Orf gave no chance for his opponents to breathe as soon as he announced he was going to attack. He attacked. Charging at the two with his sword in hand, he swung his attack. Pedro dodged, and Stuart blocked with the hammer's handle.

"Your agility is impressive, Pedro, and even injured you manage to hold my attack with exquisite skill, Stuart. Please, everyone, may our souls shine on this battlefield."

With great combat technique, Orf slid the blade of his sword along the hammer's handle to cut Stuart's fingers. The man pulled his hand back reflexively. The sudden movement of throwing his hand back, combined with the weight of his weapon, caused him to lose balance and begin to fall backward. Now with his guard down, Orf attacked once more to cut his belly.

"Not this time, pal," Pedro said, invoking several trees from the ground and intertwining them around the general's body, restraining his movements. The priest ran over to the fallen comrade and helped him to his feet.

"Doing all this for a friend. What an admirable attitude, Pedro. I like you," said the general, showing no concern for his current situation. Pedro blushed and felt awkward. He wanted to thank him but feared it would sound arrogant. He wanted him to continue complimenting but asking was a bit too much. In fact, he was so lost in compliments that it was better if he didn't get any. "And this power of yours, plants, haha, what an interesting and useful ability. I can see how my companions had trouble with you."

"Stuart, this guy..."

"Yes, he's obviously trying to make us lower our guard to attack us."

"WHAT? I WAS GOING TO SAY HE WAS REALLY COOL! I almost fell for it..."

"Haha, you two are funny." In seconds, the trees restraining the general were on the ground, shattered, while the man now held a chainsaw in his other hand. "Alright, shall we continue?"

Once again, Orf advanced, going straight for Stuart this time, attacking with the chainsaw, something the man couldn't defend against with a simple hammer.

His only option was to dodge and try to keep distance from the enemy. With two heavy weapons in his hands, Orf's movements were slow enough to create a chance for evasion.

But even with Stuart fleeing, the general pursued him. Pedro invoked several vines and made them wrap around the deceived one's body. They were much thinner than the previous trees, making them a bit harder to cut. Soon, bamboo shoots emerged from the ground to impale Orf, as if they were stakes.

Then the bamboos simply vanished. Just like the vines that were restraining his body. The plants disappeared without leaving a trace.

"They disappeared? What did he do to them?" Pedro could no longer feel the presence of the plants he had produced; it was as if they had been disintegrated in moments. But the general also seemed confused.

"I don't understand. Why aren't you attacking me, Stuart?" Orf asked directly, and the individual showed some fatigue from constantly dodging attacks.

The man stopped to think about the general's question. He hadn't tried to attack until now because the opponent wasn't giving him an opening. Simple as that. It wasn't like he felt embarrassed to use his powers, remembering they were all in his head.

As if he felt like a complete idiot for being happy to see a wife who wasn't even there.

As if he didn't feel like dying every time he remembered how foolish he had been.

None of that had to do with the reason he didn't activate his powers to fight for real.

"I just think it would be a waste to fight seriously here with someone like you," Stuart provoked, aiming to change the focus of the conversation. Orf realized it was a topic the man didn't want to talk about, so he just planned to set it aside for now. That is, until Pedro spoke up.

"Oh really, but that Lindsay and the other ghosts you talk about could be very useful here, you know?"

"SHUT UP, PEDRO!" the man shouted at the guy's careless comment.

"Ghosts?" Upon hearing about the man's ability, Orf let out a quick gasp. "Are you some sort of necromancer? Can you talk to ghosts? Any ghosts?"

"No... those things don't exist. Forget what he said, alright?" But now that Orf knew, he had to try, at least a little more.

"Listen, I know we don't have any relation, we're in the middle of a fight, but if you could, please, PLEASE, could you call someone for me?"

No. He can't. He can't. And he doesn't want to talk about it anymore.

"Why would I do anything for you? I have no reason to help. You must be a complete idiot to think I would do something like that."

"STOP BEING SELFISH!" the general roared, for the first time since they met... no, since he was 'resurrected'... actually, he rarely yelled at anyone. But he couldn't hold back, not this time, not with an opportunity as big as this. If he could see his sister again, if that man could do it, why wouldn't he? Why is he patient with everyone but no one understands him, waits for him, talks to him... everyone just makes decisions on their own without talking to him. "You have this blessing of power... I just ask for an hour, a minute, a second. I just want to see her and talk to the person I lost. Ask her why she decided..."

