Chapter 103: Silent Hunt
Sitting on the roof of the haunted house, Kael continued channeling his mana, trying again to draw in more from the surrounding nature even though deep down he knew he could not, yet it never really harmed him to attempt so there was no reason not to keep trying, and perhaps if by some impossible chance he managed to break through the curse that bound his mana and stabilized it against his will then the result would be a sight worth witnessing, though in his heart he understood that such a thing could never truly happen, still there was nothing wrong with trying again and again.
Across from him, Arwyn was also seated, though unlike him her gaze remained distant, fixed somewhere ahead as though she was attending to her own duty in silence. Kael, curious in his own distracted way, tried to understand what she was doing merely by observing her posture, yet before he could find an answer she suddenly stood up, her eyes narrowing as she attempted to peer further into the distance as though something had caught her attention.
What she had seen was a shadow slipping into the house, a figure moving quickly and with purpose, and in that moment her entire body tensed as she prepared herself to attack if it became necessary, though she also understood that she could never catch up to Seraphina's speed, but even if she was slower she would still try to lend her strength if Seraphina ever required it. Soon, through the faint dimness of the moonlight she caught sight of her, Seraphina moving like a silver flame, her blade flashing and her figure dancing between unseen opponents that Arwyn could barely distinguish, though by the rhythm of her movements it was clear she was engaged in battle. Yet the thought troubled Arwyn, for why did it appear as if Seraphina was facing several enemies at once, had more than one intruder truly come here to interfere with their plans, or perhaps someone had already learned of their intentions beforehand?
Before she could follow the thought to its end, her eyes widened as she noticed a figure darting away from Seraphina with an astonishing speed, a black stiletto flashing briefly in the faint light as the man sprinted. His swiftness was not equal to Seraphina, yet fast enough that while she remained engaged with the others he would surely escape if Arwyn allowed him to vanish into the night unchallenged. Her hands pressed tightly against the rooftop wall and her jaw clenched with resolve, and then her eyes shifted toward a cluster of trees scattered across the field not far ahead, and in that moment she decided it was the perfect ground to work with.
She lowered herself back into a seated position, her legs folding beneath her, while the sound of clashing metal in the distance echoed faintly across the air. Then, as though she had shut herself from everything else, she closed her eyes completely.
Kael, who had been absorbed in his own futile attempts, opened his eyes at the faint sound of steel, and when his gaze fell upon Arwyn he muttered bitterly in his mind, questioning why she had suddenly taken such a posture, wondering if she was not supposed to be on patrol or keeping watch and why then was she sitting in meditation instead. Yet before the thought could continue, it was silenced not by her words but by her sudden change.
In the dimness of the moon her figure began to glow faintly, a teal-green radiance seeping from her skin and moving slowly like threads of light across her closed eyes, until they formed another outline upon her eyelids, shimmering in rhythm with the flow of mana, and that strange radiance blended with the hue of her mint-green hair as though it belonged to her completely.
Kael narrowed his eyes and sighed to himself, his thoughts filled with irritation and reluctant awe. Everyone's mana always seemed so bright and beautiful except his own, and though he repeated to himself that he was not jealous, not in the slightest, he could not help but feel it gnawing at him as he tried to make sense of what she was doing. It did not look like meditation, though it resembled it, nor was it like a spell being cast, since nothing physical was happening, and when he thought back to the time she had healed someone in her own unique way he realized again how strange and rare her element truly was, one he had never witnessed before in all his life. Without disturbing her, however, he returned to his own exercise, letting his mana circle through his body once more.
Meanwhile, the fleeing figure pressed forward with relentless speed, crossing the field until he reached open ground where he paused briefly, scanning the surroundings as though searching for a place to hide. In the next instant, thick vines as wide as a man's arm burst from the earth to ensnare him. Yet before they could seize him, a sharp knife whistled through the air and cut them apart in an instant. Arwyn, focusing intently, searched for the source of the blade, but she saw no one, not even the shadow of the hand that had thrown it.
Her brief distraction was enough for the man to sprint again, his body moving with a speed that outmatched the writhing vines that chased him like serpents across the earth, and though they lunged and snapped at his heels, they were not fast enough to overtake him. Eventually, the vines halted, sinking back into the ground, and the figure turned his head to glance back before surging forward again. Yet the next moment his foot caught upon something hidden, sending him tumbling hard into the ground, rolling several times before skidding to a stop.
