Endi and Frod had reached the forty-third floor.
With every enemy they struck down and every flight they climbed, the number of soldiers dwindled. By the time they reached this level, not a single assailant remained.
Yet the situation was still utterly hopeless.
Frod's bullets were spent, and Endi had taken shots to his side and thigh. Blood poured from him like an unending stream. From below, the soldiers who had crushed the prisoners surged upward with thunderous momentum. Their footsteps echoed like the march of a deathly army shaking the earth.
"I'm sorry, Endi—I should've brought a medkit," Frod muttered, his voice like a wind of regret sweeping through.
Endi, his face drenched in blood, forced a smile.
"T-This is nothing. More importantly, we're almost at the forty-fifth floor. Let's hurry!"
That fragile bravado shone like a broken blade that refused to lose its light. Frod, exasperated, still found his chest struck by the boy's spirit.
"And after we rescue that girl, Lamia—how do you plan to escape? With those wounds, in this situation, there's no way out."
"You'll never know unless you try. First, I'm saving Lamia. How we escape—we'll think about that afterward."
Frod gave a bitter smile at Endi's recklessness, yet was captivated by the fire blazing in his eyes.
"Courageous or reckless—I can't tell. But if a kid like you can fight this hard and get so battered, then as an adult, I have to do even more."
With that, Frod suddenly shoved Endi away. From his coat he drew a hidden grenade, hurled it into the ceiling, and with a deafening roar, rubble came crashing down, raising a wall between them.
"Frod! What the hell are you doing?!"
Endi's scream pierced the wall of debris, echoing like a cry at the edge of despair.
"Forgive me, Endi. I'll hold off the pursuers. Use the time to go up. You want to save her more than anything, don't you?"
"That's insane! You don't even have bullets left! They'll kill you!"
"You'll never know unless you try, right? Protecting children is the duty of adults. If we can't guard their future, then we're no adults at all. Save Lamia—make it to Nakatam alive!"
Tears welled in Endi's eyes, spilling in silence. He wept without a voice, like a young tree refusing to break in a storm.
"Thank you, Frod! I'll live—I'll live and become a cool adult like you! So don't die! I believe we'll meet again!!"
His cry vanished into the void. No answer came.
Silence enshrouded Frod's fate.
There was so much Endi wanted to say. But he bit it down, and charged up the stairs.
The flames of his oath burned fiercely—he would not let Frod's sacrifice be in vain.
At last, Endi reached the forty-fifth floor—and gasped at the sight before him.
Jackson and more than a dozen subordinates crawled on the ground, bloodied and broken, barely clinging to life.
Walls, ceilings, and floors were torn open with gaping holes and grotesque cracks. They looked like the claw marks of a rampaging beast.
Only Guild still clung to consciousness, drenched in sweat, trembling uncontrollably.
"H-Hey… what happened here?!" Endi demanded, his voice like a stone hurled into darkness.
Guild shrieked, madness twisting his face.
"A demon… a demon came… Uwaaaaaah!!"
He bolted away in terror.
Endi rushed after him.
His instincts screamed that Lamia was not here.
Guild dashed through a corridor, up a spiral staircase. Endi followed.
After five flights, they burst into the rooftop garden.
It was grotesquely out of place atop a tower of steel and concrete—a patch of damp earth choked with countless trees. The crescent moon shone coldly above, and the swaying branches writhed like waves on a dark sea.
"Azbal! Where are you?! Save meee!!"
Raving, Guild ran madly about, like a soul chased by darkness. Endi could only watch in stunned silence.
From deep within the trees, a tall man emerged, his long green hair flowing like a shroud. His steps were quiet, like those of death's emissary.
"What's this ruckus, Guild?"
"A demon! A demon came! Save me!"
"A demon? You mean that brat?"
Azbal's gaze fixed upon Endi.
Guild finally noticed him too, panic snapping him back to sense.
"N-No! Not him! Hey! Who the hell are you?!"
Azbal's eyes were like frozen abysses. The scar across his neck gleamed ominously, and the killing intent radiating from his body surged like a black tide consuming the space around them.
Endi instinctively staggered back two steps.
Terror shackled his heart.