Chapter 38 : Justice Served.

She had seen his whole being flair in that one instant: straight and rigid, fists clenched at his sides, eyes ablaze with anger. Mona leaned forward, her hand on his arm-light yet firm-grounding him. "This isn't the time," she whispered urgently.

The blazing yellow of his eyes darted to hers, still locked in that raw moment of anger, his expression clouded with disbelief. "But. you of all people know what he did," Orion growled through gritted teeth, shaking his body with the restraint that kept the rage begging for release.

Mona mirrored the fire in his eyes, but her gaze softened. "He is a coward," she said, her voice sharp, yet level. "True, but we must be better. We cannot descend to his level."

Orion worked his jaw, fighting the tempest brewing inside his chest. He knew she was right-or naive, but that didn't ease the burn. His grip loosened a shade, the anger receding just enough that reason could get a foothold. He blew out a slow weighted breath and dragged his gaze away from Kitzler, locking eyes with Mona instead. Her words would do for the time being.

The tension between them had just begun to dissipate when the adventurers they saved finally reached them, their excitement practically palpable. They crowded Orion and Mona, speaking over each other in awe.

"That was amazing!" he exclaimed with wide eyes of admiration. "I've never seen anything like it-the way you two handled that Ruin Grader!"

"Yeah, the teamwork! You two were unstoppable!" another exclaimed over him, the enthusiasm dripping from his voice.

Orion nodded slightly, his face bland, but the anger still coiling in his gut. Mona, feeling his unease, took over. "It's nothing," she said with a dismissive flick of her hand, but a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. "Long as I collect the commission money, that is."

The adventurers exchanged nervous glances before nodding vigorously. "Of course, of course!" one of them stammered. "You more than earned it. We. we shouldn't have gone after something like that. We're just a low-ranked group-even together we stood no chance. It was foolish of us."

Among them, Kitzler stood awkwardly at the back, his face pale and sober as he recognized Orion and Mona. His posture was hunched, his gaze fixed at the ground with never a glimpse into their direction. He knew what he had done at the temple of the falcon, and the guilt was written all over him. He didn't dare look at Orion at all; his piercing yellow eyes were fixed on him in silence, burning with narrowly suppressed contempt.

Kitzler fidgeted uncomfortably, his hands quivering at his sides, all too conscious of the heaviness of Orion's stare. He said nothing, though, his fear holding his voice in check.

Mona sensed the rising tension again and kept her cool. "It's all right," she said, her voice airy, though mirth was curling her lips. "But next time, don't bite off more than you can chew."

With respectful bows, thanking them one last time, they prepared to take their leave. For a second, Kitzler almost appeared frozen, but he finally managed to find his feet and joined the rest of them. Orion watched him go with keen, silent intensity. The fingers wrapped about his polearm knotted, before Mona's hand tugged softly at his arm, gesturing them to go back to the guild.

Orion had sighed, looking back in the distance at the group of people that were walking away. Orion muttered to himself, "I just learned this world is rather troublesome. In the end, every action carries a weight. consequences that ripple through lives, whether we realize it or not."

His grip on the polearm had tightened as he rammed it into the ground with a decisive thud. "I'll let him go", he said aloud, eyes still fixed on the retreating figure of Kitzler. "Free." he added.

Mona was smiling softly and laid a hand on his arm. "That's the moral choice," she said in approval.

"Moral…" Orion's voice trailed off; the word hung heavy in the air. His mind strayed back to the cold ruthlessness of the Emissary, the darkness he had faced. Mercy, morality-these were fragile things in that context.

It was then that Orion's hands suddenly clutched her shoulders, sending a jolt through her frame. Intense golden eyes locked onto hers. "Do you trust me, Mona?" he asked in all seriousness, his voice low.

"What?" she stammered, taken aback by the question.

"Do you trust me?" he asked once more, his hands firm yet not cruel.

Her cheeks flushed and her heartbeat quickened under his gaze. "Yes," she finally whispered, her face bright red.

Without another word, Orion pulled her closer, their lips meeting in a deep, passionate kiss. Wide-eyed in surprise, Mona's first reaction was to push away from him. But as the warmth of his embrace enveloped her, she relaxed, closing her eyes as a soft moan escaped her lips.

Orion's eyes, with that familiar golden glow in them, opened during the kiss and scanned across the horizon. His gaze landed on Kitzler, now just a speck with his group walking away from the scene. And then it happened.

In an instant, a light polearm almost appeared out of thin air, flashing through the air with a bolt of speed. It skewered Kitzler from afar, suddenly piercing him without any warning at all. His group panicked as one of them screamed in horror while they scattered; the polearm was gone in a heartbeat just as fast as it had appeared.

Of course, Mona did not realize it yet; her eyes were still closed as she was lost in that moment. Orion pulled back, gentle but firm enough to extract her from his embrace. He smiled down at her-the golden glow was gone from his eyes now.

"Shall we continue with our date?" Orion asked, calm and composed as though something out of the ordinary did not just happen.

In an instant, Mona's face crimsoned and she took a backward step as her composure slipped. "Wh-what? You—!" she stammered, her fingers playing nervously with the edge of her cloak. She crossed her arms over her chest, huffing in his direction. "I-It's not like I said yes to a date or anything! But… okay. Since you helped me out today, I think I can buy dinner for you. But it is only because you deserved it! So don't have some strange notion, all right?!"

Orion softly chuckled at her reaction. He opened his mouth to respond, but a sudden shift in the atmosphere sent a cold shiver down his spine without warning.

