The Guardian Answers
Raven's resolve was ironclad.
No matter what happens, I have to save him.
No one would die in front of him because of a Gate. Not again.
The unexpected sight had frozen him for only a moment. The instant he grasped the situation, Raven bolted forward without a second thought.
The twisted vow that had become his shackle pressed down on his already sprinting legs with crushing force. And still it whipped him onward, demanding he run faster.
It was an excessively desperate act for someone he had never even met—a complete stranger.
…That damn guilt of his.
In the realm of the dead, far removed from the living world, the Guardian Spirit rose from his seat and watched Raven with eyes full of worry.
The one who opened the Gate did not do so of his own true will.
He feared the boy would hurt himself badly again.
It had only been moments ago that he was forced to watch helplessly as a monster tore a head from its shoulders. His chest had already been tight with tension; now it plummeted at the sight of Raven charging forward again without regard for his own body. If he still possessed a living heart, it might have stopped by now.
He wanted to stop those dangerous, reckless actions, but he knew all too well that Raven would not listen even if he tried.
…The world has broken this child.
The worry he could not soothe turned to anger. That anger, with nowhere else to go, reached back into the past and sharpened its blade.
The soul whose time had stopped in a distant age was easily ensnared by old memories, burning with resentment.
Pitiful thing.
The abandoned child had watched with clear eyes as the entire world tore him apart with tongues and pens like blades, cursing his very existence.
That was the first world he had ever known. How could his mind possibly remain intact?
A Guardian Spirit could not interfere with the mind of the one he protected. No matter what he said, it was ultimately up to Raven to accept it. He had told him countless times that there had been no other choice back then, that the situation had simply been what it was…
But sadly, even Raven was not on Raven’s side.
After circling back through his thoughts, the Guardian Spirit finally returned his focus to the present. He pushed the bitter memories aside and prepared to move at any moment.
His darkened green eyes followed Raven’s every motion without the slightest tremor.
Meanwhile, Raven clenched his teeth.
The distance is too great.
Even though he was running with all his strength, he wasn’t sure he could reach the boy before he died.
If things went perfectly, he might make it by a hair’s breadth—but what good was that? His goal wasn’t to reach him. It was to keep him alive.
Just a little faster. Just a little more.
He knew his reaction was excessive. But he couldn’t help it.
Time had passed. People had grown used to Gates bursting open without warning and learned how to handle them. Yet that did not erase the horrors of the past, nor did it prevent new victims from appearing now.
Even setting aside his warped vow, the madman who had caused the Gate Incident was inevitably weak toward its victims.
And right now, he had ignored the few monsters slipping out of the Gate, thinking he would deal with them later since no one was supposed to be here.
Besides—
He’s screaming with his entire body that he wants to live, no matter what.
How could he turn away from that?
The sight of the boy tripping while running madly, then rolling and crawling, desperately clinging to life—it seized his gaze completely. It was like brilliant sunlight, and at the same time like an endless darkness that swallowed everything.
Either way, he could not look away. And so Raven could not give up. If he was human, if he was an adult, wasn’t it only natural to save a child who wanted to live this badly?
Blocking the monster or pulling the boy out is impossible.
There wasn’t even time to get into position.
So—
…
As if reading the inscrutable resolve in his eyes, a worried message from the Guardian Spirit descended.
No, this wasn’t worry. It was closer to—
Do not block it with your body!
“…I’ll apologize in advance. Sorry.”
He would try his best, but it didn’t look like there would be time for any other method.
The message carried a sense of desperation that bordered on a scream or a wail, yet Raven paid it no mind.
“It’s been so long you must have forgotten, but I told you before, didn’t I?”
It was only one child. And since his wounds didn’t heal naturally, it would make sense to give up and step back… but he remembered clearly mentioning it once.
“The people who died because of the Gate Incident, and every living being on the surface who must now live alongside these Gates—I am responsible for all of them.”
…Before going dormant, the Guardian Spirit points out: ‘Whether the world perishes or not, do as you please…’
“That was something I said in a fit of anger when I wasn’t in my right mind!”
Anyway.
“What are you so worried about?”
Death wasn’t even nearby.
“It’s not like I can’t move.”
Raven smiled faintly. His feet had already kicked hard off the ground, launching his body into the air. He had already slipped between the monster and the child like a shield.
“If it gets dangerous, you’ll protect me, won’t you?”
You must have already risen from your seat and been waiting the moment I looked like I was in danger.
Right, brother?
With one hand he drew his dagger, and with the other he gave the child a light shove. The recoil sent his airborne body flying helplessly backward—straight into the monster’s maw.
Raven twisted his upper body at once. The reckless motion sent a pain like his spine and legs were about to snap, but with his chest and knees already buried in the monster’s jaws, he had no attention to spare for it.
He couldn’t just become the monster’s chew toy. Gritting his teeth, Raven used the momentum of his twisted torso to slash upward across the roof of the monster’s mouth.
He faintly heard a sickening crunch from his waist.
“KRRAAAAAHH!!”
The sharp pain made the beast shriek and stagger backward.
But then—
BOOM!
A much larger monster stomped down on it, crushing its body, and opened its jaws toward the long-awaited prey.
…This is the best I can do.
Left completely defenseless, Raven stared straight into the damp darkness closing over his vision and murmured in a low voice. His tone, laced with bitterness, carried a faint, wry smile.
