When Kaze came to, he found himself lying on a bed.
The first thing he felt was the pain that came from his nose. Wincing in pain, Kaze forced himself to sit up and explore his surroundings.
He was no longer at the graveyard area. Instead, the room he was in was small, isolated from any form of contact around him. There wasn't a window, only a firm door on the other side of the square room. By his bedside was a table with some notes and medical equipment, most likely from treating him.
Kaze looked down to examine his body. Generally, no other injuries were sustained since he didn't really get hurt in the fight other than getting kicked in the face.
"Lunaria…."
That was what Kaze mumbled as soon as he recalled the last thing he saw.
His head ached at the thought of watching Lunaria being taken away by the man so effortlessly. What even happened to him was unknown, especially since the man made no movement to immobilize him.
Kaze felt useless in the fight earlier. The advantage and space Lucentia had presented to him was wasted. He let the man get away with Lunaria.
Adrenaline pumped through his system at the thought of what would happen to Lunaria. Stumbling out of bed, Kaze dragged himself to the door. When he tried to open it, he found it to be locked from the outside.
"Hey! Is anyone outside?! Let me out!!" Kaze shouted, thumping on the door impatiently. "Hey!!!"
No response came from the other side. At that moment, Kaze assumed he was taken along by the enemy to where they were head and held prisoner, but then it came to him that no one would heal their enemy's injuries. This must mean he was rescued at some point.
The question was why, unlike the previous time where he was helped, that he was in such a room. There wasn't even anything he could do in this room, nor was there his belongings like his sword with him. He was dressed in his previous attire at the event, except without his outer coat and dirtied shirt from rolling across the floor.
Pounding on the door several more times, Kaze's fists started to ache from how hard he was hitting against it. The door itself wasn't made out of wood, but of stone, so it made sense that it hurt to hit it.
Kaze didn't care, feeling more worried as time passed without any answers being heard from the other side. As much as he knew, every second passing was more time lost for rescuing Lunaria.
After several minutes of relentless pounding, Kaze fell to the floor and sobbed.
His emotions had exploded. All the guilt and pain of being so useless that he couldn't even protect Lunaria came to him at once. The things he had bottled up, trying to ignore from his weakness of unable to do anything to counter the enemy, it came all at once.
"W-Why am I so weak…?" Kaze cried, pounding the floor helplessly now. "Why can't I… help anyone?"
More time passed with Kaze being left in isolation until signs of life could be heard from the other side.
When the sound of footsteps was heard shuffling from between the gaps of the door, Kaze looked up at the door with tears running down the side of his face. He was still on the floor, making it a rather weird pose for him to be in when he was right in front of the said door.
As soon as the door was open, Kaze jumped up and rushed out of the room. His body wouldn't allow him to wait for a second as to why he was there, only wanting to rush out and save Lunaria.
The guards who opened the door found Kaze shoving out all of a sudden, forcing them to try to pin him down to prevent him from escaping.
"H-Hey, you!"
"Stop struggling!"
"Pin him down!"
"If you continue to resist, we will use force!"
"Damn it!"
Sounds of frustrations came from the guards as they attempted to stop Kaze from running away. They resorted to using all their strength to stop him, while Kaze threw punches at them in order to aid his escape.
He was no match against four guards wearing armour, eventually. With Kaze being pinned to the floor and his limbs restricted, Kaze kept on struggling effortlessly.
"You don't understand! We have to leave!" Kaze shouted, trying to get the guards to hear him out. "Lunaria is!"
"That won't be necessary."
A calm but firm tone came from the front. Kaze lifted his head to see who it was, widening his eyes at the approaching few.
"Y-Your Majesty…"
Reginsleif stood in front of him with Lunatea by his side, both with a firm look on their face.
"What is going on?" Reginsleif asked the four guards.
"Your Majesty. He was trying to escape," one of them explained. "We were going to check on him because we heard the door pounding and he…"
"… I see," Reginsleif simply nodded. "Let him go."
The guards looked at each other, but reluctantly released Kaze.
"S-Sir!" Kaze crawled towards the Emperor himself, grabbing him by the foot. "I…"
"Calm down, calm down," Reginsleif smiled kindly at Kaze, bending down to help him up. "Let's talk properly, okay?"
Back in the room, Kaze sat on the side of his bed, facing the Emperor in a chair. Lunatea also sat next to Kaze, only because she helped to heal his nose that had gotten injured from the scuffling with the guards.
For the first few minutes of being together in private, an awkward silence hung in the room. Kaze didn't have the guts to face the Emperor and his daughter, knowing that he was the cause of allowing the enemy to get away with Lunaria. No words could express how bad Kaze felt for the two, for they must feel upset for the loss of their daughter.
