“Major.”
Lucas smiled faintly at the familiar voice striking his ears. When trapped here, his biggest worry had been Iberis’s safety. He was anxious that Iberis might have been attacked again like last time.
But seeing him break through the wall, it seemed fortunately nothing had happened. Only after confirming this did the tension finally leave his stiff body. His chest filled with relief that Iberis was safe and gratitude for coming to rescue him.
“You…”
Unlike Lucas’s relief, Iberis felt dizzy at the sight before him.
Half-disheveled hair, scratches on clear, unblemished cheeks, blood flowing from a white, straight neck, torn and bloodstained coat here and there…
Seeing Lucas bearing traces of intense battle, a far cry from his usual neat appearance, Iberis’s breath caught.
When he sensed something amiss during the interview, Iberis had tried to suppress his anxiety. He knew that if he acted rashly, reporters hungry for a scoop would surely catch on and follow.
But the moment he witnessed huge containment walls rising from the ground through the window, he couldn’t hold back and stood up. In the end, Iberis rushed out of the interview room, leaving behind reporters asking what was happening. As he ran, he desperately prayed that those containment walls had nothing to do with Lucas.
However, Iberis’s wish didn’t come true. Standing in front of the cube-shaped containment wall that activates when an intruder appears, he felt a familiar mana wave from inside. It was Lucas.
From that point on, he couldn’t remember much, having gone half out of his mind. Once he realized Lucas was inside, he couldn’t maintain his composure.
Iberis immediately tried to break down the containment wall when the European branch security officer explained it seemed to have activated due to a control room error. The European branch staff desperately tried to stop him, saying they would handle it.
Meanwhile, reporters who had followed Iberis broke through the soldiers’ blockade and excitedly snapped photos. Winfried, Colonel Norris, and others also appeared one after another, having sensed the commotion.
Winfried, though his expression hardened at hearing Lucas was inside, tried to placate Iberis, saying they should wait a moment since many eyes were watching.
But Iberis couldn’t wait patiently. Feeling the mana that had been clashing intensely inside the wall suddenly go quiet, he thought something might have happened to Lucas. Brushing aside everyone trying to stop him, he broke down the containment wall and immediately rushed inside.
What greeted Iberis was the acrid smell of blood and a horrific battle scene. There was an intruder lying battered on the ground, a pale-faced young soldier, and Lucas covered in wounds to the point where there seemed to be no unharmed spot.
“What on earth…”
Iberis’s lips trembled, his face showing he didn’t know what to say or what expression to make. Then he slowly approached Lucas and reached out his arm. But his hand didn’t reach the other.
“Does… does it hurt?”
His trembling hand hovered around the blood-soaked shoulder and arm. He was afraid of accidentally touching and aggravating Lucas’s wounds or intensifying his pain.
“It doesn’t hurt much.”
“Liar…”
Iberis mumbled in a tearful voice. His silver-grey eyes, now moist, wavered like rippling water.
“It’s true. It looks worse than it is, I’m not seriously injured.”
Lucas smiled reassuringly at Iberis, who was denying his words. In fact, he had already assessed the state of his own body.
“Believe me, I’m saying this as a doctor. I’m scratched up in many places, but there are no serious injuries.”
“It’s not scratches, but cuts and stabs. It looks so painful…”
“You know I’m not very sensitive to pain. This level is tolerable…”
“Don’t say that! Just because you feel less pain than others doesn’t mean your body is fine!”
Iberis raised his voice, cutting off Lucas’s words. He knew he shouldn’t get angry at an injured person, but he couldn’t help it.
“You’re always nagging me to take care of my body, so why are you like this? You don’t take care of yourself at all and push yourself too hard. Do you even know what you look like right now?”
Iberis snapped sharply, exasperated. Lucas was in no state to say he was fine, even as a white lie.
“These wounds can be treated with potions… If I apply medicine later, they’ll heal without a trace…”
Lucas, flustered by Iberis’s anger, stammered without realizing it, then quickly shut his mouth. He kept trying to suppress a smile at Iberis’s concerned behavior.
