This is the story of a magician and an elf girl.

"Now... I have come to this point... I am no longer the always powerless me!! How can I continue to accept your kindness to me! This is too selfish... Linna... This is too selfish! If sacrificing one person's happiness can exchange for the happiness of everyone in the world... What a valuable, reasonable and meaningful thing it is! I now have the key to change the past! I can change the cause and effect of all this! Therefore, I will no longer ignore all the misfortunes in this world! I will redefine the laws of this world! I will make the existence of all living things have the value, meaning and rationality they deserve! This time - I must do it! Even if it means killing my favorite person!"

"..."

Linnai, who was surprised that he still regarded her as such a person and was relieved, completely ignored John who swung the blade at her.

"Snap!" Jack arrived in front of Linnae in time and deflected the blade with his leather armor. If not, Linnae might have been killed by the person she trusted most.

This was something Jack would never allow to happen.

"Wait...Jack! I told you not to do anything!"

"Don't be ridiculous! Linna! This bastard really wants to kill you... Are you crazy?! She trusted you so much!! And now you want to kill her?! Are you still sane!?"

"A mere successor to the Cursed Armor... Stop interfering with our affairs! I will kill her! For the sake of all living things, I will kill her!!!"

"You...you are a hopeless idiot!!!"

The imminent battle began the moment John swung his knife.

"Crack, crack, crack, crack!"

Jack, who was no less powerful than John, launched his attack at an extremely fast speed. The flashes of fire between his claws and blades were interspersed with the sounds of fierce collisions. With each attack, the reflex action of retracting his arms was repeated on their limbs. The uninterrupted close combat gradually evolved into a real fight as the number of times they clashed: "Hah ...

“DRINKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!”

"Stop...stop it...Jack! Brother!!"

The two men didn't listen to her words at all and continued to swing their weapons at each other.

And at this moment Jack also realized one thing, that is, every attack from John was as heavy as being hit by a boulder. Even if the blade did not penetrate the leather armor, it was enough to cause damage to Jack's body similar to a direct blow from a blunt object.

In addition, Jack's terrifying sharp claws have not been able to touch the opponent once so far. He has never seen an opponent who is so fearless of amputation in the past.

But Jack was not discouraged or desperate, but angry instead.

It really doesn't make sense that such a powerful person would succumb to such a trivial thing and even want to kill the person he loves the most.

"She worries about you... She misses you... She cries for you day and night... She has always believed that you are someone she can trust! She has come this far to inherit your will! But now you deny yourself like a coward! You even want to give up the feelings you value! Is it worth it for the future of this world? Magician!"

"Whatever you say... If sacrificing one person's happiness can bring happiness to everyone, then it will be a breakthrough in solving all misfortunes. You say that because you still don't understand how cruel this world is!

"Crack!"

Jack knocked the dagger out of John's hand with unprecedented speed, and shouted to him, "So what if it's cruel! So what if it's unfortunate! As long as you can spend it all with the one you love, that's enough, isn't it? That's life! If someone's happiness must be sacrificed in exchange for someone else's happiness! Then I would rather live in this unfortunate and cruel world all my life! Suffering from grievances and troubles every day! Because I know! These pains will make us grow! These pains will make us pay more attention to the happiness we have in our hands now! And you are the biggest fool who pays the least attention to happiness I have ever seen! "

"Stop arguing with me about the importance of happiness. My pain... my regrets... the sadness I left behind... everything has only made me realize the truth! If you want someone to be happy, someone has to make sacrifices! I would rather be a fool with no emotional intelligence than to be a useless person who can't do anything!!"

“People who don’t even understand their own happiness are not qualified to debate the importance of happiness!”

"Bang!" Jack, who was hit in the face by John's solid punch, stood firm with perseverance and returned the blow by punching back.

"Swoosh, snap!" However, for John, who was proficient in grappling and judo, it was just a meaningless resistance. Jack was thrown out and fell to the ground, coughing up blood: "Huh?!"

"If I am the same as you! Then who should do this?! Who should solve the world's problems?!"

"Bang!"

Jack, who was almost hit in the head by his kick, quickly used the technique of rolling on the spot, but before he could find his balance, John, who was already standing in front of him, had already swung a second blow at his abdomen.

