For a moment, Gabriel’s mind shook. A subdued ringing in the depths of his ears, a dull white light flashing in his eyes as his mind tried to gather itself.

Honestly, Teresa’s punch wasn’t that painful. No, he was filled with so much raw power thanks to his Unique Magic that he barely felt it, be that because the power numbed his senses or because the hit was too weak to harm him.

What caused his mind to rock was her tears, the sorrow that tore at her voice. And then there was the sensation of eating her alive. His Unique Magic tearing away at her, digging into her depths to scavenge every trace of her life so that it could fuel him. Strictly speaking, it didn’t feel any different from usual, it shouldn’t be any different from when he siphoned the life of the earth or surrounding enemies.

But it felt dirty, the energy he siphoned from her. It felt like worms crawling through his veins, gnawing at his flesh in passing. One by one, the worms gathered in his heart and clumped up, forming rocks that slowly dragged his heart into the icy pit that was his stomach.

“What is a knight of Giselle doing here just talking with an invading knight of Quinterius?”

The one who posed the question was Alice, still shielding the young girl in her grasp. She naturally knew who was hiding beneath the armors, but she couldn’t just go out and call them Gabriel and Teresa now, could she? No, if she did that, it would invalidate them wearing the armors to begin with. So she had to ask the question with… slightly altered wording.

“You? You’re asking me what I’m doi…!”

Teresa’s rebuttal was cut short by a thunderous sound as the earth around them cracked open, thick walls of ice rising to form a dome around them. They started to shatter almost as quickly as they formed, some parts of the surprise attack that nearly caught them slipping through the gaps. Earthen javelins with stone tips rained down, each javelin as large as three grown men standing on each others shoulder.

The dome of ice shattered before it even fully formed, several hundreds of the earthen javelins blotting out the sky as they fell. The earth rumbled as Gabriel turned the broken ice into shrapnel to deflect the javelins, his brows furrowing beneath the helmet.

His feet felt warm, and he could feel his body slowly sinking. The earth beneath their feet, despite his ice running through it, was melting. He didn’t need to check to know that there was most likely a horrifying amount of flames gathered beneath them, rushing through the earth to catch them off-guard while they focused on the javelins.

His attention had only slipped for the briefest of moments, but the strongest of Duchess Giselle’s knights had clearly taken advantage of that moment to launch their attacks. Their aim was likely a clean kill, a swift death that prevented Gabriel from taking any other knights with him to the grave.

This was why he had done what he could to maintain his focus, because once a situation like this arose he would have to act within a split-second if he wanted to ensure any kind of positive outcome. He immediately gathered his mana, fingers twisting as the spell formula formed at the tip of his fingers. It’d be a fraction of a second too slow, but leaving alive was still possible.

But as he was thinking that, a deep crimson light poured out from Alice, almost moving through the air like a tidal wave. Her gaze was narrowed sharply, almost in warning as she had turned to look at the mansion she just left.

The crimson wave didn’t hit anyone, but Gabriel could see that the earthen javelins slowed down, the heat from below subsiding slightly. Clearly, Alice had just made a threat of some sort. But whatever the case, it had bought Gabriel the time to finish the spell.

“Karas, Sarash Elu Hui Katek Elu Aurel.” (Darkness, Swallow Us And Bring Us Home.)

It was a large spell, the largest Gabriel had ever cast. Were it not for both of his Unique Magics being activate right now then he could forget about even casting half of the spell. That was especially so when one considered the sheer distance he wanted to drag everyone through the darkness. From here to Earhart, the distance was massive.

But he was left with no choice. Originally, his plan was to meet up with Alice and then quickly hide under the ice before using Karas to teleport to a spot not too far from here. From there they could slowly make their way back.

But now there was Teresa and that little girl that Alice had picked up, not to mention the two strong knights that were attacking them. A short-range teleport was too risky, it’d be extremely easy to track them down. So he had to take them far away, and he couldn’t even hide that he was using Karas to do so. Things… Had been screwed up quite badly thanks to those last few seconds.

But well, there was no point crying over something that already happened, beating himself once for not being prepared enough for this possibility would suffice.

The shadows cast by the group connected and extended, forming a maw that swallowed them. Once they were fully swallowed by the maw, the darkness scattered into small orbs of fluttering black light that faded away like dust, leaving the Giselle estate and the Kasarias Kingdom to their own burning chaos.

The place Gabriel had designated as home was the basement of the mansion that he and Alice were currently using in the capital of the Earhart kingdom. More specifically, it was the training grounds where he had Bellona and Edith kill the man responsible for them almost becoming slaves.

