The carriages raced along the stone road, wheels rattling violently as the horses were urged faster, faster—anything to shorten the distance to Delcra Castle. The sky was already turning dim, clouds bruised purple and grey, as if the heavens themselves were exhausted from the bloodshed left behind.
Inside the foremost carriage sat Robert.
He was alone.
One hand pressed tightly against his chest, fingers digging into fabric as though he could still the pain by force alone. Yesterday, he had used mana—mana Jaesper had strictly forbidden him from touching. He knew the consequences. He had known them even as he raised his wand.
But when Kael was in danger, logic had never mattered.
Robert exhaled slowly, shakily, and lowered his gaze to the stack of old documents resting on his lap. The papers were brittle, yellowed with age, edges eaten by time. These were not the black files—the ones that catalogued Kael's suffering with clinical cruelty—but they were damning all the same.
Records of curse children.
Children abandoned, sold, trafficked.
Children starved to weaken their bodies before experiments.
Children sent to red districts, traded as commodities.
Children listed not by name, but by value.
Robert's fingers trembled as he turned the page.
"So many…" he whispered, voice barely audible over the carriage's rumble.
They had been unwanted long before they ever learned to speak. Cast aside by parents who feared red eyes and cursed blood. The world had never given them a chance—and then it blamed them for breaking.
His throat tightened.
Master Kael…
You suffered long before you even had the words to remember it.
A sudden, sharp pain stabbed through his chest.
Robert gasped.
His body folded forward as he coughed violently, the sound raw and wet. He clamped a hand over his mouth, but when he pulled it away, crimson stained his glove.
Blood.
His eyes widened for a heartbeat—then he closed them.
"…Ah," he breathed softly, almost amused. "So it's getting worse."
He clenched his fist until his knuckles went white, forcing the pain back, swallowing the copper taste rising in his throat.
"Please," he whispered into the dim carriage, as if praying to something that might still be listening.
"Just… let me be strong enough to stay beside Master Kael."
The carriage jolted, then slowed.
Through the small window, stone walls rose into view—tall, imposing, familiar.
Delcra Castle.
Robert straightened immediately.
He wiped the blood from his lips with practiced care, movements calm, deliberate. The stained glove disappeared into his bag, buried beneath cloth and medicine vials. No one would see this. No one needed to.
The carriage gates opened.
When the door was pulled aside, evening light spilled in—and with it, the waiting figures of servants and guards.
At the forefront stood Sebastian.
Relief flashed across the head butler's lined face—then confusion.
"Lord Robert?" Sebastian stepped forward. "Where is Master Kael? Was he not meant to arrive with you?"
Robert descended carefully, boots touching stone. The chill in the air seeped into his bones, but he did not show it.
"Master Kael remained at Felma Village," he answered evenly. "He made a detour to aid the villagers there."
Sebastian frowned. "Felma… Count Jean's jurisdiction?"
Robert nodded. "The Count has sent reports, has he not? Lord Kael requested them."
Understanding dawned quickly in Sebastian's eyes. He gestured sharply, servants already moving at his command.
"Of course. I'll have them brought at once."
As they waited, Sebastian studied Robert more closely—and his expression darkened.
"…My lord," he said quietly, placing a weathered hand on Robert's shoulder, "you look unwell."
Robert smiled faintly. It didn't reach his eyes.
"I am fine," he said. "So is Master Kael. For now, our priority is these documents."
Sebastian did not look convinced.
"I have heard rumors," the butler said carefully. "Of an incident at the palace. Poison. Two victims."
Robert met his gaze. "We survived."
Sebastian's grip tightened slightly. "You are pale. Far paler than when I last saw you."
A pause.
Then Robert gently lifted Sebastian's hand away.
"Master Kael entrusted this task to me," he said softly. "I can rest once he returns safely."
Sebastian sighed—a deep, helpless sound.
"…Very well. I will dispatch reinforcements and healers at once. You and His Grace will not face this alone."
"Thank you," Robert replied, bowing his head.
As the servants returned with the documents, Robert accepted them carefully. Not many pages—but heavy with meaning.
Before leaving, his eyes caught a line in one report.
> Disappearances began four months prior.
Robert froze.
Four months.
His breath stilled.
Four months ago…
Kael had awakened from his coma four months ago.
The papers trembled slightly in his hands.
"…That can't be a coincidence," he murmured.
A cold unease settled in his chest—far heavier than pain.
Something was wrong.
Something had begun the moment Kael opened his eyes again.
Robert looked up at the darkening sky, where clouds swallowed the last light of day.
"Please stay safe, Master Kael," he whispered.
"I'm coming back to you… no matter what it costs."
The carriage door closed.
