The world was quiet after the glass field.
Too quiet.
The woods returned, but they felt thinner now—more suggestion than substance. The trees bled faintly from their cores, black ichor seeping into the crimson soil. The sky was the same violet haze as before, but now it felt closer, like a curtain pulled just a little too tight.
The group moved slower.
Eighteen remained.
Cassiel still led, but his voice carried less weight. His arrogance hadn't dulled, but the death toll did something to the others. Even Thorn didn't march as close anymore.
They'd been walking for hours when the next spire came into view.
It wasn't tall like the others.
This one was short, almost sunken, half-buried in the roots of a twisted tree that pulsed with slow, steady light.
No trial emerged. No attackers, no traps.
Only an altar.
It stood before the spire, made of stone and rusted metal, and upon it rested a weapon.
Long. Slender. Almost elegant.
A glaive.
Its shaft was matte black, etched with glowing lines of mirrored silver that shimmered faintly with motion. The blade was curved—not thick, but razor-edged, and faintly translucent, like it had been forged from frozen shadow.
And something about it called to Kael.
Rei moved to Kael's side as the others spread out.
"You feel that?"
Kael nodded. "It's tuned. Not to the spire. To something else."
Elias stepped forward cautiously, scanning for glyphs or wards. "It's a legacy piece," he murmured. "Older than the Realm. Might've been drawn into the Gatewalk by accident… or on purpose."
Cassiel scoffed. "It's a test. Whoever touches it probably triggers the next phase."
"Then let's not all die at once," Rei muttered.
Kael stepped forward.
No one stopped him.
The moment his fingers closed around the glaive's shaft, the world shifted.
[System Sync Detected]
User: Kael Fell Ashwin
Veilcore Node: Primary Interface Engaged
Weapon Identified: [Nullglaive – Wyrmcut Echo]
Status: Synchronizing…
New Combat Alignment: Frontliner – Illusion-Class Variant
Path Classification: Veil-Walker (Unstable)
Unique Trait: [Flicker II – Illusory projections can now briefly interact with reality. Cooldown variable.]
The glaive pulsed once, then settled in Kael's grip like it had always belonged there.
He took a breath.
And moved.
Just once.
A wide, arcing step across the clearing, glaive slicing through the air in a precise, fluid line.
A faint shimmer followed the blade's motion—an afterimage.
No, not an afterimage.
A double.
For a breathless moment, two Kaels existed—one moving, one echoing—and the line between them blurred so cleanly that the grass beneath both was cut.
The group stood in silence.
Rei blinked. "That's new."
Kael exhaled. "It's not control yet."
"But it's getting there," Elias said. "And fast."
They set camp an hour later. No one contested Kael keeping the glaive. Cassiel sneered, but didn't push the issue.
Veyra watched him a little too long, but said nothing.
And Rei… Rei didn't watch. She stood beside him as they dug fire pits and set up formation.
"You're shifting," she said. "Becoming something."
Kael rotated the glaive in his hand. The weapon felt light. Balanced. Designed not just for killing—but for flow.
"Not something," Kael said.
"Myself."
That night, they were attacked again.
This time, it was subtle.
They woke to silence. No screams. No footfalls.
Just the slow, splitting sound of flesh separating.
Anya was already dead. Her tent shredded. Her body drained.
Three others followed in seconds.
Shadow-creatures—bladed, faceless, and tall—rose from the ground like silhouettes pulled from imagination. They didn't howl or roar. They moved with intention.
And Kael met them.
He moved fast—faster than the others expected.
The glaive danced, sweeping wide and long, arcs of controlled precision laced with fragments of light. Each swing cast illusions—brief doubles, ghost limbs, feints made real.
One of the shadows lunged.
Kael split in two.
One image vanished.
The other struck low, glaive slicing through shadow-flesh with a sound like tearing silk.
Rei followed up with a diagonal cut across a second attacker's spine. Elias smashed a third with blunt kinetic force—no magic, just perfect weight and speed.
Cassiel was too slow. Thorn blocked for him. Veyra's illusions confused one of the shadows long enough for Kael to finish it.
Within three minutes, it was over.
They lost four more.
Four students who didn't make noise. Who simply never got up.
Kael stared into the dark.
He couldn't see what killed them.
But he felt it.
Not the monsters.
The veil.
Thin now.
Thinner than ever.
[System Alert: Veilcore Node Stabilizing – 74%]
New Technique Unlocked: [Ghostline Step] – During movement, leave a fragment of presence behind for 1.2s. Can confuse enemies and create feint paths.]
Trait Progression Available.]
Kael didn't sleep.
He stood guard instead.
Rei sat beside him near sunrise, her red hair catching the violet light.
"You're not scared," she said quietly.
"I am," Kael replied.
"You don't show it."
"Doesn't help," he said.
They sat in silence for a while.
Then she asked, "What do you want, Kael?"
He thought about it.
Not for long.
"To carve something that matters," he said. "Not because I was told to. Because I chose it."
Rei smiled faintly. "Then don't die before you do."