"I thought I told you to stay safe General!", Collei whispered as she looked at the man in front of her. He was lying down in one of the camp tents. His eyes hadn't opened in two days though his vitals were fine. His injury was severe and Collie had tears in her eyes every time she had to treat him. The smells and sights, all caused her to shrink and made her feel small.

They made her skin crawl and made her 'gift' feel like a curse. "What kind of brother are you!", She yelled in frustration and stopped mixing his medicine for a brief minute. He was recovering fine but the process was taking a bit longer than expected. She was a gifted healer and she'd been called to the administrative district multiple times because of it. She hated having to heal people which is why she chose to be in the ruin. But now was different, she wanted to heal him.

Did he stay too long in the toxic air?

Did she forget to tend to some internal organs?

Did the organ reconstruction go wrong?

She took a deep breath and began mixing the medicine once more. Their supplies had started to become more and more scarce. Their refills were off in the 5th sector and the closest forest to get raw materials was in the 6th sector. If he wasn't the General, they'd have probably left him to die to preserve resources.

Kenji coughed a bit causing Collie to stop her movements and rush over to him. "Are you alright?", Collie queried to be met with no response. He was still asleep. Though his furrowed eyebrows and slight frown made her know that he was in no way peaceful.

"When you fight demons every day, it's hard not to see them at night", She stroked his hair gently.

Collie stood straight and returned to her medicine desk.

A man with long red hair rushed into the tent. His hair was in a high ponytail. His left eye was partially covered with his hair. He had broad shoulders and was tall. He was covered in blue blood. Some of it was dry and the rest looked fresh. His black eyes searched around the room before settling on Kenji and narrowing. His aura was heavy and his abrupt entry almost caused Collei to drop the medicine she was mixing.

"Older brother!", Collei yelped. He looked at her slightly. A warm smile made its way to his face. "How is he doing Collie?", He asked softly. "I've performed all the necessary procedures and healed all his wounds and yet, He won't wake up!", Collie stated as tears welled in her eyes. "Relax Collie, It's not your fault, I'm your older brother. it's my job to take care of both you and Kenji. I hadn't realised how bad things had become", He comforted as he patted her head slightly. "Koa...", Collie cried as she looked at him.

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"As long as his vitals are stable and you've reconstructed the necessary organs, you've done well. Take a breather, Collie, I'll watch him for the time being. JunJun has been feeling a bit lonely since you cooped yourself in the tent", Koa smiled warmly.

Collie nodded, taking off her gloves and trashing them. At least Koa was here now. She could rely on someone else now that Kenji was asleep.

"Get the blood off yourself Koa, It can be toxic if you leave it for too long", Collie sniffled rubbing the tears from her eyes and leaving to find the young puppy she hadn't seen in what felt like months.

Koa's smile immediately dropped as she left. He doesn't remember the last time he smiled. The situation was much more grim than the reports he had been getting in the administrative district. The loss of the 4th and 5th sector had not been reported and the lack of housing for the civilians had been kept hidden as well.

"Is Kenji hiding all this information to make himself look like a better general? Can I really cover for him?", Koa thought as he peered down at the sleeping man.

His younger brother wasn't like that. He'd never been one to hide important information, but he had to ask. He had to be sure that his younger brother wasn't making stupid decisions as the General of the Misma army.

Kenji coughed a little and his eyes opened slightly. He looked at Koa blinking a bit to help his eyes to focus. "Long time no see Koa of Misma's Direct Council", Kenji groaned, as he sat up.

"Relax brother, no need to be too eager to see me"

"It is rare to be in the presence of such a celebrity. May I ask why exactly you are here?"

"Drop the act. I am not here for a reunion", Koa sighed.

"You never have been, you're too big for family these days"

"That's- That's not", Koa started but fell silent.

Kenji hummed in satisfaction, he had won the battle. Koa sighed using a clean rag to wipe the blood off his face. He reached into his jacket, pulled out his glasses and put them on. "I came here to perform a survey on the army since it had reached the four-month interval from our last one. I didn't expect to see that we lost 2 more sectors apart from the 6th one. I also didn't expect that we'd have almost lost the third sector. I expected that as the general, you'd report all this to the Council", Koa adjusted his glasses as he sighed. Kenji looked at him emotionlessly.

"I don't want to have to scold you brother. You're recovering from being impaled. Collie has left her post at the ruin table to care for the soldiers. She hates being around the injured and only sucks it up in dire situations. Why are you doing this brother?", Koa pled.

"So that's why you're here huh?", Kenji laughed sarcastically.