Slady approaches those flowers, crouching down and gently caressing their petals.
"You are together again, Raizer, my friend. Next to your beloved and our old friends."
Then he leans against a tree, seeming to enjoy that moment alone, in peace.
"My heart breaks when I see you die, having to bury you here hurts my heart. I feel like I'm carrying the burden of all of you..."
He puts his arms in an *X* shape over his chest, as if he were protecting his heart.
"But I can't cry right now, I'm not capable of showing my inner despair."
Slady looks back at the flowers in the garden, closing his eyes for a brief moment.
"But I won't let everyone's death be in vain, if I have to carry the burden of all of you to seek justice for your souls, I will do it without hesitation."
Then Slady stood up, looking at the library for a few seconds.
"If you are able to listen to my voice, Raizer and Raintalya, I will take good care of your daughter, I will make her strong so that she never has the same fate as you."
He looked back, looking at the flowers.
"She will be an incredible woman, I assure you."
Slady continued walking through the garden, arriving at another group of flowers.
"Here you are, Natasha and Jonhye."
He sat down next to the flowers, caressing their petals.
"Maybe I wasn't the closest or kindest friend to you, I recognize that, but I won't let your sacrifices for everyone be in vain."
Slady removed his hand from the flower, resting his mechanical hand on his knee.
"You didn't just have the talent that many envied, but the courage that few your age would have if they had it in their skin."
He let out a deep sigh, looking at the clouds that began to gather.
"Will it rain that day because some deity other than humanity will cry for Raizer, or just because of the accumulation of water vapor and his condemnation, bringing the rain?"
Then there was only silence, Slady stood up and began walking back to the library.
'I want you to rest in peace, my friends. But if your souls have not yet found eternal rest, I will eliminate your cause.'
So Slady thought.
***
At Raizer's "burial", it was raining heavily. Slady and Elisa were watching from a distance. The young woman could not contain her tears, still holding the hand of the man next to her, as if she wanted to stabilize herself.
"Why can't I see my father, Slady?" Elisa asked.
"People will see you and try to take you to an orphanage or just treat you like someone important because you're the daughter of a great man." Slady looked at Elisa. "Do you want that?"
"No." Elisa hugged Slady's arm. "I want to be with you and Shaphira, I feel better with you."
"You will be, you don't have to worry."
He placed his hand on Elisa's hair, stroking it with great delicacy and care. The girl closed her eyes and decided to hide her face in Slady's chest, wanting to lean on the man she trusted so much.
That hurt Slady's heart deeply, his fatherly side became stronger and stronger. Unable to control his body, he wrapped both arms around Elisa protectively.
"You're safe."
"I know..." Elisa snuggled into the hug, returning the gesture with all her strength. "I will always be safe with you and Shaphira."
Seeing the sadness of the one who lost her fatherly figure made Slady's desire for justice and revenge grow even deeper. But he restrained himself, only not letting Elisa leave his arms and covering the young woman's ears so she wouldn't hear the funeral speech. He didn't want her to suffer any more than she already had.
"Today is a terrible day for humanity..." The speech began.
"Today is not just the death of one, but the end of a group that protected the human race from the Inférius, the Hunters of Complexity."
"Those who once saved hundreds or thousands of lives from this great enemy that curses our world so much."
"Today, unfortunately, we do not have their physical presence to show their much-deserved respect. But we can refer to their strong and resilient spirit."
'So much fuss for so much falsehood.' Slady thought. 'They didn't even question the disappearance of one of their daughters, as if she were unimportant.'
Although Slady did not appreciate such words, it was noticeable that, before his eyes, there were many citizens, hunters and even police officers who were truly sad and others had great respect for the group.
Suddenly, a voice echoed from the crowd.
"Are you sure the group ended? They never found any evidence about the secret member of the group."
'Why do they care about me now?' Slady thought to herself. 'I definitely don't want them to think about me right now.'
Then the one who was giving the speech answered the man.
'No one knows about the Servant of Truth, he just disappeared when he had the Second Renkai Awakening.'
'"Servant of Truth"? I didn't know Raizer had such bad taste in creating a nickname for me.' Slady thought to herself, 'but it's interesting, I suppose.'
Then the speech continued about the "end" of the Hunters of Complexity. It was more of a list of incredible feats that the main members had done during their career, nothing that had interested Slady, who had even left, more concerned with Elisa herself than with a mere speech.
'You don't have your bodies to "honor" them because I buried them, you imbeciles.' Slady thought.
***
A few hours later...
Slady was sitting on the library bench, fiddling with the camera he had taken from La Taberna the night before.
"I need to find that day..."
As he scrolled through the videos that the security camera contained, several moments from the past flashed by, including moments of conversations between Raizer and Raintalya (while they were alive) and even the image of Elisa as a child. All of that awakened a strong feeling of nostalgia in Slady.
Shaphira was in the kitchen, making lunch. Trying to adjust the temperature of the stove so that it wouldn't bubble in the pan.
"No... not yet... that!" Her tail wagged excitedly, now that she would be able to make lunch faster and easier.
Elisa, however, was in Slady's garden. Trying to forget that difficult time she was going through, wanting to distract herself a little with those beautiful flowers.
So Slady managed to find the right moment in the video...
***
A few minutes after Slady and the others had left, Raizer was sitting at the counter of La Taberna, cleaning and putting away some personal things. Then, suddenly, a group of... scientists? Ended up entering the tavern.
"The place is not open, gentlemen. You can leave." Raizer said.
The group of scientists, composed of two men and two women, had dark, almost malicious expressions towards Raizer.
"We were looking for your friend, the one you call Slady. But we ended up taking an interest in your daughter." A woman in the group said.
"What about her?" Raizer asked.
"We need to do an experiment..." the man lifted his lab coat a little, showing a pistol, like a silent threat "can you tell us where that man, Slady, is?"
"If you think I'm going to say anything about my friend, you're very wrong..." He pulls out his sword, which was resting in a corner. "Whatever you have against my friend, I won't let you lay a finger on him or his daughter."
The group of scientists hesitated, knowing that even in his old age, Raizer could easily kill them.
"There's no need for that much, sir." The man raises his arms. "We're not going to do anything else, we just want to do a 'friendly experiment' with that young woman." But then, the man suddenly gave an evil smile. "If you don't want to cooperate with us..."
Then, all the scientists ran away. Before Raizer could hunt them down, the tavern started to go up in flames. Those scientists... had surrounded that establishment with gasoline and thrown a match with fire into the place.
Because it was a tavern made of wood, debris began to fall, and the toxic smoke began to make Raizer cough uncontrollably, making his heart beat faster and hurt a lot.
"Daughter..."
He tries to climb the stairs to try to save her, but his fragile heart reaches its limit, making him spit blood from his mouth and fall, rolling until he falls to the ground.
At that moment, Raizer lets out his last breath and tears fall from his eyes, dropping his sword and dying. Thinking that he has reached his end, without being able to save his daughter.
Then, due to the flames, the camera ends up falling to the ground, ending the last recording.
***
"..."
Slady observes the device with his mechanical hand trembling, he has so many doubts...
'What do they want with me or my daughter?' Slady thought.
But, all his doubts end when he realizes that he has crushed the camera with his hand. Then, biting his lips, making them bleed, his mind is on a single thought
'I will kill them.'
***
Thus ends the first arc of The Inférius.