Chapter 18

Nephis didn't wake for two days. During the chase, she had been constantly healing not only herself but also others. That led to her soul being strained to an extreme, ultimately causing her to fall unconscious once they climbed up the wall.

Both Cassie and Sunny were checking up on her as she slowly opened her eyes. Kiyotaka himself felt something within his heart that he couldn't describe.

Kiyotaka had always perceived himself as emotionless. He believed emotions led to stupid mistakes and ultimately ruined everything. He never trusted anyone and always lived for his own goals.

As he gazed at the colossal crimson spire on the horizon, he felt strange fluctuations within his previously unmoving heart.

'White Room... a secret I wouldn't have told anyone under normal circumstances... two simple words that were "meaning" to my life.'

Could he have used some other word? Maybe. Did he regret his decision? No. He, Sunny, Nephis, and Cassie were alive. Battered and bruised, but alive.

Kiyotaka knew his mindset was changing. Strangely, it was Sunny to whom he showed trust. Looking at his... friends... he felt grateful to be alive at this moment.

As they looked toward the west, smiles appeared on their faces. There, a dark expanse of land was rising above the slope of the colossal crater.

And on it, a tall city wall built of grey polished stone towered over the giant chasm of the abyss. It looked ancient but still impenetrable, able to withstand the crushing pressure of the dark sea for a thousand more years.

They had made it.

They had found the human castle.

'I wonder... am I smiling... I hope I am.'

[End of Volume One: Child of War.]