A heavy silence. All they heard was Jake's faint, intermittent moan, emanating from a distant place in his shocked consciousness. The physical pain of his severed arm seemed secondary compared to the psychological shock that had turned his face into a waxen mask, his eyes glassy, staring in the direction of the road leading away, towards the academy, towards the place where he had left a part of his body, and his entire previous life.

  The Supervisor carried Jake with excessive gentleness, sitting him with his back leaning against the rocky cave wall. Then everyone sat, surrounded by that heavy silence that follows disasters. The last light of day was seeping into the cave, revealing horrific details: Jake's blood beginning to coagulate on the rag bandage, the pallor of his face turning the color of ash, and those strands of yellow and black hair he still clutched in his convulsive grip.

  The Supervisor began to speak. His voice was quiet, flat, as if he were reading a dull field report. "Everyone died." Two words that carried the weight of the dead. "I barely managed to survive with him." He gestured with his chin towards Jake. "The monster... was something different."

  San looked at the Supervisor's armor. The polished steel bore silent testimonies of battle. Deep scratches resembling the wounds of huge claws, broken parts at the right shoulder where a crushing blow seemed to have been deflected with difficulty, and black stains of burnt blood - or perhaps something else - spread across the chest. On the Supervisor's own face, a thin line of dried blood extended from his left eyebrow to his chin, across a cheek split by a shallow wound. He was a man who had fought a fierce battle and survived it.

  But there was one positive thing, as the Supervisor reminded them in a tone devoid of any joy. "The deputy... managed to kill the monster with the arms. It cost him his life. When he fought the monster that resembled a human... the one whose height exceeded three meters..." The Supervisor paused for a moment, as if recalling an image he didn't want. "It split his arm and leg. And killed him. That monster was on a terrifying level."

  Then came the sentence that froze their breath. "As for the girl... the monster managed to take her. After cutting Jake's arm, it didn't care much about her. It grabbed her and... disappeared. Nothing remains in the academy now except that monster. If it doesn't catch up to us... then we've survived."

  The shock was complete. Sarah wasn't just killed, she was taken. And there was a Class C curse - or something worse - still free, moving somewhere between them and the Kingdom.

  Shin suddenly said, trying to break the ice of despair that was beginning to form: "We'll start cooking the food." It was a desperate attempt to return to something resembling normal life, something that could be controlled.

  But San was thinking of something else. He looked at Jake, at that severed arm, which had not stopped bleeding yet.

  "Jake will die," San thought in silence if he remains like this. No, Jake, I need you...

  San approached Jake. His movements were calm, decisive. He grabbed the edge of Jake's torn clothes at the shoulder and tore a piece of it with strange skill. He began pressing on specific areas around the severed arm, strange circular massaging movements aimed at slowing the blood flow further. Then he looked at the small fire Shin had lit.

  "I need something metal," San said in his usual flat voice. "To cauterize his wound."

  All eyes turned to him. Fever, cauterization... these were thoughts from another world, a world with its own rules of primitive medicine.

  "Supervisor," San turned. "I want your sword."

  He extended his arm, his palm open. A direct request, without flattery.

  The Supervisor looked at him. It was a long, assessing look, full of questioning. "Are you sure of what you're doing?"

  "The sword, please," San insisted, his arm still extended.

  After a moment of hesitation, the Supervisor drew his sword from its scabbard. The weapon was clearly fresh from battle. On the steel blade, smeared with blood. When Shin placed the blade over the fire, the steel began to heat up, glowing red, the blood evaporated from the heat, then it turned orange.

  Shin held Jake firmly, gripping his shoulders. San looked at the glowing blade, then at Jake's pale face. The moment of decision.

  At the moment Jake was about to scream from the mere anticipation of pain, San struck him hard on the back of his head with his clenched fist. It was a calculated blow, aimed at a specific point at the base of the skull. Jake went limp immediately, and fell silent before his scream could begin, losing consciousness.

  San thought as he raised the glowing blade: "The suffering I endured because of my curse... was also a reward. I am now a medical student. And a doctor millions of times. I studied anatomy, wounds, infections. All of that in my tax."

  Everyone watched in astonishment as he brought the glowing blade close to the wound. The hissing sound when the red steel touched the exposed flesh was horrific. The smell of burnt meat filled the narrow cave. But San's hands were steady, moving the blade carefully along the edge of the wound, sealing the open blood vessels, and burning the dead tissue that might cause infection.

