Nex moved deeper into the forest, each step taking him farther from the safety of the camp.
Irene's warning echoed in his mind: "Do not go too far in. The deeper you go, the more dangerous the mana beasts become."
He ignored it.
Using his vector power, he propelled himself forward—sometimes kicking off a root and launching high over the underbrush, sometimes sliding along an invisible force he angled beneath his feet. The air around him shimmered faintly as if it resisted his movement, bending to his will.
After twenty minutes of fast travel, he stopped.
Something wet dripped nearby.
Through a gap in the trees, he saw them. Four beasts. Thick fur matted with blood. Sharp, hooked claws. They weren't hunting—
They were eating.
One of their own lay torn open, ribs cracked, organs spilling onto the moss. The others fought over it, snarling and ripping chunks of flesh free with wet tearing sounds. Blood pooled dark and thick under their paws. The smell was enough to make most people retch.
Nex stepped into the clearing.
The nearest beast looked up, jaws slick with red, and gave a guttural snarl. Then all three turned toward him.
---
The first charged. Nex flicked his hand and a sharp vector shot out, slamming into its skull with a crack. It staggered but kept coming. Nex kicked the ground, adding a vector burst to his jump—he shot upward, twisted midair, and slammed another vector down from above. The beast's head hit the dirt so hard the ground shook. Its neck broke with a loud snap.
The second came from his left, fast and low. Nex redirected his momentum midair, swinging himself sideways as if pulled by invisible ropes. His katana flashed—steel kissed fur, then bone, then sliced clean through. Blood sprayed across his face as the beast collapsed, its front leg severed.
The third didn't stop. It lunged straight at him. Nex pushed off an invisible plane in front of him, darting backward, then pulled the creature toward him with a reverse vector. The sudden drag threw it off balance—and he met it with a horizontal slash that opened its throat. Hot blood gushed, soaking the moss in seconds.
The last beast hesitated, its eyes darting between the corpses of its kin. It backed away a step, growling low.
Nex didn't give it the chance to run. He shaped a vector into a narrow spike and fired it like a bullet. The invisible force slammed into its chest, caving in ribs and sending it crashing into a tree. It slid down, leaving a long smear of red on the bark.
---
Silence fell, broken only by the drip of blood from his katana. The stench of death hung heavy in the air.
Nex wiped the blade clean on one of the corpses, then glanced at the half-eaten body of the fourth beast. He had no idea what their species was, and he didn't care. All that mattered was the path ahead.
He stepped over the carnage and moved deeper into the jungle, his vectors ready, his pulse steady despite the blood on his hands.
Nex exhaled slowly, the metallic scent of blood still sharp in his nose.
He crouched, dragged the back of his sleeve across his cheek, and smeared away the warm streaks clinging to his skin. The red came off in dark smudges, but some still clung stubbornly along his jawline.
His grip tightened on the katana.
One more look at the mangled bodies—then he turned away.
The forest ahead seemed quieter now, but it wasn't the kind of quiet that brought peace. It was the waiting kind. Every rustle of leaves and distant snap of a branch made his senses sharpen.
Using his vectors, he pushed himself lightly from root to root, moving with purpose. The deeper he went, the colder the air felt, the light dimming as the canopy thickened above. His boots sank into damp soil, and the faint stink of rot mixed with something chemical, something wrong.
It was close.
Twelve kilometers. That was all. Somewhere beyond the next few ridges, behind some camouflaged wall of earth and vines, the hidden laboratory waited—
And inside it, the puppets.
The ones that would turn this mission into a massacre if he did nothing.
Nex's pace quickened. His mind was already working through the plan, the timing, the escape routes. If Irene or the guards spotted him this far out, he'd have to improvise.
Something brushed across his senses—a faint disturbance, like the air had shifted unnaturally behind him.
He froze.
Slowly, without turning his head, he let his vectors flare in a wide arc.
Nothing visible. No movement. But the feeling lingered.
He wiped the last dried streak of blood from his face and pressed on.
Somewhere in the shadows, something followed.