Shortly waking from the source Solan felt the soft cushion residing beneath his body. Raising his head from the warmth of the pillow and observing his surrounding he quickly understood he was in the sky-division's personal nursery.
The sound of the waves washing up on the hull was clear.
Though there was an foreign feeling of something against his wrist when his senses got together.
Lifting his hand he was fast to see the two restraints on both wrist, to thick bands of metal around his wrist attached to a chain under the bed.
"The hell?"
"Good morning Solan".
The familiar voice spoke echoed throughout the room.
Admiral benedict stood on the opposite side of the room, his arms crossed and his expression frowning. It wasn't easy to tell if he was angry, cautious or disappointed.
The restraints must've meant that the members informed admiral about what they saw — thinking quickly back to it Solan felt like puking again. Just a moment ago within the source everything felt fine because the rules of senses and perception didn't apply in that world.
But being hit with reality the memories came flooding back and the feeling of the iron on his tongue became apparent.
"U-Urgh-!"
Solan started to puke on the bed sheet that was supposedly given to him to remain the warmth he once had. His body froze in a chill — now faced with the fact he actually ate someone.
With the entire sheet stained with Solan's emesis Benedict remained silent watching the scene unfold.
"...Did you always have taste for human flesh?" Benedict asked curious, his eyebrow arching.
"...It was an accident...". Solan sighed removing the sheet off him spilling down on the floor of the nursey. Solan felt slightly better now that the emesis didn't seem to attack him anymore.
"..An Accident...?" Benedict asked, he wasn't sure if he spoke the truth. From what his member had told him Solan had seemed to be enjoying it to the fullest — though that was his member's report... he himself had yet to confirm it.
"...Is the accident related to that unique vessel of yours?"
"You could say that...".
It wasn't the first time Solan had gone insane within the few days of staying in Komod. Back in the cave something strange had happened to him too but the cause was still unknown. Knowing the circumstances for the young man Benedict didn't speak much further about it — respecting the set of rules the grandmaster has given him.
"That guy I fought against was a vessel user...".
Benedict rose from the wall with eyes widened at the revelation.
"There was an vessel user here?!"
"Yeah... But he wasn't of the marines and the anax".
Benedict was still surprised and once he thought it over it could make sense. Before carrying Solan back to the nursery after the incident he had inspected the body of his victim.
"..An illegal vessel user was it?" Benedict spoke sure of it.
"I guess there are some cases such as that, people who obtains a vessel to use it for themselves and do crimes with it".
"Have you met someone like that?" Solan asked raising an eyebrow curious to know.
"...There was One person I executed during my younger days who possessed a vessel". Remembering back to it Benedict couldn't help but feel a slight cold running through his body.
"...He was a convicted criminal who apparently killed his entire village".
"Why?"
"...I'm not sure either, but he was a former captain too of an small anax group for his village which explains how he had a vessel".
Benedict's memory became clearer and clearer as he thought about the cruel day of the execution. He remembered the town's people gathering Infront of their home's plaza, the disgusted expressions everyone had on their faces and the loud shouts of the people telling him to die.
"...The look he had on his eyes were one of the crazed eyes I have ever witnessed out of the other's I've executed... My theory for why he massacred his own people has to do with his vessel".
Solan's attention was raised further, listening intently at the mention of a 'theory'.
"I believe that his vessel must've gone wild somehow... I like to see the way of obtaining a vessel the same as inviting a beast into your own body and mind".
'He's not wrong' was Solan's thought.
"Maybe the beast within his body somehow got the upper hand and controlled the criminal as it wished, killing off villagers with the instincts of a leviathan".
With a deep sigh Benedict shrugged before telling him.
"..Its not the most filling theory ever I've ever told and who knows if that's actually the case? Looking at your master Kesak and admiral Katama they seem to be doing well like an carefree butterfly".
"..Though" the word that came out of Benedict turned the atmosphere just slightly. A serious tone coming from his mouth eyeing Solan suspiciously.
"That vague theory of mine isn't entirely impossible... especially after what happened to you yesterday and the day before".
Solan remained silent on the bed, crossing his arms the iron shackles dangled on top of his lap. A serious and thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
"What your saying isn't false, the theory of inviting a leviathan into your body is actually something me and researcher Trevon have spoke about once". Solan explained clearly — his eyes gazed back at Benedict's.
"...But, that's not it... It's impossible for a Leviathan to enter your mind just because your drink it's blood, if that was the case then they must have evolved parasites that were made to counter the absorption of their blood by humans... and as far Sir. Trevon has come there is no such thing".
"I see... So its you?" Benedict asked.
"...Yeah, you already know about my unique abilities right? You can say that my special episodes that I have every now and then are the price of using it".
Benedict let a slight sigh before approaching the edge of Solan's bed, sliding his hand down his pocket he grabbed onto a iron key that was presumably the keys for Solan's chains.
"So if I release you now you wouldn't try eating any of my members?"
"...I wouldn't dare try, after all your division are made to handle certain people if it ever came to that".
Unlocking the shackles a slight clack was made hinting at Solan's free hands.
"...I told my members to keep shut about what they saw yesterday knowing that I don't want to displease the grandmaster, as for the assassin we grabbed his cloak for further investigation and there was another knocked person on the scene. My guys are interrogating him as we speak... I'm fully aware of what happened, he tried fleeing from you".
Solan got to the edge of his bed before making contact with the floor and spoke as he looked up at Benedict with a re-assured smile.
"Yeah that's right... I forgot about him".
***
[Year 1465 after the anax, location: Soldat, final day of the grand festival]
"C'mon! Don't let the marine win this time!"
"You can do it! We believe in you!"
Finding ourselves within the sea of loud cheering and screams the audience gathered for the final day had occurred. It was the day that would decide whoever took the winning prize back home and in the center of all the attention stood two men in the arena opposed to eachother.
"Tch-" The exhausted young man Darren was forced to step back from his opponent's most recent attack to create room for breathing.
With clothes torned ever so slightly and dirt stained everywhere the battle displayed the sheer tension he was undergoing. In some parts of Darren's body felt like breaking or just stop moving at any moment.
"Hey kid, you seem to be reaching your limit soon", opposed to him stood a figure clad in the iconic marine attire, with a long bronze round band around his shoulder and reaching towards his waist. With a face confident yet visibly fatigued the admiral Katama stood his ground remaining on his two given feet's.
"Oh Yeah?! what about you Sir. Admiral!" Darren shouted back with a slight smirk under his lips. Despite being pushed back to a corner Darren knew that letting his guard down any further would result in defeat — with one last thought running through his mind he regained his composure.
"...Oh? still got that fire in you? that's admirable for an anax hunter like yourself!" Katama laughed clapping his hand together before getting into his own absolute stance.
***
"The tension's getting even crazier...". Suria muttered, sitting amongst the audience with the sentinel crew gathered together to watch their own fight.
"C'mon... You can do this kid!" Rocky said standing up shouting.
The tension was building in their throat, unsure if Darren would become successful in the match. The match had been going on for almost 20 minutes with both parties going all out, they had displayed a true historical show that would be remembered for years to come but in the current moment the sentinels didn't care about that. They were relying everything on Darren to keep himself up.
Cain who sat silently, his elbow resting on his lap and his fingers bawled into a fist Infront of his mouth had only one thought in mind.
'Keep fighting, You aren't my grandson without a reason... Show that arrogant man what your capable of!"