Darkness.
Boundless darkness.
Who was he? Where was this place?
He did not know. He could not find an answer.
Within this chaos, even his thoughts had grown sluggish, to the point where he could not think properly at all.
He only wanted to fall asleep like this, to sleep on and on forever. After all, it seemed that if he woke up, he would once again face an unimaginable nightmare.
But that was not right.
He could not do this. There was still something he had to do.
He had to wake up—
As that thought arose, his mind gradually became clearer. The darkness slowly receded, and faint sounds drifted through the silent chaos.
The sound gradually became clearer.
"Seriously, I have no idea what Lord Bright is thinking."
The voice was very languid. It sounded like someone was complaining about something.
But—
Bright?
Bright...
Bright!!
A nightmare-like figure suddenly flashed before his eyes, and all the darkness vanished in that instant.
He shot upright.
"Bright!!!"
The heart-rending scream seemed capable of shattering the ears of anyone who heard it.
"Stop screaming, idiot. You're deafening me."
An impatient rebuke came from beside him.
Having just awakened, Ace's thoughts were still somewhat muddled as he instinctively looked toward the voice.
It was someone familiar.
A man named Hyouzou was leaning lazily against a bright window, looking at him with considerable displeasure.
Only then did Ace finally react.
He subconsciously raised both hands. "I'm alive?"
Although his hands and body were wrapped in bandages, the vivid pain instead reminded him that he was still alive, that hot blood was still flowing through his body.
He had thought that monster had completely crushed him to pieces...
"Yeah, I don't understand why you're still alive either."
Hyouzou sighed. "A guy like you should