Half an hour later, the meeting was over.
Nephis stood tall, her voice steady as she spoke of unity, but the weight of Kai's revelation still hung in the air like smoke. The others agreed to cooperate, for now because their goals aligned, but the cracks were there for all to see.
Medici, in particular, made no effort to hide his disdain. Arms crossed, lips curled in a smirk, he declared flatly that he would never accept Nephis's command. To him, the very thought of bowing his head to the "autistic blowtorch" was insulting.
And that suited Amon just fine.
In fact, it was exactly what he wanted: Nephis, stripped of unquestioned authority; Medici, standing taller, swaggering like a lord already. The seeds of division were planted, and when they bloomed… Amon didn't care what the title was; Bright Lord, King of Rats, or Blood Emperor. Okay, he wanted it to be Blood Emperor.
When the last words were spoken and the tension still lingered, Amon clapped his hands lightly.
"Well! What a productive discussion. Truly enlightening. But if you'll excuse us…" He gave a polite bow, grabbed Kai by the arm, and strolled out without waiting for dismissal.
The ruined pagoda's heavy silence remained behind him, along with the shaken cohort now forced to face their old friend in a new light.
Outside, Amon stretched, inhaling the crisp, corrupted air with a contented sigh. "Ah… I do love meetings. Don't you, Kai?"
Kai just gave him a look, half-exasperated, half-anxious.
And that's how the original cohort reunited with their old companion, only this time, nothing would ever be the same.
Nephis's boots echoed softly on the broken stone as she approached. Her face was composed, but the twitch of her fingers betrayed the storm beneath.
"Can I speak with Luna?" she asked, her voice clipped.
Seishan studied her for a long, silent moment before stepping aside.
Luna shifted uneasily, shoulders tense. It was clear she wanted nothing to do with Nephis, or any of them but she exhaled, sat down, and fixed her gaze on the three who edged closer.
"What is it?" she asked flatly.
Nephis hesitated, eyes lowering. "…I wanted to talk about what happened in the Labyrinth."
Luna's blue eyes glinted like ice. "Yes. What about it?"
Cassie forced a small, trembling smile. "It's not what you think, Luna. We just had-"
"To abandon me," Luna cut in, voice calm and merciless. "To save yourselves. I understand."
The casual venom in her words made Cassie shrink back.
Sunny, however, only shrugged. "You have to understand we had no choice. Either everyone dies, or only you. I made that call."
The way he said it, so casual, so dismissive, made Luna stare at him in disbelief. Slowly, her hand curled into a fist.
"…I said I understand," she whispered. Her jaw tightened. "So what the fuck do you want now?"
Medici, lurking on the sidelines, muttered under his breath. Shit. Barbarian girl's waking up. Run, bitches, run…
Nephis pressed forward, her voice soft but steady. "I know you're angry. I just hoped you could see our side as well."
That was when Luna smiled. Not her usual gentle smile, this one was sharp as glass. She rose, her eyes cold and bright and her voice a hiss.
"Fuck you."
Cassie blinked, stunned. "…Pardon?"
"Fuck you," Luna repeated, louder, teeth bared in a grin. "I could've forgiven you. If you'd just been honest. But no, you try to play me with manipulations, as if I'm too stupid to notice. And instead of an apology, you want me to feel guilty. To understand your pain. Your side. So fuck you. Fuck your feelings. Fuck all of it."
Sunny's grin widened, but his eyes gleamed with a wild, predatory light. He took a step closer, shadows clinging to him like a cloak.
"Oh? I'm sorry I'm not perfect like you, princess. Outskirts rat, remember? Not quite on your level. But you forgot about us just fine, didn't you? You went to your castle and lived comfortably while we bled." His voice dropped into a cruel whisper. "Tragic."
"Sunny!" Nephis snapped, but he didn't stop.
Luna's arm warped, flesh splitting into a gleaming blade. She raised it, her gaze burning holes into him.
"So that's what you are," she said softly. "Disillusioned. Spiteful. Drowning in envy. Cruel just to be cruel. A pathetic, disgusting little man."
Sunny's smile cracked into a snarl, the words cutting deeper than she knew. The voice under his bed had reminded her of that enough times.
"Say one more word and-"
"And what?"
The new voice sliced through the air. Everyone froze.
Seishan stood a few steps away, her cold eyes fixed on the scene.
The tension snapped like a thread. Luna exhaled, her blade melting back into flesh. She flexed her fingers, gave the trio one last, contemptuous look, and turned to Seishan.
"It's nothing," she muttered. "Let's go."
Seishan's gaze lingered on Nephis, Sunny, and Cassie for a heartbeat longer before she followed.
The meeting was now officially over, as everyone went their separate ways. Medici, unfortunately, had to walk back with Nephis's cohort.
Medici walked ahead with his two companions, ignoring the muffled sounds of Nephis's group behind. The ruined city was too dangerous to walk alone, so for now they were stuck together. He clicked his tongue at the thought.
That was when a pale, wiry young man with messy black hair drifted closer. His dark eyes gleamed with mockery, and his lips curled into a grin.
