Dust stirred up around Leon, carrying the sharp stench of scorched steel and the smell of static wet rust through his lungs.

Around him was a sea of iron-lizard corpses, spattered beyond regeneration.

The taste of old copper coin lingered on his tongue as he spat on the ground and continued toward the narrow entrance of the Heart of Tartarus.

A loud stone-crackling sound echoed when Leon neared the cave’s entrance, but he ignored it and entered without glancing back.

Just as he vanished from sight, stones began falling off the cave and slamming on the iron-lizard corpses, plopping the last blood out of them.

With every stone that slammed on the ground, twenty corpses vanished as the ground sprawled open, swallowing them bit by bit.

...

The glow of the Opal stones graced the cave when Leon stopped at its center.

"Things seem to be different after a few months," he said as he whirled around, glancing at the new pillars that had uprooted and replaced the old ones he remembered to have collapsed.

He walked holding the sword like a heart as he walked from one section to the other, placing his steps based on the direction the water-dripping sound rose from.

At every Starfire Opal pillar or wall he moved past, their glow followed him like his own ghost, seeping into his skin and mending his wounds shut.

When Leon stopped at the second inner chamber of the cave, his heart saddened. He placed the katanas at his back and closed his eyes with a deep inhale.

"What the fuck! Who draws a map without indicating the good and bad paths?"

He remembered how Wu Ze sounded when they first entered the cave while he placed slow steps toward her headless bones scattered at the center of the chamber.

"Okay. Soothe yourself then. I will be here waiting."

A faint smile escaped Leon when he remembered how her eyes rolled when she spoke, relaxing herself on the floor, and watching him move toward the Starfire Opal pillar.

Just as he crouched down on one knee beside the fresh-looking bones, Leon’s eyes welled up, but not a single tear fell down.

"Now we can get out of here once you’re done."

’I will take you out of here like you wanted,’ Leon said in his head while brushing his fingers on Wu Ze’s shoulder skeleton.

The more Leon’s fingers moved along the bones, the more the Opal stones’ glow kept on radiating in them like a phantom nervous system that refused to stop healing.

"This is not your home," he said as he closed his eyes while his right arm clenched into a fist. "I will take you home, Wu Ze."

When Leon cracked his eye open, a soft chime vibrated in his skull once.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

Treasure Carrier Active.

Store: Yes / No

Leon stared at the blue panel for a moment before shifting his gaze to the bones.

"Yes," he said and knelt down, while the bones rose up and hovered in the air one after another. It was when they rose above Leon’s head that they dissolved into the pale light and vanished, leaving scorched traces on the ground where they once were.

His eyes blazed with a golden glow as he pushed himself up while sharp air escaped through his nose and mouth.

Without hesitation, Leon walked into the inner chamber of the cave. The outline of the rose flower extended whenever the silver-black war suit hummed with a new entry of the Opal stone’s glow.

Leon stopped at the front of a chamber that had its entrance locked with stone.

"Gia, scan what is beneath this chamber," Leon said as he placed his right palm on the front of the blocked entrance.

"The chamber is dark, but has a special essence radiating in there." Gia’s voice rose then faltered mid-speech. "The connection here is not stable, but whatever is inside is not friendly."

Leon hissed then drew the katanas from his back. "I am ready for whatever comes my way."

He pulled the red-gold cloth over his nose and mouth, then kicked the stones, clearing the path.

The sharp tang of blood and a pure essence of the Opal stone flashed into his eyes like needles and forced him to cover them.

Just as the dust faded, human-splattered skulls lingered at the corners of the room like stones. When he blinked and shifted his gaze to the center, he caught sight of the five, three-foot, jagged eggs that had been arranged at the center of the chamber.

’Are these eggs meant to hatch immediately?’ Leon said in his head as he crouched down and began inspecting their shapes one after another.

The moment the tip of his finger touched one, all five eggs shook at once and made him move two steps back.

Leon’s biological system pulsed to life and illuminated in front of him.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]

Item Detected: Varkhaza Clutch

Stage: Fertilized

Threat Level: Extreme

Warning: Avoid direct contact.

’I almost touched it and you’re now saying avoid direct contact?’ Leon said in his head, then sighed heavily.

He stared at the pulsing jagged shell for a moment before shifting his gaze back to the entrance.

"Gia, establish a connection with Agatha Special Force and inform Hei Yung I have acquired the eggs," Leon said while using the treasure carrier to prevent himself from actually touching them.

"The message has been sent. Should I bring back the Triarch so we can head back since we are done with what we came for?"

Leon stared at the dark ceiling of the chamber then clenched his fist. "No."

"Okay, waiting on your command to establish the connection with the Triarch once we exit the cave." Gia’s voice rose in the suit while Leon exited the chambers one after another.

Leon smiled when he got into the chamber where Wu Ze’s bones had once been and caught sight of the golden outline of the rose flower on his suit extending.

"There are new waves of mutated creatures coming your way, Leon." Gia’s voice echoed the moment they stepped out and stopped where the iron-lizards’ corpses had once been. "Should I pilot the Triarch back so we can leave?"

"Gia," Leon said as he leaned against the cave’s entrance and folded his hands across his chest. "Let them come. There is something we’ve got to finish first."