Sydney sat at Drake’s bedside with her hands folded in her lap. Her eyes remained fixed on his still face. Since she was able to rescue his familiar from Ace, the lines around Drake’s eyes and mouth had certainly eased. All of the doctors in Donnyton’s premier hospital believed that his vitals were trending in positive directions. According to them, these sorts of results were basically unheard of. Everyone was astounded by the physical power that was present in Drake’s body.

Yet now, a week after he was supposed to have been fully ‘healed’, Drake still slept without stirring. The wait was… difficult. It wasn’t that Sydney had given up hope of a recovery, but her expression was becoming increasingly bitter as she observed her subordinate. Perhaps I truly waited too long to take action… the mental strain… the continuous torture… it has been years. I have… failed him.

A single tear began to run down Sydney’s cheeks, but a crackle of electricity raced across her face. Instantly, the small tear was transformed into a small ball of ice. Her skin itched at the sudden change in temperature. With an irritated expression, Sydney reached up and tore the tiny frozen orb off her face and threw it across the ward. It clattered across the ground and bounced off the wall.

Sydney pressed her eyes shut and did her best to prevent further tears.

She sat there for several minutes until she could hear the sounds of footsteps walking down the corridor. The very exact timing between the steps immediately revealed the identity of the approaching individual. Hope and despair warred in Sydney’s heart until her familiar’s image descended and froze everything. When the cold was strong enough, even emotions succumbed. She would be strong. She would look with clear eyes, no matter what the result was.

Regina Northwind pushed open the door and looked at Sydney’s stiff form. She didn’t smile. Instead, she walked smartly up to Sydney’s side and offered her the folder in her hand. “This is the best that we can do. Physically and with regards to his Aether… Drake is entirely healthy. The cause of his continued coma… is likely psychological in nature.”

Sydney took the folder. However, due to the heavy level of chill she maintained to suppress her emotions, her vision was somewhat fuzzy. Although she looked down at the paper in front of her, she didn’t actually see any of the details on the page. They were just tight lines and squiggles, an unintelligible sprawl that left her feeling helpless.

Regina took a step back but didn’t leave the room. Instead, her sharp eyes focused on Drake while she waited for Sydney to speak.

Finally, Sydney thawed enough to clear her throat. “Do you… have any ideas what might be going on?”

“...just a partial theory,” Regina admitted readily. “And honestly, it’s somewhat of a stretch… but as the leader of East End, I’m sure you are aware that the bond between an individual and their elemental familiar is unusual, but not unique. It shares some characteristics with the Soulbound connection that some individuals in Zone 32 maintain to this day.”

Sydney nodded and Regina continued to speak. “The marked difference, of course, is that a contract with a familiar can be terminated unilaterally by either party. I suspect the problem currently with Drake is that both he and his familiar were presented with circumstances in the past year that would have made it logical for them to sever their bond. Yet neither was willing to abandon their partner. They both attempted to protect each other. So their bond endured… but I believe they have become somewhat numb to external stimulus.”

“We need a way to reach them, then,” Sydney whispered. Regina nodded.

After a few more minutes at looking at Drake’s sleeping face, Sydney stood. “Thank you for your help doctor. I’ll… think of something.”

Regina Northwind bowed slightly to Sydney. “If you need anything, we are here.”

Then Sydney left the hospital, her expression becoming increasingly stormy and vicious as she swept out of the buildings and out under the cloudy sky. Snow flurries drifted downward, subtly spinning in Sydney’s direction. It was time that she confronted the man who had caused it all. Roy had been there with Drake at the World Crater and had somehow convinced him to take the personal boost in Stats rather than giving an experience buff to Earth. Sydney would find out what that sick piece of shit had done to her subordinate.

And then she would make him pay, just as she had done with Ace.

*****

“J-j-just a moment! Miss Helen!” The police commissioner squeaked, raising a hand for Helen to slow her assault while the other hand attempted to wipe blood out of his eyes.

Helen ignored his panicked cry. Would an enemy listen to such a request on the battlefield? Of course not. Helen might not care either way how strong this police commissioner would become, but she certainly cared that it was widely known that he was being personally trained by her. As such, she made sure to shower him with ‘affection’.

She had a reputation to uphold.

A crimson wave of blood exploded outward from Helen’s body. It impacted the partially blinded commissioner in the chest. He barely managed a yelp before he was tossed down the slope to impact a tall oak tree. His body crashed through the canopy and then rolled down to thump against the ground. It was clear from his dazed expression that the current training session would need to be paused until the man could recover.