“What do you mean later! Get treatment right now! Medic! What are you doing? Hurry up and attend to the Lieutenant! No, not potions, bring a healing esper! Quickly!”
Iberis, uncharacteristically loud, called for a medic. At his shout, people who had been murmuring among themselves trying to assess the situation began to move in unison. Just then, a warm, firm hand grasped Iberis’s wrist.
“How much did you use your ability? Your body temperature is very low.”
Lucas’s eyes hardened as he felt the wrist in his hand was ice-cold. He had thought Iberis must have exerted quite a bit of power, given that the containment wall was meant to trap intruders and thus had high strength and low mana conductivity, but the cold seeping out from the gloves was alarming.
“I don’t know. The control room server was down and they were dithering, so I just broke it. I was in a hurry… And is my cold hand really the issue right now?”
“It’s very much an issue.”
Lucas said, sliding his fingers inside Iberis’s glove. He didn’t like how cool the skin felt to his touch. He gently caressed the cold skin.
“I think I need to guide you…”
“Is this the time for you to guide me? Quickly, stop your bleeding!”
Iberis shouted at Lucas, who was trying to take care of him despite being injured. His vision kept blurring and his throat tightened. At the same time, fierce anger rose towards the one who had done this to Lucas.
How dare they.
With reddened eyes twisted in anger, Iberis turned his gaze to Carlos lying on the floor. He was twitching like someone electrocuted.
“Was it him? The one who attacked you?”
“Ah, yes. It’s Carlos Norris.”
“Major Norris? That’s him?”
Iberis frowned at Lucas’s explanation. Whether because his transformation was half undone, or because his entire body was swollen and covered in blood, he looked very different from Iberis’s memory.
“…Get treated.”
Iberis handed Lucas over to the medics approaching with first aid kits and strode towards Carlos. He then grabbed Carlos by the collar and lifted him up.
“Carlos Norris.”
“Ugh, gak…”
Carlos, barely regaining consciousness under the crushing grip that seemed about to crush his neck, opened his eyes. Seeing Iberis right in front of him, he began to struggle.
“M-Major H-Hyun, gak.”
“If you left the military for misconduct, you should have lived quietly like a dead mouse. How dare you touch my guide?”
Iberis muttered in an ominously low voice. He felt a burning in his solar plexus, wondering if he had ever been this angry in his life. He was furious at Carlos for hurting Lucas.
No, fury was too weak a word. Iberis wanted to kill Carlos. Consumed by intense murderous intent, he tightened his grip. He felt that even if he broke each finger that had wounded his guide one by one, ripped out the nails, or froze Carlos’s entire body and shattered it to powder, it wouldn’t be enough to quell his rage.
“I hope you’re prepared to take responsibility for harming my person?”
“Huk, cough, p-please forgive me.”
Carlos made choking sounds, unable to withstand the killing intent pouring over him. His body trembled as biting cold pierced his skin.
Crack, pure white ice began to form from where Iberis stood. The air, reacting to his mana, grew colder and the surrounding temperature dropped.
“Ah, no!”
At that moment, Colonel Norris, who had belatedly entered, was shocked to see his nephew in Iberis’s grip.
“Major Hyun, release him at once!”
“Why should I?”
Iberis coldly glared at Colonel Norris, who was trying to stop his actions.
“This bastard is a terrorist who targeted my guide. He’s a villain who deserves to die right here.”
“V-Villain? Carlos is my nephew! And he’s in a very poor mental state! This incident was just a mistake made while under the influence of drugs…”
“A mistake? Attacking someone is just a simple mistake? Are you serious?”
Iberis’s voice grew harsher at Colonel Norris’s excuse.
“Well, that…”
As the air around Iberis churned as if a snowstorm was raging, Colonel Norris’s momentum faltered. He looked around at the others with a face pleading for help. But no one stepped forward to support the colonel. It was clear to everyone that Carlos’s guilt was evident.
“I have the authority to pass immediate judgment on villains who attack the Defense Force. If you continue to defend your nephew, I’ll have to suspect you as an accomplice, Colonel.”
