Leaving the genai behind I returned to the site of the clash and grabbed from the ground one of the many spears laying around.

I aimed it towards the sky, took a deep breath, and hurled it with all my might. The weapon drew an arc and reached high into the sky, burning bright like a beacon as it brushed through the atmosphere.

I repeated the same operation another two times, in order to attract the attention of the patrols of the Gamma. Although I had requested not to be followed, I trusted in Hector’s smart head to understand my intentions.

While waiting for their arrival, I scrubbed my body with a handful of stones picked directly from the ground, wiping the blood from my skin. I had just finished making myself presentable when an elité group of less than ten armed individuals guided by Hector came into my vision and quickly reached my position.

“We have received your call, sire,” said Hector with a small bow.

“Administer first aid,” I went straight to the point, looking in Isaac's direction to indicate his position.

“Certainly,” Hector responded, immediately dispatching two of his subordinates to go and take care of Isaac.

In between the group, there was also an extremely familiar face. A tall, strong woman with an evident taste for battle and a clear tendency to disturb my peace. She had an inscrutable expression printed on her face, while she gazed at the numerous bodies spread here and there on the ground.

“You slaughtered them,” Lily commented, with a solemn demeanour which contrasted her usual self.

I waited for her to finish processing what she was seeing, unsure of what was going through her head.

“I have a long way to go,” she mumbled under her breath, revealing her thoughts.

As usual, she wasn’t disturbed by the sight of death in front of her; she was simply analysing the gap in strength that there was between the two of us.

After observing the scenario she turned towards me.

“There is something I can…” Lily didn’t finish her sentence, instead focusing her sight on me with an even more serious expression than before.

Her eyes travelled along my body, descending from my head towards my feet, stopping roughly halfway along their route. After a while of intent study, a wide grin appeared on her face, she raised her hand with her fist closed and her thumb pointed towards the sky and started giggling while she swiftly sprinted away towards Isaac.

It was the first time I felt so dumbfounded by someone’s actions. In response to what had just happened, Hector approached me with a new set of garments for me to wear on my completely bare body. After the battle, nothing remained of my previous apparel. There was no need to exchange words: I accepted the new set of clothes from Hector’s hands and wore it. Unsure if there was a need to reprimand Lily for her actions, I ultimately decided to pretend nothing had happened.

It was now time to return home. I set off in Isaac’s direction, and I found him being cared for. His whole body was now covered in bandages, while the spear’s injury was still being filled up to block blood from flowing out.

“Have you finished closing the wound?” one of the rescuers spoke to the other.

“Almost. Luckily enough, the spear went right through without tearing the surrounding tissue. I cannot believe someone managed to make such a clean perforation”

I waited at a distance, as I didn’t want to disturb the work of the rescuers. Once they had ended wrappingup him up in dressings, making him look like a mummy, they proceeded to build a makeshift stretcher. They used the spears and the strings of the bows for the frame, and some articles of clothing stolen from the deceased enemies as padding.

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They were struggling to remove the last remaining chains binding him, so I decided to help out. Ignoring their sudden stiffening at my appearance, I lowered myself towards him and took the chains in my hand, snapping them in half.

Once the chains had fallen off, I got up and set off towards the Gamma, followed by the rest of the entourage.

We finally reached the border and ventured into the thicket, avoiding the main road to keep the vulnerable Isaac away from prying eyes. We found ourselves soon enough in the midst of the artificial opening which had been cleared out this morning.

Chloe and Faye were still present, together with a few members of the squad. The former was sleeping wrapped in a thick blanket, and the latter seemed busy going through several pages of documents, with her back against a tree.

The rustling of the leaves attracted her attention and she greeted me with a smile, which soon disappeared the moment Isaac entered her field of view. Her expression turned serious, she immediately let go of the papers in her hands and she approached to take a look at the condition of the patient.

“Put him down,” she ordered the stretcher-bearers.

While they laid Isaac on the ground, Faye waved her hand. Responding to her gestures, the soil started to rumble as weeds sprouted from the ground. The growing vegetation encompassed the frame of the stretcher and the different shoots intertwined with each other to form a dense bed of leaves on which Isaac’s weary body could rest.

She inspected his body. She put her hand on his neck.

“Nine beats per minute… It’s a bit low…” she muttered under her breath.

Afterwards, a gentle halo raised from her body. Faye’s clear mana swept Isaac’s body, caressing it softly and permeating through his skin’s pores. The mana flowed through the pathways inside his body, deviating wherever it found even the slightest form of resistance, in order to avoid straining him more than he already was.

Over the years Faye had become skilled at controlling her own mana. The technique she was employing required a lot of concentration and proficiency, as it required the use of mana to send sensorial information directly to her brain. I couldn’t understand the specifics, as I belonged to another species, but from what I had seen and heard, she used her mana to make a “mould” of the patient body, down to the cellular level, translating physical information to mana, which allowed her to analyse the collected data.

“Ok, I’m done,” she said after a few minutes of inspection.

Before turning to address me once again she wiped from her brow the sweat coming from the brief but tiring procedure.

“He is in a severely weakened state, but his life is not in danger. I didn’t find mana or aura poisoning, so he should heal up just fine. Although operating on him could eventually make him get better quicker, I’d advise against it, as it would most likely do more harm than good. He will recover completely anyway, it’s just a matter of time. He is a tough one,” she continued.

“Anything noteworthy?” I asked for confirmation after her concise diagnosis.

“Umh, he has several wounds, but some of the internal ones are quite peculiar, as they have no corresponding external injury. There are a few scars deep in the muscular tissues and scrapes on the bones which are indicative of slashing and piercing damage, but there is no sign of the site of entry of such weaponry on his body”

“He must have used his spell to burden himself with the attacks directed at Chloe”

“... Yes, he must have done so to protect Miss Ortiz,” she followed up my words with a slightly annoyed tone. She didn’t seem to appreciate me referring to her by her first name.

Now that the incident was closed I had the intention of returning to my calm lifestyle until the two guests recovered. After that I would listen to their story to figure out the best future course of action. As I was about to turn around and leave the location, I saw Isaac’s breathing change slightly. A moment later he opened his eyes and tried to get up.

“No no no, you mustn’t! Hey, stay still and lay down, hey, listen to me!” the alarmed Faye said while she tried to hold the wriggling Isaac.

“C-Chloe… Where is C…” he uttered in a hoarse voice, unable to end the sentence due to a sudden fit of cough.

“Don’t fret. She is fine. You are fine,” I spoke out.

Isaac turned towards me, calming down at my words.

“I-is it… o-over?” he said, his voice almost inaudible.

“Yes, it is over. I took care of everything”

“W-what… hap-p…” he tried to ask to no avail, as his consciousness was disappearing once again.

“I delivered retribution,” were the words I gave him as he went back to sleep, this time with a serene expression printed on his face.