Raven's boots splashed in sticky green puddles as he pushed deeper into the field of death.

His breath was fast and sharp, burning a little each time he inhaled the poison-filled air.

He could feel the gas crawling inside his chest, slowing him down, biting at his strength little by little.

Even with his 5th-star cultivation he was struggling.

The dead men around him stared up with wide open eyes, their faces frozen in fear.

Some had fallen while running. Some still clutched their weapons.

Their skin had turned the same sickly green, as if the gas had painted the whole battlefield in one horrible colour.

"Manoj!!" Raven shouted again, louder, almost desperate now.

His heartbeat pounded like a drum as he climbed over a broken shield and stepped between two fallen knights.

Their armour was cracked, their capes torn.

Not even 3rd-star knights could stand against this poison.

They must have choked before they even realised what hit them.

But right now he didn't had the luxury of inspecting them as Raven's mind kept repeating one thing, "I heard him. He was alive. He has to be alive."

He shoved aside a fallen body with his shoulder and moved deeper into the pile.

The smell of the gas mixed with blood made his stomach twist, but he kept going.

He had no time to save anyone, no time to check the wounded.

He could only follow that faint, shaky cry he had heard earlier.

Manoj's voice had come from this direction.

He refused to believe he was too late.

Not for Manoj. Not today.

"Manoj… answer me, buddy…" Raven's voice cracked as he pushed another corpse aside.

His hands were shaking now, not from fear, but from the slow poison eating at his strength.

He didn't care. He kept digging.

Then something moved.

A hand broke through the pile of bodies, trembling weakly.

On the wrist was a small bracelet with a little flower stitched into it.

Raven knew that bracelet. He had teased Manoj about it many times.

Raven froze for a heartbeat.

"Manoj…" he whispered, the name slipping out of his dry throat.

Strength rushed back into him.

He grabbed bodies and tossed them aside, not even looking at their faces anymore.

He just needed to reach that hand. He just needed to see him.

The pile slowly lowered as Raven cleared it.

His breath was rough, his arms heavy, but he didn't stop even for a moment.

Finally, a shape appeared under the bodies, a bent leg, a shoulder, then a head covered in dust and green stains.

Raven's eyes widened.

"Ma… noj…?" he said, voice barely a sound.

He knelt in front of the half-buried figure, afraid to touch him, afraid he might break if he did.

Raven's hands shook badly as he reached toward him.

He could barely breathe.

His chest felt tight, heavy, as if the air itself didn't want him to speak.

"Buddy… are you alright?" he asked, even though his mind already knew the answer.

He didn't want to believe what his eyes were seeing.

It was too much. Too cruel. But he forced himself to look. He owed Manoj that much.

The figure on the ground moved his lips.

"Wh…at do you think…?" Manoj's voice came out rough, dry, but somehow there was a tiny hint of his usual joking tone hiding under the pain.

Raven almost collapsed.

Manoj's body was ruined.

His skin was burned black in some places, peeled in others. His hair was gone, burned away.

The entire lower half of his body was crushed under heavy armor and stone.

Only his upper body was visible, and even that was trembling with every weak breath he took.

Raven crawled closer on his knees, his heart shaking harder than his hands.

He reached out, wanting to lift him, wanting to save whatever could be saved.

"Don't worry, Manoj… I'll save you. I'll take you back. Just hold on—"

"No. Don't."

Manoj's voice cut him off.

Even in pain, he tried to laugh, but it came out as a broken cough. "It… hurts like hell… don't touch me, idiot…"

The familiar teasing tone made everything worse.

Raven froze. His hands stopped inches away.

Tears finally broke through, sliding down his dirty cheeks.

He had held them back all this time, biting them down, choking them down, but now they rushed out like a river.

"I'm sorry… Manoj…"

His voice cracked.

"Because of my carelessness… you got caught in this… I'm so damn sorry…"

The wind around them was silent, the battlefield still, as Raven lowered his head, crying beside the friend he couldn't save.

