Kaito’s final words remained over the healer room. Yoshinori stood where he was, unable to answer, while Aiko stared at the floor and Ryuji sat silent against his pillows. Then the doors opened again.
A castle attendant stepped in first, moving quickly but carefully, and behind him came the sound of more footsteps approaching from the corridor. The final carriages had arrived.
Those who could look up did.
Rei Tatsuki entered first, one hand pressed lightly near her side. She was still pale from exhaustion, but her attention moved across the room at once: Roki, Ryota, Sora’s bed, Yuki beside him, Illumina, and finally Tetsuo’s bandaged form. She breathed in slowly, as if confirming they were all truly there.
Akima entered behind her. The elf girl moved gently, almost quietly enough to be missed, though the tired concern on her face made her presence feel larger than her footsteps. Her eyes swept over the wounded with a motherly softness that did not belong to someone who had also survived the same horror. Even injured, even exhausted, she looked like someone searching for who needed comfort before thinking of herself.
Aira followed next, shoulders drawn inward, her hands held close to her stomach as if they still remembered failing to save what she had tried so hard to protect.
Lars entered behind them, and the moment he crossed the threshold, his gaze began searching. He did not stop on Kaito. He did not stop on Illumina. He found Yuki first, then Sora in the bed beside her. His expression changed quickly. Relief flashed through him, raw and visible, before he forced his face back under control.
Then Daichi came in.
He was walking, though stubbornness seemed to be doing more work than strength. Cuts crossed his arms, shoulders, chest, and sides beneath torn fabric and temporary wrappings. None were bleeding now, but every step looked like it angered him.
Two healers moved toward him at once.
Daichi immediately scowled. “I can walk.”
“We can see that,” one healer said.
“Then stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m about to fall over.”
“You look like you are about to fall over.”
Daichi’s green eyes narrowed. “I’m standing.”
Rei stepped beside him before the argument could grow. “Daichi.”
He looked at her, already irritated. “What?”
“Sit down.”
“I just said I’m standing.”
Akima moved to his other side with a patience that somehow felt more dangerous than anger. “And you can be proud of that while sitting.”
Aira came up behind him, her voice gentle but firm. “Please.”
That word did what the healers could not.
Daichi’s expression shifted for only a moment. Annoyance remained, but something quieter passed beneath it when he looked at Aira. He must have seen the guilt in her face, the exhaustion, the way she was still trying to hold herself together in a room full of people she had not been able to save from pain.
He muttered something under his breath that sounded like a complaint and let them guide him toward an empty bed.
“I’m not fragile,” he grumbled as he sat.
Rei crossed her arms. “No one said fragile.”
“You all thought it.”
Akima pulled a stool closer and carefully helped a healer loosen one of the bloodstained wraps around his arm. “I was thinking you are difficult.”
Daichi clicked his tongue, but he did not pull away from her. The healer began checking the cuts with practiced focus, and though Daichi’s jaw tightened more than once, he stayed still. Yoshinori watched him for a moment and remembered the way Daichi had stood over the battlefield, trying to keep moving, trying to keep fighting, trying to throw himself back into danger even when his body had already been pushed past its limit. Now he looked furious to be in a bed, furious to be checked, furious that survival had made him a patient instead of someone useful.
Akira entered after the Titans, her golden armor damaged in several places but her posture still straight. Her expression did not linger anywhere for long, yet nothing escaped her. Mei came with her, quiet and composed, lavender hair falling neatly around her shoulders as though the journey had not touched her in any visible way. She looked toward Kaito briefly, then toward the patients, then toward the castle official waiting near the tables. Both Gilded Blades understood immediately that the healer room was not the place for long conversation.
Yumi’s gaze sharpened when she saw them, but she stayed beside Kaito.
Kaito watched the arrivals with tired eyes. He did not move yet. His body still belonged to the bed, even if his mind had already left it.
Mariah crossed toward Daichi’s bed while another healer continued checking his wounds. “How bad?”
The healer looked up. “Numerous cuts. None bleeding. Several need deeper treatment, but nothing immediately life-threatening.”
Daichi’s expression darkened. “That’s what I said.”
“You said you were standing,” Rei replied.
“That meant the same thing.”
“It absolutely did not.”
Aira looked over the cuts, and blue light flickered weakly around her fingers before she closed her hand.
Mariah noticed and placed a hand over her wrist. “Rest,” she said.
Aira lowered her eyes. “I should help.”
“You already helped as much as your body allowed.”
Aira nodded, but the guilt stayed.
Roki watched her from his bed. Even grieving, even hurting, he looked at Aira like he wanted to tell her she did not have to carry what happened. He did not say it. Maybe he knew she was not ready to hear it.
Rei took a breath, then looked toward the far side of the room where an attendant stood near the door.
“Where is she?” Rei asked.
Everyone knew who she meant.
The attendant’s expression softened. “A private chamber nearby. She was brought there before the first group was settled.”
Daichi’s body went still.
Akima’s hand paused over the bandages.
Aira closed her eyes.
Roki lowered his head.
Hikari’s name had not been said, but it was suddenly everywhere.
Rei’s face tightened with the strain of remaining steady. “We need to decide what happens next.”