"Your Majesty… I…"
"What has happened, happened. Let's not talk about what that already passed, but what actions that would be taken from here on," Reginsleif cut Kaze short, knowing he was going to apologise. "First, Kaze, can you tell me what you saw? I already heard what I needed to from Lucentia, but I will need your word too."
Under the Emperor's words, Kaze began retelling everything from the event itself. Starting from Kaze returning home with Lunaria, they heard the explosions and split up. One thing led to another, before eventually arriving at the graveyard area with Lucentia. While retelling the events itself, Kaze could feel his hands trembling, probably out of fear of what the Emperor thought of him.
Even so, neither the Emperor nor Lunatea said anything until he was done. It was hard to determine what they were thinking, based on their expressionless look from listening to him carefully.
"… and before I knew it, I was on the ground…" Kaze muttered. "He.. took Lunaria away…"
A few more seconds of silence passed, reaffirming that Kaze had finished his part of the story. Exchanging glances with his daughter, Reginsleif sighed and shook his head.
"It matches Lucentia's description. Kaze, we don't blame you for what happened," Reginsleif calmly stated so, not wanting to give off the wrong impression to Kaze. "We will try to answer any questions you have, if you do have any."
"I-Is Lunaria alright?" Kaze's voice shook when asking so, tears flowing uncontrollably down the side of his cheeks. "Did you manage to find her?"
"… No," Reginsleif shook his head, answering Kaze honestly. "We don't know where they might have taken her. Not even Lucentia."
Reality struck Kaze, causing him to keel over and sob again. Offering a shoulder to lean on, Lunatea pulled him into a hug and stroked his back while he cried. Both her and the Emperor knew that out of everyone here, Kaze took it on himself the hardest because he was responsible of letting Lunaria go. Even if he was the victim himself, it must have felt bad knowing he couldn't have done anything more about it in the face of such overwhelming circumstance.
"… A search party has been deployed as of now," Lunatea whispered softly to him, feeling his tears staining the side of her shirt. "It's okay Kaze, we will find her."
"If it helps, Lunaria is safe," the Emperor added.
"… H-How do you know that?" Kaze asked, still burying his face in the crook of Lunatea's neck.
"Well, if the goal was to kill her, wouldn't they have done so from the beginning?" Reginsleif shrugged. "Thinking about it objectively, all of the explosions that happened were simply a ploy to distract the guards from whatever they were doing, which must have been trying to kidnap Lunaria. If they only focused on Lunaria, then it was without a doubt that they were drawing unwanted attention to themselves."
"Whoever done that must have thought this through properly," Lunatea gritted her teeth. "To even go to the extent of capturing Lunaria-nee…"
"Lucentia said that there was this orb object too," Reginsleif continued, unsure if Kaze was listening to him. "They must want Lunaria because they need something from her, something that they need her alive to obtain. Because of this, I can safely tell you we have a bit more time… not much, but hopefully enough."
Kaze looked at the Emperor after a bit, having heard their words. Research and contemplation must have been done for them to come up with such a conclusion, especially since this was all too much of a coincidence to happen all at once. At this, Kaze's heart relaxed a little even if it was still throbbing painfully.
"W-What do we do now?" Kaze sniffed, wiping the side of his eyes. "Aren't you two supposed to be helping with the search?"
"We can't do much, not when we are in foreign nation," Reginsleif shook his head. "Sir Ethan's got that covered. So far, everyone else is safe… Ah, right, Lucentia left out of her own accord, so please don't say that she sneaked out or anything."
"For context, we were in the palace when the explosions happened," Lunatea filled Kaze in on the details. "Mother was worried about Lunaria-nee, we all were. Lucentia left to find her when we were all kept protected in a room, so it would sound bad if we made it that Lucentia managed to sneak out of the palace, because that would be bad for the palace."
"I-I see…" Kaze slowly nodded. "Everyone else?"
"If you mean Sera and the rest, they are fine," Lunatea reaffirmed for him too. "They were all kept in the hall this entire time. When the guards arrived, everyone was safe. Now they have been allowed home after ensuring that it was safe to travel around again."
"Huh? What happened?" Kaze felt a little confused. "W-With the explosions and the attackers?"
"They were bandits. While the guards might have captured some, most were forced to be killed since they wouldn't comply," Reginsleif answered truthfully, knowing nothing good would come out of deceiving Kaze. "Most of them managed to escape as the guards couldn't be deployed to all the areas in time. Oh, they were also the ones behind the attack, with their leader probably being the ones who coordinated all this and took Lunaria away."
