In his final moments, Harold saw his life flash before his eyes. The orphanage in Yino, cold and desolate, where shadows seemed longer and darkness deeper than anywhere else.
The day the Venmonts adopted him, the first time he felt hope bloom in his chest like a fragile flower.
Years of brutal training, painful modifications, all to please a father who never...
The thought remained unfinished when the beam of light finished consuming his torso. What remained was barely recognizable as human, the lower half of a charred body, part monster, part man, smoking on the metallic floor. The acrid smell of a burned body filled the air.
"Luna!" Larissa ran to her cousin, who lay there after anchoring Harold with her last shadow and physical effort. Her normally perfect composure shattered by genuine fear for her family.
Min followed immediately, his snake manifesting to begin the healing process, its scales gleaming with restorative energy.
Taro and the guards also approached, forming a protective circle around the girls, their bodies tense despite their exhaustion.
But Ren collapsed to his knees, his eyes fixed on what remained of Harold. His hands trembled uncontrollably while the glowing lines across his body began to fade from the massive energy expenditure of his powerful attack.
"I..." his voice was barely a whisper. "I just..."
The hydra armor retracted and his mushrooms appeared in his hair, pulsing softly as if trying to console him but reflecting a dimmer, sadder light. Their usual cheerful glow muted by their tamer's emotional turmoil.
"She's alive," Min's voice cut through the fog in his mind. "Luna will be fine."
Larissa held Luna's hand while Min worked, but her eyes were fixed on Ren. She had heard about this before… her brother had told her that something could be seen in warriors' eyes and mana after their first real kill.
There you could see someone's true yin or yang nature.
When Min finished healing Luna, Larissa approached Ren.
"You saved her life," she said softly, her voice gentle with understanding. "Maybe all of ours."
Ren nodded mechanically, but his eyes remained on the charred remains. How old had the transformed tamer been? Had he had a family like Ren's? Would his mother and father miss him?
"It was him or us," one of the guards added, her voice kinder than it had been before. The hostility from earlier completely gone, replaced by something like sympathy. "You had no choice."
"You're right... there was no choice," Ren murmured, remembering how fury had consumed him upon seeing Luna injured. But had there really been no other option? Or had he simply let rage decide for him? Was he still able to "become a good man" like his mother and father had asked him to be?
"Thank you," Larissa smiled weakly. "For not hesitating."
Ren felt tears beginning to form. He hadn't hesitated, no. And that was what frightened him the most.
But Min called them, momentarily distracting Ren from his dark thoughts.
Luna opened her eyes slowly, her vision focusing on the worried faces surrounding her.
"The other guards..." she mumbled, trying to sit up. "They're badly hurt. They need help, quickly."
Larissa helped her up while Min considered the injured guards with concern. His snake had already expended much energy healing Luna, its scales dulled from the effort.
"I don't know if I have enough mana left," Min admitted, biting his lip.
Ren, who had been staring into space, seemed to wake at this. His eyes lit up, here was something good he could do, something that might slightly reduce his guilt.
"Min!" he quickly approached his friend. "I can help."
"Yes, but my snake's mana is different from your beasts' and..."
"I know exactly how it works," Ren continued, his mushrooms pulsing as he concentrated. "I know the pattern of each type of mana. I can transfer some of mine to you."
"Is that possible?" Taro asked, momentarily forgetting the situation out of pure curiosity.
"It's very difficult," one of the guards commented. "The mana of different beasts isn't usually compatible."
"But Ren knows the patterns," Min smiled, beginning to understand. "Like when he helped us with our cultivation."
Ren nodded, placing a hand on Min's shoulder. His glowing lines, relic of the consumed ring, began to pulse with a specific rhythm.
"It's like directing a river into a lake," he explained as his mana flowed into Min.
Min's snake began to glow with renewed energy, its scales brightening with borrowed power.
"It's working!" Min exclaimed excitedly.
Larissa observed how Ren concentrated on the task, noting how his hands no longer trembled.
The group advanced down the corridor Harold had used, their footsteps echoing on the ancient metal. When they reached the exit...
They didn't have to search long before finding three bundles wrapped in some kind of organic material.
When they opened one of the coverings... "Liora!" Larissa rushed forward upon recognizing her cousin's face. Luna also seemed surprised but pretended not to care too much when Larissa announced she was merely unconscious.
They assumed all three were Harold's hostages, as like Luna, he surely intended to take Liora to Yino as well.
Taro summoned his Living Tunnel, which carefully lifted the three unconscious but breathing hostages. "I'll carry them," he offered.
"We need to find the guards quickly," Luna tried to move faster but stumbled.
"I'll heal them, I promise," Min decided, his snake still glowing with the energy Ren had transferred. "They could be..."
No one completed the sentence. They couldn't sense the mana signatures since the guards were knocked out.
They climbed toward the seed's upper section, supporting themselves on the metal bridges. The silence was oppressive as they searched.
"Here!" one of Larissa's guards shouted.
The first fallen guard lay near fragments of coral crystal, her breathing barely visible. Min knelt immediately, his snake beginning to work.
"Over there," Ren pointed, his mushrooms pulsing as they detected signs of life. "There's another."
They found the second guard surrounded by withered roots, her skin showing acid burns. Min's snake hissed with concern, the wounds were deep.
"Come on," Min murmured as he worked. "Come on..."
Color slowly began returning to the guards' faces.
"Another!" Luna pointed to a corner where the Firefly guard lay motionless, a deep wound in her back.
Min moved as quickly as he could, but his hands trembled from the effort. He had healed too many serious injuries today.
But one was still missing... Larissa found the Goat guard, her ears bleeding slightly.
Min's remaining mana didn't seem sufficient, the light faded... The girl began to convulse.
"One more time," Ren put his hand on Min's shoulder, his last mana reserves flowing into the snake.
Gradually, the girl began to calm.
The glowing lines on Ren's body started flickering while more and more presences accumulated outside the cracks. He could sense dozens of perception beasts probing the area.
"There are... there are many..." he mumbled, his vision beginning to blur. He had spent too much mana, the light beam, repeatedly transferring energy to Min...
Taro barely managed to catch him when his legs finally gave out. The mushrooms in his hair gave one last weak pulse before vanishing.
"Ren!" Min approached worriedly, but his snake was also exhausted after so many healings.
Taro's Living Tunnel added Ren to its load of wrapped bundles.
The guards began waking one by one, disoriented but alive.
The last to open her eyes was the Firefly guard. "The... princess?" she whispered.
"Safe," Larissa knelt beside her to show she was alright. "We're all safe."
"Should we dig another exit?" Taro asked, looking nervously toward the cracks where they could sense the growing concentration of people outside.
"Maybe we could..." Luna began, but stopped. "No, it's useless."
"There's no point in hiding anymore," Larissa nodded. "Everyone will know who was involved by now."
The group headed toward the tunnel Ren and Taro had originally created. It was the widest path, and at this point, trying to sneak away would only make them appear more suspicious.
When they approached the crack, however, they froze in their tracks.
There, looking directly at them with an unreadable expression, was Julius's face.
"I believe," said the prince after a long moment, "that you have much to explain."