The woman called Edraine tapped her chin several times in a row as she considered. It was clear that she was somewhat shocked. But despite the tall stacks of scrolls in front of her, that indicated how much work was on her plate, she stopped immediately when the new arrival had made herself known. “You are…”

“Neveah,” Neveah responded with a firm expression. Her insides still trembled from coming to the Nexus, but she had no choice. “I came because… something has happened to Randidly.”

The rhinoman, Octavius Shrike, looked up sharply from his own desk. They were in the study right now, with the most dominant items in the room being tall piles of scrolls. It was almost impossible to move through the cramped room. He reached up and rubbed his horn. “We… are aware that Randidly was stuck in an unfortunate situation, but… Did something happen recently…?”

Octavius shot a secret glance toward Edraine, whose expression was much more placid. Neveah felt the sharp blade of fury rising in her chest; apparently, they knew that something was happening to Randidly. That was both good… and bad. But Neveah was relieved that the concern she saw in Octavius’ expression was genuine.

Obviously, Neveah understood these people through Randidly’s previous impressions of them, but it was another thing to meet them herself. Randidly could be… somewhat oblivious. Seeing them with her own eyes gave her a better sense of the sort of people they were. And from this brief impression, she had to conclude that they genuinely cared about Randidly.

So Neveah cleared her throat. “I can confirm that I sense Randidly is alive… but I also simultaneously sense that he doesn’t exist, like our Soulbond never was created in the first place. That strange contradiction… is why I came.”

Edraine closed her eyes. When that vivid spirit wasn’t being broadcasted through her gaze, the woman looked old. Her grey hair was extremely still as she spoke. “...Randidly has proceeded beyond the danger zone below us, approaching the core of the power plant of the Nexus. Such a powerful facility… had sinister side effects. One of those is an all-consuming chunk of significance that had been accumulating for thousands of years. He is within its grasp.

“We… are unable to give him any aide without also being consumed by it. Such a phenomenon is not something that can be overcome with power.”

Based on her understanding of Nether, Nevaeh nodded slowly. She had been able to inuit that much by examining their connection before it so abruptly vanished without actually vanishing. “Alright. But what I want to ask is… is there any possibility we could… send something down that could assist? I’m extremely worried about him.”

Octavius sighed. “We wish to, but…”

“In addition,” Edraine opened her eyes again. “The fact that you can confirm he is still alive… that is reassuring. He possesses capabilities we don’t. If anyone could survive this… the Ghosthound can. I’m sad to admit it, but I don’t know what sort of assistance we could give.”

Neveah shook her head. “No, it’s not his capabilities that I’m worried about. It’s… well, it might be hard to explain how the Soulbond functions. We were intimately connected… but now we are not, although we still are. What worries me is that… well, have either of you either had a strong relationship with someone?”

The room was silent. Edraine reached up and scratched her cheek as the silence continued. Neveah turned to look at Octavius. The Overseer of the Seventh Cohort coughed awkwardly. “Well… due to the many responsibilities of a Overseer… I haven’t had an opportunity-”

Neveah waved her hand; she wasn’t interested in hearing about the plight of an overworked bachelor, not right now. So instead she just explained as best he could. “When you are with someone, you find balance with them. Both individuals might have started as outgoing and generous, but when connected, one person will be pushed downward in those traits. For a concrete example, due to our connection, Randidly’s own study of Engraving has largely slowed. I became the Engraver, while he focused on improving his martial prowess.”

Octavius looked between Neveah and Edraine, trying to understand what was going on. But Edraine was beginning to frown. Which was good, in Neveah’s mind. It meant that this woman might be able to understand the danger of what Neveah discussed.

“...the reason I am worried,” Neveah continued. “Is because our emotions intermingled so freely while we were connected. And between the two of us… I was definitely the more cautious one. Simply by being connected to me, Randidly became more aggressive… but my caution was always a part of him, acting as a restraint. That was the balance we achieved. Now that has disappeared. What’s left is only his wild aggressiveness, which is used to having an equally strong caution subconsciously keeping it in check.”

Neveah bowed her head. “Which is why, as quickly as possible… I want to assist him. Or reach out to him, to warn him of the danger. So please. If there is anything you can do…”

Edraine closed her eyes once more. She continued to tap her cheek.

*****

Raymund Ballast and DiOrtho Vant moved quickly in their pursuit. They blasted off from the beach, destroying the lake-facing wing of the princess’ manor as the ground beneath their feet cracked and destroyed the nearby foundations. While the royal defenders roared in fury behind them, they accelerated toward the cloaked figure that had managed to kidnap the princess before they did.

Without the veneer of stealth they had maintained previously, their powerful physical bodies displayed overwhelming force. The other kidnapper had almost a minute’s head start, but the duo had cut that lead to nothing within ten seconds. Their blatant movements would eventually lead over the royal guards, but both realized that stealth missions weren’t their strong suit.

Time to settle this with the only tool available to them: their physical bodies.

The kidnapper had been running along the edge of the lake, so when they caught up Raymund pounced and landed in the shallows in front of their foe with a massive splash. The kidnapper sloshed to a stop, looking around warily. Raymund snarled; he didn’t like the scent of desperation that clung to the kidnapper.

