Cedric had not forgotten what the Martinis did to the original Cedric. He remembered how they had treated him like something less than human for all those years, and how they eventually sold him off to be killed just for a bit of sport at the arena.

To make matters worse, the original Cedric's lack of a bond wasn't even his own fault; it was the fault of the head of the barony. The Baron had a secret affair with a commoner, and that bloodline mix was exactly what had caused the failure.

It made no sense to him. If the Baron knew the truth, that Cedric was the way he was because of his own mistake, why did he still treat him like garbage? You would think there would be some guilt there, but instead, there was only more cruelty.

Cedric sighed and shifted his gaze from the fire to the moon.

Well, despite the fact that it was the original Cedric that had suffered through all that and not him personally, he still felt angry anytime he remembered that.

Of course, given the chance, he would not let the Martini Barony, especially the Baron, go unpunished for what they had done, but he knew that he was not strong enough to do anything right now. That sort of justice would have to wait for a distant future.

The Baron was a grade seven dominant, and his wife was the same grade, so trying to face them now would be nothing short of a death wish. He needed time to grow, to gather his own strength, and to become something that'd make them regret the things they did to Cedric.

In the meantime, he did not want anything to do with them, and just wanted to stay out of their reach, focusing on his power and survival.

…The camp was quiet after he had spoken, until Audrey finally broke the quiet.

"Does this have something to do with the merchant that Levi spoke about that time?"

She had barely spoken, when Celeste, who was already on edge, perked up and asked, "Merchant? Wh… what do you mean merchant?"

Audrey's face went pale, as if she had said something she shouldn't have. She stammered for a second, "Uhm… it was uh… back at the bastion. I heard Levi ask him about how he had escaped a merchant."

The tension in the air shifted immediately. Celeste stared at Audrey with a look that was somewhere between suspicion and genuine fear.

She turned to Cedric lying on the floor, "What is this about merchants, Cedric? What happened?"

Cedric turned to see every other member of the party looking at him with a mix of curiosity and growing concern. He looked away, back to the moon, and sighed.

'What a bother.'

Eventually, he closed his eyes and began in a voice that lacked any emotion.

"I'm no longer a Martini, you know? They sold me off to a cold merchant to be killed at the royal arena because I did not have a bond." He paused, the blade of grass in his mouth shifting as he spoke. "Ahh, wait. Actually, they did kill me. I died at that arena."

The silence that followed was heavy.

Celeste's face turned pale. She covered her mouth and looked away, and then tears began to form in her eyes and she started to tremble.

The others just blinked in disbelief and exchanged uneasy glances. They looked at Cedric, then at each other, as if waiting for him to laugh and say it was all a dark joke. But Cedric opened his eyes and just kept staring at the moon, and his lack of a reaction made it impossible for them to dismiss it as a prank.

Eventually, he spoke again. "Well, they say every cloud has a silver lining." He chuckled, though the sound was dry and hollow. "Who would have thought that I'd have a bond manifest seconds before my death, and end up coming back to life."

He sighed, then sat upright.

"Anyway, it looks like the mood has grown somber now."

He stood up and walked away to a boulder some meters away, then sat beside it.

He wanted to be alone right now. He really didn't want to deal with any other questions, or their pity.

Reaching out into his inventory, he took out a bottle of alcohol and took a long, slow swig. Then, he leaned his head back against the rough surface of the boulder, staring up at the moon.

At that moment, a figure appeared beside him.

It was Aika. She gently wrapped her arms around his arm, then leaned on him. Cedric didn't complain. Actually, she was the only company he didn't mind right now, and so, he simply relaxed into her touch and let the silence stretch out between them.

***

Elsewhere…

In a vast and desolate stretch of land, the horizon was filled with broken homes and crumbling stone walls. The ground was covered in ashes and even the air itself felt heavy with the scent of soot.

It was as if this was a place that had been consumed by a big fire a long time ago. But despite its desolate appearance, it was far from empty. The sound of metal hitting metal like a thousand blacksmiths were working, could be heard everywhere, ringing out from the ruins and echoing across the blackened plains.

In the center of this ruined wasteland, a large red rift was suspended in the air, pulsing like a beating heart.

Not too far away from where the rift was located, a large fortress stood, made of obsidian stone and reinforced with dark iron.

In a large chamber at the very heart of the fortress, the room was dimly lit by eerie blue flames. And in the center of this chamber, a creature sat on the floor with its legs crossed, quietly reading a book.

This creature looked humanoid, with the complete features of a human being, except for the fact that its body appeared to be made entirely of metal. Even its face looked like it was wearing a permanent metal mask, one that moved and shifted naturally whenever it blinked or turned a page. It was as if a person had been dipped in molten silver or iron, leaving them with a cold, reflective surface that mimicked the texture of real skin.

It was dressed in pristine white robes and sat with a posture that was strangely graceful.

Then, all of a sudden, it slowly turned its head to look at its side, then spoke in a deep voice that was laced with disdain.

"How dare you barge into my home, you fake god?"

In the direction he was looking at, two figures suddenly appeared. The man who looked like he had just rolled out of his bed, was dressed in lazy black robes hanging loosely off his shoulders while the lady was dressed in a red silk dress.

They were Lee Lim and Eunji.

Lee Lim whose hands were behind his back grinned, while Eunji folded her arms and finally broke the silence in an expressionless voice.

"I will advise that you watch your tone, Argentos, Lord of the hollow ones."

Argentos looked away, closing his book and began to laugh in a low, hollow rumble.

Then, using the book, he pointed at Eunji and continued angrily. "Watch my tone, huh? Answer me this then, will you? For what reason have you brought that rift to my home?"

He tilted his head and his grip on the book tightened. "You know how much my people desire to avoid the gaze of the world, yet you place that thing right on my doorstep."

Eunji narrowed her eyes and simply replied, "It is the wish of the gods that the bridge be brought here."

"You lie!" Argentos yelled, slowly standing up. "It's been ages since I last felt the presence of the true god I serve."

As he stepped closer to her, he tilted his head and his voice returned to a low rumble. "Which god exactly do you speak of?"

It was at this point that Lee Lim finally spoke. "That's enough, Argentos."

Argentos suddenly paused and looked at Lee Lim. But the moment his eyes stared into Lee Lim's golden pupils, he looked away and grabbed his head, before groaning in pain and collapsing onto one knee.

"Make it stop!" he gasped.

Lee Lim reached out and gripped his shoulder, then muttered in a cold voice. "You are the protectors of this realm. So I need you to do everything in your power to make sure that the red bridge does not collapse under your watch."

He raised his other hand and suddenly, the flames of decay erupted in a dark flicker. "You cretins have the ability to sniff out magic, right?"

Argentos slowly turned to look at the black flames.

Lee Lim then continued. "When those otherworlders come to destroy the bridge, I need you to look for the one among them with this aura. Use that nose of yours to find the scent of the decay I am showing you now. And when you do find the bastard, I need you to kill him yourself. Understood?"

Argentos sniffed a few times, then gave an hesitatant nod.

Lee Lim finally let go of his shoulder and looked away from him, and the pressure that was crushing Argentos' mind suddenly eased.

"One last thing," Lee Lim said. "I will forgive your insolence this time. But the next time it happens, I will personally kill every last one of the hollow ones."

He had barely finished when his form began to slowly fade into the shadows, and in the next few seconds, he was gone, with Eunji following him into the darkness.

At that moment, Argentos yelled in rage, "Damn you!"

He then threw the book that he was reading across the room, watching it slam into the obsidian wall with a heavy thud. He stood there for a long time, his metal chest rising and falling as he stared at the spot where the two of them had vanished.

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