Behind him, the air started to tear open into a dark rift-a swirling mass of shadow and energy. Before either could say a word, a woman stepped out from the rift, an overwhelming figure that seemed to command the night itself. Her cascading long light blue hair shone down her back, glowing faintly in the poor light, while her piercing violet eyes locked onto Orion with terrifying intensity. In fact, her whole costume shone with starlight as if she would have an otherworldly yet fatal expression.

With no word said, the lady reached out and caught Orion by his arm, unnatural in her strength, having an ironlike grip as she pulled him into the dark rift.

"Orion!" Mona exclaimed in a gasp, her eyes wide with shock and panic. Instinctively, she reached out, but the pull of the rift was too strong.

Orion looked back at Mona, calm in the face of this disaster. "Stay back, Mona!" he commanded still steady, though laced with urgency. "I'll be fine!"

"But—" Mona tried to protest, stepping forward, but Orion was already being dragged deeper into the swirling abyss.

"Mo." he called out, his golden eyes meeting hers a last time before he vanished completely into the unknown.

Mona just stood frozen for some time as Orion disappeared into the dark rift. Her mind was a jumble of confusion, frustration, and disbelief. She clenched her fists, trying to fathom what had just happened.

"What just. happened?!," she finally stammered, her voice shaking but tinged with anger. She stamped her foot, bit at her lip. "He just vanished into thin air. Just like that.!"

Her face had been red from embarrassment, but also from being very conscious of having let him go so easily with such a reaction. The very thought of continuing her date had completely thrown her off balance. Disoriented, she started pacing back and forth, her heart pounding. "I-Idiot! Saying this so casually. 'Shall we continue our date now?' What kind of person does that?"

As her strides lengthened, she abruptly halted mid-stride, fumbling for her scryglass, hands acting on instinct. "Focus on what's important Mona, perhaps I can still glimpse him." she grumbled, raising the glass to the sky. She began an incantation under her breath and concentrated on finding him. Her eyes crinkled as the scryglass glimmered, reflecting stars across its surface.

There was a comic silence.

Nothing came. No starry trail, no mystical alignment to point the way to Orion's resting place. The scryglass kept frustratingly blank.

"What.!?" She shook the scryglass as if the thing was broken, her face twisting into confusion. "Why isn't this working?!"

She raised it up higher, squinting, as if this would somehow help. "Come on, come on, show me if he still lives atleast-anything!"

Still nothing.

Orion's senses went into overdrive, alert as he found himself standing in some weird, surreal world. The first thing he noticed was the ground, or rather the lack of it. His feet stood firmly on what seemed to be pitch-black water, perfectly still, reflecting nothing. Yet, it wasn't dark. A faint glow, almost ethereal, seemed to pulse from somewhere, and yet wasn't a source for it-no stars, no moon, just an endless expanse of shadowed reflection.

This was unnerving, as if he were walking on the surface of a void, yet it rippled ever so slightly with each step he took.

"Hello?" he yelled down into the abyss; his voice echoed eerily back to him.

No reply.

His golden eyes narrowed as he swept his surroundings, trying to clear his mind, his thoughts racing to make some sense out of this place. The silence there was such that it was unreal, unnatural, as if the world held its breath.

"Enough games," he growled low, a hint of frustration edging into his tone. Orion reached for his polearm; its familiar weight immediately centered him. In one swift, smooth motion, he clutched the weapon tightly and sent a surge of flames around him in a circle, spiraling waves of fire shooting outward in a 360-degree arc.

The flames blazed brilliantly for a fleeting moment, illuminating the strange, watery surface in all directions. They circled around him in a vibrant inferno, stretching out like the tendrils of a burning star.

Yet, just about the time they lit, they died again-every single ember snuffed out simultaneously as if they had been swallowed by the void. The fire did not leave any trace of itself, nothing at all showing that it had ever been fired: no smoke, no ash. Just the same eerie, reflective darkness.

The corners of Orion's eyes widened for a second before he gained his composure once more, his hand tightening on his polearm.

"Impressive," a voice said-elegant, measured, dripping with regal authority. A woman's voice, soft and yet commanding, the kind of voice that made a person listen whether they wanted to or not. "But futile."

He spun around, trying to locate a source, but with his elemental vision fired, nothing stood out. It was like she was everywhere and nowhere all at once.

"No element can touch this place. No fire, no ice, no wind, no stone," she added, her voice almost amused, "for this is a realm beyond a normal person understanding. Only power from beyond this world holds any sway here."

Her words sent a run of coldness down his back, but Orion didn't flinch. Whoever this woman was, she was no ordinary enemy. Yet, for him, fear was an alien concept. He had simply seen too many threats to be cowed by something he couldn't see.

He scanned the horizon, or whatever passed for a horizon in this place. His elemental vision was quite useless, unable to detect anything beyond the shimmering black surface beneath his feet. His heart quickened, but not from fear. There was something otherworldly about her-something that made him a great deal more curious than anything.

"You are?" he asked steadily, eyes unflinching.

There was no immediate answer but the sound of his own breathing that filled the void. He could sense her presence, feel it pressing in around him like a wave, but nothing coalesced into form. Whoever-or whatever-this entity was, it was playing by different rules.

He raised the polearm slightly, still on guard. "And where have you taken me?"

The soft sound of laughter echoed from everywhere and nowhere simultaneously. "So many questions, Orion." The way she said his name sent a ripple through the void, almost like the water beneath his feet pulsed to its cadence. "You're used to being in control, aren't you? To knowing what you're facing. But here." Her voice fell away, as though she was savoring the moment ".you are nothing but a guest."