The healer room continued moving around them because wounds still needed care and bodies still needed tending, but the Titans seemed to separate from the rest of it. Rei stood near Daichi’s bed. Akima remained beside him, one hand resting lightly on the edge of the mattress. Aira stood with her arms folded tightly against herself. Roki sat up a little more despite the pain.
Daichi did not look at anyone.
Rei spoke again, softer this time. “She would not want a crowd.”
Roki’s mouth trembled once before he forced it still. “No.”
Akima nodded faintly. “She would want space. Somewhere open.”
Aira’s voice was barely audible. “Somewhere beautiful.”
The room seemed to listen with them.
“There is a flower field outside the kingdom,” Rei said. “The one on the hill east of the outer road.”
Roki looked up.
Rei’s eyes stayed steady, but Yoshinori could tell each word cost her. “We can hold a private service there later today. Just us and anyone who needs to say goodbye.”
Daichi’s fingers curled against the blanket.
No one asked Daichi directly. Maybe they knew the question would break something he was barely holding together. Hikari had been with him from the beginning, and now he stared at the floor with his jaw clenched so tightly it looked painful.
Rei waited.
Finally, he nodded once.
“That’s fine,” he said.
His voice sounded rough.
Aira pressed her lips together.
Akima’s hand moved from the bed to Daichi’s shoulder, resting there gently. He did not shrug her off.
Roki looked toward Rei. “Thank you.”
Rei’s expression almost broke at that. She only nodded. “Later today. After everyone has had time to clean up.”
Yoshinori felt Aiko move beside him.
He glanced over and saw her looking toward Tetsuo again. The bandages across his face hid what he had lost, but not the fact that something permanent waited beneath them. Itsuki stood nearby now, having risen at some point without anyone guiding her. She did not look toward Hikari’s friends. She did not look toward Tetsuo. She only stood still, empty-eyed, as if the room kept moving around a place she could no longer leave.
Ryuji shifted on his bed and winced.
Yoshinori noticed immediately. “Careful.”
“I am being careful.”
“You moved like you forgot your ribs were broken.”
“I remembered quickly.”
Aiko looked at him. “You should stay in bed.”
“I should,” Ryuji agreed.
Mariah turned from where she was speaking with another healer. “That means you will.”
Ryuji looked at her calmly. “For a little while.”
Mariah narrowed her eyes.
“I am not leaving the castle,” he said. “I am leaving this bed.”
“That is not much better.”
“I need food.”
The statement was so simple, so ordinary, that Aiko blinked.
Ryuji looked between Yoshinori, Aiko, and Itsuki. “We all do. We have been living on road rations and worry for three days. Tetsuo is safe for now. Shunjiro will not be found in this room. Itsuki needs to eat. Aiko needs to stop pretending pain does not count if she ignores it. Yoshinori needs to sit somewhere that is not beside a bed and breathe.” He paused, then added, “And I need something that is not healer broth.”
Mariah’s expression did not soften, but it did shift toward reluctant agreement. “You can eat in the castle dining hall if someone helps you walk. You are not going outside. You are not training. You are not reporting to anyone today unless I personally allow it.”
Ryuji nodded. “Reasonable.”
Aiko crossed her arms. “You gave up too easily.”
“I am injured, not foolish.”
“That is debatable.”
Ryuji smiled faintly, then looked toward Yoshinori. “Help me up?”
Yoshinori moved before Mariah could decide to object again. He slid one arm carefully behind Ryuji’s back and helped him sit forward. Ryuji’s breathing tightened as his ribs protested, but he did not make a sound beyond a small exhale through his nose. When his feet touched the floor, Yoshinori took more of his weight than Ryuji probably wanted him to.
“I can walk,” Ryuji said quietly.
“I know.”
“You are holding me like I am about to fall.”
“You are.”
Ryuji considered that. “Fair.”
Aiko moved closer to Itsuki without taking her arm. For a moment, Itsuki seemed likely to remain where she was. Then she turned on her own.
Ryuji’s gaze softened for a second before he looked toward the door. “We should get a real meal. Then clean ourselves up before Hikari’s service.”
Aiko’s expression shifted at the mention of the service, but she nodded. “Yeah.”
Yoshinori looked back at Tetsuo’s bed.
Leaving him felt wrong.
Mariah seemed to understand without needing him to speak. “He will not wake while you are gone. If anything changes, someone will come for you.”
Yoshinori nodded slowly. “Thank you.”
Aiko stared at Tetsuo for one more moment. “You better wake up and complain about us leaving you behind.”
Tetsuo did not move.
Aiko looked away before her face could betray too much.
Ryuji started toward the door with Yoshinori helping him, Aiko walking close to Itsuki, and Itsuki following without sound. The four members of Illumina left together, but the group felt uneven: Tetsuo asleep in bandages, Shunjiro somewhere no one could name.
Lars watched them go only briefly before moving toward the far side of the room.
His steps carried him directly to Yuki.
She had not left Sora’s side. He remained unconscious, the black veins gone and the corrupted pressure vanished, but Yuki still watched him like the danger might return the moment she looked away.
“How is he?” Lars asked.
“Mariah can’t feel the corruption anymore,” Yuki said. “But he still hasn’t woken up.”
