Chapter 333| I Don’t Need Two Functioning Hands Just To Hold And Love You
VWUUUNGGG... Pshhh!
The sharp whistle of the mana-steam engines driving the Sky-Hunter helicopter squadron slowly subsided, leaving only the soft hum of the rotor blades spinning to a gradual, complete stop.
The aerial combat squadron made a flawless landing on the asphalt apron of the Iron Hearth military airfield. The distinct scent of pine sap from the surrounding forest blended with the warm aroma of engine lubricant.
Click. Slide!
The door of the lead helicopter was pulled open. From the darkness of the cabin, a man stepped down.
Rianor Sudrath.
His appearance was far from immaculate. His usually sharp, upright posture looked visibly leaner. His simple gray shirt was dull, caked with travel dust, and his left arm was heavily wrapped in thick medical bandages—a permanent burn scar from Pyrrhus’s barbaric torture in the dungeons beneath Magniora.
Yet, his sharp gray eyes no longer carried their usual cold, mathematical calculations. There was a quiet, suppressed anticipation—a deep relief held at the bottom of his soul as he scanned the perimeter of the airfield.
In a corner of the tarmac, an Arcanotech wheelchair moved slowly. Whirrr...
Sera—a instructor from the Seruni Academy—guided the wheelchair with delicate care. Seated upon it, draped in a simple gown with her striking red hair cascading down her shoulders, was Elara.
Her rare, brilliant purple eyes had been glassy with tears from the exact second the helicopter blades touched the ground.
Her pale fingers gripped the armrests of her wheelchair so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Every breath she drew felt heavy, holding back a flood of tears ready to burst.
As they reached the safe perimeter of the apron, Sera brought the wheelchair to a stop. She released her grip and silently stepped back a pace, surrendering this dawn stage entirely to the two of them.
Rianor’s eyes locked onto her.
Thump.
Rianor’s stride instantly changed. The man who had never run on a battlefield now accelerated his pace. Long, urgent, and desperate strides. His gray glare was locked in an absolute tractor beam with those purple eyes on the wheelchair.
Rianor came to a halt directly in front of Elara. Uncaring of the eyes of dozens of military personnel surrounding them... Rianor dropped to his knees.
Thud.
The coldest man capable of hacking enemy magic circuits without a shred of emotion... was now kneeling on the dirty tarmac before his wife. His face was brought level with Elara’s.
"El..." Rianor whispered. His voice bore a faint, delicate tremor—a vibration that had never been recorded in any logical formula.
Elara’s defenses shattered instantly. Her tears spilled silently, cascading down her thin cheeks. Her trembling hand reached out to touch her husband’s rough jawline—feeling his prominent cheekbones and tracing the fresh scar near his temple.
"You... you are terribly hurt, Rianor..." Elara sobbed, her voice breaking under the weight of months of accumulated agony. "I... I couldn’t even walk down to greet you... I couldn’t do anything..."
Rianor shook his head gently. His healthy right hand reached up to catch Elara’s shivering fingers, holding them tight.
"You never need to walk," Rianor spoke softly, brushing away the tears on her cheeks with his thumb. "I will always walk to you."
Rianor lowered his head, closed his eyes, and planted a long, warm kiss on Elara’s forehead. He poured out every shred of longing and soul-thirst that had caged him beneath the grounds of Luminara.
"I missed you, El. Every single second."
Near the cabin door of the second helicopter, Eva stood motionless.
The brunette girl observed the reunion scene from a distance. Her worn travel clothes fluttered softly in the evening breeze. Her hand remained reflexively resting on the hilt of the dagger at her waist—a survival instinct that had yet to unwind.
Throughout their long journey from the South, Eva had only known Rianor as a cold, stone-faced man—a man who spoke only when necessary, calculated survival odds in a flat tone while surrounded by demons, and hacked enemy spells without an ounce of expression.
Yet now... Eva watched that exact same man kneeling submissively on the dirty ground, holding the hand of a red-haired woman with eyes radiating absolute tenderness.
So... this was the reason, Eva thought, her chest tightening with a strange, sudden realization.
The man was neither cold nor unfeeling. Rianor simply reserved the entirety of his warmth exclusively for the singular woman who sat upon the throne of his soul. Eva slowly lowered her gaze. There was no jealousy. No bitterness. Only a newfound respect and understanding blooming in her chest.