  After long, painfully silent minutes, San moved the blade away. The wound was now sealed, the bleeding had stopped. San returned the sword to the Supervisor, who took it without a word, his eyes still watching this strange young man who acted like a seasoned army doctor.

  Then San did something strange. He went to the small food bag they had and took out some dried meat slices. He wrapped the food with green herbs, before presenting the dish to the Supervisor.

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  "Thank you for saving Jake," San said.

  The Supervisor smiled, a formal smile that didn't reach his eyes. "No need for this. You are my responsibility. Saving you is something necessary for me."

  Shin smiled at the Supervisor, trying to show gratitude. As for Elena, she remained isolated from them at a distance of about two meters, her back to the wall, as if trying to do something with herself. Her body was tense, her hands hidden in the folds of her clothes.

  After minutes of quiet eating, Shin and the Supervisor began discussing the Kingdom in a low voice. The talk was about borders, guilds, the system. But San wasn't listening. His eyes were fixed on Jake's severed hand.

  Suddenly, the Supervisor stood up. "We'll leave soon. The Kingdom isn't far."

  San called to Shin: "Come and help me carry Jake."

  Shin went to San. But when San stood up, it was after Shin had moved several meters away from the Supervisor. And at that moment, San said to the Supervisor in a quiet but decisive voice: "Were you going to kill Shin now, sir Supervisor?"

  Elena suddenly lifted her face, looking with deep astonishment. Shin approached San, trying to understand what was happening: "What are you saying, San? Stop this!"

  But San was smiling. A terrifying smile, full of dark certainty. "Will you speak, or shall I speak? Sir Supervisor... about you cutting Jake's hand."

  A heavy silence fell over the cave. Even Jake's faint moaning stopped for a moment.

  The Supervisor spoke in a cold, mocking manner: "Just two words: how did you know?"

  Shin and Elena were shocked. Shin was looking with great astonishment, his eyes shifting between San and the Supervisor. Elena, however, suddenly stood up, her posture becoming like someone preparing to attack, her hands behind her back where her wound was.

  San looked at the Supervisor and said: "Your sword... has human blood on it. I'm new here, but I'm not mentally retarded to know that curses evaporate after they're killed." His memory replayed the scenes from the academy: the monsters that were killed and the way they decomposed. "And San remembered the way Jake's hand was cut. And said yes, the curse has a sword too, and it would also cut cleanly. But this cut... is from a sword style. It came with a perfect curve. An even cut. Where would a curse learn to fight with such precision?"

  While San was speaking, the Supervisor was drawing his sword more and more from its scabbard. The gleaming steel was now fully visible. Shin's looks became serious, and a strange movement of air began near his right hand, as if small winds were swirling around his fingers.

  San raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I have one thing I don't understand. Explain it to me, and then do what you want." He paused. "Why did you bring Jake?"

  The Supervisor smiled. It was a broad smile, genuine this time, but full of something evil. "Very well."

  And then the strange thing happened.

  The wounds on the Supervisor's face disappeared. The blood line from his eyebrow to his chin faded, the wound on his cheek closed itself, and the blood vanished. His armor... changed. The deep scratches, the broken parts, the black stains... all disappeared. The armor became new and shiny, as if it had just come out of the blacksmith's workshop.

  San thought quickly: "This means he didn't engage in battle at all. This bastard... is his ability illusion? Or displaying different things?"

  The Supervisor began to speak, and his voice was now different, more confident, more dangerous. "The curse left Jake after cutting his hand because he's weak. It's the type that thinks about hunting strong fighters."

  San said: "You took him so the curse wouldn't follow you. So we're almost certain we're alone now."

  The Supervisor smiled more, as if admiring San's intelligence. "Yes, clever young man. Are you ready to die?"

  "Yes," San answered. "But after one last thing." He looked directly into the Supervisor's eyes. "Did you kill Sarah?"

  The Supervisor looked at him with clear mockery. "Perhaps. Unintentionally. My sword... cut her neck."

  And as soon as he said this, a voice screamed from the corner.

  "No!"

  Jake had woken up. His eyes were wide open, filled with the blood of anger and pain. The last memory - Sarah holding his arm, then disappearing - merged with the Supervisor's confession. San thought: the human mind in its weakest state after waking from sleep, even if in shock, will receive information as absolute truths. And for seconds... Sorry, Jake. But I need you."

