Chương 92: He Who Will One Day Be King

The following morning, Noah met Charlie outside a small bakery near the center of Lævateinn. The two sat across from one another at a wooden table in the courtyard, surrounded by plates of pastries and half-finished drinks while the noise of the busy street drifted around them. Nearby, June and Mars chased each other between the tables with sweets in their hands, their laughter blending with the voices of merchants and passing pedestrians.

Noah watched the children for a moment before returning his attention to Charlie—or, more specifically, to his arm. The limb had been burned completely black, with crimson markings stretching from the symbol of the Rising Sun in his palm toward his shoulder. Charlie had made no real attempt to hide it, though Noah doubted there was much he could have done to conceal something so unnatural.

"So…" Noah began. Charlie paused halfway through biting into a pastry.

"Are you going to admit it, or should I just ask?" Charlie followed Noah's gaze toward his ruined arm and released a weak laugh. He turned the limb over, examining the crimson patterns glowing beneath the charred skin.

"So you figured it out. I suppose I didn't do a very good job hiding it."

"My entire arm is practically cursed because of that thing," he added, flexing his blackened fingers. Noah's expression remained calm, though his green eyes had grown noticeably sharper.

"Everything about this tournament stinks. It's rotten." Charlie lowered the pastry and looked toward him.

"I feel like I'm being dragged along by everyone else's plans," Noah continued, his fingers tightening around the edge of the table. The Emperor, The Crows, Lux, and even the mysterious fighters who seemed to understand more about Noah's future than he did—all of them were moving pieces across a board he could barely see.

"Everyone is playing their own tune, and I'm just dancing to a song that was broken from the beginning." Charlie remained silent as Noah briefly glanced toward the distant arena.

"So I have to wonder…" Noah's voice became quieter as he looked back at Charlie's ruined arm.

"Who's pulling your strings?" Charlie's faint smile disappeared.

"There's no way you found a World Core fragment by yourself," Noah said.

"And it's far too convenient that Adam disappeared before your match yesterday." Charlie looked toward June and Mars, who were still playing far enough away that they could not hear the conversation. Noah followed his gaze and waited until the children had moved closer to the bakery entrance before leaning forward.

"So be honest with me. Are you working with The Crows?" Charlie's hand slowly closed into a fist beneath the table.

"What did they promise you?" For several seconds, neither man spoke. Charlie stared down at the table as if searching for an answer that would somehow make the truth easier to accept. Eventually, a weak laugh escaped him.

"For someone everyone calls a dumb puppy, you're awfully perceptive." Noah shrugged, though his eyes never left Charlie.

"I'm just good at recognizing patterns, and right now every pattern points toward you betraying me." Charlie remained silent for another moment before taking a final bite of his pastry. He chewed slowly, swallowed, and rested his blackened arm against the table.

"Yeah," he admitted.

"I agreed to obtain Everfall for The Crows." Noah's expression did not change.

"They also asked me to kill you in exchange for an additional reward," Charlie continued.

"But I'm refusing that part of the deal."

"I see." Noah leaned back in his chair as though Charlie had merely informed him of a minor inconvenience.

"That's all, then. I can work with that." Charlie raised an eyebrow.

"I only need to defeat Nikolai and then crush you," Noah said calmly. The crimson markings across Charlie's arm pulsed faintly.

"Whatever they promised you, I can't allow you to obtain it." Noah lowered his gaze for a moment.

"I'm sorry." Charlie nodded.

"I understand." For a while, he watched June and Mars playing near the bakery entrance. The children had begun arguing over the final piece of a pastry, completely unaware of the conversation taking place only a short distance away. The sight brought a tired softness to Charlie's expression, though it vanished when he looked back at Noah.

"For what it's worth, I might as well tell you what they offered." Noah waited.

"They claimed they could bring my wife back to life." Charlie's voice weakened as the words left him.

"To be honest, I don't know whether it was a lie or some kind of trick." The memory of Playtime holding Flare in her arms returned to him. Charlie could still see her crimson hair and the familiar curve of her face, untouched by death or decay.

"But she looked so real," he said, his fingers tightening around the remains of the pastry.

"Just as beautiful as the day we were married." The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Charlie raised his eyes toward Noah.

"Wouldn't you do the same if you lost Ava?" Noah's confidence faltered. He looked away, and even the thought of Ava dying caused something painful to tighten inside his chest.

"I don't know what I would do if Ava died," Noah admitted.

"I don't think I could remain myself without her." Ava had supported him long before he became a Hero. Before Lux, before the Lion King, and before anyone believed he might become something worthwhile, she had remained at his side.

"Just as your wife was for you, Ava is my strength," Noah continued, his hand tightening around the scar on his neck.

"She's one of the reasons I can keep moving." Charlie gave him a faint, understanding smile.

"But you can't truly revive the dead," Noah said. The smile disappeared.

"Well, you can bring someone back," Noah corrected, his fingers trembling against the scar.

"But you won't receive the person you desire." Charlie stared at him.

