Ran opened his eyes with a jolt, feeling as though he had been asleep while standing. The scene before him was utterly incomprehensible.
What happened here?
The first thing he noticed was that he was covered in cuts, as if he had just survived a brutal, life-and-death struggle. Beneath him lay the little girl, unconscious. He didn't know if her state was the result of her fight with Vladimir or something else entirely.
She was riddled with cuts and bruises, her pale white skin painted in blood. But one detail instantly caught Ran's eye: her mutated hand was completely gone. She was back to normal.
How? The question bothered at him.
'I can't remember any of it. What happened?'
It was beyond unusual. Infact.. it was impossible. How could a Saber ever revert to normal? No Saber had ever been known to lose their mutated physiology. Yet here she was, her grotesque hand returned to a normal, human state.
"Why can't I remember?" Ran muttered.
"■■■"
"Ahhh!!!" Ran screamed, clutching his head from immense pain.
His skull throbbed at the mere attempt to recall the events. All that remained were fragmented, glitching memories of a voice whispering directly to him.
As if warning him, forcibly preventing him from remembering anything that had transpired.
Maybe I can ask her.
He reached out and began to shake her body to wake her up. Even though he hesitated to harm her further in this fragile state, the ways of the Bloodrune House were ruthless. If he had to torture her for answers, so be it.
Slowly, the little girl opened her deep blue eyes and made contact with Ran. Before he could utter a single word, she threw herself into his arms, baffling him.
What is happening?
"Hey, what happened between us?" Ran demanded.
"Hmm... don't you remember? ■■■ then proceeded to ■■■. I am grateful you brought back our ■■■."
What are you saying? I can't hear you. My head is spinning from the pain. What is going on here?
Ran felt his very identity fracturing while the girl babbled on about her encounter with him.
Seeing how confused Ran was, she grinned widely. Her deep blue eyes turned hollow. "Don't worry, brother. You will eventually remember. Until then, please take care of me."
Ran was the youngest prodigy, a child personally favored by Somes and hailed as a child of destiny. He was a boy afraid of no one, yet feared by all of his siblings and cousins.. and yet, he found himself trembling under the hollow gaze of this girl.
Strangely, his heart began to beat rapidly. He felt an intense draw toward her. The feeling felt entirely fake, yet terrifyingly real.
Vladimir who was still unconscious suddenly opened his eyes and immediately raised his sword in full alertness. The sickening miasma of that Saber had not vanished.
But instead of the monster, he was greeted by the sight of his nephew.
He was wounded all over, but what truly caught Vladimir's eye was the girl he was carrying.
"Sir Vladimir, I have taken care of this girl," Ran said.
"How?" Vladimir asked skeptically. There was no way a mere child could defeat an entity that he himself couldn't.
"You had already severely weakened her. I needed no more than a single strike to finish the job."
Although Vladimir still harbored questions, it was the most reasonable explanation available.
"Put down the girl. I shall finish her." Vladimir raised his sword to execute the unconscious child.
Ran did not move.
"Ran Bloodrune, are you defying your superior?" Vladimir asked, his blood-red eyes locking onto Ran with a death stare. Ran's body trembled under the murderous glint, but he refused to put her down.
"Sir Vladimir, this girl has somehow been reverted from a Saber state. Don't you think she could be an invaluable asset for our research? We still don't know what they truly are or how they think. It would be far more reasonable to adopt her into the family and utilize both her knowledge and her skills."
Vladimir stared at Ran in dead silence, his expression entirely unreadable. Ran could only hold his breath and pray for a positive outcome.
After what felt like an eternity, Vladimir lowered his sword.
"So be it."
* * * * *
Ran later proceeded to tell his father about the incident at the ghost town.
From that day forward, the girl endured a brutal series of physical and mental tortures in the family's interrogation room. Yet, she said nothing. She had only one answer to give to every question asked: "I don't remember."
Because Ran's explanation to Vladimir seemed the most logical theory of what had occurred, the family eventually closed the investigation. But she was still useful. If not for her immense mana capacity, the family would have disposed of her long ago.
A few years later, Vladimir was ordered by Patriarch Somes to adopt the girl. She was given a new name: Lily Bloodrune.
But for Ran, it was the beginning of a slow, agonizing deterioration. He was afflicted by a rare disease called mana drain soon after the incident.