The sun had set on the western horizon, marking the start of nighttime. The Outer Area once again bustled with life as the captured ones were released after the vicious battle between the magistrate and the stranger. Out of the four hundred fifty prisoners, twenty unfortunate people did not make it out alive of the bloody execution, while ten others were severely injured. After offering a solemn eulogy to the fallen ones, the residents went back to their usual lives, trying to move on and forget everything that happened two nights ago.

Arthur was on his way home after taking a look at the injured. As he walked the streets of the city, the doctor could still see the scars of the last raid, sometimes conversing with some of the victims along the way. Some of them were just glad that the nightmare was over, but others still had the fires of rage burning within their hearts, especially the families of the lost.

Three blocks from his home, he noticed someone familiar waving at him.

“Doctor! There you are!”

The doctor knew who the man was, still remembering that blood-splattered face from two nights ago.

“Ah, it’s you,” he said as he waved back at the man.

“Yeah, doc. Thanks for the patchwork, man. I seriously thought I’m gonna die on that one. Oh, my name is Leonidas, anyway,” the man replied, offering his right hand to Arthur for a handshake, which the doctor took with a smile.

“Don’t mention it. It’s my job, after all.”

“Oh, and here, I’ve got something for you,” Leonidas said as he gave Arthur a basket full of vegetables and meat.

“You’re a farmer, I see. Say, these are of good quality! Thank you,” he said, taking a quick glance of the products inside.

“Yeah, it is a good harvest. It would be nice if them soldiers don’t take our crops away from time to time. We spent a heck lot of time just to produce top quality food, but we can’t make any profit because they ransack our supplies with the excuse of an inspection. Greedy bastards!” the man rambled, Arthur could clearly see the anger in his face.

“Now, now, Leo. Be careful with your words outside.”

Realizing his mistake, Leonidas instinctively covered his mouth.

“Oh, sorry doc. What happened last time was just too much even from them. They’re just lucky my family was out of town when this shit happened, because if they ever touch my beautiful wife, they’ll…”

“You’re letting out again. Take it easy, ok? Remember, you’re still injured. A spike in your blood pressure is bad for your wound right there,” Arthur advised, pointing at the man’s chest.

“Yes, I know. Oh, right! My love is coming home tonight. I need to go now. Thanks again, doc!” Leonidas said as he hurriedly walked back to his house.

The doctor waved his hand in goodbye, but it seemed that Leo did not notice it anymore. He then resumed his way to his home as well, carrying the gift with him. It was not long before Arthur arrived at their doorstep, after letting out a sigh he knocked the door, which was opened almost immediately by his loving wife.

“You sure took your time,” Hailey greeted her husband, kissing him on the cheek.

“Well, the patients took a lot more damage than we thought, so I needed to stay there a bit longer. Anyways, you remember that guy that we helped that night ago? He brought us something, here,” Arthur replied as he gave the basket to Hailey.

“Wow, these are good! We should definitely buy his products when we can. Alright, I know what to do with these.”

Hailey took the basket to the kitchen where she then prepped her utensils to cook. Meanwhile, Arthur undressed his coat and hanged it to the wall hook. After removing his shoes and wearing his slippers, he locked the door and proceeded to the kitchen.

“By the way, where are those two?” the doctor asked, sitting down on a chair.

“They’re at the garage, honey. Ren is checking on the Kettenkrad, he said it took some damage because of something that happened on their way back here. They will tell us the rest at dinner,” she answered, getting the knife off the rack.

“Is that so. I want to ask them about that boy, but… oh well, I’ll just wait here for now,” Arthur could only say, looking at his wife as she prepared dinner.

Seeing Arthur just staring at her, Hailey put down the knife on the table and went towards Arthur.

“If not for him, you’re as good as gone.”

Then, out of nowhere, she pinched the doctor’s cheeks.

“You and your crazy ways! Don’t you ever pull a stunt like that in front of me, ever again! You hear me!? I almost lost my mind thinking that you already died back there, you idiot!”

