Rosanna bit her lip and looked away.
Forcan and the Administration Bureau had banned doll production and suppressed the mage-engineers involved.
Everyone else had bent the knee. But not Ruhvoll.
He had resisted to the very end, demanding that Baela, who had been displayed like a trophy, be moved somewhere other than the square.
As a result, he was stripped of his citizenship and driven out to the scrapyard.
But apparently, that wasn't enough to quell their anger.
*"Take it apart."*
Forcan had dismantled the combat doll Baela.
Baela, who had defeated the enemy and saved the people and the city, was a symbol of hope itself.
They had shattered that symbolism into pieces.
So that no one left behind would cling to false hope.
As a result, all that remained in the square now was the head and part of the upper body.
The rest had been taken away by each general of the Administration Bureau, claiming they would keep them as personal collections.
"Ah..."
At the horrific sight, Ruhvoll dropped his head.
He wanted to deny reality.
The doll Baela, who had been with him for so long.
To his master, she was like a daughter.
And yet, while he had been wasting away in the scrapyard, she had ended up like this.
The guilt of failing to protect Baela felt like his entire body was breaking apart.
This was why Rosanna had said what she did earlier.
It had never existed in the first place.
There was nothing to reclaim, nothing to revive.
"Ruhvoll."
Jinhyuk placed a hand on him, but Ruhvoll shook his head.
"It's over. It's all over. Everything is broken. It's far too late."
"You said you were the finest doll maker in Aetheropolis, didn't you?"
"What does that matter now, when nothing is left?"
"If we gather all the lost parts, can you fix her?"
"Stop it. How do you expect to find pieces scattered to the four winds?"
"You said all the other dolls were scrapped except for Baela."
Jinhyuk raised his head and looked at Baela, still in the square.
"That means she's the only one made from the same material. So we can find them."
The mysterious sphere that had contained the Philosopher's Stone.
When he had held it up to the Yodle Compass, the reaction had been overwhelming.
Because the materials used to make the sphere were overflowing in the mage-engineering city of Aetheropolis.
But Baela was a different story.
The Administration Bureau had personally reduced her numbers, so the Yodle Compass would point in a meaningful direction.
"Lift your head. What's broken can be put back together."
Jinhyuk stood up and walked toward the center of the square.
Forcan, finding something amusing, twitched his lips.
Jinhyuk spoke to him.
"I can take this, right?"
"By all means."
He leaped lightly onto the platform.
From that height, the whole area was visible.
Only then did he notice them.
People watching through windows and door cracks.
He couldn't call them cowards.
When faced with overwhelming force, it was wise to hide and avoid it.
He cleared the glass case on the platform and carefully lifted Baela.
Then, taking a breath, he raised his voice.
"I heard Baela was the hope you all once held."
He looked around once before continuing.
"It's shattered now, but the ember hasn't died out yet. From now on, I'll piece together what's broken and scattered, and rekindle that ember. So."
A faint smile crossed his lips.
"Just wait a little longer. The ember will soon blaze."
*BOOOOOOM!!!*
A massive tremor spread across the square.
A fist slammed down right next to Jinhyuk.
It was Forcan Beldor's attack, accelerated by her mage-engineering weapon.
A giant crater formed in the center of the square.
Through the dust cloud, a red glow flashed.
"You don't know when to stop, do you, outsider? You're crossing the line."
Forcan took a couple of steps forward and looked down at Jinhyuk.
"The only reason I let you live is because you piqued my interest. Without that interest, you would have been crushed before you even knew it. So I suggest you stop provoking me."
Veins bulged on Forcan's forehead.
The war hero Baela.
Years of effort had gone into erasing that symbolism.
And now some mere outsider was pulling this stunt in front of everyone.
If it had been anyone else, they would have died a hundred times over.
"Is there a law in Aetheropolis? A law against reviving Baela or even mentioning her?"
"What?"
Forcan's eyes narrowed.
What was this? This unreal reaction.
She had just demonstrated overwhelming martial prowess.
Normally, he should be terrified. Even if he didn't bow his head, his voice should be trembling. But instead, he was brimming with composure.
"If there's no such law, then I almost got into serious trouble. If I had handed her over, you would have attacked an innocent person. Which means..."
Jinhyuk turned to face Forcan, a smirk on his lips.
"...it would be self-defense if I beat you to death."
He slowly looked around Aetheropolis.
If he wanted to, he could wipe out the entire Administration Bureau right now.
There was only one reason he didn't.
From Grandpa Ruhvoll to General Rosanna, to the people hiding in their homes watching.
There were still those who hadn't completely let go of the ember of hope.
He wanted to give them a chance.
A chance to stand up on their own, to fight against the rot.
To do that, he had to show them the way.
Through Baela, the symbol of that ember, being revived.
But if they insisted on fighting to prevent that, then so be it.
He was sorry to Ruhvoll and the people, but he would have to break them by force.
