Sindel POV:

An old woman, who had been trapped in a basement under a mountain of debris, bowed her head. She had brought as many children here as she could in order to avoid the battle on the surface. Unfortunately, the building had collapsed, trapping them in from the outside.

“Thank you for not giving up on us.”

Her frail fingers, mixed with dirt and grime, clasped my hand tightly. A bright smile spread across her lips as I shifted my gaze to the children who looked malnourished.

“You’re welcome.”

I placed my hand on top of hers. The old lady bowed her head one more time before letting go of my hand. I watched her gather the children together as they made their way to the shelter we had temporarily set up near the border of District 4.

Orga dropped down by my side and gazed at the dirt on my hands. Her lips rose slightly as she stood on her tiptoes and kissed my cheek softly.

“...Now this is rare.”

I glanced at her flushed face while she quickly looked away. I smiled softly, amused by her constant cute reactions to things.

We had finished cleaning up almost all of the Blood Hounds and started to focus our attention on saving the remaining civilians.

‘A Ruler treats their people like this?’

It was illogical. There was no care or concern, only greed. I had previously turned a blind eye to a lot of things going on in the Organization—maximum efficiency meant getting rid of unnecessary thoughts.

My duty was to carry out my missions successfully, but... Those thoughts had changed long ago. The District Leader emphasized the importance of a community, something I had side-lined—treated as a separate unit from the Organization.

Ultimately, the decision to take Isabelle away from District 3 was pushed onto the Leader by Copycat. We hadn’t heard a word from him since that note arrived, and I wondered if we were still dancing in the palm of his hand.

‘Probably not.’

I doubted Copycat could have predicted the sheer scale of this war. It was somewhat concerning that the Ruler had access to artifacts like Tengu's Breath. If he were to use that again, wouldn’t a similar tragedy happen?

‘Brunaulf would have already thought of countermeasures in case that scenario plays out.’

The air rocked visibly as shockwaves rippled through the usual overcast sky. The District Leader was reaching the end of his training, yet his power only grew further. It reminded me just how much of a monster Lissandra was.

I turned my attention back towards the rubble and splayed my hands. I pushed it all to one side as I focused on constructing the foundation of a simple building.

Beads of sweat formed on my brow. When it came to using the earth as a means to attack or defend, it was relatively easy to manipulate. However, outside of battle, it was extremely difficult to use it for the simplest of things.

I wasn’t an Elementalist either, so my understanding of the earth Ki Nature wasn’t exactly high. It took me a long time to form a crude-looking foundation that looked like it would collapse at the slightest touch.

‘Ah...’

I didn’t have much of a choice but to continue on. I could feel my understanding growing after each failed attempt, and Orga aided me by manipulating the wind to fine-tune areas of the infrastructure.

Kumo had sent us here for this reason. She theorized that the Cleaners may return if we actively show efforts to restore the destroyed District.

It wasn’t a groundless assumption. The Cleaners only vanished once the destruction continued nonstop. Even if they didn’t come back, we had to start somewhere.

My fingers trembled as my Ki ran low. Even though I wasn’t transmuting my Ki directly into the element, I had been manipulating the earth for a few hours continuously, so this was bound to happen.

“Need a break?”

Orga appeared by my side as I nodded my head. She smiled gently while placing her hand on her hip. We were going to be busy for a while.

***

Skorr POV:

“How are the preparations going?”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

We would be going up against some monsters soon, so it was necessary to be prepared. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this excited for a battle.

“Very well, District Leader. The damage District 1 suffered was greater than we expected.”

I gazed at my nephew, who carried a stack of papers in his hands. His whole demeanour and look had become much more refined than before. My sister would be proud to see him like this.

‘To think it took a beating from a kid to open my eyes...’

I smiled wryly at the thought. I focused my attention back to the topic at hand. It was obvious that the Ruler wouldn’t win against Enigma, but the situation wasn’t so simple.

I narrowed my eyes while resting my back against the chair. Just because they lost didn’t mean they didn’t get what they wanted. If they did manage to steal a batch of the improved KEDs, it would make up for most of the losses they suffered.

‘...’

I tapped my knee lightly as I pondered over the situation. Holder had used the new KED but lost his ability after it evolved. Either the improved KEDs had worse side effects, or there were different types of KEDs according to a practitioner's disposition.

‘It's not impossible.’

Holder was a healer, but what if the KED he took wasn’t meant for healers? Naturally, the side effects would be much more severe. Maybe once a practitioner reaches Shin, they couldn’t take the standard KED that everyone else uses?

‘Hmm...’

It was a convincing thought. Enigma was an organization that loved to dabble with pushing different aspects of the human body to the limit. I wouldn’t put it past them to have made a variety of different KEDs.

