Only now, after the battle had ended, did the reality of what he had done begin to settle into Xavier's mind.
The rush of adrenaline that had driven him down the hill was fading rapidly, leaving behind only exhaustion and the corpse sprawled across the bloodstained snow.
His breathing remained uneven.
His hands trembled.
The wooden spear was still clenched tightly in his grip.
The demon centaur lay motionless beneath him, black blood spreading slowly through the white snow. Looking at it now, Xavier felt a strange discomfort twist inside his stomach. During the fight, he had only seen a threat. Something dangerous. Something that would kill him if he hesitated.
But now that it was dead, it looked different.
Real.
The creature had fought for its life. It had screamed. It had bled. In its final moments, it had even looked directly at him.
For the first time since arriving in this nightmare world, Xavier realized he had killed something with his own hands.
His grip loosened slightly around the spear.
A chill crawled down his spine.
Then—
"Xavier."
Raiden's voice cut through his thoughts.
Xavier blinked.
Reality rushed back all at once.
He turned sharply and saw Raiden leaning against the shattered remains of a pine tree. The older man's clothes were torn in several places, blood stained one sleeve, and his left arm hung awkwardly at his side.
Injured.
Badly injured.
Yet somehow still standing.
Xavier immediately rose to his feet.
"Are you okay?"
Raiden let out a tired laugh.
"I've been better."
His gaze drifted toward the dead demon centaur.
Then back toward Xavier.
"I wasn't expecting you to come back."
Xavier looked away.
"Yeah, well... I wasn't expecting to come back either." He said as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly before continuing. "But then I remembered that you're currently my only professional guide through this hellhole. Seemed like a bad idea to abandon my best chance of survival."
A grin slowly appeared on Raiden's face.
"Really?"
"yeah really." Xavier answered.
"Hm."
The winter wind swept across the clearing, carrying away the scent of blood.
Then Xavier stepped forward and stretched out a hand.
"Come on, you said the black tower was north of here?."
Raiden looked him, then smiled.
"Yeah is north, but with such a distance it might take days to reach, so lets move quickly"
Grabbing Xavier's arm, he pulled himself upright. Together, they turned toward the remaining survivors. Surprisingly the alpha demon centaur was gone. The creatures had vanished into the forest sometime during the battle, abandoning the hunt entirely. Whether they had fled from Raiden, Xavier, or simply decided the fight was no longer worth the risk, neither of them knew.
What mattered was that they were gone.
For now.
The two girls remained where they had been left.
As Xavier approached, his gaze briefly drifted toward the mangled remains of the old man lying nearby.
The sight made his stomach tighten. The body was badly mushed,
As Xavier approached, his gaze briefly drifted toward the mangled remains of the old man lying nearby.
His steps slowed.
For a moment, he simply stared.
The body scarcely resembled a person anymore.
It looked as though some giant had taken a sledgehammer to flesh and bone without mercy.
The man's lower body had been reduced to a ruin of shattered limbs and crushed meat, the snow beneath him stained a deep crimson. Splintered ribs protruded through torn flesh like broken white branches, forcing their way from the earth. One side of his chest had completely caved inward, while the other bulged outward at an unnatural angle.
But his face was worse.
The left side of his skull appeared to have collapsed beneath a tremendous impact. Bone fragments, blood, and pale grey matter were scattered across the snow around him. One lifeless eye remained open, staring blankly toward the overcast sky, fear and fright , the last emotion drawn across his lifeless face.
The winter wind swept across the clearing.
Nothing moved.
No breath.
No sound.
No sign that a living person had once occupied that ruined body.
Xavier felt his stomach tighten.
Only minutes ago, that man had been screaming.
Now he was nothing more than a bloodstained shape lying in the snow.
Raiden noticed.
"Focus on the living Xavier." he said.
Xavier silently nodded. " Yeah.....the living."
Then his attention shifted toward the survivors.
And he froze.
This was his first time truly looking at them.
The first girl appeared to be several years older than him. Dark skin. Long black hair. A beautiful face marked by exhaustion and fear.
But it wasn't her appearance that caught his attention.
It was her ears.
Long.
Elegant.
Pointed.
Only one word immediately appeared inside Xavier's mind.
Elf.
He nearly said it aloud.
Somehow, he managed not to.
Instead, he forced himself to remain calm and simply observe.
