Magnum ran hopelessly along the dirt road, stumbling over his own feet as he tried to reach one of the plantation's sheds.

  After waking at the first contact of the explosions, in shock, the three children naturally ran in different directions, chasing their own worries. Just a hundred meters from the grove lay Mr. Anton, fallen and terribly injured on the ground.

  He was trapped beneath a vehicle with its engine blown apart.

  Anton couldn't feel his legs; he could barely move his arms. The sight drove Magnum to despair, yet he did not freeze. Instead of trying to pull Anton out — something impossible for a child — the boy chose to run after Ethan.

  That was when he discovered Ethan had recently entered one of the sheds. It was also when he realized those same sheds had been the first targets of the explosions.

  "Lord Ethan… Please be safe!" Magnum thought, running while crying in trauma.

  He had no hope left by the time he reached the shed.

  Debris blocked the entrance as he carefully avoided injuring himself. Coughing his lungs out amid the clouds of smoke that filled the shed, he covered his face and searched for support — since he could barely see.

  Still at the entrance, he shouted, "Duke! Lord Ethan!"

  Silence answered him.

  Magnum waved his arms to disperse the smoke, trying to see, but failed. He slipped between a few crates he knew were in the corner of the shed, but was interrupted by a surge of energy before he could reach them.

  The discharge manifested as a black lightning bolt racing along the ground until it struck him lightly. Startled, Magnum stepped back, hesitating, only to find himself surrounded by dozens of bolts running through the debris.

  Spreading through the environment, a sharp vibration wandered aimlessly until they converged in a single direction: a white sphere glowing among the wreckage of a vehicle. But before he could fully see it, the energy discharges merged and exploded a second time.

  The sphere cracked, releasing a high concentration of energy.

  Before he could be drastically struck, Ethan stepped forward to shield him. The Duke's arm was stretched out, unmoving, with a piece of metal lodged in his shoulder; it released bursts of energy intermittently.

  Ethan extended his right arm toward the explosion, containing it with his free hand. The smoke twisted before the blast could fully expand through the shed; yet the pressure shattered the windows.

  Trying to endure the pain in his arm, Ethan guided the explosion toward the shed's ceiling. The wood was hurled into the air by the destruction, allowing the smoke to escape; within seconds, the sky was swallowed by another gray mushroom cloud.

  The explosion drew Theo's attention. He stumbled in the sand, looking back and seeing the plume of smoke consume the sky, but chose to ignore it. There were already villagers capable of helping — still unaware it was his father.

  Theo ran into the plantation, guided by instinct. The dust dried the air, forming a toxic haze that delayed reinforcements.

  He coughed; his eyes burned; but he kept moving as his heart raced. Keeping his consciousness sharp and shielding his eyes, he ran to his limit.

  Deviants, capable of manipulating mana, can sense the presence of humans. Theo followed the faintest and most familiar presence he could perceive. It was so weakened it clung to its final breaths.

  To the left lay a harvesting bar, its blades worn and buried. Smoke seeped through the twisted iron.

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  Staggering, yet driven by agony in his mind, he ran deeper until at last he reached where he needed to be.

  The presence was ahead, but as faint as the distance itself.

  He slipped past a displaced cabin, gaining enough height to partially see the scene. Below was a crater, and there lay the other half of the vehicle whose wreckage Theo had found along the way.

  Jumping down and landing awkwardly in the mud, he crawled clumsily as his vision faltered in response to weakness.

  "Sir…" Theo whispered when he spotted a straw hat amid the chaos.

  Dragging himself forward with wide eyes, he felt his legs freeze for a moment. His pupils trembled across the sclera as he was consumed by tears and grief. His eyes processed it, but his mind refused.

  Beneath the remaining wreckage lay one of the most important people in his life…

  "Sir Michel…" he murmured in sobs.

  Michel struggled to make space and free himself, but his legs were crushed. Driven by adrenaline, Theo stood and slid down the crater until he fell a few meters from the elder.

  "Theo! Get out of here!" Michel ordered.

  But the boy's memory wavered as he stared at Michel in fear.

