At sunset, when the sun was tired of staying in the sky and the moon was excited to go out into the fields, there were two slow, very slow people in the forest. One of these two people was lying on the back of the other and hardly moved. Most of his clothes were torn to shreds. His bloody body was clearly visible through the tears. It looked like blood had been smeared on his face, but it was his own blood. He could barely keep his left eye open, and although he had his right eye closed, half of his eyelid had been cut off. This meant that he had received a sword wound that had almost severed his eyelid. There were pieces of torn flesh in many parts of his body and a waterfall of blood where his right hand should have been.

  The boy carrying him on his back was equally wounded. Like the other boy, the veil was torn from his face and most of his clothing was torn. There were pieces of torn flesh on many parts of his chest. Most frightening of all was his missing right eye. It had been completely torn out and had stopped bleeding after all this time. Still, it was easy to see how severe the wound had been.

  Like the other boy, his hair was completely covered in blood. His brown hair had once been blond. Now it was captured by the dark red. His feet moved very slowly. Still, they had traveled far from where they received those wounds.

  "Hehehehehehehehe, what kind of nonsense was it that we thought we could actually defeat him? He..... crushed us like a bug."

  Alan said laughing and vomited a handful of blood on Jack's back while he was on Jack's back. Jack didn't seem to be offended at all. His back was already covered with blood.

  "The only thing that pisses me off is that he ate my right eye. Fuck! I have to at least get to Step 2 to get another eye."

  Jack said angrily. Alan tried to laugh, but one of his broken bones cracked and caused him great pain.

  Then Alan held a wound in his stomach with his left hand and took a deep breath.

  "Even if it only took his eye.... That's all you ever talk about, Jack. Shit!!! It ate my right hand and my liver. Plus, it took more bites out of me than you did."

  Alan coughed a few more times after speaking and continued to lie motionless on Jack's back. Jack said nothing against Alan's words. He just kept walking slowly. Even the next city was out of their reach. But he didn't care and continued walking.

  Although Alan's facial expression was not visible, the change in the aura emanating from his body explained that he was in a sad state.

  "You realize my current situation, don't you Jack? How far can I go, you're asking yourself as well. After what happened back there, very few of us survived. And after what happened today, the Second Sky War has truly begun."

  ***

  The center of Sky Island was the mysterious area where the academies talked about the hunters.

  Even after all these years, it had always been a place that radiated pure and unified energy. Apart from Atlantia, there was no other place on the island that emitted such an intense aura.

  Even in ancient times, the small tribes that lived here came to worship this place and gave their lives to protect it.

  But now, this holy place had completely changed. It was completely covered in blood, and the aura of this area was also covered in blood. Almost the entire central area was covered with organs and blood. One could only turn one's head to see a body there. All the organs and limbs were cut off. But they were not eaten, apparently this person had died before he could eat them.

  This man was the legend next to the man with the shotgun. However, in his current state, he looked more like a dead pig than a legend.

  Meanwhile, the atmosphere inside the center was even worse than outside. Almost everyone who had participated in the war was here. Dead or Alive....

  "Hey, Ramas?"

  Monari crawled forward and went to where Ramas lay. He had called out to Ramas many times before he reached this place. But Ramas had not answered any of them. That didn't mean he was dead. His eardrum or something else might have been damaged.

  "Come on... Ramas, we have to go."

  Monari, like Jack and Alan, had countless bite marks on his body. When the Cannibal King went for Alan's Jade Eye, they were also lucky to survive.

  "Ra...... Mas."

  Monari turned Ramas' body and saw the emptiness in his chest. Ramas' face was white. The bites on his chest were fewer, but it was more than that. There was no heart left in Ramas' chest.

  "Ramas!!!"

  Monari lunged at Ramas, ignoring his wounds, grabbed his shoulders and shook him. One more time, one more time, one more time! But there was no response.

  "No..."

  Alain stood by the wall and listened to Monari's pleas, holding his own shoulder with one hand. Monari's pleas were very painful for everyone in the area and made them even sadder. There were not many survivors.

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  Alain turned his head and looked at the man lying on the ground. Normally very dark, almost black, this man's skin had taken on a different color. He was white. His soul had left his body and he hadn't even said goodbye.

  Alain couldn't turn his head to look at Dani again. He leaned his head against the wall and let the tears flow gently from his eyes.

  "I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Dani."

  'It doesn't matter how others see you, Alain. It doesn't matter if they are afraid of you or don't want to talk to you. For me you are not a monster. To me you are a very dear friend.'

  Alain began to cry even more. His face was grim and he took his hand from his shoulder and tried to wipe the tears from his eyes. He hugged his knees and his sobbing grew louder.

  On the other side, the man with the shotgun, the fat boy and Klaus picked up their weapons. All three were shaking. They were tired. But Klaus was the one who stood the best of the five. He looked coldly at Karius, who lay dead beside him. He had saved Karius from Kronos when they first came to the World Tournament, and the two of them had slowly risen to become one of the best on Sky Island. Klaus stared coldly at Karius' body, but eventually a tear fell from his right eye.

