In the dead silence of the night, the entire roadside was draped in darkness. Shops and buildings stood shut. Every light was off... except one.
One building stood out.
From a single floor in the middle of the glassy building, a dim, flickering light pulsed faintly. The rest of the building loomed in eerie stillness, as if holding its breath.
Crrcck... Crccck...
The sound of cracking glass echoed through the air, faint but sharp.
Leo, Valra, and Pride stood side by side in front of a tall, sleek glass building.
The sign read PAPPA Co., Ltd.
Their expressions were tense, serious. Valra's eyes kept scanning the building, while Pride gripped her sword handle tightly.
"Envy's already inside," Valra whispered. "He's surrounding the place, checking the perimeter."
Leo squinted up at the building, panting lightly from the run. His eyes darted between Valra and Pride. "What the hell happened here?" he asked, his voice shaking slightly with unease. "Why did we come running all the way here without a word? Someone tell me what's going on."
He looked at their faces—and instantly knew something was very wrong.
Valra and Pride weren't just serious. They looked disgusted. Horrified. As if something foul had crawled into their minds and stayed there.
"The stench of blood…" Pride muttered under her breath, her face pale, her nose wrinkled.
Leo sniffed the air instinctively—but he couldn't smell anything.
Confused, he turned toward Valra. "I don't smell a damn thing."
Valra didn't answer. She just turned toward the door and said calmly, "If you really want to take part in this war... then follow me."
Without another word, she stepped inside the building.
Leo hesitated for a second, something deep inside him resisting. A strange feeling crawled up his spine. But before he could take a step forward, a hand gripped his wrist tightly.
"Hmm?" Leo turned.
It was Pride. She stared up into his face, her expression unreadable—somewhere between worry and warning.
"I… Just steel your heart, Leo," she said softly.
That shook Leo more than anything.
The way they were both acting—it wasn't right. It wasn't normal. And it made Leo's chest tighten with unease.
He nodded once, and together they stepped through the entrance.
Inside, the air was deathly silent. There was no sign of life. No security. No workers. No hum of electronics or rustle of paperwork.
Leo's boots echoed softly on the marble floor as he moved toward the receptionist's desk. Everything looked in place—except for the disturbing emptiness. No receptionist. No sounds. Not even a humming computer screen.
Then, he saw it.
"Hm?" he murmured, narrowing his eyes toward the cabin on the left. Something was there. A bundle of cloth?
He moved closer... and froze.
On the chair, in the middle of the cabin, lay a set of woman's clothes—stained dark red in some places.
Just the clothes. And blood. A sickening amount of blood.
"Leo," Valra called suddenly, her voice low and urgent.
He turned and saw her standing near the elevator, pointing for him to come quickly.
He took one last glance at the stained clothes before walking over.
Pride stayed behind for a moment, staring at the blood-soaked fabric. Her hand gripped the hilt of her sword tighter. Her body was tense, like a string pulled taut and ready to snap. Then she followed Leo.
As the elevator began its slow ascent, Leo turned toward Valra.
"Come on," he said. "You need to tell me what's going on. I need to know."
Valra's jaw clenched. Her eyes stared straight ahead, but her voice finally broke the silence.
"You already know everyone is made of mana, right?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah… except me."
"Exactly," she replied. "But even normal people—those who can't use magic—they're still born with mana circuits. Over time, as they grow, those circuits settle inside them. It's not enough to cast spells, sure. But their bodies slowly store mana, condensing it inside like a battery."
Leo listened, his frown deepening.
"Mages like us," Valra continued, "we use mana constantly. We burn it, refill it, again and again. We never let it settle. But ordinary people? Especially the older ones… their bodies are saturated with dormant mana. More than even we have sometimes."
The realisation slowly crept into Leo's mind. His mouth opened slightly, breath catching in his throat.
"So… you're saying... their bodies are like fuel?"
Valra nodded. Her eyes darkened. "If a Master is desperate… hungry for power… they might use that mana. Extract it. Turn a person into pure energy. That's forbidden. One of the strictest laws in the Mage Association. We're never allowed to harm a normal human for mana. Never."
Leo's face turned pale. His lips parted, and for a second, he didn't say anything. His mind was racing.
Then—
Ding~
The elevator doors slid open.
And the sight that greeted them…
Leo's stomach dropped.
The floor beyond was bathed in red. Thick, wet, and sickeningly fresh. Blood splattered the walls, pooled on the ground, soaked into furniture.
The very air reeked of iron. Heavy. Metallic. Rotten.
It hit Leo's nose like a punch. He gagged. His hand covered his mouth as he staggered forward a step, then stopped.
The entire office floor... was a massacre.
Blood everywhere... And not a single body in sight.
Just clothing. Dozens of clothes. Dresses. Shirts. Suits. Shoes. Bags. All drenched in blood, but no flesh. No limbs. No faces. Nothing.
Just the sickening absence of the people who once wore them.
Leo's breath turned shallow. Fast. His hands trembled. He backed against the elevator wall, staring blankly at the carnage.
Pride watched him carefully but said nothing. Valra looked at him too, then turned her face away, her expression tightening with guilt and fury.
He needed to see this. He needed to know how far Mages were willing to go.
What price power demanded.
Valra exhaled slowly. "That's enough," she said quietly. "Leo… stay down in the lobby. I'll search the floor. There might still be a survivor"
Leo didn't speak. His voice was gone. His throat felt dry, frozen by horror. His eyes stared ahead, unblinking.
He nodded numbly.
Valra stepped out of the elevator and pressed the button to send it back down.
