Chapter 54
KRRRRRR———!
In an instant, light burst forth, and every color inside the Cage vanished. Everything mixed together in a single moment, then tore apart again.
Kael saw the blue light flashing from his fingertips.
Fulmen
[Lightning]
Originally, it was not such an unstable spell.
The Kael he knew would have burned away both Bastian’s barrier and his body with nothing more than a twitch of his finger.
The instant lightning flashed, the existence known as Bastian would have been erased.
He would have ended the fight just like that.
But this body was not the one he used to have.
His fingers trembled, and blood boiled in the back of his throat.
Every time he inhaled, his broken ribs drove a knife-like pain through his chest.
Above all, he was short on mana.
That was likely why the spell, veering slightly from the trajectory he had expected, failed to finish Bastian.
Kael clenched his teeth.
“Tch.”
The sound of his tongue clicking escaped between breaths mixed with blood.
Bastian could not remain standing and had been holding out on his knees for several seconds.
Half of his face had melted away. From his right shoulder to his side, his flesh and cyberware had vanished without a trace. Barely half of what could be called a human body remained.
The area around the nape of his neck, where the Tier 7 ACU was embedded, was not intact either.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
‘Is he alive?’
It made no sense.
Though the spell had missed, a wound like that was still fatal. Under normal circumstances, he should have been dead, yet the man before him was still breathing.
Even for a Tier 7, it was strange that he was still alive in that condition.
Bastian’s body pitched forward.
Thud.
When he fell face-first onto the floor, it became slick with red blood.
Bastian tried to move one hand.
‘Was it because he replaced his entire body with scrap metal? His vitality is absurd….’
Kael was barely sitting with his back against the wall.
He tried to inhale, but a short cough came first, and blood trickled down beneath his chin.
‘I can’t use it one more time.’
That judgment was correct.
So now, all he could do was wait for his opponent to lose consciousness first.
It was a method Kael hated.
At that moment, Bastian lowered his head and looked down at his own body.
He let out a hollow laugh.
It was a laugh mingling astonishment and acknowledgment with fear and rage.
“You….”
His lungs could not possibly have been intact, yet he forced the words out.
“You… you monster bastard….”
Kael looked at him and opened his mouth.
“…You’re hard to kill.”
Before long, Bastian was the first to lose consciousness.
Only after confirming that could Kael close his eyes.
..
..
When Kael opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was not an unfamiliar ceiling.
The first thing that entered his field of vision was Rea.
Rea Valenkroft.
The woman who always smiled at ease and acted as though she were a queen.
That woman was now pacing restlessly beyond a glass wall.
She would walk several steps, stop, fold her arms, then unfold them, repeating the process several times.
It was something she would never normally do.
Her hair was slightly disheveled as well. There was none of her usual smile around her lips.
Kael looked at that face and thought for a moment.
It was an expression he never could have imagined seeing when they first met.
The woman who had felt no fear even when surrounded by thugs in a shadowy alley.
That woman was now frozen as though she had no idea what she was supposed to do.
When Kael moved his eyelids slightly, Rea reacted at once.
“Kael?”
Rea approached the glass wall.
“Kael, can you hear me? Are you awake?”
Kael barely managed to open his mouth.
“Where… am I?”
Rea placed her palm against the glass wall.
“You’re inside a treatment capsule. One in the medical wing of Archeon’s main building. So don’t move. Seriously, don’t move. Just now, they were even talking about whether they should put restraints on you because you might go on a rampage if you regained consciousness.”
Kael slowly lowered his gaze.
He was lying inside a transparent capsule.
Even breathing hurt, but at least it seemed he was not dead.
As Kael blinked several times, his memories slowly returned.
He furrowed his brow.
“The match.”
Rea asked back incredulously.
“What?”
“How did the match end?”
“Is that important right now?”
Her voice rose slightly.
Normally, after showing such an emotional reaction, Rea would have immediately covered her mistake with a joke.
But she could not do that this time.
She had long since thrown off the mask she usually wore.
“You almost died. No, the medical staff said you had barely come back from the dead. Several of your ribs were shattered, and you had internal bleeding…. And the first thing you ask about after opening your eyes is the match?”
Kael took a moment to catch his breath.
“It’s important.”
Rea fell silent.
“So?”
For a while, she looked at him with an expression that seemed angry.
Then, in the end, Rea let out a small breath.
“You won.”
She continued.
“More precisely, my father acknowledged it. He said you had satisfied the conditions against Bastian Crowd. He said there was no room left for further argument.”
….
“My disciplinary confinement has been called off. I’ll remain head of Archeon Genetics as well. And the access you requested to matters involving Tier 6 and higher ACUs… the exact form hasn’t been decided yet, but my father said he would consider it for now. Whether it’s an honorary outside adviser position, a seat at the meetings, or a position under the pretext of providing security. Those were the conditions you mentioned.”
