Elsewhere, far from the quiet warmth of apartments and ordinary mornings there was a bunker.
Cagaro pushed through a bunker corridor waving his hand in midair.
"The air is wet here. "
His blue jacket was stained near the sleeves. Sweat clung lightly to his forehead. In his hand, he gripped a metal pipe.
A body stumbled toward him.
The figures walked strangely. Twitching shoulders and its eyes looked cloudy.
Cagaro stepped back once then swung the pipe and it struck the side of one figure's head with a dull sound.
The infected staggered but did not fall.
"Oh, come on."
Before he could react, another one rushed from the side.
Cagaro raised an arm on instinct, taking the hit against his shoulder before shoving it away hard enough to create space.
He swung again harder observing the surroundings.
The metal pipe connected with its jaw.
The infected man dropped.
He didn't wait to check if it stayed down. A third one jumped in near the hallway entrance.
"There are more in the backwards. If I ever meet whoever caused these braindeads, I swear I will bite chunks out of them."
He had been stuck down here for hours, maybe longer. Hard to tell being in the underground.
The problem was bigger than the infected and nobody explained what the hell this virus actually was.
" This is my first solo mission. They sent me here telling to inspect the bunker. Who knew there are zombies! "
Another distant noise stopped him.
He looked down the corridor for a second, visibly annoyed with himself already.
"…Seriously?"
He rubbed a hand over his face.
"Can't even mind my own business during an apocalypse."
Still muttering complaints under his breath, Cagaro adjusted his grip on the pipe and started moving toward the sound.
"Hope, there are survivors alive. "
Cagaro moved down the stairwell carefully.
One hand against the railing. The other gripping the metal pipe. The deeper levels were darker than before.
He would have used the torch he found earlier.
" How foolish I am. "
If he had not lost it while getting chased and punched around by what he now professionally referred to as brain-dead zombies.
"Fantastic. Exactly how I imagined my life progressing."
Cagaro turned a corner slightly and nearly died.
A person was already standing there silently.
Close enough that he had absolutely no idea how they got there.
"AAAAAH—!"
Cagaro immediately slipped backward. The pipe clattered away from his hand.
He landed hard on the floor.
"You— WHAT— WHO—?!"
He pointed at the person like an offended child.
"DON'T JUST APPEAR LIKE THAT!"
The figure stood there calmly giving no reaction. He wore a fine brown shirt. A white cloak loosely wrapped over his shoulders. Had his both hands in the pant's pocket.
An average face that somehow always looked harder to read than it should be.
" It is me, Henry. Don't die so early. "
Completely unbothered. He looked down at Cagaro for a second.
"Get up. I am not a ghost."
Cagaro stood up scratching his neck with a confused expression.
"You like giving jumpscares, don't you?"
Henry said nothing and kept staring at Cagaro.
Still grumbling, Cagaro stood and picked up the pipe.
"What are you even doing here? You scared ten years off my life."
Henry adjusted the cloak slightly.
"I had some free time."
"…Free time?"
"For this particular time I had no mission scheduled. Thought I would come see you."
"No. It is my mission. I need no help."
Henry gave a small shrug.
"You disappeared into a bunker full of infected for one day. Someone has to check if you are still alive."
The words were simple.
Cagaro looked away for a second.
"You could have announced yourself."
Henry nodded once. "Fair."
The two continued walking down the stairs.
Cagaro walked beside Henry now. Covering himself behind Henry as if Henry is his living-walking shield.
"I don't feel good about you. You showed up here suddenly feels suspicious."
Henry glanced at him once.
"Elaborate, little sir."
"You are never free as I ever know about you."
"I can be. I am not surprised seeing you act cooler after some missions."
"Ah, I didn't mean that. You just randomly appear in bunkers like some emotionally unavailable guardian spirit."
Henry stayed quiet for a second.
"That is oddly specific."
Before Cagaro could answer
Five infected staggered into view from an intersecting corridor. Cagaro tightened his grip on the pipe.
Henry took his hands out from the pockets.
"Still fighting them with pipes? You learnt a lot about boxing, I guess."
"What else am I supposed to use?"
Henry looked forward.
"You should start learning thaumaturgy."
Cagaro gazed at him with an eerie expression.
"Thauma— what?"
"Thaumaturgy."
"The manipulation of Runic Flow."
Henry raised a hand slightly as a bright trail of light began circulating around his arm like a snake.