"Kaze, why didn't Lunaria-nee manage to win?" Lunatea grasped his shoulders tightly and asked. "Lucentia said Lunaria-nee lost control of her magic. That isn't like Lunaria-nee at all, something must have happened."
"I… don't know," Kaze looked down sadly. "She suddenly collapsed when Lucentia and I were spying on their fight, so…"
Lunatea and the Emperor sighed when they heard his words. Knowing he was telling the truth, it meant there was an external factor that affected Lunaria other than the enemy themselves.
"… Kaze, are you sure you know nothing of the enemy?" Lunatea asked him slowly. "Lucentia said they were radiating a strange aura as soon as she fought one of them."
"I don't know anything, honestly," Kaze shook his head yet again. "All I know was that Lunaria had the upper hand… What about the guy wielding the axe?"
"Gone too," Reginsleif grimaced. "If you meant the person you were fighting against, that was what I heard from Lucentia. When the person she was fighting escaped, she immediately went back to find you collapsed with your nose broken. All signs of the enemy had disappeared."
"… How was I found?"
"Lucentia said some of the guards arrived at the area as soon as she found you. It seemed like Lunaria's fight had managed to attract enough attention from the start that there was immediate deployment over there."
What Reginsleif meant was regarding the magic dragon. When Lunaria used Elemental Collision, she lit up the night sky so much that it was hard not to miss it, along with the trembling that could be felt throughout the city. It was no surprise that attention would be focused on that area, especially when the result of the fight was causing the entire graveyard area to be wrecked.
In fact, even they could feel the magic all the way from the palace, for people with excellent magic senses like Laevia.
"… What about Lucentia?" Kaze suddenly remembered, widening his eyes and looking at the two intensely. "Is she okay?"
"She… is fine," Lunatea smiled wryly at his reaction, seemingly unexpected that he would care for her that much either. "A little beaten up, but definitely in better shape than you. Don't underestimate Lucentia, she can hold herself quite well."
"I-I see," Kaze sighed, his back slumping a little out of relief. "That's good… Wait, what are we doing here? If there is a search party going on, we have to join them."
Just as Kaze stood up, Lunatea held him down. Reginsleif's smile became slight cramped while Lunatea's eyes darted all over the place nervously.
"… What's wrong? Is there something you can't tell me?" Kaze looked confused. "Erm, Lunatea? Your Majesty?"
After confirming it between themselves, they decided it was better to let Kaze know after all. With the way things were going, it was probably best for him to find out sooner.
"Kaze, um… you see," Lunatea spoke in a very hesitant manner, her squeezing his hand tightly. "Please don't get mad at what we're about to tell you… okay? It's not like we can't do anything about it, wait no, we can't. Oh, what are we doing? This is so silly."
"Lunatea, allow me," Reginsleif chuckled at his daughter's frazzled state before transitioning into a serious expression. "Kaze, we believe that you are telling us the truth, we really do. Even after we have told whoever in charge of this, they still wouldn't drop their suspicions because there were 'so-called' eyewitnesses. We don't know how it is done, but…"
"Father, this is ridiculous. Lunaria shouldn't have come after all," Lunatea pouted. "I knew the humans were stubborn, but not to this extent. Do they not trust a dragonkin's word?"
"Lunatea, you know that's not how the custom works here," Reginsleif sighed. "We can't help it, because it is indeed under their jurisdiction and law, which is legal."
"Yes, but Sir Ethan was on our side! Do they not listen to their King?!"
"As you have heard, even Sir Ethan thinks they have a reason."
"We can't even-"
"Wait, wait, what is going on?" Kaze felt even more lost from their bickering. "Why are you making it sound like I committed a crime?"
"… Kaze…" Lunatea took a deep breath, preparing herself to tell him whatever that was going on.
"As ridiculous as this is going to sound… there were claims… that you were the one who was the mastermind behind the kidnapping of Lunaria-nee."
- - - - -
Lunaria opened her eyes with a groggy feeling in her stomach.
After she blacked out, she couldn't remember anything that happened other than the fight itself. As such, she didn't know where she was and how she got here.
Currently, Lunaria was standing in the middle of a dark room. Her arms were cuffed with chains hanging from above, causing her to be strung such that her feet barely touched the ground. Light barely penetrated the room she was in, probably due to it still being dark outside but it was hard to infer from the condition Lunaria was in.
She struggled to move around as her first response of being restricted, only to find that even her wings had been disabled by magic. Once she realized struggling was meaningless, she remained silent and tried to focus on her surroundings.
"… I know you're there," Lunaria growled. "Why don't you come out so we can talk, face to face?"
From the darkness came the same devil she was facing a few moments ago, walking towards her with a small smirk on his face.
