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“Such up, you psycho bitch.”

“Witch.” Immediately afterwards, the lady flew off fast towards the west.

[She’s… gone?] (Eva)

[Yes, she is.] Syrus watched as the witch flew far away.

They were in no condition to chase and if anything, there was a high chance they might crash sometime soon.

Syrus turned away from the city hall, “Argh.” She wobbled forward, and her head fell onto her hand.

[Let’s go home, quickly.] (Luna)

[First, we need to check the body.] (Syrus)

Anlesa wobbled towards the knight’s body. It lay on the ground with a gaping wound across its body, and its armour had disconnected and fallen apart.

[He is definitely dying.] (Luna)

[Not even making a sound.] (Syrus)

[Even now..?] Eva remembered how everyone else woke with brute force.

Syrus raised her sword.

Stab

And she plunged it through the knight’s heart.

“We are done here.” Syrus sheathed her weapon and began her slow work to their place.

It should only take a few minutes to reach their house, but as they move, with the adrenaline of the fight no longer active, their body slowly slowed down.

[Hehe, argh, dammit, we might actually pass out on the dirt.] (Syrus)

[Is the vitaliser doing anything?] (Luna)

[If we didn’t take that, we would’ve passed out when I did that strike.] (Syrus)

Everything had been too much, and their body needed to rest. The problem was if they would make it home because passing out anywhere else could spell doom.

[But… we did a good job, didn’t we?] (Eva)

A small grin appeared on Syrus’ face. [Yeah, we sure did. Couldn’t have done it without you, Eva.]

[Our work was sublime in every way that was important.] (Luna)

[Sublime?] (Syrus)

[Very good.] (Luna)

[Understood, we did indeed do a very sublime job.] (Syrus)

[Hmhmm!] Eva agreed, the group's self-praise really helped raise her mood.

They turned another corner, and Syrus was nearly tempted to use the sword as a crutch. As she moved, they also saw some of the guards that were patrolling the city begin to wake up.

[Apathy huh…] (Luna)

[An emotional attribute… though I guess it could be considered the opposite of them since it is about not feeling.] (Eva)

[The emotion attributes can amplify or reduce emotional responses, so I would assume it still qualifies.] (Luna)

[Did you read about it before, Luna?] (Eva)

[No, the list of attributes in that field was far from complete, and Apathy was never registered.] (Luna)

[I wonder if it got confused with another attribute if it ever appeared.] (Eva)

[Not impossible. Once you reach the special group of attributes, it can be hard to figure out what they are.] (Luna)

The library Luna read from was far from complete, and it wasn’t a place that was dedicated to research either.

[How about you, Syrus? What do you know about it?] Luna asked.

[Pretty standard stuff. It can lower the affected individuals' emotional response.] Syrus groaned as she turned another corner and felt her muscles fall asleep. [It can be used to make a crowd less excited, and be focused on a single person to basically shut them down for a moment.]

[So that… Witch… had a much more powerful version of that?] (Eva)

[Pretty much.] (Syrus)

[Was it that strong when you felt it before?] (Luna)

[...No, it was not that strong, but compared the last time I felt it, it still has a similar feeling attached to it.] (Syrus)

[Did… The feeling of it changed at some point?] Luna asked. Maybe Syrus had been affected by the attribute multiple times and the disgusting feeling was only related to the current user–she didn’t know, so she asked.

[Likely, but I can’t say much because I don’t know what happened. The last time I saw her, she was quickly gone.] (Syrus)

“Syrus!”

“Woof!”

Two familiar faces ran down the roads towards Anlesa.

“Oh, hey kid…” Said Syrus, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m… here to help you.” Ethan looked up at her.

“That sounds like the opposite of what I asked you.” Syrus poked the boy’s head.

“Um… maybe…”

Huffing and puffing, the third familiar voice called out. “Don’t— put too much stress on the kid.” Ash, who was running after the two came following shortly behind.

“Looks like you need to exercise more.”

Ash swore, “This may surprise you, but being punched in the gut fucking hurts.” She jogged up to Syrus’ side and lent her shoulder. “Come on, let’s get you back.”

“Thanks.”

The trio continued to wobble forward as they approached Anlesa’s home, and Ash’s shop.

“Did you do it?”

“Yeah.”

“The explosion, you?”

“Also yeah.”

“Wow…” Ethan opened his mouth in shock.

“Damn, you are crazy.” Said Ash.

“Heh, it worked out. People started waking up.”

“And you are likely suffering from mana strain from doing that.”

“Among other things.”

“Fuck, once we get you back to my store I will patch you u–”

“No.”

Ash pinched Anlesa’s ear, “What do you mean, no?!”

“Ah!” Eva squealed.

“As if I let a patient go where they are still bloody injured!”

“No… I need alone time.”

Ash sighed. “Sure, I will take you to your place.”

“Miss?” Ethan said.

Ash replied. “Don’t worry, Brat, I know what I am doing.”

Ash unclipped Syrus’ sword and gave it to Ethan. “Kid, carry that, we are rushing to Syrus’s place.” Ash ducked down and threw Syrus on her back. Ash’s teeth clenched, and she began running.

It was a simple dash, but she went as fast as she could to the building. Upon reaching it Ash knocked open the door and placed

“Thanks, Ash; you're my life saviour.”

“Says the idiot who might’ve just saved the town.”

"Well, thanks; if that’s the case, can you do me a favour?”

Ash closed her eyes, expecting the answer. “What?”

“I need to be left alone.”

Anlesa could feel her body wanting to fall asleep. They definitely pushed themselves too much over the last few days. But Syrus was doing everything in her power to stay awake until the duo left.

“But…” Said Ethan.

“Trust me, kid.” Ethan placed the blade on the table, and Ash dragged everyone out.

Anlesa’s mind left the body and returned to the commune of souls, and the body's senses completely died down.

[Damn, usually we normally feel at least something if we stay in here while sleeping, but no, all our senses are quiet.] (Syrus)

[Back to the conversation from before, what was the Witch’s name?] Luna asked; she wanted to try and investigate the person, but to do that, a name would be helpful.

Syrus paused. [I don’t know if she is still using the same name, but it was Levi.]