Villagers stared, mouths half open, eyes darting between three figures: Oswyn, broken and bleeding; Hayla, collapsed with a dagger in her chest; and Shirou, standing calm as stone with Ashbringer dark at his side.
Shirou walked to Hayla without hurry. Her fingers trembled as she pulled the dagger free, blood beading along her palm. For a second, she leaned forward, clenching her teeth against the pain.
"What happened? Who attacked you?" Guden's voice broke, hoarse with shock. He rushed up a step, hands shaking.
Hayla's eyes met his, full of something like guilt and fear. She didn't answer.
"I did," Shirou said, his voice was flat. The ripple spread through the crowd. He had thrown Inferno Fang at Hayla right after using Phoenix Burst, using it as a distraction.
Guden stumbled back. "Why… Why attack her?" His face was raw; his voice, more plea than question.
Shirou stopped at Hayla's side and looked down at her. He spoke slowly, the words like a blade pressed to bone. "Because she was working with Oswyn."
The name landed and the village made a sound like wind through a dry field. "That's impo—" Guden started, but Hayla moved. Suddenly she lunged, dagger raised. Her motion was desperate, raw.
Shirou reacted without thought. He caught her wrist, twisted until she dropped the dagger. He didn't let it fall. In one smooth move, he plucked Inferno Fang from the air and clipped it to his waist. He could've stored it back in his inventory, but he didn't want the others to see what he was truly capable of.
A low murmur crawled across the assembled crowd. "Hayla… no way," someone whispered, disbelief and grief braided together. Whispers began to spread among the villagers.
Hayla flinched, then ran to Oswyn. She sank beside him as if his presence might anchor her. She cradled his head and said nothing. Tears streamed down her face, quick and hot. Guden only stared, the words lost to him.
Shirou watched them both. He had expected shock. He had not expected the way Hayla's whole body went slack when she touched Oswyn. Nor the immediate collapse of a village's certainty into a muddled heap of doubt.
His voice quiet, Shirou said what he had to say. "So let me guess. You have an ability. If I'm correct, you can erase a person's mana. I've met someone like that before."
Hayla's eyes flickered. For a second, something like fear crossed her face. The village scolded itself in whispers.
"That's impossible," Guden said, trying to hold on to the world he knew. "She never showed anything, neither she nor her parents."
Shirou's gaze did not leave Hayla. "I heard from one of the guards that her father came from outside. He took shelter here and settled after getting married. I think he was an ability user who hid his power."
Guden swallowed. " Even if her father had an ability, she never showed any signs of having one herself…"
"Two theories, actually," Shirou said, his words calculated. "Either her parents told her not to use it, or she's a late bloomer."
"Late bloomer?" Guden asked, confused.
"Meaning she only developed her abilities after a certain age," Shirou explained and the words hung like a quiet accusation.
Guden's confusion hardened into alarm. "So are you saying she's why we couldn't sense Oswyn inside the mist?"
Shirou took a step forward. The dust of the square clung to his boots. ""Not exactly. Oswyn's mist could hide his mana on its own, but I could still sense him through it. In the end, though, Hayla used her own ability to erase his mana presence completely."
At that, Guden's face pinched with realization. "Is… is that why the mist thinned near the end?"
Shirou nodded. "In order for Hayla to use her ability on Oswyn, she needed to see him. Oswyn started to thin the mist from outside in, so she could find his outline and apply her power. That's why the thickness changed right before he vanished, to help her target him."
Guden looked as if the floor had dropped from beneath him. The village's small rules and quiet certainties were breaking like glass.
Shirou continued, his voice steady with the logic of it. "And I believe she also helped him to capture the children."
The meaning of that sentence curled cold through the square. Guden's breath left him in a hiss. "What?"
Shirou met his eyes without flinching. ""The villagers don't use much mana. An outsider moving that fast, entering the village, and taking children would've caused noticeable mana fluctuations. Even if it happened a little far away from where I stayed, I would've sensed it. And no one reported seeing any mist either. The only explanation is that someone erased their mana signature entirely. That would explain the speed and the clean disappearance."
Hayla curled in on herself and began to cry, the sounds raw and collapsing. Guden stood frozen, as if he'd been asked to swallow his own heart.
Oswyn, face pale and slack, croaked from the ground. Blood mixed with his words. "How did you figure it out?"
"And why would I tell you?" Shirou asked.
A faint laugh slipped from Oswyn's lips, his voice weak, like each word cost him effort. "Are you really going to send me off just like that… without even telling me how?"
"No, I am not. Not until I get some answers from both of you". Shirou's left hand moved before anything else. Hayla pulled Oswyn closer into her arms, but Shirou didn't hesitate. He touched Oswyn's wound with the flat of his palm. For a breath, he did nothing but steady himself. Then green light flowed from his hand, a soft healing glow. The wound knit, thread by thread. Oswyn's lips parted in surprise.
Hayla's head snapped up. "You can heal him! You can save him! Please, I beg you."
Shirou pulled his hand back, having healed only a fraction of the wound.
"Yes, I can," he said evenly. "But only if you tell me why you did it."
He paused, his gaze steady. "Tell me the truth, and I'll save him. I promise."