"You don't understand the importance of this matter! You don't understand how many people in the world are longing for change! You don't understand the cries of the dead! You don't understand how much darkness I have seen!!"

"bump!"

The incredible force penetrated the inside of the leather armor. Jack, who had not yet recovered his strength after being hit in the vitals, fell to the ground, and saw John kicking him in the chin mercilessly.

Oh no, if I get hit... I will definitely lose consciousness...

"Physical barrier..."

"This level of barrier is simply not good enough."

"!"

"Snap!" The kick that penetrated the barrier hit Jack's nose. Even if it didn't hit the worst part of his chin, the nose is a very vulnerable part. Once hit directly, he would fall to the ground in pain.

John will definitely not give him a chance to recover and will continue to pursue Jack until he loses his ability to fight.

No... I can't react in time... I'm about to be hit...

"Mr. Jack!"

"Don't come over here...Wendy!!"

"go to hell."

Just when Wendy was about to fly over to support Jack, the magician who kicked Jack and sent him crashing into Wendy had already picked up his weapon and used a throwing skill. The sharp dagger flew straight towards Jack's head at a speed that disregarded the laws of physics.

His instinct told him that the aura of the knife was not good. If it could penetrate even the physical barrier... then the defense of his leather armor might also...

"!"

“Snap!”

The sound of piercing the can was heard, and Jack, who thought he had no chance to escape, opened his eyes. The back figure in front of him made him open his mouth wide: "...Why...?"

"Woo..."

"..."

The girl who blocked the knife for Jack pulled the dagger from the man's hand out of her abdomen. Sticky blood overflowed from her wound and severe pain flowed throughout her body.

The magician looked as if he couldn't believe it, and asked in a tone of reluctance: "...Why...why are you hindering me...Linna..."

"...I...just don't want to see my brother in pain...any more..."

"Then why did you do that..."

"Hehe... because... this makes me realize... that you are still the gentle big brother who loves me... right..."

"..."

The girl's pure words easily penetrated the magician's heart.

Obviously, with her strength and the power of the dryad servant, it shouldn't be difficult to block the attack.

However, in order to confirm this stupid thing, she got stabbed in the vitals for nothing.

"...Even if you can fool everyone...you can't fool me...Brother...you are too used to loneliness...too used to being alone...so no matter what you do, you can't hide your loneliness from me..."

Because she knew, she firmly believed that he would never leave her alone when she was injured.

No matter what his position is, there is no way he would do that.

"...No matter when...No matter what you want to do...No matter how many people hate you...I will always be your brother's companion...I love you the most...Brother..."

"..."

"So... take me with you... no matter where you go, I'll be with you till the end... Okay? Brother..."

"..."

Jack, who had no idea what Linna's words meant, had no time to stop her. The girl fell on the magician's chest and had lost consciousness, even though it was not easy to see his expression from behind.

John picked up Linnae and had no intention of hurting her. He just cast a magic spell on her wound, and the bleeding stopped in an instant.

"Mr. John! What should you do to Miss Linnae..."

"Wait! Magician...what are you trying to do...give her...give Linna back to us!!"

"Wait... John... where do you want to take her... not to..."

“…This has nothing to do with you.”

The magician ignored Athena, Jack, and Wendy - he stroked the elf girl's peaceful profile with a little guilt, and took a big step back as he finished speaking. His jumping ability beyond common sense made him fly, and he instantly distanced himself from the adventurers. After seeing the magician's strength, the adventurers who were completely unable to save her would naturally not dare to challenge his bottom line again.

In order to take care of the injured Jack, Wendy could not leave the battlefield. Considering the future, losing Linnae's combat power here was undoubtedly a major blow.

“Damn it… Linna! Linna!!”

"What...what should I do...Ms. Athena!"

"...Calm down... He won't hurt Linnae... The problem is where the magician wants to go now... It might be the Garden of Eden..."

"The Garden of Eden...is?"

"There is no time... Jack... Wendy... You must become stronger in a short period of time... Otherwise - the magician will get the 'other eye', and then the laws of this world will no longer apply to him."

"!"