"...Well, I admit, I might have been a little too over-excited, but isn't this a little..." Glenn pinched his lips, squinting, "...disappointing?"

Glenn, Sahro, Milena, and Javier were standing right in the middle of Lark's Avenue. Liara had been left behind in the Dormitory to rest up and gather her strength back. She was in no condition to face anything at the moment anyway, so it was better for her to not come with them. She had been a little reluctant but seemed to understand she wouldn't be of much help after a few minutes of Sahro trying to convince her not to come.

Half of the group was surprised, while the other half was confused about the first half's surprise.

"What do you mean? Did you think the whole Avenue was their hideout?" Milena questioned, puzzled. Glenn shook his head, lying through his teeth.

"Of course not, but I did imagine the place a little more like the rest of the Eastern Town, a little more...lawless, you know?"

As it seemed for now, Lark's Avenue seemed to contradict everything he had encountered ever since he arrived in this town. A proper market, with unarmed merchants and many wares to sell, a plethora of clients, and most of all, a feeling of peace. It felt out of place to imagine that amidst all the rot and criminality, a "normal" environment could be found in this town. Sahro rubbed his eyes, the Black Heir being the most surprised of the four.

"...Am I going crazy?" He muttered, his eyes wide with awe. He glanced at Glenn, and leaned toward him, whispering.

"...A few months ago, this place was the worst district, because it was the furthest away from the Church of Onnea. But now..." Sahro blinked a few times, before smacking his lips.

"Now it's the most orderly. I don't understand...I'm happy this place is okay now, but I still don't understand."

Glenn moistened his lips before shrugging, equally clueless. This place was supposed to be where everyone disappeared, friends or foes, and yet, it's the most peaceful place in the whole town.

'I can put myself to the fire that this Avenue hides something,' Diamanes suddenly bet, earning a laugh from Nelg.

"That's an easy bet. The question isn't whether this place is indeed hiding something, no. What is it hiding, that's the important question."

The two voices talked in Glenn's mind, pushing suggestions or ideas as he tried to figure out a place to start investigating. He turned to the rest of his team.

"Should we split up, or is there a place we should begin with?" He asked, Milena and Sahro shrugging in turn. Glenn smacked his lips, "...I guess it's splitting up time, then. The first who finds something shoots something bright in the sky for the others. You all have ways to do that, right?"

Milena looked left and right, grimacing.

"My magic isn't very flashy, I'm not sure..." She looked at Javier, the silent hunter staring back at her with a soulless gaze, "...Can you come with me, Javier? Aren't you able to do this kind of thing with your Aura's arrows?"

Javier blinked slowly, Milena shrugging and turning away.

"I'll take that for a yes. If we don't find anything, let's all group back up here by night, okay?" She proposed, Glenn and Sahro nodding in agreement. A few minutes later, Glenn lost them from his sight and focused back on his surroundings. There were many shops, many booths, and many people to ask. One of the inhabitants should know where to find the old man, right? Or at least where the whole fighting squad of the Onnea's Church went. These guys' passage would probably be hard to miss, with their flashy paladins and hot priestesses.

"I agree so much with that last thought. We need more priestesses in this story!" Nelg exclaimed, making Glenn groan in annoyance. He didn't bother replying to the perverted sword and instead chose to head for the nearest booth, coincidentally a food seller. It was mostly meat, one he couldn't recognize, but that was nothing surprising. Perhaps he should take a bit of time one of these days to figure out the basic ecosystem of this world. Oh, and the name of said world with it. Was it Limbo, as so many gods seemed to suggest after most of his conversations with them or some other convoluted name?

'I feel like you should keep this question for when you're bored because this might not be the best situation to start suddenly thinking about the stupid name of the world. What good would it bring you, anyway?' Diamanes exclaimed, mocking him. Glenn looked at his left palm and shrugged.

'For my curiosity and knowledge. And I can't just refer to this place as a "world" forever, right?'

"Hello, stranger! Do you want to try our specialty?" The shopkeeper, a butcher, suddenly exclaimed, luring Glenn to come closer to his wares, some kind of dried sausages covered with white skin. A pleasant smell was coming off it, something similar to beef or pork, he couldn't tell. The shopkeeper grinned and unsheathed a large knife, cutting a slice off the sausage and holding it toward Glenn.

"Try it, it's homemade! It's the last batch, and I'm pretty proud to call it a masterpiece!" The butcher laughed, making Glenn relax slightly. He was a little tense, as he had expected a fight straight away, but now the adrenaline was gone, letting him enjoy the side-effects of his "investigations", namely to just window shop and taste the town's specialty.

"Well, I'm not going to refuse free stuff..." He stretched his hand to pick the slice, curious, when someone suddenly pushed him right into the wares, before running away. Glenn quickly turned around, searching for his attacker, when he realized it was only a kid running away with a long package in his hand.

