Despite the violence of the explosion, the massive chamber beneath the Marstchel mansion remained standing.
This was likely because the magic of the jewels was designed to focus its destructive power within a specific, concentrated area. Rei had chosen to force the jewel self-destruction precisely because he had witnessed Pri use it earlier, but if the blast had been unrestrained—if it had spread indiscriminately—it wouldn't have just been the Great Room with the Magic Circle that vanished. The Marstchel mansion, the entire West District of Exil, or perhaps more than half the city itself might have been wiped off the map.
An explosion of that magnitude had been unleashed within a confined space—and directly inside Oricule's body.
While the surrounding damage was limited, the ritual chamber that had served as the battlefield was utterly devastated. Those within the room had used every ounce of their strength just to weather the concussive shockwave.
Amidst the settling dust...
"Nn..."
Rei, having momentarily lost consciousness, felt something soft shifting in his arms. Reflexively, he tightened his hold.
"Ahhn!"
A sultry, melodic gasp reached his ears.
The sound acted like a lightning strike to his senses, and his consciousness returned with a jolt. Rei snapped his eyes open, and the first thing he saw was something white. Simultaneously, the intoxicating scent of a woman in full bloom filled his lungs.
In his hand, he felt a sensation—something smooth, soft, and yielding, his fingers sinking deep into the warmth.
Sight, scent, and touch. The moment his brain processed the information provided by his senses, he remembered the seconds before the blackout and reflexively looked behind him.
There was nothing. No corpse, no lingering fragments of flesh, not even a scrap of the leather armor that had been shredded by their relentless assault. Most importantly, not a single scale of that magic-negating blue skin remained.
Truly, everything was gone. Every shred of evidence that the being known as Oricule—the man who had become a Man-Demon—had ever existed had been erased from reality.
"...We won, didn't we?"
The voice came from his arms. It was Vihera.
Rei remembered the final moments: the combined impact of his magic and the jewel explosion inside Oricule’s body. To protect them both from the backwash, he had pulled Vihera into the shelter of his Dragon Robe. He gave a shallow nod.
"Yeah. He was a monster who could shrug off magic like a joke, but I guess even he couldn't handle that kind of damage from the inside out."
"Yes, you're right. Though I do wish I could have tested myself against him in a proper fight while he was at his best..." Vihera trailed off, a faint, embarrassed flush creeping up her cheeks. "Um, Rei? Could you... could you let go of me now?"
"Huh?"
Her bashful tone finally forced Rei to realize exactly what he was doing. He was currently hugging Vihera, who was taller than him, firmly from behind. But more than that, there was the heavy, soft weight filling his right hand.
As he looked at her bare back, the reality of the situation became painfully clear. The swell was larger than the span of his palm—a massive curve that rivaled even the likes of Elena or Marina the Dark Elf, the Guild Master of Gilm. He was currently clutching her right breast, that symbol of maternal abundance, with an iron grip.
"S-Sorry!"
Rei scrambled to let go, but the movement only caused his palm to sink further into the yielding flesh for a split second, drawing another embarrassed moan from Vihera.
"Ahhn! Honestly, Rei. I know you like me, but doing this here is a bit..."
"Don't say things that cause misunderstandings!"
Rei pulled his hands away as if he'd been burned. His face was now a deeper shade of red than Vihera’s—perhaps redder than it had ever been.
"I see. Perhaps you would care to explain exactly what part of this is a 'misunderstanding'?"
A familiar, icy voice came from behind him, and Rei’s entire body went rigid. With the stiff, mechanical movements of a rusted doll, he turned his head.
There stood Elena. She was smiling, but it was a cold, razor-sharp sneer. Most notably, her whip-sword was gripped firmly in her hand.
Beside her, Bosk was doing his absolute best to stifle a fit of laughter. Byune watched the scene with a characteristically blank stare. Seto tilted its head, unable to comprehend why the air had suddenly turned so hostile, while Iero, sensing the battle was over, landed on Seto's back and mirrored the griffon’s confused tilt.
"Kukuku. You lot... you just survived a life-or-death struggle. Why are you already acting like leads in a saccharine drama?"
Bosk spoke through clenched teeth, still fighting back his mirth. Rei hurriedly scrambled to his feet and glanced around the room.
"Everyone is... safe, right?"
"As you can see. If you want to talk about casualties, the only victim here is Vihera’s virtue, currently being ravished by Rei."
"Wait. Isn't that a bit of an extreme way to put it?" Rei stammered, looking at Elena.
The noblewoman didn't let her expression soften for a second. "Is it? To my eyes, the sight of Rei violating the body of a woman without her consent is the very definition of ravishment."
"I told you, wait a minute!"
"Yes, Elena, do wait," Vihera interrupted, her cheeks still pink as she threw a provocative look at the other woman. "Ravishment and violation are terms used when the party is unwilling, aren't they? If so, then there's absolutely no problem in this case."
Elena's eyes twitched. She shifted her absolute-zero gaze from Rei to Vihera. "Oh? Then I would very much like to hear the details. It seems I must clarify our respective 'positions' once and for all."
"Fine by me. Let's be thorough—"
"Stop it, both of you! What do you think you're doing?"
