Within the medical room, someone finally began to stir awake.
A low groan escaped Ercale as his eyes slowly opened, the Demon Lord immediately lifting a hand to the side of his head. "Ugh, shit," he muttered while pushing himself upright slightly. The moment he sat up properly, pain throbbed through the spot where he had been kicked hard enough to knock him unconscious. He grimaced sharply. "Fuck me," he whispered under his breath.
"I'd rather not, being honest."
Ercale turned his head toward the voice on his right and immediately saw Bram sitting nearby on a stool, his wolf mask currently removed.
"You…" Ercale muttered before glancing around properly. "Where the hell am I?"
"In the medical room of the coliseum," Bram answered casually. Then, before Ercale could ask anything else, he added, "And yes, you got knocked out by a teenager, if your next question was going to be 'what happened?'"
Ercale immediately looked irritated. "I know what happened, asshole," he snapped. "You don't have to remind me."
His eyes slowly moved over Bram afterward, taking in the condition he was in. Bram was covered in bandages, though Ercale's attention lingered most noticeably on his right forearm.
"Looks broken," Ercale remarked with a raised brow. "And since I don't see the ape around here, I'm assuming he, or I guess she, broke your arm?"
"Yeah," Bram replied with a sigh, lifting the injured limb with his functioning arm before letting it flop limply for emphasis. "She did." He rolled his eyes slightly. "Wasn't exactly fun having this thing broken for the hundredth time."
"Uh huh." Ercale's tone lowered slightly after that. "Still better than being dead, right?" His eyes narrowed faintly. "Which is what you were supposed to be after five hundred years."
Bram's expression remained mostly relaxed.
"How," Ercale asked slowly, "and why are you still alive?"
"What?" Bram asked while leaning back slightly on the stool. "You aren't happy to see me or something?"
"Just answer the question."
Bram shrugged lightly. "Later," he replied. "I'll tell you when we're alone."
Ercale blinked once at that answer before finally looking around the room properly.
The medical chamber was quieter than expected. Beds lined both sides of the room, several still occupied. On the opposite side, he spotted Zee lying unconscious while Mae sat beside her bed silently, fingers still interlocked with Zee's hand.
"Did Annie knock the elf out too?" Ercale asked while looking back toward Bram.
Bram shook his head. "No. I blocked the kick Annie tried to hit her with." He lifted his broken arm slightly again. "Got this for the trouble." Then his expression became a little more serious. "Zee passed out from shock afterward."
He looked further down the room after saying that.
"Meanwhile," Bram continued quietly, "the other one went catatonic."
Ercale followed his gaze.
Nori lay motionless on another bed farther away, exactly as Bram described. Completely still. Completely unresponsive.
For a moment, Ercale said nothing.
"So right now," Bram said while settling back against the stool again, "we're waiting to interrogate someone, waiting for those two to wake up…" He motioned vaguely toward Zee and Nori. "And I'm also waiting for a certain tall and vicious woman to show up."
He exhaled lightly.
"After that," the Sword Master finished, "what happens next gets decided."
Ercale silently took all of that in for a few moments before finally moving.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and slowly pushed himself upright, still visibly sore from being knocked unconscious earlier. "Have fun doing that, I guess," he muttered while standing fully. "I've got something else to do."
Bram raised a brow at him immediately. "Yeah?" he asked while standing up from the stool as well. "And what exactly is that?" A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Chasing after the girl who knocked you out?" He shrugged lightly. "Because if that's your plan, nobody knows where she went or where she was even heading."
Ercale said nothing.
"And besides," Bram continued while crossing his arms, "I'm not letting you leave." His expression flattened slightly. "You have a lot to explain to both me and Violet once she gets here."
Ercale clicked his tongue irritably before turning fully toward him. "So what?" he asked, clenching his fists instinctively like he was preparing for a fight. "You're going to hold me here or something?"
Bram scoffed at that.
"Are you serious?" he asked. "You're so weak right now that I could beat you by myself." He let out a short chuckle. "We don't exactly need to be the Companions of Winter to stop you at the moment."
Ercale visibly disliked hearing that.
Unfortunately for him, he also could not deny it.
After a moment, he let out a long sigh and slowly unclenched his fists again. "Fine," he muttered. "If that's how it is, then let's wait somewhere else."
Without another word, he turned and began walking out of the medical room.
Bram followed after him with a small shrug.
Meanwhile, back inside the room, someone else finally began to stir.
Mae immediately felt the hand she had been holding tighten weakly around hers.
Her eyes widened slightly as Zee's eyes slowly blinked open. The elf looked disoriented at first, her gaze unfocused before gradually turning toward the figure sitting beside her bed.
"Mae?"