Bermuda

“Ugh... Have I been neglecting my body too much lately?”

“Commander, are you alright?”

Andreas barely lifted himself from the deep crater. Every joint ached, and his entire body throbbed with soreness. A nearby elite soldier, unable to approach hastily due to maintaining the barrier, stood in place and asked after his condition.

Andreas waved his hand as if to say he was somewhat alright.

“My left arm’s shattered.”

“Oh no...!”

“It’s fine. No big deal. If I hadn’t raised my guard in time, my ribs would’ve snapped.”

With a bitter smile, Andreas looked down at his useless left arm, now limp and without strength. After failing to move even his fingertips, he summoned a vine, fashioned it into a splint, and recalled the culprit responsible for the damage.

‘It’s not just his mana—his combat sense is flawless.’

The speed at which he instantly appeared above his head—without teleportation—in the Imperial Capital. The agility with which he read wind currents and tracked the main body. The precision in striking only openings and vital points. That iron grip when he seized his shoulder to stop him from escaping, and the devastating burst of mana that nearly stole his breath.

Faced with such overwhelming, almost unfair ability in every domain, Andreas understood what it meant to lose /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ the will to fight.

Bang! Kwang!

Explosive sounds echoed from the sky near the ice wall. As the clashing mana of two mighty forces brushed against his skin, goosebumps prickled, and his body gave a slight shudder.

Andreas gave a hollow laugh as he watched their fierce confrontation. The flares of power were barely visible to the naked eye, and he realized he was lucky to have gotten away with just a broken arm in the crossfire.

“Are they even human...”

His light violet eyes, following the bursts of light in the sky, suddenly stopped at a completely different point.

Something felt off.

As Andreas reviewed the earlier battle, Leonardo’s inexplicable behavior replayed in his mind.

Eventually, those scattered pieces condensed into one chilling question—and it surfaced, staring him down like a ghost in the void.

“...”

There was something strange about Leonardo Blaine.

Despite his speed, agility, and overwhelming mana—and even after Hugo had momentarily pulled away—

‘...Why didn’t he run away?’

Hugo had been thinking the same thing as he clashed blades with the man.

‘Have I ever sensed this guy’s mana in the Imperial Capital before?’

This was the second time they’d fought. Their first encounter had left such a deep impression that Hugo could never forget the distinct feel of that mana.

Even if he’d seen Leonardo before, he’d never sensed his mana this vividly or engaged with it in battle. Yet now, as the guy’s burning sword flickered before his eyes, something about it stirred a nagging déjà vu.

And there was something else that made no sense.

‘Is he doing it on purpose?’

What Hugo feared most was being forced into a battle with Leonardo in the Imperial Capital—risking injury to civilians and widespread damage. That’s why he limited himself to close combat, avoiding any large-scale or long-range magic.

But the same held true for Leonardo. He had to know—especially after their last fight—that his stamina and physique were no match for Hugo’s in a prolonged melee.

In theory, his best advantage would be long-range attacks where he could maintain distance and harass Hugo from afar. And yet—aside from the burst that burned Andreas’ clones—he hadn’t once fought at range.

‘It doesn’t add up...’

Unable to grasp the other man's aim, Hugo swung his sword with all his might, determined to wear him down.

When he’d seen the ice fragments flying earlier, he’d briefly entertained the idea that perhaps Leonardo had chosen close-range combat to avoid endangering others.

But now he no longer believed that. If Leonardo had really cared about civilian safety, he wouldn’t have triggered this chaos in the heart of the Imperial Capital. The damage—both human and financial—was already staggering.

Hugo pressed forward, swinging his longsword hard, trying to bring this meaningless battle to an end before the other battalion commanders arrived.

“Leonardo, now that you’re here in the Imperial Capital, resistance is pointless. Keep this up, and you’re only piling up more charges.”

At that, Leonardo struck Hugo’s sword away with sudden force, swapped positions in a blink, and mirrored the pressure from above.

“My crimes? What crimes? Aren’t you the ones who suddenly abducted someone who was just living his life?”

“I told you already. It was to protect you. No matter what you do, nothing changes.”

“Protect me? What a joke.”

Leonardo’s demeanor suddenly shifted—his expression turning cold, sarcastic, and filled with anger. The mana around him warped, becoming volatile and feral, like it would devour anything nearby.

At that sharp shift in atmosphere, Hugo’s instincts flared.

‘He’s going long-range.’

And not like before. This time, it was on another level entirely.

As mana surged to critical mass in Leonardo’s hands, Hugo instantly repositioned himself, placing the ice wall directly behind him.

