The air suddenly fell silent.
Kallen let go and rolled onto the ground, gasping for breath, but his eyes remained fixed on the captain.
The captain reached both hands behind him, but because Kallen's sword had pierced him from the back, and the greatsword was long enough, he could not reach its hilt.
The motion looked rather comical. The captain could only look at Kallen, but Kallen remained unmoved.
Left with no choice, the captain gripped the blade in front of him with both hands and, little by little, pushed the greatsword embedded in his body backward.
Once he had pushed it far enough, the captain rose and leaned forward. At last, the greatsword slid free of his body and fell to the ground.
Then the captain leaned against a large rock nearby, gestured at the sword wound in his chest, and said:
"Heh, right through the heart. You really wanted to kill me."
The captain reached up, tore open the wound in his chest, and thrust his hand inside. Sounds of stirring and tugging immediately came from within, sounds guaranteed to unsettle most mentally healthy people.
"Good thing I moved my heart beforehand. That part is too much trouble to restore."
After returning his internal organs to their proper places, the captain withdrew his hand from his chest. Looking at his blood-drenched hands, he seemed to want to suck the blood back in rather than waste it.
But out of consideration for the person beside him, he could only shake his hands casually in front of him.
Kallen asked, "Captain, when did you regain consciousness?"
"I only just woke up. Fighting you two consumed so much of my strength that 'he' couldn't keep controlling me. He could only fall dormant, and I woke up.
"Ah, thank goodness I woke