Wasting no time in our bid to escape Wolfhaven, I mustered all my strength and bolted as far as I could beyond the city walls, Claire and Hana in tow.

Eventually, after covering an absolutely grueling amount of distance, deep within the forest's embrace, I finally felt that it was okay to stop and rest.

Exhausted and my mana almost entirely depleted, I gently laid Hana on the forest floor, her weakened state preventing her from standing on her own.

Claire, on the other hand, seemed to have fared better. She quickly regained her footing, standing tall and composed amid the foliage. She seemed to be taking the intense events of the past few hours in stride, even though she had been dealing with the Inquisitors for the longest. In fact, instead of lamenting her own pains, she immediately helped tend to Hana’s hunched figure, patting her back as the hero started to vomit again.

While they were doing that, I took a brief moment to look anywhere that didn’t have vomit.

The forest we found ourselves in was lush; towering ancient trees with thick, gnarled trunks stretching high above us, their branches interwoven. The sunlight struggled to penetrate the dense canopy, casting a serene, dappled light on us. A symphony of birdsong filled the air, punctuated by the occasional rustle of leaves as squirrels and other woodland creatures scurried about. A carpet of soft, green moss and ferns blanketed the ground, providing a comfortable cushion for Hana as she threw up all over it.

It took a while for the frail girl to stop, but Claire didn’t seem to mind, her expression never changing from one of care.

Once Hana had finally finished retching, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, clutched her fully retracted segmented sword like a cane, and lifted herself up to a standing position.

It was shakily done, but she stood all the same.

Right now, her thoughts were completely unguarded, letting my peer in and check her psyche. Frankly speaking, she was mentally destroyed. I could feel the sense of disgust she had for herself, regardless of how much her foes deserved it.

I couldn’t blame her. We made the front gate into a place hardly better than a battlefield, guts strewn about everywhere, bodies horribly disfigured. I would be more concerned if she hadn’t felt some sort of remorse over killing people in the brutal ways she had.

Not that I had any room to talk, honestly.

I did a number on those guys too, but in my defense, I had a lot of experience in killing things.

Sure, they generally weren’t human, but the monsters I killed were living nonetheless. Sometimes they were even quite intelligent creatures, though never quite bordering on humanity like elves or orcs might. Whether the job was for something like hunting for food, reward, or to feel some misplaced catharsis in taking revenge for my parents, I always found a reason to give myself when taking the life of another living thing.

Even if it wasn’t the most morally acceptable thing in the world.

However, in this case, I felt more than justified in killing the Inquisitors, even if I killed them extra hard in this particular instance.

Their actions were so heinous that, given the choice, I would've moved them straight from the human category into the monster category without a second thought. This conviction was only strengthened by the fact that they had nearly killed Claire, someone so dear to me.

Hana, on the other hand…

Yes, she had found a reason to fight, but her mental state still suffered greatly from the shock of murder.

Judging from how thoroughly the battle affected her, it seemed she had never killed anything before, nor did she expect the severe emotional weight that it would truly carry. The shock of jumping straight from never having taken a life to killing real, living people must have been incredibly jarring.

"Hana," I began, my voice gentle and cautious.

"I know you might not think so, but you need to understand that what you did today was necessary. Those Inquisitors might have killed Claire, or any one of us if you hadn't acted."

Hana took a few moments before answering.

"I know," she whispered, her voice cracking. "I just never thought I'd be capable of something like… that."

Thinking back on her actions, a cold sweat formed at her brow, her skin clammy. I could see the images of slaughter replaying in her mind.

Turmoil played out behind her eyes, and her sword rattled as she shook.

Claire, who had been quietly observing the exchange, stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on Hana's shoulder. She walked with a slight limp, but tried to hide it as best she could, trying to look strong for the hero.

"The idiot’s right," she said softly. "Those people were bad guys in every sense of the word. No one will miss them, I guarantee it.”

Hana’s expression softened at Claire’s words. I could feel her emotions settling down and her thoughts justifying the Inquisitor’s deaths. It was the best she could do in this situation.

Personally, I wondered how Hana would reconcile her gentle nature with the harsh reality she was forced to live. I briefly recalled her voice changing for a moment, thinking about how different she had seemed.

In fact, she already looked minutely different, even physically.

As I stood there, I couldn't help but notice the change in Hana's appearance. She wasn’t necessarily bigger in terms of muscle, but the muscle she did have was more toned than before. The transformation was subtle, but it was clear that the events of the day had made a noticeable change to her.

