Valen didn't run; he flew.
He kicked off the tops of the burning pines, using bursts of wind mana to keep himself airborne, gliding over the carnage of his camp. Below him, he saw Marcus engaging the Earth Mage-a clash of titans amidst the wreckage. He saw the charred remains of Elias.
Grief tore at his chest, followed instantly by a spike of pure terror-Elara.
Was she safe? Had the chaos reached their quarters?
Then, sanity reasserted itself. Elara was smart. The moment the alarm was raised, she wouldn't have run; she would have bunkered down. They lived in the Command Tent-a stolen royal artifact. She knew how to activate the defensive wards. It would hold.
If he didn't reach the tree line, nothing would matter.
The air grew heavier the closer he got. The ambient mana thickened into a suffocating soup. It tasted of ozone and burning sap.
Valen burst into the clearing.
The forest here wasn't burning. It was frozen in a terrifying state of high-level combat.
On one side, a Mage in expensive, embroidered robes-radiating the searing heat of a Rank 5 Fire specialist-was unleashing torrents of blue-white flame. On the other, the Chief Knight of Belgica-Valen's former commander-was a whirlwind of bladed vines and hardened wooden spikes.
And in the middle, Henry was... bored.
Henry stood with one hand behind his back. His aura, usually a muddy disguise of drunken incompetence, was gone. In its place was the crushing weight of a massive ocean.
A torrent of fire screamed towards him. Henry didn't move. A wall of water rose instantly from the moisture in the air, swallowing the fire with a dismissive hiss of steam.
Vines thick as tree trunks erupted from the ground to snare him. Henry just took a step, and the water around his feet sliced through the magical wood like it was wet paper.
Henry looked up as Valen landed, skidding on the damp earth.
"You took your time," Henry rumbled.
"Henry, we need to-"
Henry ignored him. He looked at the Chief Knight, who was hovering ten feet in the air on a platform of woven branches-True Flight, the mark of a Blue Core.
The Chief Knight looked down at Valen, his expression one of profound disappointment. "Vice-Captain Valen. Look at you. Playing bandit in the mud."
Valen grit his teeth, his Green Core spinning furiously against the pressure of the three superior cores.
Henry suddenly moved. He didn't attack with a grand spell. He simply appeared in front of the hovering Chief Knight, grabbing the man by the ankle and hurling him toward the ground like a sack of grain.
The Knight crashed into the dirt near Valen's feet, rolling into a defensive crouch, roots instantly springing up to protect him.
Henry turned to Valen. His eyes, usually warm with humor, were cold granite. They were the eyes of a General.
"You left the Kingdom because you wanted a challenge," Henry said, his voice low and heavy. "You wanted to prove yourself against Mages."
He gestured to the Blue Knight getting to his feet.
"Here is your challenge. An Early Rank 5 Wood Magic Swordsman. Your superior."
"Henry, he's Blue," Valen argued, panic rising. "I can't-"
"In Conjuvius," Henry interrupted, his voice freezing the air in Valen's lungs," we never accepted stagnation. If you cannot surmount this trial... then a bandit captain is all you amount to."
Henry turned his back on Valen. He looked at the terrified Fire Mage.
"You and I need to have a conversation," Henry growled, grabbing the Mage by the front of his expensive robes. "Starting with why a Court Mage of Verbium is burning down a bandit camp in Belgica."
Henry launched himself into the sky, dragging the protesting Mage with him. They vanished over the tree line in a blur of blue light.
Valon was alone with the Knight.
The Chief Knight stood up slowly, dusting off his pristine armor. His eyes were fixed on the spot where the old monster had vanished. He knew that face. Everyone in the high command knew of the exiled General.
The Knight's heart hammered against his ribs. If he killed Valen, would the old monster return and erase him?
He hesitated, looking at his former subordinate. But the debt had to be paid. Valen had stolen from the Governor the King's property and had humiliated the order. Fear or not, duty came first.
