Bermuda

"Mr. Blaine—! Uwaaah..."

"Wha—what?"

Leonardo Blaine was taken aback when the new squad member suddenly burst into tears and clung to his pant leg. And the way he was addressed—Mr. Blaine—was so cringeworthy it made his hair stand on end.

Leonardo frowned, shaking his leg as if to brush him off, his expression clearly asking why the hell he was acting like this.

"Are you crazy? Let go."

"Hic— I’m sorry..."

Leonardo’s scowl deepened at the sight of him apologizing through tears. He had already felt uneasy about leaving this clumsy kid alone, but he hadn’t imagined it would turn out this pathetic. It was a mystery how this guy had ended up in the 1st Battalion of the Council’s Central Branch.

"Stop your blubbering and get up. We need to get out of here quickly."

"Sniff—yes..."

The new member sat on the floor, crying and sniffling before finally getting up. Leonardo looked at him in distaste, then shifted his gaze to the man standing awkwardly behind him.

The man was cornered with no exit, hesitating as he searched for a chance to slip away. It was good he had escaped the monsters’ threat, but the strongman who had taken them down in an instant seemed to know this Council kid.

When their eyes met, the man flinched. Leonardo realized he must be an outsider who had entered the Elder Millie Peninsula without permission and been caught. Both the newbie and the outsider looked ragged, as if they’d been caught in the mysterious explosion from earlier.

Leonardo had heard that sudden blast from outside and was circling the area when he found them, suspecting the two might have been fighting.

But neither seemed to possess enough mana to cause such destruction, which struck him as strange. Then, a blue mineral in the man’s hand caught his attention.

Leonardo’s eyes widened, then narrowed as he glanced sharply between the mineral and the man. He stepped forward, snatched it from the man, and examined it closely before asking:

"Where did you get this?"

"Huh—what?"

The man stared blankly, looking from his now-empty hand to Leonardo, but offered no answer. Leonardo’s gaze dropped to the bag slung at his side.

Through its slightly open top, several more blue minerals were visible—identical to the one he held. They were exactly what Leonardo had been searching for under Flynn’s watch, on Hugo Agrizendro’s orders.

Since then, he had traveled to many places but had only found a few small pieces. What this man carried was not only much larger in size but at least ten times the quantity.

Sensing danger, the man stepped back, clutching the bag. But he had barely moved before his back hit the cave wall.

Realizing he had no way out, he suddenly changed tack—grabbing one of the minerals and thrusting it in Leonardo’s face.

"Don’t come closer. You know what this is? It’s a bomb, a bomb."

He gulped but forced a confident smile, glancing at the new member for confirmation.

"Kid, you saw it earlier, right? How terrifying this is? Just try coming closer—I’ll throw it and blow you up."

The new member gave Leonardo’s collar a nervous tug.

"Mr. Blaine, as soon as that man threw that earlier, there was a huge explosion. I think it’s dangerous."

At those words, Leonardo narrowed his eyes at the man. So he was the cause of the earlier blast. And from the way he called it a bomb, [N O V E L I G H T] he clearly knew how to use it.

Leonardo just watched him silently. The man, thinking his bluff was working, waved the mineral again.

"Stay right there until I’m gone. Unless you want this to explode and kill us all."

He edged past them, keeping the mineral aimed their way.

The new member glared after him but didn’t dare move, afraid an explosion this deep in the cave would be devastating.

The man thought the same. He knew well it could kill him too—but since only he knew how to make it explode, he felt he had the upper hand and took the gamble.

He glanced between them and the side exit. If he could get a little farther, he planned to run for it and toss a smaller mineral back to cause a minor blast.

Better not to leave loose ends.

His eyes flicked to Leonardo’s face as he edged away sideways. The blond stared back with a fierce, unreadable expression, making it seem escape would be easy. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

For a fleeting moment, the man thought it would be a shame for someone with that face to die here.

But then Leonardo’s lips curved upward in a slow arc. The man froze.

That smile—directed squarely at him—sent a chill down his spine.

Was this really the time to be smiling?

It was the kind of abnormal reaction that made the body instinctively sense danger. And the only thing Leonardo had done... was smile.

A quiet chuckle escaped him. In the silence of the cave, it sounded deafening.

The man swallowed hard, turning stiffly toward the exit again. He felt like he’d die if he didn’t run now.

Yet even with the exit just ahead, the distance seemed to stretch impossibly far.

When he looked forward again, the blond who had been standing a short way off was suddenly right in front of him.

"Aaargh—!"

He reflexively tried to throw the mineral, but Leonardo’s hand clamped around his wrist. Lowering that crooked smile into a cold line, Leonardo muttered:

"I’m so tired I could die, and now every little thing is pissing me off."

The man struggled desperately to break free, but Leonardo’s grip was unyielding. Those golden eyes, so close, made it clear—he wasn’t going anywhere.

Leonardo pointed his chin at the mineral.

"Throw it."

The man realized he’d been holding his breath. He had seen plenty of dangerous people, but up close, those glowing golden eyes warned him he’d picked the wrong one to mess with.

"Y-you—you think I won’t throw it?"

"So throw it and see."

He raised his voice in threat, but Leonardo’s indifferent tone only baited him further. Then, as if certain he wouldn’t dare, Leonardo released the arm holding the mineral.

That confidence rattled him.

"You bastard, you know who I am? In Bermuda, just my name—everyone—!"

Leonardo cut him off, twisting his other arm lightly behind his back. The man screamed in pain.

To muffle the sound echoing through the cave, Leonardo slammed his face against the wall.

A groan escaped, muffled as his nose crunched and his mouth was smothered. He writhed as if he couldn’t breathe.

Leonardo kept him pinned, expression cold, then yanked him back after a moment. Blood streamed from his broken nose as he panted for air.

Grabbing a fistful of hair, Leonardo pulled harder.

"Hey."

The man looked up with eyes rolling back, breath ragged as terror settled deep in his bones.

Seeing that fear, Leonardo’s mouth curved faintly.

"You know who I am?"