“Crap-!” I yelled out after finally regaining control of my body, only to get caught in the explosion.

Thankfully, it seems my Sinus Wave started rising at just the right moment, because I had just enough time to run behind the furniture, somewhat protecting me from complete annihilation. Don’t get me wrong, I was still about 73% out of commission, but the remaining 27 was probably enough to work with for now.

“Damn that wretched King…!” I cursed him, “His Iro, don’t tell me…!”

Could the Yellow Iro’s Ability have something to do with my lack of bodily control earlier? Did he make me enter the room without my volition? Is that his power as King? If so, then I’m completely screwed!

“Phew! Cough cough!” The King opened the door, only to just barely dodge the falling beam, “Whoo! That was quite the spectacle! Hey, you still alive?”

From the angle I was positioned in, buried beneath the sofa, he couldn’t see me at all from the door. Even still, he seems to have been smart enough to double check the room in hopes of finding my body, much to my dismay. This is bad, I have no choice but to remain silent and hope for him to not find me. But in order to do that, I need to wait for my Sinus Wave to return to at least zero!

“Hellooooo~!” He called out to me, “Meil, was it? Eh, I think I’ll stick to calling you monkey, since it suits you way more.”

Those cheap provocations won’t work on me at this time. Right now, I have the easier task between the two of us. That’s because while you have to exert energy to look around the room and search for me, all I have to do is sit tight and not make a single sound until I feel my luck start to grow. Just gotta hold it out, just gotta…!

“Oi.” He muttered, “Show yourself.”

Without a second to spare, I for whatever reason found myself getting up, even in my injured state, faster than ever. The feeling was nauseating, not being in control of your own body, and instead feeling as if someone else is taking the reins. The only thing I would say is more disgusting is the sight of this disgusting King’s back as he faced the shattered mirror on the other side of the room, his ugly mug staring right at me.

“Ah, so you were alive after all.” He took a piece of wood that broke off from the explosion, “Honestly, monkey, you’re making me more and more impressed with each second you live on. Let’s change that.”

Ugh, move dammit! Damn, it’s useless! No matter what I do, I just can’t seem to even twitch a finger! He’s approaching me, each step shaving off a year from my life. Surely, the moment he walks within swinging distance, he’ll beat the crap out of me with that piece of wood, and the worst part is that I can’t even fight back or even dodge as long as he has that Iro Ability…!

“What’s the matter? Don’t wish to run?” He jeered, “Maybe it’s that filthy blood inside you that’s subconsciously making you listen to my commands because surely, no free man would stand still in a situation like this.”

“Grr… You’re wrong!” I spat in his direction, “I’ve been to that prison, the prison your men operated! And I clawed my way out of slavery! If you think my skin color is the reason I’m not moving, then how do you explain that?!”

“Hm? You were with Silvia?” He tilted his head.

“Silvia?” A name I thought I’d never hear suddenly echoed the room, “She… What business did you have with her?! Why did you call her over to the prison?!”

“Ah, poor naïve monkey. You don’t know anything, yet you still babble on.” The King raised the piece of wood high above him, ready to swing, “I didn’t order her to go there, she begged me to send her. And Vivia too, she…”

“Edward!” I lied the moment I felt my Sinus Wave go positive, “Now, while he’s distracted!”

“What?!” The King flinched and hastily turned around, only to find nothing, “Damn, tricked me!”

“Not only that, Chant!” I Focused all of my remaining energy into Going Solipsistic, “But you averted your gaze from me as well!”

It was that – his gaze. I had figured out the moment I realized he stopped blinking as soon as he had control of my body. That was the secret to his Iro Ability, and I had figured it out just int the nick of time. And now that I had Gone Solipsistic, time had stopped, and I could freely kill him and run out and into the transport wagon.

“Hngh…” I fell to the ground, “Dammit, not now…”

As I tried to move, though, all of the pain and fatigue had hit me in the face all at once. I was so close to freedom, but in the end I can’t even move a muscle. The situation was almost funny, in a way. The King was stuck standing in front of me because of my time stop, however I can’t even move a picometer because of my injuries. If I continued lying down on the floor like this, I would eventually run out of Focus and would have to resume time prematurely, resulting in him just killing me as soon as he lays his eyes on me. On the other hand, this would have been the perfect chance to kill him and end this whole charade if I just had a bit more strength in me.

