The road stretched into silence.
Alaric and Drago moved through the outskirts of the city, where civilization thinned and something older colder began to breathe beneath the surface of the world.
The wind carried dust… and something else.
Something wrong.
Halfway through their journey, Drago broke the silence.
"What do you actually know about him?"
Alaric didn't answer immediately.
His gaze remained fixed ahead, distant, as though he were following something invisible.
"I know he's dangerous," he said at last. "And that he stands against everything we represent."
A pause.
"But what I don't understand… is why he targeted Jacob."
His thoughts darkened.
*Could it be…?*
*Does he know the truth?*
His eyes narrowed slightly.
*No. That's impossible.*
Drago glanced at him, then smirked.
"You're doing it again."
Alaric didn't react.
"Talking halfway… then finishing the rest inside your own head," Drago continued with a quiet laugh. "You overthink everything."
For a brief moment, Alaric smiled.
A rare, fleeting thing.
"Perhaps," he said calmly. "All I truly know… is that I know nothing."
Then his tone shifted sharper now, more deliberate.
"Listen carefully, Drago."
"There is a system… one tied to the state. They call it *The Devil's Party*."
The name lingered in the air like a curse.
"They manipulate minds. Suppress thought. Control the masses without them ever realizing it."
Drago's expression hardened.
"And the Fox?"
Alaric's eyes darkened.
"He belongs to them."
Silence fell again.
He didn't need to say more , They arrived at the farm just before dusk , It stood alone beyond the city's edge isolated, forgotten.
Dead.
Alaric moved from the front. Drago circled from behind.
They entered.
And the world… shifted.
No movement.
No life.
Only bodies.
Dozens of them.
Scattered across the earth like discarded remnants of something brutal and precise , Drago froze.
"What the hell is this…?"
Anger sparked in his eyes raw, immediate.
"Stay focused," Alaric said coldly. "I can feel it."
A presence Close , Watching , Then :
*Impact.*
Something unseen tore through Drago., Not flesh.
Soul.
His body collapsed instantly, lifeless for a moment as if something had pierced beyond existence itself.
Another strike followed , But Alaric moved , He twisted aside, the second arrow slicing through the space where he had stood a heartbeat before.
No hesitation.
No fear.
His aura ignited gray, shifting, alive.
He leapt over the broken barriers, movements sharp and precise, shaped by years of relentless experience.
He understood now , This was no ordinary enemy.
"Activate… *Nafs al-Ammara*."
Something inside him broke ,Or perhaps… was released ,His emotions vanished.
Silenced.
What remained was instinct pure, predatory, absolute.
He moved into the darkness , Faster , Sharper , He closed his eyes , And saw everything.
Through movement. Through intent. Through the subtle tremors of existence itself.
A whisper escaped his lips.
"I found you."
Steel flashed , His dagger cut through the void, aimed straight for the Fox's heart but it met nothing , The Fox had already moved.
Gone.
Reappearing at a distance, his presence flickering like a mirage between shadows.
Then the storm began.
Hundreds of arrows intangible, spectral rained through the air, bending space as they tore forward.
Alaric moved among them like a phantom , Like a dancer within a symphony of death.
Each step precise.
Each move calculated , Untouchable.
From the shadows, the Fox watched.
*So this is him…*
*No wonder they fear him.*
His eyes narrowed slightly.
*Unique. Dangerous.*
A pause.
Then calm logic took over.
*This is enough.*
*I've seen what I needed to see.*
*Dying here… would be meaningless.*
Decision made.
He shifted.
Prepared to disappear.
But he knew something Alaric did not , And he used it.
The arrows changed direction.
Subtly.
Cruelly.
They bent redirected toward Drago's fallen body.
Alaric felt it instantly.
A flicker.
A break in instinct , In that single moment :
he stopped.
The Nafs faded.
Emotion returned , Choice returned , He moved Not to attack , but to protect.
And that was all the Fox needed.
Silence.
The storm ended.
The presence vanished ,The Fox… was gone.
Alaric stood still for a moment , Then slowly turned ,Drago lay motionless.
He lifted him without a word and disappeared into the night.
Back at his residence, the tension had not yet broken , The doctor from the organization had already been summoned.
Time was no longer on their side ,Elsewhere In the shadows between strategy and inevitabilite Alexander and Valerian prepared.
The trap was set ,Every detail calculated ,Every move anticipated , For James.
The hunter.
But one question remained…
Would he fall into the trap?
or would he walk into it willingly?
Smiling.
Knowing.
Hunting them… even as they waited.