"The forest's thicker on this side. You don't need to be so tense."
Klein spoke casually, hands buried in his pockets, stride unbothered. Branches brushed against his cloak as if they weren't even there.
Arthur didn't slow. His brow was tight, jaw clenched. "You don't know him like I do."
He reached out, grabbed Klein's wrist, and yanked his hand free from the pocket. Their eyes locked.
"When he realizes what's happening and stops holding back," Arthur said quietly, "you'll regret treating this like a joke."
Klein pulled free with a shrug, rolling his wrist once before slipping his hand back at his side. "Sure, sure. He's impressive. I get it."
A smirk crept onto his face. It lingered just long enough to grate on Arthur's nerves.
"Suppress your mana," Arthur snapped. "We're close enough for him to feel it."
Klein's brow lifted slightly. Amused. "From this far out?"
They continued in silence.
Ahead, Sosuke walked the dirt road alone. Unaware. Or pretending to be.
Arthur raised a hand abruptly.
"Stop."
Klein halted.
"We caught up."
Klein's grin widened. "So we get the drop on him now."
Arthur nodded once. "I can barely sense you and you're standing beside me. That means it's time. Incapacitate him before he can think."
Klein glanced sideways. "Second thoughts, Arthur? That hesitation isn't like you."
Arthur didn't respond.
They stepped through the treeline.
Open ground. Clear sightlines.
Sosuke had already turned.
His hand rested calmly on the sheath at his hip, lightning mana faintly coiled beneath the skin. His posture was loose, but his eyes were sharp.
"You broke the law, Estrella." Arthur pointed at him. "My position obliges me to act, regardless of our history. Natsume is out there killing people because of your involvement."
Sosuke didn't interrupt.
"I let your vigilante actions slide during the war. Different circumstances." Arthur's voice hardened. "But we're in fragile peace now. Natsume will shatter it. He'll be the spark that lets war truly begin."
Sosuke blinked.
His eyes lit up, stars igniting in violet irises.
A crooked smirk pulled at his lips.
"Unfortunate." He shifted his weight back, heel grinding into dirt. "I'm valuable. You won't kill me."
Lightning hummed, low and eager.
"So you'll have to catch me."
Splat.
Blood slapped against the dirt road in a thick, wet spill.
Sosuke froze mid-step.
His pupils shrank. His jaw slackened, lips parting as if air refused to enter. He slowly turned his head.
His arm lay several feet away, fingers still curled, lightning flickering uselessly along severed nerves before dying out. Blood poured from the stump in heavy pulses, soaking into the earth.
Sosuke's breath hitched once. Then again.
His gaze snapped back to Arthur, disbelief stretching his expression thin and brittle. Not pain. Not fear. Something colder. Something hollow. His shoulders trembled, not from shock alone, but from the realization carved into his face.
No hesitation. Not even a pause.
Arthur stood behind him, calmly wiping his blade clean. "I took that move from your playbook."
He pivoted and drove a kick into Sosuke's skull.
The impact sent Sosuke flying. His body slammed into a tree with a crack like breaking bone. Wood exploded outward as the trunk split and collapsed, burying him beneath shattered branches and splintered bark.
Klein tilted his head, watching the debris settle. His expression remained thoughtful, detached. From his view, it was already over.
Lightning screamed.
The tree ignited from within, bursting apart in a flash of violet-white light. Charred wood disintegrated into ash, scattering across the road as Sosuke rose from the smoke.
Lightning coiled around him in violent spirals. Steam hissed from his shoulder as flesh reformed, bone knitting together in a raw, ugly regeneration. A new arm took shape, trembling once before clenching into a fist.
His eyes burned.
"You're unbelievable," Sosuke said, voice rough. "Your father dies and that's all it takes for you to rot?" Sparks snapped from his skin. "Hiding behind the law doesn't make this right."
Arthur advanced, measured and steady, blade hanging loose at his side. "You wouldn't understand. You weren't old enough to grasp what losing a parent actually means. Don't lecture me on decisions you never had to make."
Klein sighed, rolling his shoulders. "Alright. Guess it's my turn."
He lifted his palm.
Water erupted forward in a compressed lance, tearing through the air with lethal speed.
Sosuke twisted aside, boots skidding. He snapped his wrist, lightning lashing out and racing along the water stream straight toward Klein.
It stopped.
The lightning struck an unseen barrier, rippled once, then snapped back.
The force slammed into Sosuke's chest.