As he sat up, his cloak was torn away by the fall, exposing the features he had concealed, and when his eyes fell upon his hand his expression shifted into shock, as though he had glimpsed something dreadful. Around him, countless vines erupted from the earth, towering and swaying like serpents, their heads formless but menacing, and as they rushed forward to encircle him he recoiled, preparing to act, but in that same moment Arwyn's eyes opened abruptly. She drew a heavy breath, her face pale with surprise.
"What just happened?" she whispered inwardly, shaken. "I was going to catch him, yet it felt as though something drained me, as though I had been struck from afar… did Kael do this?" Her eyes flicked to him, but he remained lost in his own focus. "No, it wasn't him. Then who…?" Her vision blurred faintly, and she realized her strength was fading too quickly. "I haven't even used my mana properly, then why am I so drained already…? I cannot let him escape. Seraphina is relying on me. I must not fail her."
She forced her eyes to concentrate once again, pushing against the haze that clouded her vision, and through the blur she saw the figure slipping away once more, hiding behind a tree. This time her vines only crawled a short distance, wrapping themselves around the tree's base instead of surging across the field as before, and she realized she could not extend them far. Her body weakened, yet her spirit resisted, and just before her sight could falter again she saw a figure halt directly before her. In that instant, the vines coiled around Seraphina's legs, one branch already snaking outward, pointing with unerring precision toward the tree where the man had hidden.
Before she could do anything else she was already back on the roof again, her body pressed down by exhaustion, her breaths coming in shallow and uneven as though each inhale demanded more strength than she could muster, and her vision blurred until she could barely see anything at all, her head weighed heavy and her limbs weaker than she could ever recall. She dragged herself forward on her elbows and muttered in a trembling tone, "K, Kael… I think I'll take a little nap here. Please watch over my body and don't you dare do anything foolish while I sleep. If you do, I swear I'll put you in my personal prison and… tor… torture…"
Her words trailed away as her lips grew too heavy to move, and before she could hear anything in response her body slipped onto the roof tiles, her head tilted back as her eyes wandered to the sky above which she could no longer see clearly. It felt as if her eyes were bursting, an unbearable pressure gnawing from within, but she could not even find the strength to form a thought, only drifting away into the pull of unconsciousness.
Kael's eyes shot open in panic and he shouted toward her slumped form, "What do you mean you're sleeping here in front of me, Arwyn? Do you not have a duty… are you just throwing it all away like this?"
But no answer came. Only the silent weight of Arwyn's body lying across the roof with her shoulder pressed to the tiles and her back turned up toward the moonlit sky.
Kael let out a long sigh that steamed in the cold air, muttering with irritation that could not conceal the thread of worry beneath it, "This woman… what in the world am I supposed to do with her? Did she just dump all her work on me and decide to take a nap like this…"
Yet when his eyes wandered toward her face the irritation faded. Her features were serene and beautiful in the pale light, her ivory skin soft and luminous beneath the moon, yet as he leaned closer he noticed something strange that cut through his thoughts. He touched her cheek with caution and found it colder than it should have been, perhaps from the wind, perhaps something more. He reminded himself quickly that he had no ill intention, that she was his wife's friend and deserved respect, yet he could not ignore what he saw.
Just beneath her eyes there was blood, thin streams that fell in droplets one after another, each marking the silent pain she carried. Her expression, though faint, was twisted with suffering, and he could see it with ease. He brushed the blood aside but more welled up to replace it, and when he brought his face nearer he noticed the skin at the side of her face shifting from its smooth pale tone into a sickly grey with hints of green that pulsed faintly like veins of corruption.
His voice dropped to a grave whisper, "She's drained far too much mana… the damage is already etched into her body and skin. But I never even saw her cast anything tonight… or did she, without me realizing? I don't have the time to wonder. She won't wake until morning unless I act now."
He did not waste another moment. Placing his hand over her cheek he released his healing light, letting it flow into her skin until the color bled back into its pale radiance, then drew it gently over her eyes until the bleeding ceased and her lids softened in peace. At last he brushed his fingers over her forehead, moving aside strands of hair as he did so, and with that touch she drifted into a deeper slumber, one untouched by pain. It was always like this whenever his healing neared the mind, those who received it fell into a deep rest and would not wake for hours, yet rise refreshed as if renewed. Only he himself could never know that same peace, and that thought burned in him like a quiet regret.
