Page 1
Silence.
Marnos face-down on the ground. No movement.
Number Five without a head. Blood seeping slowly across the cracked earth.
The forest scorched at its edges. The air carrying the smell of fire and upturned earth.
Then.
A cough.
Marnos breathes.
Page 2
He rolls slowly onto his back.
His eyes are red. His face swollen. His armor destroyed completely.
He breathes with difficulty. He tears off what remains of the broken armor. He tries to get to his knees.
He stops.
He looks around.
The side village. Houses in ruins. Trees cut down. A massive crater in the middle of the ground.
And bodies.
He steps back. He staggers. He can't stand properly.
"What happened here?"
Page 3
Marnos turns toward the voice.
No one.
He turns the other way.
A man stands, turning Number Five's head over in his hand — with a calm that doesn't fit the scene. He looks left. He looks right. As if examining merchandise.
Behind him, in the darkness between the trees — six others. Standing. Silent.
The man speaks without looking up.
"This is Number Five. From the First Squad."
Page 4
He sets the head down on the ground — with exaggerated gentleness.
He stands.
He puts his hands behind his back. He walks toward Marnos with unhurried steps.
"It seems he fought with distinction. And died with pride."
He stops in front of Marnos — one step away.
"Isn't that right, Marnos?"
Marnos tenses.
Page 5
His vision is blurred. But the man's face comes into focus.
Number Two on his shirt. And the commander's star of the Second Assassination Squad.
Marnos throws a punch.
The commander catches it with one hand. No effort.
Then Marnos's hand begins to frost over — from the point of contact with the commander. Slowly. Without mercy.
Page 6
Marnos tries to hit with his other hand.
It doesn't move.
He looks down.
Ice has risen from the ground and locked his feet. Then his legs. Then his waist.
The commander's voice is very quiet:
"I think we've found a large worm."
He turns toward his companions.
"Friends."
Page 7
The quiet neighborhood. Midday.
Thian enters the door carrying Mabu on his back. His own body is broken. His steps are heavy.
The villagers stop. They watch. No one speaks.
They enter the house. The door closes.
The old man looks at them both. At Mabu. At what remains of him.
One second of silence.
"Pack your things."
Page 8
Thian sets Mabu down on the floor — carefully.
"Grandfather. What about Mabu? We have to get him to a doctor."
The old man walks toward the wall.
"If we stay, they'll come to us. And we're in no condition to fight right now."
"But Mabu will die if we don't do something."
The old man stops. His hand on the wall.
"Pack your things. I'll take care of Mabu."
Page 9
The old man removes a panel from the wall.
Behind it — a small hollow. Inside it, an old wrapped cloth. Its edges yellowed with age.
He takes it in his hands. He goes to Mabu. He sits beside him.
He looks at his face for a moment.
Then he places his hands on Mabu's body. He opens the cloth. He begins to read.
Page 10
His voice rises gradually. The words are strange — a language Thian doesn't know.
A green spark appears between the old man's hands.
It grows.
It spreads across Mabu's skin like a living shield — coiling around every part of him. As if the green light is preserving him.
Thian takes one step back.
"What is that?"
The old man sets the cloth aside.
"A healing incantation I inherited from my family. It stops time inside the body."
Page 11
Thian looks at Mabu — surrounded by green light.
He doesn't speak.
The old man stands. He wipes his hands.
Inside Thian's mind — a question he never dared to ask.
He raises his finger toward the old man, his face on the verge of breaking:
"When we get to wherever you're taking us… you owe us a very long explanation."
The old man looks at him in silence.
A knock at the door.
Both of them freeze.
Thian draws his sword. He moves forward slowly.
Page 12
He opens the door.
Yuzuha and Totoki.
Yuzuha looks at Thian's face. At the marks of every punch. At his blood.
"What is happening? The whole village is talking about you."
She looks past him.
"What happened to Mabu?"
Thian grips the doorframe: "Nothing. Everything is—"
Yuzuha moves his hands aside and walks in.
Page 13
She stops.
Mabu on the floor. Green light surrounding him.
And where his hands used to be.
Emptiness.
Yuzuha places both hands over her mouth — slowly.
She doesn't scream. She doesn't speak. She just stands.
Then she takes one step forward. Then another.
Page 14
She sits in front of him on the floor.
Tears on her face — but she doesn't speak yet.
She touches his cheek with her fingertips.
She closes her eyes.
She bites down.
Then she stands.
She turns toward Thian.
"Who did this?"
She doesn't wait for an answer.
"Were you the reason he got dragged into this?"
Page 15
Thian's face.
No anger. No defense. Nothing.
Just a man standing and looking at her — who cannot find a single word.
"I don't know. We were just there. And then—"
Yuzuha shoves him.
"And then what?"
She shoves him again.
"And then WHAT, Thian?!"
Totoki stands to the side. He holds Mabu's arm. He looks at him.
"Impossible."
He says it to himself. To no one.
Page 16
The old man comes out of the room. He carries a large bag.
He stands in the middle of the scene.
He looks at everyone in the room.
"Yuzuha."
His voice is quiet. But it cuts through everything.
Yuzuha turns to him. Her eyes red:
"Why? Why did this happen to him?"
Thian goes silent.
"I don't know everything either. But I know that there are people coming after us. And this place is no longer safe."
Page 17
The old man cuts in: "Mabu is safe now. The incantation will preserve him until we arrive."
He walks toward Thian. He hands him the bag.
"I need to protect Mabu and take him somewhere safe."
He takes out a small piece of paper. He holds it out to Yuzuha.
She takes it — with a hand that's still shaking.
Page 18
She opens it.
An address written on it. And the name of a kingdom.
She looks at the old man's hand. Then at the paper.
"The Kingdom of Karkin?"
The old man: "Ten days from now. Come to this address. And we'll discuss everything there."
He pauses.
"Stay safe."
Page 19
He lifts Mabu with both arms. He walks out the door.
He places him on the horse — carefully.
The green light still wraps his body.
Thian comes out behind him. He mounts.
He turns back one last time.
Page 20
Yuzuha at the door. Totoki beside her.
No one speaks.
Thian looks at them both.
"Until we meet again."
The three of them ride.
Yuzuha watches their backs growing smaller. Smaller still. Until they disappear between the trees.
She looks at the paper in her hand.
She closes her fist around it.
Page 21
At the edge of the forest.
Number Two stands in front of a bound bag on the ground. It moves with difficulty.
"Oh. Damn. This Marnos won't stop moving."
The commander turns. He walks through the wreckage of the scorched forest.
"I think Linsan's timing was a little late."
He stops.
He looks around.
Page 22
A shattered warehouse. Its walls collapsed. The door torn from its roots.
The commander enters. He walks slowly through the rubble.
"His report was accurate. But how did he know one of the Jouki commanders would be here?"
He stops.
He looks to the right.
Something on the ground. Between the debris.
His eyes narrow.
Page 23
He steps forward.
He arrives.
He stands before the body.
Number One on the shirt.
He turns to one of his men behind him.
"First Marnos from the Jouki Gang. And now this."
He looks at the body again.
"Who is it?"
Page 24
The commander drops to one knee. He examines.
He sees something on the face.
He freezes.
A scar. A shape that no one who has seen it once could mistake.
He rises slowly.
The commander looks at Number One among his men.
"This is…"
He swallows.
"This is the leader of the Jouki Gang. Number One."
A sword buried in Ginzo's face.
Silence in the shattered forest.
The commander turns slowly. Toward the forest. Toward every direction.
"What kind of monster was able to kill this creature?"
Continued in Chapter Twenty-Seven