One blind swing of the club led to it crashing through more of the rocks, as smoke obscured his vision, and led him to cover his mouth. He ran forward, chasing, but Leopold wasn't there.

A swift turn led to the demon jumping in, with his shoes landing on Ingo's shoulders and pulling on his chin, directing him into a more open area. Stalactites grew around a deeper pool of water in the middle, with a barely visible light source, present on the other side.

Leopold let go, dropping the Haran towards the water, but Ingo stuck his club into the side, pulling with his weight and creating another tornado. It flew Leopold's way, faster than before, crashing through the formations above and leaving an open hole above. The rocks came into the water, leaving it as shallow as Ingo's heels could step in. He jumped right back, and Leopold joined, swinging the hammer around.

There it came, as simple as earlier. An opportunity to strike. However, a sound made its presence known, and everything shook. Ingo managed to land a hit, but Leopold looked up, seeing as a black figure dove in with red, pulsating eyes.

Leopold hit with the hammer, as one swing pushed the Dark Deformity bat, sending it crashing towards the walls. It crawled away, with its wings flapping aimlessly.

All the other bats from above flew in, and the Haran kept swiping his club around, just as the big bat came back swooping in to grab him, with its teeth biting into his stomach.

Leopold tapped the formation below with his hammer, and with a heavy breath, leapt towards Ingo, grabbing onto the wing and trying to rip it apart.

It screamed as Ingo's body landed near the open, inaccessible corridor. The bat's claws stuck into Leopold as it tried everything it could to kill him.

Ingo stared, before scouring to stand up again. He should've taken the opportunity. To run, this time, as the light gleamed in the distance, but instead, he jumped towards the bat, swinging his weapon, indirectly hitting Leopold as well.

The two crashed into the basin below, and as smoke came out, the smaller bats from above started dropping like flies. Blood came out from Leopold and the bat, and that's when the Haran stared for a few seconds, before moving back.

The demon eventually rose, trembling, before staring down the nearby exit. Without a second thought, he legged it, and Ingo followed in his stride.

Hands and legs swinging forward, nearing the last second of his escape, he could see the river and everything as clear as it wasn't once beforehand.

Leopold breathed out, coughing some blood into his mask, before clenching his fist and leaping. Rhythmical swings of the hammer tapping against the ground eventually let him catch up to Ingo, and when the Haran turned back, with shrunken eyes, Leopold dropped his hammer, grabbing him from the back, and pushing the two out of the cave.

They barely missed the water as well, tumbling towards the sandy ground below, as smoke kept coming out from the opening of the cliff. One palm tree away, and there they were, rolling together before separating into dried-out bloody messes.

Ingo sharply breathed in, as some blood entered his throat. He coughed out, but shaky and bruised, managed to stand still again. Leopold, barely moving, managed to shake one limb, as Ingo furrowed a brow.

The demon sat up, his hand pushing him off to straighten up again. Barely.

"One more." Ingo gasped. "It's not over until I say so."

Leopold put his hand up, slowly, almost triumphantly, and Ingo's eyes squinted in anger. The Haran ran forward, yelling, before striking with the bat, hitting his forearm.

Leopold stood, mask bent and broken, one horn twisted, the other, falling off. Crimson came from where Ingo hit, and Leopold shook his head. The Haran stared, as the other collapsed, landing on his back, unmoving.

Ingo pointed the bat at Leopold's body. "One more," he muttered, with a shaky voice. "Get up one more time so we can decide who wins."

"You did," Leopold muttered.

"What?" Ingo turned his head.

"Why don't you finish the job? Kill me like you said you would."

Ingo clenched his jaw. "You can still stand," he spoke through his teeth. "Neither of us wins if you just give up!"

"I don't want to kill you," Leopold muttered, coughing out.

Ingo shook his hand, before stomping towards the demon, and swiftly punching his face in. Then again, and again. Left and right, before stopping, for no apparent reason. Leopold didn't budge, and the pieces of the wolf mask he carried only seemed to crack, revealing some light shining in.

"You're still t-there," Ingo uttered. "You can still fight!"