"For what other reason would she? That person didn't want to live anymore, idiot," the man answered morbidly, dryly, and directly, leaving both Orf and Pedro speechless. "She didn't want to exist in this sack of a planet anymore, so she chose to leave. Is it so hard to understand?"

"H-How... How dare you..." stammered the once-imposing general, his voice faltering with each attempt to speak. "She just didn't want to live? But why didn't she talk to me? What made her not want to live?" As he spoke, his weapons vanished into thin air. "I gave everything I had to make her feel better, and it wasn't enough? What the hell, what hatred."

"It's screwed up. But that's how some people are..." While Stuart spoke, Pedro's expression fell into a mix of sadness and anger, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth with brutality. "...They are born into a world they didn't choose to be born into, with rules they didn't choose to follow, and some just can't handle the injustice of having to live in a land where they don't..."

"ENOUGH!" The young priest shouted, reaching his limit after hearing so many lies. "WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO SPEAK FOR THOSE WHO DIED, STUART? DID THEY COME TO YOU AND SAY THAT? UNDERSTAND ONE THING. PEOPLE WHO KILL THEMSELVES DON'T WANT TO DIE, THEY DESPERATELY WANT TO LIVE, BUT THEY DO SUCH THINGS BECAUSE THEY ARE FRUSTRATED WITH HOW HARD IT SEEMS TO LIVE... " The man paused, strong tears falling from his eyes, remembering his whole life. All that loneliness. Everything he went through. Everything he lost. Everything he caused. Everything he saw. "We don't choose where we are born? The rules imposed on us? True, we don't choose, but that doesn't mean it's the end. We don't choose how we are born, but we choose how we live. It's possible in the world we were born into, after all, we are part of it. There are many moments in life that destabilize us... that hurt us... that make us think about how tired we are, we just want to sleep and stop. I know what it's like, I've thought about it so many times, but I always, always, always chose to keep believing in a good future, in salvation, even if I didn't see it. So... I won't allow... I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO TALK ABOUT THE HUMAN HEART AS IF IT WERE SIMPLY A MATTER OF LACK OF WILL! SOME PEOPLE JUST NEED TO BE REMINDED THAT THEY WANT TO LIVE AND THAT THERE IS HOPE TO LIVE!"

Faced with Pedro's ferocity, Stuart remained silent. Extremely irritated. Living? That was a thought that had tormented Stuart since he was a child. And every time he believed he had an escape, a chance for joy, it proved to be flawed. Why was Pedro acting as if he were the spokesperson for the human heart? No. Stuart was tired of it. He didn't want to anymore... wait, tired? That was exactly the term his companion had used. Could it be...? No, no, no. It couldn't be. He didn't want to live. So Pedro made him feel as if...

"Thank you, Pedro," Orf said, much calmer than before, looking at the man with the biggest heart. "But it still hurts to remember that I couldn't stop her..."

"Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we don't..." replied the priest. "... but, unfortunately, we're not always there, or the person allows us to know what they are thinking. All we can do is wait and believe in them, that they can remember that living is good. I'm sorry for the one you lost, Orf. You both deserved so much more."

"Well... if you don't mind, I'd like to continue our fight. After all, if we keep going, I might get attached." The general joked, Pedro gave a silly laugh in response, and more plants grew around him.

"Yeah. Me too."

"Five minutes." Orf said as a huge hourglass appeared next to him. "If you don't defeat me in five minutes, then this fight is over. With me as the winner."

"Stuart." Pedro called out, maintaining a serious and focused tone, without taking his eyes off the real opponent. "If you're really not going to use your powers, then shut up and don't get in my way."

Before his companion could say anything, Pedro attacked, his plants advancing at a screeching speed. Some kind of weapon appeared in Orf's hand at the same instant, and he began to shoot fire, burning the attack until it turned to ashes.

Pedro then began to repeat the action he had taken against Leo, channeling the maximum amount of refreshing properties into the plants as a barrier against the heat. This helped the tree stabilize and gain extra resistance against the fire, advancing past the curtains of flames. But the general disappeared the moment the attack arrived.

