Dying wasn't exactly the most comfortable feeling, even less when it was thanks to your heart crumbling within your chest. Still, in his misfortune, Callum couldn't help but feel thankful for the mistreatment he endured all these years under the Master—no, under Baron Howard.
He couldn't be much of a Master if he were dead, after all.
Anyway, Callum had half-expected things to end this way. The moment the Baron started to lose his rationality, Callum already knew the Devil's Hand would manage to overwhelm him. There was a...strange feeling to the man, an aura of some sort that made him think that Sir Glenn was used to fighting foes like the Baron. Not once had he appeared scared, worried, or anything. Even when the Baron's claws stabbed his stomach, he simply retreated, spat out a lump of blood, and went back to the assault, grinning like a mad demon. His left arm was glowing with a purple, ominous light, while astral-like Mana was swirling around him.
If Callum had to describe a hero...it wouldn't exactly be the Devil's Hand. Yet...It was no hero who ended his sufferings, was it?
No, it was that seemingly crazy yet composed Devil's Hand. Had he still a heart able to beat, Callum was almost certain he would have pledged his life for that man, for he was destined for greatness.
Sadly, his heart was probably gone, now, reduced to ashes now that his progenitor was dead. Whatever limbo he was in, there was a good chance it was one step away from true rest.
...So why was he still hearing these people yelling around him?
***
"Liam, Janica—shit, what's up with her?" Glenn shouted as he landed right next to the two who were watched over by a Cleaner squad. Liam was kneeling in front of Janica while making sure that a blood bag was properly administered to her. The girl was unconscious, her tint sickly pale and her lips blueish.
"Ah, Glenn," Liam acknowledged him before looking back at Janica, "She depleted her blood while fighting off the Baron's thralls. Did you manage to get—"
Glenn laid Callum beside Janica with urgency, "Yes, yes, I killed the fucker. Now, take that thing out and save Callum! His heart is being reduced to ashes from the Baron's death!"
Liam jolted awake and jumped to his feet, "Y-yeah, sorry. Take his shirt off and steel yourself, it's going to be a bloody mess!" He ran off to pick up the suitcase he had been keeping nearby since the start of the assault, opening it up to reveal an inert mechanical heart, different from Liam's. It was a better prototype, adapted to hopefully suit the special constitution of a vampire. Liam had only been a thrall for a week or two when he escaped, while Callum had endured this fate for twenty years. Even though Giselle's grandson hadn't physically aged, his metabolism had necessarily changed to adapt to the special urges of a vampire.
Glenn gritted his teeth and ripped Callum's shirt away, revealing the sickly pale chest beneath. Even though Callum was a Black Heir, his skin had certainly lightened from the lack of exposure to the sun compared to his grandmother's. Liam drew a deep breath and stilled his hand, using a sharp scalpel to open up Callum's chest. Glenn held his breath from the side, ready to use C.P.R. and Divine Blessing at any sign of things going wrong.
'I'm not sure using Divine Blessing on him is going to help,' Diamanes remarked, 'Unless you want to finish him off, of course. I mean, you saw the effects on Howard, didn't you?'
Glenn flinched. Yeah, using Divine Blessing was probably a terrible idea. Liam slowly worked his way through Callum's skin, careful not to damage bones or muscles beneath. Glenn raised a tense eyebrow, a little taken aback.
"Surprisingly, you look like you know what you're doing..." He muttered in awe. Liam almost scoffed but restrained himself, not daring to disrupt his concentration.
"Otherwise would be strange," Liam hissed, his forehead covered in sweat, "I'm opening myself up to do maintenance on my heart every other day after all."
Glenn nodded slowly. For some reason, he thought Janica would be the one cutting Liam open usually, but it looked like he was wrong. So much the better, in fact, if Liam was good enough for the operation since Janica was out of commission and Glenn certainly wasn't interested nor particularly skilled in that field. He was certainly good at cutting people open, but closing their wounds was another matter. Even more considering he couldn't just throw Mana at it and hope for the best.