Kael closed his eyes, then opened them again.
For now, he had achieved his objective.
If so, ending up in this condition was not an entirely bad trade.
As always, it would take time, but his body would recover.
“What about Bastian?”
Rea seemed momentarily at a loss for words.
“…He’s undergoing treatment.”
“Is he alive?”
“He’s alive.”
After saying that, Rea looked away for a very brief moment.
“All of Archeon’s medical staff rushed to him. He was in a condition where it made no sense for him to be alive… but somehow, he is.”
Rea pressed a hand to her forehead.
But she could not remain that way for long.
She approached the capsule again.
Kael knew she was trying to say something.
But Rea could not easily open her mouth.
The woman who normally hurled vicious remarks or anything else without hesitation.
That woman was now hesitating like a child.
Rea opened and closed her lips, then clutched her own arm again with her fingertips.
Then, after a moment, she took a deep breath.
She lowered her head.
“…Thank you.”
Rea’s hair fell to the side, partially covering her face, but the tips of her ears were faintly red.
Kael was silent for a moment before opening his mouth.
“It’s fine.”
At his words, Rea raised her head.
“It’s fine?”
“Yes.”
“When someone thanks you, don’t you normally give a more convincing answer?”
“What would be a more convincing answer?”
Rea looked at him as though she had lost her words, then gave a small laugh.
“Really… just like you.”
She sat down in the chair beside the capsule.
She started to cross her legs as usual, then stopped as though she had remembered something.
She made an awkward face and placed both hands on her knees instead.
A brief silence followed.
Then Rea spoke first.
“So.”
“…?”
“Why did you go that far?”
Kael looked at her face, but he was not smiling at all.
This time, she was asking seriously, without a trace of playfulness.
“The contract was already over. I told you that you could leave, and you really could have. This was my problem, my family’s affair, and you had no reason to get involved.”
“There was a reason.”
“Something to do with the White Society?”
“That too.”
“Then was that all?”
Kael could not answer immediately.
Because he himself did not know exactly what he felt.
Information about the materials used in Tier 6 and higher ACUs.
He clearly needed it, and he had considered using Rea for that purpose.
That fact had not changed.
But it did not explain everything.
The sight of Rea slumped on the balcony.
The expression she wore as she tried to accept as inevitable that she might lose what she had built.
He had disliked that expression.
He did not know why he disliked it.
….
At that moment, an old memory surfaced of its own accord.
A very long time ago.
Long before he fought the Demon King.
It was a rainy night on the front lines. His friend, exhausted from a grueling battle, had still tried to help people who were always struggling. Sometimes he shared his own money, sometimes his food, and sometimes he lent them his abilities. He always did it with a smile, without ever showing any sign of hardship.
Kael had asked him then,
Why do you live like this?
Why do you take care of people you do not even have to worry about?
Why do you keep getting involved even when you know you are the one who will suffer for it?
His friend had smiled awkwardly and answered,
“Because my heart tells me to.”
Kael had looked at him.
His friend shrugged as he held his wet gloves near the fire.
“That’s all. There’s no grand reason behind it. I save people because I want to save them, stop things because I don’t want to see them, and reach out because I hate seeing people in pain. It’s just that simple.”
Kael had not understood those words at the time.
But his friend had lived that way to the very end. Even now, he would probably still be upholding his convictions in the same manner.
Kael had tried not to recall that face for a long time.
Because remembering it also brought up the fact that he still had not been able to let go of his lingering attachment.
Kael gave a small chuckle.
Rea looked at him and asked,
“Why are you laughing?”
Kael slowly exhaled.
“I think I’ve become a fool too.”
Rea’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s your answer?”
“Yes.”
“Then I was saved by a fool.”
“That’s about right.”
Rea said nothing for a moment.
Then she lowered her head and laughed softly to herself.
“The worst.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Yes. My life, my company, my position… you mean they were saved because they happened to hinge on the whim of some fool.”
Kael closed his eyes.
Rea watched Kael like that for a while, then spoke quietly.
“Kael.”
“What.”
“I thought you were using me.”
“I was.”
“And I was planning to use you too.”
“That must be true too.”
“But….”
Rea paused for a moment as though choosing her words.
“So it wasn’t only that.”
Kael did not open his eyes. His body was growing heavy again because the medication in the treatment capsule was dragging his consciousness down.
But just before falling asleep, Kael answered softly.
“I think so.”
Rea fell silent.
Kael felt her presence through his closed eyelids.
She was sitting beyond the glass wall, still showing no sign of leaving.
She said softly,
“Then I’ll… try to act a little less like a fool too.”
Kael did not answer. Instead, the corners of his mouth seemed to lift slightly.
As the light inside the capsule gradually dimmed, his consciousness drifted away again.
The last thing that remained was Rea’s voice.
“Thank you.”