"What is going on?!" Falk shouted.
"Horatio left the team," Kyle answered. "He left on his own volition."
"What are you talking about?! You were the one who wanted to talk to him all of a sudden! This has to be related to you!" Falk said.
"We had a talk, but I never told him to leave the team," Kyle answered with a sigh. "He saved my life. I'm not going to ask my savior to just leave."
"Then, why did he leave?" Falk asked with furrowed brows.
"If you meet him again, you can ask him," Kyle said. "It is not my place to unveil his secrets."
"Secrets?" Falk asked.
"Yep, secrets," Kyle answered. "Trust me when I say that I have thanked him in the most honest, valuable, and direct way possible."
'I mean, I put my life in his hands, let him leave, kept his identity secret, and even trusted him with the fate of the world, essentially,' Kyle thought. 'If that's not thanking him, I don't know what is.'
"You still manage to surprise me," Theodor said. "I thought I already saw the bottom of your stupidity, but I was mistaken."
"You might have just doomed the world."
Kyle didn't answer.
'I'm not going to punish someone just because of what they are. Horatio saved my ass, and he even taught me that I can be a leader. I'm not going to betray him.'
Michael kept himself out of the conversation since he didn't belong to the team.
Several seconds of silence passed.
"Fine," Falk said. "I guess it's only you and me now."
Kyle sighed. "Yeah, that sucks. We lost three members today."
The two of them looked at the scattered pieces of ice and Tracy's decapitated corpse.
Falk looked with pain at Tracy's corpse before looking away.
They had been working together for almost a year now.
During that year, the five of them had become good friends.
But now…
They had lost three of them.
Falk still remembered all the time he had talked with Tracy and Bormine.
Tracy had been so supportive in every matter. She was always ready to listen.
Bormine didn't talk as much, but he was very honest and trustworthy. If someone wanted advice, he was the right person to go to.
Kyle also looked at Tracy's corpse.
'Man, I really liked Tracy,' he thought. 'Still crazy that she's dead.'
'Gotta find new members, or should I disband the Dwarves?'
'Yeah, well. Whatcha gonna do? People die. Still sucks, though.'
"I'm sorry for what happened," Michael said.
"It's fine," Kyle answered. "You fought with us. Also, you were not the one who commissioned us. "
Michael sighed. "But I might be the one who's at fault for their deaths."
Falk furrowed his brows as he looked at Michael. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"Attacks like these don't usually happen," Michael answered.
Michael took a deep breath.
"That's because coaches also act as protection."
"If I hadn't left Exploding Aegis, he wouldn't have shown up," Michael said, motioning to the Late Knight's corpse.
"Why do you think so?" Kyle asked calmly. "He could've still shown up."
Michael shook his head. "I don't think so."
"Explain," Falk said.
"I didn't tell him where we were going, and I also never talked with anyone from the other team," Michael said. "The only two people who knew where we were headed were that traitor and my previous coach."
"Ah, I see," Kyle said. "You think your imprisoned coach told him?"
Michael nodded. "I quit the team and told my previous coach that I would follow you guys for now."
Falk took a deep breath as anger rose in his chest.
"Fucking asshole!" he shouted.
Michael took a step back, but he noticed that Falk wasn't looking at him.
"He means your coach, not you," Kyle said.
"This asshole commissioned us, and after we nearly died for him, he sent some kind of assassin after us?!" Falk shouted.
"I don't think that was his intention," Michael said. "The other coach probably only heard it by accident."
"Are you stupid?" Falk asked in anger. "Your coach is in prison! Why the fuck would the other coach visit him in prison if your coach didn't request him?! Are they previous lovers?"
Michael's eyes widened.
When Falk saw Michael's realization, he just snorted in annoyance.
Michael's fists clenched.
First, he was betrayed by that traitorous Sorcerer, and now, he was betrayed by his coach.
"Sounds like a classic case of if I can't have it, nobody can," Kyle commented.
This seemed almost unbelievable to Michael.
He had worked with his coach for over two years.
Was all that worth nothing?
"Fuck!" Falk shouted in anger. "Two of our friends died because of some angry old man!"
"We can get back at him," Kyle said before pointing at the corpse. "Let's grab the corpse and bring it to Starkhold. The prison probably has some kind of list for visitors. I would assume the guards also heard the coach's breakup with Michael. There's enough evidence."
"And what's the point of that?" Falk asked in annoyance. "He's a Peak Fighter! The kingdom won't execute someone like that!"
Kyle sighed. "Yeah, but what other choice do we have?"
"Kill him!" Falk shouted.
"How?" Kyle asked.
"Ask the Chief or the Ace Team!" Falk said.
"Do you really want to burden them with that?" Kyle asked. "Pretty sure that's murder. Yes, we lost three members, but I don't want to force another one of my friends to risk their lives for revenge."
Falk gritted his teeth. "Are you even listening to yourself?!" he shouted. "Two of our friends just died, and you act like it's not a big deal!"
"It is a big deal," Kyle answered with furrowed brows. "But acting this impulsively will only make things worse."
"Impulsively?" Falk repeated with annoyance. "You're the most impulsive out of all of us! Why are you suddenly so careful?!"
"The Kyle I knew would have immediately charged towards Janus' Hold to do something, and as an answer to the question of what we were doing there, he would answer, 'I don't know, but I want revenge!'"
"And here you are, all calm and collected when two of our fucking friends just died!"
"Don't you give a shit?!"
"Was all your friendship and team talk just that, talk?!"
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