Lars glanced at Sora with relief.
Ryota leaned against the wall nearby, arms crossed loosely because holding them tighter would hurt his chest. He looked better than he had on the battlefield, though better only meant alive, awake, and able to stand. The diagonal wound across his chest would stay with him forever, and his usual easy humor had been stripped down to something quieter.
Lars looked back to Yuki. “Have you eaten?”
“No.”
“Have you slept?”
“No.”
“Yuki.”
She finally turned toward him, and the look in her eyes stopped whatever lecture he had prepared. “I will rest when he opens his eyes and I know who is looking back at me.”
Lars’s mouth tightened.
Ryota looked down.
Then Lars said, “Sora would be angry if he woke up and saw you half-dead from watching him.”
Yuki looked back at Sora. “He can be angry after he wakes up normal.”
Ryota’s voice came from the wall.
“We should all be angry.”
Lars and Yuki looked at him.
Ryota kept his gaze on the floor. “We survived. Hikari didn’t.”
The words sounded tired rather than accusatory. Ryota had survived, and Hikari had not. That was enough to make his voice heavy.
Lars accepted the words without arguing. “Yes.”
Ryota looked up.
Lars’s expression hardened, not with anger at him, but with something that needed a place to go. “We should be angry. But anger is useless if we do nothing with it.”
Yuki’s gaze shifted from Sora to Lars with real focus. “What do you mean?”
Lars looked at Sora, then Ryota, then Yuki. “Not now. But when Sora wakes up, we get stronger. Strong enough that next time, surviving is not the only thing we can do.”
Yuki did not answer.
But she did not look away from him either.
“Then he needs to wake up,” she said.
“He will,” Lars replied.
Ryota gave a faint, tired exhale. “Everyone is very certain about people waking up today.”
Lars glanced at him. “Do you disagree?”
Ryota looked at Sora. His face twisted with grief for a moment before he smoothed it away. “No.”
The answer was small, but it held.
Across the room, Kaito finally pushed the blanket away from his legs.
Yumi noticed immediately. “No.”
Kaito did not look at her. “Yes.”
“You have been awake for less than an hour.”
“I have been conscious longer than that.”
“You spent most of it refusing soup.”
“A necessary defense of my dignity.”
“You lost.”
Kaito carefully swung his legs over the side of the bed. The movement was controlled, but the strain in his face betrayed him. Poison and exhaustion still clung to his body, and even sitting upright without support looked harder than he wanted anyone to know. Yumi set the bowl aside and stood, anger sharpening into concern.
“Kaito,” she said, quieter this time.
He looked toward Akira and Mei, who had remained near the entrance speaking briefly with the castle official. Hiroto had returned as well, stepping into the healer hall from the corridor with the heavy presence that always made the floor seem more solid beneath him. He took in the room quickly: Kaito sitting up, Yumi furious, Akira and Mei waiting, the official hovering with the tension of someone who knew the king needed a report.
Kaito’s expression shifted.
“Now that we are all here,” Kaito said, “we report to Shadis.”
Yumi closed her eyes for one long second. When she opened them, she looked as if she had accepted the argument only because she knew stopping him would waste more strength than letting him go. “You can barely stand.”
“Hiroto.”
The large man stepped forward without needing more explanation. His spiked black hair with gray streaks was slightly disheveled from travel and reporting, but his face remained steady. “Understood.”
Hiroto placed one hand lightly against Kaito’s shoulder.
A subtle pressure moved through the room. It was not flashy, producing no burst of light or loud release of spiritual energy. Hiroto’s density control settled over Kaito’s body, making him lighter, easier to move, reducing the weight his weakened muscles had to bear. Kaito inhaled slowly as the strain lessened, then pushed himself to his feet.
Yumi stayed close enough to catch him if he stumbled.
He did not.
But everyone who knew him could see that standing was not the same as being recovered.
Akira’s expression remained focused. “Can you walk?”
“With help,” Kaito said.
Mei stepped to his other side without a word.
Kaito glanced toward her. “I am not that fragile.”
“No,” Mei said calmly. “You are just poisoned, exhausted, injured, stubborn, and currently relying on Hiroto to make standing less embarrassing.”
Yumi pointed at her. “Thank you.”
Kaito looked betrayed. “I see everyone has chosen a side.”
Akira’s voice stayed dry. “The side where you do not collapse in the hallway.”
Kaito sighed, but the faint exchange did not last long. The room around them was too heavy for humor to stay. His gaze moved across the healer hall one more time, over the sleeping shape of Tetsuo, over Sora still unconscious with Yuki beside him, over Daichi being treated while the Titans sat in the shadow of Hikari’s absence. His expression hardened with quiet resolve.
There would be time to grieve.
There would be time to decide who searched for Shunjiro.
There would be time for funerals, reports, arguments, and orders no one wanted to hear.
But first, Shadis needed the truth.
Kaito stepped away from the bed with Hiroto’s support keeping his body light and Yumi walking close at his side. Akira and Mei moved with him, their damaged guild gathered once more. The castle official hurried ahead to open the doors.
As the Gilded Blades left the healer hall, the room watched them go in silence.
