Chapter 93

Mikhail was staring at the two-toned Crystal Wisp in his hand, chuckling to himself, when light footsteps drew steadily closer.

He shifted his eyes toward the presence approaching from beside him.

"Hmph."

Han and Ul stood side by side, each with a two-toned Crystal Wisp clamped gently in their mouths, heads tilted in unison.

Mikhail looked between the pair gazing down at him and clicked his tongue with a grumble.

"It's been thirty minutes since I asked you."

He dragged himself upright with a groan. Pulling the bag slung at his side open, he slipped his captured Wisp inside.

Han and Ul padded over in turn and deposited their catches into the bag as well.

Plop. Plop-plop.

The Crystal Wisps flickered and dimmed for an instant after dropping in, but soon recovered their original colors and drifted lazily upward.

"Hup."

Mikhail cinched the bag shut and straightened his knees to stand.

Two hours or so had passed—time enough to regroup with Ethan.

He'd only managed about three two-toned Wisps himself, but combined with whatever Ethan had caught, ten should be well within reach.

In that case… we'll reach the next destination with plenty of time to spare.

Mikhail brushed the dirt from his clothes and headed deeper into the undergrowth.

Based on the direction Ethan had gone, his skill level, and the distribution of two-toned Crystal Wisps—Mikhail had a decent guess where he'd be by now.

---

Meanwhile.

Deep in the outskirts of Melphendes—deeper than most ventured—where trees stood packed so tightly the canopy swallowed the light.

"Tch."

Ethan scowled and craned his neck upward, scanning the treetops.

Sharp-tipped branches jutted out at wild angles, tangled and interwoven above him.

A two-toned Crystal Wisp wove through the narrow gaps between them, fluttering from one to the next.

Between the branches… one wrong move and I'll get sliced up.

Ethan hummed in thought, then glanced down at the bag slung over his shoulder.

Six two-toned Crystal Wisps so far. Not a bad haul for roughly two hours—but that didn't mean he could afford to be picky about his targets.

The goal was ten from the start. Even if Mikhail catches two or three more, we'd still come up short.

Ethan swept his surroundings once, mapping the optimal route for capture.

He pulled his gloves snug and took four or five steps back.

The obstacles ahead were dense, sure—but if he exploited the gap in the Wisp's movement pattern to snatch its body, then twisted mid-air to adjust his landing trajectory…

I can stick a safe landing.

Tap.

Ethan locked his eyes on the two-toned Crystal Wisp and broke into a sprint.

He kicked off a nearby tree trunk, vaulted upward, and launched himself high.

WHOOSH!

The Crystal Wisp seemed to sense the threat only then, its wings beating in a frantic blur.

But it was already a beat too late.

Ethan's hand shot toward it.

Thwp.

Iridescent wings poked out between his curled fingers.

A sharp sting of triumph pulled at his lips. Target secured—now all he had to do was land clean—

"Hey, Ethan."

A familiar voice jabbed at his ear. Ethan flinched, his whole body seizing mid-air.

Control slipped away in that fraction of a second, and his momentum carried him straight toward a wall of branches dead ahead.

Panic flooded through him. A ragged breath escaped his lungs as his eyes flew wide at the oncoming tangle.

CRACK-SNAP-CRUNCH!

Branches shattered in an explosive cascade of noise.

Ethan tumbled across the ground with the Crystal Wisp still clutched high in one hand.

Grit and soil coated his tongue where his face had hit the dirt.

"Ouch. Should've been more careful."

The voice floating from beside him was every bit as insufferable as its owner.

Ethan screwed up his face and lifted his head. He turned to fire something back at Mikhail—

"!"

But he froze all over again.

The sight that flooded his vision seized every thought and every muscle in his body.

His right arm—gashed and punctured deep from the fall through the branches.

Wounds carved deeper than a finger joint were weeping thin trails of blood as they knit shut at a grotesque, inhuman speed.

Dammit…!

The blood in Ethan's veins turned to ice. He scrambled to his feet.

Eyes locked on Mikhail standing motionless before him, Ethan hid his mangled arm behind his back and stumbled backward.

Thump. Thump.

The blood trickling down his arm grew thinner by the second, but his heart only hammered harder.

Shapes and sounds erupted across his trembling vision in a disjointed flood.

Countless voices calling him a monster. Dozens of hands recoiling in disgust. The cold, barren feel of earth beneath him. And—

"There's nobody here but you and me, Ethan."

Ethan startled awake from the spiral. He turned his stiff neck toward the voice cutting through his thoughts.

Mikhail stood there with his usual impassive expression.

Then he shook his head slowly from side to side and spoke.

"So relax. Nothing's going to happen."

Ethan stood rooted to the spot and swallowed hard.

The words reached him as though stripped of all weight—and no reply could find its way past his lips.

Like some relic caked in layers of grime, the right shape refused to form, hovering uselessly at the tip of his tongue.