"You won. Kill me already."

Ingo pushed himself to strike, but couldn't find the courage or anger in his fists. He sat down on the side, looking at his own bloodied palms, as a light wind picked up from the side of the river. "Hell... hell no."

Leopold turned his head, ever so lightly.

"I guess I'm full of shit, then. A coward who goes back on his very own words." Ingo stood up. "I'm not going to kill you. Hurt like that only leads to more damn hurt."

"What did you fight for?" Leopold asked.

Ingo breathed out, holding onto his arm. "Because I was angry."

"Peace, your comfort? Or just... the knowledge that you prevented something from happening."

Ingo turned.

"Maybe I will live up to your words and stand up again." he coughed. "To keep fighting with the cards I've been dealt with, and fulfil my promise. What would you do then? Keep hurting me, hoping that one day I'd learn my lesson?"

Ingo clenched his fist, silently.

"Go on," Leopold repeated, raising his voice. "Kill me already."

"It'd be way easier to just kill them!" Opo stated. "Agree, Go?"

"Boys!" their father raised his voice. "Won't you be as lowly as them, then? Don't act like the thing you don't want to be!"

But it didn't matter. Opo was long dead, and so were any positive feelings connected with life in Harabara. Galliath was an escape, and now every path kept leading him into hurt, again and again.

He wanted to get it over with. To pull all of this fury out of his body and direct it into a swift punch.

"One more, one more!"

To try and hit him. One more time.

Ingo closed his eyes, and hit Leopold's face, with a loud yell. He felt something shatter under his knuckles.

He quickly opened his eyes, seeing as the skull Leopold carried barely cracked, with a thin, white smoke coming out from the top. It slid off with the blood, almost gently, dropping to the side.

Ingo gasped, letting go of the bat, as it tumbled next to Leopold's body.

There it was. Bruised as his punches made it, but deep down, the face he saw back then. When it all, seemingly ended.

"O-" Ingo stopped himself, putting both hands near Leopold's face. "L-Leo... pold..."

Leopold breathed out, raising his arm, and catching Ingo's hand. "Just Opo, Go." he smiled, lightly.

Ingo breathed in through his teeth. "O... Opo..."

"Th-there it is again," Leopold spoke, with a quiet voice. "That thing that kept flashing, once or twice a year. I could barely see it from under my mask, and... something that I wasn't supposed to be. A p-place where I shouldn't have ended up in." he put his weak fingers around Ingo's, clenching tightly. "Never thought, though, that the next time it happened, I'd see my brother's face. As wounded as I made i-it." he stuttered, harshly gasping, as tears eventually strolled down his face. "In t-the end."

Ingo ground his teeth. He couldn't even pretend to act aloof, or any different. Black eyes, wounds, they didn't matter. Both cried out in the end, and Ingo punched the ground, weeping as loud as the desert could hear that day.

"I'm sorry." Leopold continued. "The beastmen... they got me."

Ingo seeped in, sharply. "W-What are you talking about, O-Opo? You're here!"

"I can't be for long." Leopold let go of his hand. "It will bite back again, as it always does. If I force the mask back onto my face, I'll be just like back then. A demon, which-"

"You're not a demon, you're my brother!" Ingo yelled out, grabbing both his hands.

Opo blinked. "It's too late for me already."

"No..." Ingo shook his head. "You're here," he repeated, pleading. "W-We can go back. Tell everyone-"

Leopold's hand landed on Ingo's, as the blood, mixed with the tears dropped onto the black glove, and then the bat nearby. Ingo kept crying, sniffing it in, and sobbing, without a word added.

But Leopold kept smiling. "I played the wrong game, and I damn lost. Like in Gambino," he muttered. "But it's a little more serious than that, Go."

Ingo shook his head.

"I'll... keep trying, though. I'll win one day. P-Promise." Leopold let go, raising a pinky instead.

Ingo slapped his hand, moving away from his body. He sulked, pushing his hands into his face and gritting his teeth so hard he could rip through one row. Leopold stood up, pushing on his wounded body, breathing out. "Screw your damn promises! I don't want it any other way!"

