The next second, I was back.
The city intersection.
Everything looked normal.
Too normal—
but it felt… delayed.
People were everywhere.
Around me below, people began reacting.
Their voices blurred together.
Too many at once—none of them making sense.
"Who is that?"
"He just appeared out of nowhere!"
"Was he floating?"
My feet touched the ground as if I had fallen from above, Aron still in my arms. The normal world had returned—but something felt off.
But I kept walking forward slowly.
My face had no expression.
I wasn't empty.
I just didn't have anything left to show.
"Who is he carrying?"
Phones were already raised, recording everything.
But I didn't react.
I just stood there.
They weren't looking at me.
They were looking at something they didn't understand how to name.
Empty.
Then—
a group of people in black coats rushed toward me.
BSA agents.
They moved quickly and surrounded me, raising their weapons.
"Don't move."
But no one stepped closer.
Their formation tightened—but their feet didn't move.
Even the air around me felt… avoided.
Even with guns—
they hesitated.
"Hey… hey… he feels like bad news…"
"Something's wrong with him…"
"...Why does it feel like he's the dangerous one here?"
They aimed.
But no one wanted to be the one to fire first.
Weapons clicked.
Safety off.
"Stop right there!"
I didn't respond.
I didn't even look at them.
---
Earlier, Zekai and Aron had disappeared.
Along with them, forty-three civilians and BSA agents had vanished.
Now—
only Zekai had returned.
And Aron's lifeless body.
Before anyone could process it—
something fell from the sky.
Then another.
Then more.
Pieces of bodies.
Arms.
Legs.
Heads.
Broken torsos.
They fell one after another onto the road.
The remains of the missing forty-three people.
They didn't fall all at once.
They kept coming.
Like the sky hadn't finished returning them yet.
Screams filled the air instantly.
"AHHHHHHH—!"
"What is happening?!"
People panicked.
"No—no—what is this?!"
One of the bodies hit the ground—
right in front of someone filming.
The phone slipped from their hand.
They didn't pick it up.
People backed away in horror.
Then—
a weak sound came from among the bodies.
"…Ah…"
A man was still alive.
Helmith.
His body was broken.
He lay on the ground, barely conscious.
One of his arms was gone.
Two severed hands lay beside him.
Neither of them were his.
Blood spread beneath him as his eyes struggled to open.
His eyes opened—
just enough to prove he wasn't dead.
Yet.
The chaos hadn't ended.
It had just begun.
End of Chapter 17 - Return