Silence.
The cave was dead quiet, save for the slow drip of water in the distance. Ronin leaned against the cold stone wall, far from where Kara and Leroy were still catching their breath. He glanced back once, just barely able to make out their silhouettes in the dim light. They wouldn't follow. Good.
In his hand, the crystal pulsed.
It was brighter now—slowly recharging with ambient mana. He stared at it, eyes dull but focused. This thing, this tiny core of power, was the last piece. Not of his weapon. Of him.
He wasn't going to build around it this time. No glove. No scrap. No conduit. This time, the crystal would become him.
He pulled out his dagger.
That was the hard part.
Ronin took one breath. Then another. He didn't have a real plan. Just theory. A stupid theory, if he was being honest. But it was all he had left. The crystal had accepted his mana signature once before—something no other crystal should've been able to do. Normally, mana inside a crystal would burn any foreign imprint away. Everyone knew that.
But this crystal didn't.
It took his mana and didn't reject it. Almost like it was made for it.
So, if he could force it into his body—just beneath his chest, near the center of his mana veins—and sync it again, it might just work. He'd have a core. A real one. Not something given by awakening, not something earned by rank. Something stolen.
He pressed the dagger to his skin, just below the sternum.
"Fuck it."
The blade slid in.
Pain tore through him like wildfire. Blood welled up immediately, coating his chest in hot crimson. His hands shook, vision blurred, but he forced the cut wider, tearing open the flesh until there was room.
Then he grabbed the crystal—still glowing—and shoved it in.
A scream ripped out of his throat. His whole body arched off the wall in agony as the crystal slipped into the open wound. His hands scrambled to cover it, to hold it in place, as he tried to gather what little mana he had left.
The mana veins in his body responded sluggishly. He could feel them—thin, weak pathways where mana flowed slowly, too slowly. But the crystal... it was bursting. Raw, unstable mana flooded his body from the inside, colliding violently with his own. It didn't lock into place. It just surged.
Blood gushed.
His strength was fading.
It wasn't working.
Why the hell did I think this would work? I'm not a scientist. I'm not a doctor. I'm a goddamn idiot playing with scraps and stabbing crystals into my chest.
His thoughts scattered as the pain overwhelmed everything. The world spun, vision dimming.
Failed.
Fucking failed again.
His hands fell away from the wound, useless, soaked in blood.
And then—
Darkness.
Leroy sat near the cave's entrance, his back against the wall, eyes scanning the place Ronin had vanished into. Kara sat across from him, silent, holding something in her hands—a small photo. Probably family.
Leroy looked down the tunnel again. Ronin had been gone a while.
Too long.
Earlier, Leroy had been too injured to do anything but sit and curse his body. But now... now he had strength. And now he had worry. The kind that twisted in his gut.
He stood.
Kara looked up briefly, said nothing.
Without a word, Leroy walked deeper into the cave. The silence thickened with every step. Just his boots and the occasional drip of water from the ceiling. It wasn't far, but it felt like a descent into hell.
And then he saw him.
Ronin.
Collapsed in a puddle of his own blood, chest sliced open, clutching at his torso with weak fingers.
"Shit—RONIN!"
Leroy sprinted the last few steps, dropping to his knees beside him. He tore into his own bag, yanked out bandages, and started wrapping the wound as fast as he could. His hands moved on instinct, but the blood wouldn't stop. It was bad. Really bad.
"KARA!" he yelled back. "GET OVER HERE—NOW!"
A few seconds later, she was there, gasping at the sight.
"What happened?" she choked out.
"I don't know!" Leroy snapped. "I found him like this!"
Kara didn't argue. She threw open her bag and shoved a small container of medical supplies into his hands. He kept working. Tight bandages. Pressure. Whatever he could do.
"Was it that goblin?" she asked, voice shaking.
"No. No way. This... this was him. He did this."
They both stared at Ronin, his breathing shallow, his face pale.
Kara swallowed. "Is he gonna make it?"
Leroy finished the last wrap, tightening it.
"I don't know," he said. "But if we don't move fast, he won't."
He looked up at her, eyes hard. "Help me carry him. We're taking him back."