For one brief, perfect moment, the look on Rudith’s face made everything worth it.

Shock.

Pure, unfiltered shock.

It was exactly what Rohan wanted to see.

Rudith’s expression didn’t twist into anger right away, nor did it collapse into fear. No, it stayed frozen in that perfect instant of utter disbelief, like her mind had simply refused to accept what here eyes were telling it. That the source of all their tension, all their unease, all the missing Awakened and unexplained deaths in the tunnels, was not some hidden beast or third party.

It was Rohan, and Elane.

Both alive, and doing very well for themselves.

Standing there with the treasure Rudith had tried so desperately to acquire even before the two sides had ever met.

Rohan let the silence linger for a moment longer before he smiled.

"Well," he said, voice calm and steady, letting his amusement show as clear as day. "You all look more nervous than the last time we met."

That one sentence of Rohan’s was like a hammer shattering through glass.

All six of their eyes darted between Rohan, the flower over Elane’s shoulder, and Rudith herself, clearly trying to piece together everything that was taking place before them.

Niko was the first of the six to find his voice.

"You..." His hand twitched toward his daggers at his waist. "Why the fuck are you two here!?"

Rohan and Elane’s smiles both widened a fraction. Even though they were annoyed and quite frustrated that Rudith’s group had beat them to the punch and managed to come together before they could be picked off, this situation wasn’t so bad itself.

"That’s a funny question coming from someone who left us tied up as bait, ripe enough to be eaten by that E rank Elite boss. Oh, and that treasure? Thanks for telling us about it by the way. I’m sure it’ll fetch a hefty price when we plan to sell it!"

His words hit Niko’s chest like a sledgehammer.

If the hired Awakened were still alive and kicking to see this all go down, they would almost certainly be kicking their feet back and chomping on some popcorn to watch all this drama go down.

Though, they’d also realise that Rudith had different plans for them, as well.

Rudith recovered quickly.

Her shock melted, then hardened into the ugliest expression she could muster. Her fury let itself loose. But Rohan, who’d spent his entire time as an Awakened learning about how twisted and rotten the Awakened world could be, saw her other emotions hidden deeper within her.

Worry.

Fear.

Because no matter how much Rudith hated him in that moment, she also had to reckon with what his and Elane’s presence there implied. He and Elane had survived what should have killed them.

For one, almost unnoticeable moment, she glanced to her side at Sarah.

’She never mentioned what happened to these two...’

Though, on Sarah’s behalf, she didn’t exactly see what happened to Rohan and Elane either. She only entered the boss’ chamber at the very last moment to attempt stealing the Lava Hellebore, and only kept tabs on the boss’ position, not the two Awakened she considered weaklings.

She couldn’t have possibly known that they had both miraculously survived with their time in the Origin Realm running out and being forced back into the outside universe.

And honestly, could she be blamed for that? She just assumed that they had died quicker than their plans accounted for, which must have been the reason the boss noticed her presence before she could snatch the Lava Hellebore away.

Everything clicked into place in Rudith’s mind.

"You survived... and were sent back to the outside universe..." She muttered incredulously, hardly believing in her own words.

However, there were more questions she had, but didn’t quite speak for the sake of her own pride.

’But how are you so strong now!?’

It had only been a little over a week since she last saw Rohan and Elane, and back then, while they were quite decent for two newbies on their first run in the Origin Realm, they shouldn’t have been able to catch up with her and the others in strength so quickly.

This was just ridiculous!

Snap!

Rohan clicked his fingers together, drawing everyone out of their stupor.

"Well, it’d be nice to stay and chat some more. But we have places to be, you see. So it’s about time we settled things here."

Rohan took a step back, but held steady. He lightly did a few movements with his spear and pike in both hands to loosen up his wrists.

Seeing him ready both the odd looking spears in his hands, Rudith shouted back at her teammates.

"What are guys waiting for? Attack!" She yelled.

But it took a moment for them to recover from their shocked states, opening up a perfect opportunity for Elane.

Even Rudith had been so focused on those long spears in Rohan’s hands, wondering to herself if duel wielding spears was even efficient, that she’d failed to notice Elane silently summoning a unique looking bow and forming an arrow out of thin air.

Fwoom!

While Rudith was mid step towards Rohan, looking to get the first strike in, Elane’s arrow flew out of her grasp at speeds equal to a bullet.

Thud!

"Cough... Ughh..." A distorted groan escaped Aron’s mouth at the back of Rudith’s group, and he looked down at his chest in pain and complete despair.

His heart was toast. Elane’s arrow had made quick work of it, and there was no hope for redemption for him unless an Awakened with a healing type gene somehow found their way over within the next 60 seconds.

Aron dropped to his knees in the following moments as his legs were no longer able to support himself now that their supply of blood had been cut off from the source.

"Aron!"

Sarah’s voice screeched at the top of her lungs as she watched the light fade from Aron’s eyes.

While he blocked Rudith’s incoming blow with his spear, Rohan’s brow rose at Sarah’s reaction.

’Did those two have something going on behind the scenes?’

If so, that made the kill all the more satisfying. Even though death wasn’t as serious in the Origin Realm, seeing someone you cared dearly for go down like that was sure to leave a mental mark.

"I’ll Kill you fuckers!!!" Sarah screamed, summoning her own bow.