Chapter 34: Sein’s Descent
[Sein’s Perspective]
The bar was dim and smoky, the kind of place where people ca to forget. Sein sat at the counter, surrounded by empty bottles. Her orange hair was a ss, tangled and dull, falling across her face. Her gauntlets were gone. Her hero jacket was draped over the stool beside her, stained and wrinkled.
She slamd her palm on the counter. "Oi! Another one!"
The bartender, a middle-aged man with tired eyes and a towel over his shoulder, paused mid-wipe. He glanced at the collection of empty bottles in front of her, then at her bloodshot eyes.
"Sorry, miss. You’ve already had too much. Before things get worse, maybe call it a night."
Sein’s face twisted. "I don’t give a damn! Just bring the drinks!"
The bartender didn’t move. His expression was calm but firm. "I can’t serve you anymore. You need to leave."
Sein’s hand shot out, grabbing the edge of the counter. Her knuckles were bruised, the skin split in places from the fight earlier. She was about to shout again when a voice cut through from behind her.
"Oi, oi. Sein Alpis. The S-rank who dropped faster than anyone in history. And now she’s throwing a tantrum in so dive bar." A chuckle, low and mocking. "How pathetic."
Sein’s head snapped around.
A man stood a few feet away, leaning against a pillar. He wore a black leather jacket, zipped halfway, showing a lean, athletic build underneath. Dark eyes, sharp features, short black hair slicked back. A B-rank insignia glead on his collar. He was smiling—not a friendly smile, but the kind that said he’d been waiting for this mont for a long ti.
Sein’s eyes narrowed, trying to place his face. It took a mont but then recognition hit.
"...You."
The man pushed off the pillar and walked toward her, boots clicking on the dirty floor. "Two years. Took
two years to climb from rejected nobody to B-rank. And here you are, falling apart like cheap furniture."
Sein’s jaw tightened. "What the hell do you want?"
He stopped a few feet away, hands in his jacket pockets. "What do I want? I want you to rember . Back then, I ca to Vixion asking to join. Begging, practically. And you—" He pointed a finger at her chest. "You laughed in my face. Said I had no talent. Said I’d never make it past D-rank. You told
to get out before I embarrassed myself further."
Sein’s mory stirred, foggy and reluctant. She’d rejected a lot of applicants over the years. Most of them blurred together. But this one... she rembered his face now. The desperation in his eyes. The way he’d stood there, hands shaking, while she’d torn him apart in front of everyone.
She looked away. "That was years ago. I don’t have ti for grudges."
He laughed—a sharp, bitter sound. "No ti? You’ve got nothing but ti now, Sein. Your guild is gone. Your power is gone. And here you are, drinking alone in a bar that slls like piss." He leaned closer, voice dropping. "You’re nothing now."
Sein’s hand curled into a fist. Her cracked gauntlets weren’t there, but her knuckles were already bloody. "You want to fight ? Is that it? You ca all this way to pick a fight with a drunk has-been?"
The man’s smile widened. "A fight? No. I ca to watch you rot." He straightened, brushing a piece of lint off his jacket. "But if you want to throw a punch, go ahead. I’ll even let you have the first hit. Maybe it’ll make you feel like an S-rank again. For about five seconds."
Sein shot up from her stool, the wooden legs scraping against the floor. Her eyes blazed, fury cutting through the alcohol haze. Her fist was already cocked back—
And then she stopped.
Her hand trembled in the air. Her chest heaved. But she didn’t swing.
The man raised an eyebrow. "What’s wrong? Lost your nerve too?"
Sein’s arm dropped. She turned away, grabbing her jacket from the stool.
"...Get out of my sight."
She walked toward the door, shoulders hunched, footsteps unsteady. The man didn’t follow. He just stood there, watching her leave, his smile fading into sothing colder.
"That’s right," he murmured to himself. "Run away. Just like you made
run."
The bar door swung shut behind Sein, the bell above it jingling once.
Outside, the night air hit her face—cold and sharp. She stumbled to the side of the building and leaned against the brick wall, her forehead pressing into the rough surface. Her breathing was ragged, not from exertion but from sothing else. Sothing that had been building inside her for days.
Her hands were shaking.
She looked down at them—at the bruises, the split knuckles, the way her fingers trembled like leaves in the wind.
"I used to be able to crush mountains with these hands," she whispered to no one. "Now I can’t even punch through a damn hound."
Sein stumbled through the dark alley, her boots scraping against the uneven pavent. The alcohol made everything tilt and sway—the streetlights, the shadows, the walls pressing in on both sides. She caught herself against a brick wall, breathing hard, and the mories ca flooding back.
