I let out a shaky, trembling breath, the warmth of Elias's hands finally grounding the chaotic hum of my core. I looked down at our joined fingers, my mismatched eyes tracing the leather of his gloves before I spoke, my voice dropping back into its familiar, quiet, deadpan register, though it still cracked with the remnants of my tears.
"I didn't want the Bureau to find out the truth, brother, To the public, they saw me as a hero. A legendary Diamond-rank bounty hunter who dismantled four high-level bounties… including that immoral, corrupt knight commander who was bleeding the lower districts dry. I even saved the country from an economic collapse, stopping the hyper-inflation by seizing their illegal reserves. But the other side... the side you saw in the dunes... they saw me as the Crimson Phantom. A blood-sucking, winged demon who slaughtered purebreds in the dark."
Elias violently shook his head, his grip tightening on my warm hands as he leaned closer, completely rejecting my words.
"You're not a demon, Eirene. You're a hero, I don't care what the Bureau logs say, and I don't care what mutated biology is woven into your spine. You are my little sister. But, Weird Eyes... please, tell me. Who did this to you? Back at Rebelbub Village, just four months ago, you were so strong. You were a human adventurer using Blood Manipulation, someone who always prioritized her party above everything else. How did you end up like this... and who is the father of the child you're carrying?"
The room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence. Beside me, Elicia paused her rhythmic patting, her crimson eyes turning to me with an anxious, quiet dread, waiting to see if I was ready to unearth the darkest chapter of my life.
My jaw tightened, and the temperature in the room seemed to plummet as the memory of that infiltration resurfaced. I pulled my hands back from Elias's grip, wrapping them protectively over my flat stomach.
"While I was hunting the Immoral Knight commander, I had to take a shapeshifted form… Vanessa Katt… to infiltrate his inner circle. But his supreme commander, Cameron Gal... the heretic commander... saw through it. He possessed S-rank hypnotic ocular magic. He hypnotized me, paralyzed my human resistance, and... put a sperm on me. He forced an intimacy on my body for his own amusement."
Elicia's patting stopped entirely. Her face drained of color. She already knew the clinical details from our medical checkup yesterday, but hearing me say it out loud in front of Elias made her close her eyes in a quiet, agonizing wave of older-sister grief.
But Elias's reaction was immediate and violent.
The moment the words left my mouth, the air in House 132 physically fractured. A sudden, terrifying explosion of pure dark static erupted from Elias's shoulders, his shadow mana flaring so violently that the porcelain bowl on my lap rattled against the couch. He snapped his head up, his eyes turning completely pitch-black as the veins in his neck bulged with a murderous, unadulterated rage.
"He what?! Cameron Gal?! That heretical piece of scum forced himself on you?!" Elias roared, his voice dropping into a guttural, demonic register that shook the wooden floorboards. He slammed his leather-gloved fist into the floor, cracking the wood beneath his knuckles.
"Elias, calm down! Look at her, you're scaring her!" Elicia yelled, throwing her arm over me as my crimson blood wings instinctively flared outward again, buzzing aggressively in response to his volatile mana.
"I am going to tear him to pieces," Elias snarled, his chest heaving as he reached instinctively for the heavy revolver at his hip, his mind completely consumed by the protective fury of a big brother.
"I don't care if he's an S-rank commander, I will drag him into the deepest abyss… "
"He's already dead, brother, I ensured his execution after his rebellion failed. I severed the child from his legacy. But his heretical, predatory bloodline remains inside me, mutating with my biology. That is why the pregnancy is accelerated. That is why I am carrying his power."
Elias's hands dropped from his holster, the murderous dark static around his shoulders instantly collapsing into a profound, hollow despair. He stared at me, his pitch-black eyes slowly fading back to their normal, bloodshot state as the reality of my words sunk in. The man who hurt me was already dead, executed by my own hand, leaving only the wreckage of the aftermath sitting right in front of him.
"Why did you hide this from us, Eirene? Why didn't you just tell me? We met multiple times in the Bureau hallways. You were standing right there, wearing that heavy traveling cloak and that mask... and you never even said hi to me. You looked right through me like I was a stranger. Why?"
I didn't answer him. The cold, mechanical mask I usually forced over my emotions completely dissolved once more. I couldn't find the words to explain the shame, the fear of him seeing the monster I had become, or the absolute terror that the Luminous Knights would execute my unborn child if they knew its heretical lineage.