That was when he realized—Leonardo hadn’t even been using full power until now. The sheer intensity of this buildup couldn’t be explained otherwise.

If the ice wall were shattered again like earlier, he had to stop the blast from hitting the civilians. The scale of this mana surge would tear through the elite barrier like paper.

Just as Hugo stood in front of the wall, Leonardo—face furious, veins bulging on his neck—thrust out both hands and declared:

“The only one who can protect me... is me.”

Hugo hesitated at those resolute words, locking eyes with him. At that instant, the flames erupted from Leonardo’s hands like a solar flare, surging directly at Hugo.

Hugo slowed his movement on purpose, confirming Leonardo’s aim. When the searing mass of mana reached the right distance, he narrowly dodged.

The crimson blaze stretched in a straight line and struck the massive ice wall behind him, detonating with a thunderous boom.

Kwaaang!

Right after the blast, Hugo deployed a barrier in the center of the sky to contain the explosion. As the shockwave tore through the air, shattered ice shards flew like daggers, sharp as glass.

Even amid the chaos, the citizens watched in frozen awe from behind the Council’s barrier. It was rare to witness a magical battle of this scale in the Capital. Danger be damned—they couldn’t look away from this cataclysmic spectacle.

But when a second wave of wind swept through the crowd, terror broke their trance. Screams rang out as people crouched and shielded themselves.

And at that moment, a little girl’s hat—lifted by the sudden gust—was carried high into the air.

“Ah! My hat!”

The white hat floated across the crowd, too quick to catch. The small girl pushed through the gaps between people, chasing after it—and unknowingly moved closer to the battlefield.

Thankfully, the hat soon fluttered to the ground nearby. As the girl reached it and crouched to pick it up—

Another blast swept through, knocking down a signboard that crashed right in front of her. She stumbled backward in shock and avoided injury, but the hat she’d reached for was crushed beneath the fallen sign.

The girl, still shaken, tried to retrieve the hat, but the signboard was far too heavy to lift.

Meanwhile, the chain of explosions had cracked the base of the massive ice wall. With a groan, the structure split horizontally—then began to tilt ominously, directly over the gap Leonardo had created earlier.

The people gathered beneath it froze in disbelief at the impossible sight. But at someone’s shout, reality returned—and panic took hold.

“I-It’s falling this way!”

“Aaaah!”

“Everyone, evacuate!”

As the towering wall tipped forward, casting a long, chilling shadow, people flooded the streets, screaming and fleeing in all directions.

Amid the chaos, a woman who had been holding her child’s hand suddenly realized the girl was gone. She frantically scanned the crowd.

“May? Where are you, baby!”

Fighting upstream against a crowd in full panic was nearly impossible. The woman was shoved repeatedly as she pushed forward, clinging tightly to her coat’s collar.

Then—beyond the scattered debris—she spotted a small, familiar figure.

“May!”

Her face went pale as she saw the child still tugging at the crushed hat. She ran toward her, straight into the path of the falling wall.

But the wall of people held her back.

“Please—move! My child is over there!”

From the sky, Hugo saw the massive wall begin to tip—and shouted urgently to Andreas.

“Andre! Stop it with everything you’ve got!”

“I know!”

Covered in dust and wind, Andreas braced with his uninjured arm, slammed his palm into the ground, and summoned a surge of thick tree vines from beneath the falling wall.

The dense vines sprang up and coiled around the descending ice, trying to absorb as much momentum as possible. From behind the collapse, more vines whipped forward, wrapping tightly around the structure and pulling hard in the opposite direction.

Thanks to the vines, the ice wall's fall briefly slowed—but the wall was so thick and heavy that even the thickest vines began to snap like twigs. The ones pulling from the opposite side broke one after another. Realizing it wasn’t enough, Andreas gritted his teeth and even forced mana through his shattered left arm.

Still, when the vines failed to fully stop the collapsing wall, Hugo flew toward it, intending to shatter it completely.

“Huh...?”

The girl, still staring at her crushed hat without understanding the danger, slowly looked up at the sound of screams—and saw a massive shadow falling over her.

The majestic ice wall was crashing down with terrifying speed, so fast that the vines meant to hold it up might as well have been threads. Her eyes widened in frozen horror.

“Baby!”

The girl’s mother, losing all reason, tried to run to her, but a nearby Council member in the crowd grabbed her arm with force.

“Where are you going? Evacuate now!”

“My daughter’s over there—!”

At her frantic cries, the member turned his head to follow her pointing finger. Only then did he spot the girl—hidden behind a collapsed signboard—who had gone unnoticed until now.

