"Sango, I hope you didn't kill him," Rosewalt murmured, his voice low with genuine concern as he glanced toward the darkness where Lieutenant Damascus had vanished into the earth.
"No," Sango replied, bending down with effortless strength to scoop up the unconscious forms of Tayo and Bachi. "They're still alive."
"They?" Rosewalt echoed, shock flickering across his face.
"Yes," Sango answered sharply, his tone leaving no room for doubt.
Damascus, what the hell have you gotten yourself into? Rosewalt thought, watching as Sango lifted Tayo gently over one broad shoulder.
"Sango, leave the rizzer kid. I'll help you carry him," Rosewalt said, leaning forward to hoist the smaller boy onto his own back.
The two men began moving through the shadowed streets, carrying both kid as they make their way through the once hellish street.
"So," Rosewalt ventured after a few silent steps, "how long are you staying in Godfall?"
"I had planned to stay a week," Sango said, "but with these unexpected events, I'll be heading back by dawn."
Rossewalt nodded. "You know, you never told me why you came here in the first place. You just… appeared. It feels strange that the first place you'd visit after all this time is Godfall, not the royal capital."
"You're actually right," Sango admitted. "I came here looking for someone."
Rossewalt's brow arched. "You're looking for someone? I don't understand how a man of your caliber—someone with an entire kingdom at his command—would personally chase after a person."
"Even with the help of the whole kingdom and the Confederation," Sango said, his voice tinged with quiet anguish, "I'm certain I wouldn't be able to find him."
"So why here? Why this district" Rosewalt pressed.
"I received intelligence that he would be here on this very day," Sango replied, his words firm.
"What if your intelligence was wrong?" Rosewalt asked, eyes dropping to the cracked pavement beneath their feet.
"Trust me," Sango said with unshakable certainty. "My intelligence has never been wrong."
The two took a left turn into a now-quiet suburban lane, the distant clamor of the earlier upheaval finally fading.
"So who is this person," Rosewalt asked with a sarcastic edge, "that would drag the mighty Sango to our humble little town?"
"Sehk," Sango answered. His face hardened, his voice dropping to a deep, fierce timbre that seemed to vibrate in the cool night air.
Rossewalt fell silent. The name struck him like a physical blow. His legs stopped moving altogether; he tilted his head back and stared into the vast, moonlit sky.
"So," he said at last, voice barely above a whisper, "it's finally that time, is it, Sango?"
"Yes, it is, Rosewalt," Sango replied calmly, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
"It is what has to be done," he added, the words heavy with finality.
The tense atmosphere lingered for a moment longer before easing, and the two resumed their walk toward the inn Sango had booked.
"Do you think Damascus is still alive?" Rosewalt asked after a while, the concern for his comrade creeping back into his tone.
"Yes," Sango said confidently. "He's very much alive. There was someone useful among his crew."
"I see," Rosewalt exhaled, relief softening his features.
They reached the inn at last. Sango carried Tayo slung over his shoulder like a sleeping child; Rosewalt bore Bachi with equal care.
"Welcome back," the receptionist muttered without looking up, her face buried in a mountain of paperwork scattered across the desk.
"Feels good to be back," Sango replied absently, already heading straight for the stairs.
Upstairs, he laid Tayo gently on one bed, as tender as a parent placing an infant down for its first nap. Rosewalt set Bachi on the opposite bed. Then both men lowered themselves to the floor, sitting cross-legged and gazing at the two unconscious boys.
"wow," Rosewalt said after a long silence, his expression calm, "what do you think of these kids?"
"They're going to be a lot of trouble," Sango answered, a rare, almost hysterical grin tugging at his lips. "That much I'm certain of."
"Do you think Tayo will be able to handle this world?" Rosewalt asked quietly.
"You're asking the wrong question, Rosewalt," Sango said, chuckling softly. "The real question is whether the world can handle him."
He leaned forward slightly, eyes bright. "Look at this boy. He knows nothing of how this world truly works—the hierarchies, the pillars, none of it. And that ignorance alone gives him the potential to surpass us both."
Rossewalt considered the words, then nodded slowly. "What you're saying is true. But what surprises me even more is seeing a member of the Rizzler Troupe again… after the incident." His voice darkened, his face shifting into something grim.
"Even I'm shocked, I won't lie," Sango admitted, his gaze fixed intently on Bachi's sleeping form.
A sudden, earth-shattering explosion rocked the entire kingdom. A blinding flash of blue light erupted from the heart of the city, streaking upward into the night sky. The beam expanded rapidly, a wave of ambiance radiance washing over everything and everyone—freezing the world in an instant of unnatural silence.
The blue light surged through the open window, flooding the room and passing straight through Captain Rosewalt and Sango.
"What the hell just happened?" Rosewalt demanded, urgency propelling him to his feet. He dashed to the upper window and flung it wide.
"This has to be someone's doing," Sango growled, fury tightening his features.
Rossewalt stared out in horror. "The whole city… it's been petrified."
He turned back toward the beds, eyes widening further. "My main question is—why aren't Tayo and Bachi petrified?"
The two boys lay exactly as before, chests rising and falling in steady, undisturbed rhythm—untouched by the catastrophe that had turned the rest of Godfall to living stone beneath the indifferent moon.