The world felt too big and too empty all at once, and all Raven could do was hold his shaking breath and wait for Manoj's reply.

Manoj let out a short laugh, but it came out messy and painful, mixed with blood.

His burned lips twitched into something that looked like a smile if someone looked from far away.

"Hamh… idiot…" he whispered. "You think I'm lying here because of you…?"

He stopped and coughed hard, a mouthful of dark blood spilling down his chin.

His whole chest shook with the force of it. Even then, he still tried to grin.

"Idiot… we grew up together… we saw each other as brothers… and who gave us this life…?"

Raven couldn't speak. His throat had closed up.

His breath hitched again and again as he sobbed, but no words came out.

Only small, broken sounds.

Manoj didn't wait for an answer.

"It was Duke Zenithara… he gave us food… a home… he is the reason we're not dead on some street…"

He coughed again, weaker this time. His eyes half-closed. "But… cough… cough…"

"Don't speak… Manoj…" Raven said between his sobs.

His voice trembled so much it almost didn't sound like him.

"I know… dying here is our honour… fighting for him… I know that. But why… why did you save me, Manoj? You could have escaped… why me…?"

Manoj's breath shook as he answered.

"Idiot… I didn't save you because of anything personal…" His voice cracked, but he pushed on.

"You're stronger… if you live, you can hit the enemy harder… that's all…"

Raven lowered his head. He didn't believe that for a second.

Manoj had always been the one who rushed in to pull him out of danger, always the one who acted first when Raven needed help.

This wasn't about strength, or strategy, or honour.

Manoj was lying to protect him.

Even now, at the edge of death, he didn't want Raven to feel the weight of it.

Raven wiped his face with his shaking hand, but the tears kept falling.

The truth made them fall even faster.

Manoj let out a long, slow sigh as he looked up.

The green gas had thinned just enough for the sky to peek through, a dull, pale colour that almost looked gentle compared to the battlefield around him.

In his heart he whispered something he didn't dare say out loud.

'I'm sorry, Raven… I can't fight beside you anymore.'

He felt it clearly now, death was close.

Not creeping, but walking straight toward him.

The pain that had been tearing at his body had started to fade, which scared him more than the pain itself.

His hands were numb, his legs already felt like they didn't exist.

His vision blurred at the edges, growing darker and softer as memories from long ago rose up like small lights.

He remembered being ten. Hungry. Alone.

Found by Duke Zenithara and taken to the estate where children like him were given food and a place to sleep.

On his first day, he had met a boy his own age, a boy with messy hair and bright eyes.

"Hi, I'm Raven. Are you new here?"

The boy had grinned wide, like meeting Manoj was the best thing that happened that day.

"So your name is Manoj? What do you want to do when you grow up?"

Manoj had only shrugged back then, unsure, lost.

"You haven't thought about it? How about becoming a knight with me? We can repay the duke together!"

That cheerful boy had grabbed his hand, like the future was something easy to reach as long as they held on to each other.

Manoj smiled a tiny, broken smile at the memory.

'It was a good life,' he thought. 'Short… but good.'

He shifted his gaze toward Raven, who was still kneeling beside him, crying so hard his whole body shook.

Manoj wanted to wipe those tears, but his arms felt like stone.

He forced his burned lips to stretch into a smile, even though it felt like they were tearing apart.

"I'm sorry… Raven…" he whispered softly, voice thin as a thread. "I think… I wasn't able to repay the duke…"

But as his eyes slowly closed, the flash of his life kept playing.

He saw that same cheerful boy again, the younger Raven smiling in the sunlight, reaching out his hand like he had on their first day.

Manoj lifted his hand, trying to grab that hand again.

"We will…" he murmured, voice fading. "But for now… goodby—"

His hand fell before it reached the air.

His voice stopped mid-word.

His eyes closed gently, like he was falling asleep.

The battlefield grew silent around him, holding the moment still as Raven watched the last breath slip away from his oldest friend.

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