"Asher! It's not—" Nephis raised her hand sharply, silencing Kido with a cutting side-eye.

The others understood. One by one, they filed out of the room. Aiko lingered at the threshold, gaze flicking back toward Asher before slipping away. Effie huffed under her breath, then stooped to lift the shattered door. With surprising care, she propped it back against its frame before finally leaving.

Silence pressed down like a weight.

Nephis turned back to Asher.

"You're a killer," she said flatly. She dragged a chair to his bedside and lowered herself onto it, her eyes never leaving his face. "So what? So am I."

Asher's stare was vacant, unblinking.

"You're different," he murmured at last.

Her brow arched. "Different how? Because I was born to blood? Because I was trained to carve lives apart? Or…" her voice dipped, sharp and bitter, "are you saying I enjoy it?"

Asher's chest rose and fell unevenly. His gaze dropped, as if searching for something inside his ribs."No. You're different," he repeated.

"Different how?" she pressed, teeth catching the side of her lip.

At last, his eyes cut to hers, pale and hollow."You kill for your goals, Nephis. I didn't. I killed for revenge."

He tilted his head back, eyes tracing the cracks in the ceiling. His voice lowered to a rasp.

"Revenge…"

Nephis stayed still, watching him, waiting.

"I took it, didn't I?" He looked back at her. She hesitated, then gave the smallest nod.

"Then why…" his hand lifted to his chest, fingers pressing hard against it as if to cage something inside, "…why does it still hurt so much here?"

His palm trembled.

Before Nephis could speak, his expression twisted.

"I—I know!" he suddenly barked, lurching off the bed. "I have to k-kill Tessai! He was the one who actually killed Hou wasn't it!"

He staggered toward the door, "T-Then... Maybe then... I can get rid of this-"

"Tessai is dead, Asher."

Her words cut like a blade. He froze mid-stride. Slowly, he turned, eyes wide.

Nephis's voice was cold, steady. "I killed him. Four days ago."

Asher's pupils blew wide, his breath stuttering in his chest. His hands began to shake violently.

"I… I see."

He lowered his gaze. His fists clenched so tightly his nails broke skin. Scarlet welled between his fingers, dripping to the floor.

There was much left unsaid between them. Yet in that moment… nothing came.

Asher's breath slowly evened out, each inhale deliberate, each exhale strained. He closed his eyes, forcing the pain down, smothering it beneath a fragile calm.

Nephis studied him with narrowed eyes.

"You're taking this better than I expected," she said at last.

Asher let out a hollow chuckle. "I'm surprised as well. Despite feeling like tearing myself apart," He lifted his hands slightly, as if presenting himself for inspection. "My outside seems strangely calm. Especially considering my emotions are amplified."

Nephis didn't flinch. She knew. Everyone close to him did. His flaw was no secret to those who truly watched.

Her eyes lingered on the unfamiliar duality of his gaze.

"You've gained it, haven't you?" she asked quietly.

She rose from her chair, stepping closer until she stood eye to eye with him. Her voice dropped.

"Clarity."

But even as she said it, the word felt wrong. Too shallow.

…it wasn't clarity.

It was perspicacity.

Asher stayed silent, his expression unreadable. Nephis frowned faintly, then shook her head.

"You know… I came straight from the Lord of the Dead's subjection the moment I heard you'd woken up."

Her gaze slid aside, the curtain of pale hair shielding her face expression.

"I was… worried."

For a moment, Asher simply watched her. Then, the corner of his lips lifted in a small, almost genuine smile.

"Thanks." His voice softened, though the smile quickly grew forced. "I'm fine. Don't worry."

Nephis' eyes lingered on him. She could see the strain behind that smile, hear the faint crack in his voice. But if he wasn't willing to show it, she wouldn't force it.

"...Are you really?" she asked quietly, giving him a single opening.

The smile stayed. He didn't take it.

She studied him for a long moment, then nodded once. "Alright."

Her hand came to rest lightly on his shoulder as the spell whispered.

[You have received a memory: Box o' plenty.]

Asher's expression got a bit weird.

"A gift," Nephis said simply. "From Aiko, Kai, Kido… all of us."

She turned to leave, her footsteps steady against the stone floor. But before she crossed the threshold, she stopped, glancing back over her shoulder.

"We're raiding the Crimson Spire in a month," she said evenly. "Before that, I'll be holding a funeral. For everyone we've lost."

Asher's eyes flickered, the forced smile faltering.

"Yes," Nephis added, her tone softening. "Hou's funeral will be held there too."

He looked down quickly, wiping at his blurred vision before it could betray him. "…I'll be there."

Nephis offered the faintest smile as she reached for the door handle and gave it a tug—

"Ah."

The word slipped out before she could stop it. Her other hand shot up to steady the door as it wobbled dangerously on its broken hinges.

"...Effie," Nephis muttered under her breath, carefully lowering the battered door to the ground. She stepped back, clapping the dust off her hands. For a moment, she studied the fallen wood with the same focus she might give a battlefield strategy.

Then her brow twitched. She turned to Asher, expression sharpening.

"A little help, perhaps?"

Asher didn't answer at once. Instead, a muffled chuckle escaped him. Nephis' eyes widened ever so slightly.

Her lips softened into something dangerously close to a smile.

Asher waved a hand lazily. The heavy oak door lifted from the ground and snapped neatly back into its frame with a reverberating thud—slamming shut between them, cutting her view of him completely.

Nephis stood there, staring at the door in silence. A faint sigh slipped through her nose, laced with disappointment.

She turned on her heel, striding back into the corridor.

'I wouldn't have minded… looking at him a bit longer.'

The thought struck her mid-step, rooting her in place. Her ivory ears flushed pink as her hand brushed her temple.

"...What in the world am I thinking?"