Roland stood still for a moment, boots grinding against the cracked ground. His breathing slowed, yet his mind refused to settle.
Something had happened... something subtle, like a whisper sliding through the gaps of his thoughts.
For a brief second during the exchange, his attention had slipped.
Roland pressed two fingers against his temple. "…What was that?"
A faint distortion brushed against the edges of his awareness again. Like invisible threads brushing the surface of his consciousness. Interference.
His gaze slowly shifted toward Arcee.
Realization clicked into place.
"Your Astra…" Roland muttered quietly. "It isn't just defensive."
Across the battlefield, Arcee said nothing, though the white feathers around her were heaving aimlessly.
Roland exhaled. "So it plays awareness."
Before anyone else could answer, Cagaro stepped forward, rolling his shoulders as dust fell from his coat.
"So?" Cagaro asked casually, though his eyes remained sharp. "What's the next move?"
Roland's gaze locked directly onto Arcee.
"You."
At that exact moment Henry's voice came in.
"O Fractured Light that threads the void between moments,
Answer the silence in your brightness and pierce the arrogance of motion!"
A thin circle of sigils formed beneath Henry's feet.
"Spell: Lumen Filament!"
The air snapped twice.
Dozens—no, hundreds of razor-thin beams erupted into existence around Roland like needles of condensed light, each one firing toward him at impossible angles.
Roland dashed immediately. His body blurred.
The beams cut through empty space as Roland weaved between them with impossible precision. One beam skimmed his shirt.
Another shaved a lock of hair. His feet barely touched the ground as he redirected his momentum mid-motion.
Henry's eyes widened slightly. He's reading the trajectories but Roland wasn't just dodging. He was finding a opening.
Roland had twisted his torso to avoid three intersecting beams while shifting his footing to escape a fourth. It was flawless movement but it left his center of balance suspended for half a heartbeat.
A position he couldn't recover from instantly.
Cagaro grinned. "There it is."
He launched himself forward.
The ground cracked under the force of his leap as he launched upward, his silhouette cut through the rain of light beams.
Roland's eyes flicked sideways but it's too late. Cagaro descended like a meteor.
THUD—
His dropkick slammed directly into Roland's chest. The impact pushed him back.
Roland's body shot backward across the battlefield like a cannon shell, crashing through stone debris before skidding violently across the ground.
Dust surged upward in a roaring cloud.
Cagaro landed lightly, rolling his ankle once before straightening.
"Man," he sighed, brushing his shoulder. "You guys make this look harder than it is."
Henry lowered his casting hand slowly, eyes still fixed on the dust cloud where Roland had disappeared.
A fracture of impossible geometry briefly flickered across the heavens. The boundary between Sky and Kal'zhet.
And somewhere beyond that unseen veil…
Something stirred. A relic whispered in silence... the Pandora's Box.
If opened, it would lift the edge between Sky and Kal'zhet, burning the boundary between realities themselves. The world would begin to collapse into conceptual fire as its foundations unraveled.
But the one who opened it would not perish.
Roland would enter a Lucid Dream state.
Within that state, he could forge a new world. Shaping reality like clay, breathing life into a simulated existence… while the old one quietly burned away behind them.
Henry looked at Cagaro turning his head half back, "Don't take it easily. It might seem amazing to you, throwing fists first time. But the situation right now is worse. So be alert."
Henry looked forward, now alerting everyone.
"If that device finishes its process," he said grimly, "the boundary between the sky and Kal'zhet will dissolve. Cosmic radiation will flood the planet. The surface will burn and eventually everything decays. While Roland enters a lucid dream state to simulate a new world from nothing. "
Roland remained where he had landed, one knee against the scorched floor, crimson blade Kanto resting loosely at his side.
The chamber trembled slightly from the machine behind him, its rotating rings humming louder with every passing second. Pandora's Box pulsed steadily at the center, streams of energy feeding deeper into the mechanism.
Henry raised a hand toward the others without taking his eyes off Roland.
"Stay careful." he said quietly. "Do not lower your guard for even a second."
Arcee and Blyke adjusted their stances immediately. Cagaro rolled his shoulders again, still recovering from the earlier exchange but his gaze remained fixed on Roland.
Something felt wrong.
Roland had not rushed them. He had not retaliated after being knocked back again.