Frozen in place, the child stood helplessly under the ever-growing shadow. The woman screamed toward her unmoving daughter, and the Council member, grasping the situation, inhaled sharply and yelled,

“Run! Get out of there—now!”

Releasing the mother, the member sprinted toward the girl. Even with the ice wall poised to collapse, saving the child became his sole priority.

But the speed at which the wall crushed the vines and fell was faster—far faster—than his legs could carry him.

He hadn’t closed enough distance yet. As the immense shadow loomed before him, the primal fear of death swept over him despite his will to act. His legs buckled, and even as he fell forward, he threw himself over the girl and held her tight.

Bracing for the end, he shut his eyes and held his breath—

And then, dazzling golden light flared in front of them.

Leonardo stood firm beside their crouched forms, one hand extended toward the collapsing wall, the other held behind him to cast a barrier.

A magnificent golden magic circle unfolded in the air. As his incantation echoed, blinding light erupted outward, illuminating the entire square.

“Destroy.”

Suddenly, sound disappeared. Ears went numb. Then, like a wave breaking over silence, a deafening roar returned—along with a painful, ringing tinnitus.

The girl’s vision faded under the shockwave, drowned in gold. The towering ice wall, which had loomed just feet away, shattered into oblivion—obliterated without a trace. Leonardo’s golden hair whipped wildly in the wind, catching the brilliance of the light as it flared.

From the sky, instead of jagged shards, the ice—now pulverized into powder—fell like snow, glittering softly as it scattered across the square.

Lowering his outstretched arm, Leonardo turned toward the girl and the Council member shielding her. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Then, with one hand, he lifted the fallen signboard and tossed it aside. Underneath, he picked up the crushed hat.

The girl stared up at him in a daze. Leonardo gently dusted off the hat and offered it to her.

“Is this yours?”

She gave a small, quiet nod. He placed the hat back on her head, smiled faintly, and said with a light chuckle,

“It’s pretty.”

At the sound of his voice, the Council member—still curled up—cautiously opened his eyes. As golden light rained down on them, he realized he was alive. Slowly, he relaxed and raised his head.

As the girl blinked and looked up at him, Leonardo scooped her gently into one arm. Then he reached down and, with one motion, helped the member to his feet.

After a brief glance, Leonardo turned toward the woman running toward them. She stumbled forward, breathless.

He handed the child to her and said,

“It’s dangerous here. Take her and get far away.”

“Ah... Thank you. Thank you so much...”

Clutching her daughter, the woman broke into sobs and bowed her head again and again to Leonardo in gratitude. She also turned and bowed repeatedly to the Council member, still stunned behind them.

Everyone who hadn’t yet fled—the citizens, the Council members, even Hugo—watched the scene in silence.

The woman quickly turned and ran off with her daughter in her arms. The direction she headed led down a street Leonardo knew all too well.

He stared after them, his gaze lingering on the familiar streets of the Imperial Capital beyond—the towering buildings, the fluttering flags.

The sprawling city and its civilization, the heart of Raina Logia—everything he had once staked his life to protect. Everything he had once saved.

It was all still here. Yet somehow, somewhere along the way, he had forgotten it—buried under nightmares.

‘Did I... want to come back?’

Lifting his gaze, he recalled the military command center that lay past the main road at the end of that street. Every landmark came to him vividly.

This road—this very stretch of stone—was the one he marched down during his final expedition, when the people of the Imperial Capital flooded the streets to cheer for him. They’d handed him bouquets and handkerchiefs. Wished him victory. Loved him.

Three years had passed since that day. Three years since he last stepped on this ground.

“Leonardo.”

Still lost in thought, he turned at the sound of his name.

Hugo Agrizendro was approaching, watching him with a slightly complicated expression.

Leonardo instinctively gripped his magic sword and leapt backward, putting distance between them. But Hugo showed no intent to fight—and sensing that, Leonardo slowly withdrew his mana and faced him squarely.

As the tension faded, Hugo stepped a little closer. His voice carried a complex tone as he asked,

“Why did you save the child?”

‘You could have used that time to escape.’

Hugo hadn’t expected himself to feel this way. But now—right now—he was genuinely waiting for Leonardo’s answer.

Because, depending on what the man said next... his entire view of him might change.

Leonardo frowned slightly at the question, as if unsure why it was being asked.

Then he gave a baffled smile, like the answer was too obvious.

“Because that’s my job.”

Hugo stared at him, at a loss for words.

There was no lie in the man's voice. No hesitation in his eyes.