Page 1
Thian stands. He looks at Bayki.
Bayki screams and launches at lightning speed.
"Stay out of what's between him and me!"
A punch fires toward Thian.
Thian throws his fist backward — a martial arts redirection. Knee into the stomach. His legs sweep under Bayki. A punch in midair.
Bayki's face meets the ground.
Page 2
Bayki screams in rage.
He grabs Thian's arm. He spins on the ground. He flips Thian and drives him into the dirt.
He tries to pin him down. But Thian slips free and stands again.
Bayki looks at Mabu. Then at Thian.
"You're dead. No question."
He draws his sword. He raises it toward the sky.
A violet light mixed with red takes over the blade. A powerful charge of lightning coils around it.
Page 3
Bayki raises his hand toward the right.
The charge redirects. The sword becomes bound to his arm — as if it's part of his body.
Bayki looks at his hand. Then at Thian.
Page 4
In the medical room.
Haino runs between the shelves. He tears through everything at speed.
"Thread… thread… where is the thread?"
He opens a drawer. Nothing. He opens a cabinet. Nothing.
He turns. He opens a drawer in the corner.
Thread. Scissors. A small jar — strange color.
He grabs them and runs.
Page 5
He slides across the wet floor as he runs. He reaches Yuzuha.
He uncovers the wound. Deeper than he expected.
He opens the jar. He smells it. He nods to himself.
He begins the stitching — with two hands that don't tremble.
Page 6
Thian smiles: "There are so many kinds of power in this world."
Bayki doesn't answer. He swings his sword.
Violet energy launches at speed.
Thian leaps over it. He looks behind him.
Two soldiers who were fighting behind him split in two from the strike. They fall.
Thian looks at what just happened.
"What in hell is that?"
Page 7
Bayki is about to charge.
A bell cuts through the battle.
The First Division commander of the Tali Kingdom shouts from behind:
"Retreat! Immediate retreat for all soldiers! To the Southern Wall! Now!"
The soldiers pull back. Everyone runs.
Bayki slowly absorbs the sword's charge back into his body. He looks at Mabu. Then at Thian.
He smiles.
"Until we meet again."
He turns and walks.
Page 8
"Ohhhh—haaaaaa!"
The soldiers erupt in cheering from every side. The sound fills the field.
Thian sits beside Mabu in the middle of the bodies, the mud, and the blood.
He smiles at him: "We won, Mabu. Be happy."
Mabu looks around him. The bodies. The mud. The soldiers who will never cheer.
Page 9
"Be happy?"
A quiet exhale.
"We didn't win. We just didn't die today."
He looks at the horizon.
"This isn't the end. This is the beginning of something worse."
Silence.
The cheering still fills the air around them. But between the two of them — a heavy silence no one else shares.
Page 10
Thian stands. He extends his hand to Mabu.
They rise together. They lean on each other. They walk toward the gate.
They enter the Wall.
Mabu stops.
Everywhere — the wounded. A man with no hand. A man with no eye. A man with no legs.
Low sounds fill the corridors.
Page 11
Mabu sits down on the floor slowly.
He doesn't speak. He can't.
Thian sits beside him. He puts his hand on his shoulder.
"Find Haino. Yuzuha… Yuzuha—"
Then Mabu loses consciousness.
Page 12
Mabu jolts awake in a white bed.
He looks right. Left.
He tries to rise quickly. Pain hits him from every direction. He winces — but shouts:
"Thian! Yuzuha! Karki! Anyone!"
A door opens.
The old man enters. He walks toward him slowly.
"Don't move. Your injuries are still fresh."
Page 13
"Grandfather…"
The old man doesn't look at him directly. He arranges the blanket around him with both hands.
"Grandfather. Where is Yuzuha? What happened to her?"
The old man stops. He raises his head. He looks at him.
"Yuzuha is fine. Don't worry."
Mabu breathes. He closes his eyes for a moment.
Then he falls back against the pillow.
The old man smiles.
Page 14
Some time later.
Mabu opens the door to his room. He walks slowly down the corridor — carrying a body that hasn't healed yet.
He looks through the window.
Snow falling outside. Covering everything in silence.
"That's beautiful."
He goes out to the courtyard.
Page 15
Thian and Karki sit in wooden chairs. Their breath turning to white clouds in the cold air.
Mabu arrives.
Thian rises and hugs him hard.
Karki hugs him too.
They sit together. The snow falls over them.
"You finally woke up. I missed you, man."
"How long was I asleep?"
"Two days. Maybe three."
Page 16
"Where are Yuzuha and Totoki?"
Thian exhales a white cloud.
"Yuzuha is in the capital. Receiving treatment. Her wound was deep — but Haino saved her in time."
He pauses.
"Totoki is also there. Getting psychological treatment. What happened to him in the battle was too heavy."
Page 17
Mabu turns to Karki.
"Why was Totoki hitting you, Karki?"
Karki looks at his hands.
"I don't know exactly. He wasn't in his right mind when he did it. When he came to afterward — he didn't remember any of it."
He stops.
"Yesterday we held a burial. A large ceremony for all those who died. We buried them on the other side of the Wall."
Heavy silence.
"We collapsed the tunnel as well."
Page 18
Mabu says:
"How did those insects get that large? Aren't they supposed to be small?"
Thian looks at him.
"I don't know. Honestly."
Mabu watches the snow. He thinks.
He asks in a lower voice: "And General Kenneth?"
Page 19
Thian goes quiet for a moment.
"He died."
Mabu raises his head: "How?"
Karki speaks in a quiet voice:
"I saw it. He was fighting other soldiers. Then in an instant — two children. Dark halos in their eyes. Their hands locked together. They passed beside Kenneth."
Page 20
"Their hands turned into a thin sharp wire. They passed through him. Cut him in two."
Mabu goes silent.
"What a way to die. Damn."
He breathes.
"What were the losses?"
Thian exhales a long white cloud.
"Nine hundred soldiers."
Page 21
Mabu raises his hands slowly. He looks at them.
"Nine hundred…"
He whispers.
"If we were stronger. If all of us were stronger than this… we could have cut that number in half. Or less."
He remembers the soldier's face in the cave as he was being consumed. His raised hand. His voice.
Please…
Mabu's face trembles.
"When do we go home?"
Page 22
Thian looks at him.
"Today or tomorrow. We need the rest."
He pauses.
"And the King announced a large celebration in the capital — one month from now. After all of this."
Page 23
Karki leans back in his chair.
"Better than nothing. We get some enjoyment after all of this."
No one responds.
The snow falls over them in silence.
Three people. Wooden chairs. And snow covering everything.
Page 24
Mabu stands alone now.
He looks at the sky.
The snow falls slowly. It lands on his face. On his hands — outstretched in front of him.
He doesn't speak. He doesn't think out loud.
He just looks.
As if he's trying to hold onto this moment before the worse things begin.
End of Arc One
Continued in Chapter Twenty-One