"EKEKH?!" He is struck with shock once again, his face freezing as his body becomes completely stiff—
A figure he knows, someone bound to him by an extraordinarily close brotherly relationship despite sharing no blood—a figure who has already died in war.
—A suspicion that has now become reality.
"JOHAN?!?!"
—Standing silently before him.
"HOW COULD—"
He turns halfway around, forcing his stiffened body to move.
"THIS—"
He turns fully.
"HAPPEN?"
His face is filled with shocked disbelief.
His brows furrow as he stares into the pupil-less eyes before him.
He glances toward his father's face behind him.
"Tck," he hisses.
Then he turns back to look at him.
"Just like Father..." he murmurs.
He lowers his head, staring blankly ahead.
"Huft."
A short, heavy breath escapes him.
His brows rise as he lifts his head once more, gazing deeply at him with overwhelming longing.
"I truly missed you, you know."
He bites his lower lip until it splits and blood begins to flow.
"But..."
Tears stream from his eyes without him realizing it.
"You really are dead, aren't you... my brother..."
Leon furrows his face.
BRAK!
Both feet slam hard against the ground.
SCKHWAAAAHMN!
Leon charges instantly.
Albert draws a deep breath.
"...Johan."
A long exhale follows.
"Huft."
He lowers his head and shakes it slowly.
"That is not your name."
Johan halts his charge, stopping only a few steps before Albert.
He raises his head and stares sharply at him.
"Leon!"
Leon has already drawn one arm behind his body, all five fingers straightened.
Albert closes both eyes.
Somatosensory Sense.
Leon thrusts straight toward Albert's face, his sharpened hand ready to pierce through him—
His skin senses the rush of air from the attack only inches away.
SWCKHAAAAAAHSH!
The attack is completely avoided. Albert moves before the strike can land, slipping away with swift precision.
CKHTAAAAAAAHMNH!
Leon's thrust pierces through empty air, exploding into the space before him.
Albert opens his eyes.
"So Johan sent you after me, didn't he?"
Leon's eyes widen. Disbelief fills his face as he realizes his attack has been avoided.
Albert closes his eyes.
"I know why," Albert says.
Leon draws one arm back again, preparing another straight thrust.
"Would I really be capable of being that cruel?" Albert continues.
Both of his hands grip the sword's hilt tightly, beginning to tremble as he struggles to face him.
"Return safely, Brother."
The words he once spoke flash through his mind.
Albert furrows his brow.
"Certainly, I will remember that."
Johan's reply echoes through his thoughts once more.
All five of Leon's outstretched fingers stop only inches from Albert's face.
Guided by his senses—
CKHTUUUUUUUHMNH!
—the attack explodes through empty air again.
Albert evades it completely. His body moves instinctively, his senses reacting even faster than thought, avoiding the strike before it can fully land.
"We await your return, Brother."
Loki's voice echoes repeatedly in his mind, reminding him of the last place where he saw Leon alive.
Leon grits his teeth, once again shocked that his attacks continue to miss.
"AND I TRUST YOU TO RETURN!" Albert shouts.
Leon glares at Albert with his pupil-less eyes. His other arm is already drawn behind his body and thrusts toward another vital point—
CKTHAAAAAAAHMNH!
—only to explode through empty air yet again.
The attack misses completely. Aimed for Albert's spleen, it finds nothing as Albert slips backward with a movement faster than the strike itself.
"Yet..." Albert murmurs.
"...you never returned after that day."
Leon gives him no room to breathe. His erratic movements deny Albert any opportunity to recover. Leon continues attacking relentlessly, while Albert continues defending himself. Leon's expression seems desperate to understand his own condition.
"The longing that bound us became so overwhelming that we eventually believed you were truly dead. That is how far it went."
CKTHUUUUHUHMNHN!
Another attack swings forward, detonating through empty air again and again.
Albert opens his eyes.
"So something I never wanted to happen... has happened after all."
He stares at the same body, his brother's body, moving without the soul he once knew.
"Huft."
A heavy breath escapes him.
Leon is breathing heavily as well, yet he is given no opportunity to rest. He continuously draws one arm behind his body, repeatedly thrusting forward in relentless attacks.
Albert's gaze shifts toward Leon's sweater. It is disheveled and torn in several places, stained only with blood around his mouth.
Albert furrows his brows and stares sharply at him.
"Loki. You met him, didn't you?"
CKTHAAAAAHMNHN!
Leon attacks again, blasting through empty air over and over.
This time—
SWAAAAANNGGNNH!
"You look like this..."
Albert prepares to do the same. He closes his eyes once more.
He draws his sword, ready to begin counterattacking.
"...because you've gone through something significant before this."
SLHAAAAAAAAAHMNH!
The blade cuts through empty air.
"There are no deep slash wounds—"
SWCTAKKK!
Leon immediately launches a swift counterattack.
"—I truly believe this is Loki's doing."
SLWHAAAAAAAAHMNH!
Avoided once again.
Albert immediately prepares to retaliate.
SCLHAAAHMNHH!
His sword swings from the side.
"What happened to him?"
SCLWHAAAAHMNHHH!
The attack is avoided again and again.
"Did he hesitate, just as I did?"
Albert gives him no room, preparing another attack and increasing the pressure.
"Is he alright?"
SKLWHAAAAHMNHHH!
"Ehmph," Albert murmurs.
Avoided again. Again. And again.
Albert furrows his brows.
SLHAAAHMNHH!
The sword is drawn back immediately, leaving no opening.
SWHAAAAAHMNHH!
The blade thrusts straight forward.
Albert grits his teeth.
"What did you do—"
Leon suddenly launches himself backward, creating a large distance between them.
"—TO HIM?"
SCKTHAAAAAAAHMNH!
Avoided again. Again. Again and again.
The blade slices briefly through the air before striking the ground.
Albert grits his teeth.
Leon prepares to counterattack.
"Damn it," he mutters.
Leon charges.
"I truly am—"
Leon leaps briefly into the air.
One arm is drawn completely behind him.
"—worried about him."
The attack is unleashed—
"And there is no point in..."
—Avoided.
"...a battle between brothers that only ends in death."
However—
CKAK!
One foot steps forward.
"But who is going to stop you from moving according to Johan's will?"
SCTAK!
The blade rises from the ground.
The distance between them becomes dangerously close.
"What am I supposed to do with you?"
SCWLAK!
The blade fully tears free from where it had been embedded.
SWLHWHAAAAHMNHH!
The sword swings backward, preparing to rotate forward in a devastating arc.
Leon freezes in place.
He cannot step back in time to defend himself.
He cannot draw back his arm quickly enough to attack.
"Should I kill you?"
The reach of death belongs to Albert now.
Albert prepares to rotate and unleash a straight slash toward Leon—the friend who was once like a brother to him.
It cannot be avoided.
Leon's death stands before him.
"Be that cruel?"
In a single fleeting moment—