Chapter 81: Vigilante Act

After a few steps, Raive reached the door and kicked it open.

As soon as he walked out of the hallway, he quickly saw two men running fast toward the far end. One of them was carrying someone on his shoulder. A familiar face.

"Pretty brave of you to do that." Raive snickered as he leaned forward.

Then he kicked off, just strong enough that the building wouldn’t collapse, and caught up with the two.

His hand swung down, palm open, and struck the other man’s nape. An unsettling crack echoed as his eyes rolled over, falling to the floor unconscious.

"Mark?!"

The other man heard the crash and shouted in surprise. But what he didn’t expect was a new face crouching right beside him.

"Hey. I think what you’re carrying is mine." Raive said with a smile.

He grabbed the man’s shoulder, making a dangerous cracking sound as his bones shattered, causing the woman on his shoulder—Hercy—to fly forward from excess momentum.

Raive didn’t miss his chance, running forward, overtaking Hercy, and catching her safely.

With the target now in his embrace, the fetching-cum-rescue mission was practically over. However... Raive didn’t stop there.

He was curious.

The two men didn’t look like kidnappers or anything. The atmosphere they gave off was more... proper.

"And...?" So he decided to interrogate the one who was still conscious. "You were trying to kidnap this woman, but... who are you guys? And what were you planning to do with her?"

Right now, Raive had a lot of complicated matters to think about. One or two "simple" things to divert his attention once in a while should be good for his mental health.

But the man did nothing but scream in pain.

He was crying, literally, while clutching his broken right shoulder.

Raive, seeing him act like a kid whose parents refused to buy him a toy he really liked, made sure his attention stayed locked on him.

CRACK!

He stepped on the man’s leg, causing it to bend at a weird angle. Broken beyond doubt. The fresh pain made the man cry louder. Raive planted his other foot on the man’s remaining good leg, then motioned toward his own lips, shushing him.

As if understanding the signal, the man finally quieted down.

His shoulder hurt, his right leg was bent at a right angle, and Raive’s foot rested on his other leg. Anyone sane would’ve followed along just to keep from losing both legs.

"Alright, now we can talk." Raive smiled, seeing the man’s attention finally land on him. "Tell me, why did you try to kidnap Hercy? And who’s your employer?"

"I-I don’t know...!" The man shouted. "W-We were just told to catch that woman, matching the description given to us! I really don’t know who the client is!"

"..."

Of course, Raive didn’t believe him.

It had been barely five minutes since the second trial ended. There was no way someone could’ve plotted, sent these guys, and ambushed her in that short a time.

Raive’s eyes narrowed to slits.

"Lying to me now, huh. Looking down on me? Think my threats are empty?"

CRACK!

As a warning, Raive brought his foot down once more, cracking the other leg. The man’s scream went silent, pain painting his vision white. Tears, snot, and saliva mixed together where he lay.

"Let’s try this again..." Raive said, crouching. "Why kidnap her, and who’s the employer?"

"A-Ack...!"

It took a full minute before the man finally became obedient.

From what Raive got out of him, it wasn’t really about targeting Hercy specifically—just a job to capture any woman they could find.

Apparently, their "employer" just wanted a woman to embrace right after the trial ended.

Once he had all the information he needed, Raive didn’t hold back and snapped both men’s necks. No reason to keep them alive, after all. Left breathing, they’d just go capture someone else.

Cleaning up trash was never the wrong call, especially in a world like this.

Raive didn’t bother going after the "employer" for now. He still had the sleeping Hercy with him.

Thankfully, she wasn’t injured, just put to sleep. And even if she had been, Raive had already used Healing Touch on her, so that concern was covered too.

First, he rushed back to base, bringing her to safety.

Everything else could wait.

Though he was carrying someone, Raive could still run at full pace. But to keep her from suffocating under the wind pressure at that speed, he held himself to less than half his usual pace.

About ten minutes later, he finally made it back to Hershey’s home.

"Hershey, please wake her up. My healing isn’t enough for this." Raive requested quickly.

The little girl didn’t even ask twice before following through. She placed both hands over Hercy and began undoing the "sleeping curse" she’d been hit with.

In just a few moments, Hercy’s eyes started to flutter open.

"H-Huh...? I..."

She slowly rose, a hand pressed to her temple. Dizzy, her mind still a little foggy. After a few seconds, the memories came back to her.

"Right... Someone grabbed me, and...!"

Just as she started to panic, a gentle hand pressed down on her shoulder. Startled, she looked over to find Therese smiling at her gently.

"Don’t worry, you’re already safe." She said. "My child, Raive over here, successfully fetched you as promised."

"R-Raive...?"

Hercy looked around, and as she did, realized everyone present was familiar.

She’d worked with Raive a few times before, and had seen their whole group right before leaving the trial, so recognizing them wasn’t hard.

"I’m... saved?" She whispered, still in disbelief.

"Yes, you are." Therese nodded, reassuring her. "Once again, welcome to the team!"

As the facts sank in, Hercy’s expression brightened. She nearly forgot she’d almost been kidnapped just minutes earlier.

But Raive didn’t want to waste any more time.

"Sorry for saying this right after you woke up, but..." Raive said, stepping forward and taking her hand gently.

In a clear voice, eyes full of trust and expectation, he said.

"I need your skill’s help once more."