They all stared at him, with Vincent being the first to speak.
"Michael, what's wrong?"
Michael couldn't tell them what he was seeing. Everything around him seemed to be flowing with energy. Thin strands of it surrounded the trees, the vegetation, and every living thing within his field of vision. It was as though the entire world had been exposed to him in a way he had never experienced before.
He thought back to Gina's words, how she had been able to see the state of his core, and how the beast had immediately recognised that his energy was depleted. Had they been seeing the same thing he was seeing now?
If so, did that mean his eyes allowed him to perceive the flow of energy?
But another question immediately followed.
Why do ordinary trees possess the same energy signatures as humans?
"Oh, it's nothing. Let's keep moving."
The twins exchanged glances, their expressions subtly changing as they looked at Michael.
Could he know?
After witnessing his battle against the beast, they had already suspected that there was more to Michael than met the eye. They didn't know the full extent of his abilities, but they weren't willing to take any chances.
Without saying a word aloud, they relayed a message to Beebah through their mental connection.
DON'T KILL ANYONE. I THINK THE BOY KNOWS.
Beside the river, Beebah and Elizabeth sat opposite each other.
For days, Beebah had been feeding Elizabeth the remains of Zion's body. The human flesh, combined with the nutrients and energy contained within the body of an Emo user, had accelerated Elizabeth's recovery at an abnormal rate.
Each time Elizabeth asked where he had obtained the meat, Beebah answered through Zion's stolen mouth.
"I think the beasts in the Wasteland contain a lot of energy. Their meat must be especially nutritious."
As he spoke, he gently patted Elizabeth's head.
But Elizabeth was no longer the confident girl she had once been.
The battle with the twins had left scars far deeper than the physical injuries she was struggling to overcome. The trauma of nearly being violated, the catastrophic backlash of her own attack, and the agonising process of recovering from injuries that had left her unable to walk or even speak properly had broken something inside her.
She was still a teenager, trapped in a place where even the strongest could be reduced to helplessness. She had endured more than anyone her age should have had to endure, and the experience had left her terrified of her own vulnerability.
Sometimes, as Zion patted her head, she would tell herself that something was wrong.
Zion wouldn't do this.
Yet the thought never went any further. She was too frightened to challenge the only person she believed she could trust. Too afraid that if she questioned him, she might lose the last remaining piece of stability she had.
So she sat quietly, accepting his comfort while unknowingly consuming the remains of her closest friend.
Back in the forest, Michael continued observing the strands of energy surrounding him.
Something had changed.
The energy within the trees appeared to be fading, as though it were being drained away. The longer they walked, the more the vegetation seemed to lose whatever strange vitality he had initially perceived.
Michael narrowed his eyes beneath the cloth covering them.
He needed information, but he couldn't ask his questions too directly. The twins had spent years in the Wasteland. If anyone knew how energy behaved here, it was them.
"So, how does energy work in the Wasteland?" he asked casually, deliberately adopting the tone of someone asking out of simple curiosity. "Does it flow through everything, or only certain things?"
The twins answered without hesitation.
"Everything," one of them replied. "The Wasteland is like a living organism. Energy flows through all things within it."
Neither brother so much as blinked.
Vincent, meanwhile, wondered why Michael was asking such a basic question. Michael was usually the sort of person who seemed to know far more than he let on, and this sudden curiosity was unusual.
Still, Vincent kept his thoughts to himself and continued following Michael's lead.
Behind them, the ancient cub observed the surrounding forest.
It had already sensed that something was unnatural about the place, but it hadn't raised the issue. If this human was going to kill Zeus, surely a trick of this nature wouldn't escape his notice.
Well, I suppose the kid knows what he's doing.
The beast smiled faintly. It had reached the same conclusion as Michael, and it was content to see how the situation unfolded.
After several more hours of travel, they finally emerged from the forest.
And there, sitting on the ground beside the river, were Beebah and Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth, it seems we have visitors."
Beebah gently caressed her face.
