The hall fell into a deeper silence.
Not the kind born of peace—but the kind that follows a scream. A silence so thick it felt like the air itself had stopped breathing.
Solvane, barely standing, turned his gaze to the assailant behind him—frozen mid-strike, fist still outstretched. His expression, usually unreadable beneath the mask, was now unmistakable. Solvane saw it not just in his face, but in the eyes of every Asper present.
It was awe.
A faint smirk crept across Solvane's blood-slicked lips.
"What are you grinning at?" the masked man snarled.
"You dumb fool. Try it again."
He vanished from sight.
But Solvane dodged again.
Then again.
And again.
Two strokes of luck? Unlikely.
This was something else.
His face, drenched in drying crimson, was calm—eerily indifferent. A boy on death's doorstep, still standing. Still breathing. His chest heaved with ragged effort, each breath a battle. His limbs trembled, his body screamed, yet his eyes remained steady.
Was it adrenaline keeping him together? Or something deeper—iron will, perhaps. Resolve forged in suffering.
Whatever it was, everyone saw it.
The boy before them had changed.
No—he had evolved.
He had awakened.
Even the masked man knew it.
"I hate it," he hissed.
"I hate that look in your eyes. Even his kid wants to humiliate me. I'll be damned—no more holding back."
He tore off his mask.
The hunter had arrived.
His face was a canvas of old scars and fury, twisted by years of bitterness. The air around him grew heavier, darker, as if the hall itself recoiled from his presence. The torches lining the walls flickered, their flames shrinking as if afraid.
Solvane's vision blurred, soaked in red. His body was failing, yet somehow, he kept moving—dodging, breathing, surviving.
He didn't know how he kept escaping death's grip.
But this time felt different.
The air around him sharpened, like blades brushing against his skin. His nerves tingled. His heartbeat slowed, then surged. His body screamed in silence.
He couldn't see clearly.
But he knew.
This was the feeling you get…
…when you're about to die.