The aftermath of the rain left enormous puddles scattered across the terrain, causing the forest floor to swell.
Remarkably, the crater had swiftly transformed into a pond that connected streams emerging out of nowhere.
Two individuals lay beneath the canopy of trees, while another two sat at the edge of the newly formed pond in silence. Drenched and muddied.
At some point in the hours following Red's outburst, the scales of Yon's uniform forcefully reset themselves, ostensibly for preservation, repairing some of the damage without the host's consent.
Eventually, the silence was broken.
"Is your head finally on straight?" Red asked.
"Is yours? Tell me if I'm wrong, but some of those strikes felt more about you than me."
"If you're able to be witty again, then I suppose you're fine. I also won't be apologizing."
As he spoke, Red tossed Yon's sheathed blade toward him, an ill-advised but unavoidable move, as he had been the one to pick it up as the crater began to flood.
"Yeah, yeah," Yon sighed as he caught it.
Fortunately, despite the sheath being wet and stained, he found no residue on the blade when he examined it.
Soon after, his mind cleared, and he re-evaluated the sequence of events before the moment with rationality.
"They're… still alive, huh?"
Red remained silent for a few moments before nodding to confirm.
"I don't fully understand what it means, but the Captain says he managed to attach a set of 'Intent' to both of them at the last moment. So he can monitor their condition from a distance."
"That's great," Yon exhaled, leaning back on the floor.
"Obvious question, but I'd still like to know what exactly tipped you off."
"Well, I wasn't sure before. But you started to seem a bit too composed after a while. Like your sister isn't one of the subjects here."
"I suppose so," Red responded. "To be more precise, I'm content being patient and seeking a solution rather than panicking and rushing headlong into danger."
"Is that so? That's a mature perspective. But aren't you worried? Something might happen to your sister while we're here waiting."
"..."
Red's expression shifted after the statement, and it became evident that something about it made him defensive.
"...what?" Yon asked with a clueless expression before an unwitting smirk escaped him.
"Is there something you wish to say?"
"I don't know, perhaps there's an itch I have about the two of you that I've been wanting to address."
"Is now truly the appropriate moment to bring it up?"
"I think it's the perfect time," Yon responded, pointing a finger. "The more I observe your interactions, the clearer it is that you don't act like siblings at all."
In response, Red crossed his arms dismissively and sighed.
"What are you implying? We're as close as possible, and we rarely have conflicts."
"Exactly my point," Yon snapped his fingers. "In fact, the way you can say all that with a straight face is proof enough. That's not typical sibling behavior. The way you're always together should foster some level of toxicity."
"That mindset says more about you than me."
"Say what you will, but from my perspective, Tyson and the Captain seem more like siblings than you do."
If there was anything Red would have taken offense to, it was that comparison.
"You're just being provocative now. Those two despise each other more than dirt."
"I wouldn't say despise. It's more like they barely tolerate each other."
"How does that make it better?" Red asked with exasperation.
"It's obvious how often they sync despite that. They never tiptoe around disagreements, but they don't like each other any less for it."
"That explains nothing, Yon, and since when are you an expert?"
"It's merely an observation based on consistent patterns. From the same perspective, I can also tell when someone's holding back, Red."
A silence fell heavily, and Red's expression hardened.
"When..."
"I wasn't entirely sure until that last game of scramble," Yon replied, rising to his feet.
Subsequently, a yawn could be heard directly behind them.
As Red turned toward it, he was struck by a scabbard on the side of his face.
He rolled back to his feet using the same momentum, hand covering the impact area.
"Ah… that felt good."
Yon took a deep breath while stretching as if nothing had happened.
"You..."
"Come on, needless assault on a fellow officer warrants severe punishment," Cosmo said as he stood up.
Then, as he surveyed both of them, he groaned with exhaustion.
"However, a mutual altercation warrants only a pay cut. Do better next time."
As he finished his remark, he walked off.
"Where are you going?"
"Camp," he replied to Yon without turning. "Some supplies still need to be retrieved."
He suddenly paused as if recalling a thought.
