"I'm no one's slave, Luccos," Miruth said. His words made it clear how deeply he valued his own freedom.
"Is that why you killed your own companions?" Luccos shouted.
"Yes... being around them made me feel suffocated."
"There's no reason to keep you alive any longer." Miruth advanced toward Luccos.
He walked right past Shine without even glancing at him. His eyes were fixed only on Luccos.
"Get out of here, Nain." He shoved her aside.
Miruth swung his hammer down at Luccos with full force. Luccos could only dodge it like a coward, barely escaping.
"Dad!"
"Don't come near, Nain, or we'll both die."
Shine had gone over to Jhed. Jhed lay collapsed on the ground.
"Get up, Jhed." Shine shook him.
Jhed's wounds had already closed, but blood still covered his body, which made Shine think he'd died.
"Huh... I can't hold my breath much longer," Jhed said. He'd been holding his breath the entire time since Shine arrived. His heart was pounding hard.
"Jhed." Shine pulled his hand back.
Jhed sat up now and took a deep breath.
"You're alive," Shine said.
"Obviously I'm alive. Why'd you even come over here. I had a good plan — I was going to get up once you'd beaten all of them. But everything got messed up." Jhed wiped the blood from his mouth.
"But you took so many spears. You lost so much blood." Shine couldn't make sense of how this was possible.
"Oh, right, those spears. That hurt so much. You have no idea. That pain nearly killed me," Jhed said.
"But how? I saw it myself — you were dead. And back in that cell that day too, you were already alive then." Nain watched him.
"You still haven't explained. How did you get better?"
Luccos looked over at Jhed.
"Thank god he's alright," he thought to himself.
But his attention had drifted for just a moment. Because of that, the hammer struck him hard in the chest, and he crashed to the ground.
Blood spilled from his mouth.
"So, you're alive," Miruth said.
"Dad!" Nain ran toward Luccos. He was still alive, but in no state to move.
Miruth started walking toward Jhed. Seeing Miruth approach them, Shine stood up and drew his sword from its sheath.
"Do you know how remarkable you are. No weapon can kill you, no magic either. Because you're immortal, and your wounds heal themselves without any healing potion at all."
Hearing this, everyone in the room was struck with disbelief.
Jhed himself was hit hardest by the revelation.
"Am I immortal? Which means I'm stuck in this world forever. Mom..." His lips began to tremble. His eyes filled with tears. No words would come out of his mouth. He stood frozen in place. The first thing that came to his mind was his mother.
He needed to ask her for forgiveness.
Shine kept his full attention fixed on Miruth.