By Zephyria 
Crash, rumble, thud!
Tremendous sounds echoed continuously, so loud it was hard to believe they were caused by stone and people colliding. I was shaking along with every impact, yet I felt no pain.
Held so tightly that I couldn’t move a single finger, my field of vision was limited to Mikael’s white, straight neck, the first button of his neatly fastened shirt, and the seam of his vest, which I had gripped messily and pulled tight.
Even if I wanted to push him away, I couldn’t. I remained frozen, terrified that a wrong twist of my body might injure Mikael further. The hand wrapping around my head and the hand holding my back wide were both as hot as usual. Hot and damp.
Thwack,
The sound of something breaking rang out. Simultaneously, a fishy scent spread rapidly. Blood. Mikael, Mika, blood…
Tears I could no longer hold back burst forth. Without even being able to think, I simply stared blankly. My lips trembled violently.
“Mi, Mika. Mika…”
Mikael did not answer.
The highest peak among the Indus Canyon peaks exceeded 1,200 meters above sea level. The black magician’s lair wasn’t perched on the highest peak, but it was nearly as high.
No matter how strong Mikael was, it was a height that a human body could not withstand. Furthermore, Mikael was blocking the debris of the collapsing cliff with his entire body.
Because of me.
To protect me.
No. No, this makes no sense. Didn’t the Sun God act as if this matter would end simply by dealing with a few humans? I couldn’t lose Mikael like this. I was scared. I was terrified. It was horrific.
The rising resentment ripened into tears and dripped down. My lips trembled.
“Mika… Mi, hic, Mika. Look, look at me.”
The hand wrapping around my back tightened slightly. He’s alive, he’s alive. He’s still okay.
For how long?
What if this is the end?
I can’t survive without you, Mika. If you aren’t in this world, I’ll become a stupid, merciless, and filthy tyrant. I’ll cut the throats of every bastard who annoys me. I’ll overturn this continent and wage war every single day. Every day, I’ll throw the people I want to kill into the maw of the Yuil Mountains.
If you’re going to die, die with me.
I wanted to say something kind. But I wasn’t a good person, and only bad thoughts came to mind. So I cried. No, I wailed. No. I’m scared. I hate this. Don’t save me, just stay alive.
Because of someone like me, you…
It was then. The body that had been plummeting came to a halt. I quickly lifted my head. What happened? Where are we? Did we hit the ground? No, that’s not it. Our bodies were vertical. Since I hadn’t taken any impact, this meant…
My mind was blank from how much I had cried. My ears were muffled, tormented for a long time by the loud noise.
A gap opened between our chests, which had been pressed together as if they would never separate. A hem, the sound of Mikael clearing his throat… and a hu, the sound of a laugh, slowly, very slowly brought me back to my senses.
He was alive. Mikael was…
“…Have you finished crying?”
“…”
“For a moment, I would like to see your face.”
Without a second thought, I looked up. I had squeezed out so many tears in the meantime that my vision was blurred. Then, Mikael laughed again. His chest vibrated gently in time with his laughter. Maybe he wasn’t hurt that badly. Clinging to that clumsy hope, I cleared my throat.
“…Why my face?”
“I want to check if you’re injured. Right now, we are… quite high up, so to keep from falling, you must wrap your arms firmly around my neck. Can you do that?”
“…Yeah. I can… do it.”
I carefully wrapped my arms around Mikael’s shoulders. And when I lifted my head, fuck, the tears burst again. I wiped them away once more.
The tip of Mika’s chin was red. Blood flowing from his left forehead down his straight face covered half of his beautiful features.
I couldn’t believe it, so I just cried. At a distance where our noses almost touched, Mikael, still holding me tight, spoke in a soft voice. His gaze was so warm that I burst into tears again. Now isn’t the time to soothe me, you idiot.
“Why did you cry so much?”
“…Because you…!”
“I can endure this much. I thought you knew.”
“…”
Liar.
Without replying further, I searched for his wounds. Whether it was sweat or blood, his hair was damp wherever my hand touched. Thank god. His skull wasn’t crushed.
After confirming the shape of the bone, I quickly pulled my hand away, afraid I might touch a torn wound. As I cupped Mika’s ears and tried to look up again, he slightly averted his gaze.
…
A red flush rose on Mikael’s pale face…
It was surprising that he had enough blood left for that. I wanted to scream, Is this the time for that? but suddenly I felt embarrassed and shy. My gaze lingered for a moment on Mikael’s straight bridge of the nose and his lips exhaling small, steady breaths, before I hurriedly turned my head away.
Now was not the time for such leisure. I had to finish checking Mikael’s physical condition. Then, Mikael whispered softly into my ear, which was pressed close.
“Please look down once.”
“…Down?”
We were embedded in the middle of a cliff. Below my feet, only a vast darkness was visible. It was a height that made even my knees shake, and I wasn’t afraid of heights.
However, Knights—those capable of utilizing aura—had better grip and arm strength than civilians. If we went down slowly, we would eventually see the end. Just as I was trying to compose myself…
“The ground is unstable, so I don’t think we can climb up to rejoin the party. I intend to go down from here… but… I’ve injured my arm.”
He injured his arm.
I had been so frantic that I hadn’t thought of something so simple. He must have driven his arm into the cliff to stop the fall.