"Tell me," Sunny drawled, "why are you keeping that guy around?"
Medici glanced down at him, literally. Sunny barely reached his chest. His brow furrowed. "What do you mean by that?"
Sunny tilted his head, wearing a mask of sympathy that felt more like venom than kindness. He still remembered what Amon had said to him and Cassie back at the academy and Sunny never forgot a grudge.
"Amon, isn't it? Superior observation, sure, but that's all. Weak. Nothing special. Just another mouth to feed. You're smarter than that, aren't you? So why keep useless weight?"
Effie barked a laugh. "He is weak, yeah. But gods, he's a mischievous cutie. The way he talks circles around people is hilarious."
Medici narrowed his eye, his gaze growing more colder and angrier, too. Nephis ignored it at first but still took notice of it and remained vigilance.
Smart choice because in next second, Medici grabbed Sunny and slammed him on old, moss covered wall, flames igniting all over his body.
"Listen here, you little shit. Insult my friend one more time and you be nothing but a ashes. Do you understand?"
Sunny laughed, not really concerned about his life since Nephis and others were here. So he continued mocking with a pitying smirk that made Medici's blood boil.
"Oh, why so angry? Struck a nerve? I'm just saying what everyone's already thinking but too scared to admit. He's dead weight. He hides behind you, leeching off your strength, and you lap it up like a blind idiot. You call that a friend? That's a parasite. He's weak, pathetic, and when things get tough he'll be the first to break. And you'll be dragged down right into the dirt with him. That's the truth, and deep down, you know it."
Medici sneered at him while Changing Star and her cohort were about to intervene, but Medici conjured flaming sword and glanced at them, warning was clear. Another step and alliance is broken and he dies.
After making himself understood, Medici glanced back at Sunless, looking at pitiful, petty boy for some time and laughed.
"And you think that makes you someone great? No, that makes you leach and coward! What do you mean get rid of your weak friend? A friend that was with me since day one? So if your friends remain weaker than you than you will left them in dust to go and suck some stronger dudes dicks and try to leach your way to top? Is that so, motherfucker?"
Medici leaned closer with grin while Sunny's eyes widened for a moment and then hissed in pain as he felt the temperature rising around Medici.
"That's how the world works!" Sunny spat through clenched teeth, voice trembling with both pain and fury. "Do you think Nephis would keep any of us if we weren't useful?! No, she wouldn't! The second we became weak or useless, she'd drop us and find someone stronger. That's the truth! That's survival!"
Medici blinked, then suddenly threw him back like a ragdoll. Sunny slammed against broken stone, coughing in pain. Medici only laughed, loud and derisive, his crimson eyes gleaming like burning coals. He stepped toward Sunless, unbothered by the tense silence from Nephis and her cohort. Nephis herself gave Sunny an unreadable look, before raising her gaze back to Medici.
Meanwhile, Medici grinned wide and shook his head.
"You can't do it on your own so you just whore yourself out to the strong and leave your real friends behind? That's your grand philosophy? That's pathetic. Friends who've been with you since day one, you toss them aside the moment they stop being convenient? That's not survival, that's cowardice. That's not strength, that's weakness hiding behind strength that isn't yours."
He turned, glancing at his two subordinates: Ben and Rodrick, who were grinning back at him. Their laughter only made the silence around Nephis's cohort more suffocating.
"Sure, my friends might be drunkards, lazy idiots, weak sometimes. So what? That's the point of friendship, isn't it? To pull each other out of the dirt, not to spit on them while you run to lick the boots of someone stronger. That's brotherhood. That's loyalty. That's what makes us men, not pussies like you. What you've got?" Medici gestured dismissively at Sunny and his allies. "That's not friendship. That's a transaction. A contract. A fucking deal."
Medici's grin widened, cruel and mocking.
"And you know what? There's nothing I pity more than mentally-ill, self-loathing little freaks like you. Always pretending you're clever, but deep down just pathetic cowards who can't face their own reflection. Hahahaha!"
He slung his spear over his shoulder and turned away, laughing with Ben and Rodrick as the three of them walked off, their laughter echoing through the ruins like a victory chant.
Sunny, meanwhile, stood trembling, fists clenched so tight his knuckles bled. His expression twisted into pure hatred and venom, his onyx eyes burning as he stared at Medici's vanishing form.
Those bastards…
They reminded him of everything he hated in himself. Everything he wanted to bury. Everything he wanted to kill.
"I'm gonna kill them…" he muttered, barely audible.
After a few minutes, Nephis's cohort silently continued their journey. Cassie, her pale face shadowed with guilt, looked back one last time and whispered softly, her voice breaking:
"I'm sorry, Luna… I misread the prophecy. I made a mistake…"
***
[A/N: And here it is! The long-awaited interaction between Luna and the cohort! Medici also shows us what a real man is. Honestly, I think he's slowly beating Fraud's allegations and becoming the embodiment of masculinity he's supposed to be! Heh, that's what bros are for. Anyway, this chapter isn't as long as the previous one. This is my usual chapter length, around 1,800+ words, so sorry. It's all I managed after attending my neighbor's uncle's funeral. Enjoy the meal!]
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