Loki Familia's conquest of Knossos had ended in a disastrous failure.
Between the shifting architecture of the dungeon that the enemies manipulated at will, the overwhelming presence of the Demi-Spirit, and the deployment of Level 7 threats like Revis and Ein, the splintered expedition force was lucky to have escaped with their lives.
"...A man-made dungeon?"
"Yeah. A man-made dungeon named Knossos was hidden directly beneath Daedalus Street."
"..."
"I can hardly believe it myself. To think they constructed an artificial labyrinth reaching all the way down to the Middle Floors..."
Akumo sat in a clinical recovery ward, receiving intensive treatment from Amid alongside Finn, who had sustained critical injuries from Revis's curse weapon.
"Isn't it about time I was discharged?"
"Shut it. You suffered Mind Down and fought two Level 7s single-handedly, remember?"
"I didn't take any major hits... except for my back..."
Line mentioned that until the moment she passed out, he didn't have a single scratch on him...
Akumo briefly questioned the origin of the wound on his back, but his train of thought was severed by a sudden commotion erupting outside the facility.
—I already know that...!!
—Then stop your damn blubbering right here!!
"...That's Line and Bete's voices, isn't it?"
They're shouting. It sounds like a full-blown confrontation.
"Amid, it's fine if I step out for a moment, right?"
"...Fine. Go and say something to them."
Akumo threw on his tunic and strode out of the building. The voices grew louder with every step, forcing him to quicken his pace.
"It's because small fry like you keep dragging your feet behind us! That's why I said you're nothing but dead weight!"
"Please, stop..."
"What did you think would happen if you died back there? It would've been a dog's death! A meaningless waste!"
"Bete-san!"
"If you have any shame regarding your own pathetic weakness, get the hell out of my sight right now."
"..."
Line's fists trembled, her body shaking with a mix of indignation and despair, yet she could find no words to strike back. Her weakness had nearly allowed Valetta to slaughter everyone. She had even put Akumo in mortal peril.
The shame and sorrow were suffocating, manifesting as hot tears that refused to stop.
"What, are you just going to sit there and drip more snot?!"
"Bete!! That's enough!! Line and the others put their lives on the line too!"
"And what the hell does that matter?! Putting a life on the line means nothing when you're that damn weak!"
"...!!"
"You bastard...! Could you still say that even if Line-chan and the others had actually died?!"
"Of course I would!!"
Tiona, her face contorted with rage, looked ready to lung forward and bury her fist in his face, but she was held back by Ais and Lefiya. Bete only scoffed at them, showing no intention of retracting his vitriol. Even Tione, who had been suppressing her temper, began to step forward with lethal intent.
"Everyone, stand down."
"A-Akumo-san?!" "Akumo!!"
"We are in front of a Dian Cecht Familia medical facility. What is this disgraceful display?"
"But...! This jerk Bete...!!"
Akumo moved with surgical precision, carving a path between them and forcing a separation. His sudden appearance caused a surge of relief in Bete and Tiona—glad to see him upright—but neither was ready to yield their position.
"I'll handle the conversation from here. Everyone else, enough—"
"But WHY!!!!"
"...Tiona."
"Why does Bete always have to say things like that?! I just want to know why...!!"
"...."
"The lower-tier members... they're at their breaking point..."
Tiona's voice cracked as she unleashed the bottled anxiety and resentment of the Familia's rank-and-file.
"They know they're weak... they already know..."
They're terrified of being left behind by their peers, they're angry at themselves...
"They aren't... monsters like us!"
"...Everyone, return to the Home. Bete, Line, you stay."
Akumo didn't offer a direct rebuttal. He simply led Bete and Line toward the infirmary with heavy, measured steps. His eyes were clouded with the weight of someone who had seen this tragedy play out across a hundred lifetimes.
"...Akumo."
"Finn, I need to head back to the Home for a bit."
Finn, reclining on his bed, fell into thought. He had heard the clash outside. He saw the grim set of Akumo's jaw.
"I'm coming with you."
"Wait! You two are in no condition to be moving around!"
"Amid, please. This is an internal matter that cannot wait."
"Sigh..."
Amid let out a long, weary breath. She knew these two well enough to know they wouldn't listen to reason, especially after the ruckus outside.
"The moment this is over, you are bringing Finn back here to be re-admitted. Understood, Akumo?"
"Understood."
Akumo flashed a small, pragmatic smirk. "We'll be back as soon as the kids are settled."
With Finn in tow, and Bete and Line trailing behind like silent ghosts, they headed toward the Home. Bete and Line remained mute, as if the air between them had been vacuumed of all sound.
""....""
"Bete, Line. I know you both suffered a profound shock during this incident," Akumo stated, his voice echoing with regality.
"But you've both allowed emotions you can't articulate to bleed out in the worst possible way."
"We need to have a serious talk."
Finn nodded, his expression hard. "Akumo is right. Not just with Bete and Line, but with the entire Familia. We have wounds that need cleaning."
They passed through the gates of Twilight Manor. The atmosphere inside was suffocatingly tense. The moment they stepped into the main hall—
"Bete-san...!!! Did you really mean what you said to Line?!"
"....."
"But... why?! Why would you go that far?!"
"Do I really need to spell it out? I just hate weaklings. That's all there is to it."
"...!!"
Akumo placed a hand on Raul's shoulder. "Enough. Everyone, into the strategy room. We're discussing this now."