When she was settled Kael rose again and leaned against the waist-high wall that bordered the roof. His eyes wandered to the river below where the waters shimmered faintly under the fractured light of the moon as they wound their way through the dark, and the cold wind that pressed at his skin carried leaves and branches as if they danced to the rhythm of the night. The moon hung in half above, pale and still, and the hour had long passed into midnight.
It was then he noticed them. Across the distance near the bridge that arched over the river two figures stood, and though at first he could not discern them, when one stepped into the reach of the moonlight Kael's heart seized with recognition. He knew who it was.
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At that same time Seraphina stood before Caelum, her breath caught in her chest as though struck by an unseen blow, for she had not imagined even in her darkest suspicions that Caelum would stand behind all of this while the world believed him locked away in prison. Her heart had bent itself toward granting him forgiveness, preparing even to carry an apology for the shameful negligence of her Order, but here he was before her and nothing made sense.
She tried to steady her thoughts, but doubt gnawed at her. She had never seen Caelum with her own eyes before, yet the descriptions from Lyra had been precise enough, and there was no mistaking it, this man was Eska's husband. Or rather, if he was here now, was he not the very architect behind the chaos that unfolded? Had he played every piece in secret? Or perhaps he had been coerced, forced into it? She could not decide, not until he gave her answers.
Her head tilted slightly as her voice rang cold and steady through the night, "Answer me. Are you Eska's husband?"
His gaze flicked toward her with a sharp gleam and then a slow smirk broke across his lips, curling upward with mockery. His voice rolled with madness and disdain, "No, I am not her husband… but I was. Her ex-husband, if you prefer. Though many have learned to call me by another name, Caelum."
Seraphina stepped forward and released a soft sigh that coiled in the air, her hand already at the hilt of her sword. Her words pressed down like iron, "Then tell me why you went to Rowen's house."
Caelum's chuckle came at first low and bitter, then rose sharp like a crack through stone. "Ah… Rowen's house. That bastard's dwelling. Do you know what a beautiful sight it would have been to watch it burn? Flames tearing through every corner of his pride. But no, I did not go for that pleasure, not this time. I went for the relic, the same cursed relic that brought my chains and my arrest. Do I need to explain myself to you? No, you know, don't you? You already know."
Seraphina paused, her eyes narrowing, her grip tightening, before she let her voice fall even colder than the night air itself, "So it was you who moved the pieces, you who played games with my Knights, you who brought this chaos. Or perhaps you were forced into it… which is it?" She drew her blade with a single sound, the tip sinking into the grass below as if to anchor her fury.
Caelum threw his head back and laughed, not with joy but with a fractured edge that carried madness in every note, and when the laughter fell his face darkened until his features twisted with a wrath that barely clung to reason. "Now I am the villain? Is that it? After what your Knights did to me, after the chains, after the humiliation, now you come here to brand me the monster behind it all. Lady, lower your sword. I have run farther than I ever imagined a man could run, farther than my body was meant to carry, and I am tired. Let me breathe, let me rest before I drown in it. Then I will answer. But hear me well... when the time runs out, it will not be you questioning me, it will be you in my bed, bound in the end that I choose. So speak your questions while you still can."
Seraphina's face froze into a mask of ice, her blue eyes blazing until they glowed with a murderous light, every breath drawn as if weighed in steel, and her voice came sharp enough to cut the silence. "It seems you have lost your mind…"
Caelum raised his hand slowly and then clenched it tightly as if something inside him was straining to be released, and on his face spread a gloomy expression that twisted his features, "I certainly did, maybe somewhere along the way I lost it without even knowing how so. You see, it is really hard to keep my mind under control when all it wants is to rip people to shreds, and what can I say about women... I am truly delighted that you personally came to me today... and do not forget that this place is far away from the town, so no one will hear a single thing no matter how loud it becomes."
Seraphina's patience had already been tested beyond its limit, and she let out a long and heavy sigh before clenching her fists, "If you insist on dragging this out then I will not stop you, though I am already in a foul mood today, bored and too angry at someone else to tolerate your chatter, so why not throw away this unnecessary talking and simply come at me..." her gaze drifted around the clearing, cold and sharp, before she raised her voice with a cutting tone, "And why are the guests still hiding behind the trees... are they not going to attend as well?"