A guard soldier approached Eva, bowing politely to escort her to the castle pavilion Rianor had arranged. Eva gave a quiet nod, turned on her heels, and walked away without disrupting the reunion on the apron.
From the third helicopter, Adul stepped down, tightly hugging his battered comms box.
His Ghost Squad uniform was filthy and torn in several places. His temple was bound in a dull cloth bandage. Yet, the boy’s posture was vastly different now—he no longer cowered in terror as he had when first dragged from the mines.
Borch stood like a statue at the edge of the tarmac. The hardened Ghost Squad Commander remained standing with arms crossed beneath his long black coat.
Adul approached him, snapping into a rigid, albeit slightly stiff, military salute. "Commander Borch. Reporting back, sir."
Borch scanned Adul’s physical appearance from head to toe. The veteran’s eagle eyes read the scars of battle and the golden-yellow Aura hovering quietly beneath the boy’s skin.
"You’ve grown significantly, Adul," Borch stated flatly.
For a man as sparse with words as Borch, that brief sentence was the equivalent of a grand military commendation.
Adul couldn’t hold back his wide, toothy grin. "Thank you, Commander!"
On the other side of the airfield, the fourth and fifth helicopters unloaded the rest of the passengers.
Elena was already waiting alongside two nurses and a medical gurney. The doctor’s face was a mix of exasperation and relief as she watched Dom drag a limping leg down the steps, and Naya carrying a thick bandage wrapped around her arm.
"Can the two of you... really not return without showing off your battle scars?" Elena scolded while checking the tear in Naya’s bandage.
"Occupational hazard, Doc," Naya offered a thin smirk, while Dom merely gave a brief nod, refusing to lie down on the gurney.
Meanwhile, a diplomatic reception unfolded beside the final helicopter. Lord Corvin Ashworth—the Palace Chamberlain—bowed gracefully to welcome Selene, who stepped down in her majestic blue Water Arcanum robes.
Roland stood beside them, leaning his slightly stiff shoulder.
"Welcome to Northreach, Lady Selene," Roland greeted with his best diplomatic smile. "This place might lack the grand marble pillars of Magniora, but I assure you the tea here is infinitely more fit for consumption."
Selene looked out at the city of Iron Hearth in the distance—an alien landscape filled with rows of power poles, smoking factory chimneys, and the tracks of the Lightning Rail.
"You promised to show me something that would prove the truth of your ideology, Roland," Selene replied, her tone cold yet undeniably curious.
"And I intend to keep that promise."
The evening sun dipped below the horizon, painting the northern sky in a gradient of deep purple and gold.
In the inner courtyard of the Iron Hearth Castle, the bed of Snow Seruni flowers bloomed captivatingly, releasing a cool fragrance as their white petals drifted down in the twilight breeze.
Rianor and Elara sat together beneath the shade of an ancient pine tree. Rianor didn’t sit on the stone bench; instead, he sat cross-legged on the grass directly in front of Elara’s wheelchair—ensuring their eyes met on an equal level.
His healthy hand held Elara’s fingers without any intention of letting go.
"Roland told me everything," Elara whispered softly, her fingers gently tracing the cloth bandage on Rianor’s left arm. "About Magniora... about the torture. Your arm... you’ll never be able to use it like you used to, will you?"
Rianor looked down at his permanently damaged arm, then met his wife’s purple eyes once more.
"I don’t need two functioning hands just to hold and love you, El," Rianor stated flatly.
There was no forced poetic fluff in that sentence. It was a pure statement of fact from a scientist—yet for that very reason, the sheer weight of its truth struck Elara’s heart with profound depth.
Elara offered a tearful smile. "That sentence... makes absolutely no scientific logic."
"I know," Rianor replied, the corners of his lips lifting into an extraordinarily rare, subtle smile. "But it is the only absolute truth."
Rianor took a fallen Snow Seruni petal from his lap and tucked it gently into Elara’s vibrant red hair.
"Tell me everything," Rianor requested quietly. "About the academy. About the children. About this home."
Elara exhaled in relief, leaning back in her seat. "It’s going to be a very long story, Rianor."
"I have the rest of my life to listen."
And beneath the peaceful twilight of the North, amidst the dancing white flower petals carried by the wind, Rianor Sudrath sat listening to the voice of his wife. There were no formulas to calculate. No codes to hack.
The scientist was officially home.