Compared with Lu Youqi, Martin had always been an "observer." He had never thrown himself into the fight against the Abyss the way Lu Youqi had. Most of the time, he simply watched in silence from the sidelines.
He had tried stepping forward, but every time, the result was the same: he was forgotten.
No matter how deep an impression he made, it faded after they parted, until they could no longer remember a person called Martin. Even the traces he left behind were twisted into evidence of something else.
That "forgetting" meant he could only remain behind the scenes.
Throughout their journey, his vantage point had also let him see clearly how Lu Youqi had changed.
The boy who had once seemed a little lost and detached had gradually matured after the Flame of Hope set his blood alight.
As he traveled through world after world, he took on more and more responsibility. Bearing that responsibility no longer made him anxious; having "nothing to do" did.
I have to do something.
He was no longer so "rational." He began to feel the suffering of people caught in disaster and grew frustrated when he could not save a world, even though that had never been his responsibility.
Once the frustration passed, he would carry the hopes of a dead world into the next, using the burdens of the past to pave a road forward.
Despair gradually vanished from Lu Youqi. He became a burning torch, carrying the flame of humanity and igniting the opening battles in world after world.
Every world kindled by that spark threw everything it had against the Abyss, pitting humanity's meager strength against an unshakable despair.
Lu Youqi burned brighter, while Martin grew ever calmer.
Martin realized that the fire he had felt when he first