A tremor passed through Edward’s soul as dark-red energy flowed out of every pore of his body. He could feel it again, the same uncontrollable hunger that infested his soul in the dragon kingdom.

All the earthworms, the humans, and the beasts seemed like nothing more than food waiting to be devoured, but this time, he wanted it as well. He wished to embrace that hunger and kill them all as an offering for his loved ones.

‘I accept. Kill them all and I’ll do anything you want me to.’, replied Edward after the dark-red energy covered almost his entire body.

The sweet words Violet always told him, Minx’s silent companionship, and Echo’s help in the dungeon, all surfaced in his mind and fueled his hunger even more.

Just as he was about to rush into the horde of food ahead of him, a burning feeling came from his right arm. Looking at it, he saw gray energy seeping out of the mark on his arm and fighting the dark-red energy, pushing it back.

“Don’t listen to it. Come back, Edward.” A distant voice escaped the mark on his arm, but Edward didn’t even hear it over the small rumbling coming from under him.

He tried to move to the side and dodge the worm coming to attack him, but he was stopped as the pain in his arm became unbearable and he couldn’t pull his body away. A giant maw escaped the ground and Edward saw its sharp fangs moving up all around him.

He couldn’t run without his hind legs, and the pain from his right arm made it impossible for him to even crawl.

‘Why, Fenrir? Why have you turned against me?’ These were the last thoughts that passed through Edward’s mind as the maw snapped shut around him.

“ARGH!” a loud grunt resounded through the scorching desert as Edward’s eyes snapped open.

The pain coming from his entire body was excruciating, and his body was covered in sweat. After calming down slightly, he still appeared quite confused by everything as he sat up on his behind.

He hadn’t noticed him when he woke up, but his arm looked no different from a dead man’s. There was only skin and bones, as well as charred flesh extending outwards from Fenrir’s mark.

“What the fuck, Fenrir?” asked Edward, not able to make sense of what was going on. He tried to move the arm, but there was no result.

[Hehe.] A peal of tired laughter escaped his dying arm, followed by an even more tired voice: [It’s good you’re back.]

“Back?” asked Edward in confusion before looking toward Oasis. He was still close enough to see the outer walls, but there was no trace of the attack he just witnessed. “What is going on? I was fighting there, but with whom? And why?”

[I’m sorry, kid…], replied Fenrir, a deep sadness in her hoarse voice.

“Sorry for what? What happened?”, Edward got even more anxious with each of Fenrir’s words.

Fenrir didn’t reply for a while before asking, [What do you remember last?]

Edward frowned and thought hard before answering with uncertainty: “Fighting something? I was angry, but I can’t recall why…”

[Before that?]

Edward took quite a while and said: “I was waiting for… What was I waiting for?” His frown deepened as a painful headache hit him and he continued: “To meet someone? Was it Echo?.. That’s it, I was supposed to meet her and Violet here, but then… the city got attacked?”

A relieved sigh came from Fenrir as she muttered: [At least you didn’t lose her.]

“Lose her? Fenrir, what the hell are you talking about? You’re scaring me…”

[Edward, the curse woke up as you were waiting to meet Violet and tried to take over your soul. He caught you inside an illusion where it fed on your hate to make you surrender your body to it willingly.]

[I tried to pull you back, but when didn’t react, I had no choice other than to fight it.]

[There was no way to prevent it from taking over while also keeping your soul intact so I… I consumed all the corrupted parts of your soul, pulling the entire curse back into mine…]

Edward frowned and tried to remember what happened just before, but other than an image of the city being in ruins, nothing was coming back to him.

“What does that mean? Did I lose part of my soul?” asked him after taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

[Your memories are contained inside your soul. You might have forgotten some things, as did I when I separated the curse from my soul. I’m sorry, that was the only way I knew to keep you from getting devoured by the curse…]

Edward lowered his head and slowly played back through his memories while asking Fenrir to patch out anything he might be missing.

When they were done, it was already late at night and Fenrir heaved a relieved sigh: [There are only little things here and there… it seems the curse didn’t seep too deep inside your soul]

Edward trusted her words and wasn’t too worried about it since he couldn’t miss things he didn’t remember.

“How long will this headache go on?”

[Not long. Until your soul gets used to the missing parts and starts patching up your missing memories. You’ll be fine in a few days to the maximum of a week.]

Edward nodded and then looked at his arm. “What about my hand? I can barely move it anymore.”

[The wolf would heal that with ease. I used the mark as a bridge to the depths of your soul and your arm got injured as my chaos energy passed through it to consume the curse.]

“The wolf? Will it be okay to let that thing take over again?”

