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~ Third Person POV ~

Drake\'s face turned grim upon hearing his past charge\'s voice, her beautiful tone soothing to the ears in contrast to her current behavior. Erika, seeing her past teacher, momentarily lost her concentration, the raging winds around her diminishing in force and tempo.

"W-what are you doing here…?" Erika\'s confused voice brought a depreciating chuckle from Drake as he readied his gauntlets. "… Those gauntlets… No… No… I… It can\'t be…"

Her voice was slowly cracking, her thoughts heading into a downward spiral as she relived the time where she and her teacher spent their time together. The dinners, the parties, the teachings… The passionate nights… She grasped her blade tight as her mind brought up the memory she dreaded thinking about now.

\'He was wearing gauntlets! It covered his forearms! Aside from his cloak, that\'s all I know!\' The memory hit her hard as she struggled to stand, her breath hitching a split-second as her gaze focused on the figure of her former teacher.

"You were chasing a heretic. Well, you found him." Drake opened his arms wide, and his face formed a deprecating smile. "How time flies… Last time I saw you, you weren\'t this type of woman."

"… You can\'t be him… He… He would never go against me…!" Erika\'s voice was raised by an octave, the winds around her once again picking up pace. The blades of grass beneath her feet were swiftly cut and swept by the wind.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Rika, but I am Drake, your mentor, and you have thoroughly disappointed me." Drake frowned at his former pupil, his teeth gritting tightly as he got into his normal stance. "You\'ve shed too much blood. It\'s time Karma caught up."

Erika howled as she charged towards Drake, fueled by rage and refusal at the reality displayed right in front of her. Drake, not moving an inch from his spot, braced his legs and arms as he caught the raging tornado with his arms.

Drake was pushed back a few meters, the ground around him getting destroyed in the process, but he wasn\'t fazed by the attack. In fact, he was taking it with stride, but his thoughts were in a different place.

\'I\'m sorry, Erika…\' Drake shed a tear as his gauntlets hummed and glowed a bright red. Seeing this, Erika stopped her attack and tried to retreat, but it was too late.

Drake grabbed the closest thing to Erika, since she was already out of his reach, and that object was her sword. Using his supernatural strength, he pulled the female knight towards him, but Erika was able to let go of the sword in time.

The sword, now in his grasp, Drake snapped it in half and growled.

"I promise this to you, Rika. Whoever made you like this… He will pay…" Dashing forward, Drake delivered a heavy punch towards Erika\'s gut while she was in mid-air, her coat of raging winds rendered useless to the physical abnormality that is Drake.

Erika coughed out blood as she felt her organs rupture inside her body, unimaginable pain coursing through her veins. Flying a few meters away due to the sheer power of her former mentor\'s punch, she landed against a tree, the tree snapping in half as the human cannonball impacted.

A cloud of dust erupted from the source of the impact, stopping all forms of combat around them. Erika opened her eyes, her heartbeats quick, but slowly getting weaker as time passed on. All around her, she saw her men dying at the hands of the two newcomers, both of whom she knew as the companions of her former mentor.

"S-Sir Nicholas… Sir L-Luke…" She voiced it out weakly, her strength slowly vanishing as her heartbeats continued to grow weaker. "… T-Teacher…"

She felt hot tears drip from her eyes, the fire within slowly dwindling. In front of her, she saw her teacher once more, standing in front of her with a sad frown.

"Rika…" Drake kneeled in front of the woman whom he cherished. In response to that, Erika just smiled sadly, her realization catching up with her.

"… I… I\'ve been doing… Too much… w-wrong…" Blood continued to drip out of her mouth, forming a line of red against her slowly paling skin. "… I… I\'ve… I\'ve let you a-all… d-down…"

Now shivering due to the loss of heat, Erika slowly looked up at Drake, her smile vanishing as he looked at the love of her life with desperation…

"I… I… I d-don\'t want t-to… die…" Her breathing hitched, and she felt warmth wrapping around her shoulders. Her body was too weak to even move her arms that hung limply at her sides.

