He shouldn’t have hesitated.
Because of a hesitation that lasted no more than a ten-millionth of a second, Haimar had seen Ben but failed to reclaim him, and he hadn’t been able to tear his prey apart as he pleased.
A sudden sense of loss, rooted in the unpleasant imagination that he might lose Ben forever, crashed over him.
It was hollow and without an exit.
Even if Haimar returned to where Ben was as fast as possible starting now, there was no way that woman would leave Ben alone in the meantime.
Even for him, who mastered both the physical and mental realms, no matter how much he hurried, it would take enough time for Roilnia to do whatever she wanted a hundred times over.
For a man to whom everything had always been easy, an unprecedented dilemma now tangled together and threatened his instincts.
Victory, in the sense of simply defeating the woman, was not difficult.
Victory in the sense of reclaiming and protecting something perfectly—a feat he had never attempted—was the hard part.
A frustration he had never experienced reached out and touched him.
As his reason crossed its breaking point, it became paralyzed, giving way to a sharp, lethal edge.
Zap—.
A small spark flew from the remaining limiter.
The lone limiter desperately tried to assert its presence, struggling to suppress the vortex of chaos jumping wildly within him.
His abilities had long since surpassed the point of overloading.
His insides were a tangled mess.
Along with a headache that stabbed his brain like needles, his sharpened hearing and vision tormented him, demanding that he receive guiding immediately.
His body knew who it needed; how could his mind not know?
It was because he couldn’t reach that person that he felt like he was going insane.
Haimar needed the familiar, warm body heat.
The voice, the gaze, the scent—beyond just guiding, he needed the very existence of that man.
An endless craving overflowed through every vein in his body.
“…!!”
Suddenly, Haimar felt something and reacted.
It wasn’t something felt through the five senses, but a sensation from a different domain that couldn’t be accurately defined.
It was as weak as a thread, but clearly felt.
As Haimar focused all his nerves on the sensation within, the faint energy that felt like it might snap at any moment gradually gained strength.
It began to materialize and float, becoming faintly visible.
A band of brilliance, forming a ring around his neck, shone with a golden hue like dust motes broken by the scorching sun.
The light was so bright it was more radiant than the emerald sea and finer than the sand on the white beach.
The intangible cluster of light pulsed, faded, and sparkled brightly again.
Then, in an instant, a thunderous realization flashed through Haimar’s mind.
This was an undeniable calling.
Ben Plaskun was calling him.
He knew it. He could just feel it.
Responding to his call, the violently shining cluster of stars was urging Haimar on.
His burning body moved faster than his cold, calculating mind.
Time to worry?
Time to delay?
Of course not.
Why hesitate?
He was already standing here as a result of hesitation.
The man could no longer find a reason to suppress his power.
If his Guide wanted him, he intended to use everything possible to answer.
Worrying about the risk of a rampage now was foolish.
Everything would be resolved once he met Ben.
What people truly needed to fear was what would happen if he lost Ben, not the immediate risk of a rampage.
Crunch!
Without a moment’s pause, Haimar grabbed the earlobe where the limiter was attached and tore it off.
The groaning, sparking limiter vanished in an instant, and blood flowed down his torn skin.
The atmosphere fluctuated precariously as his power began to soar destructively.
The man’s only role was to take back what was his.
To return after reclaiming the usurper who had stolen his leash and his heart.
It was the moment Haimar Alec broke the last shackle himself.
“Ahaha! Did you see that dazed expression?!”
Immediately after Haimar disappeared into the rift, Roilnia couldn’t hold back her laughter and burst out.
She was dying of satisfaction from seeing the man’s face—a face she had never seen before—distorted with bewilderment.
As she leaned back and laughed, white smoke billowed from her entire body, following her heightened mood.
Inside the thick smoke concentrated particularly on the arm Roilnia had lost, something was bulging and writhing, forming a new shape.
Muscles and bones were pushing through the skin that had turned black, moving as if a plant were growing.
This strange and hideous scene was the result of Roilnia stabbing herself with an ampoule immediately after attacking Penka and escaping the nightmare.
The clouds of smoke puffing incessantly from her body looked like the woman’s own confidence.
The superior recovery speed gained from the medicine she manufactured and the regeneration ampoule she obtained to recreate her lost arm boosted the pride that had once fallen into the abyss.