The officials’ meeting hall sat deeper within Radiance Castle than the throne room.
It was not built to impress crowds. The room was private, broad, and stern, with a long polished table at its center and maps of the Light Continent mounted along the walls. Thin red-and-gold curtains hung beside narrow windows, allowing sunlight inside without letting the room feel open to the city beyond. Shelves of reports lined one wall. A large carved emblem of Radiance rested above the far end of the chamber.
King Shadis Solmere sat at the head of the table.
Daisuke Moriyama stood at Shadis’s right, dressed in a plain official uniform with the royal patch of King Shadis sewn onto his sleeve. His posture was precise, his hands folded behind his back, his eyes moving often toward the king as if waiting for the exact moment to be useful. Mirei Kanzaki stood at Shadis’s left in a similar uniform, the same patch on her arm, though her bearing was less stiff and more cutting. She had the look of someone who heard every word in a room and ranked its usefulness before anyone else finished speaking.
Daisuke cleared his throat slightly as the doors remained closed. “The Gilded Blades should arrive any moment, Your Majesty. I confirmed their movement from the healer wing myself.”
Mirei glanced at him. “The castle attendant confirmed it first.”
Daisuke’s expression did not change. “I confirmed the confirmation.”
“That is not a separate achievement.”
Shadis did not look at either of them. “Both of you may stop confirming things.”
Daisuke bowed his head immediately. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
Mirei did the same a fraction later. “As you wish.”
Across the table, four other figures had already taken their seats.
Kael Veyron, leader of the Argent Wolves, sat with his elbows near the table and his scarred hands clasped before him. He was forty-two, broad-shouldered, and carried the worn stillness of a veteran who had spent more of his life facing monsters than speaking in halls like this one. A pale scar cut through his brow and disappeared near his temple. His gray-streaked dark hair was tied back carelessly, and his cloak bore the silver wolf emblem of his guild. He looked like a man who preferred facts over comfort and survival over pride.
Beside him sat Celia Arkwright of the Sunveil Order. At thirty-seven, she carried herself with elegance, but there was nothing delicate about her presence. Her blonde hair was pinned back neatly, her white-and-gold cloak fastened at the throat, and her posture had the calm authority of someone used to standing between danger and civilians who could not protect themselves. Her eyes were gentle until they focused, and then the gentleness became command.
Masaru Kurogane, leader of the Black Thorn Guild, sat farther down with his arms folded and his face unreadable. He was forty-five, lean, sharp-featured, and dressed darker than anyone else in the room. His black cloak carried the thorned emblem of his guild in muted silver thread, and even seated, he gave the impression of a blade kept just out of sight. His eyes flicked once toward Kaito’s empty chair before returning to Shadis.
The youngest of the four was Elian Stratos, leader of the Azure Comets. At thirty, he looked almost too relaxed for the heaviness in the room, his blue cloak draped loosely over one shoulder, his brown hair slightly wind-tossed as though he had stepped out of open air rather than a castle corridor. But his eyes were quick. They tracked every movement, every pause, every shift in tone. The Azure Comets were known for speed, scouting, and reaching places other guilds could not, and Elian looked like someone who hated sitting still but understood when stillness mattered.
The doors opened.
The Gilded Blades entered together.
Kaito Ishiro came first, wearing a clean cloak over fresh bandages hidden beneath his clothes. He walked under his own power, at least to anyone who did not know him well enough to notice the subtle support in the air around his body. Hiroto Makabe followed close behind, one large hand relaxed at his side, his density control quietly reducing the strain Kaito’s weakened body had to carry. Akira Namiki entered next, golden armor damaged but polished enough to show she had refused to appear careless before the king. Mei Hoshino walked beside her, composed and quiet, violet eyes scanning the room once before settling near Shadis. Yumi Kurosawa came last, her pink eyes lowered for a moment as she entered, then lifting with effort as she took her place behind Kaito’s chair.
Shadis looked over them all.
“You came sooner than expected,” he said.
Kaito stopped at the table and bowed. The rest of the Gilded Blades followed. “This could not wait, Your Majesty.”
“No,” Shadis said. “It could not.”
Kaito sat only after Shadis gestured for him to do so. Hiroto remained behind his chair, Yumi sat beside Kaito, while Akira and Mei took the seats reserved for them.
Daisuke stepped forward with a thin stack of blank report sheets. “For the official record, all statements given in this meeting will be sealed until His Majesty determines what may be released to the public.”
Mirei added, just quickly enough to make it clear she had no intention of letting Daisuke be the only useful voice, “The public already knows wounded guild members have returned. They do not know the full scale of the incident, the names involved, or the threat beyond the Blood Witch. That distinction must remain intact.”
Shadis’s eyes stayed on Kaito. “Begin with the Oceanside battle.”
Kaito took a quiet breath and began.
“I left Radiance after reports reached us that the Blood Witch had attacked a city near the Coastal Kingdom,” Kaito said. “Illumina and Mars Guild were vacationing in that region. I had reason to believe they could have been close enough to be caught in the incident, so I went to confirm their safety.”
Kael’s brow lowered slightly. “Alone?”
“I left quickly,” Kaito said. “The others followed as soon as they could.”
