The Author's POV

'This will do.'

As Kevin peered into the distance, he appeared content with what he saw. Since "that" day, he had experienced a few setbacks, but today he was at last prepared to move things forward to the next level.

'It's not that far from the main city, and it should be pretty hard to find unless you know the place.'

All in all, this place was perfect.

Looking around him, Kevin eventually let out a long breath.

"Huuu…"

Shortly after that, his eyes became sharper, and the rest of his body began to glow with a mysterious cream color. It spread throughout the entirety of the cave.

When he put his hand out in front of him, the cream like hue that had been circling his body began to move toward his hand, forming a white orb.

Kevin's face paled considerably at the appearance of the white orb, and the black dye that was covering his hair faded, revealing a set of white hair that flickered from white to black before finally settling toward black.

"Pftt…"

Blood spurted forth from his mouth, and the orb gradually condensed into the palm of his hand.

Thud—!

Taking a knee, his chest trembled and more blood spurted toward the ground.

As he continued to clench his fist, the light emanating from his body gradually dimmed, and the room reverted back to its previous state of complete darkness.

However, the darkness began to lift as soon as a glimmer of light began to flicker from the orb he held in his hand.

Kevin gazed at it with complicated emotions.

"There's no turning back."

A portion of his power was contained within the orb that he held in his hand. As soon as he removed it from his body, he experienced an overwhelming sense of weakness, and he was aware that, without it, it would be impossible for him to defeat Jezebeth.

He was also aware that without it, his life would slowly drain with each regression. He was essentially killing himself.

Still…

He had to do it.

"Uakh."

Kevin clenched his teeth and brought the orb forth.

Throwing a punch, a small hole formed on the ground, and Kevin placed the orb inside.

He slowly covered the orb by scooping the ground around it. This lasted until the light disappeared entirely, at which point the cave was plunged back into darkness.

"Hu..huh…"

Feeling his chest tremble, Kevin leaned against one end of the cave and gazed toward where he planted the orb.

It was dark and quiet.

The only sound he could hear would come from the occasional drop from the side of the cave.

It was oddly peaceful.

Something he'd doubt he'd ever feel after today.

The path he chose… it was one of suicide.

He couldn't see the light at the end of the path he had chosen, and he knew it was a path that would lead to endless suffering.

Both to him, and 'he'.

…but he had no choice.

It was the only way.

Did he feel guilty?

No.

He only just recently came to understand human emotions and how to be a human.

His actions were those of selfishness, and he understood that.

He was only human after all…

"Heh."

A soft chuckle escaped from his lips.

"No use regretting."

He closed his eyes, and the ground started to tremble.

Rumble—!

It didn't last long, and soon he could hear a faint rustling sound as a faint light penetrated the narrow gap in between his eyelids. Soon after that, he opened his eyes.

He opened his eyes, and his vision became clouded with the sight of a large and towering tree.

Most notably, his gaze fell toward the top of the tree where a small fruit rested.

A smile crept up on his pale face.

"This will do."

***

"H,hey, you're finally here!"

"Yeah…"

Kevin's words came out stuttering as he attempted to wave at Ren, who had just entered the room. At the moment, he was feeling a little tipsy.

"I didn't know someone as powerful as you could get drunk."

"Well, it's strong."

Kevin motioned with the bottle he was holding while also tapping the couch next to him.

"Come sit."

Though his face carried a frown, Ren shook his head and sat down.

He soon smiled.

"It's rare for the two of us to gather these days. I guess I can drink a little."

"Pftt."

Kevin laughed.

"As if you're busy. Compared to you who's living the life in luxury, I'm getting overworked to the point where I'm forced to drink in order to make myself forget that I'm this busy."

Ren cringed at his words.

"I retract my previous statement."

"You better."

Kevin took another sip.

"Haaa…"

He wiped his lips.

"That did it."

And passed the drink toward Ren.

"Want some?"

"Maybe not."

"Well, suit yourself."

Unbothered by the refusal, Kevin took several gulps of the bottle.

He continued to drink for the next several minutes.

"Hick!"

It got to the point where he started to hiccup, and Ren finally took the bottle away from him.

"Alright, stop it."

"Ugh, no."

Kevin groaned and struggled to take the bottle back. In the end, he failed.

"Asshole."

He glared at Ren.

Ren rolled his eyes as he opened the bottle and poured the liquid directly in front of Kevin, who was staring at him with an even more intense glare. Kevin was visibly annoyed.

"That cost a lot you know?"

"Are you poor?"

"That doesn't change things!"

Ren smiled but didn't say anything else. From then on, neither one of the two talked as they just sat back and stared toward the empty space in front of them.

"You know…"

Ren was the first one to speak.

"…I'm a bit envious of your talent."

Kevin raised his head and looked at Ren.

"Don't get me wrong, although I'm envious, that's as far as it goes. I know very well just how much you have to go through because of your talent and the amount of responsibility you have to bear because of it…"

He sighed and lowered his head.

"Even so… I guess you can say that I hate myself for being so weak."

Ren lowered his head to stare at his hands.

"Because of my abilities... I am powerless to prevent the passing of those I hold dear in front of my eyes; I can only watch as they die before my eyes without being able to do anything..."

He closed his eyes.

"…The feeling sucks."

Hearing Ren speak, Kevin merely listened and didn't say anything.

It was only after he was done speaking that he finally opened his mouth.

"Actually… the talent you seem to envy is not as great as you think…"

Kevin smiled bitterly.

"It seems like you're already aware, but once you have a certain degree of power, regardless of whether you want it or not, people will place their expectations on you… I never asked for it. It was forced upon me, and it is taxing... I just wanted to be normal for once…"

Kevin lowered his head. Closing his eyes, he exhaled while murmuring in a low voice.

"…If only I hadn't taken that damn seed."

"Seed?"

Despite saying it in a whisper, Ren still overheard it.

"Why are you talking about seeds?"

The moment Ren asked him the question, Kevin's face hardened, but not long after, while staring at him out of the corner of his eye, he bit his lips and sighed.

"I might as well tell you since it's already happened, and I trust you…"

Tapping his feet on the ground, Kevin interlocked his hands together.

"A long while ago… back in our lock days, during a certain expedition in the Clayton ridge, I stumbled across a certain cave."

Kevin's brows furrowed.

"I think it was in the third highest peak of the ridge… I'm not too sure. During the expedition, Jin and I stumbled across a certain cave. In there we found a fruit. It glowed a mysterious color, and while I was observing it, Jin went ahead before me and took the fruit."

He laughed a little.

"I didn't even have enough time to understand what was going on before he ate the fruit and left. I can still remember the face he made after he ate the fruit… I'm sure you'd easily imagine it."

"Yeah…"

Ren nodded a little.

It really wasn't hard to imagine what expression Jin had after stealing the fruit in front of Kevin.

"As I was saying… I didn't have a chance to process what was going on before Jin left the cave. I was baffled then, but what could I do? He already ate the fruit, only leaving behind a certain seed…"

It was at this point that Kevin frowned.

"That seed… It wasn't normal."

He looked up toward Ren, who was staring intently at him.

He continued.

"It was weird… it made no sense, and it honestly was not much use to me, but…"

Kevin suddenly frowned and muttered softly.

"…it removed my talent limiter."