He walked slowly to Ain's side and gently knelt down.
In the moonlight, he could clearly see his adjutant's pale face and the front of her Marine uniform soaked red with blood.
Her breathing was faint, her life force flickering like a candle in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.
"Tch… honestly…"
For the first time, a faint, nearly imperceptible ripple appeared in Renzo's usually icy-blue eyes.
"Letting yourself get this beaten up… the cleanup work and paperwork later are going to be such a pain."
He spoke softly, extending his hand over Ain's wound, without touching her.
His half-lidded eyes lowered completely.
Renzo's voice became as light as sleep-talk:
"Stop."
Hum…
A far more refined, concentrated ripple of gray light spread outward from his palm, gently enveloping Ain.
Then, the unbelievable happened.
The hideous wound on her chest "couldn't be bothered" to stay open any longer, and began healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The blood flowing out "became too lazy" to continue leaving.
Her fading life force "felt that dying was too troublesome," and so… it turned around and rose again.
Within seconds, Ain's paper-white face regained healthy color.
Her weak, shallow breaths became steady and long.
Aside from the bloodstains and torn uniform, she now looked simply… peacefully asleep.
This was not healing.
This was a higher-dimensional, rule-based state reversal.
"T-This is…"
Nearby, Rehn, who had just recovered from the shock, and the surviving Marines all stared with wide eyes, as if witnessing a divine miracle descend.
They had seen healers before… but never something so unreasonable, so reality-defying.
"Good grief… what a convenient and envy-inducing ability," Kizaru muttered lazily from the side.
Renzo finished with Ain, then used the same gray ripples on Monet and the wounded Marines around them.
Those who had been on the verge of death saw their wounds vanish within a few breaths.
One by one, they sat up from the ground, staring at their intact bodies in disbelief, then erupting into stunned joy and reverence toward Renzo, gazing up at him like a god.
"That's done."
Renzo stood up, pulled out his transponder snail, and dialed G-5.
"It's me."
His voice returned to its usual lazy drawl.
"Send medical ships and transports to Patnia… Yes, to finish the cleanup. There are some very 'durable' punching bags here, bring them all back and lock them in Impel Down's deepest cells."
He hung up, as if he had just completed a trivial errand.
"Admiral Haiiroyo!!"
Rehn suddenly rushed over and dropped to his knees with a heavy thud, his voice trembling with emotion:
"Thank you! Thank you for saving everyone! You… You're the savior of this country!"
Renzo only glanced at him.
"Stand up. You're blocking the way."
"Y-Yes! Yes, sir!"
Rehn scrambled to his feet, his face filled with the wild relief of someone who had survived a catastrophe.
The danger was gone.
His comrades were saved.
Only one thought remained, his greatest, most important worry.
"Admiral! I-I'm going to find my sister!"
He shouted with urgent excitement, heart bursting with hope.
The crisis was over!
He and his sister were both alive!
When everything ended, he would bring her to G-5 and thank the Admiral, their savior, face to face.
He and his sister depended on each other.
She was his entire world.
He turned and sprinted toward the place where she had been hiding.
He ran through the ruined streets, past burning debris, his heart so full of joy and hope that even this hellish landscape seemed coated in the light of "a future."
Soon, he reached the familiar alley containing the basement where he had hidden her.
But the sight before him froze the smile on his face instantly.
The wooden door to the basement, the one he had warned her never to open, had been kicked apart, shattered into pieces.
A cold, venomous dread coiled around Rehn's heart.
"Lily…?"
His voice trembled.
He rushed inside.
The cramped basement was in complete disarray.
And then, he saw her.
In the corner of the room, the little girl he had sworn to protect with his life, his beloved sister, lay quietly in a pool of cold blood.
Her eyes were still open, holding the last trace of fear, but the light in them was long gone.
A small, inconspicuous hole marked her chest, the neat wound of a bullet.
Perhaps, some passing, bloodthirsty pirate had casually fired a shot toward her hiding place…
Rehn's footsteps halted.
All color drained from his face.
The sound of the world drifted away from him.
He walked forward, slowly, each step requiring everything he had left.
He knelt beside her and reached out with a trembling hand, so trembling it could barely be called a hand, and gently touched her now-cold cheek.
"Lily…"
He whispered her name, afraid to disturb her sleep.
But that cold, stiff sensation stabbed into his heart like a blade soaked in poison, twisting violently.
Hope.
Joy.
Future…
Everything beautiful shattered in that single moment.
"No…"
"No… no… no, !!!"
A grief beyond all words erupted from Rehn.
He clutched his sister's small, frozen body to his chest, lifted his head, and opened his mouth.
Two burning red streams burst from his eyes, pouring down his cheeks.
Tears of blood.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"
His scream, raw, violent, soul-breaking, tore the night sky apart and echoed down the ruined street.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu