Kid was mumbling incoherently to himself as they walked through the small hedge in front of them. Zed had cut them a wide enough path using [Sharp] and was happy to see that the rune’s effect had gone all the way.

Each slash had cut all the way to the other side. It had probably also kept on going. He wondered if it had simply dissipated into nothingness or if something had stopped it.

Will it cut through brick? He wondered, staring forward and thinking of the houses they might run into at the boulevard.

When Festus had shown him the rune last night he had done nothing but practice how to draw it, but not how to cast it. There was no point casting a rune like that in a confined space in the middle of the night. At least that’s what Festus had said.

Now, Zed understood. He couldn’t imagine what he would’ve done if he’d cast it last night and had ended up cleaving one of his companions in half. That would’ve been an unexplainable flop.

“Unforgivable, even,” he muttered to himself.

In front of him Kid looked back. “Did you say something?”

“infatigable slop?”

Kid’s brows narrowed in confusion and Zed shrugged.

“Trying out new phrases,” Zed said easily.

Kid shook his head and faced his front. “I’m fairly certain that that’s a lie.”

They were almost to the other side of the hedge and Zed was surprised by how thick it was. It was like a mini forest of its own.

When they finally stepped out into the other side, they were welcomed to a boulevard with cracked road and overgrown sidewalks. The trees that should’ve been designed to serve as shades and give certain levels of aesthetic pleasantness looked like things from a horror move. Overgrown and grotesque.

Zed eyed them suspiciously as he walked up to one out of curiosity.

He raised a hand to touch the rough body.

“Wouldn’t it be wild if there were monster trees?” he joked.

Kid stood in the middle of the road, looking around.

“There are monster trees,” he answered. “Honestly, I’m surprised we haven’t seen one yet.”

Zed snatched his hand back before he touched the tree.

He looked at Kid. “You’re joking, right?”

Kid was still looking around. “Nope. Trees have been known to grow sentient. And they’re usually tricky to fight since they tend to have vines and really strong branches. One thing they always have in common is excessive growth.”

Zed eyed the tree in front of him and took a deliberate step back.

“Anyway,” he walked back to Kid, “I say we go see what this entire place has in store for us. It looks trippy as it is.”

Kid was already nodding.

While the boulevard was being over run with plant life to the point that some were already growing out of the cracks in the road and side walk, there were places that looked completely untouched by plant life. Those places were like natural walkways, as if people had been using those paths for far too long and had stomped the plants and grass into non-existence.

Ahead of them were signs of buildings standing side by side just waiting to be explored. Kid was rubbing his jaw as he looked at them.

“You think we might find people there?” he asked.

Zed shrugged. “Either people or monsters.”

Kid shook his head.

“What?” Zed protested. “It’s got to be one. If it’s people, we’ve got you for diplomacy. If it’s a monster we’ve got me for extra bash effect.”

Kid eyed him. “Extra bash effect?”

Zed hefted [Titan’s Axe] and rested it over his shoulder. The weapon wasn’t equipped so he lacked the extra strength required to carry it so easily and it weighed him down.

“This guy’s as much an axe designed for cutting as it is for blunt force damage,” he explained.

Kid stared at him for a moment and Zed found himself wondering what was going through the Olympian’s mind.

After a while, Kid just shook his head and started walking.

“Oh, come on!” Zed protested. “You can’t just give me the smothering eyes and expect me to ignore it.”

He hurried after Kid.

“That’s just unfair,” he said when he caught up.

Kid shook his head again.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked. “I didn’t give you any smothering eyes.”

“Yes, you did. You did this.” Zed bit his lower lip slightly and made his eyelids flutter.

Kid laughed. “I definitely did not do that.”

Zed smiled. “Alright, that’s true. But you did give me some kind of eye. You’ve got something on your mind but you don’t want to say it.”

Kid thought about it as they walked then nodded.

“I thought about it,” he said. “And it didn’t sound very polite.”

“So you decided not to say it?” Zed asked. “That’s… mature of you.”

“Thanks.”

“You’d be welcome if it wasn’t so unfortunate. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but maturity is usually a waste on me. You’ve got questions? Ask.”

They were almost at the nearest house now and Kid was looking contemplative.

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Zed shot him a grin. “I promise not to be offended. If I can put up with mean girl, I’m sure I can take any rude question you have to ask.”

