Meanwhile, in another wing of the Exonory castle...
"Ahhh—ohhh… my neck…!" Sarios groaned, shifting slightly on the wide bed of the Hero's Altar Chamber. His body creaked like an old chair, stiff and sore, wrapped in layers of fresh white bandages from his neck to his right arm. "What even happened back there…?"
He winced, eyes blinking slowly. Then—like a flood—memories came rushing back.
The masked man.
Stella taking a brutal punch to the gut.
And himself… getting kicked square in the face like a boot met a watermelon.
He groaned again—this time with a short chuckle. "That was… mad. Insanely mad. Who fights like that? That's not the way to go, that's the way to go to a hospital."
He rubbed the side of his neck with his good hand. "Well, at least I'm not dead. That's a win."
The soft sound of breathing caught his attention.