His body convulsed. He crashed to the ground, limbs locking as electricity tore through him. Dirt scattered beneath his heels as he ground his teeth together, throat tight, breath coming in sharp, broken bursts.
Klein lowered his hand, unimpressed. "I control everything that flows through my water. You should know better."
Sosuke pushed himself up on one knee.
His eyes gleamed.
A thin smile crept across his face. Then he laughed. Low at first. Then louder.
Arthur's brow furrowed. "What's funny."
Sosuke steadied his breathing. The grin lingered, thin and deliberate. He raised his arms slowly, elbows stiff, palms open like he was mocking the gesture itself.
"You're really a frustrating person to deal with," he said. A pause. Then, quieter but sharper, "Arrest me."
The room did not move at first.
Klein lifted a brow and glanced sideways. Arthur met the look, then gave a single nod. Klein's grin returned, lazy as ever. "Wasn't so difficult."
Arthur did not answer. His gaze stayed fixed on Sosuke, searching for cracks that refused to show.
You have a plan. You always do.
The thought irritated him more than he let on.
He drove his sword into the stone floor. The clang echoed once, flat and final. Free hands reached to his belt, producing a pair of mana-suppressing cuffs that hummed faintly as they activated.
"Do not mistake compliance for simplicity," Arthur said evenly. "You rarely act without intent."
———
Cold metal bit into Sosuke's wrists. Chains ran from the cuffs to the table, another set locking his ankles to the chair. He leaned back as far as they allowed, testing the tension, then exhaled through his nose.
"Isn't this a little excessive?" he asked, eyes drifting to the darkened one-way window. "I mean, really."
The room felt dead by design. Gray walls, gray floor, gray ceiling. No clock. No markings. Just a table bolted down and a single chair for the man they expected to break.
Sosuke tilted his head back, about to let it fall forward for a nap, when the door slammed open.
A guard entered first, armored head to toe, weapon ready, stance rigid. Sosuke stared for a moment, then let out a short laugh.
"That's just insulting." He shook his head. "You honestly think I'd kill someone just to get out of here? Have you learned anything about me, Veiss?"
Arthur followed, carrying a case file and a thick envelope. He shut the door behind him with care, the sound controlled, intentional. Without sitting, he emptied the contents onto the table. Photographs slid across the surface, overlapping.
"This is not an assessment of your character," Arthur said. His voice was calm, measured. "It is procedure. One you seem convinced you are exempt from."
Sosuke glanced down. Faces he knew. Places he recognized. Nothing incriminating at a glance.
"Well, whatever," he said, rolling his shoulders despite the restraints. "Get on with it. I'm sure you've rehearsed this."
Arthur spread the photos out, precise, almost meticulous. "I would be disappointed if you truly believed we would not observe you. You were aware of the surveillance. And yet, you persisted."
Sosuke's eyes skimmed the images once more. He shrugged. "I see people talking. Groundbreaking."
Arthur planted a finger on the first photo. "Ren Natsume." Then the next. "Lyra." Another. "Rin Sakurai." His hand lingered there a fraction longer. "Each of them has, directly or indirectly, aided an illicit operation targeting both clan authority and an accredited charity."
He straightened slightly. "Ren does not acquire sensitive meeting details without assistance. Assistance that traces back to Valcrest. As for Sakurai's continued involvement, that decision was influenced, if not orchestrated, by you."
Sosuke smirked. "That's a lot of assumptions stitched together to sound convincing." He leaned forward as much as the chains allowed. "I could've been talking about the weather. You've got nothing solid, Veiss. I live a boring life. Try again."
Arthur did not rise to it. He rested both hands on the table's edge and leaned in, just enough to narrow the space between them.
"We know you contacted Natsume," he said quietly. "Regardless of what you claimed."
The silence stretched.
"These are not arbitrary restrictions," Arthur continued. "They are the framework that keeps our world from unraveling. If those entrusted with enforcement abandon it, then order becomes meaningless."
His eyes hardened, though his tone did not. "You do not get to decide which laws apply to you. Neither do we."
Sosuke scoffed. "And if I don't play along?" He tilted his head. "You going to do to me what you're planning for Ren? The law doesn't mean shit if it's used to bury people who don't deserve it."
He leaned back, chains rattling softly. The cuffs bit deeper into his skin, irritation flashing across his face. "Not that it matters. I never spoke to him."
"You will face consequences regardless," Arthur said, already gathering the photographs. "No one is immune. Not reputation. Not power."
He stepped back, expression unreadable. "Not even you."
The door closed behind him, leaving the room silent once more.