As the large bestial feet landed, the cave went dead silent. Nisha was still on me, her spasms finally calming, and I pulled her away as gently as I could manage.

I managed — barely. Her weight won out, and she slipped from my grip to hit the ground with a soft thud. The beast's legs shifted outside, and I gritted my teeth in immediate regret. The sound had been small, but in this silence, it might as well have been a thunderclap.

She lay there, looking half dead, half alive. Her legs were shamelessly spread apart, her body drenched and glistening with sweat. She was either still conscious or too exhausted to care about her state right now. Either way, I removed my cloak and covered her with it.

I turned to the entrance of the cave. Smaller legs landed on the stony ground — human legs, I realized. They paused, turned for a few seconds, and then the feet redirected toward the cave. Then began to approach. I summoned Kassie at the same time, the familiar weight of her presence settling beside me like cold comfort.

As they bent and entered the cave, I was standing with Kassie at my side.

The moment the person stepped inside, he stopped and looked at me through the darkness. I could see him clearly enough. The shadows weren't so deep with late morning light still filtering in from outside.

This guy — everything about him was screaming 'chosen one'. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, with ethereal, almost too-beautiful features. Long flowing white-silver hair framed a face that belonged on a statue. His build was slender but athletic, the kind that came from actual combat rather than vanity. He was covered in ornate ceremonial armor decorated with elaborate gold filigree that caught what little light existed in the cave.

And a long, massive greatsword rested on his back.

He looked at me intently, studied the surroundings — his eyes didn't miss Nisha lying on the floor. Then he brought his gaze to Kassie, regarding her with an indifferent expression. His eyes had a silvery-white glow to them, an inner light that almost didn't feel dangerous.

Almost.

This guy, whoever he was, was bad news. And he was rubbing me the wrong way in every possible sense.

He casually pulled a piece of paper from his armor, muttering — not loudly, but his voice carried through the cave with an unsettling serenity.

"Black hair, deep black eyes, lean frame… dark circles…" He exchanged looks between me and the paper in his hands. Then finally exhaled, folding it and tossing it aside like discarded trash.

His eyes met mine. "It is you after all. The Genocidal Heretic."

I smiled and waved at him. "Hello, nice to meet you too. I'm Cade Marlowe, and you?"

He was silent for a moment, his gaze even and straight. Then he suddenly burst out laughing.

The laugh faded, and his hand went over his shoulder to grip the hilt of his sword.

"Okay, Cade Marlowe." His voice dropped to a low, even tone — not rising, not falling. Just flat. "I am Templar Light, an Inquisitor of the Eternal Light. I've read the reports of the plaza incident, Cade. Three hundred and forty confirmed dead. Another eighty still being identified." He let each word land like a hammer strike. "Women. Merchants. Children who had no idea what was happening. You did that."

His words resonated deeply with me for a second — longer than I wanted them to.

Even I didn't know I had caused so much damage. The number formed a bitter taste in my mouth, thick and acrid on my tongue. Three hundred and forty. Eighty more. Children.

But I swallowed that bitter taste.

The weight of my sin — I would carry it. I would suffer it. But not at the hands of these bastards. Not from the same church that had hunted me after bringing me into this world, killed people and condemned them as heretics to probably suit their own agenda. They didn't get to judge me. Not them.

"What?" I let mock surprise color my voice. "Certainly, I didn't expect the numbers to be so little! Guess I slacked for a minute, huh?"

His face went cold, and he drew his sword with a chilling metallic ring that echoed through the cave. The greatsword came fully out — massive, gleaming — and he held it over his head, angled to one side with practiced ease.

Kassie was summoning her own greatsword in response, the dark metal manifesting in her grip.

'Thank goodness she's not refusing to interfere this time because he's human.'

Somehow it seemed Kassie also recognized the weight of this situation. The threat this pretty boy actually posed.

Just when I thought everything was going to go smoothly, my beautiful villainess buried her sword into the ground with a decisive thunk and cracked her knuckles against each other.

'Of course. I was stupid to think otherwise for even a second.'

Templar Light looked at her with a slightly tilted head, his expression unchanged. Then he turned to me.

"You will be making a very stupid mistake, Cade."

'I know, motherfucker. Left to me, I'd want her to slice you in half as soon as possible. But her ego is bigger than this entire planet, and apparently she needs to prove something right now.'

I smirked back at him instead. Had to act like I was in control of this whole thing. Like I'd planned for Kassie to go bare-knuckle against an Inquisitor with a giant sword.

"Stupid mistake?" I shook my head slowly. "You're the one making a stupid mistake — thinking you can actually fight my summon just because I'm F-rank."

Silence stretched through the cave. Templar Light studied me and my summon, his expression carrying nothing — no emotion, no regard, no dismissal. Just that flat, assessing stare.

The next moment, he exploded forward.

Wind burst from where he'd stood, and his figure became a blur tearing through the distance between us. It caught me completely off guard — there was no way I would have ever been able to respond in time.

But Kassie could.

She shot forward to meet him. I didn't know how she'd read the exact moment he moved, but when he did, she did too. But she stopped midway and stepped aside at the last instant, letting his momentum carry him past her.

In that moment, the Templar's eyes widened as he sailed by.

But she didn't let him finish passing. Her arm anchored and slammed into his gut — not a punch, but something more brutal. Her forearm caught him like a clothesline, using his own speed against him to stop his charge and redirect all that force backward in one uninterrupted motion.

He flew back through the air and crashed through the stalactites hanging from the cave ceiling. Stone shattered around him as he smashed into the entrance, breaking apart the upper portion of the opening and tumbling outside in a cascade of rubble.

'Yes! Good one, Kassie!'

She straightened and looked back at me, then down at Nisha's collapsed form, as if telling me to clean up my mess. Then she marched outside after the Inquisitor, her hips swaying with that confident stride she always had.

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