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

Kairen kicked the back of his brother’s feet. The man said nothing. He just took a deep breath and moved forward. He then opened his arms wide, spreading them completely. Kairen wanted to laugh at him out loud and say that he looked like a mini Christ the Redeemer statue, but he held himself back.

“Say it!”

Kairen, who was sitting on the stone wall right next to his brother in a way that the people down there wouldn’t see him, kicked his brother again seeing how he just stood there as if he was really cosplaying Christ the Redeemer.

Aaron glanced at him for a moment before averting his gaze again.

“Ret-”

He closed his mouth.

He didn’t want to do it. It was ridiculous he didn’t want to say those words. He’d rather die!

Why? Why did he have to do this? Telling dialogs was not a part of the plan! It was all his crazy little brother’s fault. He was crazy before and had gone even crazier after coming to this world.

.....

Can’t he just kick this shitty creature called his brother down the stone wall and save himself from this ridiculous situation?

‘No, Aaron, you can’t! He is your brother no matter how annoying and how crazy he is and how much he gives you headaches and how many problems he causes and how many times he makes you want to kill him, no matter what, you shouldn’t kill him! Deep breathes, deep breathes!’

He opened his mouth and spat out the word out loud.

“Retribution!!!!”

Puff

He felt a light kick on his leg again.

“Hey! Say the whole sentence!”

“...”

“Don’t ignore me! It’s important! It’s a part of the plan!”

“...”

Aaron glared at the annoying creature.

“What changes will it bring to the plan if I don’t say the ‘time for’ part in the beginning, huh? Explain to me sir as I am unable to comprehend the depth and length of your plan.”

“T-that...”

Kairen stuttered as he lowered his head.

“That’s the part that makes you cool... You need to be super cool, you know.”

“I look cool enough.”

Said Aaron while still mimicking the Christ the Redeemer statue.

“Huh?”

“W-what?”

“Who is that?”

“Sir, what should we do?”

Aaron glanced down to the ground. There, he could see a bunch of confused soldiers, some shocked soldiers, and a frozen stiff team leader Dains along with his unit members poking their heads out from the door, looking at him with similar expressions.

“Psst!”

He heard the annoying creature’s voice again.

“Lower your hands and keep up with the scenario!”

The scenario.

He sighed.

“My poor life...”

He mumbled to himself in an attempt to console his poor soul. Mustering his courage and taking a deep breath, he opened his mouth once again.

“OOOHH!”

And let out a fake, surprised gasp.

“I... See...”

POW

Another kick to his feet.

“I SEE FAMILIAR FACES HERE!”

He yelled out loud.

“...”

“...”

“...”

The familiar faces on the ground looked up at the familiar face standing on top of the stone wall, who had lowered his hands but stood so stiff as if he didn’t know what to do. Aaron really didn’t know what to do. He forgot the gesture he was supposed to take after the Christ the Redeemer statue and now he felt like his arms were kinda extra here, not knowing what he had to do with them.

BOMMMMMM

While the people of the prison were still dumbfounded and didn’t know what was going on, a loud expression was heard from somewhere behind Aaron’s back.

The man smiled. He was smiling but his expression looked more like a disappointed and exhausted one than a happy face.

“Dear a-”

Dear annoying creature.

Aaron swallowed those words.

“Dear brother.”

He didn’t look at Kairen.

“Say, was this really necessary?”

BOMMMMM

Another loud explosion was heard.

“Get them!”

“Kill those people!”

Kairen was looking up at his brother without giving him an answer before he gently and innocently tilted his head.

“What are you talking about, brother?”

B-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM

Another extremely loud voice and one of Aaron’s outer stone walls exploded, stones shattering everywhere and dust rising into the air.

“I’m asking if it was...”

Aaron looked back at the people chasing them.

“REALLY NECESSARY TO ADD PHILOMNS TO THIS MESS?”

A masked group of people was busy destroying his dear stone walls. They were Philomns members belonging to the small base they destroyed on their way here.

“Yeah?”