"The old man has high standards," the Knight sneered, masking his fear with arrogance. He drew his sword. It was made of polished, blackened ironwood, humming with wood mana. "Let's see if you've learned anything rolling around in the dirt, Valen."
Valen didn't respond. He couldn't. The pressure coming off the Knight was immense. It felt like the entire forest was staring at him, waiting for permission to eat him.
Early Rank 5 versus Peak Rank 4. Wood versus Wind.
Valen closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. He thought of Elara safe in the tent. He thought of Aaron.
I have to win.
He opened his eyes. He reached deep inside himself, past the reserves of his mana, into the very structure of his Green Core.
Burn, he commanded.
He didn't just draw on the mana; he ignited the engine itself. He sacrificed his future potential, his life force, feeding it into the Wind.
His aura exploded. The green wind turned jagged, screaming with a pitch that made his own ears bleed. His pathways burned as if filled with acid.
Death before dishonor.
Overdrive.
"SEVER!" Valen roared.
He vanished.
He moved faster than he ever had in his life. He appeared behind the Knight, unleashing a flurry of Severing Wind slashes. The air around the Knight turned into a blender of green blades.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK.
The wind slashes hit the Knight's armor. The wood splintered. The roots trying to protect him were shredded into sawdust.
Valen pushed harder. He was bleeding from his nose, his eyes. He poured everything into the assault, driving the Blue Knight back step by step.
I can do it, Valen thought, euphoria mixing with agony. I can break through!
He saw an opening. The Knight's guard faltered.
Valen screamed, stepping in for the killing blow, aiming a massive wind slash at the Knight's neck.
The Knight smiled.
The opening wasn't a mistake. It was bait.
As Valen stepped in, the ground beneath him turned liquid. Thick, thorny vines erupted, wrapping around his ankles, killing his momentum instantly.
Valen stumbled.
The Knight didn't panic. He didn't even look winded. The splinters on his armor were already regenerating, knitting back together.
"Sloppy," the Knight said. "Too eager."
He didn't use magic. He just swung his ironwood sword.
Valen tried to bring his own blade up to parry, but the vines held his arms fast.
The wooden blade hit Valen's right shoulder. It didn't cut like steel. It crushed. It tore. It ripped through muscle, bone, and sinew with brutal efficiency.
Valen didn't even have time to scream before his right arm, still holding his sword, hit the forest floor.
The vines released him. Valen collapsed onto his back, staring up at the canopy. The stump of his shoulder was pumping blood onto the leaves.
The Overdrive ended. His Green Core sputtered and dimmed to a pathetic flicker. The pain hit him all at once-a tidal wave of agony that greyed out the world.
The Chief Knight stood over him, looking down with mild disgust.
"Pathetic," the Knight said. "You threw away your knighthood for this? To bleed out in a nameless forest?"
He raised the ironwood sword for the finishing blow. "Goodbye, Vice-Captain."
Valen closed his eyes.
Thump.
A wet sound. Then silence.
The killing blow never came.
Valen forced his eyes open.
The Chief Knight was gone. Where he had been standing, there was only a pair of severed feet inside armored boots. The rest of him-armor,wood, flesh, and bone-was smeared across the trees behind him in a fan of red mist.
Henry stood there.
He hadn't used a grand spell. He had just flicked his wrist, sending a blade of pressurized water through the Knight so fast it hadn't even made a sound.
Henry looked down at Valen. At his blood. At the severed arm.
His expression wasn't angry. It wasn't frightened. It was worse. It was a profound, bone-deep sadness.
"Is this it?" Henry whispered, his voice hollow. "Is this all you were capable of, Valen?"
Valen tried to speak, to apologize, but only blood bubbled from his lips.
Henry shook his head slowly. He reached down and cauterized the stump of Valen's shoulder with a touch of freezing water mana. stopping the bleeding instantly. The shock nearly made Valen pass out.
"Get up," Henry commanded, pulling Valen to his feet with one hand. Valen swayed, the world spinning.
"We have bigger problems than your failure," Henry said, turning toward the north, toward the path Edgar had taken.
Valen looked at henry.
"Aaron is gone."