“HOLY summon monster! What the hell happened here?!” Leo was rooted to the spot by the horrifying spectacle before him.
He had heard the roaring avalanche of crumbling rock in the distance while exploring the subterranean flower field with Mina and Louis. He exchanged looks with them before they dashed toward the sound.
They had rushed into a dead end surrounded by sky-high rock walls in the deepest part of the flower garden where a massive underground lake stretched as far as the eye could see.
What should’ve been a beautiful picture of serenity looked more like a horror painting with monster guts and heads scattered about the blue flowers surrounding the lake, crushing their dainty petals and smearing the area in black blood.
Standing perfectly still in the middle of that disaster with his back to the lake and a stone-hard face was Elias, clasping a bloodied, unconscious Aki to his chest.
Faced with such an alarming scene, Leo found his feet sewn to the ground, unable to take a step closer toward his best friend and the girl he loved.
Oi, gimme a break. What went down here? Trying to get a grasp on the situation, he looked to Elias and saw a peculiar, inexplicable crest glowing brighter than the sun on his forehead. What the heck is that creepy crest? It’s shaped like the sun?
The crest wasn’t the only strange thing—Elias’s normally gentle emerald eyes gleamed a burning shade of golden yellow. The aura about him felt like it belonged to another person. He was looking straight at them with zero reaction. Something was clearly wrong with him.
Leo glanced back at Mina and Louis running several feet behind him and signaled that something was wrong. Immediately catching on to the oddity surrounding Elias and Aki, they quieted their approach.
Leo held out his right hand, telling them to stay behind him, and took a step forward, the flowers crunching under his boots.
Elias didn’t blink, try to talk to them, or attack.
Is he gaugin’ what we’re gonna do first?
Leo slowly approached Elias one small step at a time, when Aki’s eyelids quivered open in his arms.
“Leo…?” she rasped in a hoarse voice.
“Aki…!”
What a relief! She’s okay…!
Filled with hope, Leo dropped his slow approach and broke into a run. “Aki, you okay?! We’ve come to help—”
Aki weakly threw up her blood-covered hand and shouted as loud as she could with her hoarse, pain-rattled voice. “Leo! Don’t…come…any closer!”
“…Huh?”
“Elias…isn’t…!”
Before Leo could make out what she said, Elias pulled Aki tight against his chest and lifted the Holy Sword dangling from his right hand. Elias’s placid gaze locked on Leo and Mina and Louis behind him.