He was ferocious, twisted, and didn’t bother hiding it. Moreover, he blindly supported the woman, showing no signs of shame.

A fanatic who didn’t even allow the word ‘just’ for that woman.

A mad follower who, for the convenience of that woman, predicted the end of the world.

So, Zion was genuinely scared. He felt more than a mere aversion to the fact that he would soon become such a person.

“…Is she everything to him as well?”

Zion asked to find some grounds to defend himself.

At this, the man’s eyes narrowed.

He just smiled coolly, and Zion felt suffocated once again at that sight.

“Is he doing this alone, perhaps?”

“You can judge that yourself.”

When Zion inquired, the man turned the conversation and added,

“I’ll disappear soon. I’ve been found out.”

“What?”
Leaving the surprised Zion behind, the man looked up at the sky.

To exist in this timeline, the man deceived fate. And to avoid being exposed, he covered his face and concealed his name.

However, now that he revealed himself under this cruel sky, he would be adjusted by merciless fate. He would be erased and vanish from this world through the appropriate procedures.

“So, you came to hand over your memories.”

The man reached out his hand to Zion, who was still rolling on the floor. As if asking for a handshake.

However, Zion did not take that hand.

“You won’t lose anything. You’ll just know what you’re going to experience anyway. Using that is purely your responsibility.”

As Zion remained cautious, the man added. Nevertheless, Zion couldn’t readily accept it.

Handing over memories.

Memories are experiences. And experiences are the foundation that constitutes a human.

So, Zion didn’t want to receive it. He didn’t want to inherit the bizarre emotions and aspects of that man’s memory.

When Zion refused to shake hands, the man calmly said,

“Now you have to fight Amaneser sober. The memories of me killing that dragon.”

At his words, Zion suddenly remembered. The vague shape of Amaneser in his hazy memories. Just recalling it made him catch his breath, that existence suffocating him.

Now, as the man said, Zion had to face it with his own will. However, it was something humans couldn’t do soberly.

“Now, time is really running out.”

The man reached out his hand again. In conflict over the lukewarm offer, Zion eventually grabbed the man’s hand.

At that moment, the man lifted Zion’s body in one go.

He raised him up with strong arms and spoke into his ear with a low voice.

“Go to Ivi right now. Meet her and let her know who I am. And reassure her. I couldn’t tell her anything.”

The man spoke with a locked voice.

In too close proximity, Zion tried to instinctively move away. However, the man firmly held onto Zion and urged him.

“Don’t let anyone else do it. Go by yourself. Don’t let Tienda notice Ivi’s presence. Especially, block her access from the tower.”

Zion couldn’t understand this statement properly. But believing that Zion would soon know everything, the man continued speaking without context.

“Now, there’s no turning back, and you can’t start over. It’s the last chance. So, make sure to protect her until the end.”

With his chin on Zion’s shoulder, the man’s voice, hidden by his face, was earnest. And desperate.

So, Zion couldn’t help but push the man away.

“I don’t know about that.”

Then, desperately, he drew a line.

“I’ll repay the debt, but don’t ask for more. I’m not you, and that woman has nothing to do with me, don’t burden me with it.”

Zion couldn’t endure the man’s pleading appearance.
With a mask-like smile at any time, and when he casually stepped on himself, Zion couldn’t bear the vulnerability and servility of the man who was now groveling.

Zion didn’t want to admit that he was such a weak, crumbling human.

So, when he pushed the man away, the large hand returned. And the moment he realized it, his throat tightened.

“Ugh!”

As the man grabbed Zion’s throat, Zion struggled in shock. However, the boy, already exhausted, couldn’t resist the man’s strength.

With the man holding Zion’s throat, he whispered.

“I don’t want to lose either.”

“Let go of me…!”

“Do you know how I feel? I’d rather kill you. I want to kill you and forcibly create a vacancy to meet you again. Even now, I want to do that right away, but…”

“Ugh!”

While the man whispered, Zion managed to throw off that hand with great effort. Then, supported by anger, he raised his head and stiffened.

“…I’ve already failed.”

The man, whimpering like that, was crying. Truly out of place, he quietly shed tears with a face that had lost everything.

It was only then that Zion realized.

This man was jealous of him.

He hated Zion, who still had a chance, unlike him, who had to disappear. Hated Zion because he could meet someone again.

Knowing that, Zion wanted to cry too.

To think that he was jealous of himself, to the point where there was nothing left at the bottom.

The man was the most vile, twisted, and pathetic existence among everything Zion knew.

Disgusting and hateful, yet impossible to ignore or hate.

He was Zion Laurel.

In the Bis Northern saying, there is a saying: “When you see an ugly person, look for the flaws that resemble you first.”

So, when you meet an unworthy person, it means you should reflect on whether you have such flaws.

To Zion, that man was a perfect match for the saying from the Northern Bis.

Five years ago, at that time, Zion vowed. He would never become like him.

So, today, Zion fulfills his duty again.

Although it’s exhausting, and he wants to get rid of it right away, even cursing and swearing, he hangs on to his role and duty.

Because he doesn’t want to become like that person. Because he wants to prove that he is different from that person.

That’s why he spent the night at the end of the continent with nothing.

Dawn was breaking.

It was time to break the typhoon.