The air whistled past Kael’s ears as he raced at full speed through the Capital’s narrow alleys.
Gray mana circulated continuously through his channels, reducing his weight and allowing him to move at almost inhuman speed. The soles of his boots only occasionally touched the ground, while Kael himself flashed between stone walls like a blurred shadow.
At tis, however, he was forced to erge onto wider streets.
And then brief clashes beca unavoidable.
Once, Kael literally knocked down a beastfolk with a shoulder check as the man was trying to finish off a wounded guard. Another ti, with a strike from a weighted gauntlet, he shattered the knee of an opponent blocking the passage between buildings.
But even in battle, he did not stop for a single second.
Right now, all his attention was focused on one thing alone—Lesser Amber Street.
Moving through another long, narrow alley, Kael could already see bright sunlight shining at the far end.
“I’m almost there…” Kael thought.
His fingers unconsciously clenched into tighter fists.
“I just hope everyone is alright.”
And the closer he ca to the tavern, the faster his heartbeat beca.
Kael tried to remain calm, but inside him a heavy, almost burning tension was already rising.
After several more swift leaps, Kael practically shot out of the alley into a broad intersection.
One of the roads here sloped sharply downward, offering a direct view of Lesser Amber Street.
And the mont Kael’s gaze darted there, his heart skipped a beat.
But in the very next instant, it felt as though an enormous weight had been lifted from his shoulders, because Lesser Amber Street had been sealed off from both sides.
Barricades made of wagons, furniture, and stone slabs blocked the entrances, while dozens of Imperial soldiers and guards stood between them. Translucent defensive barriers shimred above the street, and support mages had been stationed along the houses.
Imperial armor could be seen everywhere.
Farther down, roughly two hundred paces from Kael, young people who normally spent their ti drinking and celebrating in the local taverns sat along the walls. Many looked frightened, so pressed blood-soaked cloths against their wounds, and healers were already tending to several of them.
But most importantly—the street had not beco a slaughterhouse.
Unlike the other districts of the Capital Kael had seen on the way here, there were almost no corpses, and the road was not drowning in blood.
Kael abruptly poured mana into his eyes, straining his vision to the limit. The world imdiately sharpened, allowing him to distinguish faces even from this distance.
And the mont his gaze fell upon the entrance of the rry Drunkard tavern, a wave of relief swept through his body.
A smile involuntarily appeared on Kael’s face.
“They’re alive…” he exhaled quietly, then imdiately added with sarcasm, “Praise the Gods—even though I hate you.”
All of his companions were indeed gathered near the tavern.
Girren was currently sitting against a wall while one of the healers wrapped bandages around his bloodied head. Judging by the amount of blood, the blow had been serious, yet Girren remained conscious and was even explaining sothing to a puzzled soldier seated beside him.
Not far away stood Gilsh, holding one arm as though it had been broken or dislocated.
And Violet…
The mont he saw her, Kael involuntarily clenched his teeth harder.
The girl was covered in dirt and soone else's blood, and her shoulders were trembling almost imperceptibly. Even from here, it was obvious how hard she was trying to keep herself together and not cry.
Letting out a heavy breath, Kael found his gaze lingering on Violet.
“Looks like this was the first ti she’s had to kill…” he quietly muttered to himself.
And almost imdiately another thought surfaced in his mind: “For soone like her… this must be a terrible shock.”
Kael understood perfectly well that Violet only seed strict. Deep down, she was far too gentle for this kind of chaos.
That was why, as he looked at her trembling shoulders and bloodstained clothes, he unexpectedly felt a faint warmth sowhere in his chest.
He suddenly wanted to walk over to her and tell her that everything would be alright now.
“They’ve had a rough ti…” Kael murmured, already taking a step toward his friends.
But the instant his foot touched the ground, a powerful explosion suddenly thundered sowhere off to the side.
The shockwave slamd into the intersection with a roar, hurling Kael sideways. The soles of his boots screeched across the stone as he struggled to keep his balance.
And in the very next second, sothing whistled past right beside him.
A heavy figure crashed into the ground twenty paces from Kael with a deafening impact, shattering the stone pavent and throwing up a cloud of dust.
Kael had not even managed to understand what had fallen into the intersection before another figure appeared above the crater.
A man in a black Imperial military uniform literally dove down from above, landing beside his opponent with a thunderous crash. The crest of a one-horned red dragon was clearly visible on his chest, while his long silver hair whipped sharply from the speed of his movent.
The next instant, the thin blade of a sword was already pressed against the throat of the fallen figure.
Only now did Kael finally get a proper look at the one the military officer had pinned down.
It was a beastfolk.
But he looked strange.
His dark cloak and hood constantly blurred, as though they were made not of cloth but of dense smoke. The contours of the beastfolk’s body kept blending into the surroundings, making it seem as though he were half invisible.
Yet that was not what surprised Kael.
The mont he focused more carefully on the auras of the two combatants, everything inside him instantly tensed.
“Damn it…” he cursed inwardly, feeling the monstrous pressure of their mana. “They’re at the level of Golden Mages…”
Even the air around them seed heavier.