Kid let out a deep breath. “Alright.”

“Atta-boy!” Zed beamed. Then he held his arms out to the side as best he could. [Titan’s Axe] was too heavy to hold out so he just let it tilt his other hand downward. “Hit me with your best shot.”

“Alright.” Kid nodded. “Then tell me how you do it.”

Zed paused. “How I do what?”

“I’ve already gotten the gist that you woke up with some level of amnesia,” he said. “But ever since waking up, you’ve seen what the world is like. I heard you even fought a Moscovian sloth and lost.”

Zed grimaced. “Not one of my best moments.”

“Maybe.” Kid sounded like he didn’t care about that. “But what I’m asking is how you’ve been through all that, remembered you have a family you need to get to that you might never find, and still make jokes and laugh and play like a child.”

Zed puckered his lips in thought. “Alright, just to get this straight, you’re not being rude. Your question just sounds rude. Correct?”

Kid nodded. “It’s why I didn’t want to ask it.”

“It’s alright.” Zed raised [Titan’s Axe] and struck it in the ground.

Kid looked from him to the axe. “You do that a lot.”

Zed looked down at the axe and shrugged. “Well, I don’t have a holster for it. And it’s too heavy to be holding up all the time. This is the easiest way to handle it.”

“As long as you don’t go breaking the ground when we get back to civilization,” Kid said.

“I’ll do my best.” Zed folded his arms. “As for how I’m still the way I am? I’m quite shocked that people go out of their way to ask. The first time I ran into Oliver and the others, they had the same question. It didn’t matter that Oliver was basically like me.”

Kid gave him a questioning look and Zed shrugged.

“I’m serious,” he said. “He’s toned it down ever since, but he used to be quite jovial and carefree to a certain extent.”

“To a certain extent,” Kid said. “That’s the phrase to look out for. But you… No one’s seen your extent.”

“That’s because no one’s paying attention.” He paused. “Before we continue, I’d like to ask something. What made you suddenly ask? Is it the rune thing?”

Kid nodded. “Your runes are suddenly black when they used to be different colors depending on what you cast. Yet, you’re not the slightest bit worried about it.”

Zed couldn’t say he wasn’t worried about it. He’d noticed the change a while ago. It had been gradual rather than immediate. His rune colors had first taken up darker hues until last night when he’d used the detection rune and Festus had seen nothing in the dark.

He liked to focus on the good. And the good was that this meant all his runes would have stealth effect when he fought in the night.

But, yes, there were worries surrounding the new color of his runes. And he would be lying if he said he had no idea why his runes had suddenly turned black. And looking at Kid, he was certain the Olympian also had an idea of what was happening.

His eyes drifted down to Kid’s wrist. The black bracelet that had once been the Devil’s Lance was still there.

“I’m also of the same opinion,” Zed said.

Kid paused, confused. “What opinion?”

“My rune being black.” Zed adjusted his shirt to reveal a black spot that was still dissipating. “I think it has something to do with this. And so do you.”

Kid nodded. “But it’s more worrying than you think.”

Zed released his shirt. “How so?”

“I’ve not seen anyone take a direct hit from something from a Devil’s set and walk out unscathed.”

Zed remained the pain of being struck and going through a wall. “I wouldn’t say I walked out unscathed.”

“Well you walked out alive and well with your mind intact,” Kid said. “That’s more than I can say for most people. Devil mana usually cripples some people. And a direct hit tends to kill weaker mages.”

“You forget I’ve got a regenerative attribute.”

Kid shook his head. “Not regenerative enough. Mana is designed to purify foreign elements and restore the body. That’s how regeneration works. But the VHF has tested it against different types of mana, and the one thing they came to a conclusion on is that Devil mana eats mana. That’s how it works. That’s why the wielders tend to die when they use the weapons to their max.”

“It eats their mana until it consumes their core,” Zed mused.

“Then it drains their life force. You shouldn’t be standing so easily and casting runes that are black.”

“And yet,” Zed took [Titan’s Axe] by the handle and pulled it out of the ground, “here I am.”

“It’s cause for concern,” Kid said.

“And you’ve given me cause for concern,” Zed told him. “But as my brother always said, if you gamble long enough, life begins to look like one big gamble.”

“Your brother played poker?” Kid asked as they resumed their walk.

