Noona didn't move an inch. Her face remained calm, her eyes not on Aekas's sharp blade but locked directly with his.
"You know what you're about to do is pointless," she said, her voice even but filled with power. "You cannot harm what you cannot see."
Aekas's brow furrowed. He stood his ground, yet a flicker of doubt began to creep in. The eyes of the woman before him were not those of an ordinary human. They were eyes that had seen countless deaths and held no fear of it.
"I do not believe in miracles," he retorted. "There is only the truth before me, and the truth is that you stand before me."
Suddenly, the atmosphere around Noona shifted completely. The air grew cold, and everyone felt the immense pressure bearing down on them. Even Aekas found it hard to breathe.
Behind Noona, a colossal shadow appeared. It had no clear shape, but it was vast enough to swallow everything.
"The truth..." Noona spoke again. "Sometimes it cannot be seen with the naked eye."
The shadow moved slowly. It didn't lunge forward but simply expanded, growing until it seemed to consume the entire courtyard. Aekas's men standing around began to scream in fear, their weapons clattering to the ground one after another.
Aekas remained still, but the sword in his hand began to tremble uncontrollably. He wasn't afraid of the woman before him, but he was afraid of the unseen—the power behind her.