He simply stood up.
Blyke frowned. "I assume he is just acting?"
Henry answered without hesitation.
"Probably. He isn't actually even trying to fight. He has records of knocking a whole terrorist gang alone."
The realization settled heavily across the room.
The machine behind Roland vibrated with growing intensity. Pandora's Box glowed brighter, its geometric patterns unfolding slowly as if reality itself was being rewritten in stages.
Henry spoke again, voice firm. "He is just buying time fighting us."
Arcee glanced toward the device. "Then we will take it."
"Sure." Henry said. "That cube must be removed before the sequence completes.
Once it activates fully, Roland will enter the lucid state required to simulate the new world."
Blyke cracked his knuckles. "So we grab the box and shut the whole nightmare down."
Henry nodded slightly.
"But do not assume Roland is passive. He is probably thinking it is too late for us."
Across the chamber, Roland finally lifted his head. His eyes were steady.
Henry stepped forward with a decent look.
The heat between them shimmered, bending the air, yet his posture remained relaxed.
"You always did this." Henry said, a faint smile touching his lips. "Standing in the middle of everything like you already solved the equation."
Roland did not move immediately. Kanto rested at his side, its crimson glow reflecting in his eyes. "You seems to be the same autistic introvert kid. Didn't had any character development?"
Henry chuckled lightly. "Who cares. Maybe I just liked hearing you think out loud. Back then, you were a very shy guy."
Roland's gaze sharpened slightly. "Hesitation is inefficiency, and here is my development."
"These random jackass stuffs are not what you used to say." Henry replied, tilting his head. "You used to say hesitation meant you cared about the outcome."
A brief silence passed between them, filled only by the low hum of the machine.
Henry stepped closer, unfazed. "Care creates meaning. Depends on how you look at it."
Roland's eyes flickered, just for a moment. "Meaning is subjective. Law is absolute to justice no matter how people knot it to make themselves good."
"Law is made by someone." Henry countered smoothly. "Which makes it subjective too. You are just trying to remove everyone else from the equation so yours becomes absolute."
Roland's grip on Kanto tightened slightly.
"Because inconsistency is the root of suffering. People contradict themselves, their systems fail and everything breaks. I am removing the flaw."
Henry nodded as if considering it seriously. "Well, ahh, you are not wrong. People are messy. Systems are messy. Life is messy." He smiled faintly. "But that mess is what lets things change."
Roland looked at him directly. "Change is unpredictable and often against wishes."
"That is why." Henry said. "That is why it matters."
The machine behind Roland pulsed brighter, casting long shadows between them.
Roland spoke again, quieter this time. "You still believe that struggle justifies existence?"
Henry shrugged lightly. "Not exactly justifies. If everything is already perfect, nothing has a reason to move forward."
Roland's expression remained steady but something deeper lingered beneath it. "And if that movement only leads to more suffering?"
Henry smiled. "That is living."
Two perspectives stood against each other, not clashing loudly but standing steadily like opposing forces shaping the same space.
Henry's voice softened slightly. "You have changed, Roland."
Roland answered without pause. "Nothing changed, I am who I was. I just refined myself."
Henry exhaled through his nose, amused. "Yeah… you would say that. And they say Shakespeare is dead."
Roland looked at Henry, " You know what? I hate you for making me talk too much! "
Suddenly,
Heavy doors along the chamber walls burst open, and armed guards flooded in, boots striking metal in synchronized rhythm. Their weapons locked forward instantly, energy cores humming as they formed a tightening perimeter around the machine.
Blyke clicked his tongue. "Of course. Right on cue."
Arcee rolled her shoulders, eyes sharpening. "Guess this is the last stretch."
Cagaro adjusted his stance, gaze flicking between the incoming forces and the pulsing core of Pandora's Box. "We need to stop it."
Henry did not look away from Roland.
"Don't worry."
He stepped forward, voice calm but absolute. "I will handle Roland."
The words carried no hesitation. Arcee smirked faintly. "Try not to die."
"Same to you," Henry replied lightly.
Blyke cracked his neck. "Alright then. We clear the path."
Cagaro nodded once.
The three of them turned in unison toward the incoming guards, weapons ready, energy rising in controlled bursts.
Henry moved alone toward Roland.