Tadak—! Tak—!
An unmapped zone hidden within the 37th floor.
"I am sorry, Bell."
Ssh—
"To make you use your precious Mind just to light a fire."
Located directly beneath the Colosseum, this was a Safety Point that no one would dare dream of discovering—a place whose very existence was deemed an absurdity.
"We were lucky... to find a Safety Point here."
It wasn't a matter of skill or brilliant strategy.
"Indeed, Brother."
"It is truly Heavenly Luck."
It was mere fortune, a grace granted by the heavens, and they chose to accept it without question.
"I can't feel the presence of monsters at all."
"Not a breath, not a trace. Nothing."
"Fortunately, we'll be able to rest."
Yet, despite the sanctuary, problems remained.
Throb—!
"....."
Drip—!
The agony radiating from Akumo's broken body was reaching a level that could no longer be suppressed. Blood seeped out, and his lacerated flesh screamed in pain at the mere touch of the wind.
"Akumo-san, I will treat you."
"I just mentioned the Mind issue—"
"Be silent."
"Yes..."
There was no way Ryu could simply stand by and watch.
Shooo—!!
"[Noah Heal]"
She poured every drop of the Mind she had managed to recover into the spell, determined to heal him even if the effort seemed futile.
Ssss—!
"[Noah Heal]"
Gugugu—!!
"[Noah Heal]"
Shooo—!
Perhaps her will had reached him, or perhaps it was because the vines from the previous battle had finally withered and torn away, but the treatment was taking hold, however slowly.
Crack—!
'With this, I can at least fire off one major spell...'
"Haah... haah... I will use it once more in a moment."
'...However.'
"I will accept no arguments. Stay still and focus only on your recovery."
"I understand..."
But Akumo had one thought that refused to leave his mind.
"Ryu, I'm sorry, bu—"
Rustle—!
"Uh...?"
Akumo, who was about to say something to Ryu, lost his words at the sight before him.
Slide—!
It was only natural; Ryu was removing her clothes right in front of him.
"Our clothes were soaked when we fell. To maintain body temperature, we have no choice but to remove them."
".....Bell, let's go over there."
At Ryu's words, Akumo tried to push himself up to move to a corner with Bell and undress, but...
Stagger—!
"Damn..."
'My sense of balance hasn't recovered yet.'
"Bell, give me a hand."
It hadn't even been five minutes since Akumo's body began to heal. He couldn't move on his own, so he called for Bell to help him relocate.
"....."
"Bell?"
"....."
"Ryu?"
He looked at them, wondering why they weren't responding, only to find both of their faces flushed bright red.
""/////""
In this situation, they could do nothing but strip off their own clothes and keep their heads turned away.
'I-It's impossible not to be conscious of this...'
Tighten—!!
'To think such a thing would happen in the Dungeon.'
Ryu felt a deep sense of shame at the fact that Bell and Akumo were undressing. For someone like her, whose principles were strict enough to forbid even casual physical contact, this was impossible to ignore.
"..."
Thud—!
Bell was the same. His face was crimson, and his body trembled as memories of a certain incident at the hot springs flashed through his mind.
Slide—!
Rustle—!
""!!""
At that moment, the sound of clothes being removed came from Akumo's direction. Their nerves focused entirely on that sound, and they tensed up.
Thud—!
"Ryu, use this."
To their surprise, Akumo calmly handed his relatively intact robe to Ryu.
"Ah, yes..."
Ssh—
"Akumo-san...."
"It's fine. I'm not so far gone that I can't even take off my own clothes."
After wrapping the robe around her nearly naked body, Ryu finally managed to look at Akumo.
"Ah...."
In that instant, Ryu's eyes fell upon Akumo's body, and her heart momentarily stopped.
Thump—!
Thump-thump—!
No, it was likely just a brief silence before her heart began to hammer against her ribs with violent intensity.
"....!?!!!?"
Whish—!!!
"Aah..."
Ryu immediately curled into a ball, trembling with embarrassment, yet thoughts continued to flood her mind.