“…Rgh…”

The first thing Gabriel did after the darkness spat out their group was retch, a mixture of blood and the contents of his stomach rushing up his throat. Part of it was due to the sensation that invaded him for a brief moment. To teleport everyone away, he naturally had to get everyone closer so that he could make it at least a little easier.

But as a result, both Alice and the little girl entered the range of his Unique Magic.

The sensation he felt when his Unique Magic ate away at Teresa was magnified an untold number of times, to the point where his head was ringing so violently that he felt like he had once again stood right next to a cluster bomb.

Well, that was part of the reason at least. The remaining reason was the over-drafting of his magic. Unique Magic that ate away at the souls in him, Unique Magic that ate away at the world around him, mixed with his own magic to produce a spell beyond what he should be able to handle. It was like an athlete pushing their body beyond their limit and tearing a few muscles in the process.

Gabriel retched one more time, his helmet catching this round of digested food and blood as well. He had turned off his Unique Magic the moment they arrived here, but the disgusting sensation still lingered within, like a constant itch inside his chest and stomach.

But he was used to fighting back nausea and unpleasant emotions so by the time he removed his helmet he already had it under control. Teresa also removed her own helmet, a face stained by dirt and dried sweat revealing itself. Gabriel could teleport about rather freely, but Teresa had to run around on her own two feet, or on a horse. To follow Gabriel, she had to expend a lot more effort than he did, and she had to do so practically without rest.

And just as he had known from her voice, from her touch, the dirt on her face was smeared by the tears that were streaming down her face. She really looked a mess as she sat there, expression distorting painfully.

It felt strange to see Teresa’s tears. She had never been someone who cried a lot, those who ended up receiving guidance from Gabriel could rarely afford to retain their tears. And knowing that he seemed to be the cause of her tears… It was a strange, and discomforting, sensation.

“There there, Little Mara. Take deep breaths and just focus on each breath, don’t worry about anything else.”

Alice’s voice reached Gabriel as he looked at Teresa, the soft sound of gentle pats accompanying her words. The little girl she was carrying, with auburn hair and light blue eyes, was currently throwing up on Alice’s lap. Shifting through the darkness was far from comfortable, so having to suddenly do it for the first time was no doubt extremely nauseating for the young girl.

Looking at Alice treating the little girl so tenderly, Gabriel could see that the distorting of Teresa’s expression only got worse. She gnashed her teeth for a moment, but in the end it all spilt out.

“How can you do that?”

There was a cracking to Teresa’s voice, her voice still hoarse from earlier. Her expression was twisted, torn between sorrow, confusion, and anger. And there, lurking within the depths of her pupils, Gabriel could see a spot of pity, the core of all her emotions at the moment. Boundless pity and sympathy.

“How can I take care of an unfortunate little girl who just needs someone to offer her a hand?”

Alice responded to the question with one of her own, cocking her head slightly as she kept patting the girl’s, Maraya’s, back. It was a strange question. Had Teresa not come rushing to her with Edith and the other orphans because she knew that Alice would pity them and take care of them? So why was it suddenly so strange that she had picked up another one?

Her answer did nothing to ease the pain on Teresa’s face. Nay, in fact it only served to twist her expression further, that core of pity in her eyes growing ever larger. As she turned to look at Gabriel.

“Gabriel, what were you doing just now, and over the last few days?”

It was a formality more than a proper question. She had been able to arrive at the Giselle estate shortly after he did, she had obviously been following him, anticipating his future moves. But still, the grief that adorned her expression made it so that he could do nothing but answer her.

“I attacked a couple of the noble houses wearing armor of the opposing faction, it’s one of the easiest ways to quickly sow the seeds of anger and incite a conflict.”

Well, it would be a fair bit harder now that he had revealed Karas. Those who hadn’t seen it would still be in the midst of their rage against the opposing factions, but those who did see it would start to question it. Hiding a strong Azui mage was entirely possible, but hiding someone with the Karas affinity was many magnitudes harder since it belonged to the Divine Star. Each person who was found to have an affinity from the Divine Star would be famous from a young age. And currently, there was only a single person in the Kasarias Kingdom with the Karas affinity

“And why?”

Teresa’s follow-up question dragged Gabriel out of his musings and back to the current situation. Why he did it? Well that was a very simple answer.

“Well, Alice allowed herself to be kidnapped by them so I figured that she clearly had a plan for it. After looking at who had kidnapped her, I figured that Alice would have found this to be a good opportunity to drag out a lot of people we need to get rid of. If we handle things properly here, we should be able to deal with one of the Imperial Princes, those in the Sorin Ducal house that might be hostile to the Vritara family, as well as those in the Kasarias kingdom that could have designs on the southern lands of the Earhart Empire. It’s a good opportunity to remove a lot of dangers ahead of time.”

