"Open!"
Steve's consciousness was forcibly dragged back into the real world. His body staggered forward, gasping for air as if he had just woken from an extremely long nightmare. His vision slowly cleared, only to be greeted by the sight of the arena completely devastated… and the remnants of the horror that had just taken place.
"Hah… W-what happened?" Steve's voice trembled. He lowered his head deeply, staring at his hands that felt cold. "Shiro… why… Why did you kill him?! Why did you make me lose consciousness, you bastard!" Steve shouted with a gloomy face and a voice full of despair.
Inside his mind, Unknown merely scoffed in amusement. The entity casually walked and sat cross-legged on its throne again.
"So you wouldn't be noisy, idiot," Unknown replied lazily. "Besides, what's the point of crying? He still has one drop of blood left."
"Yeah… but only one left… Hah~"
Steve let out a long sigh. With sluggish steps and a heavy sense of disappointment weighing on his shoulders, he turned around and slowly walked away from the crater of destruction that used to be the arena.
Meanwhile, at the Hunter headquarters, dozens of giant screens were still broadcasting the battle live. The smoke of destruction slowly faded, revealing Shiro's split body lying on the ground.
Gampler froze in place.
Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the screen in front of her. Her beloved friend… the figure who was always so strong, elegant, and seemingly invincible… had now fallen in such a tragic way.
The neon aura on Gampler's outfit suddenly dimmed. Her three livestream drones lost power, clattering to the floor before disappearing completely. Her body collapsed as she dropped to her knees.
"Shi… Shiro…?" her lips trembled violently. "No… NO WAY! SHIROOO! HUAAAAA!"
Gampler cried uncontrollably, sobbing loudly. Her eye makeup smeared everywhere as she kept wiping her tears and snot with the sleeves of her oversized clothes.
"Hiks… You evil white-haired guy! You promised me you'd win earlier! Huaaaa! I have to hurry and fly to Shiro before he respawns!"
In panic, with messy hair and a face still flooded with tears, she jumped onto her magic staff. Gampler flew recklessly through the sky toward the headquarters of the Saikyō no Shiraga clan. Along the way she kept crying loudly, her staff wobbling as it crashed into clouds and flocks of birds passing by.
"Move aside, ugly birds! Huaaaa! Shiro, you better watch it when I see you! How dare you make me cry! Hiks… hiks…"
When she finally arrived at the clan headquarters, Gampler no longer cared about manners. She immediately slammed open the door to Shiro's resting room with full force until the hinges nearly came off.
Brak!
The door burst open. On the bed, Shiro who had just respawned paused for a moment. The white-haired man was still trying to gather his senses before his eyes caught the sight of Gampler standing at the doorway with a swollen, messy face.
Before Shiro could say anything, Gampler ran forward and crashed into him. She hugged him tightly until both of them fell onto the bed.
"Eh~"
Shiro smiled faintly. He returned the hug, gently stroking the top of Gampler's head. His voice sounded calm and soothing.
"Gampler… where is the cute girl who's usually cheerful? Don't cry like this. I'm still alive."
Hearing that gentle voice only made Gampler cry even harder. She buried her face into Shiro's chest, wiping away the tears that kept flowing.
"B-but…" she sobbed between broken breaths. "Your blood is down to one… which means the totem can't restore it anymore if you die!! Huhu~! Shiro, you idiot!" Gampler shouted with puffed cheeks.
"Alright, alright, Gampler. I won't put myself in danger again. Now calm down, okay? Do you want me to buy you some sweets?"
"No!! I don't want anything else! I just want to stay like this until tomorrow!!!"
Shiro let out a long sigh and nodded, accepting Gampler's request.
The two of them eventually fell asleep together, waiting for the next day to come.
…
In the darkness of the city, flickering lights created a battle between light and shadow.
In the middle of it all, Steve staggered as he walked back toward the TGH headquarters. The memories still haunted him… because it was his own body that had killed his trusted friend. His only friend. The one who had saved his life.
Inside Steve's mind, Unknown observed his gloomy face. Yet his arrogance prevented him from properly comforting him.
Unknown tried to regain Steve's trust.
"Kid… come on, don't be like that. Just ask that idiot box to restore Shiro's blood or something."
"A creature like you who can do anything only knows instant solutions… but knows nothing about feelings," Steve replied in a low voice, almost carried away by the wind.
Hearing that made Unknown's eyes narrow. For a moment he seemed ready to get angry because Steve dared to talk about his life as if he understood it.
But the anger faded.
For the first time, Unknown actually felt a trace of guilt toward his own vessel.
When Steve arrived inside the headquarters, Kregt was already standing in front of him. His face was filled with suspicion as he looked at Steve's extremely gloomy expression and remembered the battle that had just been broadcast… the aura looked far too similar to Steve's.
Kregt slowly guided Steve into his office. Steve sat down quietly, his head lowered. There were no more secrets he wished to hide.
"Steve, where have you been? Why do you look like that? And why did the person fighting Shiro look exactly like you?!" Kregt shouted.
"Hah… yeah… that was me. And the one controlling my body…" Steve let out a long sigh. "Unknown."
"Who's that? Unknown?"
"Open…"
Without saying much more, Steve revealed the greatest secret he had been hiding all this time.
A dark aura slowly emerged. Steve's eyes sharpened as Unknown took control.
Seeing this as a threat, Kregt immediately prepared himself.
"Who are you?!"
"Yeah, it's me… Unknown. The one who killed the strongest. Are you satisfied, kid?"
Kregt slowly lowered his arm and sat back down, trying to understand the situation calmly.
"So all this time… you're the one giving Steve his power?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Nothing… I'm just surprised something like this happened. Now please return Steve, honored guest."
"Heh… you're pretty smart. OPEN!"
Steve regained control of his body again.
"Steve, I know how you feel. Try to see things from different perspectives. From there, you'll find peace… Now go back to your room."
Steve slowly stood up and walked out of the room.