[Don’t worry, with its weak consciousness trying to take over your body and getting devoured by me, everything will be alright for now. The wolf might act differently, but your soul wouldn’t suffer anymore since you will swap with it again.]

Edward heaved a sigh and understood what she meant. He asked Fenrir to explain to him everything he was missing. As Fenrir’s voice was getting more tired, she ended up the conversation short.

[The girls are coming. I’m going to rest for a while. Be careful and, no matter what, don’t fall asleep.]

Turning his head to the side, Edward spotted Violet riding on Minx’s back while rushing at him.

Smiling slightly, he sat up and walked towards them as well.

“Don’t worry and go to rest. I’ll spend some time with them. Thank you, Fenrir. I know it wasn’t easy for you either.”

Violet dismounted Minx and smiled with her eyes reddening slightly. Minx also returned to her human form and created a thin ice dress to cover herself.

They both walked forward and hugged him at the same time. Edward sighed and hugged Violet back, Minx unfortunately being on his limp arm's side.

‘Thank god I didn’t lose you two.’

As he enjoyed the warmth and cold coming from the two, he spotted Echo running into the distance. Chuckling slightly, he pulled back from Violet and Minx while asking: “Couldn’t you give a ride to Echo as well?”

They looked at each other and giggled slightly before Minx said: “She didn’t want to. I asked her.”

Echo caught up and gave Edward a quick hug when she noticed the frail and bony hand.

“What the hell happened to you?”

Edward looked at his arm and smiled wryly. “Some minor trouble. It will be healed the next time I turn.”

“Let me.” Said Echo as she grabbed his hand without waiting for Edward to reply and started channeling divine power into it.

Edward let her do it since it was annoying having to only use one arm until Fenrir decided it was okay for him to turn again. He also used his healthy hand to fix the frown that appeared on Violet’s face.

“Hey, don’t worry, I am fine. How are you two? What have you been doing since I was gone?”

Violet still looked worried, but Minx knew his recovery abilities so she didn’t care that much as she started telling Edward everything that had happened ever since they separated.

They entered the city without issue and Minx registered as a tamed beast under Violet not long after they got in. The entire process went smoothly, and her ability to take human form also helped a lot.

She looked incredibly excited as she told Edward how they started hunting beasts around the city, completing quests, and so on.

By the time she was done, Echo also healed his injured hand. Moving it around for a bit and seeing that it felt fine, Edward smiled and asked: “What about you Echo? Did you get married?”

“I’m fine.” Replied Echo with a smile: “I listened to your advice and was about to break up with him, but he said we only need to do a fake ceremony and pretend we’re married for the sake of our parents and that he also was more interested in his business than to build a family. Being free from everything, I’ve spent most of my time ever since the girls arrived in the dungeon with Mi…” she was quite excited but suddenly stopped when Minx grabbed her hand from the side.

Violet also lowered her head immediately once she noticed Edward raising an eyebrow.

“I know you told us not to head into the dungeon, but we were careful.” Added Minx right away as Echo blushed in embarrassment at having spilled the beans.

Edward sighed and shook his head. “It’s fine. No wonder your healing worked so well, Echo. What level are you?”

“36” replied Echo proudly. Her proud look didn’t last as she remembered what the girls told her about Edwarda and she said: “Well, I might not be as strong as you or Minx, but it’s not bad progress in such a short time.”

“Indeed. Was it only the two of you, or do you have a party?” asked Edward as he looked at Minx and Echo, only to notice their expression turning awkward and Violet’s head hanging even lower.

“You too?” asked Edward as he looked at Violet. “What did you head into the dungeon for?”

“I would get bored if I were to stay locked inside the city all the time…”

Edward sighed and said nothing else about it. His face turned serious as he asked: “Did you find what you came here for?”

Violet also turned serious and nodded. “We didn’t find exactly what you wanted to know, but the leader of the beast tamers guild should have some clues.”

“What made you think that?” asked Edward.

“He’s a demi-human and can use magic the same way a beast can. Word in the guild is that he somehow put his father’s core into his body after hunting him down.”

“Is he strong?” asked Edward with excitement.

“He’s stronger than I am.” Said Minx from the side. “We might not be his match even together.”

“What are the three of you talking about? Didn’t you come here to hide?” asked Echo.

Edward smiled and nodded toward Violet and Minx. “Good job. We’ll first try to talk to him and see how it goes.”

He then turned towards Echo and said: “There are a lot of things you don’t know. I’ll tell you later. Do you have a place where you can hide me inside the city? They didn’t completely forget about the dragon bounty.”

“We have a small house.” Said Violet as she grabbed onto Edward’s hand. “Want to go now?”

Edward nodded, and all three of them headed back in the city's direction.