Masaru’s mouth curved faintly, though there was no humor in it. “That sounds like a polite way of saying you ran ahead without waiting for your guild.”
Yumi’s shoulders stiffened.
Kaito did not look at Masaru. “It means I reached the battlefield in time to matter.”
The answer settled the first challenge without raising his voice.
Shadis did not intervene.
Kaito continued. “I did not arrive to a city under threat. I arrived to a battlefield. The Blood Witch had already pushed multiple guilds beyond their limits. The Titans had taken severe injuries. Mars Guild was still fighting. Illumina was still fighting. Civilians were dead. The city was devastated.”
Celia’s hands tightened together on the table. “How many civilians?”
“We do not have the final number yet,” Kaito said. “Enough that this cannot be treated as only a guild tragedy.”
Celia’s eyes lowered briefly, grief passing through her expression before discipline returned. “No battle with civilian dead should ever be treated as only a guild tragedy.”
“No,” Kaito said. “It should not.”
Shadis remained still. “The Blood Witch.”
Kaito’s gaze shifted back to the king. “I defeated her.”
Everyone at that table knew what the title Blood Witch meant. If Kaito said he defeated her, that should have sounded like the end. It did not.
“She escaped,” Shadis said.
“Yes,” Kaito replied. “But not on her own.”
Elian leaned forward slightly. “Before we reach that, do we know who she was?”
Kaito’s eyes moved to him. “Suzu Nozomi.”
The name did not immediately stir recognition around the table. Then Kaito added the part that mattered.
“Itsuki Nozomi’s older sister.”
The silence changed. Celia tightened, Kael exhaled slowly, and Elian’s expression shifted as he understood what that meant for Illumina. Masaru barely moved, but his eyes sharpened.
Mirei wrote something down. Daisuke glanced at Shadis to see if the king wanted to comment, then looked quickly back at the table when Shadis gave him nothing.
Kaito’s voice remained steady. “The younger guilds were not simply fighting a monster. One of them was fighting family.”
Celia looked toward him. “Did Itsuki know?”
“Yes.”
“Did she engage Suzu directly?”
“She did,” Kaito said. “That will be part of the later report on Illumina’s condition.”
Masaru’s fingers tapped once against his arm. “Sentiment complicates combat.”
Kaito finally looked at him. “So does pretending people stop being people because killing them is easier.”
The air between them tightened.
Masaru’s eyes narrowed. “And leaving monsters alive has never created corpses?”
Kaito did not answer immediately. “I am aware of what Suzu has done.”
“Are you?”
“Kurogane,” Shadis said.
The single word ended the exchange.
Masaru looked back to the king and inclined his head. “Your Majesty.”
Shadis’s gaze returned to Kaito. “Continue.”
“After I defeated Suzu, Tsubasa Astoria arrived.”
The reactions came at once, though none loudly enough to break the formality of the room.
Kael sat back, his scarred face darkening. Celia’s eyes widened, not with fear but with recognition of how much worse the report had become. Elian’s relaxed posture vanished entirely. Masaru’s expression turned cold and intent. Daisuke’s pen froze above the page. Mirei looked up sharply.
Shadis alone did not react.
“The prince of Altheron,” Elian said, voice quieter now. “The one who assassinated his father.”
“Former prince,” Mirei corrected.
Daisuke added, “That information is sealed outside the circle of the eight kings and select officials.”
Mirei gave him a thin look. “Everyone at this table clearly already knows.”
“I was clarifying for the record.”
“You were decorating it.”
Shadis glanced between them.
Both officials fell silent.
Kaito continued. “Tsubasa has been missing for four years. His motives remain unknown. His portal ability was already known to high-ranking authorities, but his location has not been confirmed until now.”
Kael’s voice was low. “Why would he appear personally on that battlefield?”
“That is one of the questions we need answered,” Kaito said. “He did not come to fight me. He came after Suzu was defeated.”
Celia’s eyes sharpened. “After she was vulnerable.”
“Yes.”
“Then he was waiting,” Masaru said.
Kaito looked toward him. “That is my belief.”
Elian’s fingers tapped lightly against the table, quick with thought. “Portal users are difficult enough to track when they are sloppy. Tsubasa Astoria has been avoiding kingdoms for years. If he appeared at the exact moment Suzu was cut down, that was not coincidence.”
“He left through a portal with Suzu unconscious,” Kaito said. “I saw that much directly.”
Daisuke swallowed. “Then she was taken.”
“Or retrieved,” Masaru said.
Celia’s eyes turned toward him. “There is a difference.”
“There is also a difference between hope and useful evidence,” Masaru replied. “A corrupted SS-ranked killer being carried away by a known royal assassin does not suggest rescue.”
Kaito’s face remained controlled. “No. It suggests use.”
The word landed heavily. Suzu Nozomi was seventeen, SS-ranked, corrupted, and powerful enough to turn a coastal city into a slaughter. If someone could control her, she was not only a person taken from a battlefield. She was a weapon moved into another hand.
Shadis’s voice was calm. “What did Tsubasa say?”
Kaito looked directly at him. “He told me, ‘You should remember the name Eclipsed Abyss.’”
The name did exactly what it was meant to do. It darkened the room without moving a single shadow.
