Swallowing his doubt, Leo got back into stance, bending his knees lightly and holding the tip of his sword up.
Breathing in deeply, Leo shouted to those who could hear.
"Evacuate the area now! Get as far away as possible, now!"
Leo's eyes burned with an amber hue, occasionally looking back to ensure people were running as ordered.
Dodging left and right past blindingly fast strikes, Leo slowly formulated a plan as he vaulted over the tentacles.
If he could continue distracting the beast without using any Somnia, he could use a larger amount to kill it off without having to worry about anyone around him.
He had made the mistake of looking back one too many times though as he felt a massive vine whip across his body, sending him flying towards a pile of jagged rubble.
A giant boom was let out as he crashed, eardrums nearly bursting.
The oxygen had entirely left his chest as he tried and failed to gasp for air.
Falling to the floor below, he dragged himself forward and reached for his sword.
Before he could make it though, he heard the sound of crumbling brick and splintering wood from behind him.
Slowly turning, he saw the multi-story building collapsing directly on top of him.
The little girl, who had been running, froze as the noise of the collapse reached her.
She turned, desperately searching for the Reveur.
Failing to find him with a few glances, her stomach twisted with dread.
An ominous tension fell on her for a moment.
There was no sound or motion. Only a stillness that felt wrong.
Then… she looked up.
From the fog, dark green tendrils began to slither down. Silent and deliberately slow.
The Druid had finally arrived.
Words couldn't come close to describing the being.
An amalgamation of thick, green vines that stemmed from a center. The center itself taking form of a sort of twisted witch.
A jagged, uncanny smile on a downright horrendous face. Her skin had a wood-like texture; its color a sort of pale lime.
The rest of her body beyond the neck extended into a dress, the frayed ends warping into the massive vines she, or it, wielded.
The sound of whimpering caused the horror to disturbingly twist its neck to the left, the wooden skin creaking as it did.
Its wide eyes scoured the area, flickering left and right creepily.
Finally, it locked eyes with the girl.
Every instinct at that moment screamed for her to run, but her legs refused to move.
A warmth slowly spread down her legs.
She didn't even notice at first, too afraid and frozen to take her focus off the incomprehensible sight.
The Druid's facial structure twisted and morphed as its smile unnaturally widened.
Its tentacles remained completely silent even after shooting towards her, far faster for her to even see coming.
Right before it could hit though, a giant drill shot down from the sky, intercepting the attack and clearing the blanket of smog.
The Druid whipped its head towards the source of the drill, grotesquely snapping its neck in the process.
The girl could feel her courage and hope restored as the silhouette from above descended after the Cryptid.
A young man with short, black hair donned a similar uniform to the Reveur that was there before. The difference between the gold badge upon his chest.
The Royal Reveur had arrived.
Caspian Ironsing.
The girl stared up at the figure with tears streaking down her small, dust-covered face.
The Druid interrupted this as it screeched before shooting several tentacles at the man.
With the flick of his wrist, Caspian simultaneously manifested and shot several metal rods, each towering over thirty feet high.
These rods shot through the tentacles and body of the Druid, pinning it down.
Despite how the injuries on the Cryptid might've looked, Caspian knew that this would only stop it momentarily.
Turning his gaze to the girl, he announced in a booming voice,
"Who was fighting this thing before I got here?"
The girl flinched for a moment before wiping her face with an arm.
"Another Reveur, like you! With flames!"
Caspian's eyes widened for a moment, a small smile involuntarily growing.
"Where did he go?"
She looked around frantically, searching for the collapsed building.
Pointing at a mass of rubble, she continued.
"Under there! I think he's hurt!"
He followed her eyes, noticing the ruins.
His focus was interrupted by the rumble from the struggling Cryptid. It had begun to rip off its tentacles and regrow them.
"You should evacuate right now. I can't guarantee your safety here."
She stuttered for a moment, her eyes going back down to where she had seen the Reveur get buried.
"But… What about him?"
Caspian shook his head.
"Trust me. It'll take a lot more than just that to kill him."
After some moments of hesitating, she nodded and began running away, tripping on the occasional debris as she did.
Caspian held his breath for some moments, watching her like an eagle as she escaped.
Finally letting out a sigh of relief, he barked at the rubble.
"Leo! Everyone's evacuated!"
Caspian jumped from building to building, making room between him and the Druid as he manifested more rods to anchor it in place.
The Cryptid let out another gurgling screech as it struggled some more against the countless metal stakes holding it.
This struggle came to an abrupt stop.
Its eyes flickered towards the rubble beside itself.
A bead of sweat rolled down Caspian's brow as he smiled.
He muttered to himself,
"It's been too long since I've seen this."
Suddenly, a thick wave of blistering heat engulfed the Druid, causing it to struggle against the stakes once more and scream out.
The air began to ripple and wave like water
The splintered support beams caught flames as the few surviving windows burst into shards.
The grey bricks of the street quickly turned black and loudly cracked with gunshot-like sounds.
Caspian continued to watch the spectacle from afar.
The sweat on his brow hissed as it hit the ground.
The Druid's wrath grew alone with the heat as it strained against the rods, finally snapping several and whipping around to dislodge itself from the rest.
Its burning face sizzled and popped as it flailed around in anger, searching for the source.
