Chapter 265: Reunion

Hide stood rooted in the blood-slicked asphalt of the plaza, his fingers gripping the scabbard of his katana.

Looking down at Kai’s bowed head, an ache tore through his chest. His best friend was alive. But standing this close, the toll of the last two months was laid bare. Kai’s face was gaunt, his skin pale beneath streaks of dried monster blood and black grime. His broad shoulders slumped under the weight of exhaustion, and every small shift of his stance was accompanied by the mechanical hum and pneumatic hiss of his prosthetic leg.

Hide wanted to tear off the disguise, and pull Kai into an embrace.

‘Not here,’ He thought, his jaw tightening.

Around the broken plaza, thirty battered fighters and exterminators were slowly getting back to their feet. They were staring at Hide and Kiko with breathless, wide-eyed awe. If Hide shed his disguise right now, someone would recognize him as the guy with five-billion-credit bounty on his head.

Hide kept his posture rigid, pitching his voice into a raspy cadence that was muffled by the layer of slime over his throat.

“Tend to your wounded,” Hide said curtly.

Kai straightened up, blinking in surprise at the cold, dismissive tone. “Wait! At least tell us your name! Which agency sent you—”

Hide didn’t answer.

He turned on his heel, gesturing subtly to Kiko with his elbow. The two of them slipped into the billowing grey smoke hanging over the southern boulevard, disappearing into the shadows of a collapsed storefronts before the defenders could muster another question.

“Hide?” Kiko whispered, jogging half a step behind him through the rubble of an alleyway. “Why didn’t you talk to him? He was right there.”

“Too many eyes,” Hide muttered. “A five-billion bounty makes cowards do desperate things. We wait until he’s alone.”

“Fools. Actually.” Kiko commented. “What will they even do with that money when nothing to use it will be left? It seems ridiculous to me.”

Hide leaped lightly onto the fire escape of a half-collapsed four-story brick building overlooking the plaza, pulling Kiko up beside him. Crouching behind the rusted iron railing, Hide watched the square.

“Money… is greed.” He said. “And greed does not have rationality.”

Down below, Kai took command once more. Despite his limp and the fatigue pulling at his eyes, he methodically organized the survivors. He ordered the wounded carried toward the shelter bunkers, assigned six scouts to monitor the area, and personally oversaw the collection of beast cores.

Nearly half an hour passed before Kai dismissed his staff and Gestured that he needed five minutes to rest. He turned away from the group and limped down a narrow, shadowy alley behind the old municipal library—a quiet, deserted cul-de-sac walled off by heaps of shattered masonry.

Kai leaned his back against a cracked brick wall, letting out a long, ragged exhale that sounded closer to a groan. He reached down with trembling fingers, unbuckling the top maintenance clasp of his robotic leg to relieve the pressure on his scarred thigh.

Tap.

A loose pebble bounced across the pavement.

Kai’s head snapped up with lightning speed. His exhaustion vanished, replaced by the razor-sharp reflexes.

HUMMM!

Mana flared around his right palm, condensing instantly into three razor-sharp, spiraling water javelins hovering beside his shoulder. He pivoted on his prosthetic, aiming the spell straight toward the mouth of the alley.

“Who’s there?!” Kai barked, his voice laced with cold hostility. “Step into the light or I’ll spear you through the chest!”

A silhouette stepped out from behind a rusted iron dumpster.

It was the brown-haired young man with the midnight-blue katana.

“You’re the guy from the plaza,” Kai said, his eyes narrowing with deep suspicion as his water javelins continued to spin aggressively. “Why did you follow me? What do you want?”

Hide stood silently for a while.

Then, a quiet, muffled sound escaped his throat.

It started as a soft snicker, but within seconds, it broke into an exasperated, thoroughly familiar laugh.

Kai froze, his brow furrowing in utter bewilderment. “What the hell is funny to you?!”

“You have changed a lot,” Hide said softly. “The soft boy is now threatening people with water spears.”

Kai’s breath hitched. His pupils dilated into wide, trembling rings.

Hide closed his eyes and the thin, semi-liquid membrane across Hide’s face and neck began to liquefy. The dull, ash-brown color washed out of his hair, restoring the wild, brilliant silver locks that fell across his forehead. The flattened bridge of his nose sharpened, his cheekbones lifted into their striking, familiar lines, and when he opened his eyes, the deep, piercing ocean-blue gaze was unmistakable.

The slime flowed smoothly back under his collar.

SPLASH.

The water javelins lost their mana cohesion, dissolving into a harmless puddle of water that splashed across Kai’s boots.

Kai stared at him, his mouth agape, his entire body shaking violently.

“H… Hide…?” He stammered, his voice cracking into a disbelieving rasp. “Hide… it’s… it’s really you…?”

“Yeah,” Hide smiled. “It’s me.”

“YOU BASTARD!”

Kai lunged forward, throwing his entire weight across the alley. He collided sharply with Hide’s chest, wrapping his arms around Hide’s shoulders in a bone-crushing hug.

He buried his face into Hide’s jacket, sobbing openly, heavy tears streaming down his grimy cheeks as ragged, uncontrollable gasps racked his frame.

“You’re alive… you’re actually fucking alive…” Kai wept, his fists pounding weakly against Hide’s back. “We thought you died in the sinkhole! The reports said the whole sector collapsed, that nothing survived the fall! And then… and then four days ago…”

Kai pulled back slightly, wiping his face with a trembling sleeve, his eyes bloodshot.

“Four days ago, the emergency broadcast was made across all nations,” Kai continued, his voice trembling with furious panic. “The International Corporation and the Central Council branded you a terrorist! Five billion credits! They said you lost your mind to dark mana, butchered the rescue team, and murdered your own squad!”

“It was Walter Bigiva,” Hide said, his tone turning ice-cold. “He designated a four-star gate as a three-star to send us to our deaths, deactivated the perimeter barrier, and ambushed me at the surface. He framed me.”