James's eyes darted toward the door, his heart skipping a beat."Who's ye, little pig?" Robin growled.
"Come now, you old fart—rent is due! You've been dodging me for too long!" the voice thundered from outside.
Henry glanced at Robin, cheeks puffed as he stifled a laugh. "The great maestro, hiding from landlords? Oh, how far you've fallen, old friend." His grin spread wide, shades of pink coloring his face.
"Buwahahah!" He finally burst out laughing.
Robin's own face flushed crimson with embarrassment."Ah, can it, you bastard. What would you know?" He snapped, turning away before calling out to the man beyond the door.
"Tell Robarts I'll pay him tomorrow. I've got guests today!" Robin shouted.
"No, no, Robin—that's what you said last time! We're not going anywhere until you fork up the money!" The man bellowed back.
"Ptttttmmm… how much is it?" Henry asked, pulling out his coin sack.
It was a small, weathered brown pouch, tied shut with a dark string to keep it sealed. Coins jingled softly as Henry reached inside. He fished out a silver piece and flicked it toward Robin.
The coin spun through the air, ringing like chiming bells, before Robin snatched it with his left hand. His face tightened instantly, as though he'd bitten into a sour grape.
"…It's two Seldar," he muttered.
"What?" Henry exclaimed with exaggerated hysteria, cupping a hand behind his ear. "Didn't catch that."
Robin's jaw clenched. "It's two Seldar," he repeated, a little louder but still under his breath.
"Ha…?" Henry teased again, smirking.
"Alright, you bastard—it's two Seldar!" Robin roared, half furious, half embarrassed.
Henry giggled and tossed him another coin. Most households could live on a single Seldar for two months.
Grumbling, Robin reached for a nearby ash bowl, scooping some of its contents into his hand. He sprinkled the ash carefully over the plants growing by his door.
Slowly, they began to shift. They uncoiled unnaturally, reminiscent of a shedding snake, twisting and writhing until their size was no more than that of a small potted plant.
His hand trembled as it reached for the door handle. At last, his grip tightened, and he pulled it open.
"Here, take i—"
In a split second, he was hurled backward, flung clear across the room. His body crashed into the pile of plant rubble scattered messily against the far wall.
James's eyes followed Robin as he sailed through the air, then snapped back to the pulsing form at the door. The same pulse as before.
"Henry… they're not human. I saw them before. They're the same as the monsters at school."
Henry's face drained of color.
"It's just one thing after another… When will I ever catch a break?" he muttered, sighing as he summoned his Sig. The weapon pulsed with a deep orange hue.
Henry rushed to Robin's side.
"Cough! Cough!" Robin sputtered, hacking as Henry helped him to his feet.
""These f*ckers… They caught—cough!—me by surprise," Robin rasped, wobbling on his feet.
"You've truly aged, Rob. The old you would've blocked that—even if they caught you off guard," Henry said, his eyes fixed on him as Robin finally managed to stand on his own.
"On guard, Robin," Henry warned, turning his gaze back to the intruders.
"James," he said steadily, shifting into a fighting stance, "can you tell how many there are?"
James's eyes darted across the room, counting under his breath."Three," he answered at last. "Two of them might be second and third stages… the other one… mmm… I'm not quite sure."
"That's more than enough," Henry muttered, jaw tightening. "We're fighting to escape."
Two men stepped into the light. One had dark skin, his free-flowing hair twisted into heavy dreads. His eyes were a sharp brown, but it wasn't his gaze that froze the air—it was his hand. Or rather, the thing that had replaced it. Where flesh should have been, a pale, foreign limb was sewn crudely into place, stitches running jagged around the joint like a mockery of humanity.
The other intruder's skin was lighter, his patchwork face more grotesque—half-sewn, half-scorned. One eye gleamed green, the other a cold blue, the scar that split his face carving all the way down to his torso.
Robin's peg leg glowed with runes. He stomped the ground, and a wave rippled outward, slow at first, then swelling with momentum. The stone floor shuddered, tearing apart before rising like clenched fists. They seized the intruders by their wrists and throats, slamming them to the ground, pinning them fast.
Henry swept his hand forward. A blade of light flickered into being, swift and merciless. With a single slash, the intruders fell, heads severed clean. A thud echoed as the bodies collapsed. The rolling heads came to a stop—facing James.
"Ha… I thought they were going to give us a fight." Robin smirked—until his eyes widened.
"What—in the bloody hell is that?"
The severed heads blinked. From the ragged stumps of their necks, no blood spilled—only thick, black sludge. It oozed out in writhing tendrils, crawling across the stone. A droplet spattered against a nearby plant. The leaves curled, withered, and in a breath, turned to dust.
The sludge slithered on, coiling toward the heads. Reaching the torn necks, it seeped back inside, knitting flesh and bone as the two heads began to merge once more.
"Inferno," James murmured, hurling a fire seal at the man. Flames burst forth, consuming him in an instant. Henry followed up with his own seal, a roaring blaze engulfing the second body.
"Nice thinking there, James," Robin said.
"Don't drop your guard," Henry warned, scanning the distance. "Last time it took everything we had just to kill one—and we even needed dragon flame."
"Come now, Zihard, they're de—" Robin stopped mid-sentence as the fire began to die. A thick, black, slug-like mass crept across the scorched floor, swallowing everything, even the binding seal that had restrained the intruders moments ago.
A sharp whistling filled the room. James instinctively stepped back.
"Get the key—we're moving!" Henry bellowed.
"Alright, but how many do you have so far?" Robin asked, heading toward his bed.
"Four. Yours is the missing one. Once I get it, we can act." Henry's eyes stayed locked on the intruders.
"Oh… you don't say," Robin replied, his voice dark, almost gleeful.