The wind changed first, and then the silence followed. Liora felt it before she saw anything, that subtle shift like the world itself was watching, waiting. "…Where?" Her voice was quiet, focused. Cairis didn't move or answer immediately because he was listening, not with his ears but with instinct. "…Three," he said finally. Her grip tightened slightly. "…That's not comforting." "No." A pause followed, heavy with awareness. "…They're not hiding anymore."
Below them, the fractured land stirred as cracks glowed faintly beneath the surface, then movement—fast and precise. Three figures emerged from the jagged terrain, not creatures and not nobles, but something else entirely. Their presence didn't feel chaotic; it felt controlled, calculated, dangerous. Liora's eyes narrowed. "…They don't feel like assassins." "They're not," Cairis replied, his gaze darkening slightly. "…They're worse." The three figures moved like they belonged to this broken world, like the land itself bent around their presence. Their armor wasn't polished but fused, dark material threaded with faint glowing fractures, and their eyes weren't fully human or anything else. One carried a curved blade, another a long spear, and the third nothing at all—just empty hands. That one stepped forward slowly, confidently. "…So it's true," he said, his voice carrying easily across the distance, calm and almost curious. "The Star Witch walks again." Liora didn't flinch. "…That title is getting old." He tilted his head slightly. "…And yet, it still fits." Cairis shifted subtly in front of her, protective without making it obvious, but the hunter noticed. "…The Demon Prince," the man said with a small smile. "…This is more interesting than expected."
Liora's voice lowered slightly. "…Let me guess. You're not here to talk." The hunter considered that for a moment. "…We're here to confirm something." Cairis's expression remained unchanged. "…Confirm what." The man's gaze locked onto Liora, sharp and unwavering. "…Whether you're worth hunting." Silence settled between them because that wasn't normal—not kill, not capture, but hunt, as if she were something dangerous, something rare. Liora stepped forward slightly. "…And if I am?" The hunter's smile widened. "…Then we won't let anything else kill you first." Her brows furrowed. "…That doesn't make sense." "It doesn't have to." A pause stretched between them. "…We're not like the others." Cairis's voice dropped. "…Voidbound." The hunter's eyes flickered slightly. "…You know us." "I know enough." Silence followed, tense and tight. "…Then you know this isn't a fight you can walk away from." Cairis didn't respond because he didn't need to.
Liora's voice softened slightly but remained steady. "…Explain." Cairis didn't look at her. "They're not tied to any realm. They don't follow rulers. They don't take orders." Her chest tightened slightly. "…Then what do they want?" "To hunt anomalies." Silence. Her fingers curled slightly. "…That would be me." "Yes." The hunter nodded slightly. "…Exactly." The man raised his hand slightly, not aggressively, not yet. "…We don't kill blindly. We observe. We test." Liora's silver light flickered faintly in response. "…And if I fail?" His smile didn't fade. "…Then you're not worth the trouble." Something about that irritated her more than the danger itself. "…You're really arrogant." "Yes." No denial, no hesitation, just truth.
The wind stilled completely, like the world itself was waiting, and then the hunter's voice dropped. "…Let's begin." He moved, not fast and not slow, just unavoidable. The air warped around him, not like magic but something deeper. Liora reacted instantly, silver light surging forward, but it bent, twisted, and pulled off course. Her eyes widened. "…What—?" The hunter tilted his head slightly. "…That won't work here." Cairis stepped forward instantly, crimson energy clashing against the distortion and stabilizing the space slightly. "…Void manipulation," he said sharply. "They're rewriting the flow of power." Liora's chest tightened. "…So my magic—" "Won't behave the way you expect."
The second hunter moved then, the one with the spear, faster and more direct, aiming straight at Liora, but Cairis intercepted instantly, their clash shaking the ground beneath them. The third hunter still hadn't moved, only watching, analyzing, and somehow that made him the most dangerous of all. Liora forced herself to focus. "…Think." Her magic wasn't responding normally, which meant she couldn't rely on instinct—she had to adapt, and fast. The first hunter moved again, closer now, too close, his hand reaching toward her, not to strike but to touch. "…Let me see." Her eyes sharpened. "…Don't." Silver light surged, but instead of forcing it outward, she compressed it, condensed it, pulled it inward, and then released it in a sharp, focused burst. The distortion cracked slightly, and the hunter paused, just for a second. "…Oh?" Interest flickered in his eyes. "…That's new." Liora didn't stop. She moved forward instead of back, and for the first time, she attacked. The silver light sharpened into a blade, not wide or explosive but precise and targeted. The hunter blocked, but the impact pushed him back slightly, not much but enough. "…Good," he said, his voice lowering. "…You're learning."
Behind her, Cairis was already overwhelming the second hunter, crimson energy pressing relentlessly against the spear's defenses, but even that wasn't enough to finish it because they weren't trying to win—they were testing. The third hunter finally moved, a single step forward, and the entire space shifted. He didn't attack or raise a weapon, but the pressure multiplied instantly. Liora's breath caught. "…That one's different." "Yes," Cairis replied, his voice sharper now. "…Stay focused." But it was already too late. The pressure increased again, her magic flickering, unstable, her control slipping once more. "…No—" The silver light twisted violently, reacting not to her but to the environment, to them, to something deeper. The first hunter's smile widened. "…There it is." That edge again, that loss of control, that moment where everything could break. Liora's breathing became uneven. "…Not again—" The pressure kept rising, her magic responding faster, stronger, wilder, and this time there were no walls to contain it. If she lost control here, it wouldn't just hurt her—it would reshape everything around them.
Cairis felt it, of course he did. His voice cut through the chaos. "…Liora." But it sounded distant, like she was already slipping away. The third hunter stepped forward again, his eyes glowing faintly. "…Now we see." The world itself seemed to fracture, not physically but something deeper, something fundamental, and Liora lost her grip completely.