The banquet hall's heavy doors opened with a funereal scrape.But no one entered.Nothing moved.
Was a carnage about to begin?No one could say.
Kael was ready.Ready to clash.
His golden eyes fixed the dark.Two silhouettes cut against it.The specters.This time, he didn't yield to panic.He held their presence without flinching.
The Eye of Nyx pulsed.A shard of truth flashed through his gaze.He picked out their faults,their invisible fractures.Weak points…still out of reach.
And still, silence held.A thick silence.Heavy.So heavy it cinched the throat.
No breathing.No breath.
As if the muteness itself were a sentence.
The only question left was…for whom?
Kael drew a long breath.His eyes set on Varos—the spectral blade already humming, eager to rend.But his gaze did not waver.
He leaned slightly toward the shadow at his side.— Umbra… move in.
The shadow quivered.It slid slowly across the floor, snaking like a sheet of ink.Invisible.Undetectable.
Kael knew:Varos hunted the organic—the breath, the flesh.Not shadow.Not the formless.
So Umbra could creep closer.Cling to him.Wrap him like a silent net.
Kael clenched his fists.Every inch of Umbra stretched the silence.Varos did not react.Blind to the creeping threat.
Kael's heart hammered.His jaw set.
He breathed low.— Wait for my mark.First strike… is yours.
Umbra thrummed—a dull, impatient wave.
Then Kael lifted his head.His golden gaze flared.The air thickened at once—as if an invisible storm had kindled in his chest.
⟡ [ Aura of Domination ] ⟡Active.
Stone groaned.The specters' chains began to chime on their own.Weight shifted.Each breath turned heavy—oppressive.
Varos stiffened.His spectral eyes fluttered a heartbeat,as if an unseen hand had gripped his throat.
Kael's smile cut cold.— Now.
Umbra lunged.Soundless.Deadly.
The assault began.
Umbra did not miss his opening.He burst from the dark, claws flashing like blades.They slit Varos's spectral throat clean.A gaping tear ripped through the etheric flow.
Varos reeled.His eyes glazed with a flicker of stupefaction.
But at once—the wound sealed.Soul filaments knit with a viscous hiss.The specter straightened, intact,as if nothing had happened.
Kael growled inside.An endurance fight.At this rate… impossible.Not at their current tier.Not without paying dearly.
Across the hall, the clash was already raging.Umbra and Varos collided without respite, claws against blades.Each impact rattled the chamber—a breathless tempo without pause.
Kael faced Aren.Chains hissed, fast, but he slipped them—body splitting air with each lethal crack.His golden eyes burned, hunting an opening.
Then, suddenly, he sprang back and drew a carved shard of metal:a runic frame, ripped from the gaols.
He drove it into the floor, spearing a chain link with a sharp blow.The rune lit faintly, breathing a pale glow.
Aren's chain snapped toward him.Kael sidestepped and parried.The runed metal caught it mid-flight, pinning it in a spray of sparks.
A grinding shriek tore the hall.The chain quivered, clamped in a vise.The specter fell back a step, surprised.
Kael grit his teeth.It worked.Not fully… but enough to make a counterweight.
He drew a steady breath.— If I can nail them one by one… maybe I can hold him.
Aren roared.A tremor shook the walls.His chains yanked hard in recoil.
Runed metal groaned; stone fractured under the pull.Kael dug his heels, hauling on the kusarigama to keep the pressure.
For a breath he thought he'd won.But Aren heaved again—his whole mass straining the seal.
The runic frame cracked.Shards spat.Kael vaulted back, narrowly dodging a loosed chain that ploughed the floor where he'd stood a heartbeat before.
He clenched his jaw.— Not enough…
On the other side, Umbra was relentless.His claws raked Varos without respite.Each time he opened a wound, it sealed at once.His ragged breathing betrayed fatigue.
Varos laughed—a dry, rasping cackle like a saw biting stone.His spectral sword carved the air, missing Umbra's shadow by a hair.
Kael flicked a quick glance their way.— If this keeps up… he'll tire first.
He inhaled.The air's weight climbed again.The Aura of Domination pulsed, tightening around both specters.
Varos hesitated a fraction—his blade slowing imperceptibly.Umbra dove in, tearing the specter's shoulder.
Aren, for his part, stilled.His chains trembled, as if some unseen force weighed them down.
Kael smiled, ice-thin.— This won't be an endurance match.Not while I'm here.
Kael chuckled, breath harsh, golden eyes locked on Aren.— You broke a chain with one runed stake…What about two?Or three?
With a crisp motion he drew three runic frames from his back.Graven metal winked faintly in the gloom.
Without delay he drove the first into a link.The rune flared at once—pet blue sparks shedding.The chain shuddered, captive.
Kael finally understood.This hall was no mere gaol.It demanded more runes—more anchoring force.That was why a single stake failed.
He lifted the second.Poised to hammer it home.
But Aren howled.He hurled his spectral shield with all his might.The shadow disk split the air with a killing whistle.
Kael dove aside.The impact burst against the wall, stone exploding.The shield stuck edge-on in the masonry, humming with power.
Kael rolled, fingers locked on the stake.Without hesitation he seized the opening.With a brutal thrust he nailed the second stake into another link.
Another shower of sparks.Runes braided, weaving a luminous web around the chains.
Kael smiled coldly, breath short.— That's… two.
He raised the third stake—fingers white on the carved metal.He feinted downward, aiming another link.
Aren roared.His chains were already sagging under runic weight.He dropped them—abandoning them for a heartbeat.Then lunged—a brutal bound,a black mass crashing for Kael.
No shield.No chains.Only fists and rage.
Kael waited for the instant.A held second.The specter's breath whipped his face.
Then he pivoted.A crisp half-turn.
The stake hissed through air—and instead of striking stone…it punched through the specter's eye.
An otherworldly howl ripped the hall.Aren's left eye burst in a spray of spectral sparks—his bulk buckling a heartbeat under the shock.
Kael stepped back, panting, the stake still wedged in the socket.A glint of frost in his eyes.
— There's the third.
Chains still chimed, hairline-fractured by the runes Kael had planted.The battle's heavy breath filled the hall, each assault tolling like a funeral bell.
Morpheas watched.Pale eyes fixed on Kael.His motions.That frozen calm in the heart of chaos.Every movement precise.Every decision calculated.
A cool admiration crossed his chest.He knew that look.That cadence.He had seen it a thousand times in ancient wars,in veteran captains' eyes—those who'd survived animic campaigns and nightmare sieges.
He drew breath.His chains rasped faintly.
— … He's a veteran, he murmured.A true war strategist.
His low voice carried an odd respect.
At his side, Thana didn't answer at once.Her golden gaze rested on Kael.She stared in silence.Her lips trembled.A wet gleam slid along her temple.
She swallowed.Then, in a clipped whisper, her words fell.
— You're wrong.
Morpheas turned, startled.Thana's tone wasn't ironic.Nor cold.It was a verdict.Glacial.
She clenched her fists, her aura quivering around her.Her voice snapped—sharp as a blade.
— What you're seeing…isn't a veteran.
A beat.A heartbeat.
— It's his first real fight.
Morpheas froze.His breath hitched.His eyes widened, incredulous.
His chains chimed with a shiver he couldn't curb.He glanced away for a second,as if to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
Then his aura faltered.Respect turned to dread.
A chill ran his spine.If this was only his first fight…then…
What monster was being born?