Rehabilitation Therapist for the Broken Warrior – Chapter 99

Now… I…

Before dawn, just before morning.

Hero Zion Laurel also couldn’t sleep yet.

He was adrift after losing everything in exchange for uncovering the truth hidden by his beloved lover, Hop Harvey.

Zion wandered along the mountain path, carelessly walking away from the dwarven village located in the rugged mountains.

“The Demon King isn’t coming. I can’t go back to Teacher Hop. So now, what am I supposed to…?”

Ah, Teacher, the Hop Harvey I love so much.

You were everything to me, the only reason I lived, yet in the end, I never became anything to you.

I could have forgiven and accepted you no matter who you were, but you never told me who you really were until the end.

I tried so hard to be your equal lover, yet you only expected me to believe in you and never believed in me.

I still can’t believe that everything we shared was a lie.

Was it wrong for me to be foolishly deceived? If only I could have lived without knowing that I was foolish, would I have been happier?

I still love you more than anyone in the world, and I believe you love me too, but I will never go back to you.

If I’ve done wrong, I must be punished.

This is a punishment given to us.

It’s a punishment to you for committing an irreversible wrong and forfeiting your chance to be forgiven, as well as a punishment to me for foolishly dedicating everything to you yet ending up as nothing.

If I’m away from you like this, will you miss me?

If I fall apart again after having lost the reason for living twice, will you think of me as special again, just like before?

I’m so foolish that even after being deceived and betrayed, all I can think about is this.

Now, how am I supposed to live…?

– Huuuuuh

“?!”

Suddenly, Zion bent forward quickly and then stood up to look around.

‘What’s that? I felt an immense Dark Attribute Magic just now. What just flew at me?’

When Zion looked up again to scan the surroundings, he noticed a tree right in front of him.

A part of the trunk had been neatly hollowed out, as if that hollow had never existed at all, and Zion’s pupils widened in shock.

‘Annihilation? Is there still a demon using this?’

Zion hurriedly drew his Holy Sword and focused his mind.

The Holy Sword glowed faintly, indicating that a demon was near, and Zion could quickly pinpoint the demon’s location through the Holy Sword.

“Come out. If you know who I am, you should know it’s pointless to hide.”

Zion was trying to ascertain who the opponent was.

This opponent was capable of using that level of dark magic. It’s only natural for a demon to be able to communicate.

Then, a voice began to resonate from the darkness…

“It seems I was too greedy in thinking I could handle you, Hero.”

“?!”

It was a voice Zion recognized.

For a moment, Zion doubted his own ears, but upon seeing Mirae reveal herself, he steadied his grip on the Holy Sword.

Right before him stood Mirae, but she was no longer in human form.

Feeling her strength and dignity as a demon through the Holy Sword sent chills down Zion’s spine.

‘What is this feeling? How did I not realize such a demon was by my side all along?’

Mirae, who confidently revealed her appearance and identity before Zion, took out her wand with a relaxed smile.

“But without Hop or any party members, you’re just a half hero. I’ll finish you off quickly. Isolation.”

Mirae immediately enclosed Zion in space.

Zion, who was now without Hop, would be unable to counter.

Mirae logically based this on the countless times she had faced Zion until now.

Of course, Zion wouldn’t be able to grasp that.

“Enclosing me in space? How dare you…”

Zion, furious with memories of his recent experiences flashing back in his mind, tightened his grip on the Holy Sword, readying his stance.

“How dare you imitate my teacher!!”

– Chang!!

In a fury, Zion swung his sword, obliterating the walls of confinement.

And he charged forward, aiming for Mirae.

‘Has he broken through the isolation?’

Mirae was startled by this unexpected situation but quickly reacted, retreating to create distance.

In a duel between a swordsman and a mage, closing the distance means it’s all over.

Revealing herself trusting in spatial magic was clearly Mirae’s mistake.

“No Resistance.”

– Pit.

Zion vanished in the blink of an eye, erasing all resistance.

But for Mirae, it was a technique she had seen many times before.

Zion’s sword was undoubtedly the fastest in the world.

While she couldn’t predict the timing and direction of the attack, she could still react.

“Shield.”

Mirae promptly responded.

The hero’s sword is fast, yet light as a feather, focusing solely on speed.

If the sword struck, no matter how strong Mirae was, as a demon, she wouldn’t escape a fatal wound.

But as long as it didn’t physically touch her, that was all that mattered.

If the spatial magic were broken, she could retaliate with overwhelming physical force.

Within a shield of barriers surrounding Mirae, she wondered how many beings in this world could break through her magical defense.

“Decisive Strike.”

And at that moment, Zion had become that being.

Zion split through the thick and sturdy magical barrier, diving into the center.

“Blink.”

Mirae quickly used spatial magic to thrust her body into a nearby random location, narrowly avoiding the attack.

Although Mirae was barely managing to cope amidst these unexpected circumstances, anxiety and frustration rose from deep within her, something she couldn’t control.

‘This is insane. He’s several times stronger than he was in his prime! I’ve never seen a hero like this! Is this really the same Zion that crawled through the rehabilitation center?’

Mirae, who had known the familiar sight of Zion in the rehabilitation center, shook her head in disbelief.

She was reminded anew of the greatness of rehabilitation medicine, but now wasn’t the time for such thoughts.

“I told you hiding would be pointless, didn’t I?!”

Mirae, who was dodging the attacks and managing to create space by moving randomly, was soon being pursued by Zion, who pinpointed her with the Holy Sword.

“Fly.”

Mirae hurriedly attempted to take to the sky. However,

– Pat.

The terrain was unfavorable.

This was the dwarven mountains. With tall trees surrounding them, Zion was close behind, climbing the trees.