The priest turned around when the plants warned him. Orf was now equipped with some kind of extremely technological and turbocharged skates on his feet, and in his hands, which previously held a flamethrower, were now two machine guns.

Pedro created a small wall with the thickest bark nature had to offer, to withstand the gunfire. But, just as before, all the plants around the man simply vanished, leaving him extremely vulnerable.

Orf pulled the triggers, and the gunfire began. Using his proficiency in dodging and his quick reflexes, Pedro started running, avoiding the bullets.

The two fought with all their might, Pedro using various types of plants and having to stay alert for when they would disappear, while Orf summoned all kinds of inventions and weapons to counterattack.

Stuart was in the background, just watching everything without being able to do anything. He observed the determination with which the two fought. Strongly determined not to lose. And they didn't seem to have a real reason; they didn't want to fight, they didn't need to fight. But they still fought for a better life. For a better chance.

They didn't need to live, but they insisted on doing so with all the strength they had. They didn't stop to think if it was exhausting or not. They just fought.

They didn't question. They didn't hold back. They just tried with everything they had.

What was that determination to live? Why did they want to live so much?

He couldn't understand.

Then Orf suddenly stopped attacking, he gave a brief look at the hourglass as the last grains of sand fell. Disappointed and sad, the general sighed as if carrying a great burden on his shoulders.

"Time's up. I'm sorry."

"And what happens now?" Pedro asked, breathing heavily.

"Did you manage to understand how my power works?" When his enemy said nothing, Orf deduced the answer and proceeded to explain. "I can summon anything made by man. And I manipulate the territory around me at will, that's why your plants disappear. However, when what I'm about to summon exceeds one ton, I need a specific time of five minutes to prepare, and then I'll expend all the energy I have in that summoning."

"So you plan to summon something heavy?"

"Some men create things for the good of others. Others for destruction. You asked what happens now? You two are going to die."

Orf clapped his hands, and a shadow engulfed the entire area. The duo was speechless because what was falling wasn't a giant anvil. It was much worse.

A bomb, much larger than any bomb they had ever seen.

In front of them, the general fell to his knees, gasping heavily, his entire body trembling with exhaustion.

"I tried to create... 10 times stronger than a normal nuclear bomb..."

A normal nuclear bomb has a radius of about, at least, 11 kilometers. If this bomb was ten times stronger and, with that, more extensive, then this was an explosion equivalent to 1/4 of Paraguay.

There was no way to escape the blast radius.

"You're crazy. You're going to blow yourself up along with us." Pedro said, shocked by the aggressiveness the general had decided to use.

"I won't. I manipulate the territory around me, remember? Besides, if I'm not extreme, it's only a matter of time before you defeat me as you did with the others."

The massive bomb fell, and with the help of gravity, its speed increased as it descended. The color on Pedro and Stuart's faces was the first to flee as they watched the attack descend. The air followed closely behind, as did the strength in their legs. But the color forgot the face, the air forgot the lungs, and the strength forgot the legs. Leaving two petrified men who futilely tried to think of an escape from what was humanly inescapable.

Stuart just stood there, watching the shadow of the giant piece of metal approaching.

The object hit the ground and exploded, vaporizing everything it could. Throwing everything into the air, and Stuart saw it all.

He saw the light from the impact, saw the grains of sand disappearing as their molecules were pushed by others. The man was at the center of the explosion when it came, and he saw everything ending. But how did he see it?

How was he still seeing? How was his body not disappearing? And why was there an axe in his hand?

And why, amid so much destruction and chaos in which he floated, did Lindsay appear in front of him?

"What are you doing?" The woman said, with an unpleasant expression. "Standing there, watching someone fighting with all their strength when you could be helping. Standing while the entire region is evaporated. Standing while Pedro was probably just killed by all this. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, STUART?"

"I-I don't want to..."

"STOP WITH THIS CRAP ABOUT NOT WANTING TO LIVE! IF THAT'S TRUE, WHY AM I HERE? WHY ARE YOU ALIVE? YOU ALREADY KNOW WE ARE PART OF YOUR HEART; IF WE SAVED YOU, IT'S BECAUSE DEEP DOWN, YOU WANTED TO BE SAVED. IF I'M HERE, IT'S BECAUSE DEEP DOWN, YOU WANT ME HERE. AND IF YOU'RE HEARING THIS, IT'S BECAUSE EVERYTHING I'M SAYING ARE THINGS YOU ALREADY KNOW BUT ARE TOO STUBBORN TO SEE."