"……"

In the silence, Mikhail closed the distance with an unhurried step and glanced down at the torn-up arm.

"Hmm."

He tilted his head, let out a brief hum—

Then reached over without warning.

Snatch.

The Crystal Wisp in Ethan's hand vanished in the blink of an eye.

Ethan blinked, dazed. But he snapped back to himself a moment later and let out a hollow laugh at the sight across from him.

Mikhail was tucking the freshly stolen Crystal Wisp into his own bag.

"What are you doing?"

Ethan's voice dripped with disbelief, but Mikhail's face didn't so much as twitch in acknowledgment.

Then, almost as an afterthought, he lifted his eyes and asked:

"Your arm. How long until it's fully healed?"

Ethan narrowed his gaze, shoulders tensing.

But he had no interest in picking a pointless fight right now. He looked down at the wounds on his arm and answered without resistance.

"…Ten minutes or so."

"Yeah? Then let's rest until then."

Mikhail answered as though it were the most natural thing in the world, walked over to a nearby tree stump, dropped himself onto it, and stared straight ahead.

He said nothing more.

"……"

It was a side of Mikhail that Ethan had never seen. He tracked the other boy's movements with a questioning look.

But several long moments passed, and Mikhail gave no reaction worth noting.

"……"

In the end, Ethan let his gaze drift downward.

He moved carefully to the side and sat down nearby.

Another stretch of brief, wordless quiet settled between them.

Rustle.

That was when a sound from beside him made Ethan shift his eyes.

Mikhail had picked up the bag at his waist, cracked open the drawstring, and was peering inside.

A completely inscrutable gesture.

Ethan's brow twitched—and in that same instant, Mikhail swung his head around with a mischievous grin plastered across his face.

"How many did you catch?"

Context made the question obvious enough.

Ethan tallied the two-toned Crystal Wisps in his pockets and answered.

"Six."

"Tsk tsk—I got four. Step it up. Some combat department elite you are, barely beating me."

Ethan let out a dry breath at the teasing, sing-song delivery.

The memory of the Crystal Wisp snatched from his hand moments ago flickered before his eyes, and the back of his neck prickled with heat.

"No—wait. You had three. One of those was mine—"

"Anyway, that makes ten, right? Nice work."

Ethan stared at Mikhail—shamelessly steering the conversation elsewhere—then huffed out a breath and dropped his gaze.

He had no desire to prolong a petty argument. His track record going head-to-head with Mikhail in any war of words was dismal enough as it was.

Ethan clicked his tongue and followed the redirected topic. He unclipped the bag from his waist and held it out to Mikhail.

"Here. No idea what you're planning to do with these, but."

Maybe a trace of bruised pride had crept in without him realizing—the words came out blunter than intended.

But Mikhail accepted the bag without complaint, then unclipped his own and set both across his knees.

Two cloth bags, each leaking a faint, soft glow.

Ethan was glancing between the bags and Mikhail when a quiet smile crossed Mikhail's face.

"Guides."

"What?"

"The Crystal Wisps are going to be our guides. Through a space that's… unpredictable, in more ways than one."

…Guides. Unpredictable. Space?

None of it was easy to grasp. Ethan narrowed his eyes, turning the words over—

Rustle.

Mikhail rose from his seat, both bags of Crystal Wisps gripped in hand.

The sky foxes at his feet stretched out of their rest and bounced to attention.

Crunch.

Mikhail took one step forward—then stopped and turned back around.

Ethan paused mid-thought and looked at him.

Those deep blue eyes—not quite as unfamiliar as they'd once been—held his gaze without a word.

"Let's head back. If you're healed up."

The quiet instruction made Ethan jolt. He looked down at his right arm.

Mikhail was right. The skin that had been riddled with wounds was smooth and seamless—fully mended without a trace.

The crawling sensation of flesh knitting itself back together, and the dread and self-loathing that always came with it—he hadn't felt any of it.

"……"

Ethan stared at his arm and swallowed a shaking breath.

He blinked slowly, once and then again, confirming that what he was seeing was real.

Then he raised his eyes to the scene unfolding before him.

Mikhail was already drifting forward at an unhurried pace.

Nothing but ease in every step. Not a trace of hostility or contempt to be found.

And it was a view of someone's back that, in all the time they'd spent together over the past year, Ethan had never once been shown.

---

Jingle.

"Thank you! Come again!"

They'd just wrapped up the Crystal Wisp collection.

The moment they emerged from Melphendes's outskirts, Mikhail made a beeline for the shopping district.

He purchased a sheet of thick parchment and a mana-imbued pen, then stepped out of the magic goods shop.

Mikhail glanced at the pouch holding his new supplies.

These were essential items for accessing the exception zone through the Melphendes gateway.

Well, that's everything prepared. Getting in shouldn't pose much of a problem… so the only thing left to consider is—

Mikhail trailed off in thought and came to a stop.

His hand slipped inside his coat, fingers closing around what he'd tucked into the inner pocket.