For a second, there was just nothing but a blank stare. I really was thinking that his memory actually got wiped.

But then, it clicked for him.

A full rainbow of emotions went through his face.

Confusion, surprise, relief, anger, happiness, irritation, back to confusion again, just to end up back in irritation.

Not the worst result. Especially since it wasn’t accompanied with a spell to my face.

-How are we both separate…?

Good. He remembered.

-What, you’re surprised that I managed to do that? Really?

-No. I am surprised that you managed to do that HERE. In the middle of nowhere. Also, what’s that…?

He pointed towards the crystal.

Right. Next to me there was a floating piece of stone that was right now hosting my broken first attempt at this transfer.

-That’s…

-I have been told that you killed me.

Wow.

He was going straight to the point.

I wanted to make up some kind of a story, but I guess that was not going to happen…

-Excuse me!? - he said, shaking his head.

I am not sure if that was because he suddenly felt a voice inside his head or because of the sudden claim.

Sure, it was not very out of character for him, but for someone you supposedly killed to appear in front of you…

It’s a bit bizarre to say the least.

-A bit specific, maybe…?

That’s… a response…

Not a normal one to be sure.

But, to be honest, he was never really “normal”. Especially after his life inside the barrier.

I think that also took aback the person most involved…

-Specific?! How long… and how many people?!

That was directed to me.

-Well, not that long and I don’t think you want to know - I quickly said, replying to him.

-You know him…?

-Well, yes. I brought him back. Or, well… not exactly.

-Yeah, I see… that form is definitely… unusual.

-Didn’t mean it like that, but yeah, that too.

-Hmm?

-I mean… He wasn’t really “dead”. Yet. He was absorbed by you and I just split him from you.

-Part of… me…?

He was… confused?

-Yeah…?

-And you split him…?

-As you see. It wasn’t fully seamless, but…

-And you split yourself… - he pointed out. - That’s… amazing.

-Ah… yeah. Also not fully seamless, but better than I thought it wou…

-Can you do that again?

A weird question.

-I guess? But why do you ask? You still have someone linked to you? Didn’t you absorb everyone already?

He went silent for a moment.

-I guess I did… Huh… I could’ve sworn… Never mind. That is still amazing. We have another option then!

-Another option…? The fuck are you talking about?

-Don’t you fucking ignore me!

Right.

Steve was still a bit on the edge.

Of course he was.

-And what do you want from me, then? - replied Mike, irritated. - Want me to absorb you back?

-Let’s not…

-I see why I attacked you… even the problems with my work aside.

-Your work…? Ah, you’re the one of them. Right. No wonder I didn’t recognize you. You all are pathetic.

-Can we not do this right now? Mike, you’re not helping.

-And I don’t intend to.

-Here I thought we’ll get a civilized discussion.

-You people deserve nothing. You’re even too useless to be turned into mana.

-I’d like to see you try.

-Are you trying to start a fight? - I asked, annoyed.

-Fight? No. It’d be just a cleanup. You’re familiar with those, aren’t you?

I didn’t expect for this conversation to go that bad.

Sure, they were enemies, but even with that, I thought that he’d calm down. And right now he was about to reach towards the flying crystal and actually follow through with his threat.

I wasn’t planning on letting him do that…

Wait.

Why was I defending him?

Before I even realized what I was doing, I slapped his hand away before he managed to make contact with the stone.

-Ah. You’re with them. Of course, I should've known. I thought that you’d be the last to be influenced by MIRE, but…

-I am not! I want to understand what’s going on first! Why are you so…

-MIRE…? Mire… ah…

Before I finished the sentence, I felt a gust of wind behind me.

It wasn’t strong, but enough for me to notice it.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

It was Steve.

He moved his crystal far above us, getting himself the most space he could without breaking the tree canopy.

-Look what your lack of sense cost you! - barked Mike and took a step backwards, preparing himself. - The lapdog is attacking.

-What are you doing?!

-...

-It’s obvious he’s hostile. His masters had survived most likely and now are taking control. I should’ve been more thorough.

-Masters?

-MIRE… I remember now.

Oh great.

Of course it was now that his memory started coming back…

Good to know that it was even possible in the first place, but…what was Mike talking about? Masters?

I thought he got rid of those… I mean, I never checked, nor were fully… in control, so I guess I could’ve missed something.

-Didn’t you try working for them as well? - I asked, stepping back from him and the hovering crystal. - It’s not like you’re any different.

-I was blackmailed.

-Maybe he was as well? Steve? Steve?

I tried asking, but I don’t think I was getting through.

He was now hovering far above our heads and… well, doing nothing.

That’s good… I guess?

It was strange.

I thought he’d be gathering mana… or something, I don’t know. But he was just there, like he was frozen in place.

-Did you do something to him? - I asked Mike.

-Not yet. I am concerned as well.

As he was speaking, I noticed his mana change and slowly one of his hands was turning into a blade, or rather claws.

Don’t know how effective that would be against that piece of stone, but I was not going to say anything: after all, he did almost kill me with something similar to those.

And not like changing their shape was a hard task.

I was not going to be caught napping, so I also decided to prepare for eventual combat.

Not with changing my shape, though. It’s not like I didn’t know how, but I failed to see how that would help me in this circumstance.

