The darkness clung to us like a living thing. I reached toward Iben. "Hey Iben, what are you doing?"
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" His hand struck mine away with enough force to leave my fingers stinging.
What's gotten into him? The thought surfaced quietly. Is Iben scared of the darkness?
Light rippled across my skin as my power activated. "Hey Kyo, can you strengthen that flame of yours?"
"Yeah, but what for?" His eyebrows lifted in question.
"I have an idea."
As Kyo's fire blazed brighter, my own light intensified. "I knew it!"
"What?" Clara blinked at me.
"I know how to overcome the darkness. Everybody hold on to me."
But when I turned, Iben had vanished again. "Where did he go?"
"Clara, I'll take you and Kyo outside first, then come back for Iben."
"It's dangerous, Arthur... but I believe in you." Her whisper barely reached me.
We shot through the blackness faster than thought.
"WOW! Arthur, is that really how fast you can go?" Kyo's eyes shone with amazement.
"I can go even faster." I turned away to hide my surprise at Kyo's unexpected power boost. "Stay here," I said before plunging back into the void.
This wasn't just darkness. It was something alive, something that watched us. The realization crawled down my spine.
After endless searching, I gathered my remaining strength. Light condensed in my palms. "Here goes nothing."
The flash revealed Iben - running, stumbling like a lost child. "I can't... no. I can't. It's too dark. I can't see. Why? Why can't I see?"
"Hey Iben. You're safe now." My hand touched his shoulder—
WHAM!
His fist came at me like a storm. I barely dodged, but not fast enough to avoid the graze across my nose. Warm blood trickled down.
Not Limit Break. Just raw, terrifying strength.
"Iben, it's me! Arthur!"
"Arth...ARTHUR?" His wild eyes didn't recognize me. "I don't know any Arthur! Who are you? Why are you here? Are you trying to take my HOPE?"
His punches tore through the air, each missing by a hair's breadth.
"Take your hope? What are you talking about? Did the larvagon mess with your head?"
"A larvagon?" He paused, chest heaving. "That's why it's so dark...?"
"Yes! I was just trying to—"
"So if I kill you, I escape?!"
What kind of logic is that?
I had nothing left. Not at full strength. Not at ten times my strength. Iben was unstoppable.
Is this Iben the Hunter's true power?
His fist descended—
—and froze.
The larvagon moved on. Moonlight washed over us.
"...Arthur?" His voice was small. "I'm sorry. I... lose myself in darkness. That's why I never enter the Tower's void sector. And why I don't use my Nullborn powers anymore."
Am I supposed to accept that? After he nearly killed me? I swallowed my anger. Play it cool... for now.
Wait. Iben was a Nullborn? And a Limit Breaker? How?
"How... are you this strong?" I asked as he helped me up.
"Hahaha!" His laugh boomed unnaturally loud. "If you think I'm strong, you should see Hange—or that bastard Grim."
Lieutenant General Hange Ursula... is she really that monstrous? The woman who'd beaten me senseless during training...
A terrifying thought.
"Arthur," Iben's voice dropped. "I'm sorry. It's just..."
"I was a child born outside Rapan. Back then, the City of Light still drew Akira's elites, but beyond its walls... lawlessness ruled."
"Graft—my home, one of Flauma's three slums—had no rules. People vanished daily. To notice was to become the next victim."
"But I was different. A Nullborn. When I discovered my power, I stopped a massacre in the streets. I rushed home to tell my parents..."
"Empty. Just the knock at the door."
"That crib... too heavy. When I lifted the cloth—"
His voice shattered. The horror in his eyes needed no words.
"The sack came before I could scream. When I woke... only darkness. No food. No water. No light. Just fear rewriting my soul."
"Then he came. Rapar. The Symbol of Fear himself."
"So yeah," Iben forced a grin that didn't reach his eyes. "That's why I lose it in the dark... and why I don't use Nullborn powers anymore."
"Wow Iben I didn—"
"No need for the doom and gloom fellas." He clapped once, the sound too sharp. "We've made it. To Shizuku's ladder."