Leopold turned to the mask, almost pulsating, and then towards his brother again. He stood up, once more, putting both hands on his shoulders and embracing him in a hug. Ingo opened his mouth, ready to shout. He couldn't even see Leopold at that moment. The tears blurred all of his views.

"Then, let me tell you something else." he gasped. "You did it."

Ingo shook.

"That one more you were always talking about. It finally came, and you proved it to me. You were stronger and therefore... ready to face the whole world. But I don't have to tell you that. You knew the answer perfectly well, for much longer than I did."

Leopold let go, stepping away towards the mask.

"Or maybe, in the end, it's still one more," he uttered, picking the wolf skull up. "One more to keep being stronger and... turn what was turned back to how it once was. So keep going, no matter how much it-"

"Opo!" Ingo yelled out.

Opo blinked a few times.

"I'm s-sorry." Ingo blinked. "I'm sorry that I wasn't strong enough back then!" he yelled, punching the ground.

Leopold smirked, as his hand almost involuntarily started moving towards his face again.

And as the words echoed, so did the humble melody of the moment. The non-existent instruments of sorrow faded away.

Leopold stared forward, clenched fist and the sun still high in the sky, with Mount Aria further away in the distance. He didn't glance back, nor did he continue to drag him towards Shi Hon.

He kept treading forward, without another word added.

Ingo gasped for air. He breathed it all in, sucked the pain right out of his feeling, and screamed.

At the top of his lungs, and as much as a wimp would.

***

Hours later, the sun eventually hid behind the horizon, allowing the moon to seep in. Ingo sat in the same place, at first, an hour spent in the same position, and then the next, sleeping carelessly. Scouring for food around the bushes, he found a couple of kaito fruits, red and green and easily peeled with bare hands.

Although, they were more useful for quenching thirst than battling hunger. Ingo picked up a lot, as an ache in his entire body meant slow, unsure moves.

There he was, sat in front of a makeshift campfire at night. If he peeked out, he could see the Mercury Village in the distance, brighter than the moon or the small light he created. After all, such was to fend off beastmen. They were probably close by, but he'd just do what Opo did. Back then, and a few days ago.

Peeling off the excess layer and revealing the juicy insides, Ingo squinted his eyes.

"Do you know who dubbed these bushes?" Opo asked, with Genni standing at the side and carefully putting one piece of the fruit in her mouth, chewing exponentially.

"Kaito seems like a weird name." Ingo tapped his chin. "...and weird names always go back to Tributals, eh?"

"Wrong!" Opo raised his head. "It's a Morian surname, coming from the families, generations above, probably connected to us. So, on top of the item making-" he turned to Genni with a smirk. "...and the beastmen solution, we're also known for discovering this delicacy!" he raised a dull knife, quickly cutting through. "Eat, my brethren!"

Ingo breathed in, putting his thumb inside the fruit. He swore he wouldn't cry again, so he held back the tears. Maybe thinking about something else was the solution. Why did so many people in Errarion just name things after their surname?

Yet, if there was one place he'd dub the Sforse, it would've been that cave right there. Two of the same surname fought, and for what?

Ingo put one sloppy chunk of the fruit into his mouth. He too, chewed for a long time, much like Genni always did with kaitos. He wondered where she was, in all of this. Safe, or... perhaps sharing a similar fate to his?

Distancing away from the bad thoughts only led to him circling right back. Fortunately, something, or, someone else, spotted the fire, and in turn, created a distraction.

He swore he heard footsteps shuffling through the sand, not too far away. Slow, much like any beastman would walk. He was ready to pick the bat up and strike, but in the end, it wasn't what he predicted.

Ingo's eyes shrunk, as he saw a wrecked figure. Clothes were ripped apart, and dried-out blood assumed a big chunk of their body. Nonetheless, they looked just as angry as he was, a few hours ago.

"A b-bite is all I need," Rowan stated. "I can even buy the fruit off your hands. J-Just one," they repeated, trying to smile.

Ingo blinked a few times, before slowly nodding.