"Fuuuuck! This arm is killing me."
The Wolf of Layos, Adam Loyroost, bitterly regretted his decision to become active on the battlefield.
Greed had clouded his judgment, making him believe he could achieve the same success in a head-on confrontation with Edinburgh's forces as he did during his years as a spy within the enemy kingdom.
Adam had barely survived the encounter with Edinburgh's battalion on the battlefield. If his suffering had ended there, he might not have been so vocal about his regrets.
However, fate had a different plan. The battalion he was returning with unexpectedly clashed with a stray group of Edinburgh's Rankers, resulting in severe injuries that almost cost him his life.
"Gah! I should've never heeded that devious Frank's suggestion. That bastard can't be trusted after all. No amount of extra coin or rare ranking technique is worth the agony I'm enduring right now."
Adam cursed through clenched teeth as he felt the excruciating pain in his right arm gradually subside under the ministrations of a healing-type runic array. These were intermittent bouts of pain and relief.
He lay within the infirmary of Layos' military base, staring at the ceiling, his face contorted with suffering. The infirmary was presently vacant. The Layos healer on duty had set up the runic array before leaving for other responsibilities within the army base, leaving Adam to his thoughts.
"That blue-haired girl who attacked me, severed my arm, and subjected me to this agonizing ordeal... I… I can't shake the feeling that she allowed me to escape of her own volition. Something about that encounter just doesn't sit right with me."
Adam gritted his teeth as he watched the runic array mend the shattered bone in his missing arm.
Adam couldn't help but suspect that the mission to participate in the battlefield had been a set-up orchestrated by an enemy within the kingdom of Layos. Otherwise, there was no logical explanation for the battalion's unexpected encounter with a stray group of Edinburgh Rankers. It was almost as if these Edinburgh Rankers had known of his presence with that battalion.
Although Adam was aware of the deep-seated animosity held by many of Edinburgh's Rankers towards him, nearly a decade had passed since his espionage activities had ceased. It was highly improbable for ordinary Rankers to harbor such lingering grudges unless it was a profoundly personal vendetta.
"Who could have set me up? Is it an inside job, or did someone from the kingdom of Edinburgh want me dead? But why now after a decade has passed?"
Adam Loyroost questioned himself as he watched his severed right arm almost complete its regeneration under the effects of the runic array. Only the finger bones and the remaining skin needed to reform.
"Why not both?" a sudden response to his inner musings echoed through the infirmary. It was a female Ranker's voice, vaguely familiar to him. "Who?" Adam attempted to sit up, eager to greet the unknown visitor who had entered the infirmary. Being within Layos' army base, he believed his safety was assured.
Unfortunately for him, this assumption would prove to be his gravest mistake.
Swoosh. Zoom. Slash.
Adam heard the sound of a sword slash nearby. His sedation had dulled his pain, preventing him from immediately realizing that the attack had inflicted another severe injury.
His vision shifted, and before him appeared a strikingly beautiful girl, obstructing his view of the infirmary ceiling as she stood and looked at him with a gaze of an overlord.
It took Adam a fraction of a second to recognize her as the same blue-haired girl who had wounded him earlier. In the next moment, he comprehended the gruesome truth: she had disemboweled him with her sword, targeting his stomach before ruthlessly dismantling the healing array.
"Aaaargh!" Adam's scream reverberated through the infirmary as he came to terms with his horrifying predicament. He couldn't fathom that an Edinburgh Ranker had infiltrated Layos' army base solely to eliminate him. His attempts to scream for help were futile, as the blaring sirens drowned out his desperate cries.
"Arthur Renar sends his regards, dear Jaime Lancaster."
Nysa bestowed a slight smile upon the writhing Adam. She had addressed him by his false identity because she wanted him to meet his end known solely by his counterfeit persona, the identity recognized by the Kingdom of Edinburgh. This was Arthur's specific request, one that Nysa had no qualms about fulfilling.
With her second swift slash, she severed Adam's body in two at the waist, cleaving his torso from his legs. Astonishingly, he didn't succumb to the fatal injury immediately.
"Arthur! So it was that fucking bastard. Aaaaaargh!"
Fortunately for him, Nysa was not one to relish in the dissection of her foes. She administered a third strike, impaling his heart with the tip of her blade, swiftly ending his life.
As Adam met his demise, a multitude of emotions played out on his dying visage. Yet, thanks to Nysa's parting words, the bitterness of not knowing why he was being killed was not among them. In his final moments, Adam's thoughts were consumed by curses directed at Arthur Renar.
Meanwhile, outside the infirmary at the Layos army base, pandemonium reigned. The blaring sirens, mingled with the anguished cries of Rankers, filled the bloody air. Suddenly, two distinct auras of Grandmaster rank spread throughout the area, colliding violently.
"Arthur! Have you fucking gone mad?"
Saisha Goren's thunderous voice echoed from all directions as he recognized the intruder responsible for breaching the Layos army base. Naturally, Arthur hadn't embarked on this mission alone; a group of Rankers accompanied him, spearheading the unexpected assault and catching Layos' Rankers off guard. Among them was Nysa Nael.
Nysa had her own methods for tracking down Adam, a task assigned by Eren. However, Adam had now outlived his usefulness to Eren, who sought to initiate a direct confrontation between Saisha and Arthur.
As Arthur launched an assault on the Layos Army base, preparing for a personal confrontation with Saisha Goren, Nysa had received her new directive from Arthur and Eren: to finish what she had begun, and she was more than willing to comply.