As the doors began to close, Leo watched her boots splash gently in the puddle of blood. Step by step, she walked without hesitation, her face a mask of cold focus, even as her fists trembled with rage.
"I don't care who you are," she whispered under her breath. "I'm going to kill you."
She opened her mind and linked with her Champion. Her thoughts were sharp and precise.
/Anything? Anyone moving?/
A voice returned, calm and detached.
/No. No one. There's nobody here./
Valra's eyes scanned the ruined office as she stepped over blood-soaked computers and toppled chairs. She reached out and touched the blood smeared across a monitor.
Still warm. Still fresh.
"This just happened," she murmured. "Minutes ago. But… there's not a single body. Only blood. Only clothes."
Her stomach turned.
She reached into her coat and pulled out her phone,
"I need to inform Jing," she said aloud to herself.
Meanwhile,
In the dimly lit lobby, Leo sat slouched against a cold wall, his back sliding down until he hit the ground. His legs trembled uncontrollably, the shock running through his body like a slow venom. His palms were slick with sweat, trembling so badly he could barely rest them on his knees.
He stared blankly at the marble floor, trying to focus on anything that wasn't red or soaked in death.
Pride stood nearby, silent. She didn't speak, didn't offer comfort—just watched him.
Leo finally broke the silence, his voice cracking mid-sentence.
"W-What... what is— ahem..." He swallowed hard, trying to gather himself. "I mean... what's the point of doing something like this? For power? For what? Who would do this? Who the hell doesn't even care about lives anymore?"
His fingers shook violently now. He pressed them against his forehead, trying to ground himself.
He had expected theft, danger, even bloodshed—but not this.
Not a scene like that.
He had imagined the war to be hard, yes. Bloody, yes. But this... this was something else.
This was a massacre.
'How many of them were just innocent people? Parents, maybe. People with families. Children… who lost their mothers or fathers because of this?'
The thought clamped around his chest, squeezing tighter with each passing second. He shivered—not from cold, but from the pure horror that wrapped around his spine.
Pride observed his state quietly. She stepped forward, slowly, and placed a hand gently on his shoulder, her grip firm.
"Do not let it get into—"
Before she could finish, Leo slapped her hand away with sudden fury.
"Miss—!" he snapped, his voice cracked with panic and rage. "The whole floor is flooded with blood! Do you even realise what that means?!"
Pride said nothing. She didn't flinch. She simply stared at him, still and steady.
"They died!" Leo shouted, his voice nearly breaking.
"They fucking died! And not even a single goddamn body is left! Just… blood! Just clothes drenched in it!
Who knows how many people were in there?
What the fuck did they do to deserve this?!
This fucking war! Huh?!
How many kids have just lost their parents?
How many… how many are gonna be orphans now? How can anyone do this and sleep at night?!"
His voice choked as he screamed into the lobby, his foot slamming against the tiled floor in raw frustration.
"Arrghhh!"
Then... silence again.
Pride finally asked, calm as still water, "Do you feel better now?"
Leo blinked, caught off guard. His chest rose and fell rapidly as he sighed, rubbing his forehead hard.
"Tsk... I... I'm sorry," he muttered. "I just... lost it. You know..."
"I understand your emotions," Pride replied softly.
"Really?" Leo looked up at her, surprised. "I thought... You might be used to this kind of thing. I mean... You didn't even flinch."
Pride gave a slow smile and shook her head gently.
"When innocent blood spills on the ground, it doesn't just stain the soil... it stains the King who swore to protect it. No matter how great you think you are, this... this kind of sin? You never really get used to it."
Her eyes darkened slightly as she leaned closer, gripping his shoulder again—not harshly, but firmly.
"Learn to shut off their emotions. It makes you strong.
The sin of believing oneself to be flawless is duty… so flawless that one forgets how to be human."
Leo stared at her in silence. For some reason, in that moment... she looked more broken than he. Her eyes held a pain deeper than anything he'd seen before.
He slowly raised his hand, reaching out to give her a comforting hug, when—
"Fall back!" Pride suddenly screamed.
Before Leo could react, she shoved him backwards with force.
In that split-second, something metallic and massive tore through the space where he had just been sitting.
BOOM!!
A loud crash echoed through the lobby. The wall behind him exploded into fragments.
Leo hit the ground hard, his breath knocked out of him. He coughed, gasping, and turned his head toward the destruction.
The wall was cracked wide open. Embedded halfway through it was a massive ball lined with steel spikes, the metal still quivering from the impact. A thick chain rattled behind it.
Leo's eyes widened. His throat tightened. If that thing had hit him—
He gulped, his entire body frozen. His head would have been reduced to paste.
Clang. Clang!
The spiked ball yanked backwards, flying through the air as the chain recoiled. But whoever threw it had already vanished into the shadows beyond the lobby.
"Coward! You shall not flee after such dishonour!" Pride shouted with fury as she chased after the attacker, her eyes blazing with rage.
At that exact moment, Valra descended the staircase, her body radiating heat—literal flames danced along her legs.
She landed at the bottom step like thunder. "Leo! Are you okay?!"
Leo got to his feet slowly, brushing dust off his shirt. His legs still felt shaky, but he nodded.
"I'm fine. I think... I think there's another Champion here."
Valra's eyes narrowed, and her jaw clenched as she activated her mental link.
/Tsk. Useless Envy. Get over here, now./
/Oi... what was that for?/
Valra ignored his words, her attention returning to Leo as her hand hovered protectively near him.
"That means... the Master is nearby too," she muttered darkly.
"Stay close to me," she warned, scanning the area with sharp eyes.