Aren's eyes flickered, sounds reached his ears. His eyes slowly opened as the light from the surroundings flooded in. Everything was a blur, his eyes stung, but he kept them open.

His head was resting somewhere warm and soft, and a certain sweet scent filled his nose.

As his sight cleared up, he saw her face, Kira, looking down at him. The moment she saw his eyes open, her expression shifted, her eyes widened.

"Aren," she said in a quick and caring tone, and immediately, tears welled up in her eyes.

'What's happening, did I do something?' Aren thought.

He instinctively raised his hand and wiped the tear from her eye with his thumb.

She stared at him with slight confusion and shock on her face, but then it shifted into a smile. "I'm so happy you are alive," she said, her eyes gleaming with happiness.

"Well, you would be sad if I died, so I had to come back alive," he said with a chuckle.

He somehow expected some pain as he laughed, but there was nothing, no pain at all.

That was when he realized he could move his body with no pain whatsoever. He lifted both hands right in front of him. "I'm healed?"

"Yes, while you were unconscious, your body got to healing itself at a stunning rate," Kira said.

"Hmm, I see," he replied. He didn't know what happened, but that wasn't the most important thing now.

He sat up from her thighs, and as he sat straight up, he realized that he was shirtless and only wearing trousers. But those were the least of his worries now, as on his chest was a large three-point star scar.

Every other wound had healed, but this scar remained. He thought a bit back, and the moment he got the wound came to mind. During the last powerful clash with the giant, the divine energy mixed with the force of the collision hit him right in the chest.

The pain from that wound had managed to keep him from fainting. The pain was so sharp and extreme that it left no room for passing out, and that was somehow the way he managed to survive.

He rubbed his finger on the scar, a trophy, a reminder of the greatest battle he had faced so far. He smiled, looking at it one last time.

"Urggg," he groaned and got to his feet.

Kira stared at him, her face flushed red. This was the first time she actually focused on looking at his body properly. When he lay in her arms, she was far too focused on him getting better, but now she could focus.

She stared at the chiseled abs and slim yet muscular body. And the fact that Aren hadn't cut his hair in a bit added a kind of flowing look that made it even worse for her.

"Where are the others?" Aren asked.

She snapped out of her daze, shaking her head to force focus. "They are a small distance away from here. Aiden is cooking," she said.

"Whoa, really?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Damn, then let's go already. I'm so hungry I could eat a cow," he said, walking off, while she sat there for a few seconds, ogling his back. She finally snapped out of it and got to her feet, following behind.

When Aren arrived at where Aiden was cooking, he saw Zero, Aiden, and the group that had initially attacked them. All of them were seated and eating.

'This is a fun development,' Aren thought as he looked at them.

Everyone looked up when they saw Aren standing there. He waved with a smile.

"Hello."

Everyone paused for a moment. They all looked at him from head to toe. This was the battered Aren that fought the giant to the doors of death, and here he was, standing like nothing had happened at all.

"Aren," Aiden was the first to break the silence, rushing forward and hugging Aren, throwing him to the ground.

"Hey, hey, get off me," Aren said, throwing Aiden off him and getting up, but there was a smile on his face. Aiden got up as well, carrying a smile. They hugged again, a normal hug this time.

"I can't believe you are back to normal," Aiden said with disbelief, taking a few steps back to look at Aren.

"It's not that easy to kill me," Aren said.

"You almost died more than five times. I lost count," Zero stated, walking forward. She used her fist and placed it on Aren's chest. "Thank you for not dying," she said.

"I have no plans to die. We'll see the end of the trials and also save your mother," Aren said with a smile. She gave a nod and then stepped back.

Aren looked at the group. There was a tense air for a moment, but then he smiled. "So what's up?" he asked, taking a few steps forward and sitting on a stone to face them.

"It's really nice to sit and not have to fight, isn't it?" he asked.

"It's not like we can do anything," the boy that used a lightning sword said. "You could wipe us off in an instant."

"Nah, I'm too exhausted for that. I'm sure if you ganged up on me, you would win for sure," Aren said.

"Haha," he laughed. "We'll leave you and your group after this. We just wanted to stay until you woke up," he said.

"No, don't do that. Stay. Let's move together for a bit. Since I have a map, I can guide you a bit before we need to separate for whatever reason," Aren said.

When they heard this, their eyes lit up.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure. It's safer to move together," he added.

The major reason he wanted to move with them, though, was the lady. He looked at her. She had her head down. He couldn't see her face due to her hoodie.

He wanted to learn more about her and her chaos ability.

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