“46 degrees 32 minutes 51 seconds North. 7 degrees 59 minutes 6 seconds East.”
Unfortunately, the old man’s end brought no emotion to Haimar.
To him, the only thing that mattered was the fact that he had peeled Renato’s mind like an onion, layer by layer, and finally confirmed the coordinates he wanted.
Even if the old man didn’t know Ben’s exact location, he knew where Roilnia’s hideouts were in this region.
If Haimar cross-referenced the places where Roilnia could hide within the city he had identified, there was only one answer.
Ben was likely there.
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—Roilnia’s hideout sat just outside the 4.5-square-kilometer radius Haimar had set, located in the nearby outskirts.
Aside from learning this, whether the old man lived or died was of no concern to the man.
Haimar was currently struggling just to control the explosive anger boiling beneath his core.
He felt that if he let go of the reins for even a second, he might actually blow up the entire city or slaughter everything inside it without leaving a trace.
He wanted to kill.
He wanted to kill them all.
Instead of holding back like this, wouldn’t it be easier to just get rid of everything in his way?
Then, only Ben Plaskun would be left in his hands.
The urge to destroy whispered sweetly to Haimar with every breath he took.
It was a truly tempting thought. He considered surrendering his body to his fickle heart and doing as he pleased.
But then, imagining Ben looking at him covered in blood and cowering in fear made him feel much worse.
That would be a problem. He had to meet Ben with a sane mind for the boy to praise him.
The single brake remaining in his head narrowly brought him to a halt.
The loose leash tightened, dangling a carrot.
Haimar unconsciously stuck out his tongue and licked his lips in his burning thirst.
The monster wearing a human skin barely maintained its reason by imitating a guard dog.
Once he got Ben back and returned, he decided he would have to push for an Imprinting.
Like twins who could instinctively feel each other’s safety, he and Ben needed to be bound by an Imprint to escape these god-awful emotions and become completely dependent on one another.
At the thought, which improved his mood slightly, the beast suppressed its impulses once more and turned its back on the city without regret.
Vroom—!
However, just as Haimar was about to move, the sound of a bike stopping echoed from afar.
Then, an uninvited guest who had hurriedly dismounted appeared in the frozen world.
“Haimar, you—!”
Ellie, having arrived in this strange, halted world, called out to him.
After losing him near the studio apartment, she and Xenon had rushed over after hearing reports that city functions in the nearby area had stopped.
Ellie’s attempt to speak further was cut short when Xenon grabbed her hand.
“Xenon?”
Xenon shook his head at Ellie, his face pale and trembling.
He was telling her not to call out to Haimar.
Xenon had instinctively sensed the danger the moment they entered the area Haimar had under his control.
It wasn’t that Haimar didn’t know Ellie and Xenon had arrived. He was simply choosing to let them live.
Haimar’s eyes, looking into the distance as if gauging a direction without glancing their way, were already half-insane.
Xenon had been dealt a hard blow by Haimar before, but this was truly dangerous.
If they provoked him now, it wouldn’t end with a simple hit or two like last time.
What he and Ellie needed to do here wasn’t to call Haimar, but to clean up the aftermath once he left.
Once Haimar got what he wanted and left, it was only natural that the mental control and various physical restrictions placed on the city would be released.
They had to manage the chaos that would follow.
Xenon believed it was best to let Haimar go on his way.
Recognizing Xenon’s desperate look, Ellie stopped calling for Haimar.
The frozen snowflakes began to flutter and fall to the ground.
The electronic signs flickered to life, gradually adding vitality back to the streets.
It was a sign that the world, which had stopped like a lie, would soon return to its place.
Haimar, without giving the two a single glance, quietly reviewed the target coordinates.
He walked a few steps to measure his stride, backed up slightly for a light start, and then used his immense leg strength to leap.
Whoosh—!
Cutting through the harsh wind, he quickly jumped between buildings and vanished from Ellie and Xenon’s sight.
Rushing like lightning, Haimar concentrated everything into his speed and shot forward like a bullet.