"...I think trying to find a healer for your party might be a good idea, considering how many times you or the others end up wounded," Nelg suggested in a rather annoyed way.
Glenn moistened his lips tensely, 'Yeah, I should have probably looked into that idea before. Finding a healer, noted.'
Liam exhaled loudly before slowly cutting off the major blood vessels connected to the shriveled heart. It was flat, grey, and lifeless, completely dead. The engineer then carefully extracted the heart and threw it away, not hesitating another second to shover his mechanical replacement in the free spot. The mechanical machine automatically reached out to the severed blood vessels, reconnecting and repumping the blood within Callum's body. The Shard within the contraption began to glow as well as the blood within Callum alimented it, and the gears started up.
"...Phew, doing this on someone else is taxing," Liam muttered, before startling awake, "Fuck, Glenn, you need to close him up!"
Glenn was only waiting for that. With Liam's guidance, he closed the wound over the mechanical heart. The contraption dug out of the skin by itself in a rather sanguine way, before finally settling in. Callum's face, which had been completely still and lifeless for a while now, began to recover some colors. Nonetheless, the Black Heir vampire was still not waking up.
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"Shit, what now?" Glenn asked anxiously. Liam fell back and lay down, exhausted, "Now...we rest. It's up to him to choose survival. A Shard won't activate without a will behind it, after all."
Glenn cast one last worried glance at Giselle's grandson before shaking his head. What was done, was done. Like Liam said, it was up to Callum whether he wanted to live on.
'Well, that was very gore and fun, but what now?' Diamanes asked curiously. Glenn sighed heavily and walked up to Sahro and Liara. The two Black Heirs were standing guard near Nohre and his colleague, with Liara anxiously adjusting the bandana on her forehead to make sure her Inheritance Sigil was hidden correctly. Sahro was watching over her with a frown but remained silent.
"Any injuries on your side?" Glenn asked as he glanced at Nohre and the other Black Heir. The first's legs were seriously wounded, while the second remained unconscious. Priests of Onnea who came from who knows where were already working on healing them.
Sahro grunted, "Besides my pride, you mean? No, I'm fine." Liara nodded in agreement, similarly annoyed. She crossed her arms and bit on her nails, seemingly reminiscing about the battle that just took place.
Glenn raised an eyebrow, "What? What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Sahro repeated with a scoff, "Well, maybe the fact that we both were captured under that fucker's illusion? Or that you practically took care of him by yourself while we were enjoying whatever dream Howard put us under?"
Glenn smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "Everything ended well, didn't it? Howard is dead, Stormblade is...gone somewhere, probably heavily wounded, and Callum..." He glanced back and grimaced, "...Is not in Howard's claws anymore, which is already a lot. You know what to train against now at least."
Liara sighed dejectedly while Sahro scowled, his mechanical arm clicking with the sound of cogs, "I'll have to ask Milena once she's back. I'm sure it shouldn't be a problem getting her to train her spells on my mind..." The Black Heir looked away, already planning his training. Liara rolled her eyes while Glenn chuckled. He closed his eyes and collapsed on top of a piece of rubble, his chest and shoulders light from a weight he had been bearing for a whole year.
He thought back to the three corpses hanging in the wind because of him—no, because of that Baron bastard, and relaxed.
"Laurence, Carys, Winston...I'm sorry..." He muttered under his breath.
Finally, Baron Howard was dead. Glenn was having a hard time believing it was real. It was no exaggeration to say that everything he did during that one year was to pursue that one goal, to take revenge on Baron Howard and avenge the innocents slaughtered because of him. He had grown strong enough to fight back against unspeakable monstrosities, to punch above his rank, and to finally pay his old debt.
It felt good.
"If you seek revenge, dig two graves..." Glenn laughed derisively and shook his head. If it wasn't for this revenge, a lot of things would have been different. Perhaps he wouldn't have tried to become stronger, perhaps he would have cowered in a corner and simply waited to die instead of throwing himself at new adventures and enemies. If he could have done things differently from the start, he would have undoubtedly done so. A lot of lives could have been spared had he been more adequate and skilled.
