Chapter 270: Before You Forgot Me [9]
[2 Years After Evana’s Fall]
Bang. Bang.
"He went that way!"
A man in a military uniform shouted. He was in Evana’s military uniform, but Evana’s sigil was crossed with black ink.
"Get him! Get him! I can see him!"
Same for the uniforms of other military men chasing a young man. They had Evana’s sigil crossed with black ink.
"I am shooting!"
Bang!
The shot landed on the young man’s back. He fell face flat and hit the tin boxes scattered around him.
"He got shot! Capture him!"
The others surrounded the fallen young man. He was groaning.
One military man flipped his body while binding his hands with steel cuffs.
"Ghaaa!"
A kick landed on his face as soon as his body was flipped.
"Tell me where they are hiding?!" One military man demanded.
But the young man with bloodied nose due to the kick simply laughed.
"Haha. Never."
STUMP!!
"Ghaa!!"
Another kick landed on top of his nose. It broke his nasal bone.
Blood dripped like flowing ink from a fountain pen.
"Listen motherfucker. If you don’t want to end up like that girl, you better tell me right this instance where that whore took those outsiders!"
The bleeding reached his lips. His whole mouth filled with metallic taste. His eyes scanned the faces of every military man who once served the very queen they were calling by that term.
It disgusted him. It made him angry that instead of supporting her in this crucial time for Evana, they were opposing the monarch.
"Speak!"
STUMP!!
"Khekk–!"
Kick after kick landed on his face. One completely took off his nose. Another flattened one of his eyeballs. And another tore open his cheeks.
The military man grabbed his bloodied face by his short peach hair.
Looking down at his one remaining brown pupil, he asked.
"Don’t take us as a joke, brat." The military man spoke with coldness. "We will kill you if you don’t speak the location next."
The young boy bit his tongue. He was terrified alright. But not as much terrified as thinking of the consequences about what would happen to his Queen and her friends if they reached them.
The Queen was in bad shape after she lost her daughter and her title. Just thinking about Lillian made him more angry than anything else. It was also the reason for his rage. Her sweet smile whenever she visited the agency and latched onto him and teased him about his height.
"Hehe... he..." He chuckled just by picturing those days.
She was such a sweet girl.
"Look at this shameless brat."
"Hey, do you want to die?"
The boy didn’t reply at all. Instead he looked at everyone’s eyes with cold unterrified gaze.
He was not scared of them. He was not scared of dying right now. More so, it would be better to die than get captured and tortured later.
"The... location..." He muttered with his torn open cheeks.
"Yes. Speak!" The military man felt a bit of joy. A hope rose on their faces at this moment.
"The... location is..." He raised his hand in front of his face and the military men. The fist was clenched, except for his middle finger.
"The location is... Up in your ass. Fuck yo—!"
STUMP!
One kick and his whole face splattered open on the floor.
"Fucking brat!"
STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP! STUMP!
"Hey... stop. He’s dead."
"Haah... hann... haaan..."
Finally the military man caught his breath and calmed his anger.
Sighing, he told the man next to him.
"Check his belongings. See if you find something."
The other did as he said. They checked his every pocket. His coat. His pants. They even removed all of his clothes.
"I got his wallet."
"Give me."
He flipped it open. The wallet was grey in color. Inside of it were just a few pins, a small blade, and a scanning ID of some building.
The military man read the building’s name on it.
"Adler’s Detective Agency?"
Then he read the name this wallet belonged to.
"Xuo?"
He looked down at the body again. His face was no more, but yeah, it once matched the one in the ID here.
"Haha, so this fucker worked for that whore."
He muttered her name out loud.
"Irene Adler..."
* * *
Inside the underground facility of Akashic Record.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A hall stretched with bright white light hanging from the ceiling.
Several hospital beds were placed with equipment attached to those resting on them.
If one had to count how many, then there were around thirty beds, each one completely occupied.
There were nurses and some ordinary civilians as well serving them.
On a particular bed at the most right corner, a young man with slightly long black hair and his eyes closed was soundlessly laying.
His head was connected with electromagnetic wires toward a monitor which was displaying his brain waves.
This was the only indication directing that he was not dead yet.
A female figure was sitting near him on a chair. She had platinum blonde hair and golden eyes. She was caressing the boy’s hair with her slender fingers.
"Leon..." She muttered.
"Madam Irene."
A nurse called her from behind.
Irene turned.
The nurse spoke.
"I need to change and clean him. Do you wish to stay?"
"Uh... no, I will be leaving."
She stood up and left the room.
"Haah..." She rubbed her forehead and leaned to the wall outside the room.
She took out a small half candy from her pocket and chewed on it.
Right now, this was the only sweet thing she could feel.
While chewing she opened her device by tapping on the screen and checked the tracker.
"Where are they?"
She had sent Xuo with one of the Queen’s guards to bring some antiseptic from outside. But it has been more than five hours now.
Xuo did not report back to her. His tracker was still in a single place right now.
Irene bit on her nails as she deduced.
"Please no..."
She figured out the worst possible case.
But before she could think further, a familiar voice called her from the other side.
"Irene."
She turned to look, only to find Cyan approaching with his sword.
He had changed since the last few years. After Ethan died and Leon fell into a coma, he never smiled at all.
"Cyan?"
"I have bad news." Cyan said.
Irene bit her lips. "Again. Is this about Xuo?"
"Uh... how did you..."
Irene’s face fell in despair. She bit her lips so hard it left a red mark. "Just... tell Nora to bring their bodies back."
Cyan nodded. "Alright."
He turned around and was about to leave, but Irene called.
"Cyan."
Cyan stopped and asked.
"What?"
Irene felt her throat ache.
"Leon still has not woken up. Do you still not know what skill he used?"
Cyan half closed his eyes.
"I do not. Neither Leon nor Ethan ever told me about their skills before."
"Is that so..."
Irene looked at him. She tried her best to make him feel relieved, but she herself felt it would all be in vain.
"Do you have anything else to say to me?" Cyan said.
Irene just shook her head.
"Alright. Also, we have to change location soon. Staying in a single place for more than two years would do us more harm. I have also talked with Doctor Anise to have the IPs of every device change every hour."
"Mhm."
As Irene said that, Cyan once again turned around to leave. Then only Irene noticed the sword in his hand.
It once belonged to Vivy. Now it was with Cyan.
"I am... sorry." Irene once again said this.
She had been saying this to him every single time they met.
Cyan had heard her just now, but he did not react this time. It had become her habit. She was blaming herself for not thinking about this possibility.
Cyan, as he walked a little further, bit his tongue and stopped. He said without looking back.
"Leon said he had a plan to fix all of this." He was controlled even when he talked about Leon. "We need to protect him even if death is the only way."
Irene had the same thought as him. Leon had told her that he would fix everything. She did not know how stupid he sounded, but that guy froze a literal Calamity up in the sky in the middle of Evana City square.
If someone had the power to do that to a Calamity, then he must have a way to fix everything.
Irene leaned back to the wall again.
Her back touched the cold steel wall.
She wondered how much longer this would take for Leon to get out of his coma. Dr. Anise, personally working on Leon, said he looked completely fine from all the reports. She did not know the reason for him being in a coma. He had no injuries, no internal damage, no disease. Despite that, he was in this state.
Irene had deduced that it was due to the skill he had used against Dreamweaver.
The skill must have had some nasty recoil to his body.
Unless or until the effect wore off, he could not be back to normal.
After Dreamweaver’s descent destroyed half the city and killed hundreds including the Queen’s own daughter, the surviving citizens turned against Anise entirely.
Opposition factions blamed her for bringing outsiders like Leon, Ethan, and Cyan into Evana, claiming their presence was what triggered the Calamity’s wrath in the first place.
Right now Evana was not looping anymore. Due to Dreamweaver’s complete freezing in the air, the city felt harmless. The loop lifted off on its own.
But despite that, the city itself did not get transported back to its original geographical location.
That was why without the Time Device, none of the current tower heads could enter Evana.
Anise and Irene thought that even Everbright would descend for Ethan, but she did not.
"So heartless." Irene cursed her.
With no loop to reset mistakes and resources dwindling by the day, former military officers and power-hungry survivors formed militant groups hunting for Anise and her remaining loyalists, determined to execute the ’failed Queen’ and those outsiders she brought..
"It’s done."
The nurse came out of the room and informed Irene.
Irene thanked her and went inside to Leon.
Seeing him, a bit of a smile appeared on her face. He looked so damn relieved, as if at this very instant he would wake up and tell Irene that everything would be alright.
She took her seat and held Leon’s hand and felt his pulse against her skin.
* * *
Time went on and a total of 7 years had passed.
.
.
[A/N (Ignore this author note if you have read Chapter 266 before 2nd of May 2026)]
Quick continuity fix: In an earlier draft of Loop 730, I accidentally wrote that Cyan died protecting Vivy and Lillian. However, in later Chapters (this) he appears alive during the 2-year period. I’ve now corrected Loop 730 to show that Cyan survived with severe injuries. All Chapters are now consistent. Apologies for any confusion if you read the earlier version! I will take proper notes of every characters starting today!]