She saw herself two years ago, standing in the Vixion recruitnt hall, looking down at a line of hopeful faces. Her lip curling. Her voice cold and sharp.
"You? You think you have what it takes to stand beside ? Don’t make
laugh. Get out before you embarrass yourself further."
The face of the man from the bar swam before her eyes. But there were others too. Dozens of them. Faces she’d dismissed. Dreams she’d crushed. People she’d made feel small so she could feel tall.
Her hand clenched into a fist.
She slamd it against the wall beside her. The brick cracked—a little. Just a small spiderweb of fractures.
Sein stared at the tiny cracks, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
"What the hell is this...?" Her voice was hoarse, barely a whisper. "I’m not supposed to be down here. I’m supposed to be above. I make others bow. I don’t accept this. I don’t accept any of this!"
She pushed off the wall and kept walking, her legs unsteady, her vision blurred. The alley opened into a wider street—still dark, still empty.
Three figures erged from the shadows ahead. Rough clothes. Hard faces. The kind of n who lurked in places like this because they knew no one else would co.
One of them squinted at her, then elbowed his companion. "Hey... isn’t that her? Sein Alpis? The one who was all over the news?"
The second man’s eyes widened. "Yeah, yeah! That’s her! Even with the ssy hair, I’d recognize that face anywhere."
The third, the largest of them, stepped forward with a crooked grin. "Up close... she’s pretty cute, isn’t she?"
Sein stopped walking. Her eyes, bloodshot and heavy-lidded, fixed on them with cold disgust.
"Get away from ," she spat. "You’re disgusting."
The first man laughed. "Wow, her mouth’s just like they say. Poisonous."
The second man licked his lips, his gaze traveling down her body. "I wonder what sounds she makes in bed..."
The third man shook his head, but he was smiling too. "You’re always thinking about that stuff, you pervert." He paused, then added, "Not that I bla you. Look at her. Especially that ass."
Sein’s vision went red.
She lunged before she could think—her fist connecting with the nearest man’s face. There was a satisfying crunch of bone, and he staggered back, howling in pain, blood streaming from his nose.
"AHHH—what the hell?!"
The other two froze for a mont, shocked, then their faces twisted with anger.
"Grab her! Don’t let her hit again!"
Sein swung at the second man, but her movents were sluggish, uncoordinated. The alcohol weighed her down like lead. He caught her wrist easily, twisting her arm behind her back. She gasped, struggling, but the third man grabbed her other arm.
"Let go of , you bastards!" she snarled, thrashing. "I’ll kill you! I’ll fucking kill you!"
The first man, still clutching his bleeding nose, staggered toward her with murder in his eyes. "You’ll pay for that, bitch. We know your rank dropped. You’re nothing now."
The second man laughed, his grip tightening on her arm. "Hehe... I can’t wait. A classy woman like this..."
Sein’s struggles grew weaker. Her arms were pinned. Her legs felt like they were made of stone. The alcohol, the exhaustion, the weeks of decay—all of it caught up to her at once.
For the first ti in years, Sein Alpis felt afraid.
’No... this can’t be happening... I’m always the one on top... I’m always the one in control...’
But she wasn’t on top now. She was pinned against a wall, three n closing in, and no one was coming to help her.
’Is this... what it feels like... to be powerless?’
Sothing inside her cracked.
Dark energy erupted from her body.
The n shouted in surprise, releasing her as the energy lashed out like a living thing.
Sein’s head snapped up. Her eyes were no longer bloodshot. They were black—completely black, with pinpricks of red where her pupils should have been.
"You wanted to see what I can do?" Her voice was unusual—layered, echoing, like two people speaking at once. "Here it is."
She moved.
Her fist connected with the first man’s chest—the dark energy that accompanied the blow sent him flying into a wall. He crumpled, unconscious.
The second man tried to run. She caught him by the back of his jacket and slamd him into the ground, his face bouncing off the pavent.
The third man threw a punch. Sein caught his fist in her palm. Squeezed. Bones cracked. He scread. She headbutted him, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes.
All three lay motionless, beaten, bloody, their faces swollen and broken.
Sein stood over them, breathing hard. Her hand was still raised, dripping with blood—so theirs, so hers from where her knuckles had split open again. The dark energy faded, retreating back into wherever it had co from, and her eyes returned to normal.
She stared at the three unconscious n for a long mont. Then she turned and walked away, leaving them crumpled in the alley behind her.
Her footsteps echoed in the empty street. The blood on her hand dripped onto the pavent, drop by drop.
She didn’t look back.
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