Lieben was about to touch the aura when it suddenly ended up nearly a hundred meters away. It felt less like the aura had moved, and more as if the distance between them had opened up on its own.
He couldn't make sense of what had happened. His eyelids trembled from exhaustion. His pupils constricted.
It had been so close, only to suddenly pull away. Normally, he wouldn't have known what he was supposed to do, but the moment he saw that blue aura, he understood. He had to reach it.
"How... how could this happen. Oh God, no. So—so close!"
This had to be another trial. There was no other possibility. If he could just push himself a little further, that would be enough. What was a hundred meters, anyway? He'd endured worse. He had to do it. At the very least, he had to try.
"I think Faust Zueka mentioned the spirit as well when he was talking. This must be it. My spirit!"
He believed that aura was his soul. He was more than confident, but…
Another possibility crossed his mind. The soul Faust had spoken of—the purest and most perfect creation of all existence. Could it really be that easy? Just focusing a little and walking straight toward it?
No.
The blue aura he needed to touch wasn't the soul. It was Zueka—the soul's most perfect protection, the one Faust had mentioned. Since it couldn't be reached through any physical means, it had to be accessed through mental focus.
He had figured it out: the blue aura was the Zueka barrier, and the glitching, indistinct substance within it had to be his soul.
"I have to touch the flame. The Zueka protection of the spirit."
He crawled. One meter. Three meters.
Huff... Huff...
"Almost here... Heheh—"
Five meters. Ten meters...
Huff... Huff...
"Shit. Pretty long way to go huh?"
Lieben tried to reassure himself, but deep down, he saw no hope at all. A meaningless effort.
Huff... Huff...
He collapsed onto the ground. He didn't even have the strength to lift his head. He had turned red again, as if there was no fluid left in his body to make him sweat anymore. Was he dying?
Can I die here? I can't right? It's just my mind! It has to be.
"Isn't this my soul? My own barrier. It should have to move according to me! Do I need to command it? Or should I pray for it?"
He shut his eyes tightly. He was already barely breathing, yet he held his breath anyway. All of his focus narrowed to a single thing… Will.
"Come on! Come on!"
At that moment where Lieben was trying hard as he can. Faust actually noticed his expressions change.
* * *
He still kept his voice low for Lieben's concentration.
"Hmm? It seems like he's having a pretty hard time in his mind."
Two more hours had passed since he'd sung his first song. Doing something like this just for the sake of those he cared about, because it made him feel like a hero and made him look like a good person, didn't actually sit right with him deep down.
"I didn't warn him, but if he's not careful, he could be killed. By his own body, even... ahh! Fuck! What the hell am I even saying? If I thought his will was that weak, I wouldn't have asked him to try in the first place."
Faust let out a quiet laugh and sat back down at the base of the tree.
"It'll be fine. The worst case scenario is he dies."
The dark clouds had already reached right above them. Raindrops slowly began to fall onto the green leaves of the trees, then trickled down from there onto Lieben's unconscious body and Faust.
"Hmm... Let's hope nothing different comes out of this. We wouldn't want Lieben's focus to be disrupted right, clouds?."
Faust stood up from beneath the tree and moved to an open spot. He lifted his head and looked at the clouds looming over them.
"The clouds look more... black than usual, don't they? Or maybe it's just me—I can't tell, but one thing's for sure, it doesn't look good."
It was a valid thought—they did look darker than usual. Just as he assumed it was an ordinary rainy day, a yellowish hue appeared within the clouds.
"What is th—LIGTHNING?!"
GRRRROOOOM!
Lightning had struck the tree Faust had just stood up from.
After staring anxiously at the tree that had been turned to charcoal by the lightning for a moment, Faust then turned to Lieben, checking whether anything had happened to him.
Lieben was nowhere to be seen... He looked around, at the sky, the ground, behind the trees. He wasn't there.
How could he have vanished? Only a single lightning strike had fallen. Only one sound had been heard. So where was Lieben? In his panic, Faust couldn't focus enough to sense his Zueka.
"BOY!? WHERE ARE YOU!?"
A trembling voice came from above. It was Lieben.
"H-h-here!..."
It seemed that when the lightning struck, his consciousness had returned, and not understanding what was happening in that instant, he had climbed to the top of the tree in fear.
Thank god he's okay.
Hufff...
"Oh Lieben... come down! You unlucky son of a bitch!"