"Captain's sandwich.. Oishi~!!" Mirai complimented JoonChul's sandwich after having a bite of it.
After receiving sandwiches from JoonChul, Frostina, Raiden, Behemoth and literally everyone within 'The Rebels' Guild, they were finally having a break from having to do challenges and stuff related to the stages.
Before Raiden spoke, he had finished the sandwich he was eating. "His sandwiches are out of this world."
"Well said." Behemoth uttered while he was munching on his own sandwich.
At that moment when Mirai was enjoying her sandwich to its fullest, she suddenly caught a glimpse of Frostina not even taking a bite from the sandwich.
Puzzled as to why Frostina didn't eat yet, Mirai immediately asked Frostina, wiping her lips with her napkin cleanly.
"Big sis, why aren't you eating yet?"
Holding onto the sandwich while staring at it blankly, Frostina finally came back to her senses and slowly replied to Mirai.
"It's nothing. Just memories from the past, that's all."
"Memories from the past.. I see."
Upon realizing that Frostina was also dealing with the same problem as Mirai where both of them kept reminiscing from their past, Mirai closed her eyes slowly as she thought.
'The past is still with us even if we try to run away from it..'
'But no matter how insufferable my past or big sis's past are.. They aren't comparable to..'
Deep down, Mirai understood that even if everyone were to combine their past together, none of it would matter to the one person who experienced all of the variety of a life's hardships.
In the end, Mirai opened her eyes to search for the person she was looking for, moving her lips once she laid eyes on him.
"You.. My captain."
Her expression with deep grief and despair, indescribable in a way that only those who understood it, could tell what Mirai's expression fully meant.
But since she didn't want to feel pitiful toward her captain, she naturally changed her expression by forming a bitter smile on her face.
"The moon is beautiful, isn't it?" Mirai spoke with a grin while staring at JoonChul.
From what Mirai had said, only those who knew the meaning from those words, would by instinct understood what it meant.
..And the only person who knew, was Raiden.
"If only you could tell Sensei that." Raiden mumbled as he gazed at Mirai.
Glancing at Mirai with an unhappy and regretful expression, Raiden felt a faint ba-thump within him. Complicated and confused by this beating of his heart, he stroked his chest where his heart was.
As it was enough that he was wholly stunned by this emotion, Raiden held his chest tight from every heartbeat he felt.
"But somehow, why do I wish for you not to tell him?" Raiden tightened his grasp around his chest while muttering quietly to himself.
———
After a long and somewhat relaxing break for some, it was finally time to get things done before any interruption ought to happen.
When I was about to get up from my spot, Noel and Crystal were suddenly startled by me.
"Where are you going now, father?" Noel said to me.
"It's time to leave this place." I told him.
Thankfully for me, it seemed Noel and Crystal didn't ask me any further after what I spoke to them. And I preferred it this way, unlike someone who kept asking questions on and on without a break.
By the way, I was staring at Alaine who appeared to be enjoying her time talking with Mya and Louis.
Yet, when I noticed how one person was missing from there, I murmured. "Where is HwanGi-ssi?"
In due course, I didn't have time to check where HwanGi was since I got interrupted by Noel's question.
"Father, is it possible that we can save Noelle?" Noel asked me in a worrisome tone.
"Yes, it is." That was a lie.
For what I know, it would be difficult to even retrieve Noelle in one piece, let alone alive. Despite the low chances of that, I must somehow bring back Noelle safely to me.
As clear as it may be, the reason I wanted her alive and safe was because of Lucas' subconsciousness. For the sake of erasing his guilt from me, I must do something about Noel and Noelle at all costs.
..Or else I'll have to deal with the guilt for an eternity. Much worse, Noel's wrath toward me for not saving his twin sister after I reassured him.
[JoonChul~! It's time!]
My eyebrow twitched once I heard the familiar yet unwelcoming voice, shifting my glance to the top of the giant tree beside me.
Needless to say, I spotted Eve floating above me while looking down on me with her gleeful smile. Seeing how she was thrilled for this occasion, I let out a sigh while scratching my head.
I spoke to Eve. "This is really.. I'm only like this because I'm with you."
[Well, of course! We used to spend a lot of time with each other.]
That sounded so mistakenly out of place that Noel and Crystal were staring at me in a strange way with their gazes, almost as if they imagined something they shouldn't have.
"Don't make it sound so misleading, Eve." I scolded her.
[He's right.]
At that moment, Adam appeared leisurely behind Eve without making a sound except him talking.
"It's pleasant to see you." I greeted him in a carefree manner as though we'd been friends for a lot of years.
Adam frowned. [It's unpleasant.]
"I can tell from just your despicable expression."
[Still as annoying as ever.]
Shrugging as a response to Adam, I smirked at him before ignoring him and Eve to walk toward where my comrades were.
Of course, I took Noel and Crystal with me because I had a feeling that Adam and Eve might..
[Adam! Really! Can't you be nice to him for once?] Eve scolded Adam.