"Oh, when the crazy one wakes up, tell him not to move unless he wants another icy bath."
Then he continued, leaving the three of them on their own once again.
"What's wrong with him? Could he be bothered?"
"How should I know? I can never read that guy beyond what he allows," Yon responded.
"I have no idea what you mean by that, but if I had to guess, he's probably trying to figure out what to do from here."
"Right… he was able to keep everyone alive. Maybe the best thing to do is trust him a little."
…
Digging through what remained of the camp, he gathered a handful of scraps and broken equipment he deemed salvageable, lifting them overhead through his authority.
Several items were missing from the collection, but he had to assume Oliver possessed the foresight to secure them beforehand.
It wasn't as though he could reach him to confirm it. Every method of communication they had relied upon had been damaged by the shadow beast.
It took time for him to readjust to his usual state after suppressing himself for so long, a time that would have been shortened had he maintained a clearer mind throughout the ordeal.
Now, despite the distance separating him from the other three, his senses still enveloped them.
By then, however, it was too late.
The creature had made off with two of his officers; two were critically injured, two others were missing, and he had completely lost contact with his lieutenant.
To say everything went wrong would not have been an understatement.
Still, the certainty that they were all alive was the best consolation he could claim.
Yet he couldn't help but dwell–
"That is quite unwise. I won't deny your ability to survive against a high-tier shadow beast, but even your qualifying hunt was simply a Saber-toothed torch, merely an Alpha-class chief. Now you intend to strike a null-world with merely a squad of recruits?"
–on whether Lucien had been right.
If it were him alone, the risk would have been negligible.
He had faced threats far beyond the present danger before, but the difference had always been that he faced them alone.
The one experience no one could reasonably deny he lacked was the act of protecting others.
He was not someone who fought while trying to save. He had never permitted himself such a vulnerability.
Even now, as he considered what it meant to journey alongside them, he realized something.
'Did I ever once ask all of them what their ambitions were? I summarized their pasts, but did I ever show interest in the futures they wanted? No, just one of them, and that was on a whim.'
That lack of deeper consideration, paired with a complete absence of compatibility assessment,
Those alone should have been sufficient to explain this failure.
And yet, something refused to align.
It began with the location of their teleportation.
He had requested the closest null-world to Earth: BR-N1, a world classified as low-level by default.
Yet they had been unable to track Earth or the Borderlands anywhere nearby.
That alone should have raised alarms. However, the degree of inversion and the signature of Hortusole bore close resemblance to BR-N1, leading him, Oliver, and Clarrise to suppress their concerns and proceed as planned until contact could be reestablished.
Then there was the more personal issue.
'Why did I let my guard down so easily? That isn't like me. It's as if I were subconsciously relying on something else to protect them in my absence. Why would I withdraw my senses so carelessly and leave them on their own?"
There were inconsistencies in his behavior the previous night.
Even during training, he ensured that a set was attached to each of his officers without exception.
Yet when the thought crossed his mind that night, he had inexplicably decided they would be fine without it.
Soon, though, he abandoned the thought and looked forward.
'No… the more I think about it, the stranger it becomes. I was acting on some certainty, on knowledge that doesn't exist in my mind now.'
Still, it was something he would have to set aside and confront later.
'Did I… forget something?'
He would ignore it.
And move on.
"Whatever," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "There's nothing to gain from such hindsight at the moment."
Then, as he let the scraps and broken components fall before Yon and the others, with Tyson now awake and sitting upright, he decided it was time for them to formally shed the title of recruit.
"Yon, what do you have to say to me?"
A sharp snap to attention.
'What do I have to say?'
Yon started to rise before he fully understood the request.
'Is this about what I said before? Please… just pretend it was nothing.'
He cycled through every possibility.
Will you let me take it back? No. Of course you won't.
He faced him directly, though his head lifted last.
Then let me change it… No, let me surpass it.
Their eyes met.
Let me turn that waste of time into something worthwhile.
He drew in a breath and released what he believed could meet those expectations.