He cleared several meters in a single bound, tearing through the atmosphere as the wind roared loudly.
By the time the city scenery faded and the buildings disappeared one by one, he was using transmission towers as stepping stones to cover several kilometers in just a few dozen seconds.
After crossing roads and passing through a small forest of withered trees, he neared his destination and saw a two-story concrete building.
The building stood alone on a plot thick with weeds.
There were no connecting roads or fences, making it look like a lonely island in the wasteland.
Seeing the exterior—which had a large door as an entrance but lacked even a single common window—Haimar felt a strong sense of certainty.
As he got closer, he could hear signs of life inside.
Knocking was a luxury. He had no intention of entering a kidnapper’s house politely.
Haimar leapt from the air, intending to smash through the door and burst inside.
Boom—!!!
Haimar opened the door.
…Or so he thought.
The first thing he saw wasn’t Ben or Roilnia.
It was a door to a space opening its maw toward him.
“…!!”
To avoid the space trying to swallow him in an instant, Haimar twisted his body with superhuman reaction speed.
He surely would have avoided it, if not for the voice ringing in his ears.
“Oh my, is it okay to just leave that one alone?”
It happened then.
A very slight delay occurred in his relentless, gale-like movement.
He shouldn’t have stopped. He should have ignored it.
No matter what the woman babbled to whom, he shouldn’t have stopped.
What caught Haimar was a momentary hesitation, a brief need to check on Ben’s safety.
It was a fragment of thought that never would have existed in the old him.
The absolute will not to lose what was his gave birth to hesitation.
The leash tied to him caught his ankle and created an opening.
The cunning witch did not miss that gap.
“Since when did you have so much to protect that you came so quickly?”
Haimar, who couldn’t fully stop, belatedly tried to avoid the door of space covering him, but the timing was already too late.
That moment of hesitation instantly split the world before his eyes.
“Haimar—!”
As Haimar turned his head toward the outside of the rift he was halfway sucked into, he saw the image of Ben running toward him.
The wide, shocked eyes and the clothes he was wearing were exactly the same as in his dream.
“F***…!”
A curse escaped his lips naturally.
To be on the verge of losing what he had been searching for right in front of his nose meant the suppressed emotions were bound to explode.
Simultaneously, a new fear of loss washed over Haimar.
“Have a nice trip, Haimar Alec. I wonder what will be waiting for you by the time you make it back here?”
Roilnia, who had pushed Haimar into a place he didn’t want to go, laughed joyfully from outside the open door.
The door closed, with the woman’s disgusting laughter being the last thing he saw.
It was darkness.
Splash!*
Haimar Alec fell just like that.
In an instant, cold, raging waves wrapped around his body and pulled him down.
The rushing water occupied his breath, and an endless deep sea spread beneath his feet amidst the white foam.
Shaking off the current that shackled him as if pulling his ankles down, Haimar used the sun shimmering on the surface as a guide and pulled himself out of the water in one go.
Boom—!!
As his body soared upward, the surface of the water exploded into a spray.
Broken droplets fell back onto the surface like rain, and through the disturbed waves, a deserted island appeared not far away.
Without hesitation, Haimar used the sea surface as a stepping stone to leap toward the island and soon set foot on land.
As he walked toward the shore, intense humidity and stinging sunlight clung to his skin.
Water dripped from his soaked clothes and hair.
Feeling the uncomfortable sensation of fabric wrapping around his limbs, Haimar stepped completely out of the water and instantly dried his wet shirt and hair.
Looking around, the scenery reflected in his eyes was a deserted island consisting of white sandy beaches and palm trees under a scorching sun.
No one needed to explain it.
A man who, until moments ago, had been pushing through falling snow and cold winter air had arrived in midsummer in the Southern Hemisphere in an instant.
Haimar’s face contorted fiercely at this fantasy-like reality.
This was the result of being trifled with by perhaps the only Esper on Earth who could manipulate “Space.”
It was a trick he wouldn’t have fallen for even with his eyes closed back when he didn’t know Ben, and a variable that occurred because he had never fought a battle to find and protect something of his own.
