His brows drew together in a frown.

"Rank 4 Cursed Spirit. Blackout Priest," Valen said.

Musashi turned his gaze to Tomoe, his disciple, lying unconscious on the bed.

His jaw tightened slightly.

He wanted to dismiss Valen's words as lies.

The idea of his disciple being possessed was difficult to accept.

Yet the situation gnawed at him.

The sudden appearance of Valen's group here could be explained if they had been dragged into a domain formed by a Cursed Spirit inhabiting Tomoe's body.

"Rune Sage could have brought you here, and your story about a Cursed Spirit may well be a fabrication," Musashi said calmly.

As soon as his eyes flicked back toward me, my body reacted again.

I trembled violently.

It was instinctive.

There was nothing I could do to stop it.

Fear clawed at my heart and mind, relentless and suffocating.

Around us, the other Exorcists had already collapsed.

Some had fainted outright.

Others lay unmoving, overwhelmed by the pressure.

Only the crewmates and the inn girl were relatively conscious, and even they were shaking.

Their strong minds, possible due to their nature as Cursed Spirits, were the only thing keeping them conscious.

"You may confirm the truth once your disciple awakens. Now then, as delightful as this exchange has been, I do have pressing matters to attend to."

Valen turned and began walking toward me.

"Come with me. I 'saw' your actions within the domain. You assisted greatly, as did everyone here. In return for your efforts, it would be discourteous of me not to extend my aid here."

He could have ignored us.

He could have claimed that his involvement in the domain was repayment enough and left us to our fate.

That would have been logical.

But he didn't.

Which only made me more suspicious.

'Bullshit.'

A Vampire Prince who slaughtered everyone the first time we met doesn't suddenly become kind.

'What is he planning?'

'Is he going to force me to join his group once we escape?'

Of course, he could be naturally kind.

Perhaps after fighting together, he was seeing us as comrades.

But I couldn't be sure of that yet.

As my mind was working on overdrive, Musashi spoke, leisurely, "You look exhausted and injured. What makes you think you can fight your way out?"

Valen turned to face him and smiled.

He spread his arms slightly.

"Did you perhaps forget where we are? If we were to clash seriously here, you would lose hundreds of your people in the aftermath. Talented ones, at that. I doubt that is an outcome you desire."

"True," Musashi said, giving a small nod.

The single word landed heavily.

At that moment, dread settled into my chest.

It was something like a cold certainty.

I didn't know how it would happen or why, but I felt it clearly.

I was going to die.

Valen flicked his wrist and muttered something too quiet for me to hear.

A shield of blood formed in front of me instantly, like overlapping plates.

I barely had time to register it before—

Ting.

The sound was sharp, metallic, and clean, as if two blades had struck each other.

The shield trembled violently.

The impact traveled through it and into the air above us.

I felt pressure rush upward, like something being forcibly redirected.

I raised my head.

The entire roof was gone.

Open sky stretched above us, the edges of the building cleanly sliced away.

'If I had been hit by that directly…'

I lowered my gaze slowly.

'Musashi attacked me, and Valen saved me.'

Musashi was still standing in the same place, calm and unmoved, as if nothing had happened at all.

Valen turned his head toward him, his expression unchanged, though there was a subtle sharpness in his eyes now.

"May I ask what that was for? I do not recall us agreeing to exchange blows just yet."

"I would normally injure you slightly before allowing you to leave," Musashi replied evenly. "You are correct. This is our headquarters. We cannot afford the deaths of the talented Exorcists present here."

He paused.

"But."

Musashi lifted his hand and pointed at me.

"Rune Sage is an enemy of the Exorcist Union and the Monkey King. He possesses the potential to become a major threat. We cannot allow him to leave today, regardless of the cost."

"Do not be so rigid. Rune Sage, after all, saved your disciple by exorcising the Cursed Spirit. That should count for something," Valen said with a faint, polite chuckle.

"This matter and that one are separate. Besides, his actions were not altruistic. He was merely saving himself."

If stealing a God was big news, then exorcising a Rank 4 Cursed Spirit was monumental.

No Rank 4 Cursed Spirit had been successfully exorcised for centuries.

And for Miyamoto Musashi, if Valen's words were to be believed—if the Rank 4 Blackout Priest had really been exorcised—then I had played a major role in it.

That made me dangerous.

My potential was a threat to them.

"You speak boldly for someone who has been waiting for his allies to arrive," Valen said mildly, his tone still refined, though there was a clear edge beneath it.

"And are you not doing the same?" Musashi replied, equally polite. "You are buying time for your injuries to recover and your stamina to return. If we fought immediately, you would be at a considerable disadvantage."

The two stared at each other, their gazes locked.

The pressure in the hall grew heavier, pressing down on everyone still conscious.

'Is there no way out?'

I forced myself to think, and analyze the situation.

I glanced around.

Dante lay motionless where he had fallen, his body still split apart.

Thankfully, one of his forms had survived, which meant he wasn't dead.

But there was no chance he would be fighting anytime soon.

Saint Maverick's situation was worse.

He had been cleaved in half.

I couldn't tell if he was alive or dead, and right now, I didn't have the luxury of checking.

The crewmates could fight if I ordered them to.

They were competent, disciplined, and loyal.

But their combat strength was Rank 4.

Against what stood before us, that wasn't enough.

The inn girl clutched my clothes tightly.

Her guardian would protect her. Only her.

It wouldn't lift a finger for the rest of us.

My jaw tightened.

Then a thought surfaced.

'Wait.'

'Where are the Exorcists from the New Order?'

They should have appeared here with us.

But now, I couldn't see a single one of them.

And something else didn't sit right.

Thirty seconds had passed long ago.

Since our presence had been detected, other Rank 5 Exorcists or Gods stationed here should have arrived by now.

Even one would have tipped the balance decisively.

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