Beside her sat another girl around his age. Unlike the first, she appeared completely human.
Raiden approached first.
"Are you two alright?"
The dark-skinned girl nodded weakly.
"Yes. Thank you for saving us."
The younger girl quickly followed.
"Thank you, sir."
Raiden gave a small nod.
"Good. Then let's get moving."
Silence followed.
Then the elf girl's expression changed.
The relief on her face vanished, replaced by confusion. Then slowly, fear.
"I..." Her voice trembled slightly. "I can't move."
Raiden frowned. "What do you mean you can't move?"
The girl blinked and looked down at her legs buried beneath the snow. At first, she seemed confused, as though she hadn't fully processed what was wrong. Then she tried to move.
Nothing happened.
A flicker of panic appeared in her eyes.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Color slowly drained from her face.
"I can't feel them."
Her breathing quickened. Both hands immediately grabbed at her thighs as though she could somehow force sensation back into them. She squeezed harder. Struck them once. Then again.
Nothing.
No feeling.
No response.
The realization hit her all at once.
Whatever those creatures had done while trying to pull her apart had left more than wounds.
Something inside her body had broken.
"No..."
Her voice cracked.
"No, no, no..."
Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks as panic finally consumed her.
"I can't move. I can't feel my legs."
The words came out in a rush now, each one carrying more terror than the last. It wasn't the fear of monsters anymore. It was the fear of understanding that something precious had been taken from her. Something she might never get back.
A heavy silence settled over the clearing.
Even the wind seemed quieter.
Raiden slowly crouched beside her. He only needed a moment to understand what had happened. The monsters hadn't simply injured her.
They had crippled her.
The girl buried her face in her trembling hands and began to sob quietly. Not loud. Not dramatic. Just broken, helpless sounds that somehow felt worse.
Xavier stood frozen.
Only minutes ago, he had been terrified of dying. Now, as he looked at the crying girl before him, he realized there were fates in the Spell World that might be even crueler than death.
For the first time since arriving here, the world no longer felt merely dangerous.
It felt merciless.
Xavier instinctively turned toward Raiden.
He had been hoping the knight would have an answer.
A solution.
Anything.
Raiden always seemed like the type of person who knew what to do.
But the moment Xavier looked at him, something felt wrong.
The knight had gone strangely quiet.
His eyes weren't focused on the girl.
Or the forest.
Or even the Black Tower somewhere beyond the horizon.
They were somewhere else entirely.
His breathing had grown heavier. His shoulders trembled faintly beneath the rug, as though some distant memory had suddenly reached out from the past and wrapped icy fingers around his throat.
"Raiden?"
No response.
"Raiden."
The second call finally reached him.
The knight blinked.
His gaze returned.
The distant look vanished.
For several seconds, he simply stared at the crying elf girl lying helplessly in the snow. Then, without warning, he stood up.
" Nothing can be done. Let's go."
The words struck the group like a hammer.
The elf girl's face immediately paled.
Xavier frowned.
"What?"
Raiden turned away from her.
Away from the tears.
Away from the trembling hands digging desperately into the snow.
"We leave now."
The girl's eyes widened. "W-Wait..."
"What do you mean we leave now?" Xavier asked.
This time, Raiden turned back.
Something had changed.
The warmth that usually sat behind his smile was gone. The relaxed knight Xavier had met earlier had vanished. Standing before them now was someone colder. Harder. Someone who looked as though he had made this kind of decision before.
"Are you deaf?" Raiden asked. "We leave without her."
The words seemed to suck all the warmth out of the clearing.
The elf girl's breathing immediately became uneven.
"No..."
Her voice trembled.
"No, no, no..."
She shook her head repeatedly, followed by the panic that overtook her completely, her arms dug into the snow. "I can't move! Please!, I have money, I swear I'll pay you when we get out."
She dragged herself forward by arm, despite knowing it was pointless, despite knowing the lower half of her body would never follow.
The sight made Xavier uncomfortable, Sad actually. It was a pitiful sight. But Raiden
Raiden looked away.
"I'm sorry." He said
The apology sounded genuine.
Which somehow made it hurt even more.
"But with your condition, you're only going to slow us down."
The girl froze.
The words seemed to hit harder than the monsters ever could.
Raiden's voice remained calm.
"The Black Tower is north. We don't know how far. A day. Two days. Maybe longer. Carrying you means More danger , less speed, less chance of survival."