No screams.
No steel clashing.
No blood spilling.
Only wind.
It moved gently across the valley—
Where death had once ruled.
Now…
Nothing remained.
Broken ground.
Cracked earth.
Scattered remnants of a fight that shouldn't have existed.
The place where everything changed.
Where they survived.
Where they almost didn't.
He stood at the edge of it.
Still.
Unmoving.
His eyes weren't filled with rage.
Not even pain.
Just… quiet.
A bandage wrapped across his torso.
Another along his arm.
Breathing steady But not easy.
He wasn't fully healed.
Not even close.
A flash Darkness.
A voice.
Calling him back.
"…Don't die."
His grip tightened slightly.
"…I didn't."
Barely a whisper.
Behind Him
Footsteps.
Slow.
Familiar.
Goro stopped a few steps away.
Didn't speak immediately.
Didn't need to.
"…You're thinking too much."
Hiroto didn't turn.
"…Just remembering."
A pause.
Then—
"…Good."
Goro's voice was calm.
"…Means you're still alive."
Hiroto exhaled slowly.
"…It didn't feel like I won."
Goro stepped beside him now.
Looking over the same ruined field.
"…You didn't."
No sugarcoating.
No comfort.
"…You survived."
A beat.
"…That's different."
Hiroto's eyes lowered slightly.
"…Then I'm still weak."
Goro didn't answer right away.
"…You're unfinished."
That made Hiroto look at him.
Not insulted.
Not angry.
Just… listening.
Goro turned away from the battlefield.
"…We move today."
"…This place has nothing left for us."
Hiroto glanced back one last time.
At the silence.
At the past.
Then turned forward.
"…Yeah."
Further back Akari stood with her arms crossed.
Watching.
Not the battlefield Hiroto.
Yui sat on a fallen log, quietly tying supplies together.
She looked up briefly.
"…We leaving?"
Goro nodded once.
"…Now."
The Enforcer stretched lazily nearby.
"…Finally."
The Watcher said nothing.
As always.
No ceremony.
No final words.
Just movement.
Feet stepping away from the past.
Toward something unknown.
His steps were slower than before.
More careful.
But different.
Not reckless.
Not rushing ahead.
For the first time He walked with awareness.
Every breath.
Every step.
Every movement.
Controlled.
As the forest path opened before them Goro's voice echoed slightly:
"…From here on…"
"…you learn how to fight properly."
Hiroto didn't respond.
But his eyes sharpened.
"…Good."
To be continued…