The demon girl paced back and forth along the ridge, her boots scuffing against the ground while her tail lashed the air in short, agitated sweeps.

She ran both hands through her hair, gripping the strands tight enough to pull, her breath coming in shallow bursts as she stared down at the ruins where the three girls still knelt around Hajin’s unmoving body.

’He is not waking up,’ she thought, her pulse climbing with every passing second, ’his body is healed, the wounds are gone, but he is just lying there.’

She stopped pacing and pressed her palms against her face, feeling the sweat on her palms and the heat radiating from her cheeks, and for the first time since she had been given this mission she felt genuinely terrified.

’If he dies,’ she thought, the words sitting heavy in her stomach, ’if he actually dies, I have to go back and tell them.’

She could already picture it, standing before the massive throne in the Underworld Kingdom, the shadows stretching long across the floor while the King stared down at her with those empty, knowing eyes.

She could hear her own voice explaining that the vessel had died, that the Goddess fragment was lost, that everything they had been working toward was gone because she stood there and watched it happen.

’No,’ she thought, shaking her head and making her hair whip across her face, ’no, I am not doing that, I refuse.’

Her hands dropped from her face and she started pacing again, faster this time, her claws extending from her fingertips and scraping against the wall as she moved.

’How am I even supposed to explain this to my main body?’ she thought, her stomach twisting, ’she gave me one job, watch the vessel and make sure he grows strong enough to be useful, and I let him get impaled by a statue, in a Gate we created on top of that.’

She stopped at the edge of the ridge and looked down at the ruins again, her eyes finding Hajin’s still form among the group.

’Wake up,’ she thought, her jaw tightening, ’please just wake up so I do not have to deal with this.’

A voice came from behind her, calm and flat, "you need to calm down."

She spun around, her eyes flashing crimson as she glared at the boy leaning against a broken pillar with his arms crossed.

"Calm down?" she snapped, her voice climbing higher than she intended, "calm down? He is not waking up, do you understand what that means?"

He did not move, just watched her with that same blank expression he always wore, and it made her want to punch him.

"If he dies," she continued, taking a step toward him, "if he actually dies in there, we have to go back and tell the King, and I do not know about you but I am not interested in finding out what happens to us when we deliver that news."

He was quiet for a moment, his eyes drifting down toward the ruins before coming back to her face.

"He is not dead," he said, his voice still flat, "his body is healing, the girls are still with him, there is no reason to assume the worst."

"No reason?" she repeated, her claws flexing at her sides, "he has been unconscious for hours, his body fixed itself and he is still not moving, that is not normal and you know it."

He did not argue with that, which only made her more anxious because he always had something to say, some cold logical response that shut down her panic, but right now he was just standing there with nothing.

She turned away from him and pressed her hands against the back of her neck, her fingers digging into the muscle as she tried to force the tension out.

"If our main bodies find out about this," she said, her voice dropping lower, "if the Underworld King finds out we let the vessel die under our watch..."

She did not finish the sentence, could not finish it, because the ending was too terrible to put into words.

The boy pushed off the pillar and walked toward her, stopping a few feet away while his eyes stayed fixed on the distant camp.

"We are not going to let him die," he said, and this time there was something in his voice that was not completely flat, "we will find a way to wake him up before it comes to that."

She looked at him, at the way his jaw was tight and his hands were clenched at his sides, and realized he was scared too.

’Good,’ she thought, turning back toward the ruins, ’at least I am not the only one who understands how bad this is.’

She stared down at Hajin’s still form, at the three girls kneeling around him, and felt something cold settle in her chest.

"Wake up," she whispered again, so quiet that even the wind did not carry it.

Back at camp, the fire crackled low while the wounded knights slept in scattered clusters around the perimeter.

Helen walked toward the group with a wooden plate in her hand, dried meat and hard bread stacked on top, her broken arm wrapped in a makeshift sling that she had tied herself.

She stopped a few feet away from where Juna sat cross-legged beside Hajin’s still body, her ears twitching at the sound of her approach but not turning to look.

Helen crouched down and set the plate on the ground between them, her eyes drifting to Hajin’s face as she did. He looked fine, his breathing steady, his skin clean, not a mark on him from the fight, but his eyes stayed closed no matter how long she stared.

"Any change?" she asked.

Juna shook her head once, her tail giving a single, tired flick against the ground.

"No," she said, her voice flat, "he is still not waking up."

Helen sat back on her heels and looked at the other two, Loccy was curled up near his feet with her ears drooping and her eyes half-closed, while Vella sat a little further back with her arms wrapped around her knees and her chin resting on them.

"Is he at least stable?" Helen asked, keeping her voice low.

Juna nodded, "his body healed, the ribs are back in place and the cuts are gone, but he is just... I don’t know what’s happening to him."

"He will be fine," Helen said, though even she knew that did not sound very convincing, "we are staying here for a while anyway. The Captain is injured, I can barely move this arm, and the knights need rest, so we have time to figure it out."

Juna looked down at Hajin, her ears lowering a little, "I hope so."

Helen pushed herself back up with a small grimace, "eat something before you collapse next to him," she said, turning to leave, but before she got far, Vella stood up and walked over to Hajin with an unusually serious expression.

"I am going to check my world," she said, crouching beside him, "if his mind went anywhere, it might be inside the ring."

Juna’s hand tightened on Hajin’s coat, "can you bring him back?"

"I do not know," she admitted, touching the ring on his finger, "but I can look."

Her body turned into golden light and flowed into the ring, disappearing in a soft flash while Helen stopped mid-step, staring at the empty space.

"What the..."