And once again, Robert rode toward the truth—alone.
-----------------------------------------
Blood dripped steadily from Kael's shoulder, dark red against the ash-stained ground.
The impact from the earth wall had torn through skin and muscle alike, throwing him hard against broken stone. His breath left him in a strangled gasp as pain exploded through his side. Before he could even regain his footing, his eyes were already searching—desperate, frantic.
Elric.
She was still fighting.
Kael pushed himself up, teeth clenched as his injured arm trembled. He took a step toward her—
—but the ground beneath him roared.
Another wall of earth erupted violently from below, slamming into his body and hurling him backward like a discarded doll.
"—Ah!"
His back hit the rubble with a sickening crack. Kael groaned, vision blurring as dust filled his lungs.
John's laughter echoed through the ruins.
"You really are an idiot," John sneered, his voice twisted with both rage and bitter amusement. "Trying to save people who abandoned you."
Kael struggled to breathe, fingers digging into dirt as he forced himself to rise again. Blood ran down his arm, soaking his sleeve.
John lifted his hand once more.
"You should've learned by now."
The earth answered him.
Another violent surge slammed into Kael's side, throwing him across the courtyard. His body rolled, pain screaming through every nerve as he hit the ground again.
Elric's heart nearly stopped.
"Kael!" she shouted, panic slicing through her voice. "No—don't come here! I can handle this myself!"
She didn't wait for his reply.
Her bow glowed brilliantly as she poured more mana into it—far more than before. Flames coiled around the arrow like living serpents before she released it.
The arrow struck the ghoul squarely.
Fire exploded.
The creature shrieked, an inhuman, agonized sound as flames devoured its rotting flesh. It staggered backward, claws tearing at its own body as it rolled across the ground, desperately trying to extinguish the fire.
The smell of burning decay filled the air.
John hissed in irritation.
"Tch."
Before he could turn fully back to Elric—
Varyn moved.
The demon lunged forward with terrifying speed, his blood-forged sword gleaming darkly as it sliced cleanly across John's shoulder.
"Busy, aren't you?" Varyn mocked, crimson blood splattering across the ground.
John snarled, eyes flashing.
He raised his hand and chanted sharply.
A wave of condensed darkness burst outward, slamming into Varyn's smaller body and sending him flying through the air. Varyn crashed into broken stone, skidding across the ground with a hiss of irritation.
Kael didn't give John time to breathe.
The moment John's focus shifted, Kael forced his aching body to move. He sprinted forward, sword raised, every step tearing pain through his shoulder.
"—John!"
Steel pierced flesh.
Kael's blade drove into John's shoulder.
For a split second, Kael thought—I got him.
Then John turned.
Blood streamed from John's nose, dripping onto his lips. His breathing was uneven, body trembling—but his smile was terrifying.
"You're too late," John whispered.
Varyn pushed himself upright, eyes narrowing sharply.
"He's at his limit!" Varyn shouted, laughter sharp and cruel. "He used forbidden spells—his body is already dying!"
Varyn raised his hand again, blood magic coiling around his fingers. "You really are pathetic. Killing yourself just to cling to your revenge."
The spell snapped toward John—
—but John laughed.
"I'll die," he said softly, voice breaking with madness, "and I'll drag everyone with me."
He pulled a scroll from his coat.
Kael's breath hitched.
The same black energy—the same corruption—spilled from it, wrapping around John's body like chains. The air thickened, heavy with malice. Wind howled violently, whipping debris into the air.
Kael instinctively stepped back, heart pounding.
The ghoul—still smoldering—suddenly went still.
Then it moved.
It rushed toward John.
Elric froze.
The ghoul slammed into him, and something horrifying happened.
Flesh merged.
Bone twisted.
The sound was wet, wrong—like something being torn apart and stitched back together in the same breath. John screamed, then laughed, his voice warping as the ghoul fused into him.
His body expanded, contorted, limbs elongating unnaturally. Black veins crawled across his skin as his red eyes burned brighter.
"I almost forgot," John growled, his voice layered with something monstrous. "You're the hero, aren't you?"
His gaze locked onto Kael.
"You're supposed to save people who need help."
He laughed—a hollow, broken sound.
"So why don't you save me?"
"Why don't you help me kill them all?!"
Varyn appeared beside Kael, clicking his tongue in annoyance.
"He still plays the victim," he said coldly, glancing at Kael's bleeding shoulder. "If you want me to end this, I can."
Kael's hands trembled around his sword.
"I…" His voice broke. "I still want to save him."
Varyn froze.
Then his eyes narrowed with fury.
"If you wanted to save him," Varyn snapped, "you should've grabbed his hand when you ran away that night."
The words struck Kael like a blade.
