Mira blinked, her vision blurred by tears.
Her mind was too overwhelmed with grief that she had nearly lost her grip on reality.
The sound of Alex's voice, the one she missed the most but knew couldn't be real, kept echoing in her ears.
Slap!
That same feeling of something brushing her face appeared once again, but she shut her eyes tighter, her chest heaving with every breath, trying to block out the cruel delusion.
But then, she felt it again — a touch, firm but gentle, on her shoulder.
Stroke!
Her eyes flew open as the sensation jolted her out of her haze.
"MIRA!"
Her heart skipped a beat as she looked up, the world spinning slightly as she regained her bearings.
Blinking through the haze of tears, she saw him.
Alex — tattered, battered, naked, but unmistakably real — stood right in front of her.
His body was covered from head to toe in burns, dirt, blood, but his eyes were alight with the fire of life, and a little desperation as he seemed a little panicked.
He was waving his hand frantically in front of her face, trying to get her attention, his fingers trembling slightly as they brushed her cheek.
"Mira! Is anybody in there!?" he said again, his voice hoarse and raw but undeniably real.
Mira gasped, her breath catching her throat as she stared at him in disbelief.
For a moment, she couldn't comprehend what she was seeing.
Her mind had been so convinced of the worst — that Alex had sacrificed himself in the battle against the King of Evermoor.
She was already grieving him, mourning him, doing anything to avoid accepting the unimaginable loss.
And yet, here he was — standing right in front of her.
"...That's because it landed on top of me... I had to move it so that I could get up..."
"..."
"..."
A short bout of silence ensued after Alex revealed this bit of information.
Mira blinked in disbelief, then suddenly burst into laughter.
It was a mixture of relief, exhaustion, and sheer absurdity.
All that terror she felt, all that grief, only for Alex to nonchalantly reveal that the very reason she broke down was because of a misunderstanding.
She doubled over, laughing so hard her stomach hurt, tears still streaming down her face.
She even brought Alex down with her, which didn't quite bode well with his delicate body at the moment.
"Ouch!"
Alex swore he could hear a snap when he landed on top of Mira...
"Sorry!"
Though Mira quickly realised her mistake and helped him up with as much delicacy as she could.
Considering his state, if another beast suddenly came in and took them by surprise, he might not be so lucky the second time around.
"I guess it's your turn to protect me haha."
But Mira quickly moved on from the subject, instead asking another question she was very curious to know the answer to.
"How come the King died instead of regenerating like he did after the first explosion?"
At first, when Mira saw the King's appearance after the smoke dissipated, and witnessed the steam rising from its body, she thought it would start regenerating again like it did after his first attack.
But such a thing clearly didn't happen, otherwise they wouldn't be so carefree right now...
"That's simple, I just dealt enough damage to it that its regeneration was overwhelmed. After all, if it could regenerate no matter the damage it received, it wouldn't just be a King class C- rank beast, it would have to be unimaginably strong to be able to achieve such a feat."
"Though I would have never been able to clear that threshold without the sort of luck I had today. Who would have thought that the lack of a limit on momentum in the Primordial Expanse would actually be of benefit to me instead of a hindrance!"