A sharp, ragged sob caught in my throat. I turned away from his gaze, burying my face back into Elicia's chest, my newly regenerated left arm clinging to her sweater as I wept quietly against her shoulder. My massive crimson blood wings wrapped tightly around myself, completely shielding me from the world.
Elicia pulled me close, her gentle, rhythmic patting returning to my back as she looked up at Elias. Her crimson eyes were fierce, filled with the wisdom and burden of the eldest sister who had been forced to hold the family's secrets together.
"She did it because she loves you, Elias, Look at her. She was dealing with a corrupted blood curse, a forced pregnancy from an S-rank heretic, and a transformation that turned her into a target for the entire kingdom. She knew that if she revealed her identity to you at the Bureau, your instinct as a brother would be to protect her. You would have lied for her, hidden her, and cross-examined the Knights. You would have ruined your own career and risked the executioner's block for treason just to keep her safe." Elicia explained softly, her voice carrying a heavy, emotional weight that echoed through the twilight of the living room.
Elicia stroked my hair, her eyes locking onto Elias's stunned expression.
"She wore that mask and stayed silent because she was protecting you. She chose to bear the title of a blood-sucking demon in the dark so that her big brother could remain the legendary hero in the light. She sacrificed her own humanity to keep your hands clean."
Standing on the cracked floorboards, Elias froze. The puzzle pieces finally locked together in his mind with brutal, undeniable clarity. Every time the masked bounty hunter had passed him in the corridors, every time she had stayed in the shadows, it hadn't been out of cold detachment. It had been the ultimate, agonizing act of love from a little sister who was drowning in the dark, using the last of her strength to keep her brother safe from the tide.
Elias slowly sank back down until his knees hit the hard wood once more, the air leaving his lungs in a long, shuddering exhale. His gaze remained fixed on the floorboards, tracking the slight fracture his own fist had just carved into the grain, before his eyes drifted up to the tight, protective cocoon of my translucent crimson wings. The revelation hung in the twilight of the living room like a physical weight, crushing the last remnants of the legendary Shadow Walker's stoic armor.
He understood now. Every mechanical glance, every silent pass in the grand marble corridors of the 8th District Bureau, every time the masked Diamond-rank hunter had deliberately stepped into the shadows to let him and his elite squad pass by… it wasn't the arrogance of an S-rank killer. It was a shield. She had wrapped herself in filth, carrying the heretical stains of Cameron Gal's violation and the brutal evolution of a Phase 5 biology, all to ensure that the spotless golden armor of the Luminous Knights wouldn't be tarnished by her proximity.
"You idiot… You absolute idiot, Eirene. Did you really think I cared about the Bureau? Did you think I cared about a title or a rank? If I had known... if I had caught even a single glimpse of your eyes behind that mask, I would have burned the Luminous Knights to the ground myself to pull you out of that hell."
Elias whispered, his voice trembling with a mixture of profound grief and awe. He reached out, his bare hands hovering just inches away from the membrane of my wing, no longer trying to force a physical connection but offering his presence as a silent, unwavering anchor.
I didn't move away from Elicia's chest, but the violent, defensive buzzing of my wings slowly began to quiet down, the crimson light pulsing through the delicate, crystalline veins settling into a low, rhythmic thrum. My face remained pressed into the soft fabric of her dress, the warmth of her divine mana continuing to bleed into my skin, anchoring the frantic, predatory instincts that had governed my survival for the past four months.
"She knows that, Elias,"
Elicia said softly, her chin resting against the top of my head as she kept her arms wrapped tightly around my waist. Her crimson eyes, identical to mine yet devoid of the predatory jade-green corruption, looked down at our brother with a fierce, maternal understanding.
"That is exactly why she hid. She knew you would throw your life away for her. She saw how hard you worked to become the hero Mother wanted you to be, and she refused to be the anchor that dragged you into the abyss with her. She chose to be the monster so you could stay the savior."
Elias closed his eyes, a single, heavy tear finally breaking free and tracking down his weathered cheek, catching the dim, filtered light of the room. He reached down and picked up the small spatial leather pouch containing the 18 million gold coins, placing it gently on the edge of the sofa right beside my folded wings.