'I-It's for the sake of treatment... there was no choice...'
'No, Ryu...! What are you thinking...!?'
'He must already have a partner...!!'
'But... but...!!'
Ryu could not easily calm herself.
—'[Sylphid Trident]'
She remembered seeing him during the Xenos incident.
'He felt like Riveria-sama.... no, even more than that....'
Thump-thump—!
'He definitely felt like an Elf.... without a doubt....!'
Long white hair flowing down to his waist, eyes as brilliant as the verdant depths of a forest, and a blue radiance like the sea that made them stand out even more.
"What's wrong, Ryu?"
"No.. ah... well...!!"
Every time she saw his face, those thoughts filled her head. Her mind was a battlefield between instinct and reason, leaving her unable to even answer properly—until.
"Is it because of the wounds?"
"Probably... I was shocked when I saw them at the hot springs last time too...."
The voices of Bell and Akumo succeeded in bringing her back to her senses.
"Wounds....?"
"Yeah, the scars on my body."
"!!"
Only then did Ryu truly register the countless scars covering Akumo's upper body. She was horrified and found herself unable to look away.
"They're quite old."
"I saw them once at the hot springs. He said he got them when he was a child..."
"When you were a child!?"
"No, no... I'll explain, so just calm down, Ryu...."
Ryu turned to him, looking ready to interrogate him on the spot. Startled, Akumo gave her the same explanation he had given at the hot springs regarding his childhood.
"I see...."
"Yeah, did I not tell you?"
"You did not!"
Even Bell had only recently learned of Akumo's past, so there was no way Ryu would have known. She was deeply shaken by his history.
'Since he was a child.... Akumo-san has been fighting...'
The story of being abandoned in a village, of fighting monsters alone for a month to grow strong, and even of killing adventurers.
"I've told you before, I'm not much different from you."
"....."
"I made excuses about not having the luxury to care about nobility. I just wanted power."
'Without any special sense of justice or a grand cause, I lived more like a common brawler...'
Akumo assumed that Ryu, who had pursued a noble sense of justice long before the Astraea Familia incident, would not think highly of him. However...
".....Is that so."
Grip—!
"Ryu!?"
Even after hearing that—no, because she heard it—Ryu reached out and took his hand.
'You are truly bottomless...'
"If you are no different from me, doesn't that make you even more incredible?"
While hiding such scars and suppressing such greed within himself, he had still tried to save her, save everyone, and even sacrifice himself.
Tearful—
"Thank you, truly."
'I will say it now... Thank you for saving me. Thank you for protecting me all these years...'
Her tear-filled eyes were brimming with the warmth of her emotions.
Gratitude for the grace she had only ever received, and reverence for the heart that had sacrificed itself for them...
"Please, be more selfish, Akumo."
".....!!"
"I have only ever received from you. I have done nothing but lean on you..."
Squeeze—!
"Now, I want to be the one standing by Akumo's side to support him."
And finally, the deep emotions hidden within her that she no longer wished to conceal.
"This really reminds me of the old days."
"Has something like this happened before?"
Shortly after, they decided to huddle together to maintain their body heat.
"Of course, I was alone back then."
'I think it was when I ran into that red wolf bastard on some mountain~'
".....I'm glad."
Ryu leaned into his embrace, her face red, yet listening intently to every word he said.
"Brother... but why am I...?"
Of course, it wasn't just Ryu in his broad embrace; Bell was there too. Akumo smiled as he held both of them.
"Ahaha! It can't be helped, can it? I couldn't just leave you out."
"Fufu, he's right. We thought you might be lonely, Bell-san."
Akumo and Ryu laughed together, looking at the flustered Bell as if he were adorable. Bell blushed even harder, feeling as though they were looking at him like a young child.
"..."
—'Please, be more selfish, Akumo.'
".....Ah~"
—'Devour it all.'
In that moment, Akumo felt the urge to show a bit more of that selfishness.
"Guys, would you do me a favor?"
"Akumo?" "Brother?"
Akumo's gaze fixed on a bag in the distance, and he smiled with eyes full of certainty.