The infected began rushing toward them.
"When a small portion of Runic Flow is injected into your body, it spreads through cells, eventually effecting life essence. It is kind of like how viruses do."
Cagaro frowned.
"How are you explaining magic and biology together?"
"Ask your... ah, whatever."
Henry pointed his palm at the zombies.
"Spell: Chains of Golden Horn."
Golden light gathered briefly near his palm.
With a burst of spark, palm-width chains ran and crashed toward the group of zombies.
Bright gold with horn-like ridges winded through the links. They shot forward violently leaving golden trails like rainbow.
One smashed into an infected's chest hard enough to send it crashing into the wall.
Another wrapped around two more before slamming them into the ground. The remaining infected were struck aside with brute force.
Cagaro stared at the scene having no clue about it.
"Dammit. That was cool."
Henry lowered his hand.
"You can take it as your practical class."
"That was absolutely cool!"
Henry ignored the comment.
"Using spells costs Runic Flow. The more complex or powerful the spell, the more it drains you."
"So infinite magic is not a thing?"
"No."
"What happens if someone overdoes it?"
Henry answered simply.
"Blackout, stroke or even paralysis if you push yourself too far."
Cagaro nearly stopped walking.
"I knew. Nothing comes for free. Even poop."
" You ran out of Ideas, little sir? "
" No, no. That was just an example. Haha, you can see, everything in existence has a reason to exist. Such as mosquitos. To maintain our population. "
Henry nodded once smiling briefly.
"Anyways, that is the reason why agents avoid using Thaumaturgy all the time even though it could make things wrap up faster. So make sure you use it only when you have no other choice left. I will later show you the Thaumaturgy Book about spells."
He glanced at Cagaro briefly.
"Always be careful. People nowadays are so busy they only stare at the green light so much they forget the road can still kill them."
Cagaro looked ahead.
"Ah, I want chain a spell too so I could wrap your that Ozymandis friend."
Henry curved his lips a but amusingly.
"That is my boy. I expected that response."
Their footsteps resounded softly against concrete as they moved deeper inside.
Henry walked at an even pace, calm as always, hands near his pockets beneath the white cloak. Cagaro stayed beside him, quieter now than before.
After a while, Henry finally spoke.
"Now, what exactly is the suspect?"
The confidence from earlier faded a little.
"It is kind of complicated."
Henry glanced at him once.
Cagaro exhaled slowly.
"This place was an institute once upon a time. A mad scientist was experimenting with Grandiors biology. Trying to create Artificial weapons merging different Grandior DNAs."
Henry's expression did not change.
"Illegal enhancement?"
"Something like that."
Cagaro tightened his grip on the pipe.
"There was a pediatric nurse known as Sister Cecilia. People really loved her, apparently. During the outbreak at St. Agnes Hospital, most people ran but she stayed."
The virus that the foolishness of the scientist brought destroyed the lives of many innocent children. Soldiers started executing infected children. Couldn't risk spread. Cecilia… couldn't accept it."
He looked down briefly.
"The scientist had an experimental strain. Supposedly designed to create Artificial Grandiors."
"But she later fount it and injected in herself?" Henry guessed.
Cagaro nodded.
"She thought she could handle it. Thought if her intentions were strong enough, she could protect the children."
The silence afterward lasted longer.
"And?"
Cagaro swallowed.
"It made her go mad. She started… taking dying kids and dead ones too. Fusing them into herself. In her head, she thought she was protecting them forever."
Henry's face stayed in normal posture, having no significant reaction.
"Sounds indescribably terrifying."
Cagaro looked at him.
"It is tragic, right?"
Henry's answer came immediately.
"No."
Cagaro frowned.
"Umm...?"
Henry's gaze stayed forward.
"She was a fool is what I can say from what I heard just now."
The bluntness landed hard.
"If someone turns grief into something monstrous. That doesn't erase any consequences. Love without restraint becomes madness masked by obsession. That obsession slowly becomes violence making things even worse."
"That is true. Though she wanted to save them."
Henry's voice remained cold.
"People like that scare me more than monsters. At least monsters don't pretend cruelty is mercy."
He looked ahead.
"If your own pain destroys dignity no matter it is your own or someone else's—then what exactly are you protecting?"
Cagaro fell in a deep though looking at his palm.
Henry finally added,
"Feeling pity is nature of humanity but pity shouldn't blind judgment."
The corridor fell silent again as both continued walking.