I recalled the legendary survival method of Maelo Sansone that I had heard once. Both Mika and I had weights appropriate for our height. I could only imagine the state of the single arm that had borne the weight of two people…
My breath hitched. Without a word, I looked at Mikael’s face.
Mikael was smiling brightly. A drop of blood slid down his pretty cheek, pooled at the tip of his chin, and dripped onto his white shirt. His damp, crumpled hair didn’t even flutter in the wind.
Mikael whispered in a very sweet tone, as if soothing a child.
“Ruben isn’t afraid of heights, is he?”
“…Yeah.”
“So, I’m thinking of switching the support to my right arm. Would that be alright?”
Do I look like a brat to you? I gritted my teeth and nodded. A metallic sound and a breath escaped together.
“Of course…!”
“Yes. Then… hold on tight.”
Mikael’s head, neck, and waist could all be dangerous if handled incorrectly right now. Thinking that the right arm that had been holding me might be intact, I placed my hand on that shoulder and leaned my weight on it. Then, Mikael drove the hand that had been holding me into the cliff. The hand using aura sank smoothly up to the elbow without a sound.
I wondered if it was necessary to drive it in so deep, but fuck, it was.
The moment I saw Mikael’s left arm, the tears that had briefly stopped poured out again.
I don’t know how he could look like that and still smile so calmly while soothing me. The left arm that had taken the full impact of the fall alone already had broken bones piercing through the skin. The elbow was twisted, and the shoulder was dislocated. If it had been just 2cm wider, his arm would have been ripped off while he was alive.
I couldn’t see because of the tears. I forced my eyes open. I didn’t even have time to wipe the tears.
“Now… there’s one more thing Ruben has to do.”
“…”
“Don’t cry. Okay?”
“…I can. I can do it…”
“Yes. I believe you.”
My lips trembled. I took out the healing artifact I had. However, even a Type 5 Healing Artifact wasn’t omnipotent. First, I had to check if any foreign objects had entered the torn wound.
There was too much blood to see inside. I had no choice but to pour drinking water over it.
It was horrific. Blue and black bruises covered Mika’s usually fair arm. I could easily picture what had happened. He must have pushed and deflected the boulders with his left arm to prevent me from being stabbed or cut if he had drawn his sword. Since he was wrapped in aura, he could push the rocks away, but he couldn’t ultimately overcome the impact of driving his hand into the cliff.
Even though my mind went white, my hands steadily sought what needed to be done. After completing the preparations and activating the artifact, a bright light enveloped Mikael’s entire body. It was proof that he had suffered contusions not just on his arm, but across his whole body. My chest ached with rising guilt.
Without blinking once, I watched as Mikael’s broken bones settled back into place. Muscles and flesh entwined, and the skin fused. The blue bruises gradually faded to white over the smoothly healing skin. My still-shocked heart beat very rapidly.
As soon as the artifact finished operating, Mikael calmly clenched and unclenched his hand.
“Don’t move!”
Unknowingly, I gripped Mika’s shoulder tightly. I was angry, but Mikael gave a bashful smile.
Healing artifacts are not omnipotent. Especially when injured this severely.
“You can’t move right away, Mika. What I just used was a Type 5 Fusion Recovery Device, but because it contains multiple Magic Formulas, its stability is low. If you move immediately, it’ll be painful, and the wound could worsen…!”
I was urgent, sorrowful, and anxious, but Mikael remained relaxed.
“But we have to go down now.”
“That’s… I can just carry you down.”
“That won’t work. Ruben can’t use aura yet… and you’ve likely never climbed a cliff, so you wouldn’t be able to carry my body. This is just common sense.”
Common sense? Do you even have common sense?
“The same goes for you!”
Every bit of my patience had run dry.
A fiercely twisted voice erupted, making all my efforts to avoid appearing violent in front of Mikael meaningless. The only reason I didn’t grab him by the collar was that the blood on his face hadn’t fully dried yet.
…But Mikael smiled again.
“Not true.”
Whispering in a very tender voice, like a chocolate mousse mixed with plenty of cream, making our touching shoulders and chests tremble slightly… he smiled like that. The blood and dust covering Mikael’s cheeks looked as enchanting and ticklish as flower petals fluttering on a spring day…
…Not true?
Who have you… climbed a cliff while carrying?
I let out a startled breath, bewildered. Jealousy? No, it was just that the thought of how on earth have you lived came first. How does a person live to just climb up cliffs like that? He said there were many mountains and cliffs where he lived in his past life. No, even so.
While I was speechless, Mikael, at a distance so close he could have kissed me at any moment, pressed his forehead against mine and softened the end of his voice as if acting cute.
“Please hug my neck, Ruben.”
“…”
“I’ve done this many times. I can do it well this time too.”
Right now, right now… are you using a honey trap on me?
But thinking about it, he wasn’t wrong. If he didn’t use his injured arm and used his remaining arm and two legs… and if he was already accustomed to climbing up and down cliffs, it would be better if I didn’t get in the way…
After a moment of hesitation, I leaned and hugged Mikael’s chest obediently.
“…Yeah.”
Mikael is probably right. I’ll just let myself be fooled this once. It’s definitely not that I fell for a honey trap… Ha, I think I did.
Swept by endless self-loathing, I buried my head in the crook of Mikael’s neck.
Even though I had cried so much, I wanted to cry again.