Dan's voice during the briefing echoed in Draco's ears as he walked ahead of his group.
"An explosion has occurred at one of the major factories. Kill all Abyssals on sight, and retrieve any survivors, if there are any. That's all.
The success of this mission may decide whether or not you return to Silvermoon. Do your best."
It was a single mission, and an easy one too.
Go to the site, kill every Abyssal found, and rescue whoever was left.
As simple as that.
Draco glanced back at his team.
He could tell they had been assembled hastily, each selected for this mission for a specific reason.
Hunters were the natural predators of the Abyssals, a single Hunter capable of slaying dozens of them.
But there were far fewer Hunters than a Stronghold required, and while their duty was to fight the horrors beyond the Strongholds, Silvermoon didn't have enough manpower to combat the demons within its own walls.
So much so that it had recruited Paladins from the Iron Citadel to patrol the city.
Paladins like Draco.
They were all talking, laughing at one of Drax's jokes.
Every now and then, Astra would glance at him as if she wanted to say something, but he would turn away before she got the chance.
He had heard enough excuses.
He had heard enough apologies.
Many mistakes could be forgotten.
Some could be forgiven.
But what Astra did wasn't a mistake.
It was a choice.
One that had cost Draco more than words could ever measure.
Jasmine walked beside Astra and caught the silent sigh that escaped her when Draco turned his gaze away before she could speak.
Whatever had happened between those two... wasn't over.
The mission site came into view: a five-story factory that served as one of the Capital's major production centers.
The damage was impossible to miss.
Smoke drifted into the night sky, and the emergency sirens had fallen silent.
Civilians around the site had already been evacuated, leaving the Hunters free to do their jobs.
But no Abyssal had attacked them either.
Draco frowned.
The more humanity learned about the Abyssals, the more terrifying they became.
Even after a century of research, no one knew where they had come from.
Only how they hunted.
An Abyssal without a body existed as a black, formless mass known as a Shadow. In that state, it couldn't physically harm anyone, nor could physical weapons harm it. Left without a suitable body for too long, a Shadow would gradually erode into nothingness.
To survive, Abyssals stole the bodies of the dead, and human bodies were always their preferred choice.
Scientists believed they instinctively sought bodies in their physical prime, which explained why encounters involving children or the elderly were exceptionally rare. Most recorded Abyssals inhabited teenagers or healthy adults.
The final discovery was the most unsettling.
Every living person possessed a dormant Soul Core.
Only Hunters who had awakened theirs could defend themselves within their Soulscape—the mysterious inner world where the Soul Core resided.
An Abyssal could invade the Soulscape of a body's original owner and destroy their Soul Core, permanently claiming the body as its own.
There was only one condition:
The host had to be unconscious.
Draco slowly rested his hand on the rifle slung across his back.
"...Stay alert."
Something about this place told him...
This mission wasn't going to be as simple as Dan had promised.
Slowly, Draco and his team walked into the factory.
Draco scowled.
Apart from their ability to defend their own Soulscapes, awakened Hunters could also sense Abyssals inhabiting stolen bodies—a gift that had saved countless lives over the past century.
But he sensed nothing.
No Abyssals.
No civilians.
Just silence.
As Draco debated whether to contact Dan, Jasmine suddenly raised a hand.
"Wait."
She stared toward one of the supply rooms.
"I heard something."
Without another word, the team spread out around the doorway.
Drax positioned himself directly in front of the entrance, a war hammer slowly forming in his hand.
Kaizen remained perfectly still, his hands ready to tear off his blindfold.
Draco's rifle tracked the center of the door, his finger hovering over the trigger.
Astra met Jasmine's eyes before giving a slight nod.
The door creaked open.
Inside, a woman huddled against the far wall, sobbing in broken breaths.
Her clothes were frayed and burned around the edges, and a black scarf covered her neck.
The room fell silent.
One by one, the Hunters lowered their weapons.
Without hesitation, Astra crouched beside the woman.
"...You're safe now," she said softly.
The woman looked up, relief washing over her face.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Jasmine asked.
"We were working our shift when the alarms went off. We were attacked from all sides, and then there was an explosion, and... where's Nick? Have any of you seen Nick?!"
The group fell silent.
"Oh, Nick..." she whispered, clutching her scarf. "I'm so sorry."
"We need to get her back to base," Astra decided, extending a hand toward the woman.
"Can you stand?"
The woman nodded weakly and reached for Astra's hand.
"Get away from her."
Draco growled, his voice cold.
Something... was terribly wrong with this woman.
Her survival was too perfect.
She had survived an explosion powerful enough to bring down half the factory.
Soot stained her clothes.
The edges were scorched.
Yet not a single wound marked her body.
Her pupils hadn't dilated once.
And despite her sobbing, her breathing had never become uneven.
Draco dismissed each inconsistency as coincidence...
Until the moment she clutched her scarf.
That's when he saw them.
Faint, dark bruises.
Finger-shaped marks encircling her neck.
Strangulation marks.
An Abyssal could only possess an unconscious body and would always seek to claim one in its physical prime, with as few injuries as possible.
None of the Hunters sensed anything unusual.
But Draco's instincts screamed a single, unmistakable conclusion:
The woman they had found inside the factory... was already dead.
Draco pulled back the rifle's charging handle with a sharp metallic click.
The barrel rose, leveling squarely at the woman's head.
In the dark, his crimson eyes seemed to glow.
"Move."