By Zephyria ‘That guy is….’
That unfamiliar yet strangely familiar figure was wearing the Council’s combat uniform and had his face completely covered from below his eyes with a gas mask. However, the extraordinary energy emitted when using Magic Power was not something that could be concealed with just those things.
Like a raging firestorm itself. The mysterious figure, his whole body covered in flames, severed the streams of water that were wrapped around Leonardo’s arms and legs in one fell swoop. Then, he held the limp body in his arms and turned away, as if he had no more business there, and quickly left the battlefield.
Hugo, who had been flustered by the sudden bloodbath and unexpected kidnapping that had unfolded before his eyes, hastily turned his body to chase after him. However, as the heavy behemoth nearby also spread its wings and changed direction, Hugo, reflexively readjusting his grip on the Greatsword horizontally, blocked the core’s maw and pushed it back.
‘It’s definitely the fire energy I felt that night. Is he an ally?’
He pushed back the monster that kept snapping at his face and pressured it, emitting a chill that seemed to freeze its hide. Even so, his anxious blue eyes followed the two figures that were moving away from his sight.
‘No, he’s definitely not an ally. But he was trying to protect Leonardo.’
The destructive mass of flames that had flown just now was certainly aimed at the core. However, the reality was that it was a very rough attack method, as if it didn’t matter what happened to the other person who was attached to the core.
In other words, it seemed that his only purpose was to recapture Leonardo from the core’s threat, not to support himself, the Legion Commander.
His mind was complicated, wondering what the identity of the suddenly appearing suspicious person was and when he had been circling around himself and Leonardo, but Hugo, who was tied down by the core and facing it one-on-one, didn’t have the leisure to calmly look back on the situation.
At least that person didn’t seem to be trying to harm Leonardo, so he rather hoped that he would take Leonardo away from the monster as he was. With the Legion Commanders almost incapacitated, he was the only one who could stop the core.
In the meantime, Leonardo’s bleeding, which had stained his vision, was quite severe, so if he became the core’s target any longer, his life could really be in danger.
Eventually, Hugo readjusted his grip on the sword with one hand and swung his arm greatly, instantly slicing off three or four claws that were flying straight at him. Then, using the wide surface of the Greatsword as a shield, he once again strongly pressed down on the core, and muttered in a murderous voice toward the core’s face.
“Before you cut off my breath, you will never be able to reach him.”
As a mere human blocked and endured its path with pure brute force alone, the Queen rolled her slimy eyeballs and stared at Hugo with her constricted pupils. Just in time, crimson blood droplets trickled down along the surface of the intersecting ice Greatsword and fiendish claws. It was blood that had seeped out from Leonardo’s skin.
The two eyeballs scanned down that vivid and reddish trajectory before suddenly gaping their maws wide open. Then, a wriggling mass of flesh stealthily crawled out from between the iron bar-like teeth and thickly licked up the sticky liquid flowing on the claws.
The foul-smelling, dirty tongue crawled back in as it was, and it smacked its lips. Before long, the red pupils drew a parabola and chuckled disgustingly.
「There’s no need for that anymore.」
As the ambiguous voice unpleasantly circled in his head, Hugo’s eyebrows narrowed sharply.
At that moment, this time, the core pushed Hugo away with all its might, then spread its wings wide and retreated, instantly creating distance.
The core savored the remaining blood on its claws and chuckled grotesquely. Then, as if unable to contain its joy, it hideously distorted its face with its ten eyeballs.
「He’s already dying.」
If you shed a lot of blood while wet from the rain, your body temperature drops rapidly. Then, the functions of the respiratory and nervous systems also decrease significantly, and you fall into the illusion that your body has adapted to the low temperature because you don’t feel the cold.
However, that is really an illusion, and if you continue to leave your body in that state, arrhythmia may be induced or cardiac arrest may occur. Hypothermia approaches slowly so that you don’t recognize its seriousness. Then, at some point, it swallows your consciousness and leads you to eternal sleep.
Being wary of those symptoms when going on various missions was like an instinct engraved in the body, not the head, for the Dark Silver.
Therefore, Leonardo, feeling his rough breathing gradually calming down, clutched his blood-soaked left arm and continued to try to keep his eyes open, fearing that the warmth that enveloped his body was the last hallucination before death.
In the meantime, the fierce rain evaporated before it even fell on his face, and a hot but gentle flame flickered and slowly caressed the affected area.
By the time he realized that his body temperature was gradually rising instead of hypothermia, his hazy consciousness was already returning clearly.
‘…What is it?’
He felt stable thanks to the broad shoulders that supported his shaking head and neck. Soon after, Leonardo belatedly realized that he was being held by someone and being moved somewhere, so he reflexively strained his neck and barely raised his head.
