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Everything was red, presumably from blood in his eyes. He couldn’t breathe and was pretty sure he’d ruptured both lungs. He knew his limbs would soon grow back, but he couldn’t help panicking at not being able to feel them at all. Not being able to move. Not being able to speak. Barely being able to see or hear.

But after a moment, he felt someone pick him up. The numbness in his ears quickly subsided, and he turned his eyes up to see the Queen’s face there.

“I have you, young knight.”

“How is he still alive?! For that matter, how are you, Your Highness?!”

They made it out into the courtyard. More guards were there, and the Queen yelled at them to disperse as they pushed through.

Desmond was soon to catch up. However, he stopped, as did everyone else, when they saw the gatehouse crumbling ahead of them.

“Aww,” said Desmond. “I wanted to do it on my own.”

A broad-bellied man lumbered out of the rubble, arms like tree trunks. His red hair was a bit darker than Desmond’s, and he could not have been any less than two meters tall. A reaper followed him.

‘Did you really have to destroy the gatehouse?’ said Ezmortig, overlooking the scene from the sky.

‘You made a mess first,’ said the new reaper.

Desmond laughed. “Hey, I tried to tell them we weren’t the people for this job.”

The big guy seemed to have nothing to say. By the look on his flat face, he scarcely seemed aware of what was happening.

Hector still needed more time to regenerate. He’d barely recovered his knees and elbows.

Aside from Lynnette, one of the guards had yet to flee as ordered. He was a bespectacled man, and he stepped toward the giant, fiddling with the black brim on his officer’s cap. “I really hate you Abolish guys,” he said. “Always recruiting these poor simpletons as servants. Aren’t there enough crazy assholes like that guy over there?”

‘Who the hell are you?’

“I’m Roman. And you fuckers aren’t welcome in my country.”