHHH

The man’s eyes, the dark green eyes that resembled emerald. Those eyes were now sky blue.

Tik

There were only 6 minutes left.

“You can’t!”

The sky blue eyes were shaking alongside Kain’s voice.

“Who said I would die! It’s just a bomb and I will block it!”

“....”

Kain lowered his head in silence.

-All of the units, retreat!

-Evacuate the citizens as far as you can

-There are only five minutes left.

-All of the units, retreat and help the citizens

“Oh!”

Kairen looked away from Kain.

‘I need to prepare the shield!’

There wasn’t much time left. He needed to cast the sturdiest shield he could.

He had already used up a lot of his power, so this would probably be hard. Still, he could do it.

‘What does he mean by I will die? How the hell did such an idea cross his mind? I will cough some blood and faint at most! Tsk!’

Crackle

Crackle

New golden-silver cracks appeared in the air. The more power Kairen extracted from his soul, the more the cracks got in number. He felt a little bit dizzy and weak, but that was natural after using so much power in one day.

“Kairen!”

Tap

Two hands grabbing and shaking his body completely ruined Kairen’s concentration.

“Gah! What!?”

He was so annoyed that he could even slap Kain in the face, but he controlled himself.

“Not you too...”

Tap

Taking one step closer to Kairen, Kain put his head on the boy’s shoulder.

“Huh? What?”

Kairen flinched by the sudden action. He was already nervous and Kain’s behavior was making him tense up even more.

He didn’t have a good feeling about this. An ominous feeling was telling him that something bad would happen.

“I can’t.”

Kain clenched Kairen’s arms.

“First Alessia and then you.”

Onnnggggg

Now even Kairen could feel the heat and the vibration of the ancient artifact.

“????”

It was just then, that Kairen felt that his surroundings were oddly silent.

SHHHHH

Drip

Drip

SHHHHH

Not completely silent but, the noises he was supposed to hear were gone. He couldn’t hear The Fifth’s curses nor could he hear the sound of him slamming the shield.

“You can’t do this.”

Kairen’s sight was mostly blocked by Kain’s head resting on his shoulder, but he could still see something huge not too far away.

Tik

There were only 3 minutes left.

“W-Wha-”

Kairen couldn’t even properly express his shock.

Shhhhh

Drip

It seemed that it wasn’t raining anymore.

But that wasn’t the case.

It was just that the rain couldn’t reach the ground.

The water droplets were all staying floating in the air. Not just here. Once he looked around, he could see that it was the case all around the city.

ONNGGGG

Now, Kairen’s arm was burning from the heat that came from the bracelet on Kain’s wrist.

“Kain, what are you...”

All of those floating water droplets. All of them were the same color. They were all glowing the same color as Kain’s eyes.

And those glowing water droplets were not only floating, but they were moving in the air.

All of them were moving to one certain location.

SHHHHH

Towards the water barrier surrounding the supermarket.

Just like the droplets, the barrier too was shining blue. The water barrier was completely surrounding the supermarket while also trapping The Fifth inside it.

Tik

One other minute passed.

“Kian... What are you...”

There wasn’t only one.

There were four. Four of those water barriers. Four, in four different locations in the city.

Tik

Now, there was only one minute left.

“I can’t lose my son and little brother...”

Kain’s voice was low-pitched and exhausted.

“Kain!”

Kairen struggled to get out of Kain’s embrace.

“Idiot! Stop it! Kain!”

“It’ll be fine.”

But the barriers only got thicker and thicker.

“This thing has once blocked your power.”

“Kain!”

Tik

Tik

“You can’t use so much power! Kain! Stop it! Cancel the other three barriers at least! If you want to save Ariyan, one is enough! Kain!”

-What are those barriers?

-Who has done it?

-Is it another attack?

-Everyone, retreat!

None of them cared about the people who were going crazy on the other side.

“You know what, Kairen?”

Tik

Tik

“I’m really a coward.”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM