"What are you saying?!" Raz shouted in outrage.
"He's our brother! Why are we disposing of his body like trash?" another cried.
"Shut up!" Renzou roared, pointing at the corpse. "That is no longer Maxwell. When he wakes up, everyone here will be dead."
The words froze the crowd.
"What do you mean?" Mikail asked, shaken.
"He means Maxwell will revive as one of the Tall Men," Klein said quietly.
All eyes turned to him.
"I don't know why, but I think we should do what Renzou says," Klein added.
"Shut up, small brat!" Kaz snarled, grabbing Klein by the collar. "Keep quiet. You're new here—you don't understand what it means to lose a friend."
Klein laughed bitterly. "Friend? Brother? Family? Bullshit."
"What?" Kaz's face twisted in rage.
With sudden precision, Klein seized Kaz's wrist, flipped him, and pinned him to the ground.
"You can't talk about family when nobody has even asked about Dain. Where the hell is he?" Klein demanded.
Silence fell.
"If he's not here, that means he's dead," Mikail said flatly.
Klein cursed under his breath. So that was it? Nobody even cared enough to ask? Isolation had driven them all mad.
He looked toward the half‑closing Tower door. The putrid stench hit his nose. There's a rotten secret in there, he thought. I won't stay imprisoned here.
As the crowd argued, one boy's trembling voice cut through.
"Guys…?"
They turned. He was staring at Maxwell's hand.
It was twitching.
The tension was rising.
"Oh! Let me go, you bastard!" Kaz shouted, struggling under Klein's grip.
"Calm down, Klein," Mikail urged. He and the others were unsettled by Klein's sudden aggression.
Renzou, who had been shoved during the confrontation, stood up sharply.
"We don't have time. The door is almost closed—we need to hurry!"
"We are not disposing of his body like that!" Kaz shouted back. The other boys joined him, voices rising in opposition.
Renzou's anger flared. The situation was spiraling out of control, and he had no time to explain.
"GUYS!" one of the boys screamed, his voice breaking with terror. Everyone turned to him, following his trembling finger. Their eyes landed on Maxwell's corpse.
"What the hell…?" someone whispered.
Maxwell's hand was raised. Then, with a sickening crack, his back bent the wrong way.
"Eh-hooo!" The boys recoiled in horror, stumbling backward.
Renzou was the only one who rushed forward.
"There's no time! Help me throw the body back into the Tower before the door closes!" he shouted.
But nobody moved.
Renzou cursed under his breath and tried dragging the body himself. Despair gripped him as the door crept halfway shut. Suddenly, the corpse grew lighter. He glanced at Mikail and Klein.
"You'd better explain this later," Mikail said grimly. Together, they hauled the body and hurled it into the Tower's entrance.
"Good! Out!" Renzou barked.
Mikail dropped to one knee, dizzy. "What's happening? I feel strange…" His body sagged, on the verge of collapse.
"Damn it!" Renzou rushed forward, but Klein bypassed him, pulling Mikail up.
Renzou froze, shocked.
"What are you waiting for?!" Klein shouted, glaring at Renzou.
Snapping out of it, Renzou helped, and together they exited.
The Tower door slammed shut.
Everyone stared at what was happening inside. Maxwell's body convulsed. His limbs stretched unnaturally, his skin paling to a ghastly white. A guttural hurk escaped his throat as black‑purplish blood poured from his eyes, ears, and mouth.
Then, with a monstrous glare, Maxwell—no longer human—lunged toward them. But the Tower's door sealed, trapping him inside.
"What just happened right now…" someone whispered, voicing the question on everyone's mind.
Mikail, pale and trembling, looked up at Renzou.
"Are you still going to say it's not safe—or not right—to tell them what's really going on?"