──────────────────────────
Chapter 36 — A Tremor Between Life and Ruin
──────────────────────────
Kiura began lifting his body with difficulty… the sounds of his muscles groaned like tightened ropes on the verge of tearing, as if every cell inside him was crying for help.
Renion watched him with concern that trembled like a flower in the path of a storm, Zokimoshi stared at him with suppressed annoyance, while Kazu looked at him with a cold challenging gaze, as if telling him:
show me how long you can endure in a world that shows no mercy.
Kiura lifted his body…
One… two… three…
Until he reached the eighth, his face pale like someone who had climbed a mountain while carrying the weight of a planet.
He lifted the ninth, his arms shaking like branches facing a hurricane.
He lifted the tenth… and his hands began slipping from the intense pressure, the heat of his skin felt as if someone was trying to melt him from the inside.
After completing the tenth, his closed eyes collapsed like a window tired of resisting the wind, and his exhausted body fell.
The rock dropped toward him—
but Kazu intervened and pushed it away.
Renion screamed, her voice tearing through the silence of the place:
Renion: ( Kiura!... )
Kazu bent beside him and found him unconscious, breathing slowly, as if floating between life and death.
Kazu: ( He's unconscious… so, a new punishment. )
He raised his foot to kick him—
but froze in place.
Kazu muttered to himself:
( No… I can't do this. True, I told them my training is harsh… but I didn't say I would break their necks. )
But Renion could not bear the sight.
Renion angrily: ( Why do you let him train like this?! )
Kazu: ( I didn't do anything… and I told you I would be strict. Zokimoshi! Wake him up… without touching him. )
Zokimoshi:
(You're in front of him, wake him up yourself.)
Kazu raised his eyebrows mockingly:
(I'm the one in charge here.)
Zokimoshi sighed:
(Ah, fine.)
Zokimoshi smiled with a mixture of tolerance and arrogance.
He drew his two swords and crossed them into an X.
Zokimoshi:
( Wild Hunt: Air Blades )
A dense energy erupted from him, like the spark of a volcano igniting inside him.
The place trembled lightly, and the air became heavier.
Renion in fear: ( Do you want to kill him?! Stop! )
But he ignored her.
Kazu: ( I knew it, his physical strength returns quickly and his mana too. )
Inside Kiura's mind…
there was a voice… strange, deep, and sharp.
The voice thinking:
( He's serious… real killing intent. Wake up… wake up… or you will die in three seconds. )
Kiura's body began trembling, as if trying to gather the last drop of strength within him.
The voice screamed inside him:
The voice:
( Get up! Now! )
Zokimoshi launched like an arrow, the ground beneath his feet cracking.
Kiura opened his eyes—
but too late.
The two swords were already in front of his face.
The voice:
( It's over… he cannot survive… but I will not allow that. )
But at the last moment…
something inhuman happened.
Kiura's instincts worked at their absolute limit, surpassing human instincts and becoming like the instincts of beasts.
Kiura's body disappeared from its place and appeared far away—
with a speed no one had ever seen before, not even Kazu himself.
Zokimoshi released his strike.
Two sharp waves of energy tore through the ground and the iron wall, leaving behind a muted explosion.
Renion gasped:
Renion: ( Kiura is definitely dead… )
Zokimoshi smiled confidently:
Zokimoshi: ( A direct hit… it's over. )
Kazu shouted angrily:
Kazu: ( Oi, you idiot! I told you to wake him up, not kill him!! )
Renion cried:
Renion: ( He died… )
Then a weak… hoarse voice came…
Kiura:
( Help… I'm here… )
Everyone turned.
They found him lying far away, barely able to move.
Kazu: ( He's alive! )
Renion: ( He's alive! )
Zokimoshi: ( How… how did he escape? )
They ran toward him.
Kiura:
( My body hurts… I need healing… )
Kazu coldly: ( Absolutely not. )
Renion protested:
Renion: ( I thought you were really dead! )
Zokimoshi: ( How did you survive my attack? )
Renion: ( You're evil! )
Kiura sighed with difficulty:
( It's fine… but take me… healing… )
Renion placed her hands on him.
A green light surrounded him…
His muscles returned as they were… his bones calmed… his pain faded.
He suddenly stood up:
Kiura: ( Yahoo! I feel energetic! )
Renion collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.
Kiura: ( Hey! What's wrong with you? )
Kazu:
( Don't worry… she just drained her mana. She will need rest. )
Then suddenly he turned and struck Zokimoshi on the neck with a surprise blow.
Zokimoshi collapsed unconscious instantly.
Kiura in shock:
Kiura: ( What did you do to him?! )
Kazu:
( I put him into a coma. )
Kiura: ( Why?! )
Kazu:
( After everything he did, you ask why? )
Kiura stubbornly: ( Yes. )
Kazu:
( Because his presence in training is a risk. He does not understand the limits of power… nor the limits of death. And you want my opinion? Be careful of him… even if he is your friend. )
Then he pointed to all of them:
( Now… rest. Tomorrow we continue. )
To be continued…