Before Kael could respond, Varyn turned sharply and rushed back into the fight, blood sword blazing as he charged John once more.
Kael stood frozen.
Grab his hand.
The memory burned.
Elric leapt down from the ruins, sprinting toward Kael. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood soaking his sleeve.
"Kael—you're hurt!"
She reached for him, hands trembling—but Kael stepped back, raising his hand weakly to stop her.
"I'm fine," he said, though his voice shook.
"Don't lie to me," Elric snapped, tears shining in her eyes.
She ignored his protest, pressing glowing hands to his shoulder as she chanted. Warm light spread, knitting torn flesh together, easing the pain just enough for him to breathe.
As the wound closed, Kael's lips trembled.
"All of this…" he whispered.
"…is my fault."
Elric's hands stilled.
She grabbed his collar suddenly, pulling him close, forcing him to look at her.
"No," she said fiercely, voice unwavering even as the wind screamed around them. "This is not your fault."
Her grip tightened.
"You were a child."
"So was he."
Her voice softened, breaking just a little.
"You're both victims of the same cruelty."
Kael's eyes burned with unshed tears.
Behind them, the ruins shook as the battle raged on—but for a brief moment, all Kael could hear was his own heartbeat, heavy with guilt, grief, and a truth he had been avoiding since that night long ago.
The black wind howled like a living thing.
It coiled violently around John's body as the ghoul fully merged with him, flesh and bone grinding together with a sound so sickening it made Elric's stomach twist. His spine bent at an unnatural angle, ribs tearing through darkened skin before sealing again. Veins pulsed black beneath his surface, crawling like parasites.
Two blazing red lights burned where his eyes once were.
John groaned—long, broken, and pained.
Then he laughed.
The sound was warped, layered with something inhuman, echoing unnaturally through the ruins.
Varyn did not retreat.
Instead, he walked forward, calm and cold, as though facing nothing more than a failed experiment. With deliberate slowness, he sliced his own arm open. Dark blood spilled freely, floating into the air instead of falling.
Varyn raised his hand.
The blood twisted, reshaping itself midair—hardening, sharpening—
—into dozens of crimson lances.
They hovered around John, vibrating with lethal intent.
"Pathetic," Varyn muttered, chanting under his breath.
At once, the lances burst forward.
They pierced John's body from every direction—shoulders, chest, abdomen, limbs—punching clean through corrupted flesh. The impact shook the ground. Blood sprayed violently, splattering the ruins.
John screamed.
It was raw, animalistic, filled with agony and fury.
For a moment, the black wind faltered.
Kael's heart leapt.
Did it work—?
John coughed violently, blood pouring from his mouth—
—and then he laughed again.
"You think this will stop me?" John rasped, voice cracking yet filled with triumph.
Suddenly—
Silence.
The black wind stopped completely.
Too abruptly.
Too unnaturally.
Everyone froze.
Even Varyn's expression faltered.
John lifted his head slowly.
His body… was no longer human.
His skin had turned pitch-black, splitting in places to reveal exposed muscle and bone beneath. His arms bent at impossible angles, joints reversed, fingers elongated into clawed talons. Pieces of the ghoul still jutted grotesquely from his form, half-digested yet alive.
He was no longer a man.
He was a curse given flesh.
John smiled.
Then he raised both hands.
The black wind surged outward again—but this time, it did not scatter wildly.
It converged.
Straight toward Varyn.
Varyn's eyes widened for the first time.
"You—idiot—" he hissed.
The wind wrapped around him like chains.
It crushed inward.
There was no scream.
No struggle.
Varyn's body was torn apart in an instant—shredded into fragments of blood and shadow, swallowed completely by the storm. His form vanished as if it had never existed at all.
The wind dissipated.
Silence fell heavy and suffocating.
Kael stood frozen, breath stolen from his lungs.
He… killed him.
That easily.
John turned slowly toward Kael and Elric.
Red eyes locked onto Kael.
"Now…" John said softly, voice distorted and hollow.
"…it's just you and me."
He laughed again—low, broken, echoing with madness.
Elric stepped in front of Kael without hesitation, bow raised, hands shaking but steady with resolve.
"Stay back," she warned, her voice firm despite the terror clawing at her chest.
Kael's grip tightened on his sword.
His body trembled—not from fear alone, but from the weight of everything crashing down at once.
The children.
The cells.
The bones.
The boy with red hair who once reached for his hand.
"…John," Kael said, his voice hoarse but steady. "This ends here."
John tilted his head, amusement flickering through the monstrous glow of his eyes.
"Ends?" he repeated softly.
"No, Kael."
His smile widened, stretching unnaturally across his ruined face.
"This is where it begins."