Daisuke looked at Mirei, as if expecting her to recognize it first. Mirei’s eyes were already narrowed in thought.
“I have never heard that name in any Radiance record,” she said.
“Nor have I,” Daisuke added quickly. “At least not among political groups, criminal guilds, rogue knight orders, or cult registries maintained in the castle archives.”
Mirei glanced at him. “That was actually useful.”
Daisuke straightened slightly.
Elian’s gaze moved to the maps along the wall. “Eclipsed. Abyss. The name invites comparison to the Shadow Realm.”
Kael grunted. “Names can be bait.”
“They can also be admissions,” Masaru said. “Criminals with theatrical names usually want someone to hear them.”
Celia looked to Kaito. “Did Tsubasa seem like the leader?”
“No,” Kaito said.
Masaru’s eyes sharpened. “You are certain?”
“I am not certain of anything about their structure. But he did not feel like a man acting alone. He was confident, but not reckless. He spoke like someone backed by something larger than himself.”
Shadis folded his hands. “How many members?”
“At least four or five,” Kaito said. “Tsubasa, Renjiro, Reina Kusare, Makoto Ryuzen if he has been folded into their ranks or taken for use, and Suzu if they succeed in controlling or recruiting her. There may be more.”
“Renjiro,” Kael said.
Kaito nodded. “Yuki reported that Renjiro appeared through one of Tsubasa’s portals during the battle.”
Celia’s expression hardened. “The serial killer from the Cosmic Continent.”
“And the Darkness Continent,” Masaru said. “His trail moved between both for years.”
“Eleven years,” Mirei said, immediately. “Known activity across multiple regions. Confirmed murders are only a fraction of suspected victims.”
Daisuke added, “Internationally wanted, though formal cooperation has been inconsistent due to jurisdiction and lack of confirmed movement.”
Mirei looked at him. “That one was less useful.”
Daisuke kept his gaze on the table. “It was still accurate.”
Shadis did not indulge them this time. “Renjiro and Tsubasa. Do we know if they had a prior partnership?”
“No,” Kaito said. “Renjiro’s known activity began eleven years ago. Tsubasa went on the run four years ago. Their timelines overlap, but we have no confirmed connection before this organization.”
“Then we investigate the overlap,” Shadis said.
Mirei nodded. “I will have both timelines compiled.”
Daisuke lifted his pen. “I can oversee the cross-continental references.”
Mirei’s eyes slid toward him. “You can assist.”
“Assist in overseeing,” Daisuke said.
Kaito continued, “Renjiro’s presence matters for another reason. He kidnapped Makoto Ryuzen.”
Celia’s gaze cooled. “A slave trader.”
“Among other things,” Masaru said.
“No one here is concerned for Makoto personally,” Kaito said. “But we should be concerned that Eclipsed Abyss wanted him.”
Kael leaned forward. “Do we know he was kidnapped?”
“It appears that way,” Kaito said. “But we do not know if he remained unwilling.”
Masaru’s expression darkened with interest. “Makoto is the sort of man who would kneel to anyone offering him more power than the law allowed him to keep.”
“Exactly,” Kaito said. “Whether taken or recruited, he is a lead.”
“And a pattern,” Shadis said.
The room focused on him.
Shadis’s face remained unreadable. “Tsubasa. Renjiro. Makoto. Suzu. Reina… This is not random.”
Elian nodded slowly. “They are collecting people with movement, murder, access, corruption, and criminal networks. They are building something.”
Mirei looked toward Kaito. “You mentioned another name. Reina Kusare.”
Kaito’s expression sharpened. “Yes. She was present during the battle. No one I have spoken to has any record of her.”
“Ability?” Masaru asked.
“Rot,” Kaito said. “Aiko Hanabi encountered her directly. I do not know the full extent, only that Reina’s power left damage that healers could not fully undo.”
Masaru’s eyes narrowed. “No record, rot ability, traveling with Renjiro and Tsubasa. Darkness Continent is possible.”
Kael gave a low nod. “Or somewhere that does not keep records.”
“Same thing in too many places,” Masaru said.
Celia’s expression grew troubled. “If she can cause wounds that Radiance healers cannot restore, we need details as soon as Aiko can give them.”
“Kaito said no one stable would be pushed today,” Yumi said suddenly.
The room turned toward her.
Her shoulders tensed at the attention. In the healer room, with Kaito refusing food and patients needing care, she had spoken without hesitation. Here, under the eyes of the king, officials, and four guild leaders, the stutter returned before she could stop it.
“She c-can report when Mariah clears her,” Yumi continued, pink eyes still raised despite the catch in her voice. “N-not before.”
Celia’s gaze softened with approval. “Agreed.”
Masaru said nothing, but his expression made it clear he found the delay inconvenient.
Shadis looked toward Daisuke and Mirei. “No injured young adventurer is to be questioned without healer approval.”
Daisuke bowed. “Understood, Your Majesty.”
Mirei nodded. “I will make sure that order reaches the guild hall before anyone ambitious decides urgency excuses cruelty.”
Daisuke glanced at her. “I was going to say that.”
“You were too slow.”