Swallowing hard, Kael thought inwardly, “I’d better get out of here…”
But at that mont, the silver-haired military officer unexpectedly spoke in broken beastfolk language, “Ash varuk? Ka draen ul-vor?”
And almost simultaneously, a translation automatically surfaced in Kael’s mind: “What are your goals? Why are the beasts here?”
Watching the scene unfold, Kael slowly began backing away toward the alley he had co through earlier.
His instincts were practically screaming at him to get as far away as possible from a clash between two Golden Mages. He understood perfectly well that while he could deal with Silver Mages, a battle between these two could kill him.
But the mont he slipped around the corner, a wave of primal terror and pain suddenly tore through his entire body.
It felt as though an invisible mountain had crashed down from above, and Kael imdiately dropped to his knees.
“What the hell?!” he roared inwardly, feeling his jaws clench painfully on their own.
His entire body was instantly drenched in cold sweat.
His muscles trembled so violently that he could not move even a finger, and his heart pounded so hard it felt as though it might burst inside his chest.
This was not rely mana pressure.
It felt as though a predator capable of killing with a single glance had fixed its gaze upon him.
And before Kael could truly begin to panic, he suddenly realized sothing even more horrifying.
The silver-haired soldier was no longer standing on the ground—he had been lifted into the air like a rag doll.
Kael’s eyes widened sharply.
Another beastfolk had appeared opposite the military officer, as if materializing from thin air. He held the officer by the throat, his expression one of complete indifference.
The sparse greenish fur on his body had almost entirely fallen out in places, exposing scar-covered skin, and deep wrinkles and cloudy eyes clearly revealed his advanced age.
Realization imdiately flashed through Kael’s mind: “This terrifying aura… It belongs to this old man!”
And with that thought, Kael’s heart began pounding even harder, because only now did he fully understand one horrifying fact—even a Golden Mage could not resist this pressure.
The silver-haired soldier hung in the air as though completely paralyzed. His body trembled faintly, yet neither mana nor muscles seed to obey him any longer.
“What level is this old man?” Kael thought, feeling cold sweat run down his back. “He’s far stronger than Valeria and Dukhlas…”
But in the next mont, sothing even more horrifying happened.
The soldier’s body suddenly jerked, and the veins and capillaries beneath his skin rapidly darkened, as though poison rather than blood was spreading through them. The silver-haired man coughed violently, spraying blood from his mouth, except it was no longer red—it was a murky green.
The soldier’s eyes bulged as though he himself could not believe what was happening. His fingers twitched, trying to grasp the old beastfolk’s hand, but strength was rapidly leaving his body.
He wanted to shout sothing, but only another mouthful of blood erged. And imdiately afterward, the light in the silver-haired man’s eyes faded.
His body went limp in the old beastfolk’s grip.
Watching this, Kael felt his hands go slightly numb.
“He killed him that easily…” Kael thought in shock. “Could this really be… the level of a General? A Spiritual Weapon Mage?”
But Kael’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the old beastfolk’s words.
The old man did not even spare a glance for the dead soldier dangling from his hand. His cloudy eyes calmly lowered to the second beastfolk, who was still lying amid the shattered pavent.
“Moran-ka Khator Varekh?”
And almost at the sa instant, Kael’s mind instinctively switched to translating the language.
His entire attention imdiately focused on the beastfolk’s words, and almost simultaneously a translation surfaced in his mind: “What is the situation at the Imperial Palace?”
In response to his superior’s question, the beastfolk rose from the ground, while his blurry cloak once again began blending into the surroundings. At the sa ti, he cast wary glances around, as though afraid soone might overhear them.
But the old beastfolk rely snorted indifferently.
“Dra. Ul-dram zhurin-raun. Nakh ash-tor garen. Sha vesh narak-tul.”
And almost simultaneously, another translation surfaced in Kael’s mind: “Relax. There are only pathetic insects nearby. None of them will understand us. Especially this dialect.”
Kael imdiately lowered his gaze, taking care not to reveal even by accident that he understood their speech.
He literally forced himself not to move and even slowed his breathing, remaining on his knees beneath the crushing pressure of the old beastfolk’s aura.
And in the next mont, the voice of the blurred beastfolk reached him again, “Varek thul-draan… khor ul-veth Magor Thar-Khaz. Nakh draven ul-gar, nar vekh drogh-tal.”
Kael’s mind almost imdiately provided the translation: “There are still four Spiritual Weapon Mages at the palace. We need to lure away at least a few of them, then we can slip inside.”
Almost imdiately after those words, the old beastfolk answered in a calm voice, “Dra rorig. Khar-vor nakh l.”
“I will handle that. If it fails, we'll have to take the risk.”
But this ti, the second beastfolk’s response sounded noticeably more tense: “Vhar… nar-vek? Khator ul-dram narak… Garen-Gild varakh tul.”
“Are you… certain? The Generals may not be in the city, but the Guild Heads are still powerful.”
The old beastfolk rely tightened his grip on the dead soldier’s neck a little more before coldly replying, “Imper varakh ul-khar za chas. Nakh vekh-tor Rodoslav Istok… Patriarkh zhur skhal-nar.”