Round up all the louts and behead them with a single swift stroke. It may be a bit hasty, but a good opportunity nonetheless. It would prevent a lot of future troubles if done correctly, especially if they managed to weaken the Kasarias kingdom to a point where they would be no threat when the Yverial Empire moved in the future.

“And? How do you feel about it?”

This time, Teresa’s question was pointed at Alice again. The girl in her arms was still retching, well, dry-heaving at this point, there seemed to be nothing left in her stomach. At this point it was more likely that she was so scared that her body did it as a way to distract her mind from the current situation. It was an understandable response if you considered her situation. As such, Alice kept stroking her back gently as she responded, occasionally whispering soft words to the child.

“It’s a good plan, no? The Imperial Prince and some of the people in the Sorin Ducal family have a hand in the Kasarias Kingdom so sinking it into a bit of chaos is bound to drag out their hands. And once their hands leave their comfort zone they’re bound to leave traces that we can then track all the way back to their necks. Internal and external enemies are dealt with using an excuse that is even acceptable to the public and the nobility, it is efficient.”

Investors had the ‘terrible’ habit of always wanting a return on their investment. And the partnership between the Kasarias kingdom’s nobles and the nobles of the Earhart Empire was just that, an investment. Shake it up and the investors had no choice but to show their tails, if not their heads. Then you just had to drag them out. And since it was proven that these nobles of the Earhart kingdom had worked with those of the Kasarias kingdom, committing more than a few crimes, the public wouldn’t even protest when Alice killed them. Hell, they would probably cheer.

“…”

Her answer was met with silence by Teresa. It… Was the answer she expected, but that only deepened her pain. Like a sharp knife that dug into her skull and spun about within her brain, scraping and scooping against the side of her skull. Her tears fell with renewed strength as she turned to Gabriel again.

“Gabriel… How many did you kill in these last few days?”

She didn’t even know why she asked. She had trained under Gabriel, he opened the doors to this line of business for her.

“I don’t know.”

Yeah, that was the answer she expected. Why would he count? It was a pointless thing to do, it didn’t further his current goal. But she knew.

“You don’t know… It’s between 700 and 1100, depending on how many died, or will die, of their injuries afterward.”

She hadn’t updated the count after leaving the previous noble house so it didn’t include the people who died in the Giselle estate, which was why she gave such a rough estimate. 700 people, what did that number really mean?

“700 people, Gabriel, Alice. How many husbands is that? How many fathers? How many wives? How many children are now orphans? How many children have lost their siblings? How many parents have lost their children?”

Teresa’s expression tore further. The hand Alice used to stroke Maraya’s back stiffened, a quiver running up her arm and spreading to the rest of her body. Ahh… Thank you… Thank you for allowing there to still be a semblance of hope. And because there was hope, Teresa kept crying, kept speaking so that she could empty out her heart.

“How can you reach your hand towards a child and act so nonchalant about it while simultaneously going around and creating several tens of more such children? Are they not worth your mercy? Are they not worthy of an outstretched hand?”

Alice had accepted the orphans, she had accepted the abandoned. She herself had been abandoned, growing up without any input from her parents. She was practically abandoned by her family, so she sympathized with those who were abandoned and gave them a home. So how could she condone such a plan? How could she condone and smile at what Gabriel did?

“I have never raised a complaint to your actions and schemes, I have even actively participated in most of them. I trained myself, studied for years on end, all so that I could help you with them!”

Gabriel had warned her when they first met, and he’d warned her again later. But still she trained, still she willingly chose to enter this line of business. She had killed her fair share of people for the sake of Alice and Gabriel, and she’d never complained about it. But still, there was a reason for that.

“But that was because you never went too far. You schemed against those who would hurt you, you killed those who were terrible people. When you struck a target, you were as precise as possible. Gabriel, you could sneak into a noble estate with over a thousand residents and expertly kill only the three targets you sought.”

They never went overboard. When they killed, they were like precise arrows. There was never a senseless loss of lives, it was always only just the exact people who could hurt them. That, she could accept. That, she could help with. But this…

“But this rampant murder, this indiscriminate slaughter… Have you lost your minds?”

It was the only question she could muster when she saw the scene. Had they gone insane? Had they lost their minds? Was the time they spent apart enough to induce that much madness?

“Did you have to kill so many knights and servants to achieve the result you wanted? Did you have to storm the gates and kill without regard?”

Teresa’s teeth gnashed and creaked as she grit them, forcing out the words with each breath. It was a pointless question, one she knew the answer to all too well.

“No, Gabriel. I know you, you trained me. You could have entered those estates, assassinated four or five people, left tracks that led to the opposing faction, and then left without a trace. You have those skills. You could even have entered and assassinated just the targets that may prove harmful, there would be no need for a civil war.”

