The newcomer's expression turned from coming from a nightmare to arriving in a worse one.
She'd reached the highest rank long ago, but it and her many years of life never prepared for this situation.
Having always felt high and mighty, to suddenly be called weak—was an eye opener that hit harder than any attack.
She'd not seen Haco in the center of corpses yet. She ran into the sea of blood. Stepped on her old comrades and showed the young Gravekeepers what despair was. It was another eye-opener—but for the young.
The old generation's footsteps that they tried so hard to follow, seemed so insignificant and foolish. They were questioning if this really was the Gravekeepers that prided their ability and strength. Did it only amount to this much?
She was in a hurry. The blood under her bare feet almost made a slip. It slowed her down a bit which worried her. Just in case, she looked back into the corridor.
Just as she turned her face, it was met by a foot and she was flung back to where she entered. The sound of sliding in liquid sounded until a high heel stopped her.
She felt blood dropping from the boot, dropping and flowing down her forehead.
'I'm done for—!"
That was the last thing she saw before Esdeath kicked her in the temple.
Esdeath crossed her arms, "This was a pretty entertaining fight."
Strings seemed to pull her lips to curl in satisfaction, "Seems like you had your share of fights too, Haco—despite claiming to hate fighting."
Through the corridor, corpses were deep frozen. It seemed like they met a monster before dying. But despite there being a lot of crushed heads and limps laying everywhere. Haco's aftermatch looked horrendous compared to. Having been less ruthless meant nothing when the warm blood flowed and indicated otherwise.
It was like comparing who looked scarier. The buff male butcher or the endowed female ice vendor?
Haco scoffed, "I had to. Or, I would just be allowing you to exterminate them all later."
Esdeath grinned as she clapped him on the shoulder, "You really have learned a lot. Treachery should be crushed!"
To move on, Esdeath asked "Are you done?" as she gestured at the people on the 2nd floor, be it Gravekeepers or the Empire's child assassins.
"Yea. You came at the perfect time."
"Then let's return."
Esdeath had already walked away, but then she realized Haco wasn't following. She turned again. He was picking up Nenet and throwing her over the shoulder. It looked heavy. A little man like Haco lifting a big unconscious girl. Just her legs threatened to drag the ground.
"What?" Questioned Haco when Esdeath looked with squinted eyes.
"I still don't understand why you would bother with weaklings."
Haco's expression suddenly changed. Esdeath already knew whatever he was about to say, would sound very adamant.
"She is my friend! And—she is the strongest I've met after you!"
Esdeath wanted to tell him: "You are still inexperienced, " but she refrained from starting an endless argument. He would come to know that the Empire has countless people that could have gone against the Gravekeepers' strength. Only Haco was special in Esdeath's mind.
So she just let it be and left.
As Haco was about exit, he gave the Gravekeepers an ultimatum, "Follow, or you die with the rest."
Weneg hadn't taken his last breath yet and was wondering if he should use his last ace and collapse the tomb. When the Gravekeepers began coming down from the 2nd floor and walked by him. With each footstep that went by him, his will to do so vanished together with his breathing.
'I will let Haco be the sinner of our extinction…'
---
The pillage was left to Uncle Bill. Haco had considered trying to keep the Gravekeepers' valuables in the treasury. But he thought it was being too greedy. Just saving enough Gravekeepers to rise in the Capital was enough. Money, they could always get.
That said, when Uncle Bill requested help in disabling the traps inside—Haco refused. Inside the tombs, only the clan heads could disable them, and they were dead. They might be able to disable some, but accepting would in the end just embarrass him.
He'd to think like a leader now.
And he had become a busy man.
Although, he'd gotten permission for the Gravekeepers to settle in the Capital. The housing problem hadn't been fixed yet.
Coincidentally, he was allowed to borrow an empty barrack from Esdeath. But only for a few weeks—until Liver return's from training the soldiers stationed there.
Inside the barrack, Haco had placed Nenet in a lieutenant's bed and continued healing her.
The room wasn't anything fancy. It had a small bed, a desk, and a few storage compartments.
Before healing, Haco had changed her destroyed clothes with something cheap he bought from a vendor. It was just temporary as it didn't fit. The woven shirt looked like a tight top.
In the dark world, Nenet has been trapped since Haco 'died'. A gentle blue flame lit the way out.
Her dark brown eyelashes shuttered as Haco just continued to heal.
Focused, he moved on to heal the wound on the shoulder.
'No!!!'
With the touch, Nenet suddenly opened her eyes in a violent reaction. The yellow in them popped with fright as she defensively began flailing her long limbs to shake off the assaulting hand.
Just as the teeth were about to transform into long pointy teeth, the voice she's been longing to hear resonated.
"Calm down! Calm down! It's me!"
The teeth stopped their transformation, while the jaw fell.
Haco couldn't help giving it a little push to help close it.
**Bang!**
Nenet punched Haco on the nose. Hard enough for blood to dirty the side of the bed.
"Ouch! What the hell Nenet—?" Asked Haco holding his nose in pain when suddenly he was violently hugged. Blood smeared the shirt. The girl didn't care about the shirt. She cared about the distinctive smell on it. Meaning—
"It's really you!" Nenet sniffed hard in happiness. Tears of happiness were falling on top of Haco's head, watering his mohawk.
The intensity she was hugging wasn't a joke. But he endured being suffocated into her ludicrous chest—much better than drowning.
With the arrival of the moon and after lots of pats on the back, Nenet stopped crying.
"Done crying? Always so emotional."
With the teasing, Nenet quickly fixed her wet eyes with a stretched sleeve.
"Shut up! I was just happy to see you alive when I suddenly got something in my eyes."
But Haco could still hear sobbing in her voice.
'And it began raining again.'