So don’t hesitate—
“Help me.”
The Guardian Spirit answers the call.
And then.
Slice.
The monster split in two.
∗ ∗ ∗
The escaped slave fell into despair.
What sin had he committed in his past life that the heavens would treat him so cruelly?
First pursuers, now monsters. What kind of absurd luck was this? Dan gritted his teeth and rolled aside to avoid the monster’s descending foreleg.
I finally escaped from the slave traders…
Nothing ever went easily.
Even though he was already in enough pain and exhaustion, the persistent misfortune brought a surge of rage and sorrow. But it lasted only a moment. Dan widened his bloodshot eyes and crawled forward.
He had despaired, but he had not given up.
He had to live.
Not because he wanted to, but because he had to—for the last remaining member of his family on this land.
“Go first. It doesn’t matter what happens to me, but this is your second escape. If they catch you this time, you’ll really die.”
— ….
“You got caught the first time because you tried to take me with you… You can’t do that again. One time being a burden is enough.”
— …I will find someone to help.
“Don’t do that. It’s time for you to stand on your own. You’re all grown up now.”
— Please wait for me.
Because my sister is waiting.
The image of his sister, bleeding out from the pursuers’ brutal attack, rose in his mind. Over it layered the resigned look in her eyes as she gave up on her own life, and the voice that had pushed him away. Dan clenched his jaw even harder and struggled with everything he had to survive.
He had known she would refuse, so he hadn’t waited for an answer before running. He could not let that stubborn back be the last thing she ever saw.
…He could not leave her to grow cold in endless, hopeless waiting.
How can I survive this?
He couldn’t even cry out for help. After his first escape failed, they had taken his voice as an example.
Since the most useful—and practically only—way to ask for help was impossible, the only thing left was to survive on his own.
The thought Can I do it? quickly changed to I must. That was why Dan had fought so desperately to stay alive until the very end.
And as if the heavens had finally taken one step back in the face of his sincerity, a miracle occurred.
A shadow seemed to fall. He thought it belonged to the monster about to finish him off, but then he felt a presence. Someone shoved him aside.
His body, which had barely managed to rise, tumbled across the ground again. Yet he couldn’t be angry. A stranger he had never seen before had thrown himself into the monster’s mouth in his place.
What… Why?
Despite an action that looked like a death wish, the man twisted his body to avoid being swallowed cleanly and slashed the roof of the monster’s mouth. The beast staggered back. For a moment, hope flickered—only to be extinguished in an instant.
A larger monster had stomped on the pained creature and appeared in its place.
Dan’s eyes widened at the sight of the falling body, completely defenseless before the gaping maw of razor-sharp teeth. It looked like a black flower petal.
The moment he realized the horrific scene that was about to unfold, he heard a small voice.
“Help me.”
A muttered request that made no sense.
Dan blinked stupidly.
…The one wedged between him and the monster’s open jaws was none other than the man himself. So why was he asking for help? And before that—who was he even talking to?
Before he could even begin to puzzle out an answer, something strange happened.
The Guardian Spirit answers the call.
The green eyes of the stranger—eyes that had burned with eerie clarity even in that fleeting glance amid the chaos—lost their light like a snuffed candle.
At the same time, a red line appeared from the crown of the monster’s head all the way to the tip of its tail, as if it were about to tear the human apart.
Splat!
The monster split in two a beat later, and blood poured out.
Yet none of it touched them.
“…I will protect you even after I die.”
Someone had moved them both to another place.
Dan couldn’t hide his shock.
…He appeared out of nowhere. How?
Black hair fluttered in the wind.
A tall, solidly built young man stood with his back to them. He swung his blade, slicing another monster in half, then slowly turned his head. Unreadable green eyes turned their way.
Their gazes met for only a moment. The green eyes that had brushed past him without emotion then moved to the reckless man who had stepped forward to protect someone—the man who, until just now, had possessed the same eyes as this newcomer. They filled with boundless tenderness.
The temperature difference was so extreme that anyone could notice it at a glance.
“Yes… How could I possibly let you face danger?”
The low, gentle voice jolted Dan’s dazed mind back to clarity.
When he regained his senses and looked again, he finally noticed something he had missed before. It was so clear he wondered how he hadn’t seen it immediately.
…Stitch marks?
Stitches circled the entire length of the man’s neck.
As if… his head and body had been severed and sewn back together…
Now that I think about it… their eyes are the same.
The eyes of the man who had suddenly appeared and the suspicious man who had apparently called him were identical. Not merely similar—exactly the same, as if they belonged to one person.
And the moment the color had drained from the caller’s eyes, turning them a cloudy grey, this man had appeared…
His racing thoughts had just reached the conclusion that the newcomer was not human—at least, not a living one—when—
“Shh.”
Raven read the meaning in the boy’s frozen posture and fixed gaze, and covered Dan’s eyes.
He could roughly guess what the child had seen to make him stiffen like that. It must have been the stitch marks on the Guardian Spirit’s neck. Raven gave a clear signal not to mention it, then pulled the monster that had been between the boy and the young man into his arms for safety.
Because the Guardian Spirit had materialized in physical form, the eyes Raven had been borrowing were returned to their owner. The whole world went pitch black, but it didn’t matter.
After all, the Guardian Spirit would protect him.