The streets of Giggleburg were quieter than death.
Ash fell like black snow as Yoshiya followed Nogare through the maze of ruins. The air smelled of burnt steel and faint sulfur; every step on the cracked pavement echoed like a hammer strike.
They didn't speak. Nogare's gait was calm, unhurried, every movement deliberate. Ahead, the skeletal remains of the city stretched toward a crimson sky. Faded banners still hung from rusted poles—Valeria's crest, stitched with black thread and claw marks.
Half-demons patrolled the rooftops, their skin glinting like polished obsidian. Their wings twitched in the haze, scenting the air for fear or magic.
Zentake darted between alleys, shadow to shadow, a grinning ghost with a satchel full of volatile powder. Every so often, Yoshiya caught a flash of his silver hair before he vanished again.
Nogare stopped near an alley corner, resting a gloved hand on his katana's hilt. "The mayor's hall is three blocks ahead," he said softly. "Two guards outside. One inside. Maybe more."
Yoshiya nodded, tightening his grip on the staff slung across his back. "You've done this before."
Nogare didn't answer. He only smiled faintly. "Walk like you belong here. Everyone in this city pretends to."
The two of them crossed a dead plaza where fountains once ran clear. Now they spat only mud and embers. The air shimmered with residual mana—thick, suffocating, corrupted.
As the sun dipped lower, Giggleburg's light turned blood-red again. And within that dying glow, the Mayor's Hall loomed like a bleeding crown of stone and glass.
---
The doors were half melted, fused in strange patterns. Inside, the walls pulsed faintly with demonic runes. Molten chandeliers dangled from the ceiling like webs of glowing iron.
Yoshiya crept behind a shattered pillar. Through the cracks, he saw two figures—one old, one unnervingly composed.
The first was the mayor, a trembling man wrapped in a heavy red coat, his eyes sunk deep into his skull. The other was Raven Blackwood—a name Yoshiya recognized instantly. A former guild officer. Someone who once drank with Kouki in the outpost tavern, laughing about quests and failures.
Now Raven wore Valerian black.
He stood tall beside the mayor, his hands weaving slow, careful gestures in the air—dark magic forming between his fingers.
Nogare didn't wait.
He moved.
One breath, one blur of motion, one sound like silk tearing. The mayor's throat opened cleanly, a red smile blooming across his neck. He fell without a sound.
Raven flinched, eyes wide, trying to conjure a spell.
Then came a flash of silver. Nogare's blade severed his leg from the knee down before he could even scream.
Blood spattered across the crimson carpet. Raven collapsed, gasping, his half-formed spell fizzling out into smoke.
Yoshiya stumbled forward instinctively. "Nogare—"
"Stay back," Nogare said, voice flat. "He'll try to transform."
Raven's skin was already darkening, veins bulging like molten veins beneath glass. Horns began to push from his scalp. His eyes turned black.
"Yoshiya," Nogare said. "Purify him."
Yoshiya hesitated, but raised his staff. "Purify!"
A burst of green light surged from his hands, washing over Raven like a tide. The demonic transformation cracked, then shattered—the horns retreating, the darkness fading from his veins.
Raven screamed, then fell silent, panting.
Nogare crouched beside him, calm as ever. "The Heart," he said. "Where is it?"
Raven laughed through his pain. "You think… I'd tell you?"
Yoshiya's throat went dry. He stepped closer, eyes locked on Raven's face. "I know you. You were guild, once."
Nogare's tone was cold. "Not anymore. He's Valerian."
Then Nogare stabbed him—once, low and deliberate. Not enough to kill, but enough to make him choke.
Raven convulsed. Yoshiya instinctively extended his hand. "Heal!"
The wound closed just enough to stop the bleeding.
"Again," Nogare said. "Keep him alive."
Yoshiya stared. "What—"
"Do it."
Yoshiya obeyed. His healing light mingled with Raven's blood, knitting torn flesh while Nogare's blade opened another wound. Over and over. The pattern became mechanical. Stab. Heal. Purify. Stab. Heal.
Until finally, Raven broke. His voice cracked between sobs and blood. "The Heart… beneath the cathedral. Beneath the altar. Buried in the old core."
Nogare leaned close. "Guarded?"
Raven nodded weakly. "By… the bound spirits… from the siege."
"Good." Nogare withdrew his blade in one clean motion. "You've served your purpose."
He wiped the katana on Raven's cloak. Then drove it through his chest without hesitation.
Yoshiya's breath caught. He could still feel the hum of Raven's mana dying, leaking into the floor like a sigh.
The silence that followed was unbearable. Only the faint hiss of molten chandeliers filled the air.
Nogare turned, his expression unreadable. "He chose his side. You did your part."
Yoshiya looked at the dead mayor, then at the crumpled body of Raven Blackwood. "He was still human."
"Once," Nogare said, walking toward the next room. "But so were we."
---
They searched the rest of the hall in silence. Documents, maps, sealed letters—Nogare gathered everything, sliding them into his satchel with surgical precision.
By the time they stepped out into the fading light, the sky above Giggleburg had gone from red to violet, a bruised color that promised chaos.
At the edge of the square, Omina waited by the caravan, hood up, eyes wary.
She saw the blood on Nogare's gloves, the look on Yoshiya's face, and said nothing.
Zentake appeared from a nearby alley, sack of stolen trinkets slung over his shoulder. "You two look like you've been working hard," he said cheerfully.
Nogare only said, "We're done here."
The words carried no emotion—just finality.
As they moved down the street, Yoshiya glanced back one last time. Through the shattered windows of the mayor's hall, he thought he saw movement—shadows crawling like smoke, drawn to the fresh corpses.
For the first time, Yoshiya felt the city breathing. Not with life, but with hunger.