Above the gas mask that immediately came into view, red eyes with a mixture of mysterious colors were visible. They weren’t the chilling red pupils that he had been confronting, but warm eyes filled with unforgettable warmth.
The trembling golden eyelashes slowly parted.
“……Nero?”
As he called out the name with a hoarse voice, the red eyes, which had regained their full color, glanced down. At the same time, as if responding to the call, the two arms that wrapped around his back, arms, calves, and thighs tightened even more.
As the face of a comrade he hadn’t seen in quite a while became clear before his eyes, red lips filled with complicated feelings moved without him realizing it. However, an indescribable affection flooded in, and Leonardo raised his bloodied right hand slightly instead of saying anything.
Then, as if he had been waiting for it, the other person’s face also came closer. Nero, blinking slowly, brought his cheek to that hand himself and tilted his head.
The skin that rubbed against him, not caring whether it was covered in blood or not, was warmer than anyone he had touched recently. Perhaps that was why Leonardo’s elegant eyebrows were terribly contorted in a different sense than before. Nero’s brow also furrowed at the sight.
“Cheer up. I didn’t come to see that face.”
“…….”
“Anyway, you look unsightly.”
Nero, straightening his neck and turning his eyes away, speaking in a frustrated tone, was not just a child frolicking in Leonardo’s last memory. As he carefully placed his hand on Nero’s shoulder, which seemed to have become broader than his own, the flames that flared up soon told him to hold on properly and wrapped his arms tightly around his shoulders and neck.
Leonardo, who supported his body in that state and raised his upper body a little more, slowly scanned Nero’s profile with eyes filled with complexity. The moment of reunion was as unsightly as he had said, but perhaps because his mind and body were pushed to the extreme, one corner of his heart just ached.
He was definitely going to beat him up and curse at him, saying why aren’t you out of here yet, you’re the biggest idiot in the world, if he ever faced him directly.
Right now, he just felt a more poignant emotion than that.
Leonardo carefully rubbed Nero’s face, which was covered in blood, with the sleeve of his magic robe, which was half-tattered like his body and mind. Even when the red traces were almost completely erased, his beautiful brow, which was contorted to the fullest, didn’t seem to ease at all.
KOO-OONG―
But then, an ominous and heavy roar that disturbed the joy of the touching reunion echoed from the other side. As a series of strong shockwaves rushed in, Leonardo, who had suddenly come to his senses, turned his head in that direction. Nero also glanced back with sharp eyes.
The vibrations accompanied by the roar spread in all directions, roughly sweeping over the fluttering golden hair and the blazing red hair. Hugo’s chilling Magic Power, mixed in with it, revealed its presence on his skin, scalp, and spine.
Leonardo, who was feeling that sensation as it was, stared at the blue light flashing in the sky beyond Nero’s shoulder. Even though the range of the light was quite wide, it felt as if it was very narrow, and he then realized that he had moved quite far from the battlefield while his consciousness had been blurred.
“Nero, what about the Queen? No, what about that monster?”
As Nero, who was holding him, was moving further and further away from the battlefield, Leonardo turned his head and asked urgently.
“Isn’t that thing still alive? Where are we going now?”
“…….”
However, Nero only stared straight ahead, as if he had never opened his mouth, and continued to move forward. He didn’t seem to have much intention of answering.
“…Where are we going?”
As Nero responded with silence to his continued questions, Leonardo stared at him with puzzled eyes. Before long, the warm emotions that had filled his heart faded away, and now he was overwhelmed with bewilderment, wondering why this guy was suddenly acting like this.
He was definitely not the type to intentionally ignore his words, so it felt very strange that he wasn’t answering. Leonardo, staring at Nero silently, said to him in a cold voice.
“Hey, put me down.”
“…….”
“I said put me down.”
Leonardo, putting strength into the arm he had wrapped around Nero’s neck, pushed against his shoulder and wriggled his body as if trying to fall off. Then, Nero’s two arms, which were wrapped around him, held on even more firmly, tightly hugging his chest and thighs.
Leonardo was dumbfounded by his actions, but at the same time, he was at a loss for words. If he had any intentions, he should explain them, but he was daring to resist him with his pathetic strength, as if he wouldn’t let him go.
Leonardo, who was dumbfounded, finally clenched his free left hand into a fist. Then, he threatened Nero by holding his fist in front of his face.
“Are you not going to put me down soon? I’m going to just―”
“Aah, I’ll put you down, I’ll put you down! Don’t use your arm and please just stay still!”
As Leonardo’s blood-soaked left arm trembled and rose, Nero was horrified and hurriedly calmed him down.
Following that, the speed of the two people who were flying decreased quickly, and the altitude gradually lowered. However, the tenderness from before was nowhere to be found, and Leonardo glared at Nero with a displeased face.
‘What? Please just stay still? This bastard has become arrogant while I wasn’t looking.’