“Ow, ow! Alright, alright! I’m sorry that I made you worry too much!” Arthur said in pain, his cheeks turning redder every second.

“You…better…be!!” she made her point by pinching his cheeks even more. Arthur then held her hands, making her stop and hug him instead. He could hear her sobs as she let her face touch his from behind. After a while, she let go of him and went back to the kitchen.

The house went quiet as Hailey continued to cook dinner for them. With the two kids at the garage, the both of them had nothing more to say to each other right then, for their minds were still exhausted after the ordeal that they experienced.

***

“Oh no, Dad’s gonna kill me this time. I messed it up big time. The main transmission rod’s been broken, and some of the gears are misaligned as well, also the right tracks are disconnected. Aaaaah!! I need to find some parts tomorrow!”

Ren got out of the underside of the vehicle covered in soot and dirt. He then lowered the hydraulic jack and collected all the tools that he used, cleaning them first before returning them to their storage box.

Finishing up his work, he then sat down beside Tsukihime, who was at the garage entrance looking at the sky.

“Still worrying about him, Tsuki?” he asked, in which she answered with a nod.

“Well, we’ve got to thank that crazy son of a bitch when he gets out. After all, we owe him our lives.”

“Yeah,” Tsukihime replied, her voice still had a tone of sadness in it.

The boy did not say another word, instead he waited for Tsukihime to reinitiate the talk. But no words came out of her, her eyes still fixated on the stars above. Ren just continued to stay with her for the time being, knowing that she had history with Noire in the long past and her mind was filled with worry about his well-being.

After a while, the girl decided to break the silence between them.

“He hasn’t changed one bit, that guy. Still the same as the time that I met him.”

“Really?” he asked.

“Uh huh. He always pulls these crazy stunts just to not get everyone involved. He’s always a kindhearted guy, everyone at the facility at least had known him for being too kind perhaps. But…”

“But?”

Tsukihime stood up and stretched her whole body.

“That aggression…that’s on a whole new level that I never knew of. At our time in the Institute, we already knew his potential as a misteria user, but his skills seemed to have quadrupled when I got into that capsule.”

“Wow. He must be a veteran or something, then.”

Ren’s statement made the girl look at him, and there he saw the seriousness in her eyes.

“Maybe. The last time that we saw each other was the time before I was put in the capsule for treatment. A national order was given to the Institute, and that was to give a portion of the children to the Army as reserves. I think there were twenty-five drafted all in all, the best ones amongst us, of course including him. But that ferocity and agility, its unheard of even when we were trained ourselves at the Institute. As if…”

“If?” Ren asked.

“They remade him as a living weapon, something like a strategic nuclear missile.”

“Nuclear…missile?” he asked again, hearing the term for the first time.

“Ah, right. You don’t know anything pre-Catastrophe. I’m just going to tell you about it next time,” she answered as she faced the entrance of the garage.

“Come on, I can hear Dad calling us.”

***

The Magistrate’s room was spacious, up to six people could easily fit inside. The interior of the room was full of Paladinus inspired furniture and art. At the center lied the Magistrate himself, on a very large bed that had multiple layers of cushioning and blankets. Plio was all alone inside, his body bounded by bandages to ease the pain, which had little effect on him. He could still feel it, the places where the fists of the boy landed on his body, though the pain was then bearable enough.

But more than the physical torture, his soul was utterly crushed by that skirmish.

The stranger was unlike any opponents that he faced thus far. Even with his weapon reach advantage, he could not land a single hit on that boy, instead he was utterly punished. His opponent’s movements were graceful yet deadly accurate, each hit an almost guaranteed hit. The sheer speed alone was more than enough for him to be completely overwhelmed, as his arms barely even moved at that time.

He was in epiphany when someone entered his room unannounced.

The door of the room opened, the Emissary and Margaret making their entrance inside. As usual, the assistant carried a glass tablet with her, while Julius was all dressed up and ready to leave.

“Take good care of him now, will you? It’ll be bad for me if he dies now.”