Furthermore, since she had changed the situation to her liking using her unique ability—the one thing Haimar did not possess—Roilnia was drenched in a thrilling intoxication, compensating for her past disgrace.
“Can he read my thoughts now? I’m so curious.”
With this, she didn’t doubt for a second that she would become equal to the man who was always one step ahead of her.
Roilnia finally painted a rosy picture of surpassing Haimar and approaching perfection.
If there was one flaw in this perfect picture she had planned, it was that brat lying unconscious on the floor.
It was pathetic how he tried to play tricks just because he was an Esper.
If it weren’t for that insignificant interference, she wouldn’t have had to dwell on her regrets; she could have reclaimed her arm by now and greeted Haimar, who had arrived earlier than expected.
From the moment Roilnia woke from the nightmare and used the ampoule to the moment Haimar arrived at this strange, windowless building—it all happened within a mere ten minutes.
Since Ben had expected it would take at least thirty minutes from the time he woke up until Haimar arrived, ten minutes was a very short span of time.
Judging by past conversations with the twins, it seemed possible because the timelines of the dream and reality were different.
Regardless, it was good that Haimar had come quickly.
However, the joy was short-lived; the woman, whose arm was not yet complete, immediately sent Haimar to another space.
Just as Haimar had felt that there were people here, Roilnia had sensed his presence and chose to buy time so she wouldn’t be disturbed until she regained her former, complete form.
She was incredibly cunning.
“Now then, do you want to hear what you and I are going to do?”
In the end, the worst-case scenario Ben didn’t want to imagine had arrived.
Penka was still unconscious after being attacked when Roilnia escaped the dream.
Haimar, who had come to save him, had fallen for the woman’s trap, and there was no telling when he would be able to return.
Left alone, Ben had never considered a situation where he would face that woman one-on-one.
A weapon? He had none.
A method? Nothing suitable came to mind.
Was his body in good condition? Not that either.
In the first place, it was madness for a Guide, who was no different from a regular person, to face an S-rank Esper.
How was he supposed to overcome this ordeal?
He was truly cornered.
“Listen, I’m going to hang you right here in front so Haimar can see you slowly dying the moment he walks in. Won’t it be exciting to see what his expression will be? It’ll be fun, right? But if he takes too long, should I go find him?”
The red-haired woman sang her murder notice with endless delight.
Ben was speechless at the one-sided announcement that treated his opinion as worthless.
Madness sparked in her red eyes as she surveyed her prey lightly, as if considering which insect to crush.
To the woman, the despair of others was a very sweet drug.
Having inhaled the scent of that drug called despair, Roilnia eventually pulled something out of thin air and threw it at Ben.
“It would be unfair if only you didn’t have a weapon while we’re playing together, so I’ll give you this. Hoaphilen made it, thinking he could beat me. Isn’t it laughable?”
A mysterious cylinder rolled across the floor and stopped in front of Ben.
Ben, holding the cylinder filled with sloshing green liquid, busily worked his brain to understand her intention behind those words.
Presumably, this cylinder was something Hoaphilen had made to oppose the woman.
The fact that Roilnia had it instead of Hoaphilen meant, with a high probability, that the woman had won.
Conversely, it meant that the defeated Hoaphilen’s life was likely in danger.
Or he was already dead.
He wasn’t someone Ben could view favorably, but the thought that he might be dead made Ben feel complicated.
However, now was not the time to worry about others when his own life was on the line.
Thinking it through, this could all be the nonsense and traps of the cunning Roilnia.
Ben, looking at the cylinder, asked the woman her intention for throwing it to him.
“What reason do I have to trust you and take this?”
“Whether you trust me or not is up to you. I just gave it to you so you could at least try something.”
Roilnia shrugged, her left arm slowly taking shape.
Perhaps the nerve connections weren’t perfect yet, as it moved unnaturally like a machine, but on the outside, it looked almost like a normal human arm.
The woman added, sensing that her full recovery was not far off.
“It won’t work on me, but it’s better than having absolutely nothing. In exchange, if that thing touches even a hair on me, I’ll let that boy go safely. It has to be that way to be fair.”
Fair?
Where on earth was the fairness in this?
