* * *
Just moments ago, she’d fired the machine gun straight for his face.
As a result, the side of Haimar’s ear was grazed, tinged slightly with blood—but the wound itself had healed almost immediately.
She hadn’t expected to hit him directly.
Her target was singular.
The control device.
The barrage of bullets had left one of his control units partially shattered, dangling uselessly.
“Ahaha!!”
How delightful.
Not only had she wounded his body, she’d backed him into a corner.
A shudder of excitement coursed through her, her entire body trembling with pleasure as she let out a louder laugh.
“Oops, my bad. Looks like I broke it.”
Crackle—
Sparks flickered faintly from Haimar’s ear.
Already unstable, the damaged control device now made everything around him—literally—poisonous.
The remaining two devices were working overtime, heat radiating from them, but it wouldn’t last.
Soon they’d overload.
The once-light gravitational pressure began to weigh heavily upon him, pressing him down.
Even the air he breathed turned to needles stabbing his insides.
Along with that, a splitting headache pounded his skull, growing stronger with every second.
All the abnormal symptoms that had briefly vanished now clawed their way back, gripping his body tight.
Pain born from excess power—Haimar was no stranger to it.
At times like this, the only option was to focus solely on suppressing his strength.
To crush it, trample it down, again and again—if he wanted to preserve his identity as Haimar Eilec.
Running a hand through his hair to soothe the migraine threatening to explode his skull, Haimar’s eyes drifted toward the half-collapsed building ahead.
In the past, this unbearable pain would’ve come with no end in sight—but now, his guide’s presence instinctively surfaced in his mind.
“Hah…”
Damn it. Hard to tell which one of us is the real bastard here.
Once again, Haimar admitted it to himself—he still needed a leash.
As much as he wanted to slice this woman and the entire space around her apart, his restrained powers weren’t enough to keep up with his desires.
Worse, in this state, even sensing his guide’s presence was difficult.
That alone enraged him.
The fruits of patience were sweet, but the process—this agonizing process—was intolerable.
“Ben Plaskun—”
If he had to wait any longer, he might lose his mind.
From the depths of the intangible swamp engulfing him, a beast at its limit growled low.
“You have no idea… how long I’ve been waiting for this.”
The woman closed the distance in an instant, standing before the building where Haimar remained, tongue flicking out playfully.
One hand held the machine gun; the other, she raised high in the air.
“Haimar Eilec. The moment I surpass you, kill you, and prove my strength—that moment is finally here.”
At her raised fingertip, an anomaly began to unfold in the sky hundreds of meters above—a tightly packed canopy of dark clouds, torn apart as though by force, revealing a hole.
But calling it a “hole” was insufficient—the opening was massive.
As the clouds thinned, the gaping maw beyond was revealed.
“This is so childish, I can barely watch.”
Even through his distorted vision, overwhelmed by sensory confusion, Haimar managed a contemptuous smirk.
Years had passed, yet nothing had changed—not one damn thing.
And the so-called “method” she’d chosen to surpass him? Laughable.
“So. You really thought becoming a junkie would make you strong enough to win?”
“Call it evolution, darling. You expect me to accept having a guide above me? Even without that, you were always the strongest. Can’t believe you never understood me.”
“What a talent, spewing bullshit so casually.”
His lowered gaze flickered upward toward the distorted sky.
He no longer saw a reason to respond to her provocations.
“Fine, then. I’ll just have to prove it myself.”
The gaping space overhead opened like a pitch-black void, almost like a black hole.
At Roilnia’s words, broken concrete rained down in a torrent from within.
“The area I can open at once? A neat 3,300 square meters. So, guess where I opened it?”
The teasing question was easily answered by observing the debris.
Shattered marble fragments, chandeliers that had adorned the building just hours ago—all of it tumbled down in a deadly cascade.
The space connected directly to the building they’d been in moments prior.
The ground beneath the building had connected with the sky—it was only natural that collapse followed.