If I was going to try and take him on, a pure magical fight was going to be necessary.

Or even something more direct…

I started gathering mana from the area.

This time, I didn’t care about the forest or anything else: I started draining as much as I could: if anything, falling trees would provide cover.

Not like that would make a much difference with all of us being able to see on the more magical spectrum…

But first… what’s up with him.

Still hanging there, not doing anything.

-Steve… buddy…? What’s up…? - I asked and almost immediately regretted that.

And not because of a scathing look that Mike gave me.

The floating crystal turned. I guess he was looking at me directly?

-Mor. That is your name.

-Er… yes…?

-And this one is Michael, then.

-What is it to you? - barked Mike, readying his “fingers”.

-I remember now. You are wanted.

-”Wanted”? As in good wanted or…

-Wanted for destruction of a civil property and death of a lot of people.

-Oh. That.

I guess his whole memory was back. Even those parts that I didn’t think were there.

-And what? You’re gonna arrest us?

Mike was not going to stop escalating the situation, was he.

-Myself? No.

-Well, that was an accident… - I started, but Mike interrupted me, butting in.

-Accident that was caused by your people. Setting deadlines, trying to hurry us up, making us more prone to mistakes. Even getting money was dreadful!

He wasn’t wrong. Mostly.

But at this point, that was just shifting the blame. Honestly, it was our fault.

Doesn’t mean I was going to quietly let myself be punished. And didn’t we already do our time in that “prison island” or whatever?

I think he either read my mind or was on the same page as me.

-While you definitely were already punished once, you did break out. That and on top it’s not something that can be written off.

-Bleh. Justice, injustice… I don’t care. Are you attacking or not?

-Me? Of course not. I am just waiting.

Waiting…?

-For what? - asked Mike, mirroring my thoughts.

-Reinforcements, of course. Then you’ll be safely contained again.

-Oh fucking great.

-Maybe don’t…

It was too late to talk.

Mike was already launching his attacks.

Or rather himself.

He jumped up towards him like a spring and immediately connected with his crystal with a loud crashing noise.

-It’s useless.

It definitely seemed that way, at least from the first strike.

But I knew better to not underestimate his strikes. After all, I was once on the receiving end of those.

He landed and launched another attack. This time, it was a bit different.

Mid jump, he transformed his hands again: one turning to something akin to mace, and another was more like an actual hand, but with longer and a bit pointy finger, something like a claw.

Instead of trying to hit him, he actually grabbed onto the crystal.

Locked with his fingers, he was firmly attached to him and started swinging with incredible force, hitting the core. Or at least trying to.

It definitely didn’t scare him. But, he did get a response.

The crystal started twitching and turning, trying to toss him off.

-It’s no use! I…

But that was just the first part.

Steve could use different types of magic of course.

From the thin air, around the crystal, pieces of stone started forming.

About ten of those, maybe even more.

And started pelting him as soon as they grew to a size of a fist.

-Pff. Small.

Well, he was right.

With sizes like that, that was not going to affect him at all, even if he was still a bit “fleshy”.

But he wasn’t even trying to focus on his weak points. Just was pelting him with a hail of projectiles.

Wait, were those getting larger…?

Yeah, that was not my imagination.

Every piece of stone he was creating was larger and larger. Which was strange, because it felt like he was getting faster and faster with creation of those.

I mean, if he was pouring more mana, surely it would take him more time, right…?

Wait.

Was he even pouring mana?

No…

He was… advanced.

Just like before, like when his mind was completely blank, he wasn’t doing his magic consciously.

He was just directly ordering mana to create whatever he envisioned.

It technically could make him faster… he just had to think fast.

I mean, with spare room in his mind…

So wait… did he regain his memory?

That… made no sense.

If he remembered, he shouldn’t be able to manipulate magic like that. He’d be as limited as anyone that knows what mana is.

But then, how would he remember what MIRE is or who we were? Or know about the “accident”.

Did he… just remember pieces…?

I mean, it would explain some things… but that’s just too convenient.

I don’t get it…

Meanwhile, the stones that were getting tossed at Mike were now boulders the size of half his body.

But, even then, damage was not dissuading him from trying to crush the stone Steve was residing in.

He managed to distract him quite a bit, though, to the point where some of his attacks were now directed towards the rocks.

I mean, if that was me I’d just let him hit me, the stones were just some pain that could be easily ignored. And then, he’d be able to rebuild his body with Origin Crystal and be able to completely ignore the further damage.

For some reason, he was still reluctant to turn himself completely to stone. Even while being at least half-crystal.

I guess that’s not an issue since he was still able to attack.

But, what was his attack even?

Sure, he could bash him constantly. And maybe chip a piece or two. So what?

-Instead of watching, maybe do something?! - I heard a yell. - What side are you on anyway!?

Right.

I have been just standing there, looking at those two trading blows.

Sure, it wasn’t that long since they started fighting, but having said that, it was still not something I should’ve done.

But…

What should I do?

I wasn’t keen on taking either of the sides.

Sure, I wasn’t a fan of MIRE right now, considering what I witnessed or what I learned about them.

But, the same could be said for Mike.

Decisions, decisions…