"Good grief... I thought I was being dragged into some tedious Test of Courage, but then fools go and act like fools, and on top of that, monsters show up. Is today just one long curse?"
While Marcos prepared to confront Geras, his companions were similarly embroiled in the chaos, each waging their own struggle across the island.
Ryuga had been fending off the Blue Ever radicals who ambushed them during the night tour when the Sahagins, lured by the scent of conflict, began their landfall. He slid his cherished sword back into its scabbard, having dispatched the carnivorous predators with clinical efficiency.
Spitting out a string of vitriolic curses, Ryuga surveyed his surroundings. He watched the Blue Ever group—the very people who had come to terrorize Shandia—scramble toward the beach in a blind panic. He clicked his tongue in disdain.
"Ryuga-san, are you hurt? I can provide some basic treatment if you've been wounded—"
"Don't ask me questions."
"Ah... yes..."
Ryuga cut her off bluntly. His icy dismissal left Raiha silenced, her concern discarded.
Yui spoke up in place of the girl, who was visibly cowed by his foul mood. "Brother! Fee and Ann-san reported that they've been attacked by Blue Ever and Sahagins too! It looks like the entire island has become a battlefield!"
"The hungry monsters smelled a ruckus and decided to join the feast. That about sums it up."
Ryuga muttered his analysis while watching the fires raging across the island. He held the communication device Yui had handed him, his loathing for the radical nature conservation group reaching a breaking point. After the incident earlier that day, his patience for their self-righteous folly had utterly evaporated.
"What should we do?" Yui asked. "Neither group seems to be in immediate danger yet, but..."
"...The Sahagins will naturally gravitate toward the largest concentrations of people. Based on the departure times and the order of the tour, Ann and the others should be closest to the settlement. We should head there and ensure a Safe Zone is secured."
Yugo and Melt weren't the type to be bested by Sahagins.
Trusting in their strength, Ryuga proposed they double back to rendezvous with Anhel’s group. His priority was establishing a Safe Zone to protect the people of Shandia and the local wildlife.
Raiha and Yui both agreed, and the three began to retreat toward the settlement without further argument. However...
"Wa-Wait! Please, wait for me!"
A battered man came stumbling toward them.
His clothes were shredded, and his body was a map of bloody lacerations. He radiated the desperate aura of a man at his absolute limit. He was one of the Blue Ever radicals who had been attempting to sabotage the island only moments ago.
As Ryuga fixed him with a frigid stare, the man practically threw himself at Ryuga’s feet.
"P-Please! Help us! My friends! My friends are being slaughtered!"
Following the man's frantic pointing, they saw the Blue Ever members who had fled to the beach. They were currently being swarmed by the Sahagins that had surged from the surf.
Raiha and Yui gasped as they witnessed the living hell unfolding on the shore. The man, now on the verge of tears, screamed like a lunatic.
"The boats we used to get here were wrecked! We couldn't get away! Then more and more monsters landed and started tearing into us... At this rate, we're all going to be wiped out!"
Evidently, their escape vessels had been hidden on that beach.
They had discovered the boats destroyed, and while they stood there paralyzed by the realization that they were trapped, the Sahagins had surrounded them. Now, they were being picked off one by one.
As the man said, it was only a matter of time before they became nothing more than monster feed.
However, Ryuga merely looked down at the man clinging to his legs and spoke with chilling cruelty.
"...And? What do you expect me to do about it?"
"Y-You guys are Magic Knight apprentices, aren't you?! You're strong enough to kill those things! Then go out there and save them!!"
"Do not presume to give me orders. You were the ones who lured those monsters here. Look at them. It is as if the collective rage of the people you’ve tormented has manifested in those beasts."
Ryuga felt a profound sense of despair—not for the victims, but for the bottomless selfishness of Blue Ever. They obsessed over their own brand of justice, harmed a pristine island and its inhabitants based on one-sided prejudice, and then expected others to clean up the mess they had made. They had the audacity to beg for salvation from the very people they had provoked.
He saw no reason to fight for them. This was nothing more than karmic retribution. Ryuga looked at the man with eyes like shards of ice.
"Congratulations. A perfect opportunity has arrived for you to prove the strength of your convictions. Those are poor, starving creatures, after all. Why don't you help them... by literally offering up your own flesh?"
"H-How could you...?! Please! I’m begging you!! Gwah!?"
"B-Brother, are you really going to... leave them?"
"...Don't ask me questions, Yui."
Ryuga cut his sister off before she could even finish.
Yui stood frozen, staring into her brother’s eyes, which burned with a deep-black anger. As Ryuga shook off the man and prepared to leave the scene behind, a sudden impact jolted his head.