“Fuck…” I hit the floor before crawling out of the room, “I can’t kill him. If I struggle now, the best case scenario would be me just barely making it to the transport wagon…”

Thus, I bit into my lip pretty hard out of sheer frustration. So hard, even, that I blood spurted out, however I’m not sure if it’s because of my teeth or if it was from an already existing wound that showed itself when the bombs exploded. I didn’t care though, since my only goal now was to live. I had propped myself up into a somewhat labile standing position as I hugged the wall and stammered back out of the hallway. Looking around, I had laughed at myself for not noticing sooner how empty this entire building is. Not a single soldier or civilian was present apart from the King, so in hindsight I should’ve been a lot more suspicious from the get-go.

“Alright, made it out.” I uttered as I resumed time, “Now that I have some distance from him, not to mention the time it’ll take for him to realize I’m no longer in the building, I can take my sweet time walking to the wagon…”

“Stop.” King Chant’s voice ordered.

No… But how?! How did he, and so quickly too…?! How did he find me, even after I had stopped time and moved outside of not only the room, but the entire building?! Now what, he’s controlling my body, has the advantage, and to make matters worse, I can’t even gather the strength to retain consciousness for any longer because of the sustained injuries and Going Solipsistic for so long.

“After all this… Tch, killing me won’t do you any good!” I clicked my tongue as I stared right back at him.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He said as he blinked, which meant releasing me from his clutches, “That’s why I’m letting you go home freely.”

“What?”

“You’re interesting.” He praised me, “That thing you just did, suddenly disappearing from the room like that, it’s incredible. I can’t just kill a person like you after you showed this off now, can I?”

“You’re just going to let me go back to my base?” I questioned his decision, “But why? If you do that, I’ll just tell the other Generals of your scheming ways, not to mention your Iro Ability, and they’ll all know how to counter you! I know I said what I said, but in reality, not killing me would put you in a huge disadvantage!”

“See? Just you telling me that is reason enough to let you go.” He said, “Instead of just taking the chance and running, you not only disobeyed my orders, but also explained why I’m making a mistake. In this world, that’s called fairness.”

“Fairness?”

“Yeah, and if you’re gonna be fair, then so am I.” He turned around before glancing back, “But just to let you know – Just now, when I ordered you to stop, I hadn’t used my Ability at all. You stopped out of your own volition.”

“What?”

“Let that sink in, kid.” He nodded and walked away, “See ya’ on the battlefield! I still got your letter, so all you need to do is be there or be square!”

“Hold on a minute! Stop!” I shouted at him, “What the hell do you mean you weren’t controlling me!? What’s the meaning of this?! Get back here!”

“Heh.” He chuckled, “Still think you weren’t born a slave?”

And with that, he left me on the ground, tired and bruised all over, to do with my “freedom” as I wished. My entire life, it all culminated into this one moment. This one decisive singularity point. The moment in which he proved to me that he is the person that has been letting me live freely all this time. Had he known where I was, he could have easily tracked me down and killed me a long time ago. The guards in the prison and Silvia were intimidating, but this is the first and only person I could ever call genuinely scary.

“Kid!” The wagon driver finally found me about an hour later, “Yo, kid! What the hell happened?! You’re all messed up!”

“Sir?” I muttered back to him, “Why are you here? Didn’t you say it was too dangerous for you to enter the city?”

“I got worried after waiting so long so I just had to check up on you, and thank God I did!” He explained, “Alright, get up. Upsy-daisy! Easy does it! Come on, let’s get you back to the wagon so you can rest.”

“Get up…” I repeated the orders he gave me, “An order…”

“What?” The wagon driver tilted his head, “I mean, it’s not like, an order or anything. I just can’t carry you all the way through the city without you getting up, haha! Now come on, think you can slowly move with your legs?”

“…” I turned to him and finally sighed, “With you supporting me, I should be able to. Alright, thanks for this.”

“No problem, pal!” He gave me a wide grin, “You’re the hero that’s gonna bring our country back to its former, lovelier state, I just know it! Helping you is the least I could do.”

Hero? Not at all. I couldn’t even properly deliver a letter to the King. For all intents and purposes, I didn’t even start the war properly, so how the hell would I ever be the one to end it? Although, if we’re talking about heroes, only one person comes to mind that could stop this war…