The late afternoon sun washed over the rooftops of Oakhaven, painting them in deceptive gold. From afar, the small town looked like a peaceful painting.
Kaera let out a long breath, the tension in her shoulders easing slightly.
"Finally… we made it,"
Eira muttered, wiping sweat from her forehead.
She was already imagining a soft bed and a hot bath waiting for them.
But the moment they stepped through the massive wooden gates, Eira's smile vanished.
The atmosphere inside Oakhaven was completely different.
No blacksmith's hammer striking iron.
No merchants shouting in the market.
Not even the crow of a rooster.
Only the wind.
Dry leaves scraped across the red dirt roads.
Sreeet… sreeet…
The sound echoed eerily through the empty streets.
Oakhaven was too quiet.
So quiet that even their own heartbeats felt loud.
"Oi, Eira. Is Oakhaven always this dead?" Kaera asked, her voice low as her eyes scanned the dark alleys between buildings.
"It shouldn't be, but…" Eira trailed off.
She straightened and closed her eyes.
Her focus shifted entirely to the mana flowing around them.
Echo Veins activated.
Inside the darkness of her mind, a magical sonar wave pulsed outward, forming a mental map that pierced through wooden walls and stone structures around them.
In that silent vision, Eira saw them.
The town residents.
Dozens of figures were hiding beneath beds, crouched inside wardrobes, clutching each other in dark corners.
They were frozen.
Not moving.
As if holding their breath so a predator outside wouldn't notice them.
Eira opened her eyes again.
Her face had turned pale.
Kaera didn't need an explanation.
Her battle-honed instincts had already given her the answer.
Her right hand slowly gripped the hilt of her katana.
"Looks like we're surrounded," Kaera whispered.
SHING!
From the shadows behind shops and narrow alleys, grotesque figures stepped out.
Some had long curved horns.
Some had wide membrane wings.
Others had sharp tails covered in black scales.
These weren't mindless monsters.
They stood in formation.
Weapons emerged from the shadows beneath their feet, as if the darkness itself was arming them.
"Shadow manipulation?" Eira frowned. "Looks exactly like that scammer Vale."
Kaera simply nodded, her face cold.
"Vale?" one of the horned demons scoffed.
"You dare compare us to that trash? We're elite soldiers—not exiles like him."
Kaera slowly pulled her katana from its sheath.
"Then prove it."
Suddenly—
The temperature across Oakhaven plummeted.
The once-bright sky darkened unnaturally, as if a giant hand had smothered the sunlight.
Black clouds spiraled above the northern side of the town, carrying a suffocating pressure that weighed heavily on the air.
Chaos energy.
It wasn't just magic.
It was a presence so dark the air felt like iron crushing the lungs.
Inside Kaera's body, her blood began to boil.
Something in the north…
was calling to her.
Kaera clenched her teeth, her expression grim.
"Eira. Mind if I leave these guys to you?"
"Hey—" Eira started to protest.
But she stopped the moment she saw Kaera's face.
Something was wrong.
Kaera wasn't angry.
She looked like someone dragged into a nightmare she couldn't escape.
Eira understood immediately.
"…Alright. Leave them to me. Just be careful, Kaera."
"Hm."
Without another word, Kaera shot forward toward the north.
"Don't let her escape!" the demon soldiers shouted.
Kaera didn't slow down.
With blinding speed, she swung her katana at the demons blocking her path.
Blood Manipulation erupted.
With every slash, razor-sharp blood bullets blasted forward, piercing through demon armor like paper.
She tore through their formation like a crimson storm before disappearing into the black mist in the north.
---
EIRA POV: THE VERDANT STRIKE
Eira now stood surrounded by a dozen demon soldiers.
She took a deep breath and called upon Nature Magic.
"Don't think I'm a burden," she muttered.
With wind magic boosting her feet, Eira launched herself high into the air as if she were flying.
At the peak of her jump, she drew her bow—Verdant Shard.
ZASS! ZASS!
Green magical arrows shot forward with deadly precision, piercing the foreheads of demon soldiers trying to pursue her through the air.
The moment she landed, two demons lunged with shadow spears.
Eira twisted her body and used the bow itself to deflect the attack.
She wasn't just an archer.
Her movements were fluid and precise.
She swung the body of the bow like a staff, smashing one demon's jaw before summoning thick roots from the ground.
The roots lashed out violently, slamming the demons into a wall with bone-shattering force.
One by one, the so-called "elite soldiers" fell.
But when their lives ended, their bodies didn't remain.
Instead, they crumbled into black dust, scattered by the wind.
"…Just dust," Eira whispered, lowering her bow.
The streets were silent again.
Yet her chest felt uneasy.
Her gaze shifted toward the north.
"Kaera… please don't do something stupid."
---
NORTH OF OAKHAVEN
Kaera stopped in the middle of an empty plaza.
The black mist here was so thick she could barely see her own feet.
Then—
She saw him.
A tall figure stood silently within the mist.
The stranger wore dark armor beneath a flowing black cloak. His face was hidden behind a horrifying skull mask.
But what made Kaera's heart nearly stop—
was the ancient demon script carved clearly across the chest plate.
It glowed faintly.
The crest of a High Rank Demon.
The aura radiating from the figure was nothing like the soldiers earlier.
This wasn't merely powerful.
It was suffocating.
A presence filled with pure killing intent.
The hairs on the back of Kaera's neck stood up.
Cold sweat ran down her temple.
This aura…
She knew it.
The smell of wet soil mixed with blood.
The sound of flames devouring wooden homes.
Her mother's final words.
The memories slammed into her mind all at once.
This was the same aura that destroyed her world ten years ago.
Kaera gripped her katana so tightly her knuckles turned white.
Her hand trembled—
not from fear.
From rage that had been buried for years.
"You…"
Her voice shook, low and full of venom.
The skull-masked figure slowly raised his head.
Behind the hollow eye sockets of the mask, a faint red glow flickered.
As if smiling.
As if the prey he had been waiting for had finally walked right into his grasp.
----