"Look at Dorothy Swallowtail. She was burned at the stake and restored only a day later." Noah released his neck as he recalled everything Lux had told him about the First Apocalypse.

"By the time she returned, her mind had already shattered. All that remained was hatred, revenge, and the desire to kill." He then pointed toward himself.

"Or look at me." Charlie's expression softened.

"I was dead for only a few hours, and I still remember everything." Noah traced the scar surrounding his neck, feeling the path Inari's blade had carved through his flesh. The falling blossoms, the flash of steel, and the sensation of his head separating from his body remained as clear as the moment they happened.

"The memories and terror of my death never leave me. They're tearing me apart."

"What are you trying to say?" Charlie asked. Noah abruptly rose from his chair and grabbed Charlie by the shoulders.

"Even if your wife comes back, she's been dead for nearly a year!" Several people outside the bakery turned toward them. Charlie stiffened, but Noah did not release him.

"Imagine what she'll be like," Noah said, his fingers tightening.

"She won't be herself. All you'll do is torture her." He imagined a soul dragged back into a corpse after nearly a year spent beyond the living world. Even if The Crows somehow restored Flare's body, there was no guarantee that her mind—or anything that had once made her human—would return with it.

"Her mind will be nothing but madness," Noah continued, desperation filling his green eyes. Charlie stared at him, unable to speak.

"A year, Charlie," Noah said, lowering his voice while the urgency remained.

"She has been dead for an entire year." He released Charlie's shoulders and slowly returned to his seat.

"If Lux, the pinnacle of positive energy, and the Man in White, the pinnacle of negative energy, can't properly restore someone after a single day…" Noah looked directly into Charlie's eyes.

"What do you think a mere Crow can do with a corpse that has been dead for an entire year?" Charlie stared back at him. For several seconds, he could not find the words to respond, and when they finally came, his voice cracked beneath their weight.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" The crimson markings across his ruined arm pulsed.

"Everything I've done over the past six months was for this. I endured the training. I accepted this fragment." Charlie looked down at the symbol of the Rising Sun in his palm as his fingers began to tremble.

"I betrayed your trust, all because I thought I could bring her back." His breathing grew unsteady, and he pressed his blackened hand against his face.

"I miss her so much, Noah." Tears slipped between his fingers.

"It's tearing me apart." Noah watched him quietly. He understood more than he wished he did—the desperate urge to reclaim someone who had been taken from him, and the willingness to endure any pain or sacrifice if it meant hearing their voice one more time. Had Lux been able to return his parents to him after Gram, Noah did not know whether he would have possessed the strength to question the cost. But some things could not be restored without becoming something else entirely.

"Fight me in the tournament," Noah said. Charlie lowered his hand and looked toward him.

"That's all you can do now. But don't fight for The Crows, and don't fight for the promise of bringing back your wife." Noah rose and stepped around the table until he stood in front of Charlie.

"Face me with everything you have." He held out one hand.

"Fight for yourself." Noah's mind drifted toward Adam, another grieving father manipulated through the love he carried for his family. Another person Noah had trusted, dragged beneath The Crows' control because they had discovered the one wound he could never ignore.

"I won't lose another friend to their manipulation." The butterfly marking upon Noah's wrist glowed faintly.

"I won't abandon you, and I won't allow those bastards to win." Charlie looked toward Noah's offered hand. Golden light gathered softly around the Hero, mixing with the darkness stored beneath his skin.

"When we face each other, forget their deal. Forget their threats." Noah smiled, his green eyes burning with conviction.

"Let us fight only for ourselves." He extended his hand farther.

"The Dark Star…" Charlie looked down at the crimson sun in his palm.

"And the Rising Sun." Something shifted within Charlie. Perhaps it was the certainty in Noah's voice, the determination within his eyes, or the faint light surrounding him, warm enough to pierce through the despair Charlie had carried for nearly a year. Anyone who looked upon Noah in that moment could recognize something growing within him, but Charlie more than most.

He had spent his life identifying talent, placing people where their abilities could flourish, and recognizing potential long before anyone else could see it. What Noah possessed went beyond talent. He had the makings of a king. Not one who ruled through fear, blood, or inheritance, but one people would willingly follow into the darkest corners of the world. A king whose strength came not from standing above others, but from refusing to abandon those who had fallen beside him.

One who might someday change everything. Charlie reached across the space between them and accepted Noah's hand.

"I accept." Noah tightened his grip. When they eventually fought, there would be no lies between them and no masters pulling their strings. There would only be two men determined to prove how brightly they could shine. Neither of them noticed the movement within a nearby alleyway. Several maggots crawled from an overturned trash can and gathered upon the ground, climbing over one another until they formed the crude outline of a human head. Faker watched the two men through hollow eyes filled with writhing larvae.

"It appears the simple strategy has failed." The Wing of Wrath released a disappointed sigh before the maggots forming his mouth twisted into a smile.

"I suppose I'll have to use the fun one after all."