"SHUT UP. YOU..." He stopped his argument halfway through. Remembering that it was just an illusion, just a scene created by his heart. But... he was so irritated and exhausted that it didn't matter anymore. And it shouldn't, to be honest.

What exactly is the problem with confronting yourself? Of course, doing it all the time is excessive and, yes, it will wear you out. But many times, we need to learn to argue with our desires, our thoughts, our will. Because not everything we think, or believe we think, is ideal. To really know ourselves, to understand ourselves, we need to confront ourselves.

"What am I what?" Asked the man's heart.

"You... know how my life was." He said, starting to cry. "Even before the world fell, since I was a child. My life was always horrible. I was an orphan, never adopted, and the other kids liked to pick on me. Even when I grew up, I never stood out, I was just another face in the crowd. A forgotten one. An unapproved one. You know how sad it was to live like that. Feeling like your existence was someone's mistake because you didn't fit in anywhere. Lindsay was the only one who took an interest in me... in my tastes... in who I am. She was the only joy I had, she accepted me and taught me how to live. She became my world. She healed me. Without her here... what am I? Living for myself and not for others? What does that even mean?"

"Stuart, that's not how it works. Lindsay didn't heal anything." The heart spoke with the purest voice. "I was there, so I know that she was indeed a good thing in your life, but she only served as a distraction. You loved her, but at the same time, every time you weren't with her, talking to her, you felt alone. You were so afraid of losing her that you tried to hold on to her with all the strength you had. You were very needy for her. You didn't lose this feeling of depression when you were with her, you just forgot about it."

"So it never goes away?"

"No. But it's still in me, in you. The depression is still part of YOUR heart, many times, if you give in to the discouragement it causes. If you just keep accepting this weakness it brings. Then you will be losing to it. If it tries to take away your strength to lift a spoon, you still fight to eat. If it takes away your will to walk, fight to take a walk. This feeling feeds off your discouragement, your thoughts; the more you stay still, the more it devours you... And you need to learn that people leave. Sometimes they die, sometimes they just go away, sometimes they stop talking because they moved on, and if you feel like you were or are being abandoned, it's because the person who isn't moving on is you. Don't blame others for not being present anymore, don't even blame yourself. Don't blame anyone, just fell that nostalgia of emotion and learn how to live with it. Please Stuart, i am the proof that you don't want to die, so stop trying act like u want. Thinking that you want to die, is proof that you want to live.

With that, his heart embraced him, calming him, drying his tears.

"He must still be around here..." the man commented, gripping his axe tighter, filling himself with the maximum energy and determination.

"... if he advances, he'll attack the others..." his heart continued, and then the two voices merged into one.

"I can't let him escape."

Lindsay held Stuart as she carried him through out all the chaos. The explosion had already ended, and an extremely deep and long crater had been created, revealing an eternal void. As far as the eye could see, there was only destruction. Pedro had probably... only Stuart was left standing to face the general.

Orf himself was staggering through the debris in the depths of that explosion, the accumulated exhaustion evident after the overwhelming amount of energy he used in his attack. He was walking towards a very different creature that had appeared.

It resembled an extremely chubby man, with very small eyes and a round mouth with multiple rows of teeth inside. The unknown creature had several cuts and wounds on its body, and it was covered in blood. Damage likely caused by the explosion.

"So you managed to survive, Pedro. Impressive. But what form is that?" the general questioned, keeping his distance.

"Animal mimicry... Tardigrade..." murmured the half-man as he spoke. "I usually refuse to use animal power because of how they treat me... but the monk is right, I can't play around here... But still..." Slowly, Pedro returned to his human form and collapsed to the ground. "Even using the animal with the greatest resistance of all, I'm barely alive. I can't move anymore."

"It's a shame, but this is as far as you go." The general summoned another sword in his hands and began to approach for the final blow.

Stuart quickly appeared at his side, knocking off the general's helmet with a strike from his axe. The light contained by the armor began to intensify and disperse, and the ghostly man quickly started choking on the poor quality of air after the explosion.

"I can still help..." Pedro said, using all the remaining mental strength he had to start generating trees from the ground, intensifying their photosynthesis process with his own vital energy, quickly restoring the oxygen in the area.