  Liam stood before a glass window watching doctors try to save his mother. The reflection of memory surfaced in the shattered glass of the vehicle door.

  A heart monitor spiked…

  Until it declared the death of Mavie Müller, Liam's mother. At the time, Liam had been two years younger than Theo. He hadn't understood what was happening to his mother, hadn't known what death was.

  But Theo did.

  Liam's memories returned to alarm the Young Master. He approached the vehicle and tried to help Michel out, but he was too weak.

  "Do you need my help?" a voice asked on the wind.

  Theo searched and saw Liam leaning against the machine, arms crossed. A reflection of his own soul. The world seemed dead just by looking at that man.

  Ignoring him, Theo returned to pushing the metal plate while grunting with effort.

  "Just ask for help…"

  "And what are you going to do?!" Theo demanded, though the question was for himself.

  "Look into your memories. They don't lie. You know what I can do."

  He knew it was true. Yet he kept rejecting it.

  "Leave me alone! Go away!" Theo cried.

  "If I do… You'll die. And if you die, I'll die with you."

  Turning his back and digging his feet into the mud, he tried to push with friction. Though he failed, Theo took a deep breath and tried again.

  "And since when do you care about living? You wanted to die!"

  Theo slipped on the heated metal plate, partially cutting his hand. He groaned in pain but endured.

  "Because this world is more alive… It has more color."

  Liam's answer made Theo hesitate.

  Before the boy could rise to try again, Michel grabbed him by his bloodstained white tunic.

  "You've already done what you could, Tê…" Michel said, crying as he accepted his fate.

  "No…" the boy denied.

  "You're a hero for trying… Use that will you have now for life… Be the man I believe you are…"

  "Sir Michel!" he screamed with his lungs, a dry sensation slicing his throat.

  "Listen to me!" Michel said harshly. "Is Agnes… safe?"

  Amber eyes filled with tears until they burned. Between sobs, Theo said yes.

  "And my daughter?"

  She wasn't. A few hundred meters from Michel, Agnes's mother lay with a steel stake through her stomach and one leg severed.

  Theo bit his lips and hid his face.

  Understanding the situation, Michel grabbed the boy's blond hair and steadied himself.

  "You are a golden boy, Theo. A golden moon that fell upon these lands. Make good use of your life…"

  "Michel!"

  "Be… whoever you wish to be… And leave without regrets…"

  Michel's voice weakened; the light faded from his eyes; but with his last strength, he pushed Theo backward.

  Sitting there, staring at Michel's corpse, golden eyes met celestial blue eyes; Theo, a child with awareness and no strength to help; and Liam, a man without regrets and with strength to help.

  Even so, it was already too late.

  A surge of energy ran through the crater in the shape of black lightning. Above Michel was the cracked engine core, and from that very fracture leaked a black mist.

  Theo spat blood, his eyes burning.

  His head throbbed and his body failed.

  A buzzing sound tore through the smoke; Ethan appeared in a sliding sweep, skidding across the dry mud and kicking up dust. He embraced Theo, and seeing his son's condition as he wept against his chest, looked back.

  He saw Michel, lifeless, bearing a pain that could not be felt — yet his mouth formed an honest, unbitter smile.

  The monotone vibration escaped once more, drawing energy back into the core. Reverberating the regret Ethan would carry for life, selfishness tightened his throat. He could try to save both — an uncertainty — or only Theo.

  Faced with doubt, Ethan chose only his son's life.

  Sensing the core's impure presence on the verge of exploding, Ethan gripped Theo's shoulders and leapt away. Reaching the edge of the crater, however, he slipped as a rim of earth broke loose.

  With no time to react, feeling a sharp pain in his chest, he took half a second too long to move.

  Then the core exploded, hurling debris and sand into the wind. Both Ethan and Theo were dragged by the force of the blast.

  At that same instant, all of Midian's machines exploded one final time.

  Ethan rolled across the ground with Theo, shielding his son until he lost consciousness.

  At last… Midian's flaming sea was swallowed by black smoke; by the taste of death; by resentment.

  A place of life… was now the source of mourning.