***EXTRA LONG CHAP***

—–

“He’s dead…” Malon said, shaking his head.

“W-what are you saying!? Hanzo is dead!?” Noa shouted in disbelief.

Malon squinted, “Hey! Calm down… I’m obviously speaking figuratively.”

Noa’s lips quivered before she suddenly unleashed: “You don’t know what has been going on!”

Malon was taken aback, “O-okay! Im sorry!”

‘What the hell has happened for her to react like that? What has made her think that I would actually be telling the truth!?’ Malon thought to himself with confusion.

“Where is he? Where are we!?” Noa yelled.

Before Malon could respond, the black slug that had traveled with her spoke after looking around:

“This place… its where we wait before traveling to the overworld. Why are you here…”

*BOOM*

The robed individual was suddenly blasted into 200 pieces of flesh and blood.

Malon’s jaw dropped to the floor: “What the fuck…” He said under his breath.

“MALON!” Noa screamed, “Where is Hanzo!?”

Malon quickly snapped out of it, “Y-yes! He’s right there…” He pointed. “But that guy was right… Mrama and the other three… they wanted us to come, but Hanzo refused.”

Noa’s eyes lit up slightly as she saw that Hanzo was still alive. He looked to be sitting on the floor, his face toward the ground.

“Im glad you two are okay…” She said, getting slightly emotional. “So he fought against them?”

Malon sighed, “Well… yes, but only until they let him go. After that, he stopped attacking.”

Noa furrowed her brows, “What? Why!? If he could have atleast stopped some of them… maybe the hundreds of lives that are being lost right now could have been saved…”

Malon’s eyebrows furrowed, “What in the world are you saying?” He said, his voice shaking slightly with disbelief.

The two made their way to where Hanzo was sitting.

“Hanzo, we need you in the battlefield,” Noa said, placing her hand on the young man’s shoulder.

Hanzo didn’t respond.

Malon shook his head, “The battlefield?” He said under his breath, hearing this at the same time as Hanzo.

“Hanzo!” Noa shook the man, “Didn’t you hear what I said? Look… I get it, you may be upset for whatever reason, but there isn’t time for that! Hundreds of Zasean natives are being killed. The black slugs… they are butchering our men by the dozens every second.

We need someone on the battlefield.”

Hanzo didn’t even toss a glance at Noa’s direction.

Malon sighed, “He’s been like this for days… ever since we came here, he has had no motivation. Like I said, the Hanzo we once knew is gone. All thats left is an empty shell, it seems.”

“How can you say something like that?” Noa exclaimed, “He’s still here… he’s clearly still right here in front of us.”

Malon paused, “I do not wish to dishonor him… he is my brother, and I would give my life for him in a heartbeat. But he isn’t here… he has not replied to me all day.”

Noa turned toward Hanzo: “Get up!” She shouted, attempting to pull Hanzo to his feet. She was unable to do so, only pulling him slightly.

“People are dying! Don’t you get it!?”

Still, Hanzo didn’t even acknowledge her. Simply staring at the ground with lifeless eyes.

Noa panted, panicking slightly as she didn’t know what to do, “Everyone’s dead!” Tears built up in her eyes as she expressed her inner turmoil:

“Ha… Trai… they have all been killed! And even Tyr has been taken! I don’t know where he is, but he isn’t responding to my radio at all!”

On hearing that, Hanzo’s void-like eyes suddenly gained a glimmer of life.

With widened pupils, he turned to look at Noa: “Tyr… is in trouble? Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”

Noa paused, panting with emotional breath’s: “Now that you know… get up. Get up and help us.”

Hanzo didn’t speak for a while. And then, he turned and looked at the floor again.

“I am not like you guys. I can’t grow in power… I can’t fight.” He said out of nowhere, confusing both Malon and Noa the hell out.

“What are you saying!?” Noa exclaimed, puzzled.

Hanzo continued: “I don’t have those dreams and aspirations… those things that drive me. On the inside, all I am is someone who wants a normal life. I don’t want to fight… I told Tyr this when we first joined teams. Only after time have I learned that I have no life purpose to motivate me.

I have no ambition. I am not meant to fight…”

Noa was taken aback with shock, ‘What is he saying… so what if he doesn’t have ambition? He’s still powerful, and we need that power right now…’

“I get people are dying… but don’t you understand? How can I get up when I don’t have bones? How can I squeeze my fists when my body won’t give me strength? How can I fight… when I have nothing to fight for…”

On hearing this, a burst of anger swelled up within Noa, “Nothing to fight for?” She said in a low tone.

Without hesitation, he slapped the shit out of Hanzo. It left a steaming red mark on his face.

His eyes widened with disbelief, yet he didn’t move.

“What did you say to Tyr when you joined this group? Was it not that you would fight for his sake!? For his dream!?”

“Yes… but fighting for another’s dream is hardly like fighting for my own.”

Noa paused, tears pouring down her face. She fell to her knees, “Hanzo… why did you even join this group? If you don’t want to fight… why are you still here?”

She broke down into tears.

Malon simply stared at her with squinted eyes of sorrow.

However, her words made Hanzo think back to when he first met Tyr.

‘He was an interesting character. When I first met him, I thought he would bring some fun into my life, so I followed him. And as a result, he followed me. He saw me as a guide… a mentor…’

Hanzo’s eyes suddenly widened half an inch more, ‘He saw me as an older brother… and I remembered my younger brother in him…’

At that moment, flashes of memories assaulted his mind.

He was a child when his mother died. Some unknown disease that random doctors gave names to in order to learn money from his pockets…

She was a prostitute, but that hardly mattered to Hanzo.

He remembered the day when he went to buy her medicine, but was denied due to a greedy merchant.

She died after that…. and his little brother was kidnapped as well on the same day. Had it not been for Hanzo’s quick-wittedness… or plain old luck to decide to leave his house, he may have been captured as well.

‘Now that I think about it… both of those things happening to me aren’t easy coincidences. That merchant… he wore a brown robe.’

Things began to piece themselves together.

‘My younger brother had entered the city… and he never came back. If it was the Black Merchant Guild’s doing, denying my mother medicine would only make sense… maybe it was to reap my Ancestral Powers. Did they think my younger brother was me, by chance?’

…

‘Well… what happened, has happened. The past doesn’t matter now… what matters is what I do next.’

Hanzo looked down at his hands. They were quivering, ‘Younger brother… I say I can’t protect you, because I don’t have a reason. Am I that bad of an older brother… that I can’t even come up with a reason to save you?’

…

‘Then… I’ll do it right now. To save you, Kin… I’ll come up with a reason.’

Hanzo began to speak out loud, making both Noa and Malon stop what they were doing and look at him:

“To…” Hanzo began to say, “To…” His mind raced, thinking of a reason, “To protect my younger brother, I will be the strongest.”

Noa stared at Hanzo with blood-shot eyes.

Malon’s brows curled inwards with bewilderment.

“I vow… to never let anything happen to him. I will not lose him again.” Hanzo slowly rose to his feet.

He closed his eyes as the other two looked at him.

After 10 seconds, his eyes opened with grace.

A smile appeared on his face, “What are you two waiting for? Let’s go… we don’t have time to waste here!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep