The world still burned.

  Not with flame — but with the memory of it.

  Ren’s chest rose once, twice, then barely at all as the last embers of his power flickered out. The battlefield behind them still smoldered, scorched earth split open in long glowing fractures, smoke drifting like ghosts reluctant to leave.

  For a moment, he stood.

  Just a moment.

  Then his knees buckled.

  “Ren!”

  Moriya lunged forward and caught him before he hit the ground. The impact of Ren’s body against him felt heavier than it should have — not just weight, but exhaustion, power spent down to the bone. His skin was burning hot, breath shallow, aura almost completely gone.

  The cursed mark at the back of Ren’s neck flickered faintly… then dimmed.

  Moriya swallowed hard.

  “Hey… don’t do this now,” he muttered, shifting Ren’s arm over his shoulders. “You don’t get to win a battle like that and collapse right after.”

  Ren didn’t respond.

  His head lolled against Moriya’s shoulder, completely unconscious.

  The forest around them was too quiet.

  No birds.

  No wind.

  No distant movement.

  Just the distant echo of the battlefield behind them… and the creeping certainty that the Kurogane scouts would return soon.

  Moriya adjusted his grip and forced himself upright.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Alright,” he breathed. “We move. Now.”

  ---

  ### The Escape

  Every step hurt.

  Not just physically — his own aura was dangerously low from holding the forest together during the battle. The trees no longer whispered back to him the way they usually did. The ground felt heavier. The air duller.

  Still, he walked.

  Branches scraped against his clothes as he pushed through the forest, carrying Ren’s full weight. Twice he nearly tripped over roots hidden beneath ash. Once he had to stop entirely just to breathe.

  Behind them, faintly, he thought he heard movement.

  Armor.

  Voices.

  The scouts.

  “Yeah… no,” Moriya muttered under his breath, forcing himself forward again. “Not today.”

  He veered deeper into unfamiliar terrain, away from the path they had used before. The trees here grew taller, older, their trunks twisted and pale like ancient bones. The air felt different — denser, heavier with unseen energy.

  Then Moriya saw it.

  A faint shimmer between the trees.

  Like heat rising from stone.

  The boundary.

  ---

  ### The Mugen Territory

  Moriya slowed, staring.

  The air ahead rippled faintly, barely visible unless you knew what to look for — an invisible curtain stretching between two massive black trees whose roots coiled above the earth like sleeping serpents.

  He exhaled slowly.

  “So… this is it.”

  The Mugen Clan’s border.

  He had only heard of it in whispers — a clan that rarely involved itself in conflicts, whose territory was said to exist half in this world and half somewhere else entirely. People said their lands distorted space, that time felt different inside.

  Right now, Moriya didn’t care about the legends.

  He just needed shelter.

  Behind him, the distant sound of armor grew louder.

  Moriya stepped forward.

  The moment he crossed the boundary, the air changed.

  The pressure vanished.

  The forest sounds returned all at once — wind through leaves, insects, distant water flowing somewhere unseen. Even the light looked softer, filtered through pale silver leaves that didn’t exist outside the border.

  Moriya blinked.

  “Yeah… definitely a different place.”

  He took another step.

  Then another.

  The path inside the Mugen territory curved naturally, as if guiding them forward without him needing to think. Strange stone lanterns stood half-buried in moss along the way, their surfaces etched with symbols he didn’t recognize.

  For the first time since the battle, Moriya allowed himself to slow.

  “We made it,” he whispered, glancing down at Ren. “You hear that? We’re not dead yet.”

  Ren didn’t move.

  ---

  ### The Limit

  They didn’t make it far.

  Moriya’s legs trembled harder with every step. His vision began to blur at the edges. He hadn’t realized how much strength he’d spent until now — controlling the forest, holding off enemies, dragging Ren across miles of terrain.

  His breath grew shallow.

  “Just… a little… further…”

  The world tilted.

  He took one more step.

  Then his knee gave out.

  Moriya collapsed to the ground, still trying to keep Ren from hitting it hard. He managed to lower him carefully, but once Ren was down, Moriya couldn’t stand again.

  His arms felt like stone.

  His aura flickered weakly.

  He rolled onto his back, staring up at the unfamiliar silver canopy above them.

  “…Yeah,” he exhaled weakly. “That’s about right.”

  For a moment, neither of them moved.

  Two unconscious warriors lying just inside a clan whose intentions they didn’t know.

  The forest around them rustled softly.

  Footsteps approached.

  Slow.

  Measured.

  Not hostile — but not careless either.

  Moriya tried to turn his head.

  Failed.

  All he could see was a shadow falling across them… and the faint outline of figures emerging between the trees.

  Voices murmured in low tones he couldn’t fully hear.

  One of them stepped closer.

  “Strangers,” the voice said quietly.

  “And both barely alive…”

  Moriya tried to speak.

  Nothing came out.

  Darkness crept into the edges of his vision.

  The last thing he heard before everything faded was:

  “Bring them inside.”

  ---

  **End of Chapter 36**

  ---