The boy threw the head onto the ground, letting it roll toward the body and toward Zack and Rudy.
"He flew past us like dust… quick and agile," Rudy muttered. "Strong enough to behead a tier-2 soldier in one strike. I've heard everyone in their clan has their own independent abilities, and they divide themselves into types. He's too small to be warrior class, but he's strong…and very agile. He is—"
"An assassin," Zack finished.
Rudy sighed. "Yeah, he's an assassin. Their only weakness is physical endurance. And it's obvious with him. One clean slice or blow can seriously mess him up."
"That's the difficult part," Zack replied. "Landing a lethal blow. He's too quick."
"There are two of us and only one of him for now," Rudy said confidently. "Before backup comes for him, let's finish him off. You go first, I'll come in from behind and cover you."
Zack nodded and dashed forward, Rudy right behind him. The mysterious boy slipped through their strikes like he was made of smoke.
Rudy's sword suddenly ignited, flames blazing like a miniature sun. He charged full speed and swung, but the boy leapt back instantly, avoiding the attack and keeping distance.
Zack's eyes lit up. "A flame sword, huh? Pretty fancy artifact."
Rudy smirked. "Reward for my performance during training."
He didn't even finish the sentence before a figure blurred in from the side, delivering a massive punch that sent the boy flying yards away and showering the area with dust and shattered stone.
"What are you boys doing chit-chatting on a battlefield?" Captain Baron barked.
"Did you get him, sir?" Rudy asked.
"Yeah. I felt the contact. I'm sure I landed a powerful blow," Baron said confidently, glancing at his glove artifact.
Zack frowned. "So did we… but we didn't get him."
All three stared into the rolling smoke where Baron had sent the guy flying.
INSIDE THE PRISON
"Zimmy, you gotta stop — you're gonna kill them!" Luke said, worried.
Zimmy paused mid-kick. The prisoner on the floor lay helpless, bleeding out and barely alive. Desperate, she grabbed Zimmy's leg.
He jerked away in disgust. "You rat. How dare you touch me?" He stomped down on her foot.
"Use the heal potion on the other one," Zimmy ordered.
Luke rushed over and forced the potion into the second prisoner's mouth. Her body began to glow faintly. Zimmy immediately went back to torturing her, the cell filling with her agonizing screams.
Through the noise, Luke heard something outside.
"Zimmy… do you hear that?"
"What?"
"The disturbance. Something's going on."
"The only thing I hear — and want to hear — is this rat screaming. This is the melody my heart craves," Zimmy said with an evil grin.
"But I'm hearing something else. I'm gonna check it out."
Luke stepped out into the prison corridor. Zimmy watched him leave, then turned back to the prisoner.
"Are all of you from that clan like this? Weak? Pathetic?" he sneered, slamming his boot into her stomach. "I thought you lot prided yourselves on strength. Survival of the fittest. Yet without your precious brawn, you're nothing."
The prisoner coughed blood. "Our… young lord… will have his revenge," she rasped.
"Young lord?" Zimmy spat. "That little rat who sliced off Lord H's arm when he was a kid? He's alive? He wants revenge for his mother and father?" Zimmy's grin twisted into something cruel. "Fine. We'll take every one of your survivors' heads and nail them to the castle gate."
He kicked her again. She reached for his boot, trembling. He flung her off like garbage.
"We aren't just brute strength," he continued, leaning close, voice thick with contempt. "My clan prizes intelligence. We build the tools. You were supposed to be the power that crushed idiots like you. Constructive and destructive. And look who survived. The destructive ones got destroyed."
A low rumble rose in the distance — faint at first, then growing, heavy, wrong.
Zimmy froze mid-step, head tilting as the sound crawled toward the cell like something alive. His footsteps slowed, then quickened instinctively, dread prickling up his spine.
He took one step toward the door.
The wall beside it detonated.
Stone and dust burst inward as a body crashed through, slamming onto the floor in a bloody heap. Zimmy staggered back, eyes widening as the dust cleared just enough to reveal the uniform.
Luke.
For a heartbeat he just stared, mind blank.
Luke was already dead.
From the shadow beyond the broken wall a figure stepped into the light.
"Who the hell—" Zimmy began, but before he could finish the figure blurred past him and dove toward the injured prisoner.
"Take this potion… it'll heal you," the intruder said. His voice was soft, almost gentle — shockingly gentle for someone who had just torn through guards.
He helped the prisoners drink, one after another. Their wounds began to knit, faint glows running under their skin. Only when they steadied did the intruder finally rise and turn around to face Zimmy.
He was tall. Strong. Tan-skinned. Calm.
One of the prisoners reached out and touched his shoulder weakly. "Big brother Hunt… be careful."
"Hunt, huh?" Zimmy laughed, wiping blood from his boot. "Then I'll hunt your big brother Hunt."
He sprinted forward, rage burning in his expression.
"Increase," Hunt said quietly.
And the world shifted.
Zimmy collapsed to his knees as if the floor had tripled in weight. His hands slammed into the stone, unable to lift himself. The gravity pressing down on him was crushing, unnatural.
Not just him — Rudy, Zack, even Captain Baron outside felt the sudden pull. The air thickened. The ground groaned.
"It came from the prison," Baron snapped. "Move! To the prison!"
But before they could even take a step, a figure emerged through the drifting smoke — blocking their path.
The boy from earlier.
He stood calmly in front of the three soldiers, eyes dark and unreadable.
"Big brother Hunt is hunting," he murmured. "He will not be disturbed."
Zack's voice shook. "He… tanked Captain Baron's attack…"
Baron's fists tightened. For the first time, his confidence cracked.