Leon began walking away from the mansion when he noticed Zay, still lying in the mud at the base of the shattered wall. With a soft grunt, Leon gently laid Fisher's body against a nearby intact wall, ensuring it was out of the rain's harshest reach, then turned and made his way over to Zay.
His boots squelched in the wet ground as he stopped in front of the unconscious figure. He stood there, staring down at him, and felt something hot rising in his chest—a slow, simmering rage that burned beneath his sorrow.
'Is this really why my friend died? To save someone this pathetic… someone who can't even stand after being tossed around a little?'
Leon clenched his jaw and glanced around. The field was empty. No one was watching.
Without hesitation, he drew his rapier. [Flame Enchant] activated, and the blade ignited with a sharp hiss, flames flickering to life along its edge. He raised it, pointing the burning tip over Zay's chest, the light dancing across the boy's unconscious body.
Leon sighed deeply, feeling the muscles in his hand twitch—urging him to drive the rapier down into Zay's chest. But after a moment, he exhaled sharply and sheathed the blade, ending the Flame Enchant.
He clenched his teeth tightly as he lifted Fisher's body back into his arms and walked past Zay, fully aware that sparing a member of the Demons of Red could one day lead to his own death.
He briefly considered going back to the mansion to tell them about the child he had seen earlier—the one with an arrow in their neck—but Leon didn't feel like doing that. He didn't have the energy. He didn't care to speak.
He just kept walking, leaving the mansion behind as his light-pink aura flared, he leapt up rocks and scaled small cliffs before vanishing into the distance—clutching Fisher tightly, refusing to let go of his friend.
...
An hour had passed and Naomi looked around, a confused expression appeared on her face as she hadn't realized it due to everything that was happening all at once; she didn't see Zay anywhere.
"What happened... to my master?" she asked, glancing between Roland and Ira. They both looked confused.
"You... are a slave?" Roland asked, raising a brow. The question lingered with the weight of his old-fashioned mind, unsure of what she meant.
"Zay," Naomi said, scanning the basement level with a puzzled expression. She sniffed the air, trying to catch the scent of his aura—but there wasn't a single trace nearby.
Ira's eyes widened. "W-wait... Zay has a slave!?"
"Well... he doesn't treat me like one," Naomi replied with a soft smile. "He told me to live my own life. But he is still my one and only master."
There was a pause. Ira looked at her, uncertain how to respond to this revelation. After a moment, she closed her eyes and replied in a calm tone.
"When that person attacked," she said quietly, "Zay shoved me out of the way. That's the only reason I got away with just a cut on my cheek... he was the first one to engage."
'First one to engage... b-but he wasn't with that other man...'
Naomi suddenly turned and bolted up the stairs, rushing out of the mansion.
She squinted against the rain-soaked world, barely able to see through the heavy downpour, and called out his name: "ZAY!"
When no response came, she shouted again—louder this time, desperation in her voice. "MASTER!"
Still, nothing.
She looked up. The sun had long been smothered by thick, dark clouds. From the shadows at her feet, the wolf that had accompanied her earlier emerged once more. It didn't speak. Without hesitation, it bolted forward, scouring the terrain in search of any sign of Zay.
At the same time, tendrils of shadow burst forth from the mansion's walls, slithering out into the rain-soaked yard—spreading like dark veins across the earth, trying to find him.
Several minutes passed before a wolf's howl echoed in the distance. Naomi's dark-pink aura flared to life as her heart skipped. Without hesitation, she sprinted toward the sound, darting through the shadows behind the mansion.
She skidded to a stop and the wolf emerged from the mist, its fur matted and blood-specked, carrying Zay's unconscious body gently across its back.
Naomi's breath caught. Her eyes widened as she rushed forward, her hands trembled as she reached out, brushing the hair from his face.
He looked completely intact. No major wounds, at least appearance wise.
She quickly pressed two fingers against the side of his neck, holding her breath. A few seconds passed before she felt a pulse. It was weak, but steady.
"He's... alive. He's still alive," she whispered to herself, a smile forming on her face. 'I...' She stopped the thought before it could finish and began walking back to the mansion beside the wolf.
She glanced over at Zay, raising her hand to brush the hair from his eyes, then looked down at the wolf. "Thank you," she whispered, her voice soft with gratitude. As they reached the front of the mansion, her eyes lifted to its ruined state.
They stepped inside. At the stairs, the wolf vanished, leaving Zay gently on the ground.
Naomi looked down at him, crouched, and activated her aura. She lifted him into her arms with care. It took several minutes of slow, steady steps to carry him down the stairs.
Roland was the first to notice. He walked over just as Naomi laid Zay down against the wall. Kneeling beside him, Roland pressed his fingers to Zay's neck and checked for a pulse.
"His pulse is weak... but it's steady," Roland said, then turned away to check on Rei. The boy showed some signs of improvement, but nothing significant, his eyes remained closed.
Ira sat in a nearby chair, reading a book on flowers and their symbolic meanings within the Order. She looked up and noticed Zay against the wall. 'He's alive... that's good.'
Her gaze lingered on him a moment longer before drifting back to her book, eyes occasionally flicking between the pages and Zay.
...
A few hours had passed since Zay was brought into the mansion and his eyes slowly opened. He was blinded by the lights at first but adjusted quickly. He looked around the room and saw Naomi and Ira both asleep. Confused by Naomi's presence, he glanced up and saw Roland, then stood to his feet.
[Unholy Regeneration] had healed his body enough.
As Zay walked over, Roland heard his footsteps and turned around to see him. "Welcome back to the world of the living."
"It feels like shit to be back. My whole body feels like I've been in the jaws of a damn dragon for the past eleven hours." Zay stretched his back and cracked his neck, pain still radiating through him. "If I'm alive and everyone else is too... then what the hell happened? I remember fighting some strong bastard, getting my ass kicked, and then everything just went black."
Roland sighed and pointed toward Rei's unconscious body, resting beneath a glowing book in the room.
Zay walked over and looked inside, spotting Rei. "Why... is Rei here? And why is Naomi here?"
Roland entered the room, and Zay followed behind him. Once they were in, Roland closed the door quietly. "I'll summarize everything quickly. That girl showed up with a coachman, carrying... Rei? I believe that's his name. The coachman brought him here in an almost dead state. He barely had a pulse. His left arm is gone, the stump was sealed off with some type of heat. They asked for medicine, so I brought him down here. He's currently being healed by a sacred artifact."
Roland took a breath before continuing. "Then a man came by, Leon. I'm sure you know of him. The man you were fighting was either killed or driven off by Leon. I'm not sure, since I haven't left this basement. If I do, the sacred artifact will stop working, and that young man's life will be lost. The artifact is personally bound to my soul."
Zay stood silently, taking in everything he'd heard, then nodded.
"So... in other words, the guy who kicked my ass got his ass kicked. You can't leave because you're healing Rei, who looks dead but is hanging on somehow. He's missing an arm. And all of this happened in the span of... two days?"
"Well, if you want to word it like that... you can." Roland sighed and pressed a finger to his glabella, rubbing it gently.