"Wait, were you always that toned?" I asked her, mildly bewildered.

The question seemed to catch her off guard, as if I had just asked her whether she had always sported horns and a pointed tail.

Glancing at her arms and then down the front of her sundress, she examined herself carefully, her mind briefly taken away from the day’s events. When she lifted her head back up, her eyes widened in surprise.

"No," she admitted, "I've never looked this fit before."

She scrutinized me with narrowed eyes. "Wait, you look a little more muscular too."

At this, Claire chimed in, her tone casual yet curious.

"Yeah, I was gonna say, putting aside the crazy fucking magic you two used earlier, both of you are a bit different than normal, Sun. Anyone care to explain?"

I quickly recounted Hana and I's experiences over the past day, Claire nodding along as I filled her in.

Immediately after, I glanced down at my own body, and Claire's observation held true. My muscles were indeed more defined than I ever recalled them being, even after my first run-through with the gargoyles and Amhar.

As my gaze panned back up at Hana, our eyes met, and we shared an uneasy look.

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We both knew there were enough clues during the last battle to figure out what was happening. The ominous aura, The Inquisitors becoming husks, the fact that we had gained strength since the fight…

"Do you think that..." My voice trailed off, hesitant to voice the unspoken thought that lingered between us.

Slowly, we shifted our attention to the direction of Wolfhaven.

In sync, our gaze fixated on the faint trail of energy extending from Hana's body, connecting to, presumably, the recently slain Inquisitors. Though it was nearly imperceptible and stretched exceedingly thin, the connection was certain. Silently, the wisps of purple energy merged with the aura of mana enveloping both of us.

For unguided mana to travel all the way to us on its own was completely implausible. It needed some sort of catalyst, some sort of reason to follow Hana.

Yeah, that all but confirmed it.

The Inquisitors’ life force wasn't just being drained - it was being transferred to us.

As we stood there, the weight of the situation pressed down on us. Our increasing strength was unmistakably connected to the life we had absorbed from Hana's defeated foes, raising questions about the nature of our powers and the consequences of using them.

Was this really the ability of a hero? Of a savior?

I’d never heard of heroes, Demon Kings, or anyone else with this kind of ability.

The closest thing I could think of were vampires, but even they didn’t overtly gain massive amounts of strength from sucking blood; it was mainly their source of sustenance.

The power was without precedent, and I figured if anyone ever had control over an ability like this, it would have certainly been recorded somewhere. The implications of a life-draining skill would be that of near-infinite growth, so long as the wielder was willing to kill. And the fact that it benefitted both of us, rather than just Hana…

Hana, hearing my thoughts, grew increasingly nervous.

Sensing our growing discomfort, and assumedly drawing her own (probably correct) conclusion, Claire sought to alleviate the tension with a touch of humor.

"Well, look on the bright side – you've got these amazing new powers and killer bodies now," she said, a cheeky grin spreading across her face. With a theatrical flourish, she flexed her own untoned bicep, highlighting the remarkable transformation we had undergone.

"Could be worse, right? We were expecting Hana’s hero powers to pop up sooner or later. Looks like it was sooner, and a two-for-one deal! Thank goodness for that, even if the ability is a little creepy."

Hana and I exchanged a hesitant glance, our expressions a blend of apprehension and agreement.

The circumstances were undeniably strange, but there was no denying the impressive changes to our bodies and the importance it played in us standing here right now.

Being ungrateful was not something I’d be caught doing in this situation.

However, Hana still thought it healthy to question the origins of her ability, as one of the Inquisitors had said something rather curious.

"But that Inquisitor, he mentioned something about an abyss. Do you guys know anything about that?"

Hana voiced the question that had been nagging at the back of my mind. I was utterly unfamiliar with the 'Abyss' the Inquisitor had alluded to, and it seemed that Claire was equally puzzled.

"No, that's a new one for us too," she admitted, her expression a mixture of confusion and concern.

"What we can definitely figure out from this, though," Claire continued, her tone turning analytical, "is that the church is deathly afraid of this Abyss thing. So much so that they'd even kill their own hero to eradicate it.”

Turning to Hana, she nudged her playfully in the arm.

“Now, I could be completely off-base, but you don't strike me as someone who'd go out of their way to harm another person unless you felt threatened. So I can't help but wonder why they were so eager to throw themselves into the heat of battle, risking the chance of aggravating you if they were really that frightened."

Her words hung in the air, painting a vivid picture of the church's desperation.

