The Elementalist couldn’t help going all red. “Oh, just… never mind.”

“Never mind?”

Dasnor shifted his icy glare to the girl. She bit her lower lip in an attempt not to burst into tears—it would be too shameful to endure. Niji didn’t quite understand why she couldn’t just tell what it really was. Even a total idiot could guess what all this bedroom picture meant.

Yet she received his wordless message. He didn’t want to hear the truth. For Dasnor, any emotional breakthrough was a sign of weakness, and it was too reckless to let somebody get to him that close. Not only did she see his body naked, but his very soul was stripped, and that left people like him extremely vulnerable. It was more than a treasure chest left open—it was more like robbed and vandalized. His gloomy look was transmitting too prominently that he had never intended to reach this level of intimacy and would rather die than admit it had happened.

Just a few hours ago, Niji didn’t care how she should have behaved after all this. Her best bet was that in the morning they would both pretend nothing special had happened. And now such a curious turn of events suggested another natural way of settling things, so why not—

Luck favored her a little bit, as Dammit busted into Niji’s apartment without any knocking. He was out of breath, but still managed to exclaim cheerfully, “Magical Ambulance to the rescue! Eh… Dasnor? What are you doing here?”

“Never mind,” they answered together.

“Okay, okay, I’ve been recommended to mind my own business, so just tell me what’s the emergency here. You look like dead people.”

“Technically speaking, I am one.”

“Lemme check.” Dammit walked up to his leader and almost pressed his face to his. “Say ‘A-a-ah.’”

Dasnor poked between the Celestial’s ribs.

“Ouch, mainstream zombies go for the brains, you know that?”

“Like there’s any inside your head. Remember Rem Oswaldt?”

“Sure. The Lackluster blondie hanging around the mansion. Why?”

“He killed me and took the amulet. Then he turned the time back and escaped.”

“Holey Moley!” Dammit whistled. “So badass! And I’ve always thought he was a pussy.”

The Celestial didn’t seem surprised at the artifact’s mechanics. He examined his patient, especially his eyes for whatever reason, and then directed his palms to Dasnor’s chest. After applying a light blue stream of energy to numerous glass cut wounds, he quickly fixed the integrity of his body. Then he gave the verdict: “I’m not an expert in Space-Time Shenanigans, but I’d say you look pretty good for a man who didn’t die when he was killed. How did that stuff work, actually? Somebody rewound the tape or you had doppelgangers? Or are we in a parallel universe now? I can’t imagine the whole thing but DAMN ME if this doesn’t sound freaking awesome!”

“Don’t remember much. My memory’s a mess.”

“No wonder there are side effects. They don’t call it ‘Cursed magic’ for nothin’.”

“Yeah, could’ve been worse…” Dasnor went even more pale while the healer moved his hands closer to his temples and applied a stream of restorative energy.

“Any details, Flare?”

“It was more like a rewind, yes,” Niji said. “I returned to the same place and state I’d been. And Dasnor, he… well, when I found him, he was almost unconscious. And no sign of Rem.”

“Why did he revert all that, though? The law was on his side alright—a criminal got shot, no biggie.”

“It’s not that…” the girl cleared her throat. “I… I set him on fire.”

“Huh, you can expect that from an Elemental mage… whoa, wait a sec! D’you mean that…”

“Right. I made a cursed flame. By this hand. Myself.”

Silence fell, and only the aura around Dasnor’s head was emitting a soothing sound.

“Welp… shit,” the Celestial concluded. “Can we expect the cops any minute now?”

“He might be hesitating—otherwise, they would have arrived here already,” Dasnor suggested. “Not sure if he doesn’t want to have Niji involved or he’s afraid he might be prosecuted for time-turning as well. But we’d better act now.”

He stood up abruptly, staggering a bit from dizziness, then began to pull on his clothes. Dammit got alarmed. “Hey, I haven’t finished with you yet!”

“What are you gonna do?” Niji asked.

“The same shit he did to me.”

“Dasnor, don’t… please!”

“You almost killed him yourself, what’s the problem?”

“This is the very reason I think it’s a bad idea!” She jumped up toward him, blocking the door. “Don’t do that, please!”

“Do you seriously think that if you ask nicely I will call it quits?”

“Simmer down, Grumpy,” Dammit said, supporting the girl. “First, you need to recover properly. Second, Rem is a black and white—sure you want to declare a war right now?”

“I don’t give a shit. The Rule of First Blood gives me the right to execute him.”

“Oh, really? How about he was an officer on duty who tried to arrest a criminal with a top grade dangerous trinket?”

“Then Hecate’s bounty hunters have a job to do. Move.”

Niji didn’t, so Dasnor pushed the girl out of his way with a movement that was far from gallant and went out. She wanted to run after him, but what would she do? Dasnor was determined to get things done—and there was hardly anything in this world that could stop him.

In the end, Niji thought, she indeed tried to kill Rem herself, and it would be hypocritical to say she felt wrong about this…

Dammit commented sourly, “Told ya, Flare, don’t fall for grumpy guys. Nothing but a heartbreak.” He took out his smart from his pocket, meditated over it a bit like musing whether it was worth doing something, but after that just gave out a heavy sigh and put the device back.