Aria was fast and decisive, like a coiled serpent.
She didn't kill her targets outright—she struck to disable, hit them where it mattered so they couldn't fight back. In an instant, among the three shooters, one lost an arm, another had his ankle cleanly sliced, and the last was left staring into darkness.
As she readied for a fourth strike, her instincts screamed. Sharp as a knife, she took a step back without hesitation. The ground where she'd meant to land erupted upward—a rock-hard spike, needle-thin and vicious, thrust into the air where her foot would have been.
Aria's eyes narrowed as she scanned the horizon for her attacker.
"I'm still curious how you got so strong in so little time," a voice called out. "Last time I met you, you could barely dodge me. Now you move like a cat."
It sounded like a compliment, but Aria could taste the mockery in the words. She glared at the hooded figure. "You!"
"Ah," the hooded man chuckled, the sound oily and pleased. "Seems your memory's not bad. Killing you back then would've saved me a lot of trouble. But I was feeling generous. Don't know if I'll be so kind this time."
She remembered the first time they'd come to ask for the serum—the hooded man had led the charge. Nibo had a puncture in his hand; Aria had taken a deep gash to the stomach. Seeing him now made her blood heat.
She forced herself to breathe slow. Anger flared, but she kept it controlled. Her eyes flicked to Gon, who was pressed behind a tree, trying to look small.
"You're stronger now, but not strong enough to take your eyes off me!" she snapped.
The hooded man smiled, and the earth answered. Spikes of rock shot up like rockets across the clearing. Aria dashed, rolling through the first three strikes. The remaining spikes missed by a hair and sank into the tree behind her, cracking the trunk. One slammed into a human, cleanly severing his head—a wet, sudden end.
A cold chill ran down Aria's spine at the sight. The hooded figure didn't flinch; under his veil a smile tugged at his lips, calm and cruel. He can kill his own and not even blink, she thought, anger coiling tighter in her veins.
She didn't let it take her. She drew a deep breath, centering herself, and turned her focus back to the man. She crouched, daggers in hand, left foot planted behind her, right knee forward. Wind gathered, coiling at her legs like a ready strike.
"Kill me?" she said, voice low and steady. "Unfortunately, I'm not like you. But you know—I always wanted to return the favor. This is going to be a good opportunity."
Just as Aria was about to push forward with her momentum, a loud, thunderous crack tore through the forest.
A massive bolt of lightning split the air, its blinding light illuminating everything around them.
The hooded man froze. He knew that sound. His eyes flicked sharply toward Samxon.
"Why would he use his ability now?" he muttered, curiosity laced with unease.
Then a voice came from in front of him—low, calm, and cold.
"You're fast... but not fast enough to ignore me."
Before he could even turn, Aria was already behind him.
He felt the air leave his lungs, a sharp pain blooming in his chest. His trembling hand rose to his throat, trying in vain to stop the blood that was already spilling.
"I thought... you said you didn't want to kill me?" he rasped, finding his voice.
Aria looked at him with eyes that could freeze fire. Even at the edge of death, her gaze made him flinch.
"Did I say that?" she asked, a devilish grin curling her lips.
His vision dimmed. The last thing he heard before everything went black was her quiet whisper—
"...Guess I'm a liar. Just like you."
The body fell limp at her feet.
Aria stared down at him, memories flashing through her mind.
He said he'd been kind not to kill her? The same man who had slaughtered their group without hesitation?
If they hadn't escaped when they did, they would've never made it back to the orcs' camp alive.
Her expression hardened. "People like you are the ones meant to die."
She hadn't killed any of the other soldiers deliberately. But watching him so casually kill his own teammates earlier, she knew—there was no saving someone like him.
{Ding!}
«↑ You have slain a Red Player — a marked killer who's taken human lives within the game to grow stronger.
Justice has been served. ↓»
{Here are your Rewards!}
↑ Strength: +40
↑ Agility: +40
{You have earned the title: Harbinger of Justice}
{Title effect: The Scale of Justice resides within you.
Once a target is deemed evil, all their stats are reduced by 50% when facing you.}
Aria blinked at the notifications, a flicker of shock on her face.
'So that's how they became so strong so fast,' she thought, disgust twisting her expression.
Her eyes shifted to the corpse again, the disgust deepening. But there was no time to dwell.
She quickly turned back toward Akhil. The moment she saw the lightning forming earlier, she'd been worried—yet it also gave her a chance to finish off the hooded man.
Now, as she looked across the battlefield, she realized she hadn't needed to worry.
'That idiot doesn't even need my help,' she thought with a faint smirk.
Her attention shifted to Nibo, who was locked in a clash with a hulking brute, their movements shaking the ground beneath them.
Meanwhile, lightning coiled above Akhil like the wrath of a god.
He didn't flinch. He was preparing something of his own.
{Ding!}
{500 Blood Essence has been used!}
The lightning bolt crashed downward, roaring like judgment itself—
but from Akhil's side, a red arc pulsed outward, humming with raw, violent power.
The two attacks collided in midair.
Samxon, still mid-jump, barely had time to react before the crimson arc sliced through the lightning—and through him.
His instincts screamed. He crossed his gauntleted arms over his head in an X to block, but the blade of energy sheared through them as if they were made of paper.
The force struck him like a wrecking wave, hurling his body across the clearing. He slammed against a tree with a heavy thud.
Silence fell.
Even the forest seemed to hold its breath.
Akhil began to walk toward him, calm and deliberate, each step echoing through the stillness.
Then—
BANG!
A single gunshot split the air.
Akhil froze.
A bullet.
But from where—? And who?