The twins immediately approached the creature, but to Michael and Vincent, the figure sitting beside Elizabeth looked exactly like Zion.
The beast settled onto the ground, seemingly content to observe.
Vincent, however, wasted no time. He hurried towards the familiar face, relief washing over him.
"Zion! You look good! Damn, not a single scar on you..."
Before he could get any closer, Michael grabbed him and dragged him backwards.
"You idiot. That's not Zion. That thing isn't even human."
Michael's blindfold slipped from his face and fell to the ground.
For the first time, Beebah saw his eyes clearly.
They were filled with something ancient, something that seemed to carry the weight of a thousand years of forgotten origins. Whatever they truly were, they were unlike anything the creature had expected to encounter.
Then Beebah's disguise began to collapse.
The flesh on half its face melted away in a gruesome display. Zion's skin sagged and peeled back as maggots emerged from the decaying tissue, the decomposition that should have begun days ago finally catching up with the stolen body.
Its mouth stretched into a crooked smile, revealing rows of teeth belonging to different victims. Its eyes shifted with a deeply unnatural quality, as though countless stolen lives had left their mark upon them. There was no warmth in its expression, no trace of the boy Elizabeth believed she was sitting beside.
Only the creature that had murdered him.
Elizabeth scrambled backwards, terror flooding her face.
Beebah tilted its head.
"My little baby, where are you going? We still have so much fun ahead of us."
Its smile widened.
"Tell me, Elizabeth. All that delicious meat you've been eating... didn't you enjoy it? The meat of your beloved saviour, Zion. So delicious, wasn't it? So energising!"
It burst into laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
Elizabeth froze.
"Remember? You even asked for more!"
Her breathing became erratic.
"No, no, don't look at me like that. This is all your fault! If only you weren't so weak, so gullible, so injured, perhaps Zion would still be alive!"
Beebah leaned towards her.
"But instead, he's dead. And now, he's inside you."
Elizabeth's stomach churned. Her skin began to itch, and tears streamed down her face as her mind desperately struggled to reject what she was hearing.
Had she really eaten her friend?
Had she really swallowed the remains of the person who had saved her?
"Oh, you don't believe me?" Beebah asked, feigning disappointment. "Then allow me to show you some proof."
It reached into the bowl of soup they had been sharing.
"Do you remember this? The soup we were supposed to eat together?"
Between its grotesque fingers, Beebah lifted a dripping eyeball from the liquid.
"Recognise it, Elizabeth?"
It held the eyeball before her face.
"This belonged to your closest friend."
"Stop..." Elizabeth whispered.
She began scratching at her own skin, her fingernails tearing at her flesh as though she could somehow remove the contamination spreading through her body. Then she vomited violently, collapsing as the contents of her stomach spilled onto the ground.
Fragments of human bone lay among the vomit.
She stared at them, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.
Her hands trembled as she clawed at her tongue, desperately trying to remove the taste from her mouth. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to breathe.
"Z... Zio... n..."
The name barely escaped her lips.
Then, in the blink of an eye, everything went dark.
Michael appeared behind her, catching her before she could collapse completely.
He looked down at Elizabeth's unconscious body before turning his attention towards the beast.
"Take care of this girl. Don't let her wake up. She's been through enough."
His expression darkened.
"I don't know what you are, but you and the twins are not leaving this place alive."
Michael slowly turned towards Beebah.
"Not a single one of you."
Blue energy surged through Vincent's body. His veins bulged as rage twisted his expression, and his paintbrush materialised in his hand.
"Oh, delightful!" Beebah exclaimed, its grotesque smile stretching wider. "Michael, grandson of Bola. Once we're finished with you, we'll devour the girl and have the beast for dinner!"
The twins stepped forward, their bodies merging into a single form of radiant energy.
"Such a naive boy," they declared. "You actually believe you can heal your enemy and walk away unscathed?"
The two sides stood facing each other.
A creature wearing the remains of a human being.
A miniature sun.
A painter.
And Michael himself.