The clash did not escalate.
Limbo adjusted his stance, lightning along his spear reduced to faint arcs —contrilled , deliberate. The elder's staff moved again, not with killing intent but with pressure. Each stroke was meant to test resolve.
Gaja moves and help Limbo to blocked.
He blocked Once.
Twice.
Then Many moves.
Rin repositioned instinctively.
And stand with sambha, he stay with her heart was no longer frozen, but standing quite.
The fight had shifted. Not towards victory.
But towards the judgment.
Limbo exhaled slowly, he was recalulating and evaluating the situation, and outcomes.
But still every outcome didn't get him the desired answer.
I can still move... But one wrong exchange and the everyone will be in grave danger.
Suddenly the air changes.
Not violently.
Not chaotic.
Just... heavier, suffocating.
Limbo felt it like the Corrupted logic entered a clean execution loop. Strong undefined, unidentified.
His vision and senses sharpened.
Before he could react—
A soft flicker appeared in front of his eyes
System Notice,
Unknown presence detected
Analysis failed
Source identification failed.
Correlation detected:
Subject -- Sambha
Status: connection confirmed.
Limbo's breath caught.
No value..?
The system didn't just warn him to retreat.
It didn't suggest to defence.
Nor it classify the danger.
It simply stopped trying, like it wasn't able to grasped the situation.
Limbo's fingers tightened around the spear.
This was wrong.
System never failed, it instead always scream of warning. What should I consider—a threat or what?
But this—
This silence.
Is no exception.
No rejection.
As if the logic itself reached something it could not define.
A system result that returns nothing is not less than suspicious, but may be it isn't dangerous. Limbo come to conclusion by past situations he encountered.
Whatever had entered this space or was hidden, definitely is strange one.
Limbo's instinct screamed to prepare, to adapt, whatever is approaching.
But without a solid framework, every calculation collapsed before it could finish.
That alone was unsettling. The elder's staff halted mid-motion. His brows furrowed.
He felt it too.
The mana around him—stable for decades shifted, as if something older , stronger and unimaginable had stepped into its domain.
The solder did not notice at first, same goes with rin and others.
But elder did and Limbo.
His gazed snapped upward.
Towards the ridge.
Towards the shadow of cliff where the mysterious shadow man was standing.
The figure stood there, clocked, unmoving.
No aura flared. No mana erupted until now.
Just watching evrything and everyone's movement.
Yet the wind bent slightly around him, as tough unsure how to pass.
The elders eyes widened — just enough.
Recognition struck before his thought.
He stepped back.
Then bowed.
Deep.
Immediate.
Not a soldier's bow.
A Guardian's acknowledgement.
Only then did the soldier's notice.
Confusion spread throughout them— but when they saw the elder kneeling, hesitation vanished.
One by one, they followed.
And every guard was on their knees.
Silence spread.
Even the forest seemed to pause.
The figure vanished in thin air in a moment, and in next sec descended slowly, footsteps soundless against the stone and earth.
Limbo didn't not bow.
Not out of defiance, but rather out of uncertainty.
He didn't have idea about the identity, but one thing was clear it wasn't any ordinary person. He definitely holds the power even the elder was bow to him.
The system which usually gives the hint and information— this time it didn't.
No name.
No hostility.
Not even authority flag.
Only that single line...
Correlation: sambha.
The figure stopped a short distance away.
His gazed did not settle on Limbo first.
Not on the Gaja, nor on the Rin.
It even ignored the elder and soldier.
It directly fell on the child.
Sambha felt it, something familiar.
That he always witness.
His fingers tightened around the Limbo's sleeve —but this time, not in fear.
Recognition stirred.
The tear Crystal beneath his clothes pulsed once.
Softly.
Controlled.
The shadow inhaled slowly.
So quietly that only those close enough noticed.
"...I see," he said.
The words didn't holds any anger.
No accusations.
Just confirmation.
The elder lifted his head slightly, still kneeling.
"My lord," he said carefully, "there has been a misunderstanding."
The shadow did not respond immediately.
His eyes remained locked on sambha.
Not on his body.
Something behind him.
Something that coiled.
Dormant.
Unawakened.
Yet undeniable.
Finally the shadow spoke.
"Stand down," he said.
The command carry no force.
Yet the tension dissolved instantly.
Weapons were lowered.
Mana was stabilized.
The clash ended—not because someone won—
But because it was no longer permitted to continue.
The shadow turned his gaze at last.
It passed over Gaja.
Paused briefly and skip on the Rin.
Then it rested on Limbo.
For a moment, Limbo felt exposed —not physically, but conceptually
As if the way he stood, the way he chose, had been read.
Not just his strength.
Not his system.
His decision.
The shadows lips curved faintly.
"This land still remembers," he said quietly.
Then he turned away.
As if the matter had already been decided.
Far away—
In a chamber carved from ancient stone, a woman paused mid-step.
Her fingures brushed a crystal embedded in on chair.
"...that signal," she murmured.
A servant knelt behind her.
"My queen...the siren did not activate."
She closed her eyes briefly and open.
"...so he noticed it first."
"Where's the lord right now, he was at with people — last time heard."
Yes my queen, the other servant replied.
"Did any new related to kuwar?"
Uuuuaaa... Servant hesitated.
"Speak clearly."
I just heard I'm not sure, but Siren was alarming about the intruders.
"Intruders?"
They have*********** , servant answered.
"What?" Queen shocked.
"Where's they right now?"
Back at the village boundary, the wind moved again. The elder slowly rose, the soldier's also followed the elder.
Limbo looked down at sambha. The child also looked back up with steady eyes.
Something in them had changed.
They did not awakened.
Nor they revealed anything.
But acknowledge.
And somewhere beyond the forest, the land adjusted it's attention.
Something that didn't reacted to anyone.
...has adjusted it's attention.
It was locked on the direction of garden of Ramfal.