Theresa looked back on the past. In her early childhood, before she had even lost the softness of youth, she and Theresis were already struggling just to see tomorrow.
Orphaned children had to roam the streets like feral animals. They were Infected with nothing to their names, children living in the deepest pits of the world. No one cared, and no one wanted to care. In an era where even adults struggled to feed themselves, there was no room for concern for a stranger‘s child.
Theresa and Theresis chose the path of dependence, clinging to anyone who would let them. Even if it wasn't the "right" thing to do, the siblings had to survive. They compromised with reality. Even if they had convictions, they had to break them to endure.
So, they stopped dreaming. Life was simply a process of enduring pain. When Theresa was beaten by other children and had her food stolen for no reason, she couldn't even tell Theresis. She just smiled like a fool and moved on.
She remembered the nights she spent huddled in a corner, weeping and resentful of the gods. Why must we endure this? Is there a reason we have to live like this?
Naturally, no answer ever came.
They begged and stole under the shadow of men who weren't even worthy of being called adults. If they were caught, they were subjected to brutal violence, but there was no other way to survive.
"Theresis... do we have to live through things like this?"
The words were far too heavy for a child to speak. Theresis would look at her with dead eyes and then turn his gaze toward the sky.
"I don't know."
They were family, bound by blood. They looked out for each other and trusted each other. That trust remained unbroken, the only thing they could count on.
It was during those abnormal days that Theresa met a certain boy.
"Sigh... Dammit. Why the hell did I have to drop into a place like this..."
A boy pretending to puff on a cigarette that didn't exist. He had black hair and platinum eyes that shone like the morning star—eyes unlike any she had seen before. At first, she wasn't particularly interested, but his eyes were so unique they stayed in her memory. He was in the same miserable state as they were.
When the frost-biting winter arrived, she spoke to him for the first time.
Watching Yujin wander tirelessly to scavenge for food, Theresa quietly closed her eyes. Unlike her own, his eyes held a distinct light. She grew curious. She wanted to know what he saw that allowed him to keep that spark.
"…Is it hard?"
That was the first thing she ever said to him. Yujin responded with total indifference.
"Not really. It sucks, but I‘m going to survive no matter what."
"Why?"
"What do you mean, 'why'? I‘m alive, so I‘m going to live. Why do I need a reason beyond that?"
He followed that up with a string of muttered curses. This world is a joke... I‘ll survive it and prove everyone wrong. Seeing his fierce spirit, Theresa gave a small, bitter smile.
He has a goal.
From then on, Theresa took a keen interest in him. She would follow him quietly and strike up conversations. Yujin was often blunt and irritable, but he never actually drew a line to push her away. After a few more encounters, Theresa realized the truth: Yujin didn't just live because he was alive; he lived because he had a dream.
She supposed she was envious of that spirit. Eventually, she began spending more time with him, often sneaking away from Theresis to find him.
Time passed. The small children grew, but their lives remained as harsh as ever.
"Yujin, you..."
Theresa started to speak but trailed off. She was worried about him. She could feel a fire building behind his eyes—a mounting rage that was starting to smolder.
"Nothing, never mind."
"What is it? Why do you always stop halfway?"
Theresa swallowed her words, knowing the flame was already too big for her to snuff out. She didn't know where that fire would be aimed, but she took his hand and spoke softly.
"…Yujin, don't do anything reckless."
"Don't worry. Reckless? I spend my days begging for scraps. What could I possibly do?"
Yujin wasn't part of the same gang Theresa and Theresis were in. He was a lone wanderer, yet he seemed to understand their situation perfectly.
Then came the tragedy during a winter with no food.
An incident occurred within Theresa's group. The weather was so cold that no one came outside, meaning the children couldn't meet their quotas. Enraged, the adult in charge began kicking and beating them, screaming profanities.
Resistance was meaningless. They knew it was hopeless. The children huddled in fear, none daring to step forward.
But when she saw a child being beaten almost to the point of death, Theresa felt something in her chest swell and burn. Disregarding Theresis‘s warnings, she threw herself forward.
"Please! Please stop! He‘ll die at this rate!" she cried, her eyes trembling with terror.
But the man saw only defiance. Furious, he began beating Theresa instead. Theresis lunged to help, but the gap between an adult and a child was too vast.
Just as they thought their lives were over...
A flash of light tore through the gloom. A platinum-tinted blade sliced through the adult‘s leg. The man tried to reach for the dagger at his waist, but he was too slow. A second stroke followed, severing his throat.
"You piece of filth. Using me for your dirty work and then not even paying up?"
Blood pooled on the cold ground. That was the end of it.
Theresa looked at Yujin. His eyes were as steady as ever as he pulled her into an embrace.
"…I‘m sorry. I was late."
Theresis stared at them in total bewilderment, but Theresa didn't have the energy to care about explanations. The warmth of Yujin‘s embrace was too precious. Suppressing her sobs, she buried her face in his chest and finally let her tears flow as he gently stroked her back.
Now, Yujin‘s personality had tempered, but back then, he was a powder keg. A single nudge was enough to set him off. In the backalleys, looking weak was a death sentence. He fought constantly—against those who mocked him, against those who tried to retaliate—gritting his teeth and drawing his sword for the sake of others.
"…Isn't it hard?" Theresa had once asked, holding his scarred hands.
Yujin shook his head. "Not really. Ignoring it is harder."
"Ignoring it... is harder?"
She found that strange. Most people found looking away to be the easy choice. Knowing how many people chose that cowardice, she gave a bittersweet laugh.
"It‘s all shit," Yujin muttered. "The way the world is made, the way they treat the Infected... it makes me so angry I can't breathe."
"…That‘s so like you."
Yujin treated everyone the same. He met malice with steel and responded to kindness with loyalty. He was rough in speech and action, but his core was composed of a deep, inherent consideration for others. When he saved Theresa, when he looked at the other children, when he taught Theresis how to use a sword... he was never a child. He was an adult—a man who radiated light.
Theresa was drawn to that starlight.
Now, she watched him on the screen, clad in silver-white armor. Within the forest-themed arena, Yujin summoned the spectral form of the Platinum Pegasus. Tall trees obscured the artificial sky, but from the shadows, the glowing wings of the Pegasus soared with a radiant intensity.
Across the field, Murchal Ingra was screaming in a frenzy, but Yujin remained calm. He held his blade in a two-handed grip and took the Nearl stance. The blade began to glow with white heat.
The Iron Knight lunged with a roar, swinging twin axes. On the screen, Yujin‘s sword moved in a single, deliberate arc.
It wasn't too fast, nor too slow.
The black blade, sheathed in platinum energy, drove forward. The Iron Knight poured his weight into his swing, meeting the strike with his axes.
The match was decided in a single collision.
Crack.
The axes might as well have been made of glass. Yujin‘s blade shattered both weapons and continued its trajectory, cleaving through the knight‘s breastplate and declaring the end of the fight.
Blood sprayed. The knight, his armor failing him, looked at Yujin with eyes of pure disbelief before collapsing to the arena floor.
Back when she was a child, Theresa couldn't put a name to the feeling in her heart. She had simplified it to gratitude toward the boy who had protected her.
But looking at him now on that screen... he was the living image of the righteous knight she and Yujin had dreamed of as children.
She admired him. She loved him. She was in awe of the man who refused to change.
"Haha. You really are fulfilling your dream in your own way..."
The roar of the crowd, a sound loud enough to split the sky, shook the stadium. The intensity was so great that it seemed to reach through the screen to Theresa herself.
The small boy who had made a vow in the backalleys was now walking through a thunderous ovation.