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

Exactly at the time mentioned by the soil dude, the bombs exploded all at once.

The ground shook so hard that the buildings were on the verge of collapsing. A huge amount of strong energy capable of annihilating everything around it burst out in four locations of the huge capital.

However, no one was running away anymore.

Everyone had long stopped running. They had all forgotten about the danger beside them and were all standing in their places.

And all of those people were staring at one specific thing.

No, four specific things.

“Beautiful...”

Someone among the crowd uttered that word. No one disagreed with her. The scene before their eyes was indeed one of the most beautiful things they had seen so far.

.....

Four shiny blue things in four different locations, as well as countless floating water droplets in the air.

It was beautiful. It was pretty beyond words. The dark cloud was covering the sky and blocking the sun. It was a little bit dark to call it early in the morning, but not anymore. The light from the water droplets was radiating the entire city.

And at the center of those four shiny blue things, a red light could be seen.

“The bombs?”

The bombs that everyone was so scared of. They were now standing and watching how those bombs were unable to do anything to the holy-looking barriers surrounding them.

All of the people were staring at the explosion that they thought would kill them.

“Urgh!”

A gasp left Kairen’s mouth as he stumbled from pain.

‘It hurts.’

The headache was back again. His head hurt even more than before. It felt that his brain would explode at any time. He could feel his head heat up and his breathing get ragged. The pain was so intense that his sight was going dark.

-Hey! I’ve cooked you the food you like the most!

-How the hell did you know about Ariyan’s eyes!! Tell me the truth! Hey!

-Me and you? Friends? Nah! Get lost! I don’t need friends!

“This fucking-”

Once again, memories were rushing into his head.

This time, it wasn’t one specific memory that he was seeing as the other times. A huge amount of memories about different people and different places were rushing to his mind. All at once, they were clouding his sight.

Kairen shook his head.

“Kain!”

Doing his best to ignore the memories, Kairen hugged Kain’s limp body while struggling not to fall down to the ground.

-This won’t happen! Such a thing won’t happen! I won’t give a damn about these memories anymore!

-Think of another job. I won’t let you join SMF no matter what you do!

-You have great ability in magic but you have to try harder if you want to join SMF.

“Argh!”

Kairen shook his throbbing head again and again.

This was too much. The memories were too much. He knew that this wasn’t like the last times he had experienced this thing. He was remembering them all. All of the memories he had forgotten.

One moment, he could see a kid sitting in a dark place and staring at the night sky while wearing the oversized clothes of an adult that didn’t suit a 13-year-old kid.

‘Why does it feel like...’

Why did it feel like the kid was not someone else, but it was him, he himself?

‘Stop!’

He didn’t want to think about it. Those memories were not important now!

“Kain!”

Unable to stand on the shaking ground while holding Kain and dealing with his dizziness at the same time, Kairen plopped down to the ground while still hugging Kain.

“Kain! Open your eyes!”

SLAP SLAP SLAP

“Hey! Fool! Wake up!”

SLAP SLAP SLAP

Kairen slapped the fool’s face again and again.

-... I don’t know. I feel like I used to watch them with someone else before... but I don’t know who that person was.

-Look there, brother. That thing! That one star over there! Isn’t that the pole star? And those bunch of shiny stars over there, they are that constellation that looks like a bear! Then, the constellation that looked like a man must be somewhere behind that tall building! Also, the little upside-down bear is right there! I said them all true, right, brother? Right? I will learn them all! I will learn everything there is about the sky! So, even if our father is not here to watch the sky with you, I can watch the stars with you instead! So don’t cry, okay? Don’t cry anymore!

There was someone.

Someone he had promised to watch the stars with.

He... not Kairen 1 or 2 but he...

“Kain! Why aren’t you answering me?”

SLAP SLAP SLAP

The man’s body on his arms was getting colder and colder with each passing second.

“Kain!”

Kairen raised his head and looked around.

“Healer! Isn’t there a healer here?”

He couldn’t see anyone. His sight was blocked by a huge water barrier.

The water barrier.

‘It blocked the explosion...’

It really blocked the explosion. Besides the ground shaking, nothing else was felt from the bomb exploding. No one died. No one got burnt to ashes. No one was injured. No buildings collapsed. Nowhere was destroyed.

“Kain, please!”

Kairen put down the fool man’s body on the ground.

ONNNGGG

WINGGGG

The bracelet on his wrist was still glowing.

“This useless thing!”

Kairen grabbed the bracelet.

“Ouch!”

It was hot. Only touching it was enough to burn Kairen’s hand.

“Kain! Hey!”

Poke Poke

“Hey! Don’t scare me!”

He bit his lips and clasped his trembling hands.

“K-kain!”

There was no answer.

“Hey...”

His whole body was trembling. He was scared. He didn’t want to check Kain’s pulse. He was too scared to do that.

“...Pleas...”

There was no answer again.

Closing his eyes, Kairen moved his head and put it on his chest.

.....

“....”

“....”

He couldn’t hear any sounds.