"...Understood, Akumo-san."
Raul looked lost in a labyrinth of his own thoughts. They moved to the conference room reserved for executives and high-ranking members.
"Sit."
"Akumo-san, Aki-san and Alicia-san also requested to be present..."
"Let them in."
The door opened shortly after, and Aki, Alicia, and Rakta entered the room. The atmosphere was a powder keg.
"Let me be clear. Treating Line and her squad was my choice. If they had died there, it would have been my failure as a leader," Akumo began, his gaze sweeping over everyone from the veterans like Finn and Ais to the mid-tier supporters.
"However, Bete, what you said crossed a line for everyone here. You will take responsibility for your words. You will sit there and hear exactly how your 'truth' sounded to them."
"...Then let them bark."
This brat... are you really going to hide your heart until the bitter end?
Bete's icy retort was the final spark needed.
"Bete-san!!! Line fought until the absolute last second to protect her comrades...!! How can you say those things to someone like her?!"
"Line's group put their lives on the line to save us all! And yet you...!!"
"I can't believe it! Saying those things to a comrade who nearly died!"
"If they had died, it would've been a dog's death?! Bete, do you honestly believe that!!?"
Raul, Aki, Alicia, and Tiona all shouted at once. Bete remained a statue of indifference. Only Finn, Akumo, Line, and Rakta seemed to sense the cracks in that facade.
"..."
"Line-san! Please, say something back to him!!"
"...I don't know."
"What...?"
Line looked at the table, her voice trembling but certain. "Bete-san... you don't actually hate the weak, do you?"
"...If you're going to talk nonsense, just sh—"
"That chant... the one you used. I heard it."
"...!!"
Line's mind flashed back to the expedition. To the moment she was surrounded by monsters, waiting for death, when Bete arrived to save the rearguard unit. She remembered the words he uttered.
—[King of Flos, the captive wolf. First wound, restraint. Second wound, lamentation. Third wound, a wedge. Let the saliva of hunger be the only hope. Build a river, mix it with a streak of blood, and wash away the tears.]
"Your chant... it's about baring your own wounds, isn't it?"
—[Wounds that will not heal, let them not be forgotten. This rage and this hatred, your weakness and your flame. The world. Providence. Tears. Hate them all, acknowledge them all, and let them wither away.]
"...!!"
—[Turn the wounds into fangs, the lamentation into a roar, by the power of the kin you have lost.]
"The wound of losing someone... you act this way because you're terrified of showing that pain!!"
—[Broken shackles, a cry echoing in the heavens. Lineage of wrath, in place of this body, devour the moon. Consume everything. Devour them with those fangs of flame.]
Bete's chant was a reliquary for his trauma.
Back in his tribe, he had been a radical but promising warrior with reasons to grow strong: his lover, Rene, and his younger sister, Luna.
But the sky had been blotted out by a dragon's hellfire. He lost his lover. He lost his sister.
Filled with a hollow vengeance, he arrived in Orario at the age of twelve. His face was darker than the abyss of the Dungeon.
"Die...!!"
I have to get stronger...! I have to be stronger than anything...!!!
His existence had been a whirlwind of madness. To ensure he would never lose anything again, he became obsessed with strength, willing to burn his very life force to cinders.
"Bete...!"
"...Selenia?"
Call it luck or a curse, but while he was fueling his revenge within the Vidar Familia, he met Selenia—a woman who began to soothe his jagged spirit. His wounds seemed to heal. He began to step out from the shackles of his past. To build a future with his new lover, he went to finish his vengeance against his old enemy.
I won...
With this... let there be at least a little... peace...
He returned to Orario with a heart slightly lighter, only to hear the rumors on the street.
"Did you hear? The Vidar Familia was wiped out."
"Yeah. Apparently, while their captain [Fenris] was away, they ran into a disaster during an expedition."
"...."
What waited for him was a fresh hell of despair.
He threw himself into the Dungeon like a madman. He became addicted to the pursuit of power. He loathed the weakness that had allowed him to be consumed by revenge, and he projected that hatred onto others, branding those who left him behind as 'weaklings' to preserve his own sanity.
"Hey. You're that [Vanargand], aren't you?"
"...Who the hell are you!"
"Wild. I think fists work better than words with guys like you."
That was how he met Akumo.
An existence transcendently stronger than himself. Someone who answered his rage with pure, unadulterated strength and a veteran's understanding. It was through him that Bete found the Loki Familia.
"You're Bete? I look forward to working with you!"
"Well done, Akumo. I was worried how we'd bring him in given the rumors, but you managed it."
"Name's Gareth."
"He looks a bit rough 'round the edges, but if Akumo brought 'im, he's worth trustin'!"
They were strong. Stronger than anyone he had ever known. He felt the sheer weight of the Familia's power, and for a moment, he allowed himself to feel safe. These people... I won't have to watch them go.
"Be...te...-san..."
"Save... m—"
He was wrong.
The executives were heroes. The rank-and-file members were not. They were weaklings who could vanish at any moment, forcing Bete to face his trauma once again.
He was terrified of goodbyes.
His loathing of weakness overflowed.
He hated himself for feeling this way.
"Shut your damn mouth!!!!!!"
That was the sum of Bete Loga. He was simply a man who couldn't be honest about his own fragility, a man who lashed out because he couldn't bear the thought of another farewell.