Irritated, Adam said back. [Why must I?]
..Argue.
As a result of knowing that these two would argue without a care in the world, I quickly left them alone.
———
At long last, it was time to begin.
"Frostina, Rai, Mimi and Behemoth. Did you finish?" I asked them while standing in front of the only humongous tree in this garden.
"Yes." All of them answered me in an instant.
"Good."
After placing my hand on the tree's trunk, I turned around and looked at the others, figuring out the one who had the 'thing' I needed for my plan to occur.
Eventually, I asked Mirai. "Mimi. Who has it?"
"Mya does, captain."
Going toward Mya once I discovered she had it, I speedily walked up to Mya where she was standing beside the others, and surprisingly, HwanGi.
Upon noticing me coming toward their direction, HwanGi looked at me, along with the others as well.
Since they were already wondering why they were here, they seemed to be hoping for me to tell them what's going on right now.
By and by, she had to be the first to talk, befitting for a talkative person like her.
Alaine exclaimed toward me. "Oh hey, JoonChul! Thank you for the sandwich earlier!"
I halted in front of them when I got close, then I responded to Alaine. "No need to thank me. You should be the one deserving of my thanks for helping me to be resurrected."
"Woah. You seem different than before."
I just smiled instead of replying to her words.
Because it was getting a little awkward, Louis soon asked me. "So.. What's next, leader?"
"We're busting out of here."
"... What?"
"And for that to happen, I need something from Mya." When I said that, I had already turned my gaze over to Mya, crouching down to her eyes' level.
Slowly but surely, I asked Mya nicely while I extended my hand toward her. "Mya, may you give me the seed?"
Dumbfounded, Mya looked at me before tilting her head. "Seed? What seed—Oh!"
Looks like I didn't need to say much for her to realize about what I was referring to, and thanks to that, time wasn't wasted aimlessly.
After some time, Mya finally got the seed out of her inventory and handed it to me without asking for clear details about why I needed it.
"Thank you, Mya." I smiled and gave Mya a head pat before holding onto the seed carefully.
By the way, should I stop patting her? Mya appeared to have reddish cheeks the moment I gave her a head pat.
'Is she embarrassed that I pat her head?' I wondered.
In view of the fact that Mya was busy with her flustered cheeks, she didn't want to ask me questions about why I needed the seed.
Either way, it didn't matter if she asked me or not, because for obvious reasons, the others would be the ones to question me.
At first, Alaine asked me. "What are you going to do with that seed?"
Second, it was Louis. "Is busting out of here a good idea when we're under layers of snow?"
Good question, Louis.
Third, it should have been HwanGi. Yet, once he opened his lips to speak, he immediately shut them up despite seeming like he had many questions he wanted to ask me.
'He's a complex person, isn't he?' I thought.
Returning back to the tree as I left behind the others who hadn't gotten their answers from me, I could hear Alaine exclaim from my back.
Alaine growled. "How mean! Don't you dare try to act like those 'Helpers'!"
"Tsk." I scowled.
How could I possibly be like those pathetic angels? It's only because I didn't want to spend more of my time here in this garden that I wanted to get out of here quickly.
Which was why I didn't want to give them answers. In view of the fact that if I did tell them, the 'Helpers' would definitely overhear me and prevent me from doing what I'll be doing later on.
Since let's not forget that the 'Helpers' are still angels. They wouldn't allow what I'm about to do.
"Eve."
[I'm ready, and Adam too.]
"Excellent."
From the moment I arrived in front of the tree, I had already pulled back my arm to its farthest, engulfing my fist with a black mist.
All my strength fueling my arm in this moment, I took a deep breath before thrusting my fist forward.
Upon slamming my fist straight at the trunk with brute force, I managed to drill my fist within the trunk to the point of my whole arm being stuck inside it.
Without a doubt, this was what I was hoping for.
[Imitation of 'Wither' Lv. 3 has activated.]
[Imitation of 'Hailstorm' Lv. 3 has activated.]
[Combinations of 'Wither' Lv. 3 and 'Hailstorm' Lv. 3 had turned into 'Wither Storm' Lv. 3!]
In a blink of an eye, destructive weather was being summoned from the inside of this tree, rotting every life from this tree as seconds were being ticked away.
Because I was obviously killing a tree, I had informed Mirai to cover Mya's eyes from witnessing me doing this right in front of her.
Since I'm not that bad of a person…
'Ahem.' Lucifer coughed.
I grunted at him. "Really?"
In any case, it seemed Mirai did her part very well. Currently, Mya would only be able to see Mirai's palms instead of a tree losing its life force because of me.
Eventually, I talked to myself while I stared at the tree. "Everything is going great."
With how the tree was slowly but surely withering from my 'Wither Storm', it was clear that the ones who were sitting on this tree's branch, unknowingly would have become aware of my action.
"Now, what are you going to do, 'Helpers'?" I smirked diabolically.