Will the culpability lie with us if he behaves desperately and harms the princess…? Raymund thought uneasily. Better open with a strong front, then show empathy-

“Just give up and die,” DiOrtho said rather lazily as he began walking toward the kidnapper’s back. “Make this easier on all of us.”

Raymund twitched.

The kidnapper whirled around, a cloak covering his features. Meanwhile, the expression of the princess that was slung across the kidnapper’s shoulders brightened as she struggled and raised her head. “Thank god! Take that, you dirty immigrant. Aren’t my knights powerful? If you give me up now, I won’t have them torture you for so long! And your sister… well, I’ll need to see how I feel, but-”

As the desperation around the kidnapper turned to fury, he threw the princess down into the shallow water. Then he raised his foot to stomp on her head while she flailed around in the shallow water to find her bearings.

DiOrtho and Raymund moved at the same time. Water exploded.

DiOrtho reached to pierce into the kidnapper's head with his hand. Raymund smashed the kidnapper in the temple and caught DiOrtho’s strike. The muscles of both their arms strained as the kidnapper collapsed. Raymund let his breath hiss out through his snout. “Killing is prohibited.”

“Just gonna rip out the fuck’s tongue,” DiOrtho glowered. Then he glanced over his shoulder. “Pursuit will be coming. A mute failed kidnapper would leave fewer clues for the guards. The less they know about us, the better.”

“I’ll carry him,” Raymund countered. He reached down and seized the back of the cloak to lift the kidnapper. Obviously, his weight was negligible to the Vulpine, but he was still somewhat startled to realize how light this being was. He peeled back the soaked hood of the cloak to reveal a sharp-featured face that made it seem like there was some ratkin blood in the kidnapper. “Better not allow variant elements to remain at liberty. We must discover why he, too, wishes to kidnap the princess.”

“Bah, just more trouble,” DiOrtho shook his head.

It was at that moment that the princess finally managed to sit up and spat out a mouthful of water on DiOrtho. As the ram-demon’s eyes narrowed with fury, the princess blinked in confusion and frowned up at them. “What the hell sort of rescue is this, anyway? He almost killed me. Can you trash not even manage this properly? And after you already failed to protect me, too...”

“He dropped you in the lake, princess,” Raymund said rather lightly as he tossed the kidnapper over his shoulder. Then he raised an eyebrow at DiOrtho. “Shall we go?”

The princess stood up. She smiled sweetly at Raymund, but the effect was somewhat grotesque. For a humanoid… she was extremely poor-featured. Her lips were thin and her nose was large. “Heh. I don’t believe you heard me, sir knight. He almost killed me. And you were right there, and you didn’t do anything to prevent it. I cannot believe someone like you, a monster fuck half-breed, managed to become a royal guard. But it’s obvious from your failure here that it was a terrible mistake. Hehehe… so change your attitude, or I’ll tell my father-”

DiOrtho Vant, saint that the was, picked the princess up by the hem of her dress and casually flung her across the surface of the lake. The princess screeched like an owl as she skipped across the water in a series of tumbling splashes. She skipped four times before she slowed down enough to sink. With a refreshed smile on his face, DiOrtho leapt up and splashed into the water next to where she had gurgled to a stop.

He lifted her out of the water. “Say something like that again. I dare you.”

“RAPE!” The princess screamed as she struggled in DiOrtho’s grip. “Half-breed filth lusting after my flesh- gggrrhhhhh!”

DiOrtho dunked the princess's head underwater. Raymund looked toward the beach area, where there were a few cottages with extremely manicured lawns. From within a window of one of those cottages, he saw definite movement in response to the princess’ scream.

“We should go,” Raymund said quietly.

DiOrtho grinned over at him. “Maybe soon. But do we even know where we have to go? We’ve kidnapped- oh, wait.” He lifted the princess out of the water. She spluttered and spat. When it seemed like she was cognizant of what was going on around her, DiOrtho sneered. “By the way, we aren’t your royal guards. Wouldn’t take a shit gig like that. We are here to kidnap you too. Apparently, it’s a very popular profession.”

Then he pressed her face back under the water and turned back to Raymund. “Honestly, I never thought I’d get into political activism, but we are doing this country a favor by cutting out this cancerous cyst of a girl. So... Maybe I was a little hasty to try and rip out that guy’s tongue.”

“...to think, DiOrtho Vant could stray so near an apology...” Raymund said drily. Back toward the royal compound, he could see a group of guards gathering and beginning to head in their direction. A figure shot ahead of them, clearing possessing much more capability. “But we need to move. Pursuit is coming-”

Raymund’s eyes narrowed and he spun around as a threat approached from the opposite direction than the royal compound, but steadily relaxed as he saw it was Helen. She landed with a massive splash that drenched both Raymund and DiOrtho and grinned around at them. “Good job. You need to escape, but… heheh… I’ve taught you all you need to know about running, right? You’ll take that princess to the Southern Fang, which is the Southern-most mountain in the border region between this Kingdom and the Empire. There is a Fate Lighthouse there. Make the Princess get a Class.”

After a very uncharacteristic hesitation, Helen also said. “There might also be… some adjustments to your mission. I’ll let you know after she has a Class. Get to it, recruits.”