The small cafe fell into absolute silence.

Hide stared at the horrific, pulsing purple scar tearing across Kai’s face. He didn’t know what magical burns looked like, but he immediately knew when he saw this.

"An accident during training," Hide repeated, his voice dangerously flat. "You think I’m an idiot?"

Kai flinched, pulling the hood back up slightly. "I told you, it was an accident. I parried a spell wrong in the sparring ring. Let it go, Hide."

"I’m not letting it go." The temperature in the booth dropped noticeably. The heavy, dark mana from Hide’s body began to leak into the air. "Tell me who did it."

"Stop it," Kai hissed, his eyes darting toward the cafe door. "You’re making a scene."

Hide didn’t raise his voice, but the sheer, crushing pressure radiating from him spiked. He leaned closer across the table. "You think I care about a scene? If you don’t tell me right now, I will drag you to your agency and beat the truth out of whoever is in charge."

"Hide, back off!" Kai snapped, his own mana flaring defensively. It was the volatile, bright energy of a Mage, but it felt incredibly fragile compared to the suffocating weight Hide was exuding.

Hide didn’t blink.

The dark mana from his body violently expanded. The ambient light in the cafe flickered as the towering, four-foot-tall executioner phantom rose silently from the floor beside Hide. Zenith’s featureless visor pulsed with a dangerous violet light, its massive, dark-plated hands resting at its sides.

Kai froze entirely, the breath catching in his throat. The sheer, overwhelming killing intent radiating from the weird thing was staggering.

He shuddered. "Wh... what is that, Hide?"

Hide locked eyes with Kai. "Look at it. Look at what I can do now. I am not the weak kid you had to protect anymore. Tell me who did this."

Kai stared at Zenith, his face pale, but he stubbornly clamped his jaw shut, shaking his head. He wasn’t going to talk, now even more so.

"Oh my..."

A slow, croaking voice broke the heavy tension.

The crooked old lady who ran the cafe stepped out from behind the counter, walking slowly toward their seat. She carried a small tray with two napkins. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Hide immediately reeled his mana in, preparing to dismiss Zenith to avoid terrifying the civilian. But the old lady didn’t scream.

She walked right up to the massive, terrifying phantom, looking up at its glowing visor with a gentle, weathered smile.

"You both shouldn’t be fighting," the old lady said warmly, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "You are both such sweet children." She reached out a frail, wrinkled hand and gently patted Zenith on its thick, dark-plated arm.

"Look at this one. He is so tall and looks so powerful, but he is standing so peacefully."

Hide blinked, completely dumbfounded. Zenith stood perfectly still, accepting the pat without a single movement.

The old lady then turned her attention to Kai. Her expression softened into deep sorrow. She reached out, her fingers gently hovering just millimeters above the horrific purple scar on his cheek.

Kai winced slightly, lowering his eyes.

"That is very bad," the old lady whispered, her voice laced with heavy empathy. "How cruel would the person who ruined such a pretty face be? The world is a harsh place, little ones. But you only make it harsher by fighting."

She set the napkins on the table, gave them both a final, gentle smile, and walked slowly back to the kitchen.

The heavy, oppressive tension had been completely shattered.

Hide stared at the kitchen door for a moment, letting out a long, slow breath. He mentally commanded Zenith, and the phantom dissolved back into his body, vanishing as silently as it had appeared.

Hide reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone and paid the bill without even drinking his coffee.

"Thank you... We’re leaving," Hide said.

He didn’t wait for an answer. He grabbed Kai by the arm and dragged him out the front door of the cafe.

Hide marched him down the street and shoved him into the narrow, shadowed alleyway between Theos and the adjacent building. He slammed Kai back against a parked, rusted delivery hover-car. The impact rattled the metal frame.

"Who the hell did that?" Hide demanded, his voice echoing in the tight space. "Tell me, Kai. Tell me right now, and I swear to you, I will make sure they never look at you again."

Kai slumped against the car, his hands dropping to his sides. "You can’t do anything about this, Hide."

"Why haven’t you taken a recovery potion?" Hide pressed, ignoring the deflection. "Or seen a high-tier healer? You have all the resources."

Kai hesitated, closing his eyes. When he spoke, his voice was hollow. "I did, I took a high-grade potion. I even went to a specialized healer. Nothing worked. It’s a cursed magical wound. The healer said it would take a miracle to clear it, because there is not even a single healer above B-Rank in the country."

Hide stared at him, his mind racing.

A cursed magical wound,, he had never heard of that before.

’System,’ Hide called internally. ’Do you have a cure for a cursed magical wound?’

He didn’t ask the questions much, but when he did the system answered. But he didn’t do it much because he feared the system.

The golden window flickered to life in his vision immediately.

[System Store — Search: Cursed Wound Treatment]

[Cleansing Elixir — Rank S Consumable]

A high-tier elixir that violently purges foreign cursed mana from biological tissue, instantly restoring the cells to their original state.

Cost: 10,000 Evolution Points.

Ten thousand points. It was a massive sum for a single consumable item. But Hide didn’t even blink.

Ten thousand points was absolutely nothing compared to Kai’s life.

’Purchase it,’ Hide commanded.

[Purchase Confirmed. Item added to Inventory.]

Hide didn’t pull the elixir out yet. He kept his eyes locked on Kai. The system could heal the wound, but Hide needed to heal the root of the problem.

"That is no normal scar," Hide said, his voice deadly serious. "Tell me honestly what happened, Kai. I have contacts in the NEA headquarters now. I can get a cure for that today. But I need to know who did it."

Kai’s head snapped up. "A cure? Hide, you can’t be serious."

"Tell me," Hide demanded.

Kai gulped hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He looked at the ground, the fight completely leaving his body. The sheer weight of carrying the secret alone had exhausted him.

"It wasn’t a sparring accident," Kai finally whispered, his voice trembling. "I was walking home three days ago. Someone ambushed me in the transit tunnel."

Hide’s blood ran cold. "It was a hit?"

"It was an assassin," Kai confirmed, looking up, his eyes filled with a helpless, hollow dread.

Hide was left completely speechless. An assassin? After Kai?

"An assassin?" Hide repeated, the words tasting like ash in his mouth. "Why would someone target you? You don’t even have any enemies. And who even has the money or the guts to hire an assassin to target you?"

Kai let out a bitter, broken laugh.

Kai looked directly into Hide’s eyes, delivering the devastating truth. "It was... it was Risa’s family."