Kairen looked up at Aaron, asking with his expression alone if he was stupid or something.

“The whole point of this scenario is to show that you are working for Philomns.”

“Ren...”

Aaron looked at the Philomns member who was behind them, then at the army of soldiers on the other side.

“We will get killed! We can’t beat them all up!”

“Nah! We are strong!”

“I said you are not allowed to fight, and I alone can’t manage-”

“But my unit is also here!”

“You mean those good for nothings who don’t even have their weapons and are now no different than a bunch of randomly buffed ducks?”

“Hey!”

.....

As if greatly offended, Kairen frowned his brows and glared at Aaron’s face.

BAAANGGGG

An attack that was aimed at Aaron’s back exploded in the air without reaching him after hitting the magical shield surrounding the man. Aaron jerked his head to his side as soon as that happened.

“I told you not to use your powers!”

“It’s just a shield! Also, I’ve got to show that I’m working with you!”

“So that we get executed together?”

“We will either be successful or fail. If we go down, we go down together!”

“Nah, thanks! I’d rather be alone and at peace in my death!”

“...”

Kairen’s eyes widened slightly. He opened and closed his mouth several times, before pressing his lips on each other with a solemn and hurt expression.

“Am I really that annoying?”

Sniff

Tears welled up in the pale boy’s eyes.

‘What the hell?’

Aaron looked at his little brother with a dumbfounded face.

‘Did I say something wrong again?’

Sniff Sniff

Aaron blinked again before opening his mouth again.

“I was just kidding. O-of course I’d be more than happy to... die together with you?...”

That sentence sounded wrong no matter how you looked at it, but his little brother oddly seemed happy after hearing it.

‘No, what the hell?’

He didn’t know what had happened to him, but his little brother had been like that since he kidnap- Rescued him. He would start crying over the tiniest things and sulk for hours. He couldn’t understand what was wrong with his little brother. Kairen always acted a little bit childish when he was around him before, but never this capricious!

‘His mind aged back more than his physical body!’

That was the conclusion he reached.

“Is that so? Sniff.”

“Yeah yeah.”

Aaron looked down again. A bunch of soldiers in the front and Philomns members in the back, now both teams attacking them. The unit members had somehow sneaked out of that building in the chaos created by Aaron and Kairen and were now running towards one of his stone walls.

BOOMMMM

The earth shook once again as another stone wall started to rise from the ground. The stone wall covered the unit members, blocking the attacks aimed at them.

“What should I do now?”

“Fight?”

“Which side?”

Aaron moved his fingers. Soil rose to the air and condensed on his palm, taking the shape of a spear.

“I don’t really want to kill the soldiers... They don’t even have unique powers. So first, let’s take care of Philomns while fighting those agents.”

Aaron nodded as he turned back.

“But WE are not going to fight, it’s only ME and YOU will sit there the whole time.”

“Yes yes.”

Kairen commented nonchalantly.

“Keep your eyes on him.”

“Huh? Sure!”

Claire, who was sitting on a spot between two stone walls that were connected to each other, nodded her head.

“What? Am I a little kid?”

“Yeah now shut up.”

Aaron was about to move towards the Philomns members when Kairen grabbed his cloak and stopped him.

“What about them?”

Kairen pointed at his unit members who were now surrounded by the walls and were staring at them with blank faces.

“What about them??”

Aaron tilted his head.

“Are you going to leave them like that?”

Aaron tilted his head.

“What else can I do? They are literally useless!”

“You just need to give them weapons!”

“Where the hell am I supposed to find their fucking swords from?”

Kairen rolled his eyes.

“Who said anything about finding? Just create some!”

The older one raised an eyebrow.

“Huh?”

He could see Kairen snort.

“Didn’t you just create a spear out of the soil? Then why not create some swords?”

Kairen then pointed at the tip of Aaron’s spear. A piece of black metal was seen there.

“And I’m sure you don’t really need to go to a smithery as you are somehow able to create something like that... How is that even possible? Your power is a cheat.”