Reconciliation of the Hero's Rival

At the same time during Simon's battle with the abomination. The attacks by the Rucefina Thieves Guild were being resolved by the port's army along with third parties like Elvrett and Dominic.

The thieves were defeated easily. There seems to be some internal issues for there was confusion among them. Thus, half of them retreated halfway to the attack knowing that their plans got screwed up.

Meanwhile, Elvrett was clashing blades with a commander of the thieves. He was the last of his group as Dominic already wiped four out of five high-ranking thieves—three of them were corrupted and would've wreaked destruction if they were left alone for any longer; no one lasted five minutes in the blade of the man wearing a butler's clothes.

"Goddamn it! Where are the reinforceme-"

Swoosh!

"The explosions were supposed to happen as of now-!"

Slash!

A familiar blade appeared behind the man's body. Elvrett didn't react to a head being cut off in front of him like he had seen it a million times.

"We're done here." Dominic broke the long silence after beheading dozens of thieves before they could even react.

"Hey, you greedy bastard! You stole my kill." Elvrett complained at Dominic's kill.

"You're just slow, Elvrett." Dominic mocked him; he killed six for every kill that Elvrett had.

"You expect ME to out-kill THE Guillotine!?" Elvrett argued calling Dominic by his title "Come on, I'm a relic specialist, not a walking executioner!"

"Say whatever you want" He ignored Elvrett's comments and tried to be indifferent. "Let's go find the young master now."

Before they could go and move on, another presence was sensed by the both of them. It was strong and contained an unusual amount of bloodlust within it. Dominic and Elvrett turned towards its direction and saw a man—his looks and physique was slim except his arm that has the tattoo of the thieves guild's emblem.

"Good evening." The man greeted the two casually while letting out his killing intent in all directions.

Elvrett and Dominic quickly drew their weapons once again. Their guards went up as soon as they recognized the man.

"Hey you two, last time we saw each other was during the East Valley Campaign isn't it?" The hooded man spoke, he then took off his hood.

Elvrett flinched as he recognized the man—he was a former ally and friend—Golden Generation's Famished Reaper, Yoru. Him not having any goons around him shows that he's a powerhouse among the thieves.

"Guillotine, it's been a while. I'm pretty surprised you're not with your idol, it seems that you're taking care of his little brother." Yoru provoked Dominic "Did Silvan lose interest with you? What a shame, you used to be his loyal dog~"

"Pretty foolish coming from you, I have enough dignity to not be tempted by the corrupted." Dominic retorted and brushed off his provocations.

"You still piss me off." Yoru dashed forward and materialized blades on his hand using dark essence.

While Elvrett prepared to dodge, Dominic lunged forward and clashed with Yoru's blades. He pummeled him with countless slashes but he deflected them all even as they got faster.

Elvrett was witnessing the clash on the sidelines—he thought that trying to dip in would only hinder Dominic. He waited and readied himself to jump in once he found an opening.

'I'm definitely not as strong as them, all I could do right now is to assist Dominic once he overwhelms Yoru.' he put his faith in Dominic tiring his opponent out. He was disappointed that he couldn't use his offensive relics in such a quick and tense battle because of how long it would take to activate them.

'Damn it, I'll definitely bring more relics next time!' he thought to himself while waiting to find an opening to exploit.

Slash!

Dominic continued trying to slash his opponent; Yoru, however, successfully deflected most of his attacks. He pushed Dominic and distanced himself from him.

"As expected, you never lost your skills." Yoru smirked, fascinated by his opponent. "It's my turn now!" He enhanced his body and charged forward once again.

Dominic prepared as Yoru prepared a dangerous technique, one he once saw when they were fighting together. He recalled how he used it back then and then—

'Three swings!'

Dominic evaded the first swing, parried the second, and when Yoru did the third swing, Dominic applied essence in his sword in an instant sharpening it even more. Before the Reaper's blade reached his neck, he stroked his arm, cutting it to stop his attack.