"It was a shadow beast. I can fully confirm it," he began. "We could hear its movements even before it came out, and judging by the way it burrowed past both of us, along with Red and Tyson, it's safe to say Rita was its target from the beginning. It couldn't have been Blue. It was originally trying to eject her until Tyson's attack blew it up."
"Then?" Cosmo asked. "What changed?"
"It was almost as if it became a different creature. At first, it didn't look like it had any clear motive beyond reaching Rita. I don't know the best way to explain it, but… it was like it could only truly be considered a shadow beast after that shift, after it took something from her."
If Tyson and Red had shown restraint at his earlier words, their present expressions left no doubt of their alarm.
"Her?" Tyson asked. "You mean Rita?"
"How do you know that?" Red followed.
"Hold on," Cosmo interjected. "Is this a hunch, Yon? Or did you actually see something?"
Yon nodded before continuing.
"This ain't an excuse, but there was another reason I hesitated when I did."
He crouched and began tracing a shape into the damp ground with his bare fingers.
"In that moment, after seeing this, I had to reconsider its actions leading up to the attack. Its pattern, its style, the feminine shape of the hand when it first formed… even the way it knew to disable our communication methods before anything else."
The drawing was crude but deliberate: a large circle, hollowed by a dark core, from which jagged lines radiated outward until they reached the circle's edge.
"Think about it." He states that as they stared at the image that he had left on the ground. "A violet eye with an iris made up of filaments that look like veins of lightning bursting out from the pupil.
"That's…" Tyson swallowed. "That's Rita's."
"Believe it or not, it was an exact match, down to the smallest detail. My memory is usually precise when it comes to things like that."
"Then it had to be," Cosmo added. "Even without accounting for the impossibility of a coincidental manifestation. An Eminent's iris pattern reflects the genetic mutation tied to their respective authority. It functions almost like a biometric lock, one that can't be replicated unless the original Eminent is dead. That's an 'Absolute Law.' The likelihood of it being a mere mimic is nearly nonexistent. The problem is–"
"Yes," Red cut in. "There's an inconsistency."
Yon nodded once more.
"That part," he agreed. "The hand formed before it could absorb Rita, and its attacks were already mimicking her authority before that moment. So there's a possibility it had been observing us the entire time."
"I don't think so," Cosmo said. "I couldn't sense it last night due to certain circumstances. But I've monitored our surroundings continuously for the past seven months. If we'd been under surveillance, I would've noticed, in more ways than one."
"Then are we back to square one?"
"Not quite. That detail might've given me a lead. I'll set it aside for now, since our priority should be reaching Oliver."
"Hold on," Tyson finally interrupted. "Shouldn't saving Blue and Rita be just as important? I'm worried about all of them, of course, but we could split up and cover more ground."
"We can't," Cosmo replied flatly. "Trust me. We must make contact with Oliver before facing that shadow beast again. If we don't, we won't be able to save them at all."
"What if we don't find him fast enough?"
"I'll deal with that when the time comes."
"Tch…" Tyson pushed himself up with visible strain. "Then tell me where they–"
"What are you planning to do with that information?"
"I'll go after them myself."
"And get yourself killed like an idiot?" Cosmo snapped. "What exactly do you think that accomplishes?"
"I'd rather do something than sit here worrying."
"Well, I've decided you're far more useful sitting your *ss still and waiting like a good boy."
"Go to hell." Tyson turned and began to stagger off aimlessly. "I don't need your help. I'll walk forever if I have to. Eventually I'll find it, or it'll find me."
He barely made it two steps before a familiar tug snapped his collar tight.
He tried to remove it with his elbow, but his arm was redirected upward by a firm wrist. In one fluid motion, his legs were swept out from under him, and he was slammed to the ground using the collar as leverage.
Cosmo stood over him, staring down as Tyson lay flat on his back once more.
"You're all still alive, and I haven't broken my end of the deal. I never promised there wouldn't be setbacks, but I still intend to get us through them."
"…"
"You still owe me your side of that bargain. So follow my orders and stay put. I won't have you getting blood in my eye when we're just getting started." He leaned in slightly. "I won't repeat myself. Sit still and wait. The outcome we both want is still within reach."