For everyone following the story or interested (though there might not be anyone), I'm going to do a complete reboot of the story on all platforms. I'll be releasing chapters in the current version, maybe up to chapter 40, but when I reach chapter 20, I'll start replacing the first 20 chapters. Then, when I reach 30 chapters, I'll delete the rest of the current version. After that, there will be daily releases until chapter 40, and then a chapter every 3 days. Anyone interested in the story should leave a comment. For everyone who's read this far, please leave a comment with your opinion on the topic.
Page 1
The old man stands.
The room trembles under the weight of what has gathered inside it. Linsan. Kazuko. Numbers One and Two. The squad commander. All of them in one room.
His hand is severed. The blood doesn't stop. But he stands.
He leaps toward the ceiling. He breaks through it. He appears behind them from above — like a lightning bolt.
Page 2
Punches rain from every direction.
The old man dodges the first. Dodges the second. He answers with one punch into Number One's chest.
The wall behind him shatters. Number One falls into the wreckage.
Then a hand grabs him from behind.
Number Two. He holds him. He pulls him back.
Kazuko raises his hand. On the verge of striking.
Page 3
The time sequence.
The old man disappears from his spot.
A stab into Number Two's throat. He staggers. He falls.
The old man reappears directly behind Linsan. His sword enters the stomach — deliberately slow. He pulls it out. He drops it on the floor.
"Nooooo—"
Kazuko launches. His hands convert to lava. The entire floor cracks under the weight of his fury.
Page 4
The old man appears in front of Kazuko.
A punch. Kazuko catches it with both hands.
In the same moment — a violet gate opens in the air.
A punch comes through it. It connects with the old man from the right.
A second gate opens behind him.
The squad commander steps through. He grabs the old man. He drives him into the floor with force that cracks the tile all the way down.
Page 5
Kazuko launches. He throws both hands at the old man like scissors.
The old man takes both strikes. He feels them. He keeps hold of his sword despite everything.
He swings toward the squad commander.
A punch emerges from a new gate. It connects with his face from the side.
Then a sword pierces his back from behind.
Number One. He had risen.
Blood pours from the old man's mouth like a waterfall.
Page 6
Slow motion.
The old man's eye.
One tear. Only one.
Inside his mind — no battle. No enemies.
Just a warm room. His sons playing with him. His wife laughing from the side. The sound of a laugh he hasn't heard in a very long time.
The old man drops to his knees.
Blood covers his body entirely. His hands can no longer hold anything.
The smile never leaves him.
He falls onto his side — slowly — like an old tree that has finally decided to rest.
In his depths, one voice only:
I wish I had been a better grandfather to my grandchildren.
He closes his eyes.
Page 7
Elsewhere. Quiet. No sounds.
The old man appears — walking.
Mabu sits on a wooden crate. Wearing clean clothes he has never seen before. He looks forward with eyes that don't know where to look.
The sound of footsteps.
He raises his head.
The old man walks toward him. Standing. Both hands whole. His face without wounds.
"And finally, Mabu — it's your turn."
He extends his hand.
Page 8
Mabu looks at the old man's hand.
He takes it.
They rise together. They walk toward a bright door. They open it.
A warm room. Faces he knows. Everyone he ever loved in one place.
In the corner — Yuzuha. Wearing a white dress. Her face covered.
Mabu walks forward slowly. He stands before her. He lifts the veil with a trembling hand.
Yuzuha looks at him. A smile lights her face.
"My husband."
Page 9
Mabu holds her hands.
"Finally my dream has come true."
Then the light dims.
Her voice changes.
"Mabu. Wake up. Mabu… Thian needs you. The world needs you."
The faces fade. The room disappears. Everything becomes darkness.
And in the darkness — a voice with no traceable source:
I wish you hadn't answered.
Page 10
Mabu jolts upright. He gasps.
The sound of rain cuts through everything. Heavy. Unceasing.
Thian in front of him. His eyes red. His hand on Mabu's shoulder.
"Thank God."
He says it in a broken voice that doesn't sound like his own.
Mabu looks around. A ceiling he doesn't know. Walls he doesn't know.
"What… what's happening?"
"Where is grandfather?"
Page 11
Thian doesn't answer immediately.
Mabu rises from his bed.
"Thian — you need to rest—"
Mabu staggers. He leans against the wall.
Mabu remembers — he was fighting Kazuko. Then—
He looks at his hand. The wooden one is broken. The other is still there.
He raises his head slowly. He looks at Thian with eyes that know the answer before they hear it.
"Thian."
"Where is grandfather?"
Page 12
"I didn't know what to do."
Thian speaks with his eyes on the floor.
"We were on the verge of dying. Linsan came back. And grandfather… grandfather insisted. He ordered me to take you and run. I didn't want to. But he insisted."
He pauses.
"I had no choice, Mabu."
Page 13
"You left him alone."
Not an accusation. Just a truth coming from somewhere deep.
"I had no choice."
Mabu sits on the floor. Tears fill his face.
"I know."
If only we had been stronger. If only.
Mabu stands. He turns toward the window. The rain doesn't stop. As if the sky knows.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"Three days."
"I thought you were going to die. I treated you with Lukaji's medicine — but you never woke up. Until now."
Page 14
Three days.
Mabu looks outside. He thinks about what happened in three days. About what he didn't see. About what will not come back.
"Yuzuha. Totoki. Karki."
Thian closes his eyes.
"I went to the kingdom yesterday. Their execution has been announced for tomorrow."
A pause.
"And it was also announced that King Bumer was killed. And that the killer is dead."
Page 15
Mabu bends down in front of Thian. He takes his face in both hands. He forces him to look at him.
"Listen to me."
"Grandfather is dead. Bumer is dead. And the three of them will be executed tomorrow."
Thian shakes.
Mabu doesn't let him go.
"There is no time to be lost, Thian. No time."
Page 16
Thian breaks.
"I can't imagine it. A monster like grandfather… defeated. I can't believe this happened."
Mabu sits in front of him. He doesn't talk. He doesn't console with empty words.
He just stays.
The silence between them is heavier than anything either of them could say.
Page 17
"When is the execution?"
"Tomorrow."
"Then we have one night."
Thian raises his head.
"You barely woke up. Your hand is broken. And there are only two of us."
"I know."
"Then how—"
"I know."
Page 18
Mabu takes Thian's hands in both his arms.
He looks at him with eyes that don't waver.
"You are my brother. And what we have left is each other. That's enough."
Thian swallows.
"Grandfather is dead, Mabu."
"I know."
Page 19
"And what happened cannot be undone."
Mabu pauses. He breathes deep.
"But what happens tomorrow… that is in our hands."
He stands.
"Grandfather lived carrying the guilt of everyone he loved who died. He lived wishing he could do something to make it right."
He walks toward the window.
"Today we are the ones who will do that thing. For him."
Page 20
The rain still falls.
Mabu places his hand on the table.
"Grandfather suffered in his life more than anyone can imagine. And at the end of it — he died protecting us."
He turns to Thian.
"We will not let that protection go to waste."
He extends his hand.
Thian looks at it.
He takes it.
The two brothers stand together in the darkness.
Continued in Chapter Thirty-Six
For everyone following the story or interested (though there might not be anyone), I'm going to do a complete reboot of the story on all platforms. I'll be releasing chapters in the current version, maybe up to chapter 40, but when I reach chapter 20, I'll start replacing the first 20 chapters. Then, when I reach 30 chapters, I'll delete the rest of the current version. After that, there will be daily releases until chapter 40, and then a chapter every 3 days. Anyone interested in the story should leave a comment. For everyone who's read this far, please leave a comment with your opinion on the topic.