As Elena readied her whip-sword and Vihera tightened her gauntlets, Rei finally regained enough composure to interject.
Bosk continued to laugh at the trio, but his gaze eventually drifted toward the center of the room. Tibia had been held there by a barrier powered by the magic circle, but the shimmering wall of force had vanished.
"Hey."
He called out to the three of them, but Elena, Vihera, and the frantic Rei were too deep in their own argument to listen. With a sigh, Bosk turned away and began walking toward Tibia's prone form. Since Sound Blade were technically adventurers under the Silwa family’s employ now, he felt a sense of responsibility toward her.
However, he stopped short when he realized Byune was walking right beside him.
"..."
For a long moment, they looked at each other in silence. They had met several times before, but the gaze Byune directed at him now was fundamentally different. Her expression was as stoic as ever, but the light in her eyes seemed... softer.
"What's wrong?" Bosk asked gruffly.
Byune simply gave a small, silent nod.
"...Tch. Do what you want."
Bosk hesitated for a few seconds before muttering that and resuming his walk toward Tibia. Byune followed silently in his wake. As they walked, Bosk eventually broke the quiet.
"I'm sorry."
"Nn?" Byune tilted her head, confused by the sudden apology.
Matching his long strides to her smaller ones, Bosk continued. "It's too late for it to matter much, but I failed to protect your father and mother. And I put you through hell because of it."
"..." Byune stared at him.
Her eyes no longer held any trace of the negative emotions she’d once harbored for him. In the beginning, she had blamed all three of the great houses for her parents’ deaths. Now that Pri had been exposed as the culprit, she had no reason to resent the Silwa family.
Yet, Bosk continued, his voice heavy. "Believe it or not, I was a reckless idiot when I was young."
Byune's eyes flickered, silently telling him that she thought he was still a reckless idiot. Bosk didn't seem to notice.
"One of those reckless stunts involved soloing a dungeon. I was confident in my ability to spot traps—not as good as a professional thief, of course, but I thought I could manage. Naturally, I triggered one. A poison arrow."
A self-deprecating, bitter smile touched Bosk's lips. "Worse, it was a paralysis poison. And to top it off, there were monsters closing in on me. I was as good as dead."
"...Nn."
"Reckless," Byune muttered.
Bosk caught her eye and gave a small shrug. "Well, you can guess the rest. Your parents happened to be passing by, and they saved my life. I owed them everything. And yet... in the end, I couldn't save them."
He let out a heavy, regretful sigh. "I tried to repay the debt by looking after you, trying to settle the debt on your house... but the merchant you owed was a shady bastard, and he had the Marstchel family backing him. I couldn't move against them until now. And besides, you clearly didn't trust me, right?"
"Nn." Byune looked away slightly. Without knowing who the true enemy was, she hadn't been able to trust the man walking beside her.
"Well, as long as you're safe, that's what matters. Don't worry about it anymore. Like I said, that merchant’s debt was a setup from the start. House Marstchel was pulling the strings the whole time."
"..."
Byune didn't respond, and soon they reached the center of the magic circle. The barrier was indeed gone. Tibia lay there, unconscious and missing her right arm, but alive.
"Her breathing is steady, and her pulse is strong. She’s going to make it."
Bosk let out a long, audible breath of relief. Ecethesus and Nakt had come to him specifically to save her. For Bosk, this was the best possible outcome.
Mindful of the massive claymore on his back, Bosk carefully scooped Tibia up in a bridal carry. He glanced back at Elena and Vihera, who were still locked in a fierce glare, and then looked down at Byune.
"Aren't you going to join them?"
"...Nn."
Byune shook her head, clearly wanting no part in the lover's spat. She turned and walked toward the exit alongside Bosk.
They walked in a silence that was neither heavy nor unpleasant. As the door leading out of the basement drew near, Bosk spoke again.
"Byune... what are you going to do now?"
"Nn?"
"About your future," Bosk clarified, glancing at Tibia in his arms. "As you can see, this is the end for House Marstchel. The Anomaly Species Incident, kidnapping adventurers for sacrifices, and conspiring with the Holy Light Religion... any one of those would have been enough to finish them. Combined? They're doomed."
In Bosk's mind, the fall of the Marstchels was a certainty. They would be lucky to escape with their lives.
"And besides... even if they were already failing, the fact that they murdered the head of House Flaut and his wife is the final nail. From now on, Exil will be run by the Silwa family and the House Rebisole—though the latter is little more than a puppet now. It's going to be a mess."
Despite his complaints, Bosk had no intention of abandoning the city. This Labyrinth City was his home.
"Nn..." Byune tilted her head, looking thoughtful.
She had avenged her parents. She would likely be able to keep the mansion where they had lived together. But now that her revenge was complete, she realized she didn't know what she wanted for herself.
"Well, that's a problem for another day. Maybe Sanctions can give you some advice; he's usually full of good ideas. Still... it's peaceful, isn't it?"
Byune followed Bosk's gaze. It was hard to believe they had just survived a desperate battle.
In the distance, Elena and Vihera looked ready to draw blood, their hands hovering over their weapons. Nearby, Rei was desperately stroking Seto’s feathers, his eyes closed as he fled from the looming reality of the argument.