Without a second wasted, Lune ran toward it.
A sharp tang of metal made his head spin. His thoughts raced, his emotions twisting with each thud of his boots against the cobblestone.
"Grandma!" he yelled as he knelt beside the familiar figure.
Her torso was detached from her legs, as if cut through with a single, devastating swing.
Lune's breath hitched. His eyes widened in terror.
"No, no, no—! This can't be real!"
The one who raised him, provided for him, the only family he had in this world, his grandma… was gone. The kindest person he had ever met, the one who would always put others before herself, was slaughtered, killed for reasons unknown to him.
Suddenly, a loud shout cut through the silence, snapping Lune's attention to the far end of the street.
There, four figures stood unified against a single figure wearing an eerie black mask.
"Nobody! What is the meaning of this?" the Leader of House Valcour asked, rage burning in his eyes.
Beside him were the leaders of the other Four Great Houses.
Lune's brows raised in confusion.
'Those are the leaders of the Four Great Houses… but what are they doing here? …And who is that person standing before them?'
The masked figure moved slightly, and for a moment, Lune felt as if it stared directly at him, before the mask finally settled on the leader of House Valcour.
"Meaning?" the masked figure spoke. "But of course, there is no meaning."
"Why did you slaughter all these innocent people?!"
"They tried to scam me… so I simply disposed of them. The rest…? Well, they were simply collateral damage, one would say."
Without uttering another word, the four great leaders lunged forward, the rage inside them unstoppable.
At the exact same moment, Lune too sprang into action. Overtaken by the loss of his grandmother, he summoned his weapon before dashing forward.
But none of them were a match for the masked figure.
Before Lune could even reach them, the street turned to a blur of movements, faster than his eyes could follow. Cobblestone erupted into dust, buildings around them fell in an instant and the moment the dust settled, the Four Great Leaders were already on their knees, barely able to stay conscious against their wounds.
"He's… he's too strong…"
"Run... we need to run..."
But the masked figure didn't even bother finishing them off, and simply turned around, stretching its arm out casually.
A dark, completely black, portal materialized, twisting and raging with silent violence.
At that same moment, Lune arrived at the scene.
'I won't reach him in time!' he realized.
He was far too late, the masked figure would leave before he could get to him.
He spun the grip of his sword, and without wasting a second, threw it forward.
The masked figure turned, watching the blade hurl toward it before it simply passed through its torso.
Lune's eyes barely had time to widen as the masked figure turned around and stepped into the portal, vanishing in an instant.
'That… Wasn't that just like...?' Lune's mind raced. The way the masked figure avoided the strike was way too familiar.
Suddenly, a soft voice cut through the battlefield.
"Mother?"
As Lune turned his gaze, he saw a familiar girl walking toward the Leader of House Moreau.
"Elise? What are you doing here?" Leader of House Moreau, the girl's mother, asked.
"I was in Old City Square waiting for my Second Expedition when I heard the battle. What happened?"
"Tsskk! What else?!" the leader of another Great House hissed. "That damn nobody! He's been playing with us since the start! We should've done something the moment he killed Tommen!"
'Tommen? As in Tommen Lionheart? Leader of House Lionheart?' Lune's thoughts raced.
Until now, all the newspapers said that the killer of House Lionheart was unknown, but now it was clear, the Four Great Houses were hiding the real killer.
The masked figure.
Who exactly is he?
Lune's anger returned, the image of his slaughtered grandma flashing in his head.
"Who the fuck was that?" he asked loudly, snapping everyone's attention toward him.
Only now did the four great leaders realize he was there, having been focused on their injured bodies instead.
"Piss off, kid. You're better off staying as far away as—"
"He killed my grandma."
A heavy silence fell over everyone present.
It was only when Elise spoke that the silence was lifted.
"He appeared years ago and forced the leaders of the Great Houses to follow his command," she said, causing her mother to give her a questioning look, as if asking why she would tell this to a random person.
Elise paused for a moment, looking up at the sky before her gaze returned downward.
"My time's up. Farewell, Mother. I'll be off now," she said as her figure turned to particles of silver light.
A moment later, she was gone, and the four great leaders were already scrambling to their feet, leaving the scene of the massacre.
"Wait!" Lune called after them, but they paid him no mind, leaving him and all the fallen people behind.
He clenched his fists. He wanted to run after them, ask for more information, but he realized his time was almost up too, and he had something far more important to do.
Lune returned to his grandma's body, lifted it up, and carried it just outside the city, toward a small forest where she used to take him when he was a kid.
He dug a hole large enough to fit her, emotions rolling across his face. Sadness, sorrow, anger, all woven into one as he finally laid her to rest.
He spent the rest of his time sitting against a tree, looking at his grandma's grave until the familiar voice of the system called out to him.
[Your Second Expedition Starts Now…]