Leon looked down at his hands, sticky with thick blood. Then he glanced at his katana, painted the same deep red. A cold feeling swept through his body again. What did I just... what did I do? The thought hadn't even fully formed when something weird happened.
The bodies of all nine bandits lying in pools of blood on the ground... slowly crumbled into black ash and scattered on the wind! Only the water user's corpse remained, still lying motionless on the dirt.
"What the hell..." Leon gasped, eyes wide as he stared at the impossible scene. "This is insane!"
Shion looked just as shocked. She glanced between where the bandits' bodies used to be and the elemental user's corpse that hadn't changed. "Were they... were they Vine-born?" Her voice was full of confusion. "But why didn't this guy turn to ash too?" She pointed at the burned remains of the water wielder.
Then something even stranger happened. The bloodstains covering Leon's body and clothes began dissolving into faint red vapor that vanished into the air. Like the blood had never existed at all.
While both of them stood there gaping at the supernatural weirdness, Uncle Gray slowly crept out from the bushes. He was shaking like a leaf, terrified.
"Th-thank you... thank you both so much," the old man stammered, tears in his eyes.
But before he could say anything else, Leon spun around to face him. The katana's tip pointed straight at Gray's face. The kid's eyes were cold and full of distrust.
"You led us into their trap, didn't you?" Leon's voice cut like ice.
"N-no! It wasn't like that!" Gray waved his hands frantically. "I... I couldn't fight them! They threatened to hurt my family!"
"Why didn't you tell us from the start?" Leon pressed. "Why not let us handle it? We're Special Operations!"
"Well... you both looked so young..." Gray mumbled, glancing between Leon and Shion.
"Because we look young?" Shion finally exploded. Her amber eyes blazed with fury. "You think we got into Special Ops by accident?!"
Her words hit Leon like an arrow to the chest. He rubbed his head awkwardly, feeling somehow criticized too.
"I don't trust you anymore!" Shion declared. Then she turned to Leon. "From now on, we walk. Come on, Leon!" She marched off immediately, still fuming.
"Wait! Please!" Gray called out desperately. "If you don't mind... let me take you to the next town at least? Think of it as making amends. Let me do something to pay you back."
Shion, who'd only gone a few steps, stopped dead. Her foot hung in mid-air. She stood there thinking, exhaustion from the fight and travel starting to show. Her face stayed stern, but her eyes softened slightly. "Fine..." She turned back to Gray with a suspicious look. "You better not lead us into another trap."
Gray quickly raised his hands. "Of course not! I promise! This time I won't cause you any trouble!"
Leon, still puzzling over the bandits' dissolving bodies and the blood vanishing from his skin, quietly asked Shion as they walked back toward Gray.
"Shion... were those guys really Vine-born? What tier were they? They looked so human."
Shion glanced at Leon, then shook her head. "Don't know. I've never seen Vine-born like that either. Never even heard of any."
"Heh..." Leon laughed dryly. "Guess you don't know everything after all."
Suddenly Shion's small but heavy fist cracked against Leon's skull.
"Ow!" Leon yelped.
"What about you then? Do you know anything?" Shion puffed up indignantly, though her cheeks turned slightly pink.
Gray watched the two kids and couldn't help grinning before quickly inviting them back onto his bike trailer. The journey continued.
After a while, the scenery started changing. The wild forests and crumbling ruins gave way to signs of newer, more organized civilization.
As the bike trailer rolled through an unusually quiet stretch of thick forest, Leon was the first to notice something wrong.
"Uncle Gray... can you stop for a second?" Leon said, staring into the woods beside the road.
The trailer slowly came to a halt. Shion frowned and followed Leon's gaze. Then her eyes went wide.
The forest had been destroyed in a massive circle. Dozens of huge trees lay scattered and broken. Some looked like they'd been sliced clean through by something enormous. The ground was full of craters and holes, like it had been hit by explosions or some violent battle. A faint smell of smoke still lingered in the air. And most importantly, all the damage looked pretty fresh.
"This is..." Shion whispered, her amber eyes showing alarm and deep thought. "Definitely signs of a fight. But looking at this destruction... this wasn't any ordinary battle."
Leon nodded slowly. Some kind of premonition crept into his chest. "This level of devastation... it's like when..." He thought of Xiao Yan's power, The Exiled's strength, even his own mysterious abilities that had erupted without warning. "This definitely wasn't just regular Vine-born."
Silence fell over them. Worry about Xiao Yan's fate bubbled up in both their minds. They looked at each other, thinking the same thing. Was this a battlefield where Xiao Yan had fought? Where was he now? Was he safe?
Gray followed their gaze to the devastated forest area, his face going pale. Sweat beaded on his forehead. "This area... it's really dangerous. We should get out of here fast, before something else shows up." Fear filled his voice.
Even though they were still full of questions and worry, Leon and Shion knew they couldn't do anything right now. They memorized the scene of destruction and got back on the trailer to continue their journey.
Before long, Gray brought them to the entrance of a town. It was a good distance from where they'd left Crafter. This place was completely different from the abandoned market they'd just come from. The buildings were made of metal and concrete, with modern designs. It wasn't as fancy as the pre-apocalypse cities, but it felt like being in one of Crafter's suburban districts. There were bright lights, the chatter of people, and most importantly... there was technology and machinery that Leon had never seen before, all working perfectly!
"This is incredible..." Leon muttered in amazement, eyes wide as he looked around in wonder.
Shion, who was looking in the same direction, couldn't help feeling excited and curious either. Even though she tried to hide it, the sparkle in her amber eyes was unmistakable.
Right then, Leon realized that the world outside River Bend's walls—the place he'd always feared and thought was just a dangerous wasteland—wasn't completely terrible after all. Since leaving on this journey, he'd discovered that humans were still managing to live normal lives. Culture and hope still survived amid the despair. And maybe this trip would give him more new experiences than he'd ever imagined possible.