Leo and Rin trudged back to the blood-soaked clearing, the air filled with the sharp smell of rotting cultist bodies. Their broken mana cores made the corpses melt fast, flesh sinking into the earth as if eaten by an unseen force—a gross effect of the unnatural mana powering their healing.
Rin's pink eyes flickered uneasily as she cautiously walked around the remains, her face contorted in disgust. She noticed a single body with its white mask off, revealing a middle-aged man's unremarkable face devoid of any hint of aristocratic refinement.
His body hissed and bubbled, becoming a heap of bones.
With shallow breathing, Rin knelt down and tries to take the broken mask. She hesitated and trembled before grabbing it, the cold surface chilling her.
Her voice was tremulous as she stood with the mask in her hand. She turned to Leo and whispered, "Who were they?" but then she froze.
