Chapter 119: The Command of Death
The atmosphere around the White Titan felt as if it had been frozen in time. The beast, which had been smiling with a sadistic hunger just moments ago, now stared down at the small human standing before it. Ren Vority was drenched in black, steaming ichor, looking less like a survivor and more like a demon birthed from the very blood he spilled.
Ren didn't look back at Mina. He didn't look at the trembling guards behind the rock. Instead, a slow, chillingly evil smile spread across his lips—a smile that mirrored the Titan's own malice, but with a thousand times more depth.
He leaned in, his voice dropping to a frequency that seemed to vibrate the very air. It wasn't a shout; it was a decree.
"Die"
The moment the words left his lips, something impossible happened. The Titan's yellow eyes suddenly flared with a violent, pulsating red glow. Its massive pupils constricted into pinpricks of light before shattering. There was no struggle, no roar, and no final swing of its claws.
The light simply left the monster's eyes. The massive, forty-foot body of the White Titan stiffened for a microsecond before its nervous system completely collapsed. With a sound like a mountain crumbling, the giant fell forward, its head slamming into the snow just inches away from Ren. A massive cloud of ice and dust erupted, obscuring everything for a few agonizing seconds.
Mina stood paralyzed, her breath hitching in her throat. She was the only one who had been close enough. She had heard it. She had heard that voice—a voice that didn't sound like Ren's. It sounded like something ancient, something that commanded the very fabric of life and death.
Ren stepped out from the side of the fallen Titan, casually wiping a smear of black blood from his forehead with the back of his hand. He looked calm—terrifyingly calm.
"How... how did it just fall?" Mina whispered, her voice shaking. "Ren, you just said... you told it to..."
Ren looked at her, his sapphire eye cold and unyielding. "What are you talking about, Mina? Are you in shock?"
"But I heard you!" Mina took a step back, her heart hammering. "You said 'Die', and it just died. Ren, what was that?"
Ren didn't answer her. He threw Adam's sword into the snow with a dismissive gesture. "You're delusional from the cold, Captain. You were about to die. Your brain is playing tricks on you."
Before Mina could argue, Adam Lee and the two remaining guards scrambled over the ice rocks. Adam was pale, clutching his bleeding stump, but his eyes were wide with a mix of awe and disbelief.
"Incredible," Adam wheezed, collapsing onto one knee. "I've never seen anyone take down a White Titan that fast. I didn't even see the final blow. Ren... I knew you were a monster on the battlefield, but this... this was beyond my expectations."
Ren turned to Adam, his face a mask of cold professionalism. "I managed to sever the main artery in its heel, and when it leaned down, I drove the blade through its throat. It was a lucky strike. Nothing more."
Mina's blood ran cold. He's lying, she thought, her eyes darting between the Titan's neck and Ren. He didn't cut the throat. He didn't even move his arm when the Titan fell. It died because he told it to.
She looked at Ren, a wave of conflicting emotions washing over her. Is he evil? Is there something wrong with him? Or is he a hero who is hiding a curse to protect us? I'm seeing a side of him that I don't understand... and it terrifies me.
Ren noticed her staring. "Mina, what are you waiting for? We need to move. More of them will be attracted by the smell of blood."
"But... Marko," Mina said, remembering the man the Titan had dropped. "We have to go back for Marko! He fell right there!"
Ren looked toward the spot where Marko lay. The man was crumpled in the snow, his body broken from the fall, but his chest was still moving with shallow, painful breaths. Marko's eyes were open, and they were fixed on Ren. He had been close. He had heard the command. He had seen the red glow in the Titan's eyes.
Ren walked toward the injured man, his footsteps silent on the snow. He looked down at Marko. Through their soul connection and his own sharpened senses, Ren knew the man was still alive. He could hear Marko's heart beating, slow and erratic.
He heard me, Ren's internal voice hissed with a cold, predatory logic. He heard the 'Voice of Authority'. If I bring him back, if he survives, he will tell the High-Ups. He will tell Hima. They will know that I am not just a Vaner. They will know what I really am.
Ren turned back to the group, his expression one of grim sorrow. "He's dead. The fall snapped his neck. There's nothing we can do."
"No!" Mina cried, trying to run toward him, but Adam Lee held her back with his one remaining arm.
"Mina, stay!" Adam commanded. "If Ren says he's gone, he's gone. We don't have the resources to carry a corpse or a dying man through this blizzard. We have to think about the survivors."
Ren didn't look at Marko again. He began walking away, leading the group into the dark veil of the storm. "Leave him. The snow will be his grave. We have to reach the next sector before dawn."
As the group moved away, disappearing into the white void, Marko lay alone in the freezing silence. He tried to reach out a hand, but his strength was gone. He had heard it all—the lie, the betrayal. He knew that the man they were following wasn't just a soldier. He was a god of death wearing a human skin.
Miles away from the warmth of the igloo, Ren walked at the front of the line, his mind a dark whirlpool of calculation.
Marko had to stay behind, Ren thought, his eyes scanning the horizon for the next threat. I cannot allow my power to be revealed. Not yet. Not until King Zero is within my reach. If I have to walk over the bodies of every Vaner in this army to get to that throne, I will. Mina might suspect something, but she's emotional. I can handle her. But a witness like Marko? A witness is a death sentence.
He felt no guilt. He felt no remorse. The boy who had played in the park with Princess Haya was gone, buried under layers of blood and ice. There was only the Butcher now, and the Butcher had a mission to finish.
"Keep moving," Ren shouted over the wind, his voice as cold as the Northern Frost-Spire itself. "The real hunt is just beginning."