Reinhard froze.

His breath left him completely, he felt all the air was knocked out of his chest. A terror he had only felt during the nights when the Dark Tide would sweep through Klein.

Leading to him hearing Klein screaming, begging, and crying for help, but not being able to do anything.

A part of him thought this was an illusion, but then Klein screamed.

"Reinhard...!"

Anna's voice emerged as a sob as she shouted. "Big brother, help us!"

Behind Reinhard, the rescued warriors stood silent.

Their expressions showed horror at witnessing children in mortal danger, mouths hanging open, and their eyes widened. Some reached forward instinctively before catching themselves, recognizing that distance made intervention impossible.

A road appeared beneath Reinhard's feet.

Not a gradual manifestation, but instantly appearing and extending toward his siblings.

The structure was thin, brittle, suspended over an abyss with no visible support. Bone composition matched the bridge Klein, and Anna clung to.

Angra Mainyu's voice appeared once more in his head.

"You say you have a change? Then let's see. Your siblings don't have much time left, and soon they will fall into my curses. But you can save them if you use the bridge."

"But…"

"You must abandon those people you save. The bridge will break apart if they step on it. Which means…" The pause stretched deliberately. "The path to your siblings will be gone forever."

The voice didn't shout or threaten, it simply stated consequences as an inevitable fact.

"But once you rescue your siblings, the area behind the bridge will be consumed by the flames, and they will die."

The voice then said once more.

"So choose."

The crimson-black light concentrated around Reinhard's.

"Your siblings... Or the warriors behind you?"

The question hung in the air like a guillotine blade suspended above the neck.

For a long moment, no one spoke.

Reinhard trembled; he opened his mouth, but no words came as if he had lost the ability to work. His eyes remained fixed on Klein and Anna, unable to look away from the two people he had sworn to protect long ago.

The promise had been simple, a childish one he made when he realized no one would protect or look out for them.

But it had pushed him forward for the last thirteen years.

I will protect them, no matter what.

His voice came out rough. "...Reinhard would do it."

The survivors behind him stiffened and trembled, but none of them moved or said anything.

He swallowed before saying. "Reinhard would abandon these people... To save his siblings."

Silence fell, one that was absolutely crushing.

Then a trembling tremor rippled through the realm. Not violent shaking but delicate vibration like a shiver of delight running through the predator's body before feeding.

Angra Mainyu's laughter crackled.

"Yes!... Yes!... You see? You know!"

Triumph echoed in every syllable, filled with validation of assumptions held since the beginning.

"You are the same." The voice caressed each word. "You are still the boy who will sacrifice others for his siblings. Still the same teenager who commits terrible acts so you and others can survive."

The accusations built momentum, each statement reinforcing previous ones.

"Then do what you must, walk forward and leave them."

"Hurry, your siblings slip!" The voice instantly said.

Klein's fingers did slip, his grip failed on one hand, leaving him dangling from the remaining hold, and Anna screamed, her foothold crumbling further.

Both children were close to falling.

Reinhard stepped forward instinctively, stepping on top of the bridge that was stable and led towards his siblings.

Then stopped.

His foot remained planted but advanced no further as he stared down at the ground.

Angra Mainyu hissed in confusion, irritation, and a bit of doubt.

"What are you waiting for-"

Reinhard lifted his head and then smiled.

The expression was small, not a triumphant grin of victory but a gentle understanding of something.

"But that's what the old Reinhard would do." Reinhard said gently. "But that Reinhard didn't know he could tackle a problem another way."

The realm froze.

Everything seemed to have paused, the surging sea of flames, the tendrils reaching upward, halted their grasping. Even Klein and Anna's slipping seemed to pause.

Angra Mainyu's voice wavered. "...What?"

Reinhard began moving again, but not towards his siblings but away from them. His body turned towards the people he had saved, and his light blue eyes swept across their faces, each one scarred, exhausted, and marked by suffering but standing nonetheless.

"That old version of me..." Reinhard spoke as if discussing distant relatives rather than the past self. "He didn't know he could ask for help, that others around could help with planning. That I could find another path instead of just sticking to the ones I was dealt…"

Cracks raced through the air itself.

Reinhard continued, voice gaining strength with each word.

"But now? After experiencing the feelings of friends, and the trip to Eastern Hesod. Now I know I don't have to do anything alone."

He looked back at the surging fire, at Klein and Anna still clinging desperately, and the realization of Angra Mainyu's trick.

"I remembered something." Reinhard's tone softened as he began recalling the close to seven months of experience that shaped the new him.

"It was with my friends that I could have saved Anasha."

It was through their help that he pushed through so many obstacles and made it to the underground.

"It was because of Mimir, Brunhilde, and Odin that I protected everyone in Phane City."

Without their help, Fenrir would have killed all of his friends, including him. Leading Anna and Klein to survive in the world without him.

"It was through Dune, Golden Melo Warriors, Seekers, and Luminous Knights that I survived the Eastern Hesod Forest."

Each name added to the building foundation provides evidence supporting the conclusion rather than an empty assertion.

"And it was with Odin, Mimir, and the Golden Melo Warriors that we ended the Dark Silence."

And then the list expanded.

Reinhard lifted his chin toward the trembling, furious sky where Angra Mainyu's presence concentrated.

"It never mattered whether they were friends, allies, or strangers."

The words of the Melo Warrior appeared in his mind, telling him to use the people around him to achieve his goal.

"What mattered was that we shared a purpose."

He swept his gaze across the survivors, and each one met his eyes. Those with scarred faces, exhausted bodies, spirits marked by black stains, or who were struggling to stand.

"To do the impossible, all I need… It's people who want the same thing I do and who are also willing to work together to achieve the same goal."

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