Debris poured endlessly from above, following the inevitable pull of gravity.
It was unclear exactly where or how much of the building the woman had opened up, but thankfully, the space exposed was smaller than the building itself.
If the opening had been larger, the entire structure would’ve vanished into the sky like a sinkhole in an instant.
But because only part of the building’s foundation had been displaced by the rift above, the debris kept raining down, yet the building itself was collapsing at a sluggish pace.
Boom! Boom—!
The falling rubble, guided by some invisible force, began to form walls, encircling Haimar and Roilnia as if shaping a battleground on purpose.
“Ahhhh! Help me!”
“Kyaaah—!”
Among the falling debris, of course, were people.
But their screams went unanswered, quickly drowned beneath the overwhelming cacophony.
Only Roilnia, brushing tangled hair from her face and giggling that even people were falling from the sky, paid them any attention.
“I hate disgusting things, so I won’t throw any more people.”
“Shut up. You’re noisy.”
Crackle, crackle.
It felt like a fuse was burning inside his head.
Despite the freezing air, heat surged through Haimar’s body, as though boiling blood was bubbling along his veins.
He yanked off his tie, which felt like it was choking him.
The woman was rambling about something, but her words didn’t reach him.
Only his hot breaths squeezed from his throat, scattering into the cold air.
Noisy.
Both inside and outside his head were distorted with relentless noise.
The earth-shattering crashes and the helpless screams blended together, gnawing away at Haimar’s nerves.
‘Maybe if I kill them all, it’ll finally go quiet.’
Haimar raised his hand toward the defective control device attached to him, sparks dancing from it, ready to rip it off—then suddenly froze.
Zzzzzing—.
A faint sound.
It was so small that it shouldn’t have reached him, especially when the woman’s voice couldn’t even break through the noise.
Compared to the chaos around him, it was a sound easily lost—but to Haimar, it pierced through clearly.
His hand, which had hovered near the device on his ear, veered as if bewitched, slipping into his pocket where he had forgotten about his smartphone after his encounter with the woman.
His eyes landed on the brightly glowing screen for only a fleeting moment—but it was enough.
His gaze, like imprinting something onto his mind, closed tightly for an instant, then rolled past the woman and toward something beyond.
His pupils, reflecting a flash of realization, captured the collapsing sky—or rather, something beyond even that.
For the first time, Roilnia felt an indescribable sense of unease.
“Your time to play around…”
Even Haimar’s low, reverberating voice wasn’t directed at her.
Despite his words being a heavy verdict pressed upon Roilnia, they didn’t even grace her with direct acknowledgment.
“…is over.”
“……!!!”
BOOM—!!
Condensed force exploded beneath him as Haimar’s body launched into the sky with overwhelming power.
At the same time, fragments of rage that filled the air followed him in unison.
Like guided missiles, debris chased him relentlessly.
Some collided mid-air, some crashed to the ground by his hand, but they persisted.
Yet Haimar swiftly dodged the debris, using some pieces as stepping stones, ascending toward the source of the destruction opened in the sky.
As if waiting for something.
[I’m coming. Now.]
There was only one reason he could move with such certainty—because he was sure.
∗ ∗ ∗
What would other people call what he was about to do?
Suicide? Self-harm? Self-destruction?
Standing precariously close to the edge of the enormous hole that had opened out of nowhere, Ben pondered for a moment.
Beyond the gap, debris fell endlessly, clouds thick with dust obscured the view—it was impossible to tell how deep it went.
Only the biting wind and the sharp, high-altitude air gave away that he stood impossibly high up.
Rustle—.
Even the ground beneath his feet looked ready to crumble under the falling debris.
If he didn’t move soon, only endless freefall awaited him.
So, from a logical standpoint, what he was about to do could only be called a gamble.
Or maybe, it was just insanity, born from desperately wanting to outrun the hallucinations tormenting him.
* * *