But if she flew to a place unreachably high, that would be tantamount to suicide.

In the dwarven lands, a demon that flew high would surely be detected and subjected to a torrent of artillery fire.

Given that Zion was on her tail, Mirae couldn’t afford to increase her enemies; she had to leverage the geographical advantage as long as she could.

“Grand Waterfall.”

Mirae conjured a waterfall.

A massive mass of water filled the sky.

To hit Zion moving at supersonic speeds, only such a large area attack would suffice.

– Shwaaaa…

However, due to overattentiveness to the area, the water she conjured broke into droplets due to surface tension and air resistance.

While it wasn’t impossible to create a waterfall of this size, it would require a height reaching almost to the clouds.

Such a loud display was something Mirae wanted to avoid.

And this dense, thick rain of droplets, which had no gaps through which one could escape no matter how fast they were, was precisely what Mirae had been aiming for.

“Poison Enchant.”

Mirae layered new magic onto the conjured spell, enhancing its lethal power.

Now, each drop from this rain would result in severe injuries upon contact.

Seeing the rain droplets descend, Zion’s expression shifted.

Despite appearing to be mere raindrops, Mirae would never sprinkle rain meaninglessly in a situation like this.

Zion instinctively knew he must not let those droplets touch him and quickly retreated, grounding himself to regain his stance.

“No Resistance.”

– Pit.

Zion vanished once again.

In a state of no resistance, he dashed forward at a speed that broke the sound barrier.

“Ascendant Strike.”

He momentarily halted, converting momentum into force, and aimed his sword skyward.

– Bang!!!!!!

With just his movement, a gigantic sonic boom erupted, scattering raindrops everywhere, and

“Uwaaaaaah!!”

Zion struck Mirae directly with the sword’s wind.

While it wasn’t a direct hit by the Holy Sword and thus not fatal, Mirae felt a deep impact that would surely leave a mark on her shoulder.

As she lost control of her magical power, she fell with a thud, and Zion approached her cautiously, readying his stance in the direction she fell.

“I don’t know what kind of demon you are, but it’s time to end this.”

Despite sustaining significant damage, Mirae quickly regained her senses and prepared her next move.

‘Damn it. I can’t beat him without the Demon King. I have to escape!’

“Zion! I found you wandering in this forest! Wouldn’t you like to know how I could find you?!”

“I’m not curious at all. It’s pointless to try and play games with me.”

By the time Zion reached Mirae’s location, she took a small, glimmering object from her bosom and held it out to him.

“Wouldn’t you be curious about this?”

Zion naturally turned his attention to it.

Upon recognizing the nature of the object, Zion’s eyes widened, and he halted, for he was familiar with it…

“Where did you get that?”

It was a small sphere that Mirae had taken from Hop’s house to pursue Zion. Three beams of light extended from it, with white light pointing at him, while green and yellow lights were directed elsewhere.

“Not going to answer? Are you curious about how I…?”

Zion clearly showed his panic upon seeing the sphere.

‘Not yet. Get angrier, Zion.’

Noticing Zion’s agitation, Mirae quietly waited for the right moment.

“WHERE DID YOU GET IT?!!!”

“Simplified Space Movement Array formation.”

Mirae, having plotted this moment, was able to enact the incantation without Zion realizing through his loud cries.

The plan of shaking Zion’s emotions and shrouding her incantation succeeded.

Now, she only needed a moment to activate it.

A tiny gap to shove herself into the spatial passage in front of the hyper-fast Zion.

And Mirae possessed the means to create this gap as well.

“Of course I wouldn’t just kill him and take it from him.”

“Mirae!!!!”

– Pit.

Amidst a scream, Zion disappeared before her eyes. Simultaneously,

“Activation.”

Mirae also vanished.

– Clang!!!

The Holy Sword made a hollow sound as it sank into the ground, and near the spot where it impaled, a small sphere that Mirae had left behind, fearing she would be pursued, fell lightly.

“Ah, ahhhh…!”

– Thud.

Zion knelt before the sphere lying on the ground, his tears cascading down beside it.

The sphere sat quietly, radiating its three streams of light.

Zion tremblingly picked it up with unsteady hands.

Then, with his other hand, he retrieved the sphere from his bosom to compare the two.

The spheres were clearly pointing at one another, with the other two beams of light aimed in the same direction.

Undoubtedly, these were genuine artifacts. Items that could only exist as one of a kind in this world.

Hop could manipulate space, nearing invincibility; however, Zion had just confirmed that Mirae could indeed manipulate space as well.

Therefore, it would be entirely possible for her to kill Hop.

Moreover, she was none other than Mirae Aurora, the one who had sown doubt in Zion’s heart.

If her intent was to part the two and deal with them from the start, she would likely target Hop first.

And now placed before Zion was the most absolute evidence of all.

Then, it truly meant Hop had already…

“AAAAAAHH!!”

Zion clenched his trembling hands tightly.

Those pieces of evidence might no longer be visible to him, but he could indeed feel their presence in his grasp.

His fists descended heavily to the ground.

“Ugh…!”

Then his forehead struck the floor.

Face down on the ground, Zion raised his clenched right hand toward the sky, and with all his might, he slammed it down again.

Once, and again, again and again, his fists pounded into the ground.

The floor fractured under the force of the hero’s fists as blood began to flow from his hands.

As Zion continued this maddened act of repetition until his strength waned,

When his fingers finally uncurled, he lifted his head to gaze upon the ground.

“Ugh…!!”

With enormous effort, he refrained from bursting into tears while trembling.

Yet this could not last long.

Naturally, the reason was clear—

“UAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!”

Zion could not possibly endure the sorrow he was feeling right now.