"What...? Beat me to death?"
*GRIT!!!*
Forcan gritted her teeth and raised her gauntlet again.
"So you ignore my mercy and rush to your death!!"
The mage-engineering fist radiated a dazzling light.
Jinhyuk spread his arms wide.
"Try not to miss this time."
He wasn't bluffing.
It wasn't bad.
It was a simple, brutish route with no justification, but it was also the fastest shortcut.
The steam-spewing gauntlet shot forward at incredible speed.
He didn't dodge.
He just watched the fist approach, wrapped in mana.
A moment later.
*WHOOOOOSH!!!*
The backlash ruffled his hair.
The mage-engineering gauntlet stopped, leaving about a step of distance.
He smiled.
Too bad.
He thought it might be the shortcut.
He raised his eyes and stared at Forcan Beldor, the head of the Aetheropolis Administration Bureau.
In the steam, her pupils were shaking violently.
*'Why...!!!'*
She had definitely thrown the punch intending to crush him.
But she had stopped mid-swing.
It wasn't a rational decision.
Something else had halted her movement.
An instinct that seized her skin and nerves had sent a warning.
The moment she touched him, she would undoubtedly be killed.
It was a different feeling, but she had experienced something similar before.
Near the end of the past war.
Forcan had witnessed the combat doll Baela fighting.
An overwhelming martial dance that cut through the enemy's breath as she danced across the battlefield.
That must have been the moment.
When the seed of fear, ready to bloom, took root.
As Forcan unknowingly drifted into her memories, the outsider's voice seeped in from outside the Tower.
"Don't forget."
Through the hazy steam, the outsider's eyes gleamed.
"That one step saved your life."
The distance of one step she hadn't advanced.
Staring at it, Forcan bit her molars.
"This is the last time I go easy on you because you're an outsider. Take that trash and get out. If, by any chance, you make me come looking for you again..."
Forcan's eyes flashed dangerously.
"...it will be your end."
Any curiosity about the outsider had vanished like melting snow.
All that remained was seething rage and hostility, ready to explode.
But she couldn't ignore the cry of her instinct, so she had to back down for now.
"I'm leaving."
Forcan turned around.
It was impossible for that outsider to retrieve all of Baela's scattered parts anyway.
The Administration Bureau didn't have just one or two generals, and the outsider didn't even know which of them had Baela's parts.
So, while that bastard wasted his time on a fool's errand, she would prepare.
A means to kill him with absolute certainty, leaving no room for variables.
"Candina."
"Yes!"
"Wake the sleeping ones. Every single one. All of them."
Candina's eyes shook violently.
It was practically the same as waking a calamity they had barely managed to put to sleep, but she dared not question it.
If she did, her neck would be crushed before the outsider's.
"Understood! I'll see to it immediately!"
"And inform every general. All of Baela's parts are to be disposed of immediately."
"Yes!"
Forcan Beldor, the head of the Administration Bureau, let out a deep sigh.
She intended to repay the humiliation she had suffered today in full.
With the outsider's death.
* * *
North of the Administration Bureau.
General Modoro frowned.
"Dispose of it?"
"Yes. Lady Forcan herself gave the order. She said to dispose of it immediately."
"Tch."
Clicking his tongue, Modoro stood up.
He walked into the spacious living room and stared at the glass wall.
He had won Baela's arm in a bet, and now he had to get rid of it. What a waste.
But what could he do?
He couldn't risk Forcan's wrath over a decoration.
He would just throw it into the mage-engineering incinerator right away.
Modoro reached his hand toward the glass wall.
And at that moment.
"Is this it? Baela's part?"
"!?"
He turned his head at the voice.
When had he gotten here?
A man with purple eyes, his entire body covered in tattoos.
His appearance alone inspired fear.
'M-my mage-engineering gun...!'
Modoro glanced at the table across from Renya.
"I'll wait. Go get it."
"!?"
"Pick it up and pull the trigger."
Hesitating with suspicion, Modoro lunged toward the table.
He didn't know what this guy was thinking, but he would make him pay for his arrogance, for daring to sneak into a general's residence.
"I'll blow your head off!!"
Modoro aimed the gun at Renya's head.
There was no need for mercy with an intruder.
He pulled the trigger immediately.
*BOOM!*
A rough beam of laser shot out.
But it never touched Renya.
What had happened?
Renya, who had been right in front of the muzzle, had somehow moved to the side.
"My master said I can beat you to death if I'm attacked."
As the fist slowly rose,
Modoro's face filled with horror.
*CRACK!!!*
* * *
Somewhere in Aetheropolis, at the place General Rosanna had prepared.
Mage-engineer Ruhvoll rubbed his eyes.
He had no choice.
Because what he was seeing was utterly unbelievable.
Had it been two hours since Jinhyuk declared he would gather the parts?
They had all gathered.
Every single part of the combat doll Baela.
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T/N:
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