CHAPTER 132 — CLAIM
The clearing did not recover.
It settled slowly.
Fragments of bark and dust drifted through the air where the explosion had torn everything apart. The ground no longer held shape. What had once been solid earth was now fractured into uneven plates, some still shifting under their own weight.
No one spoke at first.
They were counting.
Breaths. Limbs. Damage.
One of the red-stage cultivators pushed himself up and immediately dropped back to one knee, blood running from the side of his head. Another sat where he had fallen, staring at his hands as if confirming they still belonged to him.
They were alive.
That was enough.
Varian stood at the center.
The faint golden halo around him flickered, then thinned before stabilizing just above collapse. His breathing steadied by force.
His gaze remained fixed downward.
On what remained.
The corpse of the beast had lost its presence, but it had not left empty.
Thin strands of purple lingered above it, stretched through the air where the core had once been. They drifted slowly, dispersing, but not fast enough.
Everyone felt it.
No one moved.
Then one of the blue-stage cultivators stepped forward.
Just a fraction.
"Don't."
Varian's voice stopped him instantly.
"That nearly killed all of us," the man said, tension slipping into his tone. "And you're still claiming it?"
"I said don't touch it."
The weight behind the words held.
No one argued.
But something shifted.
A glance lingered too long. A jaw tightened. Someone almost stepped forward, then didn't.
Respect remained.
But it had changed.
"You used an artifact," another said. "Without it, you would've died."
Varian turned.
"And without me, you'd already be dead."
Silence followed.
Varian stepped toward the corpse.
The purple strands reacted.
Faintly.
Leylin felt it again,that pull
Closer than before.
The scattering signature carried something incomplete, something that had not fully faded.
Séraphine felt it too
A shift along the edge of her awareness, brushing against her control.
She didn't move.But she noticed.
Varian raised his hand.
Gold condensed along his fingers, tightening into a dense, controlled edge as he reached toward the beast's skull.
Then..He stopped.
Every instinct in him tightened at once.
He withdrew.
Fast.
A fraction of a second later..The beast's head split cleanly in two.
The cut was absolute.
Bone, flesh, and skull parted instantly, spilling inward and outward at the same time as the remaining structure collapsed.
The purple remnants flared violently.
The entire clearing reacted.
Varian's eyes constricted.
Rage followed immediately.
Before he could speak.A voice cut through.
Cold.Amused.
"Heh… nice to see you, little Vivi."
The source stood at the edge of the clearing.
She hadn't been there before.
Now she was.
Purple hair fell loosely down her back, catching what little light filtered through the shattered canopy. Her eyes were sharp, focused, carrying a quiet certainty that did not need to prove itself. A katana rested at her waist, the blade still partially unsheathed, its edge clean.
No wasted movement.
No strain.
Behind her stood three others, silent and composed, their presence controlled to the point of near invisibility.
Varian stepped forward.
The ground cracked slightly beneath his foot.
"Aleeeeen!!!"
The name tore out of him, raw and uncontrolled.
The others reacted immediately.
Some stepped back.
Some froze.
Recognition spread faster than fear.
Aleen smiled faintly In mockery.
"I can see you've been working," she said, her gaze drifting over him, measuring without effort. "You're close."
Her eyes flicked briefly to the purple threads drifting around him, noting the imbalance, the instability he had yet to control.
"Closer than I expected."
Varian's aura tightened.
The gold around him sharpened despite its weakened state, pulling inward as he forced it back into alignment.
"That was mine."
Aleen's gaze returned to him fully.
"Is that so?"
She stepped forward.
The ground beneath her split.
Not from force.
From precision.
The fracture was clean, controlled, as if the space itself had been cut rather than broken.
Her hand rested lightly on the hilt of her blade.
"Then let's see," she said quietly,
"if you're strong enough to keep it."
The clearing went still.
Not because nothing moved.
Because everything understood what came next.