"The monster is dead, The Crimson Phantom was liquidated in the dunes of the southern borders. I will write the final report myself. Chief Roman will sign it, Captain Friedrich will archive it, and the Crown will never look for the entity again. As of this morning, Eirene, your ledger is wiped completely clean."
He leaned forward, his hands coming to rest flat on the cushions, bringing his face closer to the small gap in my wings.
"You don't have to carry the weight of the country's economy anymore, and you don't have to fight his lingering ghost alone, If this child carries an apex predatory bloodline, then we will raise him to be a protector, not a heretic. We have Elicia's divine regeneration to stabilize your core, we have the Bureau's gold to secure every medical supply in the kingdom, and you have me. I missed the last four months, Weird Eyes... but I am not stepping out of this house again."
The silence that followed was no longer suffocating; it was safe. Inside the deep, shaded warmth of my womb, the rapid, frantic pulse of the developing life seemed to ease, responding to the sudden drop in my adrenaline. For the first time since the catastrophic events at Rebelbub Village, the heavy, tattered trench coat of the hunter could stay on the floor, and the shadows of the 3rd District felt less like a hiding place and more like a home.
The quiet stillness of the room shattered as Elias's words hung in the twilight, thick with a heavy, parental grief that transced the simple dynamic of an older brother. He stared at the floor, his broad shoulders slumping beneath his leather duster coat, before looking up into the narrow gap of my folded crimson wings.
"You can't hide in the shadows forever, Eirene, You have a child growing inside you. Have you truly thought about what happens when he is born? Will you force him into the exact same fate as yours? Will he spend his entire life lurking in dark, curtained rooms, completely disconnected from society, treated like an anomaly before he even learns to walk?" Elias said, his voice dropping into a raw, gravelly register that vibrated with a sudden, painful vulnerability.
He paused, a profound, agonizing shadow crossing his face as he made a confession he had kept buried deep within his own heart.
"I did the exact same thing, i have a daughter, Eirene. And out of fear, I forced the same fate upon her. I hid my family away in the deep countryside, keeping them isolated and separate from the world, just to ensure they stayed absolutely safe from the Bureau's reach and the political crosshairs of the capital. I know the suffocating weight of that isolation. I won't let you or your son repeat my mistakes." Elias admitted, his hands tightening into fists against his knees.
A fragile silence blanketed the living room. The mention of a niece I had never met… a child hidden away in the green pastures of the country… softened the rigid, defensive walls around my processing core. Slowly, hesitantly, I lowered my translucent crimson blood wings, letting them drape loosely over the back of the sofa as I pulled my face away from Elicia's chest.
"I... I didn't want him to be a weapon, his father's lineage is full of heresy, and my biology is corrupted. I was so afraid that if the world saw him, they would only see a monster to be put down. I thought the dark was the only place he could survive."
I said, my voice barely a whisper, a soft, vulnerable register that was entirely devoid of my usual mechanical detachment. My mismatched jade-green and crimson eyes locked onto Elias's face, shimmering with unshed tears.
Elicia leaned in closer, her arm
tightening around my shoulders as her soothing divine mana hummed softly against my skin. She looked at Elias, then down at me, a fierce, maternal resolve burning in her own crimson eyes.
"He won't be a monster, little Ren, because he has an entire family to guide him, He has your strength, my light to stabilize his growth, and his uncle's shadows to shield him. We will not let him be an outcast."
Elias looked at the two of us, a sudden, sharp clarity replacing the sorrow in his eyes as he stood up from the floorboards. The fearsome discipline of the Shadow Walker returned, but this time, it was entirely weaponized to protect his family. He reached down, picking up the spatial pouch of 18 gold coins, his expression hardening into an unyielding mask of tactical certainty.
"We need to report the final status of the mission to the Bureau, But you are not going to be a part of their ledgers anymore. I am going to return to the high command today. I will handle the administrative paperwork, the debriefings, and the official classification of the Crimson Phantom's death. I will manage everything behind closed doors to keep your true identity permanently safe from their archives."
He stepped closer, resting a heavy, warm hand gently on my head, his fingers smoothing down my silver hair just like he used to when we were children in Allure.
"You've carried the weight of this entire kingdom on your shoulders in the dark, Eirene, You dismantled the corruption, you saved the currency from crumbling, and you protected my squad. You're the true hero of Caria, right? Now, let your big brother handle the light. Just rest, Weird Eyes. Your war is over."