Kael tapped one scarred finger against the table. “If this Eclipsed Abyss has Tsubasa, Renjiro, Reina, Makoto, and now Suzu, then we are not dealing with a guild. We are dealing with a force that crosses continents.”
“Which raises the question of command,” Masaru said. “Tsubasa is dangerous, but if he were leading this, he would not need to announce a name and vanish with a prize. That sounds like a messenger delivering a warning.”
Elian leaned back, eyes sharp. “Or bait.”
“Both,” Masaru said.
Celia looked toward Shadis. “If someone can command or coordinate Tsubasa and Renjiro, that person is not a regional criminal.”
“No,” Shadis said. “They are a world-level threat.”
Outside the meeting hall, Radiance continued beneath sunlight, bright and wounded, while the people inside named a threat that could reach far beyond its walls.
Daisuke adjusted his papers. “Should we consider a connection to the Witch Cultist incident in Radiance?”
No one dismissed it immediately.
Mirei’s eyes narrowed. “The language does not match our known cult records, but the timing of recent abnormalities is difficult to ignore.”
“We have no facts connecting them,” Shadis said.
“Then it remains a possibility, not a conclusion,” Daisuke said quickly.
Mirei added, “A possibility worth quietly reviewing.”
Shadis gave the smallest nod. “Quietly.”
Celia’s gaze moved to the map of the Light Continent. “The Coastal Kingdom must be warned that Suzu was taken, not destroyed.”
“They already know she escaped the field,” Kaito said. “They do not know what took her.”
“Luminara should know as well,” Shadis said.
The table grew still again at the name.
The Kingdom of Luminara was not just another neighboring kingdom. It was ruled by one of the eight Great Kings, and invoking it here meant Shadis was thinking beyond Radiance’s borders already.
Elian’s brows lifted. “You plan to send word to Luminara first?”
“I plan to do more than that,” Shadis said. “A meeting of the eight kings will be called.”
Even Masaru reacted to that.
Celia stared at Shadis. “All eight?”
“For the first time in decades,” Shadis said.
Daisuke looked visibly startled, then tried to hide it by writing something down too quickly. Mirei did not bother hiding her reaction, though hers was less surprise and more calculation.
Kael’s voice was low. “That will send its own message.”
“Yes,” Shadis said. “So we will control what message reaches the public before that happens.”
Mirei nodded. “The public can know the Coastal Kingdom suffered an attack by the Blood Witch. They do not need Tsubasa Astoria, Renjiro, Eclipsed Abyss, or a hidden leader before we understand more.”
Daisuke added, “Panic would damage guild morale and civilian trust.”
Mirei looked at him. “That was obvious, but correct.”
Daisuke accepted the partial victory with dignity.
Masaru’s gaze remained on Kaito. “You said Suzu was taken unconscious. If she is found again, she should be killed before she wakes.”
Celia’s face hardened. “If capture is possible, capture gives us answers.”
“Capture gets people killed,” Masaru replied. “Especially when the target is an SS-ranked corrupted killer.”
Kaito looked at Masaru steadily. “If killing her is necessary, then kill her.”
Celia’s eyes moved to him, surprised by how plainly he said it.
Kaito continued. “I know what Suzu did. I saw the aftermath. I saw the bodies. I am not asking anyone to die for the possibility that she can be saved.” His voice lowered. “But she is seventeen. She is Itsuki’s sister. She was taken by people who likely want to use what she became. If there is a way to restrain her safely, then I want that chance taken.”
Yumi drew in a quiet breath beside him. “I d-do too.”
Masaru looked at her.
Yumi forced herself to meet his eyes. “N-not because what she did can be ignored. It c-can’t. But if corruption can be understood, then maybe the next person does not have to become another Suzu.”
Celia nodded. “Sunveil agrees. Capture if possible. Mercy should not be blind, but neither should fear.”
Kael’s expression remained grim. “In the field, possibilities disappear quickly.”
“Then the decision belongs to whoever stands in front of her,” Shadis said.
The table quieted.
Shadis looked at the five guild leaders one by one: Kaito, Kael, Celia, Masaru, Elian. “If Suzu Nozomi is found, capture is preferred only if it can be done without unacceptable loss. If she cannot be contained, she is to be killed. I leave that judgment to the guild leaders present in the field.”
Masaru inclined his head, satisfied enough.
Kaito accepted the ruling without argument.
Celia looked pained, but she understood.
Elian exhaled slowly. “This is already ugly, and we have not reached why they appeared there at that exact moment.”
Kaito’s gaze sharpened. “There may have been a second reason.”
Shadis looked at him. “Speak.”
Kaito paused.
He was not hesitating because he doubted the information. He was hesitating because once spoken in this room, the name could not be taken back. But the time for protecting Shunjiro through omission had passed. The Eclipsed Abyss had already noticed him.
“Tsubasa directly invited Shunjiro to join them,” Kaito said.
The room shifted again.
Elian blinked. “Shunjiro?”
“One of Illumina’s members,” Celia said quietly.
Elian looked toward Kaito. “The C-rank?”
Yumi’s hands tightened in her lap.
Kaito’s eyes did not move from Elian. “His rank is not the reason this matters.”