It wouldn’t have been the first time. Gabriel was good at leaving tracks that led to other people. Part of the reason it worked so well was that he rarely left fake tracks, he always produced something that had actually come from his target, incriminating evidence that would be enough to spur people into motion.

Teresa sucked in a heavy breath, her throat felt sourer with each word, her insides colder with each breath. But she couldn’t stop now. This, she couldn’t accept. This she could not sit by and just watch. She had to talk now, she had to let them know what she now knew.

“But you were too focused on Alice. You saw that she was kidnapped, you realized that she wanted something, and you cast aside all other thoughts in favor of that. You abandoned everything else for it.”

It was a simple truth, an undeniable truth. Gabriel had weighed the lives of those knights and servants against what he believed to be Alice’s desire, and his own belief had won out. All their lives combined, and all the lives that could be lost in the civil war, none of them stacked up against what he believed to be Alice’s desire. And because she realized that, she was forced to understand something, accept something.

“You’ve changed, Gabriel. I can tell, I’ve worked under you for a while. Ever since the trip to the Barong territory, you’ve changed.”

She had never told anyone, but when Gabriel decided to take responsibility for the knights that died while he was lying down and having a chat with Alice, Teresa cried. It was when she was alone in her room, where no one could see her. She cried tears of joy.

He went about it somewhat wrong, but he took responsibility for the lives of people who had nothing to do with him. The Gabriel who had trained her would have just forgotten about those lives, he wouldn’t even have registered them. But he had changed, Alice had managed to change him. And thus she cried.

“I thought it was for the better, I really did. I thought that maybe, just maybe, Alice had managed to mend those broken parts of you, that you could finally live a more normal life.”

He couldn’t live a normal life. She had trained under him, watched him for years. A normal life was impossible for him, he was too broken. But a slightly more normal life would still be possible, a life where he was more than just an emotionless doll that moved in whatever way was best for Alice. But was that really the case?

“But you’re not repaired, are you, Gabriel? You’re still broken, just in a different way.”

No, it wasn’t the case. It looked promising at first, but this had just proven it. Gabriel was still broken, and all it took for that to become apparent was a bit of separation from Alice. The pieces started to slide out again, the cracks revealed themselves. And the past peeked out from beneath those cracks. But really, how could it be any other way?

“And really, what else was there to expect? Alice herself was broken by her childhood and relied on you to be repaired. But how can someone broken repair someone else who is broken? Alice was simply broken in a different way, and in turn, she broke you in a different way.”

Alice was abandoned, downright abused at some points even. It didn’t take much to break a child. And then the two broken people met and tried to repair each other. But how could you give someone a piece you yourself didn’t have? In the end, there would always be pieces missing if they kept trying to do it like this, there would always be broken parts that neither of them could fix.

Teresa knew that now, or perhaps it was better to say that she understood that better now.

“I…”

Her mouth opened, but the words got caught in her throat, the tears that stained her face along with the dirt leaving her an almost unrecognizable mess.

“I…”

She tried once more to get out the words, but they once more got stuck in her throat. How to say it? What to say? In this situation, with this understanding, how could she get it across?

“I’m sorry. Gabriel. Alice. I’m sorry.”

In the end, Teresa made her choice. This was where she had to start, this was what she had to say first. She had been with them the longest. Trisha and Lawrence may have met them first, but Teresa had been closer to them, spending every day with them. Thus, she had spent more time with them. Thus, she had to say this.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t do anything. I’m sorry that I didn’t see it earlier. I’m sorry that I’ve looked away for so long. I’m sorry that I couldn’t mend your broken pieces while you struggled together.”

She’d known for a while that they were broken, that both of them had parts missing. But she hadn’t done anything about it despite being the most put together of them. The two of them were handling each other well so she had focused on her brothers instead, she’d pushed them aside because things looked good enough. Thus, she had never even tried to help these broken people acquire the pieces they were missing.

No more. She could turn her head away no more, not now that she had seen the true extent of their cracks. If she left them alone any more then it would only get worse, they’d just feed each other further. And then…

“I know that you’re broken, I know that it’ll be hard, I know that you’ll want to do what you know works efficiently and fastest… But please… Please don’t keep doing things like this. I won’t be able to accept it if you choose to do so.”

She cried as she thought about it. If Alice and Gabriel kept going like this, if they kept insisting on tactics like this. Drawing in innocents without regard, murdering people in droves without a second thought just because it was efficient. What about the day they reached a point where she would have to stand in opposition to them?

She envisioned the scenario, pictured the drawn swords, and cried a ceaseless torrent. Thus, she made her earnest plea to the two that had pulled her out of the slums and provided a safe place for both her and her siblings.

“Please… Don’t go down a path I can’t follow.”