“Oh, no.” Zed shook his head. “He played bet. Football, rugby, hockey, badminton. If it was a sport, he’d bet on it. I was the reasonable one and he was the one that took all the risk.”

“Sounds like he was irresponsible,” Kid opposed.

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Zed disagreed. “His only level of ‘irresponsibility’ was in his gambling. Having a single addiction doesn’t necessarily make you irresponsible. As long as it doesn’t destroy the rest of your life, I personally think you’re good. Anyway, he gambled so much that my friends started calling him the gambling brother…”

Zed paused, his steps slowing.

“What?” Kid asked.

“I was just wondering if there’s any correlation to attribute mages,” he said. “Like, is it probably genetic?”

Kid shook his head. “It’s totally random. Some people handle the overload of mana differently from others.”

“How so?”

“It’s how some people are very good with books while others are very good at sports,” Kid explained. “Some people connect with mana on an external level while others connect with it on an internal level. Then there are those whose bodies just completely absorb the entire thing.”

Zed rubbed his jaw in thought. “I’ve heard a little about attribute mages, but how exactly do they work. Normal mages can cast fire and attribute mages can…?”

“Attribute mages have something you can call knacks,” Kid explained. “It’s weird… somehow. And very open ended. For instance, I have almost perfect accuracy.”

That sounded very impressive if not for the ‘almost’ part.

“However,” Kid continued. “It has a condition.”

“Magic with a condition. Sounds sentient.”

“Not sentient, just conditioned. Magic isn’t alive. As I was saying, it’s like my body putting a hard limit on itself for certain reasons.”

Zed nodded along. “And what’s your condition?”

“My aim is only perfect on ricochets.”

Now, that was interesting.

“So what you’re saying is that you’re useless in an open space?” he grinned.

“Useless isn’t the word I’d go with.”

“Less useful then?”

Kid frowned. “I’ll stab you.”

“You’d probably have to bounce the knife off the ground.” He laughed. “You know, go for that ricochet effect for better accuracy.”

Kid let out a sigh, then his expression turned serious again. “But you’re sure you’re good? This whole jovial act isn’t just that. An act.”

“Honestly?” Zed sighed. “I don’t know.”

“How do you mean?”

“I’m not pretending to be jovial. I know that much. But I don’t know if that’s who I really am. It’s the problem with amnesia. You find yourself wondering if the you here is the person you were before you lost your memory. And I don’t have anyone who knew me before I lost my memory so I don’t have the answer. But I assure you that I’m fine.”

The look Kid gave him said he didn’t completely believe him but was willing to let the matter lie.

“As long as you’re okay, then.” Kid turned. “Let’s check these houses, make sure there’s no one inside.”

Zed thought of something and chuckled as they approached the first building.

Kid looked at him. “What?”

“Was just thinking,” he said. “Imagine if this is actually some elaborate trap and all these buildings are actually monster buildings made of brick and iron? Wouldn’t that be hilarious?”

Kid paused. “Why?”

“Why what?” Zed asked.

“Why the hell would you jinx it?”

“I didn’t—”

The ground shook under their feet, trembled as if a massive locomotive train was passing by. It was enough to make the both of them look at each other.

Kid stared him down as he prepared himself for a fight. “I swear if one of these houses turns into some kind of house monster, you and I are officially enemies.”

“I said I was sorry,” Zed protested as the ground slowly quaked and the building in front of them started to crumble.

“No, you didn’t!”

“Well I’m saying it now. I’m sorry.”

“Go shove it up your…”

Kid’s words trailed off as they stared at the crumbling building.

It wasn’t crumbling.

It was falling in on itself and they both watched, taking slow steps back as it concluded it’s crumbling. When it was done, Zed looked at Kid.

He found an accusation in Kid’s eyes.

“What?” he protested. “How was I supposed to know even buildings could be monsters? You have to admit that it doesn’t make a lick of sense.”

Kid gave him a flat look. “You’ve never heard of a golem before?”

“Nope. We don’t usually get them around these parts. Is that what that is?”

Where there had once been a house was a giant monster that looked like a silver back gorilla if it was made of bricks and metal and was eight feet tall.

Kid increased the distance between them and the creature slowly. “Let it be put on the record that I officially hate you.”

The creature stared down at the both of them with empty eyes and roared.