Masaru’s gaze sharpened, as if he had heard something beneath the words before Kaito said it.
Kaito continued. “His full name is Shunjiro Tenzai. Younger brother of Takeshi Tenzai.”
The effect was immediate.
Kael’s eyes narrowed. Celia went very still. Elian’s easy charisma disappeared beneath open surprise. Daisuke’s pen slipped slightly against the paper, leaving a dark mark across the margin. Mirei stopped writing altogether.
Masaru reacted most of all.
It was not loud. His posture barely changed. But something in his face tightened with recognition and distrust so fast that the whole room seemed to feel it. He had worked with Takeshi once. Once was enough for some people to build admiration. For Masaru Kurogane, it had built caution.
“Takeshi has a brother,” Masaru said.
It was not a question.
“Yes,” Kaito replied.
“And he is in your rookie guild’s circle?”
“He is Illumina’s leader.”
Elian leaned forward. “How does a C-rank younger brother of Takeshi Tenzai end up being invited by Tsubasa Astoria in the middle of a corrupted attack?”
“We do not know,” Kaito said. “I do not know whether Tsubasa knew his name beforehand, whether Eclipsed Abyss knew, or whether Shunjiro showed something on that battlefield that interested them.”
Masaru’s eyes remained cold. “Tenzai blood is reason enough for dangerous people to look twice.”
Yumi’s voice came out before Kaito could answer. “Sh-Shunjiro is not some weapon they get to claim because of his last name.”
Masaru looked at her again.
This time, Yumi did not lower her eyes. The stutter was there, but so was the anger beneath it.
“He is a k-kid trying to protect his friends,” she said. “Whatever Tsubasa wants from him, whatever anyone thinks the name means, Shunjiro does not belong to them.”
Masaru’s expression did not soften. “You say that as if the world cares what children belong to.”
Kaito’s voice cut in, calm and firm. “Enough.”
The word carried the weight Yumi’s anger did not need to bear alone.
Masaru looked from Yumi to Kaito, and the old ideological tension between them sharpened again. Kaito saw people first, even when the world had begun turning them into threats. Masaru saw threats first because he believed too many people died when someone hesitated to name danger properly. Neither man was ignorant. That made the divide worse.
Shadis allowed the silence to stretch just long enough for the room to feel it.
Then he spoke. “Did Tsubasa give a reason for inviting Shunjiro?”
“No,” Kaito said. “He only made the offer. Shunjiro refused.”
Celia’s eyes softened slightly at that. “He refused them on the battlefield?”
“Yes.”
Kael gave a low grunt. “Good.”
Elian looked toward the map again, his mind clearly moving ahead. “If Eclipsed Abyss wanted Suzu and Shunjiro, then the timing becomes even less accidental. They appear after Suzu falls, remove her, reveal their name, and attempt recruitment of a Tenzai.”
“Which means they may have been watching before Kaito arrived,” Mirei said.
Daisuke nodded quickly. “Monitoring the battle and waiting for the optimal extraction point.”
“Likely,” Kaito said. “They appeared only after Suzu was cut down. That suggests patience. Planning. Or confidence that the battlefield would produce the moment they wanted.”
Masaru’s fingers stilled against his arm. “Or they were never there for the city at all.”
Celia looked at him. “You think the civilian massacre was incidental?”
“I think Eclipsed Abyss may not care whether it was incidental or useful,” Masaru said. “If Suzu created chaos, chaos hid their arrival. If the young guilds were there, that gave them another target. They gained either way.”
No one liked the logic, and no one could dismiss it.
Kaito looked down at the table, then back at Shadis. “This is why I do not believe Tsubasa is the center of it. He is dangerous, but this pattern is bigger than one runaway prince. Renjiro, Reina, Makoto, Suzu, interest in Shunjiro. These are pieces being collected.”
Kael’s voice was rough. “By someone strong enough to hold monsters on a leash.”
“Or foolish enough to believe they can,” Elian said.
Masaru shook his head. “Fools do not gather names like these and remain hidden.”
Shadis’s gaze lowered to the map of the world carved faintly into the table’s surface.
The Light Continent, the Cosmic Continent, the Darkness Continent, the Nature Continent, and between them all, the Shadow Realm.
“Eclipsed Abyss,” Shadis said, speaking the name with no fear and no doubt, only the cold precision of a king naming an enemy. “Until proven otherwise, we treat them as a threat to Radiance, the Light Continent, and every kingdom that believes distance will protect it.”
The room accepted the order in silence.
Kaito felt the weight of every eye around the table, every mind already turning toward scouts, informants, sealed messages, border watches, monster routes, and names dragged from old criminal records. But one name still hung at the center of his thoughts, separate from all the others: Shunjiro.
Tsubasa had invited him. Then Shunjiro had vanished from the battlefield.
Whether those events were connected or not, the room now understood the same thing Kaito had feared since the moment he heard the report from the survivors.
Eclipsed Abyss had not only taken Suzu Nozomi.
They had reached for Shunjiro Tenzai too.
Shadis looked from Kaito to the other guild leaders, then to Daisuke and Mirei. His expression remained unreadable, but his voice carried the meeting into its next and heavier subject.
“Then we discuss Shunjiro’s disappearance.”