  The five of them stood there for a long time. Then each of them left without saying a word. They had not taken any of the corpses with them. Now they understood the meaning of fear and anger. They thought they were strong. But it was just a joke. They... They were not strong. After what had happened today, they could only call themselves one thing. Alain remembered that word as he walked away. He clenched his fists. He had taken the robes of the legendary leader from Dani's body. His white hair fluttered in the wind and his blood-covered body beckoned him back to reality. But in the end, all he could do was walk away.

  KIIRTT!!

  "Coward!"

  ***

  Meanwhile, Alan and Jack had already moved 800 meters from where they were before. Jack, however, had slowed down considerably. Alan just looked at him calmly with a white face.

  "Jack, you can stop here."

  The sound of the wind was almost louder than Alan's voice and drowned it out, but Jack heard him. He didn't answer and kept walking.

  But Alan ignored his indiscretion and pointed to a beautiful tree nearby. He held out his right arm, but there was no hand at the end of it.

  "That's good, drop me there."

  "Shut up..."

  Jack continued. He was about to walk past the tree Alan had pointed to when suddenly Alan pushed him. He almost knocked Alan to the ground, but Jack was able to catch him at the last moment. His wounds were much worse, but he didn't seem to feel any pain.

  "Jack..... You must understand me. I don't need to get you killed.”

  Alan's black hair blew in the wind and the sweet scent of Alan filled Jack's nose. This scent contained a simple sadness, a resignation. The scent was surrounded by remorse. Alan's regret.

  A raindrop could contain memories, life, love. A tear could exceed a thousand raindrops. It could tell of life. It could hold regret. It could release anger. You could hold your emotions in a tear. You could hold your truths and lies in that tear. You could share your loneliness and your friendship with that tear.

  At that moment, the tears falling from Jack's eyes were his emotions. Not the wounds on his body. They were the tears that hurt him. It hurt that he couldn't stop Alan from leaving.

  Alan pulled himself up against the tree and leaned his back against it. Jack looked into his eyes apologetically as tears welled up in his eyes.

  Alan reached his left hand to his waist and took out a small bottle and a needle and placed them in his lap.

  "A long time ago... The first Kingslayer had some treasures. Lucky for me, I won one of them."

  After Alan said this, he looked at Jack's missing right eye. Then he slowly moved his hand to his own right eye and pulled out his Jade Eye as if he was doing something normal. Jack held his breath as he watched him do it.

  "What are you..."

  OW! OW! OW!

  Alan suddenly thrust the jade eye into Jack's empty eye, spitting out a handful of blood. Jack fell to the ground in pain for a moment. Incredible pain shot through his body as the superior energy of the Jade Eye entered his body.

  But then Alan pricked himself with the needle and took some of his own blood and mixed it with some of the liquid already in the needle. Then he stuck the needle into Jack's forehead.

  "Aargh?!"

  No matter how little Jack tried to make a sound, his veins and the energy veins of the Jade Eye connected and a vague power entered his body. Jack didn't know what this power was, but he could feel his weak potential becoming much higher. This went on for a few seconds and Jack didn't realize what was happening until then, but when he did, his right eye began to emit a lush green glow and his potential became much higher.

  "You gave me your eye and your potential."

  This was Randal's medicine. This thing would give the potential and energy of one person to another. Alan's energy and jade eye had been connected to Jack, but the lack of an eye and energy had hastened Alan's death.

  "Now that I've learned the futility of what ifs, don't make a mistake like I did. I hope you can see with this eye what I couldn't."

  Alan gritted his teeth and fought not to cry. Finally, he barely managed to open his bag and took out a white cloak without a trace of blood. On it was a badge. The badge of the legendary leader of the Red Lightning Academy. At that moment, a drop of blood fell from Alan's eye onto the cape.

  "From now on, you are the Legendary Leader, Jack. With the liquid in this vial, you can become invisible from any direction. Hide a few trees away from me. When you see me dead and he's gone, you'll go too. Jack, I..."

  "Idiot!"

  Jack suddenly hugged Alan and let all his tears fall on Alan's shoulder. He sobbed and wanted to scream. But how could he do that? The Cannibal King was still after them.

  "WHY ARE YOU SO DETERMINED TO DIE?!"

  As Jack cried on Alan's shoulder, Alan pulled him back and smiled at him.

  "I'm sorry Jack... This is the end of my story. See you in my next life."

  "..."

  Alan pushed Jack and this time Jack pulled back. His look was dull and sad. But he still didn't move.

  "Go..."

  The last word out of Alan's mouth made Jack tremble. But this time he obeyed the legendary leader, drank the potion and slowly disappeared into the trees.

  Alan, aware of the seconds he had left, took a picture out of his bag. The picture showed a boy with black hair and a girl with blond hair that was almost white. It was a photo of Alan and Ariel taken ten years ago.

  "Ariel...."

  Alan's tears, which he didn't show next to Jack, dripped into the picture along with the blood. His breathing became labored and the blood flow to his heart decreased. His heart was so slow that it almost stopped.

  "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you I love you."

  Alan shed his last tear. His voice was so hoarse that his presence and absence were indistinguishable. At that moment, Alan's heart couldn't bear his last words.

  "In spite of everything, even though I know you can't hear me, I want to tell you, Ariel..."

  "I love you."