Kyle felt he had been toyed with. An indescribable anger burned in his chest, making his steps heavier but more determined.
Just a few more steps before the distance between them vanished, Kyle suddenly sprinted with all his might, his right hand clenched tightly.
A solid punch landed on the woman's face—Hana Voltiane. Her body flew back quite a distance, while Kyle just stood there, silent for a moment, then smiled... satisfied with what he had just done.
"Hmph, what do you think of my punch?" he asked, his gaze blankly fixed on her.
Hana whimpered in pain, rubbing her head with both hands. Her face was contorted, and unexpectedly, tears rolled down her cheeks.
Kyle's eyes widened. He hadn't expected Hana to cry because of his punch.
Guilt crept into his chest, replacing his previous anger.
He held out his hand, hesitant. Hana, still sobbing, took his hand and slowly stood up. She looked straight at Kyle, her voice soft but piercing.
"Why did you suddenly hit me? Shouldn't you be grateful? I saved you from death..."
Kyle was stunned. His lips trembled.
"You mean... was I dead before?" he asked softly, trying to hide his nervousness.
Hana sighed. Her gaze was empty.
"Not 'already dead'... but dead. I gave you half of my Essence. That's why you came back to life in this world. The world that you and I created."
Kyle fell silent. Those words echoed in his head like an echo in a cave.
The world I created? Those grey stones?
He looked down. His feet seemed to float above the thin mist covering the city of Shrie.
This world was truly... unreal.
The world was formed accidentally, when Lucian's soul tried to enter Kyle's body.
Countless grey stones floated around them. Those stones caused Kyle's internal organs to regenerate endlessly.
When he first woke up in this world, Lucian felt excruciating pain throughout his body.
But the pain slowly faded when his soul was somehow touched by the grey stones.
His consciousness remained still, but something inside him reacted.
Behind the scenes, Hana had already arranged everything. But her plan did not go as smoothly as she had imagined. Previously, Kyle and Hana had made a contract, for one purpose: to revive his mother and sister.
Lucian did not know. Kyle's memories were incomplete. If he had known, he would not have wanted to deal with a spirit like Hana.
"Can I ask you something?" Kyle touched the grey stone floating in front of his forehead.
"I don't remember anything before that… and were you the one who gave me that nightmare?"
Hana took a deep breath, her face frowning.
"I'm sorry about that. At that time, you didn't care about me. But I've restored your memory, you know."
Kyle clicked his tongue softly.
"Pfft. Back then, I was really cornered. I thought I was going to die from that gunshot wound…"
But if my memory has returned, why does it still feel blurry? he thought to himself.
Hana caught Kyle's gaze. She looked back at him, examining his entire body carefully.
"Is something bothering you?" she asked.
Kyle nodded slowly. "Hey, your name is Hana, right?" Hana nodded. "Then... can you take me back to where I was before?"
Without answering, Hana snapped her fingers.
In an instant, Kyle's body cracked, shattering into small grey stone fragments that floated in front of him. After that, Hana's body also turned into grey stone fragments and floated quietly in that world.....
In the luxurious house that was left behind...
Kyle woke up in a dark and stuffy room. With every breath he took, he felt something strange filling his throat.
Choking, he quickly stood up and left the room. The door opened, and his breath came in gasps afterwards.
"Is this the house I wanted to investigate?" he wondered, confused.
Kyle couldn't see his surroundings because the sunlight couldn't penetrate the corridor. He was on the second floor, in the left corridor.
He sighed and took his hat as a guide. Kyle walked slowly, pointing his hat ahead.
Meanwhile, his left hand felt around the building around him. Shortly after that, he stood right next to the stairs, unaware that Kyle was startled to hear a strange sound from under the stairs.
His right foot slipped an inch, and... his body slipped, falling face down on the floor below.
"Another strange sound, huh?" Kyle crouched down, feeling around the floor for his fallen hat.
Unexpectedly, a spark of light appeared from the right, accompanied by the shadow of a person that grew larger and larger.
Kyle stared silently, his eyes fixed on the light without blinking. The light illuminated where he was standing, and the hat lay not far to his right.
He stood up, not forgetting to grab his hat, and wanted to find out what the light he had just seen was.
As usual, Kyle stepped carefully, not knowing what was waiting for him.
As Kyle was about to turn, his body was bumped into by someone, and he reflexively stepped back.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to." His eyes met those of the man standing in front of him. Strangely, they just stared at each other without saying a word.
Shortly after that, from behind the man, he heard an angry shout. Kyle froze, knowing that the voice belonged to Aurora.
The man realised this and hurried away, bumping into Kyle in the process. He complained because the man was acting strangely, his face filled with fear.
Kyle ignored him and chose to move forward, approaching the location where Aurora's scream had come from.
Kyle finally stepped out of the corridor and saw Aurora walking towards him with a ball of fire floating in front of her.
"Finally, I found you..." said Aurora, thinking Kyle was the man she wanted to catch.
Aurora immediately ran towards him, her gloves glowing blue, and was about to aim a punch right at Kyle's head.
She was just a few steps away when Kyle saw her from a distance. He quickly tilted his body and Aurora flew past him.
"Damn it! Why did you suddenly want to attack me?" Kyle whispered, looking at her strangely.
On the other hand, Kyle could see Aurora's face clearly. On the contrary, Aurora, who had used fire as lighting, could not recognise Kyle.
"What? So you're really Kyle? But where did that jerk go?" she asked in an annoyed tone, wanting to punch the man in her heart.
Stunned. Kyle realised what she had said.
"What? I just met him." His index finger pointed behind him.
Stunned. Without a word, Aurora left Kyle alone in the hallway and went to look for the man.
On the other hand, Kyle was curious, and a small smile appeared on his confused face.
He sighed and followed where Aurora had gone, curious as to why the man had run away from Aurora and why Aurora was chasing after him with burning anger.