The problem was that Holder himself didn’t know too much about the new KEDs, so it was difficult to say whether or not this really was the reason.

‘Well, it can’t be helped.’

Preparations had been underway long before the war between Enigma and the Ruler. If we lost here, then things wouldn’t go back to how they used to be before; it’d be much worse. In other words, it was a gamble—a risk I was willing to take.

I got to my feet and approached the large window overlooking most of District 2. It felt good to be a District Leader again.

I folded my arms as the sides of my mouth rose. My thin lips parted while my nephew took a few steps towards the window.

“Can you feel that, Nephew?”

“...Yes. District 4’s Leader is incredible.”

I smirked as the loud tremors radiated throughout the majority of District 2. We had already received word weeks ago from Kumo to reinforce the buildings in the surrounding area, so these daily tremors didn’t cause any damage.

“The kid is sending a message.”

A blast of wind shot through the overcast sky, causing the window to rattle violently.

“He’s letting everyone know a storm is coming.”

My fighting spirit burned while I watched the scene with expectant eyes. This is what I expected from him; he was finally close to returning.

“Show me how far you can go, kid.”

***

Wolf POV:

I had met Denise outside my office for the last few days. Each time we spoke, it felt like the distance between us slowly vanished.

She would always abruptly cut the conversation short, running off with her face a bright shade of red. Sometimes she would come back after calming down, other times that would be where the conversation would come to an end for that night.

‘It’s working.’

I smiled to myself as I saw Denise standing by the doorway. She looked inside longingly while clasping her hands behind her back. Once she noticed my presence, she dipped her head, and I stopped by the left side of the door.

“How are you feeling?”

I asked her this question without fail every night. It was necessary that I kept track of her condition in case I was unintentionally causing her to relapse.

“I’m fine, and you?”

She blushed while looking away. I let out a relieved sigh inwardly. It really was working. We could talk normally, at a close distance, too. I just needed to be patient, to take it slow.

“I’m good. It’s always nice seeing your face after a long day of hard work.”

‘Was that too much?’

I watched her pupils dilate as her hands instantly rose to cover her flushing face. Denise’s eyes darted around, occasionally stopping on me before quickly looking away.

I wasn’t lying. I thought I had lost her for good that day when Triste told me to stay away from her. Denise... made me feel really good—it was a comfortable feeling.

“...You don’t need to be so nice to me.”

Her gaze shifted to the empty office. A solemn expression appeared on her face as she stared inside. I watched her eyebrows tremble while tears rolled down her cheek.

“...You're crying.”

“..Huh? Oh... I am?... How strange...”

She wiped her eyes in a hurry, unable to break her gaze away from the office. It hurt seeing her like this, but it was a part of the process. I wanted her to forget about that ‘me’ for a while.

‘Maybe... I should try now.’

“...Was that person really that important to you?”

Denise turned her attention towards me. She bit her lip while nodding her head as I watched her clasped hands hover above her chest.

“They were. I think... I know I loved them deeply...”

She tilted her head down slightly while looking up at me with dreamy eyes. Her radiance grabbed hold of my heart as I took a deep breath before opening my mouth slowly.

“You should forget about them. It will only hurt you more to hold on like this.”

Her eyebrows curved inwards as she glared at me. Her hands balled into fists that shook with rage. Denise took a step forward, standing in the middle of the doorway.

“...H-How could you say such a thing?!... Forget them? Then what about these feelings in my heart?! This is the proof that they existed and that I love him!”

She shouted at me, pain lacing her voice with an indescribable feeling of sorrow. Tears pooled at the corners of her large eyes as the air grew increasingly tense. I ignored the sharp pains stabbing away at my chest and pressed on.

“You don’t need him.”

Her mouth dropped open while she looked at me with horror in her eyes. Denise gritted her teeth as her eyebrows quivered intensely.

“...You’re cruel. I didn’t think you were this kind of person.”

She dashed past me, leaving a trail of tears in the air behind her. The gap between us opened once more as I gazed at the strands of her purple hair exiting my peripheral vision.

Her footsteps soon disappeared along with the moonlight that no longer shone through the doorway. I placed my hand lightly against the left side of the kitsune mask as I stood still.

‘Too hasty.’

The plan was for ‘Wolf’ to push the existence of Brunaulf aside. I theorized that once I revealed myself to her after enough time had passed, the Wolf persona would overlap with Brunaulf. I hoped that it would create some sort of mental protection for her.

“...”

Would that even work? I let out a frustrated sigh as I sat against the wall. It seemed like today would set me back a few steps. I kept envisioning spending time with her like a normal couple that I ended up rushing things.

‘I have time.’

All I could do was try again and again till I succeeded. I refused to give up on Denise.