“....”

There were absolutely no heartbeats. The man’s breathing couldn’t be felt either.

“....”

Kairen’s body felt numb all of a sudden. He felt as if a bucket of ice was poured down on his head. He felt too powerless to even slap Kain’s face once again.

“...Hey...”

He shook the man’s body.

“...Hey...”

What was he supposed to do? He didn’t know. He couldn’t even think now. The memories were still rushing in his head, but he felt that his mind was empty.

“...Hey...”

That was the only thing he could say while sitting there and blankly staring at Kain’s face.

“Brat!”

Kairen flinched and turned back.

“Alan!”

Seeing the old man, Kairen’s expression brightened. He got up and rushed to the man who was also running towards him.

“Alan, Kain!”

He grabbed Alan’s sleeve and pulled him towards Kain.

“....”

Alan stopped beside the man and looked down at him.

“Do something! He-”

He couldn’t finish his words. He didn’t want to say that word.

“Alan! Do something!”

Plop

Losing the strength in his feet, he plopped down to the ground once again.

“Alan!”

“....”

Alan only looked at Kain with a frown then shook his head.

“....”

Kairen finally let go of the man’s sleeve. Once again, he felt powerlessness all over his being.

“The bracelet... I... The bracelet...”

He didn’t know what he was saying anymore nor what he was doing.

“Becuase of my power... the braceelt...”

It was because of his power that Kain got the bracelet.

He was the one who activated the mechanism.

He was the one who caused the ancient artifact to choose Kain as a master.

It was because of him.

Crackle

Crackle

“Come off!”

With a sudden movement, Kairen grabbed the bracelet. Looking at the thing with hatred, he shouted out loud.

“Come off! Get lost!”

He grabbed the burning bracelet with both hands. With both hands that were wrapped in his shitty power.

His stupid power. His power that had caused this to happen.

“Come off!”

Crackle

Crackle

“Brat what are you-”

Alan wanted to approach Kairen, but he couldn’t do so as his path was blocked by the cracks.

“This fucking-”

He pushed all of his power inside the fucking bracelet.

It hurt. His hands were burning. His head was throbbing and his power was making the pain even more.

But he didn’t care.

He could see that Kain’s arm was burning and scars were appearing on it. His heart pained looking at the scars, but he didn’t stop. He wanted to get rid of the bracelet. He wanted to destroy the thing right here right now. He didn’t want to see that trash anymore.

Crack

A small crack appeared on the surface of the bracelet.

Crack

Crackkk

The crack spread and got wider.

“What the-”

Alan, standing only a few steps away, stared at the thing that was happening before his eyes.

Crack

The ancient artifact was breaking down.

No, it was already broken. The ancient artifact got completely destroyed in a few seconds after the power touched it.

“Hah!”

Kairen let go of Kain’s wrist. He was panting while still glaring at the bracelet with hatred. He wanted the thing to disappear completely. To turn to dust.

“....”

Alan, on the other hand, was staring blankly at him.

The older brat’s arm was completely burnt, and so were the other brat’s hands. But the important thing was that such an ancient artifact got destroyed with such few causalities.

“Alan!”

Kairen resisted the urge to destroy the artifact until there was nothing remaining from it and raised his head.

“You said you couldn’t do anything to the things affected by the artifacts.”

He grabbed the broken pieces of the artifact that were losing their glow and color.

“I broke it so... So...”

Kairen pointed at Kain.

“Ah?”

but he then threw aside the broken artifact and jumped towards Kain.

“Kain?”

“....”

There was still no answer.

“Huuuuu....”

But he could hear a weak breathing sound now.

“....”

Kairen lowered his head and put it on the man’s chest once again.

Babum

Babum

“....”

Sitting up again, he pointed at Kain with a trembling hand.

“Hey! He... He...”

He didn’t know what he was supposed to say. What just happened? Did Kain come back to life? Was it because he broke the artifact?

“Kain!”

Kain was breathing.

That was what was important now.

Completely ignoring the stiff Alan behind his back, Kairen raised Kain’s body and hugged him.

“Where are the others? We should take him to a healer!”

The man’s complexion was pale and his arm was burnt. He needed a healer.

“Alan, can’t you help him? Can’t you heal his arm? It must hurt a lot when he wakes up!”

Kairen was sure that it would hurt a lot as the pain from his burnt hands was killing him at the moment.

“....”

Receiving no answer from Alan, Kairen finally raised his head to look at him. Seeing the delightful look in Kairen’s eyes, Alan bit his lips and lowered his head.

“I don’t know what you did to the artifact and... and how he started breathing again... but...”

He then glanced at Kain.

“But waking him up... won’t be possible...”

“....”

The momentarily excitement Kairen felt after seeing Kain breathe suddenly faded from his heart after hearing those words.

“What do you...”

He knew that Alan wasn’t someone to joke about things like that and that fact made him even more scared.

“His soul...”

Alan shook his head, not able to look at Kairen’s eyes.

“His soul is already taken.”