Sensing something beneath the collapsed building, it attempted to attack but failed as its tendrils seemed to instantaneously evaporate upon reaching.
A hand reached out from the mountain of orange, bubbling rubble.
Clawing at the brick and melted mass, Leo pulled himself out with blade in hand.
Sweat beaded down his chest, his tattered uniform falling off as he stood.
Raymond had hand-made his uniform some years back, using his Art to give the cloth immense heat-resistant properties.
Along with this he had also made his sword to prevent it from melting.
This, of course, didn't stop it from being damaged by a five-story building falling on it.
Leo continued walking towards the Cryptid, combing his hair out of his face with a hand and looking a little too good while doing so.
This caused Caspian's face to scrunch in annoyance.
"Showoff."
Standing before the Druid, Leo finally released his Somnia.
The surrounding heat died down, the bubbling metal and brick alike slowly cooling as the surroundings returned to a solid state.
The rods that held the Druid down were now long gone, allowing the Cryptid to move once more.
As if learning from Caspian, the Cryptid rapidly regenerated a few tentacles and spiraled them together to create a massive drill-like member.
The Druid let out a demonic cackle as its tongue swayed wildly from its missing jaw and throat.
The drill shot forward at immense speeds.
Leo watched as the drill came closer and closer to him.
Breathing in and out, he closed his eyes.
The image of Maria reading in her bed filled his mind.
Somnia spilled from his aching Eidcore, giving his tired muscles new life.
In a single step, Leo vanished
No sound.
No fire.
Just silence.
The Druid swayed for some moments, its hands grasping at its head as if trying to keep itself together.
The next moment, Leo reappeared behind the Cryptid with a step.
As he returned the blade to its sheathe, countless slashes slowly came into existence upon the Druid's body.
Without warning, the gashes ignited, bursting into a storm of embers and flame that consumed the Druid whole until nothing remained but a swirling tornado of ash.
Caspian stood several feet behind him, watching his behavior closely.
He could tell something was off.
Anyone else in this situation would've been celebrating, but for Leo…
A suffocating aura of loathing had always consumed him.
Even when it didn't make sense, he always found some way to blame himself.
Caspian walked up, slowly clapping in sarcasm.
"Quite the show, old man."
Leo turned after a moment.
"Old man?"
He nodded.
"Yep. You're… What? Forty?"
Leo chuckled and gave him a light elbow to the ribs.
"Thirty-six, you brat."
A moment of silence passed before Caspian grinned.
"So, uh… did you lose the shirt on purpose? I know you're lonely, but going after section one women is a bit desperate, isn't it?"
Leo remained quiet for a moment before turning and walking away.
"Yeah. Maybe I'll have better luck with your mother."
Caspian's eyes went wide as he turned to Leo.
"Hey, hey! I was just kidding!"
He lightly jogged to catch up with Leo after that.
They walked for some time as the stars began to disappear, the abyss above them being replaced with an early morning blue.
"How'd you do that? That whole melting thing, I mean. I've never seen anything like that."
Leo turned his gaze from the sky to Caspian, contemplating for some moments on how to word his response.
"My secondary Art. Burst. Normally I need to set a physical activation point for it to work. But with my arms pinned under the debris..."
He shrugged. "I had to improvise."
Caspian raised an eyebrow.
"Okay... and the genius workaround was?"
Leo smirked faintly.
"My sweat glands. Technically part of my body, so I used them as activation points. But then if I triggered them normally, the force would've launched me in every direction at once."
He paused, then added.
"So I flipped the output. Instead of releasing the bursts outward, I inverted them, forcing the heat to build up internally and radiate outwards. Same effect, different direction."
Caspian stared at him, half impressed, half mortified.
He rubbed his neck after a moment.
"Well, damn. Here I thought you were stupid."
Leo scoffed before sarcastically remarking,
"Stupid? I'll have you know I was a professor at Augustine's most prestigious academy."
The two went silent once more, the only sound in the empty street being their footsteps and distant mechanisms.
"That sword really does own you," Caspian said before turning down an alleyway, leaving Leo alone in the middle of the street.
He stood there for some time, considering his words.
There was no excuse to use, or argument to give.
It was just an objective fact.
As if trying to forget about the words, he continued walking and thought of Maria.
Exhausted as he was, he still owed her a day out.
Some time later, he reached his apartment, closing the door behind himself.
The view of the claustrophobically small space reminded him that he could afford a much better home now.
He thought for a moment about the idea.
He felt something hold him back, though.
Charlotte had spent the last few years of her life here after Leo became a professor.
It was cheap and reasonably close to the academy.
The size wasn't an issue to Leo at the time, seeing as it also meant he could be closer to her for longer.
These thoughts were abruptly interrupted from the sound of knocking.
He breathed in deeply and let out a sigh as he walked back to the door.
"For the last time, Charol, I'm not helping with your rent. You'll have to…"
He trailed off as he opened the door, being met with a familiar face.
A burly man stood before him. A short, trimmed crew cut led down to a thick beard lining his jaw.
He wore a Reveur uniform.
Despite the initial formidable look, there was a kindness in his eyes.
Leo stuttered for a moment.
"Valentino…? What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in years."
The man remained silent for a moment, struggling to maintain eye contact.
He cleared his throat and looked up before speaking,
"It's General Pierre. He's dead."
"... And you're the primary suspect."