Chapter 1392: Intermission 3: Ayuru’s Awakening (2)

After talking with Gabrielle, Irene, and Rose, I stepped away from the Leonamon’s garden for a bit, figuring I needed some space to breathe and clear my head.

The moment I got far enough, I stopped for a second and just stood there. The air felt different outside the garden, cooler, lighter, brushing against my skin in a way that felt almost refreshing. It wrapped around me slowly, like it was trying to settle me down, like it was the only thing around me that still felt normal.

For a moment, I just let myself take it in.

At this point, it felt like there were still too many things I didn’t fully understand. Things I wanted to figure out, things that kept bothering me in the back of my mind no matter how much I tried to ignore them.

Ayuru was one of those things.

After the battle against Moriarty and Julius, something about her had changed. It wasn’t obvious at first, but the more I tried to interact with her, the clearer it became. Communicating with her had gotten harder. Way harder.

I lifted my hand slightly, the same way I usually did when I tried to reach her.

Nothing.

There was no reaction, no response, nothing at all.

It wasn’t like she had disappeared completely. I could still feel her presence inside me. That familiar sense of her being there hadn’t gone away. She was still somewhere within me.

But no matter how many times I tried to call out to her, she just wouldn’t respond.

"What’s wrong, Ayuru?" I said under my breath.

Silence.

That felt wrong.

She didn’t exactly talk in the usual way before. There were no actual words most of the time. It was more like... understanding. Something like telepathy, maybe. It was hard to explain, but it always worked. Whenever I reached out, she answered in her own way.

Now there was nothing.

It was like calling out into an empty space and getting nothing back.

Which was strange, because she always responded before. Always.

I let out a quiet sigh, running a hand through my hair.

Thinking about it too much wasn’t going to get me anywhere. If she was staying like this for now, then there wasn’t much I could do about it. As long as there weren’t any enemies around, I didn’t really need her help immediately.

Still, that didn’t make it any less concerning.

"I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what’s happening with her..." I muttered to myself.

Even as I said that, I could feel something off about her.

The mana around her wasn’t stable. It felt heavy, like it was gathering in one place, clustering together tighter and tighter. There was this strange pressure to it, like it was building up toward something.

It almost felt like it could burst at any moment.

That wasn’t normal.

Thinking back to the fight, I probably fed her way too much mana without even realizing it. The amount I poured into her might have been excessive, even by my standards.

Yeah... that was probably it.

That would explain why she was acting like this now.

While I was still caught up in that thought, I noticed movement in front of me.

Zes, along with the others from the Shadows, were approaching.

The current group still included Sandra, Isabelle, Krista, Juliette, Bernadette, and Robyn. Seeing them together like that felt familiar at this point.

Though now, there were some changes.

Aegis wasn’t with them anymore. Even so, she still felt like part of the group, like she hadn’t really left, just stepped aside for now.

The new additions stood out pretty clearly.

Zes and Sara.

Zes was... hard to miss. She was big. Really big. The kind of presence that made stealth seem like a bad joke at first glance. Still, somehow, she managed to move fast. Way faster than someone her size should be able to. On top of that, she could suppress her presence well enough that you wouldn’t notice her unless you were paying attention.

So yeah, she fit in better than expected.

Sara, on the other hand, was straightforward.

She was fast, precise, and dangerous.

Calling her a monster when it came to speed and assassination wasn’t even exaggerating. It was just accurate.

Tilde crossed my mind for a second.

She would have been a great addition too, no doubt about that. But I had already assigned her to train the rabbitmen. They had potential, especially when it came to assassination, and with the war coming, they needed to be ready.

Better to build more capable fighters than stack everything in one place.

"Master," Robyn spoke up, her voice a little shaky.

I looked at her. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

She seemed hesitant, like she wasn’t sure how to phrase what she wanted to say. Her posture gave it away more than anything.

"I-Is it alright if you train with us?" she asked.

"Train?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow.

That caught me off guard.

"Well... we believe we’ve gotten a lot stronger lately," she said, gathering herself as she continued. "We want your observation. So... we were hoping you could see how much we’ve improved."

There was a bit more confidence in her voice now, even if she still sounded careful.

Beside her, Zes suddenly brought her fists together with a solid thud.

The sound alone said enough.

She looked excited. No, more like eager. Like she had been waiting for a chance like this.

Honestly, it looked like she just wanted to fight.

"Well... I guess I can take you up on that," I said, a small smirk forming on my face.

"Yes!" Robyn responded immediately, her expression lighting up. "Please... don’t hold back against us!"

That kind of request always sounded bold.

Most people regretted saying that.

We made our way to the training room.

The place was massive. Bigger than it needed to be, honestly. The walls, floor, everything was reinforced with metal strong enough to take a serious beating.

Even if someone tried to destroy it, it wouldn’t go down easily.

Going all out here wouldn’t be a problem.

At worst, things would bend or crack a bit. Total destruction felt unlikely.

Still, I figured we’d leave some marks behind.

I stepped forward and looked at all of them.

Every member of the Shadows stood ready.

They weren’t joking around.

Their expressions were serious, focused in a way that made it clear they meant what they said earlier. This wasn’t just casual training for them.

They wanted to test themselves.

Sandra caught my attention.

She was looking straight at me, her gaze steady and sharp. It had been a while since I’d seen that kind of expression from her. There was no hesitation there, just resolve.

"Master, please don’t hold back," she said.

"Alright," I answered simply.

If that was what they wanted, then I’d give it to them.

Holding back wouldn’t help them anyway.

Might as well show them the difference properly.