Zoe and her team walked in silence through the DHA, their bloodied uniforms and defeated faces catching stares and hushed whispers as they made their way to the living quarters.
Zoe was the first to recover from the aftermath of Draco's onslaught, gritting through the burning pain as she used healing magic on her crushed limb, and managed to nurse her team back to health.
Regardless, they still looked terrible. They were still reeling from the battle, their wounds deeper than what Zoe could heal. They had been beaten-toyed with, really, considering the fact that Draco had beaten them bare-handed, and Derek was still wobbly from being slammed in the ground face- first. It was humiliating, so much so that the bastard didn't even bother to finish them off.
Was it out of sheer pity for their weakness as Masters, or as a warning to the DHA of the threat he was? It didn't matter really; she would have to report anyway.
Zoe and her team walked into their apartment and headed for the living room. There were also bedrooms for each member, and training grounds littered with equipment. Quite luxurious, but nothing to be compared with the top tiers of Masters.
There were about 150 cohorts of Masters, arranged and priviledged according to their performance. They were currently Faction 64- frankly weak, considering the fact that their individual strengths were quite impressive.
To be fair, they were lacking a member, and the fact that they had just let their newest recruit die didn't reflected their lack in teamwork as well.
Soon, the cohort was in the living room, and a towering figure stepped out from the training room to greet them. With his chiselled body and ferocious aura, it was impossible not to notice him- it was Jacob, the Elite who had intervened for Draco and saved him from exile. He had been punished for going against direct orders, but they were quite lenient after dicovering that Draco was a prodigy, and a vessel for Tarago at that. So Jacob's punishment was to supervise Draco's future cohort, as well as his teamates, and make sure he had joined their side before he could become too powerful to contain. He had been posted here two weeks ago, and had become quite familiar with the struggling team, training them in both magic and melee, and preparing them for their first assignment as Masters. And right now, Jacob was looking forward to meeting his golden goose- Draco, the hot-headed bloodhound with the potential to change everything.
" Hey guys, how was your first mission as-" Jacob paused when he saw their state. "What happened?" Jacob asked slowly, his voice grim as he helped carry a barely concious Dash to the sofa. Being a fellow giant, Jacob knew what Dash was capable of. Whatever had done this was powerful, and dangerous. Derek winced as he sat down, his face equally sober. " We were attacked by a demon... and Draco's dead."
Zoe recounted everything; the sweep, Draco's gut feeling, how they refused to listen, his last sacrifice, and the mysterious demon they'd encountered under all the rubble. "... and we lost both the demon... and Draco." Zoe finished the report, and the atmosphere was tense with Jacob's fury. Jacob stood up, all forms of playfulness gone as he took a sharp breath.
"Damn."
All that planning, hoping, that there was a way to get the rogue Alpha on their side. Should Tarago find out his vessel was killed... "You guys messed up. You guys really messed up. How could you be so stupid? You ignored your teammate, caused his death, abondoned caution and nearly killed yourselves! Did you even get any useful information?" Silence. " Of couse you didn't. And all this on your first night too," he scoffed.
" We did learn one thing," Dash coughed, and everyone waited eagerly for him to recover as he struggled to sit upright. " That demon... was a damn pacifist." What are you talking about?" Derek asked gruffly, his question voicing everyone's confusion.
" Think about it," Dash grunted, struggling to sit up." "... Zoe shot an arrow at it unprovoked, I threw a car at it, and Derek impaled it with his arrow, and the only time when he fought back was when he realised we were a threat to its life- which is absurd, considering he pummeled us to such a pitiful state," he laughed. " That's true," Zoe agreed, pacing around the room. "He even tried to convince... wait, what if he was saying the truth? What if that demon was actually Draco?! It's possible, right?" she asked, her voice full of hope. And hope... was a painful thing to have. Derek let out a wry laugh. " Zoe, Draco's dead. And we killed him." "What are you trying to say?" " If we hadn't left that site, hadn't left him behind, maybe he would still be alive," he replied darkly. Zoe's eyes narrowed. " Are you saying this is my fault?"
" I might as well be. We let him die, and we'll live with that scar the rest of our life. You wallowing and weeping about a death we caused isn't going to change that. Stop hoping he's alive as a demon to cover our mistakes," he answered coldly. " How can you say that? Draco was our friend!" " Our friend my ass!" Derek snapped, standing up to look their leader in the eye and give her a dose of reality. " We left him at the trial. And a year later, we left him to die at a site alone. We don't deserve to be called his friends" "But-" "I don't need your excuses. Look Zoe, I wasn't raised in sentiment, and I don't know how to massage egos. So I'll give you the cold, ruthless truth: we killed Draco. Not demons, not the higher-ups, not an excecutioner- us. His teamates, the people he trusted more with his life, down to the depths of hell and back. We're the ones who killed him." Derek's voice wavered, and tears flowed freely from Zoe, but he finished saying what had to be said. Dash kept his head down, and Jasmine fiddled with her dagger in silence. " ...we'll probably spend the rest of our life fixing our mistake, but we will. By killing every demon in his stead. Draco fought for his mother. Now we fight for him." Zoe nodded quietly, and Derek let out a shaky breath, turning round to leave, when a hand pulled him in for a hug. "Thank you. I really needed the truth," Zoe whispered softly.
Jacob watched quietly, letting out a soft chuckle. He had lost his golden goose, but he could tell: his death lit a fire that would forge four new legends in his place.
They would fight and become stronger, for themselves... and for Draco.