"What—my caroviri! What a waste!" The butcher looked sadly at the meat that had fallen off the booth, before gesturing his knife in the runaway kid's direction, "You scumbag! I'll cut you in pieces the next time you do that!"

Glenn chuckled when he realized something was missing. What, he couldn't tell, but...

"GLENN, I'M GETTING KIDNAPPED!" Nelg screamed desperately. Glenn blinked, before holding his hand out and reaching to use the Soulbound property of his Soul weapon to take it back, but said sword suddenly opposed him.

"WAIT! Wait a second, I...I feel like there's something..." Nelg stopped talking for a second, "...Glenn, come find me, there's a group of kids, and they're not in a good state. Holy crap."

Glenn moistened his lips and turned toward the butcher.

"Sorry, I'll come back to taste that...uhh, caro-thing next time, I have to get back my sword from the little bugger. See you!" Without giving the butcher a chance to reply, he darted off, running in the direction the kid disappeared to. Nelg guided him the best he could, with a bit of struggle...

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"...You're getting closer...ah, nope, not this turn...Yep, warmer, warmer...Welp, cold again..."

A vein popped on Glenn's forehead as he sent his frustration through the mental link connecting him to the sword.

'Stop playing, I have serious stuff to do!'

Finally, after turning in more than a few suspiciously dark streets, Glenn arrived in front of an abandoned warehouse. He stopped in front of the door, finding it closed, with something blocking it from the other side. He smacked his lips, and without a shred of consideration, kicked the door from its hinges. A few planks flew away, the old and rotten wood giving way easily. There was barely any light to show him the path, so Glenn quickly made his right hand glow with the Sun's Touch. There was a small hallway, with yet another pair of doors. Glenn sighed and kicked that one in too, finding a huge storeroom with collapsed shelves and a ceiling riddled with holes, letting a few sunrays in.

The young man felt a nascent headache coming in when he gazed at the room. In every corner, laying on the ground, standing or crouching, all armed with rusty tools or sticks, a few dozen of kids were staring at him defiantly, their teeth clenched and their eyes gleaming with determination. One of them, the scrawniest but the meanest looking, stepped up and unsheathed a pristine longsword, pointing it toward Glenn.

"Whaddya want, stranger'? Fuc' off, or we'll slit yo' throat!" He threatened, the other kids backing him with their weapons. Glenn discarded Sun's Touch and looked at the longsword, amused.

'Well, you're turning on me, Nelg? A betrayal, so soon after your birth?'

Nelg chuckled, before suddenly phasing out of the mean kid's hand, reappearing a second later in Glenn's hand. The kid paled and took a step back, before gritting his teeth and pulling a rusty knife.

"No matter! I don't need no evil' ass sword!" He spat. Glenn sighed and sheathed the sword, before pulling a nearby crate with Gravity Manipulation to use as a seat. The kids' eyes widened and some of them gasped in surprise, before being kicked by their comrades to force them to hide their shock. The scrawny kid gulped and looked at his friends, before stepping up and holding his knife high.

"...Face me in a dual, wizard! But spare my comrades in exchange, lest' you lose all honor!" The kid provoked. The other kids whispered in his back and some attempted to step up beside him, but a scary glare from him was enough to stop them. Glenn watched silently, curious.

"...Sure, I'll face you. What's your name, kid?" He asked with a smile, his chin leaning on his fist. The kid's face hardened.

"I ain't a kid! My name is Kora! And you, wizard?"

Glenn smiled, tapping slowly his chin as he tried to figure out the best way to give the kid a scare.

'...Let me remind you of your nickname...' Diamanes whispered, giving a good idea to his host. The young man stretched his left, purple arm forward and summoned the flashiest magic he could, namely the Nitrogen Wave, and held it inside his palm.

"...Well, where I come from, they call me the Devil's Hand. If you do face me, I swear on my honor that I won't go after your friends." Glenn grinned as he intensified the power of his magic, sending a chill in the whole storeroom. The scrawny kid gritted his teeth and nodded slowly.

"Good! I'm still killin' you!" The kid roared and charged as he pushed the knife forward with as much strength as he could. Glenn watched silently before gently infusing the ground with the Nitrogen, freezing it, and covering it with a thin layer of ice. The kid, blinded by the rage, stepped right on the ice and slipped quite ridiculously. He lost his knife and slid for a few seconds, landing right in front of Glenn. The young man slowly unsheathed his sword and placed it right next to the kid's neck, who was breathing laboriously.

"And I won. Well, I guess you're dead?" Glenn scratched the back of his head, looking with a satisfied look at the terrified look of the other kids, before exploding in laughter and sheathing his sword back. The scrawny kid had stopped breathing in fear and finally gasped as he felt the sharp thread leaving his neck in peace.

