Two hours passed, and worry spread through the military like a slow infection. Elizabeth was never late. Not once. Not ever.
Lieutenant Zain felt it first—that tightening in the chest that warned of irreversible things.
"We go to the mountains," he ordered. "Now."
The wind howled as they reached her quarters, as if the world itself was trying to warn them away. When the door was opened—
Silence fell.
Elizabeth lay there, unmoving, her crimson hair spread across the floor like spilled fire now gone cold. The strength that once bent nations had vanished, leaving behind only stillness. Death had claimed her gently—mockingly gently.
Beside her slept Ryo.
Curled against the stone, eyes shadowed, hands bruised and torn. He had fought the night itself, refusing rest, waiting for the masked figure to return. But exhaustion is a merciless enemy. Sleep had dragged him under… and fate had finished its work.
For the first time in years, the mountains felt hollow.
Lieutenant Zain stood frozen.
"…Who would dare?" he whispered.
His gaze lowered to the boy.
"So this is Ryo. The one she spoke of as if he were already a legend."
He turned sharply.
"Prepare her burial. Not a commander's. A hero's."
Then, softer—almost human:
"Take the boy to the base. I will speak to him when he wakes."
Cold iron. Damp stone. Darkness.
Ryo awoke choking on the absence of her presence.
Bars surrounded him. A cell.
An officer's voice echoed down the corridor. "Lieutenant—he's awake!"
Footsteps approached. Measured. Heavy.
Lieutenant Zain appeared.
Ryo rose instantly.
"Where is Elizabeth?"
Zain did not flinch. "She has been laid to rest. The finest burial Alulencia could give."
The words shattered something inside Ryo.
Not loudly.
Quietly.
The most dangerous way.
"I will ask once," Zain said. "Did you kill her?"
"No."
"Did you see who did?"
Ryo's breath trembled.
"Yes. A masked figure."
His fists clenched until blood surfaced.
"Every strike I threw… meant nothing. He moved like a phantom. Untouchable." His voice cracked. "He escaped because I was weak."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Zain exhaled slowly.
"Then what do you intend to do now?"
Ryo lifted his head.
"Let me join the military."
His eyes burned—not with rage, but with something worse. Resolve.
"She told me once," Ryo said quietly, "that you die the way you lived." His voice lowered into something almost inhuman. "If I must live as a monster to avenge her… then I accept that fate."
Lieutenant Zain stared at him, something unreadable crossing his face.
"Fate is cruel," he murmured. "And unbearably beautiful."
Ryo frowned. "Beautiful?"
"Elizabeth died on the fourteenth," Zain said. "The same day her sister was declared dead."
A pause.
"She died smiling."
Zain turned away.
"I find you… troubling, Ryo."
"There is a war coming. Rolencia."
"The strongest nation besides ours," Ryo said.
"And the most merciless," Zain replied. "If the masked figure vanished without a trace, he is at least A-rank. Possibly higher."
Zain looked back at him.
"Train. Grow stronger. Surpass humanity if you must."
Ryo bowed his head.
"I will."
4 months vanished into blood, sweat, and broken limits.
Ryo reached S-rank.
Alongside him stood Scarlet, Leona, Aisha, Abraham, and Benjamin—once strangers, now bound by survival. Friendship was forged not by words, but by shared scars.
Lieutenant Zain addressed them beneath a darkened sky.
"We move to assist the other nations. We repair what war has ruined."
"Yes, sir!"
They traveled by horse, reaching a land still bleeding from conflict. The people welcomed them with cautious hope. Homes were rebuilt. Streets cleansed.
Yet—
Ryo stopped.
That feeling returned.
Heavy. Familiar. Like a blade hovering just above the spine.
Aisha noticed immediately. "Ryo…?"
He didn't answer.
Because across the street—half-hidden between broken stone and shadow—
A mask watched them.
Still.
Silent.
656.
The air warped around him, as if reality itself refused to acknowledge his presence.
Ryo's heart sank.
The nightmare had not ended.
It had followed him.
And this time—
It was smiling.