"It's no use crying over spilled milk. What's done is done. We just need to keep going forward," Nelg declared from within Glenn's mind. The latter's lips curved upward slightly and he looked up at the horizon and the rising dawn.
He couldn't agree more.
"...That's quite the mess you provoked, Fixer Glenn," A familiar voice called out to him. Glenn glanced to the side, finding Veil to be walking up to him, his hands clasped behind his back. Liara had fallen asleep at some point, napping in a bunk bed that had been installed there. The Cleaners spared no effort to clear up the rubbles and pick up the numerous thrall corpses in the ruins of the Howard Manor.
"As intended, Veil. I think what we uncovered should be enough to justify our actions?" Glenn replied with a slightly mocking tone. Veil scoffed and looked back at the remains of the manor.
“Indeed. But even if it hadn't, you already had the support of our organization, as assured by the HCD, Mister Manalok Calopea Truant. My apologies if we interfered in the middle of your raid, but the thralls have made it a concern worthy of our intervention.” Veil apologized falsely, smiling beneath his bandages.
Glenn shrugged and dusted himself off, "Whatever. Baron Howard is dead, I made sure of it. Were you aware his guard was a Thorn's Church bastard?"
Veil paused and frowned, "Sorry, could you repeat that?"
Glenn grimaced, "No, you heard correctly. Stormblade, that knight. He was some sort of vine humanoid, quite weak despite being a Crusader, a rank-five Aura user. He had impressive regeneration capabilities, though."
The Cleaner executive rubbed his chin, pondering, "Here too...? That and the letter you gave us..." He shook his head and adjusted the bandages covering his hands, "We will keep you updated on any further developments. We know of your hatred for the Thorn's Church, I'm sure you wouldn't want to miss a chance to one-up them, am I wrong?"
Glenn laughed and looked away, "...Sure, just tell me if you want me to throw some spells at their churches, it'll be my pleasure."
Veil glanced back at the mess and sighed, "I'll have to take care of this, now. Good day, Fixer Glenn."
"Likewise, Veil." Glenn's eyes followed the Cleaner's back as he walked away to give orders to the Cleaners and Fixers who had come to assist on the site. He stood up and nudged Liara awake, who yawned loudly. Sahro ran up to him with a frown, "I looked just in case, but I didn't find the rest of Nohre's team. Do you think they're still down there?"
Glenn smacked his lips, uncertain, "I can only hope. They weren't there during the fight with the Baron, so—"
The exclamation of a crowd nearby interrupted him. He and the Black Heirs turned to look at the disturbance, a huge pile of rubble that was moving by itself. The Cleaners nearby all stood on guard, their weapons and spells ready, only for Nohre's teammates to come out, accompanied by an impressive number of pale, skinny people. They led the way out, revealing at least a couple hundred victims that had been imprisoned under Howard's Manor to be used as food.
"Holy..." Sahro muttered in awe while Liara simply stared with wide eyes, her jaw slack.
Glenn chuckled in disbelief, noticing at least a dozen individuals taking notes and using similar items to the Recorders they were given for the INK-DEF mission buzzing around.
"This...This is going to change things quite a bit, won't it?" He laughed widely as the two Black Heirs beside him couldn't believe their eyes.
"Urgh..." An unfamiliar voice groaned, catching Glenn's attention, "Am...Am I finally dead?"
Glenn crouched beside Callum, grinning with the same smile as Diamanes', "I don't know, you tell me."
Callum's eyes widened, "Y...You!"
"Hey..." Glenn grabbed Callum's shoulder warmly, "What do think about going back to your family?"
Tears gathered in the corner of Callum's eyes, and he slowly nodded, sniffling. His chest, now powered by an artificial, mechanical heart rose in a trembling breath, free from the vampire Baron's hold.
More than a year after Giselle first gave Glenn this mission, it was finally done.
Callum was alive and safe.
And he was finally going back to his grandmother.