"Hah...hah...hah..." He slowly pushed himself on his feet, struggling to stand on the ice. Glenn thought about dismissing it but chose against it. His Mana was gone already, and the ice layer didn't use any to exist. It would eventually melt down. Glenn looked at the scrawny but brave kid, Kora, and leaned forward curiously.

"So, Kora, tell me, what did you need my sword for?" He asked, Kora looking up defiantly.

"Why shoul' I tell ya? Ya're just another' crappy adult', we know what y'all do!"

The other kids mumbled and whispered, some shivering at the words. Glenn frowned.

"I'm not from this town, what do you mean? What do we, adults, do?"

Kora gritted his teeth and pointed at the few children who didn't get up, lying silently under thin makeshift blankets.

"That!" he spat angrily, his finger trembling with hatred and rage. spat angrily, his finger trembling with hatred and rage, "-That's what you're all doing! Bastards!"

Glenn's frown deepened, and he rose to his feet, using Gravity Manipulation to float above the ice layer and glide to the nearest bedraggled child. Kora tried to stop him but only slipped up on the ice once more, failing terribly.

'...Why do I feel like I stumbled on exactly what I was looking for...?' Glenn thought as he crouched beside the sleeping kid and pushed his dirty hair out of the way. The kid's face was pale and emaciated, his skin stuck to his bones. Under his eyes, dark circles seemed to grow by the second, and a bit of dried blood was sitting on the corner of his lips, almost blue lips.

'He doesn't look too good...' Diamanes silently commented the obvious. Glenn squinted and pulled the cover down, feeling his heart tighten as he looked at the child's body. He was naked aside from a small piece of cloth wrapped around his groin. Skinny wasn't enough to describe him, but honestly, that was the least important thing Glenn noticed. Right on his chest was a wound still fresh, carved with a thorny symbol, one symbol that Glenn knew way too well.

He felt himself drifting back to that dirty, dark prison, his jailer feeding him Beast Blood day after day.

"Glenn...I think you're scaring the kids," Nelg carefully said, pulling Glenn out of his thoughts. His left hand had begun exuding something purely evil, something so horrible it felt foreign to him. As soon as he noticed it, the evil aura disappeared away like a mirage. Glenn remained silent for a few seconds, before shaking his head and pushing his left hand on the kid's wounded chest.

"Well, this is going to suck. I need to find another solution to replace CPR..." He muttered, before clenching his jaw tightly and beginning the treatment. His mind went blank for a few seconds, the pain drowning him under an unrelenting flood, before dying down as quickly as it came. Glenn heaved and fell back, his neck covered in sweat. The wound was completely gone, without even as much as a scar. It had taken only a few seconds but was almost as painful as treating Sahro's stump. The wound should have been much, much more painful than it should have been comparatively to the wound's gravity.

Kora ran to the sleeping kid's side, staring at the healed chest with wide eyes, alongside all of the other children. Glenn wiped the sweat off his eyebrows and pushed himself up.

"Alright, I feel a little generous today. Listen, Kora..." He turned toward the small leader while dusting his clothes off. The child looked back up with wet eyes, struggling to keep the tears from flowing.

"Here's the deal: I'll help all of your bros and sis out, and heal them from their wounds, alright?" Glenn said, smiling widely. Kora almost nodded right up, but his expression hardened.

"...What do you want us to do in exchange? I can't accept without knowing."

'Oh, he's smart in addition to being brave?' Diamanes remarked, pleasantly surprised. Glenn was about to agree with him when Nelg added something.

"He's probably at least a hundred times smarter than Glenn. It's a cool kid!"

Glenn chose to ignore the entities' discussion and ignore any painful words they might utter. He crossed his arms and concentrated back on Kora.

"It's very simple, Kora. All I want is to find people. First..." He pointed at the kid he just healed, "...I want to know who and where are the guys who did this."

Kora nodded slowly, waiting for Glenn to continue.

"Secondly, I want to know where the guys from the Onnea's Church went. Finally, I want to know if you saw an old man, come here with some suspicious guys, and where did they go?"

The kid's eyes widened and looked at the other kids, before going and shaking Glenn's hand.

"We accept. All of the people you mentioned went in the same house, so it's simple, but..." He looked at his downed comrades, "...Will you be fine? Many of us have been wounded by the adults."

His speech had changed slightly to a more formal and refined one as if his mask of toughness had just disappeared. Glenn shrugged, before shivering. Wait, that might be a problem.

"...How many?" He asked with a shred of hope that it wouldn't be too many. Sadly, said hope was crushed under Kora's boot.

"Thirty-two."

"Oh god." Glenn blurted out, before shaking his head. He had just promised that kid he would heal his friends, so he was going to do it.

But shit this was going to hurt.