Vespera's silhouette flickered, her form momentarily blurring as the sapphire light of the brand fused with her essence.
Ozriel felt it immediately—a violent, draining sensation that started in the marrow of his bones and surged outward. It was as if a siphon had been plunged into his chest, dragging his very life force toward the woman in the dirt.
[Warning: Host Stamina and Vitality being redirected.]
[Compensation Protocol Active: Transferring 50% of Host resources to contracted Slave to ensure survival.]
The world tilted. A sudden, sharp dizziness slammed into Ozriel, forcing him to plant his feet wide to keep from collapsing. His heart hammered a sluggish, heavy rhythm, and his breath became a shallow rattle in his lungs. He felt hollow, his muscles turning to lead, but he refused to look away. He had to see what his investment was capable of.
Vespera gasped, her back arching as Ozriel's stolen vitality flooded her veins. The deathly pallor of her skin didn't vanish, but the trembling in her limbs ceased. She looked at her hands, then up at the soldiers who were mid-lunge.
The lead soldier's spear was inches from Ozriel's throat. "Die, you meddling rat!"
Vespera didn't use a weapon. She didn't need one. Even with her mana reserves hovering near empty, the surge of stamina from Ozriel allowed her to fight the physical agony of the chains wrapped around her neck. Those heavy, runic links glowed with a sickly yellow light, hissing as they burned into her skin. They were designed to eat her stamina whenever she touched the weave of magic, a cruel deterrent for any mage.
Usually, the pain would have paralyzed her. But with Ozriel's life force acting as a buffer, she snarled and reached into the air.
"Shadow Pillar," she whispered.
The ground didn't just crack; it erupted. A geyser of pure, concentrated darkness exploded from beneath the lead soldier, launching him into the air like a ragdoll. The shockwave radiated outward, shattering the cobblestones of the narrow street they had spilled into.
The other four soldiers scrambled back, their faces twisted in terror. "The chains! Why aren't the chains stopping her?!"
Vespera didn't give them time to find an answer. She moved like a blur of ink, her feet barely touching the ground. Every step she took seemed to drain Ozriel further, his vision tunneling as he watched her. She was a whirlwind of destruction. With a flick of her wrist, a blade of solidified shadow cut through the air, slicing through the heavy leather armor and bone of two more soldiers as if they were made of parchment.
She wasn't just killing them; she was erasing them. The final two soldiers turned to flee down the street, screaming for the city watch. Vespera leveled her palm toward the horizon. The air around her began to vibrate, the mana-restricting chains on her neck glowing white-hot as they tried to suppress the surge.
"Collapse," she commanded.
The shadows of the buildings on either side of the street suddenly lengthened, stretching out like giant, grasping hands. They didn't just grab the soldiers—they pulled the very foundations of the structures down. With a deafening roar of masonry and timber, the entire street collapsed in a cloud of dust and darkness. The screams were cut short, buried under tons of rubble.
Vespera stood in the center of the ruins, her chest heaving. The darkness around her dissipated, and the sudden silence of the forest returned, heavy and suffocating. She turned her head slowly to look at Ozriel, her eyes unfocused and glassy.
"You..." she started, but the borrowed strength had run its course. Her knees buckled, and she fell forward into the dust, completely unconscious.
Ozriel stumbled toward her, his own legs shaking. He couldn't stay here. The destruction she had caused would act as a beacon for every Royal Knight in the province. He scooped her up, surprised by how light she felt despite the heavy iron chains still coiled around her throat.
He moved away from the ruins, weaving through the back alleys of the outskirts where the shadows were deepest. His instinct for survival, honed by years of navigating the cutthroat world of banking and sharpened by his brutal death, searched for a hole to hide in.
He found it—a rusted, heavy iron door hidden behind a pile of discarded crates in a dead-end alley. It looked like an old maintenance hatch for the city's drainage or an abandoned cellar. With the last of his strength, he kicked the crates aside and hauled the door open, slipping into the cool, damp darkness below.
He descended a set of stone stairs, arriving in a small, vaulted chamber that smelled of earth and old wine. He laid Vespera down on the cold floor. Her breathing was steady, but her skin was still unnaturally cold to the touch.
Ozriel knelt beside her, his eyes locking onto the chains. They were thick, etched with glowing runes that pulsed like a heartbeat. Every time she breathed, the iron seemed to tighten.
"These have to come off," he muttered.
He didn't have a key, but as he reached for the metal, the System brand on his hand flared with a sapphire light. He gripped the center link and pulled. He expected resistance, but the moment his energy—the Master's energy—touched the magic of the chains, the runes flickered and died. With a sharp crack, the iron snapped like dry wood.
He unwound the heavy links from her neck, tossing the cursed metal into a corner of the room.
The change was almost instantaneous. Without the mana-drain constanty taxing her body, the vitality he had shared with her finally began to do its work. A faint flush of color returned to her cheeks. Her skin grew warm under his fingertips, and the jagged, shallow breaths smoothed into a deep, restorative sleep.
He sat back against the damp stone wall, his own heart finally slowing down. He had done it. He had secured his first asset, survived his first encounter, and found a temporary sanctuary.
He watched her for a moment, the "Villainess" who had just leveled a street, now looking small and fragile in the dim light.
He sighed in relief, closing his eyes for a brief second.
Ding.
The sound was sharp, cutting through the silence of the underground chamber. Ozriel opened his eyes as a fresh blue screen hovered in front of him, glowing brighter than before.