The scene of the large alleyway slowly ca into view, swallowed by towering shadows cast by the surrounding buildings that blocked out much of the afternoon sun.
Terrence and Finn, after a long run through the academy district, had finally reached the alleyway.
And the mont they stepped three feet into it...
They both halted.
Finn’s throat went dry as his gaze swept across the unusual scene before him.
A number of boys occupied the alley. So of them he imdiately recognized as the sa students who had once brought him before the Man in the Dark.
The others, however, were unfamiliar faces.
New recruits.
New people who had possibly been drawn into Edmund’s growing gang.
Finn’s eyes widened as he counted their numbers.
They seed to have doubled.
The realization sent a chill down his spine.
’The Man in the Dark managed to amass this many students to work for him in just a few days?’
The statistics were terrifying.
Then Finn’s eyes fell upon Doram.
The shy boy was on his knees, his head hanging limply. His entire body was bruised, torn, and soaked in blood.
He looked as though he had been dragged through hell itself.
From a distance, he appeared almost dead.
If not for Finn’s keen eyesight catching the faint rise and fall of Doram’s chest, he would have genuinely believed the worst.
At least he was still breathing.
Still alive.
Yet the sight before him made Finn’s blood boil.
His chest tightened.
His entire being throbbed with loathing.
"What have you done?!" Terrence yelled, his eyes twitching with fury as he clenched his fists and prepared to charge straight into the crowd.
Finn grabbed him by the shoulder.
"No," he whispered. "Don’t."
He was angry too.
Furious.
But charging against so many recruits, each capable of wielding similarly powerful magic, was nothing more than volunteering for a beating.
At first, Terrence tried to break free and attack the group anyway.
At least he could take down three of them before they overwheld him.
That alone would have given him so satisfaction.
However, his gaze drifted back to Doram.
The broken figure kneeling in a pool of his own blood.
Terrence’s shoulders sagged.
The anger remained, but the urge to fight faded.
"He needs dical attention," Terrence said.
For once, his voice sounded less like a declaration of war and more like a desperate plea.
Seeing that Terrence had cald down, Finn slowly released his shoulder and turned his attention back toward the group.
"I am Fey," the leader of the group said.
The sa person who had once taken Finn to the Man in the Dark.
"And we don’t intend to fight you..." he continued with a casual shrug. "Not now, though."
His eyes t Finn’s.
A smile stretched across his face.
"Take this as a gift from us to you. For what you did to Edmund."
Fey laughed.
"You almost killed our guy. Blood clot, brain damage, whatever it was."
He pointed toward Doram.
"A half-dead bro is almost equal paynt. So we’ll all be on our rry way."
Fey chuckled again before waving specifically at Finn.
"We’re square, right?"
Finn didn’t reply imdiately.
His face remained blank and unreadable.
But behind those dark eyes burned a rage so intense Fey failed to notice it.
Then, after what felt like an eternity, Finn gave a reluctant nod.
Fey grinned.
With that, he gestured toward his group.
At the signal, they began to move.
Smug expressions decorated every face as they walked past, disappearing out the opposite end of the alleyway.
Leaving behind only Terrence.
Finn.
And Doram.
Terrence rushed over imdiately.
He lifted Doram’s battered body and draped one arm over his shoulder.
Then, moving as quickly as he could, he hurried out of the alleyway toward the academy clinic.
Finn remained behind.
For a mont, he simply stood there.
Staring.
Staring at the spot where Edmund’s group had stood.
Staring at the bloodstained ground where Doram had knelt.
His chest burned.
Then he heard Estes’ voice.
"What do you make of this?"
The question lingered in the air.
Finn let several seconds pass before answering.
"War."
---
Hours had passed before Finn finally left the academy clinic.
He sighed in frustration as he stretched his stiff legs while walking, followed by his arms.
Doram had spent those hours inside the intensive care unit.
The sa intensive care unit they had once taken Edmund to after Finn had fractured his skull.
The irony wasn’t lost on him.
In fact, it only made him angrier.
Seeing his own friend suffer through the sa agony because of sothing he had indirectly caused.
Nurse Yumiko had been far from pleased to see Finn bringing yet another half-dead student into her care.
And after several tense hours of treatnt, she had finally managed to heal most of Doram’s severe injuries.
However, the damage was significant.
His body wouldn’t be able to perform properly for at least another week.
That would affect his training.
His learning pace.
Perhaps even the upcoming Expedition.
And all of it...
Was Finn’s fault.
Finn sighed again and ran a hand through his hair.
For that reason alone, he couldn’t bring himself to sit still and wait for Doram to wake up.
Which was why he had left the clinic.
Left his friends.
Terrence would understand.
At least, that was what Finn told himself.
The glass door of a large convenience store slid open as he pushed through it.
A small bell rang overhead.
’Having power and sitting still... doing nothing...’
Finn moved through the convenience store, passing towering shelves packed with products.
His eyes wandered across them absentmindedly, as though searching for sothing very specific.
’What is the use of having so much power when I can’t protect those I care about?’
He clenched his jaw.
’If I had fought back then, I would have lost... but I could’ve taken down at least four of them.’
His fists tightened.
’And all because I keep my secrets to myself.’
His thoughts drifted toward Estes.
’I could have unleashed Estes. She would’ve defeated every single one of them.’
Finn stopped before a particular shelf.
For the first ti, he truly felt the burden of hiding his secret.
It made him feel powerless.
Hopeless.
And worst of all...
It made him feel like the weak and pathetic boy he once was.
The Finn who avoided confrontations.
The Finn who could do nothing except swing an absurdly heavy sword as slowly as a snail.
But that Finn no longer existed.
Finn reached toward the shelf and pulled down a human-sized demon mask wrapped in white nylon.
The plastic crinkled softly beneath his fingers.
His reflection stared back at him through the glossy packaging.
His Cold, determined and dangerous gaze staring back at him.
"This ti," Finn muttered.
"I’ll be the one who starts the confrontation."
His grip tightened around the mask.
"And I’ll make them pay."
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