Chapter 151 - Do we know each other?

As suddenly as the emotions had overwhelmed him, they left just as quickly, leaving a hollow ache in his chest. Mechanically, he wiped his tears away, put on his mask, and picked up the Bead of Enlightenment, securing it back in his ring.

He had meant to use it—to ask for Haruki's location—but his mind was a haze, too heavy to form the words. Instead, he wandered aimlessly through the Elm Forest, the cool night breeze offering some solace to his frayed state.

His head hung low, lost in thought, when dark streaks of blood smeared across the ground entered his vision, painted like careless brush strokes.

He stopped. His brows knitted as the scent of iron finally hit him. Slowly, he lifted his gaze.

A towering figure loomed in the distance, hunched over its prey.

The grotesque creature had the body and head of a lion, a goat's head rising from its back, and a serpent for a tail—a chimera.