  Jake attacked the Supervisor. It was an unbalanced, desperate movement, driven by anger and pain. The Supervisor didn't move much. He simply inserted his sword into Jake's chest with terrifying fluidity. The blade entered below the collarbone, descended downward, and exited from the back. Then the Supervisor pulled the sword upward, completing the cut from chest to neck.

  Jake fell to the ground. He made no sound this time.

  "No!" Shin screamed, a cry full of anger and betrayal. He launched a strong wind wave from his hand, towards the Supervisor.

  But the Supervisor was faster. He swung his sword with one hand and deflected the wind wave with a circular strike. The force veered off, hitting the cave wall and carving a deep fissure in the rock.

  And at that moment, San launched forward.

  His movement was fast, sudden. And in his hand, he was holding something small, shiny, red in color... a knife, its color red.

  San remembered the moment the Supervisor and Jake arrived at the cave. When he looked at Jake's severed arm, his suspicions began. Then he asked Elena, when she was sitting away from them, to make him a knife from her blood. That was the strange task she had been doing in isolation, trying to focus despite her pain.

  Now, the blood knife was in his hand.

  San struck. The target was the Supervisor's neck. He felt the blade of the blood knife sink into the flesh, pass through the windpipe, and exit the other side.

  San smiled. He had succeeded.

  But... for some reason, the Supervisor didn't fall.

  Instead, San felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down. The Supervisor's sword had split his chest, entering from the left ribs and exiting from the back. Blood began to fill his lungs.

  The Supervisor said in a quiet voice: "It's over."

  But the Supervisor's face began to change. His eyes widened suddenly. He began to cough, and blood came out of his mouth. His body began to tremble, feeling an infinite heaviness. His hands, which were holding the sword, began to shake. His face began to change color, from natural to pallor, then to blueness.

  The Supervisor fell to his knees. The sword fell from his slack hand.

  The Supervisor screamed, a scream full of terror and anger: "Who did this?! What technique is this?! Cancel it now, and maybe I won't kill you!"

  But his condition was worsening. His breathing became difficult, intermittent. Cold sweat covered his forehead. He was dying. And the death wasn't from a neck wound, but from something internal, something that had entered his body some time ago.

  And at that moment, San stood up.

  His chest... was intact. Without a wound. The blood he had seen on his chest was disappearing, as if time was rewinding a few seconds. San stood, and looked at the Supervisor who was now choking.

  San said, looking coldly: "It's not a technique." He paused, then added: "I saw some poisonous plants near the cave. I thought they would be delicious spices for your food."

  The Supervisor wanted to get up, but his body wouldn't obey him. His muscles were convulsing, his nerves burning from the inside. The poison had been working in him since he ate the food, and now it had reached the peak stage of symptoms. His death was certain. But even in his final moments, he didn't surrender.

  He screamed in a hoarse voice, full of hatred: "You... won't survive this! You'll be criminals! No one will believe your story!" He began to laugh, a hysterical laugh full of bitterness. "I'll laugh a lot after I die! When they torture you! I'll laugh a lot when they execute you! You scum!"

  And he was laughing, blood filling his mouth, his eyes bulging from their sockets.

  San approached him very slowly. In his hand, he still held the blood knife that Elena had made. He looked at the dying Supervisor, then at Jake's dead body on the ground.

  He inserted the knife into the Supervisor's neck again, but this time slowly, deliberately. He felt the knife blade pass through the spinal cord. Then he pulled it out.

  San went to Jake. He bowed before the corpse. "Thank you," he whispered very softly.

  San remembered when he first saw Jake's wound. Indeed, it had begun with a contamination he hadn't seen before. Jake would have died from the inflammation in the wound even without bleeding. The fever would have killed him. His fate was sealed. His request for the sword from the Supervisor... wasn't just for cauterizing the wound. It was also to measure the lengths of the sword's edge, to see if it matched the cut on Jake's hand or not. And the result was clear: this sword, or one of the guards' swords, had cut Jake's hand.

  San turned to Shin and Elena. Shin was standing in place, shocked, still trying to understand what had happened in the last few minutes. Elena was looking at San with a strange look, a mixture of terror and appreciation.

  San said: "Let's bury Jake."

  Then he looked at the Supervisor's corpse. And he said nothing.

  And with this silence, loud sounds came. The sounds of horses. Their numbers in the tens. They would pass on the road in front of them. So either they go to them, or they hide. What will they decide?