The net dropped fast.
Kai did not think.
He moved.
Bouncy stretched wide like a thin sheet and shot upward. The net struck the slime instead of the girl. The ropes tangled into the jelly surface and stuck.
Renn grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her aside.
"Run!" he shouted.
Aria's hawk dove from above, slicing the tree branch where the net had been launched. A man in a black coat fell hard to the ground.
Theo activated a light pulse that flared bright in the darkness, blinding two more attackers.
But more figures stepped out from behind the trees.
Not loud.
Not reckless.
Disciplined.
Kai noticed something immediately.
These hunters were not shouting orders like the silver claw group earlier. They moved in silence.
Professionals.
"Left path," Kai said quickly. "Do not bunch up."
They split without hesitation.
Kai stayed slightly behind with Bouncy, covering the girl and Theo while Renn and Aria cleared the front.
An arrow shot past Kai's shoulder.
Too close.
Bouncy snapped outward and smacked the archer's bow aside.
The girl was breathing hard. "They were not supposed to find me this fast."
Kai glanced at her. "Who are they?"
She hesitated even while running. "Internal security."
Theo nearly tripped. "From the academy?"
"Yes."
That made Kai's thoughts turn colder.
If academy forces were involved, this was not random black market pursuit.
This was controlled.
Planned.
Renn's voice came from ahead. "Obstacle!"
A fallen tree blocked the path. Three hunters waited on the other side.
Ambush.
Aria's hawk struck first, forcing one back. Renn's bear charged forward, slamming into another.
Kai stepped up beside them.
"Bouncy. Low bounce."
The slime flattened and shot under the fallen tree like a blue wave, wrapping around a hunter's legs. The man fell with a grunt.
Kai grabbed the girl's hand. "Now!"
They leapt over the trunk and kept moving.
Behind them, one of the hunters finally spoke.
"Capture the shard. The boy is secondary."
Kai heard that clearly.
Secondary.
So they truly were not after him.
Not directly.
The forest thinned ahead. Moonlight spilled onto a narrow clearing.
Kai slowed.
Too open.
Too obvious.
Renn sensed it too. "Feels wrong."
Then shadows dropped from above.
Five more.
Aria cursed under her breath.
Theo whispered, "They predicted the fork."
Which meant they knew this terrain well.
Or someone had guided them.
The girl suddenly pulled free from Kai's grip.
"Wait!"
She raised the glowing shard.
It pulsed brighter.
The hunters paused for just half a second.
Kai felt the system stir faintly in response.
The girl's voice shook, but she stood firm. "If you come closer, I will break it!"
One of the black coated hunters removed his hood.
He was young. Maybe only a few years older than Kai.
Calm eyes.
"No you will not," he said evenly. "You know what happens if you do."
The girl's hand trembled.
Kai noticed it.
She did not look brave.
She looked desperate.
Aria whispered, "Kai…"
He understood.
Breaking something tied to the Core was unpredictable.
It could explode.
Or worse.
The young hunter took one step forward.
"Return the shard, Mira," he said softly.
So that was her name.
"You are not meant to carry it."
Renn muttered, "This is starting to sound personal."
Kai studied the young hunter's posture.
Not hatred.
Concern.
That was strange.
Mira shook her head. "They were going to seal me again."
Seal.
Kai's eyes sharpened.
Seal her?
The young hunter's jaw tightened. "You are unstable. The shard reacts to you. That is dangerous."
The shard in Mira's hand flared brighter.
Kai felt the air change.
Pressure built.
Bouncy wobbled nervously.
Theo stepped back. "Energy levels rising."
Kai moved closer to Mira slowly. "Look at me."
She turned slightly.
"You do not want to break it," Kai said calmly. "And they do not want it broken either. That means it is valuable to everyone."
The young hunter's gaze flickered to Kai.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Someone who also got dragged into this mess," Kai replied.
For a brief second, tension hung like a blade over their heads.
Then something unexpected happened.
A sharp whistle cut through the clearing.
Not from the academy hunters.
From deeper in the forest.
The young hunter's expression changed instantly.
"Third party," he muttered.
Before anyone could react, a bolt of dark energy shot out from the trees and struck one of the black coated hunters.
He fell without a sound.
Renn blinked. "Now who is that?"
Figures stepped out wearing rough armor with no uniform style at all.
Mercenaries.
One of them laughed. "Academy dogs and little children fighting over scraps. How cute."
The situation flipped in seconds.
The academy hunters turned defensive.
The mercenaries attacked everyone.
Chaos exploded in the clearing.
Aria's hawk dodged blades. Renn's bear roared. Theo's formation barely held against random strikes.
Kai grabbed Mira again. "Stay close."
The shard in her hand pulsed wildly now, reacting to the violence around it.
The young academy hunter moved near Kai's side without speaking.
Temporary alliance.
A mercenary lunged toward Mira.
Kai stepped in front.
"Bouncy. Full bounce."
The slime expanded thick and elastic. The mercenary's blade struck and rebounded hard, knocking the man off balance.
Renn took advantage and knocked him out cold.
More mercenaries rushed in.
But something was wrong.
They were not targeting Mira carefully.
They were swinging near the shard without fear.
Kai realized it.
"They do not care if it breaks," he shouted.
The young hunter's eyes widened. "They want it unstable."
Mira gasped.
The shard's glow turned from blue to violent white.
Energy cracked across its surface.
Theo's voice trembled. "It is going critical!"
Everyone froze for a fraction of a second.
Even the mercenaries.
The young hunter grabbed Mira's wrist. "Drop it!"
She shook her head in panic.
"I cannot!"
Kai felt his system pulse again.
Not strongly.
But clearly.
Resonance.
He stepped forward despite Renn yelling his name.
"Give it to me."
Mira hesitated.
Another crack split across the shard.
Kai reached out.
The moment his fingers touched the crystal, a shockwave exploded outward.
Light swallowed the clearing.
Sound vanished.
For one heartbeat, everything went silent.
Then the light collapsed inward.
When the dust settled, the mercenaries were gone.
The academy hunters were scattered across the ground.
Trees were scorched in a perfect circle.
Kai stood in the center, breathing hard.
The shard lay in his palm.
Dim.
Quiet.
Mira stared at him in shock.
The young hunter slowly pushed himself up.
"You…" he whispered.
Kai looked at the shard, then at Mira.
"What exactly did you steal?"
Before anyone could answer, deep in the forest, something ancient stirred in response to that pulse.
And far away in the capital, a crystal monitor cracked down the middle.
Someone had just activated something that was never meant to wake up.