“Of course, your Excellency. It’s my job, after all,” she answered, bowing down to his presence.

Then he switched his focus on Plio, walking towards his bed. There he saw the magistrate’s closed eyes, but he spoke anyway.

“As for you, I know you’re awake, so let me tell you this. Better stop whatever it is that you’ve been addicted to and change yourself for the better. If not…”

All of a sudden, Plio tried to assume a sitting position despite his injuries, making Margaret rush towards him for aid despite the former unwillingly let her.

“If not what, huh. HUH!? You really are one manipulative sucker, aren’t you? Right, you just look at me and everyone else as pawns on your screwed-up games! You did not care about us, not at all!! You don’t even feel any remorse on what you’re doing, you piece of---“

Before Plio could finish, though, Julius was quick to grab his collar, staring at him with a glare that could set anyone on fire.

“Let me clear one thing on that thick head of yours. I would not ever, EVER, put you in a situation that you can’t get out of. I maybe a manipulative one, but I still care about you because you’re my only friend here. Remember that, you blockhead!” he angrily said.

Letting go of the magistrate, Julius had let out a deep sigh.

“That said, I miscalculated your odds back there. I apologize.”

He let out another sigh, then continued to speak.

“It seems that he’s more powerful than I ever anticipated. He even used some tricks that is not inscribed on any of his records of this planet. Seeing that kid in action, his rank is now justified.”

“Rank? Wait, you know this guy!? Why didn’t you tell me?” Plio’s questioned him further.

“I did not tell you because I have to be sure. There were a number of people who claim his name, after all,” Julius answered, putting his fingers on his chin.

“His name, probably, is Noire Arklight. We found data about some Coffin Children that was left buried after this planet’s dimensional shift. Among those data were his profile, which seemed to be of one if not the highest ranking on all of them. Because of this, the Council themselves designated him as a S-level threat.”

“What the…S-level!?” Plio exclaimed, his eyes widening on the emissary’s revelation.

“Yes. They may be regarded him as such, but in reality, no one really knew what the data meant at that time. The contents were too complicated for us, even the Children who we awakened had little idea on what it really meant. But if there is one thing, in one way or another, they knew about Noire, and regarded him with utmost respect. And these ones are talented in their own right.”

The revelation had left Plio speechless as he tried to process everything that Julius had said.

“Well, how would the Council deal with him now? Surely they won’t just let this one swept under the rug, right?” he asked.

“That I do not know,” Julius answered.

“What!?”

“I told you already, there are people out there who also claim to be Noire. Three, to be exact. And because we don’t really have any means of knowing which one is telling the truth, the Council has decided not to deal with these people for now,” the emissary explained, looking outside the window once more.

After a brief moment of silence, Julius prepared himself to leave.

“Alright, I have to go now. The unexpected turn of things had made some drastic changes on my usual routine,” he said as he went towards the door, but not before having one last look at the magistrate.

“Better heed my advice, my friend. Even I can feel that a massive change will happen on this planet.”

After seeing Julius leave, Margaret walked back to Plio, which had put himself back to bed. Checking on his well-being, she saw his hands were clenched into fists.

“Sir, are you…”

“Angry? Do you really have to ask!?” he answered before Margaret could finish.

At that point, the assistant just sat quietly beside the magistrate, checking on his vitals as the night went on. As for Plio, his mind was still filled with maddening thoughts of the one who tarnished his authority and took away his weapon of pride.

***

The emissary’s coach was ready when he exited the administration building. He immediately got on the wagon and mustered the coachman to go, but not before stating the place which he wanted to go.

“Let’s make a detour before we go, good man. Take me to the prison, I want to visit someone first.”

“You want to visit…him?” the coachman asked.

“Yes. Now go,” Julius answered as he closed the window.

Obeying the order of the Emissary, the coachman whipped the four sleipnirs to trot on the paved ground of Axria, then he mustered them to go to the left towards the prison where Noire was kept captive after the skirmish. Inside, Julius was anxiously waiting, his palms began to sweat as his excitement began to rise once again.