The bleeding had stopped.

That, more than anything else, made Lena’s hands tremble.

She knew it wasn’t a good sign.

Rin lay unnaturally still beneath her, his pupils dilated and unfocused, reflecting nothing. His skin, once warm, was rapidly cooling beneath her palms. When she reached out and touched his arm again, his muscles were still soft—but not for long. She could feel it happening, minute by minute, his body betraying the truth she didn’t want to accept.

Rigor mortis.

The realization slammed into her chest like a blunt weapon.

No.

No, no, no.

"This... this can’t be real," Lena whispered, her voice breaking before she could stop it.

Her fingers curled into the fabric of his clothes, clutching as if holding on tighter could force life back into him.

"Rin," she said again, more desperately this time. "You’re joking, right?"

Her throat tightened.

"You’ll wake up. You always do."

Silence answered her.

She already knew.

From the moment his body went slack in her arms, from the moment the warmth began to fade, she had known.

This wasn’t a joke.

This wasn’t one of his reckless stunts.

This was death.

And she was the one who had caused it.

The weight of that truth crushed down on her lungs, stealing her breath. Lena pressed her forehead against his shoulder, teeth clenched as a choked sound escaped her. Her hands—hands that were supposed to protect—shook violently.

"I’m sorry," she whispered. "I didn’t mean to... I didn’t want this..."

But apologies meant nothing now.

She had broken the person she wanted to protect with her own hands.

She had personally torn apart the dream she swore she would support.

Nausea surged up from her stomach, sharp and overwhelming. Tears spilled freely from her eyes, blurring her vision until Rin’s face dissolved into a haze of light and shadow.

She wanted to scream.

She wanted to cry until there was nothing left inside her.

But she didn’t have the right.

And worse—she didn’t have the time.

If she let her guard down even for a moment, she knew what would happen.

Her thoughts would scatter.

Her mind would go blank again.

And then she would stop thinking.

She would stop resisting.

If she lost control once more, she would repeat this mistake.

No.

Never again.

Lena forced herself to inhale, slow and shaking, then exhale just as carefully. Her nails dug into her palms, grounding her in the sting of pain.

This was a chance Rin had given her.

A chance bought with his life.

A chance to regain her senses.

What she had lost was too great—far too great—but there were still things she had to do. Responsibilities she could not abandon. She refused to collapse into despair and walk into darkness like some tragic protagonist in a story.

She couldn’t afford that weakness.

Slowly, Lena lifted her head.

Her tear-filled gaze hardened.

She turned to look behind her.

The culprit. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

There had to be one.

Someone who had twisted her mind.

Someone who had forced her hands to move against her will.

Someone who had made her harm Rin.

"Atonement..." she murmured bitterly. "That comes later."

First came revenge.

Her chest ached violently as another wave of grief washed over her. For a brief, terrible moment, she wanted nothing more than to pull Rin into her arms again, to hold him close and cry until the world faded away.

She wanted to stay like this forever.

But she couldn’t.

Rin wasn’t just anyone.

He was a precious student.

A child she had wanted to support.

A child who reminded her so painfully of her brother that it had scared her at first.

Or at least... that was what she told herself.

Her gaze softened as she looked back at him.

"Was it really just that?" she whispered.

When had it started?

Was it when she saw him trembling in fear, yet stepping forward anyway to protect someone else?

Was it when he smiled despite being hurt, brushing it off like it was nothing?

Or was it even earlier?

No.

It had been long before she ever had to deal with Ethan or the other villains lurking in the shadows.

The truth surfaced quietly, cruel in its clarity.

She had already started caring that day.

The day she first met him.

That day...

In that cold, dark cave, when being violated and killed by downgraded monsters felt chillingly real, everything blurred together.

When she couldn’t even cry, when she forced herself to appear calm, clinging desperately to the image of the person she admired and the responsibility she carried as a hero.

She remembered how her hands had trembled, how her breathing had grown shallow, yet she still stood there, pretending she was fine.

Then, at the very moment despair had nearly swallowed her whole, he casually returned.

He smiled, as if nothing had happened, as if he hadn’t just brushed past death itself.

And he extended his hand toward her.

That smile had already been etched deep within her heart.

-it’s okay now.

Those simple words had shattered something inside her, quietly and irreversibly.

Perhaps these feelings had already taken root in her heart on the day he burned his life force to save her.

She just hadn’t realized it then, because she had never experienced anything like it before.

Only now did she finally understand, far too slowly and in the worst possible way, what this growing emotion truly was.

It wasn’t just goodwill.

It wasn’t mere affection.

It was something far heavier, far more passionate, than those words could ever describe.

She pushed herself up from the ground, her body creaking in protest.

Every muscle screamed as pain surged through her veins, the backlash of using power far beyond her limits catching up all at once.

Her head throbbed violently, as if it might split open, the lingering pressure from forcibly resisting the relic refusing to fade.

Even so, she gritted her teeth and endured.

She had no choice.

She forced the black, writhing thing inside her back down, suppressing it with sheer will before it could overflow.

"...Not now," she muttered under her breath, her voice hoarse.

Rin must have been in far more pain.

Compared to him, this was nothing.

She didn’t have the right to complain.

Not when he had endured far worse for her sake.

Ahead of her, Ryan and Leo were charging toward their respective opponents, shouting as they unleashed their abilities without hesitation.

"Don’t fall behind!" Ryan yelled, glancing back for just a moment.

"Tch, worry about yourself first!" Leo snapped back, though there was clear strain in his voice.

Their teamwork was messy, loud, and reckless—but it was sincere.

Her gaze shifted, locking onto the source of the oppressive pull gnawing at her consciousness.

The relic’s influence.

It was coming from the villain standing opposite Ryan.

So that was it.

"...I see you," she whispered.

Her fingers curled tightly, nails digging into her palm as she steadied herself.

Rin.

Just wait a little longer.

She took a slow, shuddering breath.

"I’ll be back," she murmured, as if he could hear her.

"I’ll deal with this villain first."

With that, she stepped forward, pain and fear trailing behind her, yet her resolve standing unshaken.

Because no matter how much it hurt—

She refused to fall before protecting what mattered most.