“And if it were so important, why hadn’t the church sent all their forces right from the get-go? Were there more pressing issues they had to deal with, alongside you guys?”

Much like myself, it seemed Claire was also confused why the church was operating in the way it did. It was evident that we needed to do some snooping around.

Claire, seemingly in agreement, decided to voice her thoughts and a proposal.

"So…” she started. “Our next order of business will involve interrogating any church lackeys that come our way. If we can extract any information from them, it will be invaluable in understanding what the Abyss is, though I'm not sure how much the underlings would know. We may need to target someone further up in the hierarchy."

Looking into the hero’s eyes, Claire assigned her a set of instructions.

"Hana, I want you to see if you've absorbed the [Interrogate] skill from an Inquisitor, or any other abilities they possessed. It's a long shot, but it's worth a try. That way, if we encounter someone who might know something about the Abyss, we have a reliable tool to make them talk."

After Claire finished speaking, Hana pondered the idea for a moment, and then nodded.

Weirdly, she took a bit longer to respond than I thought was normal. I couldn’t discern her thoughts, as she was forcibly hiding them from me again, so I was very curious as to what she could have been thinking about.

"Okay, I can do that," Hana replied slyly, the slightest bit of vigor returning to her face as she prepared her next line.

I swear I could see even the tiniest hint of a grin on her face, though I wasn’t sure if I was imagining it.

It was quickly revealed that I was, in fact, not imagining it.

"Is your blonde hair natural?" Hana asked, her intent full of playful energy.

Claire looked surprised at Hana’s sudden mood switch, then quickly transitioned to being absolutely mortified.

"What? No, don't-"

"[INTERROGATE]!" Hana exclaimed, flourishing her segmented blade animatedly and channeling her mana.

Though it clearly was lacking energy in both mana and dramatic flair, the skill had been cast. Claire pursed her lips, trying to keep her mouth from moving.

But her body wouldn’t obey.

Slowly, her lips were peeled back, revealing the truth within.

"No, I dyed my hair with an elixir that I bought from the town alchemist."

Claire's face flushed red, her teeth gritted as she forced her next sentence out.

"You can't just do that to me, Hana. That's an invasion of my-"

"What's your favorite color?"

"Purple."

"Do you like jazz?"

"I don't know what that is."

"Where did you learn to shoot icicles?"

"A scroll that a mage left at the guild."

I stopped Hana for a second, eager to pipe in at this revelation.

"Wait, you didn't return it?" I asked, recalling the scroll.

Claire immediately whirled on me, mouth open but no words coming out.

Eventually, she responded:

"No... but I wanted to look at it. And you should be grateful that I stole that thing, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything in that last fight if I hadn’t!”

Claire turned to the hero with a pleading look.

“Hana, stop, please. I'm gonna go nuts."

Hana giggled, and Claire's expression softened.

It seemed that Claire was more than willing to put up with a little teasing if it meant lifting Hana's spirits. Not only that, but it was pretty obvious that Hana had intentionally responded to Claire's good-natured efforts, understanding that she had been doing her best to lighten the mood for the past few minutes.

Even I, as dumb as I am, could see this, regardless of how closely Hana guarded her thoughts.

This realization warmed my heart and made me smile a bit.

After a bit of much needed chuckling within the group, and with the [Interrogate] matter settled, Claire moved on to the next part of her suggested scheme.

"As a backup plan, if you can get me to any library, I might be able to do some research into the Abyss using my [Browse] skill, though I don't have high hopes."

Both of us nodded, not having anything else to add. Claire seemed satisfied.

"Okay, good. Now, here's the part I don't think you guys will like."

Claire took a deep breath, preparing to share her next idea.

"We’re going to the Wolfhaven mountains first. There are a lot of monsters there, but I don’t think we’ll be challenged enough that it’ll be super dangerous. It'll also give Hana some good combat practice and a lot of life essence to absorb, while Sun can try out if the skills Hana absorbed also apply to him."

Immediately, my mouth dropped open at this idea.

‘Oh my Goddess. That hadn't even occurred to me.’

Hana immediately whirled on me, her light smirk betraying her oncoming telepathic message.

(Wait, Sun, I know what you’re thinking. Don’t do it.)

I had to act, and quickly.

"Have you ever taken bites of my food when I’m in the restroom?"

"SUN-"

"[INTERROGATE]!"

"... Yes, I have."

"I knew it!" I exclaimed, my enthusiasm palpable.

Immediately, Claire slapped me, inflicting literally no pain at all.

Damn I was glad to have her back.