Caelum sprang to his feet with sudden energy, yet instead of rushing he stood motionlessly for a brief moment, stretching his hand high above his head as though summoning something, and a heartbeat later a sword came flying towards him through the shadows, a medium-sized blade with twin edges, and he caught it firmly by the hilt, grinning as he leveled it at Seraphina. His voice carried a mocking madness, "Soldiers, attack! Ah, forgive me, I should say wretched beasts... yes, attack her and tear her apart. You know what I truly love? Strong women. Because it is far more entertaining to break them down, piece by piece, until nothing is left of that strength."
The branches of the surrounding trees stirred, not with the gentle rhythm of the wind but in a broken, violent motion, and from their cover countless figures dropped heavily to the ground, surrounding Seraphina in the blink of an eye. Yet none of this was a surprise to her, for she had already sensed that hidden plans were waiting in the shadows, and she had prepared herself accordingly. What struck her more was not their presence, but the way Caelum remained seated against the tree as if nothing concerned him at all, not even the thought of escape. It was strange, for she was certain Arwyn must have taken measures to prevent him from running, yet Seraphina wondered briefly why she suddenly seemed to have withdrawn her hold. In any case, the question did not matter now, because Seraphina no longer needed to hold herself back as she had done earlier when she suspected they might be human. These creatures were not human, that much she had already confirmed, though there was something deeply wrong with them that she could not quite pinpoint even now.
More than that, she had not expected that a man who worked in an office would be capable of wielding a sword with confidence, which meant he had either been hiding his strength all along or something else was at work here, but at this point Seraphina had neither the patience nor the desire to question him. What concerned her more was the fact that she could not sense the creatures at all. They felt like illusions, hollow and false, because even ordinary monsters carried mana within their veins, yet these had none, and that absence left her uneasy. She had no time to ponder, however, because at that very moment dozens of the creatures lunged at her with unnatural speed while Caelum leaned lazily against the tree with a smirk carved into his face, watching her as if this were a private performance meant to amuse him.
"Does this bastard actually believe these things can do anything to me..." she thought coldly, centering her focus once more, but even as she tried, she still could not sense them in the slightest. It was an entirely new experience and a troubling one, though she trusted her sharp reflexes to be enough in the moment.
Her thoughts were cut short when dozens of knives and kunai flashed through the air at once, raining down from all directions as the creatures hovered and twisted around her with killing intent.
Seraphina exhaled softly, and in less than a heartbeat the sound of steel meeting steel echoed through the quiet night. With the flick of her wrist she deflected strike after strike without moving from her place, her blade flashing in her hand as though it had become an extension of her very breath. Her body shifted in a quiet dance, her feet turning on the boots and her arms carrying the sword from hand to hand, deflecting blow after blow until the attacks blurred together into nothing. The creatures pressed down on her with the speed of predators, yet none managed to leave so much as a scratch upon her.
Still, there was a problem, and she knew it well. They were too many, and they attacked together with perfect rhythm, leaving her no time to cut them down one by one. Worse yet, she could not predict their movements because she could not sense them at all, which meant killing them would take far more time than she could afford to waste, and to her annoyance their speed was no less than that of A-Rank monsters.
Of course, a swarm of A-Rank creatures without elemental magic was not something she truly feared, yet she had already confirmed something that disturbed her: these monsters had been brought here and controlled, most likely by a Beast Master. Beast Masters were magicians with the ability to command multiple creatures at once, binding them almost as slaves and even training them to wield weapons or follow complex orders. They were rare, but not impossible to encounter. What made her certain was that Caelum himself could not be the master, since he had not once released his mana.
"That means someone else is hiding here, controlling them from the shadows... or worse, they might have simply unleashed these beasts onto Caelum in case something went wrong. The plan itself was flawless, because ordinary soldiers would have struggled against creatures of this level, maybe even been wiped out completely. What they failed to consider was that I would be here instead of simple soldiers. Still... how long do you intend to hide from me... I will not allow you to escape so easily," she thought with icy resolve as she let her blade turn aside another rain of blows.
The creatures staggered back at her deflections, their bodies falling briefly to the ground before gathering once more for another wave, and that was exactly what Seraphina desired... only a few seconds, nothing more, and it would be enough.
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(Chapter Ended)