Clicking her tongue in distaste, Helen turned away from her trainee and began to stretch. It had been one week since the group had come into the Dungeon and Helen was becoming a bit restless. As Randidly had suggested when they arrived, the monsters within the Dungeon were numerous but none were so powerful that Helen felt even the tiniest spark of excitement as she hunted them. Besides, the Riders appeared to be having an unofficial competition to see who could clear the most monsters, and greatly resented the fact that Helen had been encroaching on their turf. So she could only pass the time with her own training and that of this rather unreliable commissioner.

After all, the prospect of trying to teach children or weaklings was even less appetizing to her.

It was a small blessing that Ajax had taken over the training of most of the force, but that just meant that Helen had more free time to become bored. Some of it she spent watching the other people who came into the Dungeon, but she found no joy in watching children learn to build mud buildings nor did Helen wish to listen to Sam, Nathan, and Gertrude excitedly talk about these ‘keystones’ they were developing for Kharon Academy.

Helen growled, and as always happened when she was at her most annoyed, and her gaze turned up toward the peak on which Randidly had set himself up.

Even if she hadn’t seen him physically go there, it was quite easy to locate him. The Ghosthound was constantly training his powerful images up on that peak, seeming to seek a way to maintain all three images at once without compromising their power. Helen had been rather confused by this training at the beginning, but as the heaviness surrounding that peak grew more palpable, she began to feel quite a lot of fear for what Randidly Ghosthound might become in the future.

As it was, Helen marveled at the way that Randidly’s images slowly spread out and formed a constant seal on the surrounding area. The weaker individuals wouldn’t notice it, but to an experienced image-user like Helen, she could clearly feel how activating an image was just a little bit more difficult than it would be in normal circumstances. Randidly’s domineering images spread out and warped the world to his will and the rest of them had to pay the price.

The most intimidating part was that the effect was cumulative; each day it became a little bit harder to utilize images that weren’t related to the Ghosthound. Helen couldn’t help but be amused by the commissioner’s bleak response when he noticed how little he had improved each day. But each day saw him restrained by the increasing weight of ambient image. It was honestly rather impressive that the man was improving faster than the restraint was. It proved he was worthy of experiencing her training.

Still… Helen frowned up at the peak. I planned on waiting until we had developed a while in here before making trouble, but if you insist on making this area so beneficial to you, I’m left with no choice…

Leaving the commissioner mumbling to himself and staggering to his feet, Helen began to walk up toward the peak of the Ghosthound. As she neared the base of that mountain, the image’s reverberations grew more intense. But Helen raised her chin and marched up the winding mountain path. Then, about halfway up the mountain, the surrounding scrub trees that had hardily rooted themselves began to show signs that they were withering and dying from exposure. Their leaves were brown and their branches drooped, as though they couldn’t handle the weight of the images in the air.

Yet beyond that, only a hundred meters below the area where Randidly had settled, the trees seemed to come back to life. But these trees were… strange. Their branches grew long and they seemed to sway in the wind. The leaves on these trees were a deep green that produced an almost bell-like tinkling as they rustled. In addition, the leaves were so thick that the area around the trunk of these trees was obscured with thick shadows.

Occasionally, Helen was struck by the strong impression that something was within those shadows, watching her movements. Yet Helen’s lip just curled up under the shrouded gazes. Even if some weird sort of monster had been modified by Randidly’s images, wouldn’t it be a much more interesting foe than the weaklings that filled this fucking place? So she looked around with enthusiasm.

Of course, none dared attack her. So Helen arrived quickly at the top of the peak.

Randidly had leveled the top portion of the mountain, creating a large flat area for himself. Then he had reinforced the ground beneath his feet by lining the stone ground with a latticework of roots, largely increasing the integrity of the mountain. In addition to that, he had set up a strange stone orb lined with runes as well as a small root hut on the far side of the area.

When Helen arrived, Randidly was standing in the center of the training area. His form had warped to a larger-than-life version of himself, with an eye that devoured light, emerald hair, and a long bony tail. Although there was no doubt that he had sensed her coming quite a long time ago, only when she stood at the edge of his training area did he pause.

Despite the fact that she knew it was an image, even Helen found it somewhat off-putting as the Ghosthound studied her with one emerald eye and an egg of darkness. “Helen… why are you here?”

Helen smiled wickedly. “Well, why do you think?”

Then she unleashed her Tides of Blood Domain and crimson waves submerged the entirety of the peak.