Just like before, he still wore the same suit without the top hat, probably something that was only used to conceal his identity. Now that Lunaria knew who he was, it was pointless to do so.
Magic crystals on the walls of the room lit up at his command, causing Lunaria to wince at the sudden light after staring into the darkness for so long. She was now able to see she was in another secluded area, an altar a few metres in front of her. It was hard to determine what was behind her, but based on the footsteps approaching, it was probably the exit, due to her being unable to turn around.
"There's no point trying to use magic, Hime-sama," the devil noted beforehand, leaning one hand on the altar. "We have already sealed this room."
"Are you not afraid of me retaliating? These chains are barely enough to keep me secured," Lunaria continued to provoke him. "Do you think a dragonkin is only bound to the limits of their physical and magical strength?"
"Pretty much, which is what I need," the devil shrugged, admitting to her statement.
Following that, he brought out the orb and placed it on the altar. The group of bandits that had been setting up explosives all around the city surrounded her, standing at the edges of the rectangular room. Lunaria could see that the red veins from before were not present, since the devil must have removed the buff effect from them as of now.
"What do you want?" Lunaria asked the devil, noticing him approaching her.
"I want you," the devil declared, causing her to flinch. "Well, not you specifically, but in a literal sense. I need your body, your power, you… are very capable for what is about to come."
"Hey, don't reveal too much to her," a gruff voice came from behind, signalling to the devil in front of her. "We need to allow our Lord to decide on that matter."
"Ah, right," the devil clapped once and turned around. "Please excuse me while I tend to this~"
He began imbuing magic into the orb, causing it to glow up once again. Almost immediately, Lunaria's body suddenly felt heavy, causing her to let out a gasp of surprise. It was like her strength was sipping out of her without a reason.
"Alright, it's working," the devil nodded in satisfaction when he saw Lunaria's change in posture and expression. "Now, to wait."
"What… did you… do…?" Lunaria wheezed, finding it difficult to even talk.
"Nothing much. This orb essentially helps to prevent what you said about being a dragonkin, everything of the above," the devil hummed, approaching her once more. "It will sap off your strength and mana, bit by bit, ensuring that you will be too weak to retaliate."
Lunaria widened her eyes at this. She had never heard of a magic device or artifact capable of doing such malicious deeds. Even when dealing with criminals, they only went as far as physical torture and magical restriction spells, but not to the point of taking away their strength itself. Now that it was happening to her, Lunaria knew better than to not trust the devil's words, even though it was ironic.
"Your strength, you see, is necessary, so it's not like we are going to sap it off for nothing," the devil continued with a light chuckle. "We will put it to good use."
Walking up front, he lifted Lunaria's chin and bent downwards so he could meet her in the eye. Lunaria had a scowl on her face, showing her displeasure as she stared right up at him. This only further excited the devil, for he knew she still hadn't given up.
"Splendid, just what I would expect of someone so prominent and capable," the devil smirked. "I can't wait to see you after a few hours. Will you submit by then? I do not know. My favourite part about this is watching as my victims, ah, companions, wither… ever so slowly, their determination crumbling."
Licking the side of her face to trigger Lunaria, the devil walked past her to leave the room. Lunaria was left stunned, the stickiness of his saliva that was now coating her skin tingling. Her trauma was starting to emerge once again, forcing her to gasp at the pressure building up from within.
"This isn't personal, Hime-sama. It's only orders," the devil gave her a parting word, leading the rest of the bandits out of the room. "Please do not take it against me~"
Until just now, Lunaria hadn't considered that she was having a conversation with a devil upfront. It was until he left that the fear of seeing a devil caught up to her, causing her legs to shake in fear and her breathing to turn uneasy.
"Kukuku, she looks terrified."
"We might as well have our way with her now~"
"You idiot. Do you want us to get killed? They promised us later…"
Some of the bandits at the side of the room mistook Lunaria's trauma for being frightened, causing them to laugh at her. Eventually, it was Lunaria alone in the room yet again, with everyone leaving to allow the orb to do its work.
Lunaria could only stare helplessly at it, watching its menacing purple glow lighting up the room itself. She couldn't do anything about her current situation, only to wait endlessly without a concept of time or how long it would take for this suffering to end.
Once the door closed, the lights of the crystals doused out once more, submerging the room in complete darkness yet again. Only the ominous glow of the orb kept Lunaria company, giving her time to curse the cruel thing that was fate while blaming herself for being too weak to defeat him when she had the chance.
Now, it was too late for all of that.
"K… Kaze…" Lunaria's weak mumble left the corner of her mouth, only to be swallowed up by the despair of the situation.