Author Note:
The previously published one-shot serves as a condensed glimpse of events from a later arc.
The story below begins from the true chronological start
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Lilithia wasn't running from the pain.
She was running from the thing chasing her through the trees.
Blood trickled from her shoulder, falling onto the dry leaves without a sound. The forest was silent… a hostile silence, holding its breath, waiting for a single mistake.
She stumbled and leaned against a slanted tree trunk. Her panting was heavier than it should have been.
Then—
Something cut through the forest's silence.
A faint whisper brushed against her ear, a voice neither human… nor demonic:
"Lilithia… Isn't it time?"
Her body froze.
She gripped her sword and spun around sharply—
No one.
But something at her feet caught her attention.
A small black stone, covered in fine cracks, as if darkness itself were trapped inside. It didn't emit light… it absorbed it.
She approached cautiously. And when she touched it—
It pulsed.
A sudden warmth shot through her palm, rising to her chest, like the heartbeat of something that belonged neither to humans… nor to demons.
"Don't let it go."
The voice was no longer a whisper. It had become a command.
She pulled her hand back quickly, her breath ragged. But just a second later, she wrapped the stone in a cloth and tucked it into her pocket.
Why?
She didn't know.
Footsteps.
Light… deliberate.
She turned instantly, her sword raised—
"Calm down."
The voice was familiar.
"Villiam…"
He emerged from between the trees, white hair catching the dim light, his coat torn, a wound on his arm he hadn't bothered to hide. He wore that calm smile—one that didn't belong in a killing field like this.
"Were you planning to finish the mission on your own? That's insulting."
She tried to respond, but—
The ground trembled.
The earth split open before them, a massive skeletal hand bursting out—then another. Giant skeletons rose, coated in sticky black ooze, as if someone had rebuilt death itself.
"Get ready!" William shouted.
The first blows came crashing down.
Lilithia sliced the skeleton in half—
but the bones fused together again.
"They're reforming…!" she shouted.
Villiam didn't answer her.
He fought differently.
Fast.
Fierce.
He slipped under a strike, drove his sword into the skeleton's chest, and then—
He shattered the formation.
He struck a single, precise point. The darkness exploded. The skeleton fell motionless.
"Cut the second joint!" he shouted. "Don't waste time!"
More skeletons emerged. Then—
Red imps.
Demons with blazing eyes.
They chanted in unison, distorted:
"…Dragon… Dragon…"
The stench grew stronger.
Rot. Blood. Corrupt magic.
Lilithia tore through one, then another—
but a claw pierced her arm.
She screamed.
And at that moment—
The shadow moved.
From behind her, the darkness gathered… and took shape.
A human man.
His features unnaturally calm.
His eyes pitch black.
He raised his hand.
The air compressed.
"Lilithia!" Villiam shouted.
He lunged forward.
He didn't think.
He didn't hesitate.
He struck the ground with all his strength, closing the impossible distance, and stood before her—
The black mass pierced his chest.
But it didn't bring him down.
He drove his sword into the ground, bracing his body, and smiled at her despite the blood beginning to flow.
"Run…" he said, his voice eerily calm.
Then he looked at the mysterious man.
"It's her turn now."
A violent surge of energy erupted from his body—one final blast that shattered the attack and pushed the shadows back.
Villiam fell to one knee… blood seeping into the dirt.
But he didn't fall.
Lilithia stared, the black stone in her pocket—
It pulsed.
Stronger.
As if something had awakened.
And deep in the forest,
the mysterious man smiled...
© 2026 Lobna. All rights reserved.
-To be continued...-