The scream came from the southern docks.
Short.
Cut off abruptly.
Arthur was already moving before the full report reached him.
Darius followed without asking.
Seraphina sent shadow scouts ahead.
By the time Arthur arrived, the docks were chaos.
Cargo crates shattered.
Two guards unconscious.
One missing dockworker.
And at the far end of the pier—
Something stood.
It had once been human.
Its proportions were wrong now.
Veins pulsing violet beneath stretched skin.
Eyes glassy but locked onto movement.
Mana coiling around it not in controlled channels—
but in jagged surges.
A knight lunged.
The creature moved faster.
It caught the blade mid-swing.
Snapped it.
Backhanded the knight into the river.
Arthur stepped forward.
The crack in his chest pulsed in warning.
This wasn't a transcendent.
Not even close.
But its mana signature was warped.
Artificial.
Engineered instability.
Darius drew his sword.
"Is that—?"
"Yes," Arthur said quietly.
Missing persons.
Experimentation.
The creature roared and charged.
Arthur didn't release full power.
He stepped aside, striking with controlled force.
His blade cut deep—
But the creature didn't fall.
It didn't even slow properly.
It turned mid-stumble and swung again.
Arthur blocked.
Impact reverberated harder than expected.
It was physically stronger than a trained knight.
Its mana flow wasn't refined—
It was brute reinforcement.
Like forcing water through cracked pipes.
Darius engaged from the flank.
Aura flared.
He drove his blade through the creature's shoulder.
It didn't scream.
It didn't hesitate.
It grabbed Darius's arm.
Arthur saw it instantly—
The mana surge building in its chest.
"Move!"
Darius pulled free barely in time.
The creature detonated a shockwave outward.
Not an explosion.
A pulse.
The air distorted.
Arthur felt it—
Suppression.
Localized.
Targeted.
His core constricted violently.
Mana output dropped sharply.
Twenty percent.
Pain lanced through the crack.
The creature lunged again.
This time—
Arthur's counterstrike didn't land cleanly.
It caught his shoulder instead.
Claws tore through fabric and skin.
Darius saw it.
His eyes widened.
"Arthur—"
Arthur stepped back.
Breathing steady.
He analyzed instantly.
The creature's body wasn't stable.
It was being externally influenced.
He scanned the surroundings—
There.
A faint violet shimmer on a rooftop.
Lyra.
Watching.
Beside her—
Caelum holding a compact device.
Their eyes met.
Lyra smiled faintly.
Then the device pulsed again.
Suppression deepened.
Arthur's mana dipped further.
Thirty-five percent.
The crack screamed.
The creature attacked again—
Faster now.
Not smarter.
Just relentless.
Arthur adjusted.
He stopped trying to overpower.
He shifted to precision.
He waited.
Let the creature commit fully.
Then stepped inside its guard—
And instead of cutting—
He struck directly at the warped mana node in its sternum.
A precise, narrow injection of force.
Not overwhelming.
Correct.
The creature convulsed violently.
Its mana pattern destabilized.
Collapsed inward.
It fell.
Still twitching.
Arthur exhaled slowly.
The suppression field flickered once more—
Then cut.
Lyra and Caelum were gone.
Arthur looked toward the rooftop.
Empty.
Darius stepped beside him.
"You were slower."
Not accusation.
Observation.
"Yes."
Arthur wiped blood from his shoulder calmly.
"It was deliberate suppression."
Darius's jaw tightened.
"They weakened you."
"Yes."
Seraphina arrived moments later.
She took in the scene quickly.
"The mana distortion matches festival resonance frequency."
Arthur nodded.
"They've refined it."
He looked down at the fallen creature.
"It wasn't meant to kill."
Darius frowned.
"It nearly did."
Arthur shook his head slightly.
"No."
He crouched beside the body.
"This was field testing."
He glanced toward the rooftops again.
"They wanted data on combat response under suppression."
He stood slowly.
"And they got it."
—
Meanwhile—
In the estate cellar—
Lyra replayed the crystal recording.
Arthur's reduced output.
His response time.
His precision shift.
She tilted her head.
"He adapts quickly."
Caelum adjusted the device.
"Thirty-five percent suppression achieved."
Lyra smiled faintly.
"Next iteration— fifty."
Caelum nodded.
"And the next subject?"
Lyra glanced toward the chained figures.
"We release two."
—
Back at the docks—
Arthur turned toward the unconscious guards.
One of the dockworkers lay nearby.
Not dead.
Barely breathing.
Arthur knelt.
Placed his hand over the man's chest.
Mana stabilization flowed gently.
The man gasped weakly.
He would live.
But—
Another body was found behind the crates.
The missing dockworker.
Too late.
Darius stood still.
"…We didn't get here fast enough."
Arthur's gaze remained calm.
"Yes."
That one word carried weight.
This time—
He had not saved everyone.
And the twins knew it.
—
Later that night—
Emily confronted him in his chamber.
"You were weakened."
"Yes."
"How much?"
"Thirty-five percent."
Her face paled slightly.
"And you still engaged?"
"Yes."
She stepped closer.
"You could have died."
Arthur met her gaze.
"Yes."
She exhaled sharply.
"They're escalating."
"Yes."
"And what are you doing?"
Arthur walked to the window.
"The same."
He looked at the capital.
"They want to force me into full release under suppression."
Emily crossed her arms.
"So don't."
Arthur's eyes gleamed faintly.
"I won't."
Because he was beginning to understand.
This wasn't about defeating him head-on.
It was about wearing him down.
Forcing errors.
Forcing emotional reactions.
Just like the festival.
But now—
They were adding casualties.
Arthur touched his chest lightly.
The crack pulsed.
But steadier now.
He had felt suppression.
Measured it.
Adapted to it.
"They want me to fight monsters."
His gaze hardened.
"Then I will build something stronger than monsters."
Outside—
In the cellar—
Lyra whispered softly to the restrained subjects.
"Soon."
And in the depths of the royal library—
The black-spined book seemed to hum faintly.
As if aware that the future was accelerating.