Sorry they was a mistake with the ending of the chapter
Let continues
[Scene Opens: Inside the Cold Chamber – Hours After the Awakening Ritual]
The rain outside hadn't stopped since Kael stood before the orb and it stayed cold and dim.
No color.
No resonance.
No mana.
No hope.
He stared at the wall, his eyes hollow.
"Why… was I even born?"
He didn't cry. Not anymore. His body was too exhausted for tears. Too numb to scream. Only silence sat beside him in that room—
Until a voice shattered it.
"What a pathetic sight."
Kael blinked.
There — at the foot of the bed — stood a tiny, black-furred fox, its fur rippling like smoke, and glowing red eyes burning through the dark. Its tail flicked lazily, but its presence was anything but gentle.
"Are you the one who called me?" the fox asked, almost insulted.
Kael slowly sat up, confused. "...I didn't call anything."
Ashuru's lip curled. "And yet… here I am. Me — devourer of cursed beasts, breaker of flame-bound kings — summoned by a trembling, manaless worm with the eyes of dirt and the blood of… nothing."
Kael flinched. "I didn't ask for you."
Ashuru sniffed the air.
"And yet I'm bound. You—you—somehow pulled me from the Rift. You don't even have a mana signature. No mark. No aura. Just... regret."
Kael looked away. "Maybe I wasn't supposed to exist."
Ashuru paused. He didn't offer comfort — only silence. And for a moment, Kael felt more judged by the creature than even his own family.
"You are unworthy," Ashuru said at last. "But something… in your bloodline — something ancient — answered the Summon Rite. I will not serve you. But I will observe."
The fox turned toward the door, ears perking up.
And then Kael felt it.
A pressure. A stillness.
Ashuru's fur bristled.
"Emotion... twisted. Something approaches. Something human—but rotting."
[Scene Shift: Outside — Within the Ardyn Estate Halls]
Two cloaked men whispered beneath a flickering lantern.
"Orders are clear. The boy's a curse. No mana. No bloodline affinity. No value. Clean it up. Quietly."
They moved like shadows. One adjusted a vial at his hip—Emotion Suppressant, used to dull the natural killing intent. They wouldn't alert the guards. Or so they thought.
[Scene: Eleanor's Quarters – Moments Before]
Eleanor had always trusted her instincts. And tonight, they screamed.
She stepped softly through the hallway, carrying Kael's old clothes — but paused as voices echoed around the corner.
"Kill the boy…"
Her eyes widened. Her grip tightened.
Eleanor turned without a sound and ran.
[Scene: Kael's Room – The Attack Begins]
Kael was dozing off, curled on the mat, while Ashuru watched from the shadows, expression unreadable.
Then—
A faint whisper of breath.
A vial cracked.
Emotion dulled.
But not to Ashuru.
"You should have brought more," the fox growled.
The door burst open.
A blade shot toward Kael's throat—
CLANG.
A flash of silver. The blade knocked away by a streak of steel — another dagger followed it, straight through the attacker's forearm.
Eleanor stood in the doorway, hood down, eyes like fire.
"Touch him," she said coldly, "and I'll show you what real shadows taste like."
The second assassin lunged—faster.
Eleanor's feet barely moved.
Her Vermillion Ghost Technique activated — the air shimmered, her image distorted, and in less than a blink—
She was behind him.
Blood hit the floor.
The assassin collapsed.
The first attacker scrambled to draw a rune-blade.
"You're just a maid!"
"I'm what your nightmares pray they never meet," she whispered.
Her twin daggers moved like wind and fire — cuts without movement, parries without pause. A step, a twist, a counter — every motion burned into shadow. This was no maid.
She was once a specter of death — an assassin of the Five Houses.
And for Kael, she'd kill again.
[Scene End: Aftermath – Kael's Realization]
Ashuru watched the bodies fall, tail still.
Kael looked at Eleanor, breath shaky. "You… knew they'd come."
She knelt, pulling him close. "I should have taken you away sooner."
Kael's voice trembled. "Why? Why help me?"
Eleanor cupped his face. "Because even forgotten things deserve a chance to live."
Behind her, Ashuru's eyes narrowed — not in anger, but something close to... interest.
"This boy," he thought, "may be more trouble than I thought