"Thank you, Pedro," Stuart said, inhaling calmly and preparing to advance into another deadly battle. "I'm glad you're okay. Now leave it to me; I can defeat this man... Wait... What?" Then the unexpected happened. "What?"

When Orf's light dissipated, his clothes also transfigured. What was once a gallant and celestial knight was now like a pale and disfigured goblin wearing a hospital gown.

"Don't look at me, please..." the poor man cried out. "I want to be seen as she saw me. I don't want to be seen like this... someone weak, debilitated, useless, and abandoned..."

The general was no longer trying to attack, just curling up on the ground, trying to hide his appearance.

"My heart..." whispered the man as his axe turned back into a hammer. His three ghosts appeared, and now that they no longer needed to act, they spoke in unison.

"Yes?"

"I reproduce what's inside me, don't I?" The three nodded their heads in confirmation. Stuart then dropped his hammer on the ground and approached the crying Orf. Even though he was an enemy, he treated him with complete respect. Now that he was beginning to synchronize with his own heart, Stuart realized how much he admired the general's attitude. How much it hurt to see that man in such a state.

Stuart knelt down and touched the being's shoulder, transmitting everything he believed, from the depths of his heart, that Orf's sister would say to him. Every word he felt compelled to say, his power transmitted to the general's heart in a few pulses. The general slowly unfolded from his position, his eyes wet, with a grateful expression.

Then, slowly, the general's body began to crack and shattered into several shards of glass that came together, and when they formed a perfect mirror, that mirror expanded, engulfing all space and time, restoring everything to a single timeline.

Orf wasn't killed. When his soul calmed, he was able to free himself from Lily's control.

With the touch of destiny, all eight heroes stopped in the same forest, reuniting. Pedro, John, and Clark were completely injured, Emily and Lysa were knocked out on the ground. Only Stuart, James, and Helena remained conscious.

"Is everyone okay?" asked the half-redhead, checking the pulse and breathing of the children.

"Extremely injured, but they'll hold on," James said, checking the wounded. Stuart remained silent, wiping away some tears that began to form.

Thinking about how good it felt to help those in suffering. Thinking about how his heart had been trying to tell and show him so much for so long, and he had simply blocked it out because he was afraid of being disappointed again.

He finally understood that he wants to live; he's just afraid of it.

"If we're all in one..." the elder thought. "...I presume time has been restored?"

"That's right," Stuart replied, coming back to reality and turning to speak with the two. "Pedro and I defeated the bearer of time."

"I wonder how many are left..." Helena said, picking up the girls and placing them closer to the other unconscious ones. "...There can't be many left, right?"

"Don't worry. You've managed to kill almost all of them already," said a woman behind the group. The three turned to find Gaya, with her usual smile, perched on a tree branch, swinging her legs casually. "It's been a while."

"GAYA!" The half-redhead, with hesitation, unsheathed her sword. James and Stuart also prepared for an attack. "Did you come to finish the job?"

"Hahaha, what job? I wasn't trying to kill you before," the swordswoman began to say in a relaxed manner. With extreme ease, she jumped from the branch and landed gently on the ground.

And with light steps, she began to walk in circles around the group.

"So what do you want?" James asked.

"You've already done what I wanted, thank you very much, by the way. You restored all the virtues I had no intention of retrieving. The only ones left besides death are the dark virtues, and I don't even need to say we don't need something like that, right? You fulfilled your duty, killed everyone, and the blame can't be mine, so..."

"How can it not be your fault?" the elder interrupted the general, clearly displeased with what she was saying. "You left us alive so we would kill your friends, you planned and waited for it. How can it not be your fault? You were responsible for their deaths."

She stopped. Without looking at him. She looked at the ground. With the same expression.

Remember, Gaya: Eyes closed. Light steps. Small smile.

Remember that you are responsible for all their deaths.

The general let out a brief muffled laugh, as if it were a type of chuckle disguised as good humor.

"Anyway..." the woman said in a broken voice. "... I don't need you anymore. I came here just to say that you could leave, that you no longer need to save the world. The only virtues left are two curses... but, I changed my mind." With great elegance, she unsheathed her rapier and turned around. "... You will be the last deaths this planet will know. And since you insist on saying it so much, this time I admit that the deaths will be caused by a murderer like me."