"It\'s okay… Rest… You\'ve suffered enough…" Memories from the past surged through her mind. Her loving parents, the days she celebrated her birthdays, the horrific incident, her teacher taking her in, the months he spent trying to help her, the day she finally agreed to follow his advice, the day she confessed her love for him, the nights they shared, his disappearance, and the Human Movement Federation taking her when she had nowhere to go.

Her vision grew blurry as dark spots continued to litter her sight. During her final moments, all she could focus on was the warmth of her love as she breathed her last, her eyes closing, never again to open.

Feeling the last of her lifeforce dissipating, Drake clutched her corpse tightly as he yelled out, his voice reverberating through the forest. All around him, the soldiers stood frozen, until some of them decided their lives were worth more than a chase. Those who were extreme fanatics didn\'t give up and fought to the bitter end, killing more monsters before they died as well.

Overall, the only casualties among the Dungeon\'s side were about 80 black-furred beasts, who will respawn in a few hours, but they didn\'t know that, and three wounded. On the human side of things, they lost more than 180 men, all of whom were either swiftly dealt with or brutally mangled beyond recognition. Those who surrendered were captured by the monsters and numbered 24, their faces bearing the shame of defeat and terror of the unknown.

Wulfstan was able to retreat while bringing along his apprentice to be treated. Luckily, Cecilia was able to make it, as was Tigre and his other subordinate, who got stabbed trying to protect him.

Nicholas and Luke suffered minor injuries, most of them just bruises and cuts. Drake, however, was physically healthy, but his mental and emotional state were not.

\'Another one… What the fuck did I do to deserve this…?\' Drake gritted his teeth, his nails cutting into the palms of his hands as they bled. "First Pina, then Norah… Now you…"

Nicholas and Luke approached their mourning friend and mourned along with him, their knees touching the ground as they gave their heartfelt farewells to the deceased female knight.

"… Nicholas, Luke… Leave me alone for now…" Drake muttered as he lifted Erika\'s corpse in a princess carry. Nicholas, upon hearing his full name from the mouth of his friend, knew that whatever Drake was going to do, it would be best to have him left alone.

"Very well. I\'ll tell Jionni about your situation." Drake gave him a thankful nod as he vanished into the tree line. Nicholas and Luke stood back up and helped the monsters escort the prisoners back to the Monster Town, where they would be locked in cells and await their fates.

As for the corpses, he decided Jionni would handle them.

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Drake exited Jionni\'s Dungeon, carrying the corpse of someone he considered family. Outside, he encountered some soldiers that were stationed in a hastily made camp in case things went south.

"Infidel! He killed our commander!" One of the soldiers, who he decided was worth less than the soil he stepped on, rallied the remaining soldiers and charged at him. Not being in the mood, Drake\'s gauntlets emitted black wisps of aura. The black aura spread across the field and reached the soldiers, their bodies going rigid as each of them fell to the ground, lifeless.

Not making a sound, he ignored the corpses and continued on walking, his feet bringing him to a large tree. Laying the corpse on the ground, he proceeded to dig a grave with his gauntlets. Once the hole was deep enough, he carefully grabbed Erika\'s corpse and softly placed it in the hole.

"Rika, I know you loved this kind of tree." Drake looked up at the massive looking tree, its branches branching out further than any tree in the forest. It\'s green leaves slowly swaying in the wind, sunlight shining through the gaps. "You said it signified the place where you got out of your shell… The place where you self-appointed me as your teacher…"

Drake chuckled as he reminisced about the time when everything was simple. No deaths, no problems, no drama… Just him, his friends, and their adventures as they lived out their lives to the fullest…

"… I\'m sorry… For leaving you behind…" Drake grabbed a pendant from his satchel and placed it in the hands of Erika\'s corpse. "This was your first gift to me. I remember you being so flustered at the time. Heh… You know… You were adorable being all flustered."

Drake then proceeded to fill the hole with soil, and when he was done, he lodged her broken sword on the ground where she was buried. He then took a flower from his satchel and gently placed it on the grave, no more tears streaming down his cheeks as he sighed deeply.

"May you find happiness in your next life… Erika…" And with that, Drake left the grave, her swords and the blue-tipped white flower being the only symbols that signified a knight was buried here.