"You brought my arm, didn't you?"
"!?"
Bell gasped, his expression one of shock as if wondering how he could possibly have known.
"How did you...."
"How could I not? It's been tucked away at the bottom of that bag this whole time."
'Good grief~ you kids really lugged that heavy thing all this way...'
He had felt a sense of dissonance from the bag for a while now.
Inside, Bell had placed Akumo's arm—severed during the fight with Akuo—into a compartment he'd cut into the bag's leather, carrying it ever since.
"I thought if we made it out of the Dungeon safely, Amid-san might be able to reattach it..."
"That depends on the situation. It's likely far too late for that."
Thud—!
"It's fine, so just bring me my arm."
A severed arm. Bell's face darkened again at the words, but Akumo simply patted his head and repeated the request, signaling that everything was alright.
Ssh—
"R-Ryu-san..!"
"Stay seated. I will get it."
Ryu, who had been listening to the conversation, approached the bag while Bell remained in a daze.
Slice—!
"....."
Ryu cut away the modified section of the bag and successfully retrieved Akumo's arm.
"....What is this?"
'I thought it would surely be rotting....'
However, the arm showed no signs of decay despite several days passing. Instead of rotting, it had turned as black as a lump of charcoal.
"Akumo... what exactly do you intend to do with this...?"
Sensing something ominous, Ryu turned to look at him.
"Something interesting."
Grin—!
"Of course, it'll be interesting for us."
Accepting the words his heart had sent him and Ryu's sincerity, Akumo wore a mischievous expression—the look of a man about to indulge in a bit of selfishness.
Splash—!
"""..."""
Having received the arm, Akumo was now washing his right limb in the river.
"This should be enough."
When he finished rinsing it in the flowing water, Akumo was still smiling.
"Ryu-san... is this really going to be okay?"
"Let's trust Akumo for now...."
Bell and Ryu watched him with concern, wondering if this was truly wise. But since they couldn't reattach the arm anyway and didn't believe he would make the situation worse, they simply sat side-by-side and observed.
"Whew....."
Thud—!
'Is it... possible...?'
Ssh—!
"No, this is right. It has to be possible."
Akumo knew what he was about to do wasn't normal, but trusting his conviction and his luck, he placed the arm before him.
Ssss—!
As if signaling the start, Akumo clenched his left fist.
CLANG—!!!
""!!""
"Brother...!?" "Akumo..!!"
He struck the blackened arm with all his might.
CLANG—!!!
CLANG—!!!!
However, the sound that rang out wasn't the wet thud of flesh, but a clear, ear-piercing ring—like a hammer striking iron.
"I'm going to be a bit stubborn here. Bear with the noise."
Apologizing for the racket, Akumo used his fist as a hammer, repeatedly striking the arm in front of him.
CLANG—!!!!!
'Selfishness.'
CLANG—!!!!!
'It might be greed.'
CLANG—!!!!
'Even so, I will do it.'
What he poured into each strike was his heart.
They were emotions that could never be called pure or righteous.
TUKANG—!!!
""!!""
Yet, they were the emotions of a living being, proving more than anything else that he was human, a creature existing in this world.
"We might... be witnessing a scene that even the Gods have never beheld...."
TUKANG—!!!
"Brother....!"
TUKANG—!!!
What is supremacy? What is that Supremacy that every blacksmith and every being yearns to reach?
TUKANG—!!!!
Does everything end once you reach that peak?
TUKANG—!!!!
Absolutely not.
Even the Gods, even the Heroes who believe they have reached that domain, sometimes depend on those who still strive for it.
TUKANG—!!!
They continue to live, driven by Greed and Selfishness and countless other desires.
KAANG—!!!!
That is why they can move forward. That is why they can reach that place.
—'This is the joy of a cruel disaster.'
No matter what weapon is used, no matter what heart one possesses, no matter what method is employed—even if it is a dark power.
Thump—!
"No."
Thump—!
It can shine more brilliantly than anything else.
"It shall be the King's Return."
—'It shall be the King's Return.'