(Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.)

  What filled Ethan’s heart was an inescapable situation—and the resignation that there was no choice but to accept it.

  Before he knew it, the words of Duality Martial Arts had slipped from his mouth.

  Thunder roared through the rain.

  Strangely, before the bullets fired by the Guardians could reach Ethan, the “world” slowed.

  (I can… see the bullets?)

  Despite the darkness, he could see every single trajectory of the incoming rounds.

  Ethan slipped between them and knocked them aside with knife-hands.

  The next instant, the neck of a terrified soldier was severed by Duality Martial Arts: Head Hunt.

  (To keep them from shooting Ria—I'll discard mercy.)

  Anger didn’t become heat.

  It sank into a deep resignation—and turned into movements of execution.

  Ethan closed in on the man who seemed to be the captain who had given the order, and snapped both of his arm joints backward.

  Using the body as a shield, Ethan took the stolen gun and aimed it at the Guardians, firing with precise, merciless shots.

  The screams and shrieks reached his ears with crystal clarity.

  (What’s happening? Am I moving too fast?)

  His sense of time warped. But he couldn’t stop.

  Ethan executed them one by one. Already, only the shield-captain, Daniel, and a few others remained.

  (There’s no other way. Forgive me.)

  That was the state Ethan had arrived at.

  He heard Daniel shout.

  And then—

  One of the soldiers, pissing himself in terror, aimed his gun not at Ethan, but at Ria.

  (They’ve switched the target to Ria—! From this position, I won’t make it!)

  Ethan’s nerves went taut.

  A shot.

  The bullet pierced Ria’s chest. Blood bloomed, and Ria pitched forward.

  Ethan’s mind flooded with despair and rage.

  At the same time, his sense of time snapped back to normal.

  He felt something drain from deep within his spine.

  A thunder-charged dragon wheeled through the sky—and vanished.

  (Was that… Storm Drifter?)

  Memory surfaced.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  (That’s supposed to be a sacred beast only a high-rank Duality Martial Arts practitioner can summon…)

  He cut the thought off.

  Ethan beheaded the captain, then riddled the soldier who shot Ria until he was a sieve. Every Guardian besides Daniel was wiped out.

  Ethan ran to Ria.

  She was breathing in painful gasps, blood pouring from three bullet wounds in her upper body.

  “Daniel. Call an ambulance.”

  Ethan’s command was ice-cold.

  Daniel answered, trembling.

  “I… can’t. If an ambulance comes, the police will come too. We still can’t be investigated by the police…”

  His voice frayed at the end.

  “Thought so.”

  Ethan sent a signal from his wristphone and glared at Daniel.

  “Daniel. You’re a righteous cop. That righteousness must be greater than your sister’s death—right?”

  His voice was absolute zero.

  “In the first place, Ethan—you! If you hadn’t—if you hadn’t called Ria—this wouldn’t have happened! The one killing Ria is you!”

  Tears streaming, Daniel aimed his gun at Ethan.

  “Both of you… st-stop…”

  Ria forced the words out, coughing up blood.

  “I’m sending my life energy into Ria through my fingertips—barely keeping her alive. If you shoot, she will die. Don’t shoot, Daniel.”

  Ethan didn’t look away.

  “Why…” Daniel sobbed, then lowered the muzzle.

  “Why are you a Returner?! Why is someone as decent as you a Returner?!”

  It was a scream.

  Ethan remembered.

  He’d become a Returner in middle school—killed when he tried to stop a homeroom teacher who was harming Ria, and then revived.

  “Ethan…”

  Ria tried to speak, then coughed blood hard, her breathing turning ragged.

  (My consciousness is fading, and it hurts so much… but dying like this, with the person I love watching over me… maybe that’s not so bad…)

  Ria surrendered, accepting her death.

  A car stopped a short distance from the temple parking lot. Two figures got out and sprinted at full speed.

  “The emergency patient is her!”

  The moment Emma arrived, she took Ria from Ethan’s arms and pressed Healing Palm to the wounds.

  “Ethan, this person looks like a Guardian,” Maya asked calmly—her footwork poised to eliminate Daniel if needed.

  “He’s a Guardian, but he has no will to fight right now. Keep him restrained.”

  Ethan answered flatly.

  “Understood.”

  Maya swept Daniel’s legs out, bound his arms and legs, and pinned him facedown.

  “Don’t… do anything awful… to my brother… Ethan…”

  Ria rasped. She didn’t cough blood this time.

  “Ria, I know.” Ethan let out a short breath. “Daniel was my friend too.”

  “What are you doing… to Ria…” Daniel asked from his painful position.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Emma snapped. “I’m treating her!”

  “You’re Returners too… devils humanity created… blending into human society, using humans, killing humans and taking what you want…”

  Daniel spat out the words he’d been taught in the Guardians.

  “So that’s the education and brainwashing you got. No wonder you can do such brutal things to Returners.”

  Ethan’s reply stayed calm.

  “That’s what I was taught. I’ve heard stories too—families exploited by Returners, used like slaves, and killed.”

  Daniel looked Ethan in the eyes.

  “There are Returners like that,” Ethan said, as if instructing him. “Just like human society. There are monsters, and there are people living ordinary lives. Labeling everyone a devil and exterminating them only repeats an endless war.”

  Daniel faltered, at a loss—

  And then—

  “Hemostasis is complete. I managed to extract the bullets too. Next is internal organ treatment. She’s past the worst of it, Ethan.”

  Emma smiled.

  “I’m always sorry to make you do this. Emma… thank you.”

  Ethan had never been this grateful to her.

  “You’re welcome,” Emma replied proudly.

  “But she only survived because her body has revival-level regenerative power. If she were an average Returner, she’d be dead.”

  That was the healer’s assessment.

  The rain stopped right then, and a gust of wind swept through.

  Ethan and Daniel met each other’s eyes without meaning to.

  Both wore expressions of shock.

  “Ria is… a Returner…?”

  Their voices overlapped.