"Elvrett, now!" Dominic spoke, Elvrett appeared behind him and began attacking Yoru.

Yoru flinched after his right arm was slashed—Elvrett took advantage of that. He was put off-balance trying to dodge his sword.

"You bastards—" Before Yoru could even finish, Dominic appeared in front of him and struck his face and knocked him out. He then didn't hesitate behead the man.

"We stopped him before he could become a true corrupted." They observed the dead body and saw its human features turning into more bestial-like.

Elvrett was disgusted by what he was seeing. Yoru was someone he respected during their time together at the warzone—a commoner who escaped poverty by proving his strength to the world he's living in.

"Don't blame yourself." Dominic interrupted his thoughts as if he was reading his mind.

Dominic was still catching his breath. The battle was quick but it was the most exhausting, he was glad the battle didn't take that long. He was worried that he wouldn't have time to find Simon if he left Yoru alive for even a second more.

"We did the right thing, I know that." Elvrett replied "I guess we'll go find Little Simon now."

"No need."

A voice interrupted them. It wasn't Simon but another individual familiar to the duo. A woman wearing the uniform of a veteran warrior that won hundreds of battles; she is a part of the empire's biggest merchant guild—The Crescentia Merchant Guild.

"Miss Raiah, fancy seeing you here." Dominic was the first to greet her.

"You're still the same," Raiah smiled "I did not expect a reunion with.. three of my old friends."

She looked at the dead corpse of Yoru, disappointed at how low a talented commoner like her fell at the cost of power. Nevertheless, she was glad to see familiar faces fighting alongside her during a crisis like this.

"Silvan's little brother is safe. We found him in a gateway of the thieves guild."

She showed five emblems, ones that are held by mages specializing in fire-related spells among the Rucefina Thieves Guild.

"Young master ended up in a gateway?" Dominic was in shock and anger after hearing Raia's statement.

"Surprisingly, we found him uninjured." She reassured him "The odd thing is that he was found unconscious along with a dead corrupted." She smiled.

"Really? Then, did Little Simon..." Elvrett joined in the discussion.

Raiah explained the details to them. The guild stormed the thieves guild's gateway and found out about their plan to plunder relics all throughout the port.

Fortunately, all five mages experienced complications and either failed to cause devastation or got taken out before they could even do so—one mage was chased down by Simon and the rest being taken care of by Crescentia Merchant Guild. Raiah's subordinates found Simon trying find the remaining mage. Confirming that all the mages have died made the thieves guild retreat for their massive failure.

"...it led to a lot of miscommunication so they became very easy to deal with. I'm glad you took care of several squads here." Raiah explained. The failure of the five mages caused the entire plan to fall apart resulting in poor communication and strategy among the thieves.

"I'm glad we helped but could we know where Little Simon is?" Elvrett didn't beat around the bush and asked where his friend was.

"He's resting in a nearby inn, I have Verona heal his minor injuries." Raiah guarantees that Simon is safe as they talk.

"We'd like to go to him right now. If you excuse us-"

"No, wait. The issue isn't fully resolved yet." She stopped the two and explained her intentions.

Raiah that a lot of areas are still being attacked by rogue groups taking advantage of the chaos. Crescentia's regulars and a few irregulars are now dealing with most of them right now but it isn't enough. Imperial soldiers are yet to arrive along with the Silver Shields.

"That's why your help would do the port well." Smiling, Raiah stretched her fist to them.

"Alright..." Dominic agreed after a lot of persuasion. Elvrett also chose to stay with him.

"Let's go, Brother Dominic!" Elvrett cheered him up since he's aware that Dominic is worried for his young master resting alone.

The two prepared as they joined Raiah to the battle and spent the rest of the night taking out the remaining enemies. Simon was yet to wake up after awakening his abilities with sheer willpower, he will then experience an odd interaction before he gains consciousness once again.