And once again, a translation surfaced in Kael’s mind: “The Imperial forces will suppress the chaos within an hour at most. If we fail to steal the Imperial Bloodline Source… the Patriarch will skin us alive.”
And the mont Kael heard those words, his pupils narrowed sharply.
Only through a trendous act of will did he stop himself from flinching or even changing his breathing.
“What the hell did I just hear?” he thought, feeling anxiety rapidly building inside him.
Slowly raising his gaze, Kael looked toward the two beastfolk again.
“So this is their true objective…”
Until this mont, he had still considered the possibility that this was rely a large-scale slave uprising or an attempt by the beastfolk to sow chaos throughout the Capital. But now everything was beginning to form an entirely different picture.
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And the mont Kael connected everything he had heard, a chill ran through him.
“This is very bad…” he thought grimly. “If the beastfolk really manage to steal the Imperial Bloodline Source, the Empire won't simply weaken… the beastfolk themselves will beco stronger.”
And that was the most frightening realization of all.
Because Kael had read many historical texts describing situations exactly like this. Understanding that, a soul-chilling thought flashed through his mind:
“If the balance of power shifts completely in favor of the beastfolk, sooner or later it won't be just the Empire that falls… the entire Human Dinsion will end up beneath the beastfolk's yoke, including Lasthold…”
Clenching his jaw a little tighter, Kael thought darkly:
“I may not feel any attachnt to the Empire… but if the Human Dinsion falls, the lives of humans—including those close to —will beco worse than death.”
But in the next mont, Kael’s thoughts ca to an abrupt halt.
The old beastfolk suddenly raised a hand to his mouth, as though preparing to recite a prayer. Almost imdiately, a thick dark-green sludge began seeping from his pores.
It slowly ran down his arm, dripped onto the ground, and then unexpectedly began spreading across the pavent like a living mass. Within seconds, the sli divided into multiple portions, and each one rapidly started to grow.
Kael’s eyelids twitched involuntarily, because right before his eyes, exact copies of the old beastfolk began taking shape from the green substance. They looked so identical to the original that even their auras were almost indistinguishable.
And the mont the final clone fully ford, the old beastfolk calmly said, “Vakhar.”
In the next instant, every copy shot forward simultaneously.
They raced off in different directions with such speed that the air briefly whistled, then one after another leapt onto the rooftops of the surrounding buildings, quickly vanishing into the chaos of the Capital.
anwhile, the old beastfolk and his subordinate suddenly surged forward, heading directly toward the Imperial Palace.
And as soon as the old beastfolk and his subordinate disappeared into the distance, the monstrous aura that had been crushing everything around them seed to dissolve into the air.
Kael sucked in a sharp breath and imdiately began coughing, bracing himself against the ground with both hands. His body still trembled faintly from the pressure he had endured, and his muscles ached unpleasantly, as though he had participated in a full-scale battle.
For several seconds, he simply breathed greedily, trying to calm his wildly pounding heart.
Then he abruptly lifted his gaze toward the Imperial Palace.
Even from here, countless flashes of mana could be seen above the Capital’s central district.
“I need to find Elder Cornelius… imdiately…” Kael rasped, quickly rising to his feet.
In the next mont, his gaze involuntarily darted toward Lesser Amber Street.
Toward the place where Violet, Girren, and the others were.
For a brief mont, the desire rose within him to simply run to them, make sure they were truly safe, and remain by their side, if only for a little while.
But Kael forced himself to look away almost imdiately.
“Sorry, guys…” he thought. “I’ll help you later.”
Clenching his fists inside the silver gauntlets, Kael abruptly turned toward the narrow alley from which he had originally arrived.
“We can’t allow the Guild Heads to be lured away from the Imperial Palace by these diversions…” he thought tensely, already beginning to calculate a route. “If the beastfolk manage to deceive them…”
But quickly pushing those thoughts aside, Kael imdiately launched himself forward, darting back into the narrow alley.
“The Imperial Palace isn’t that far…” he muttered under his breath as he accelerated sharply. “But running through the central streets is too dangerous. I’m still too weak.”
Clenching his jaw, Kael hissed grimly, “I just have to make it in ti…”
However, he had not even covered a hundred paces when a human figure suddenly appeared ahead, running directly toward him.
Kael was about to shout that there was a safe zone behind him under military protection, but the words suddenly caught in his throat.
He ca to an abrupt stop, his boots sliding slightly across the stone.
“Aiden?” Kael tensed imdiately. “Shouldn’t he be in the Student Quarter…”
And almost at once, an unpleasant premonition flared within him.
“This can’t be good.”
At that mont, Aiden also slowed to a stop about ten paces away.
A broad smile slowly spread across his face, and his blue eyes glead openly with malice.
Taking a step forward, he spoke almost amiably, “What a surprise, my friend.”
But Kael rely narrowed his eyes coldly.
“I don’t have ti for this right now, Aiden.”
In response, however, Aiden only burst into loud laughter.
The next instant, he suddenly pulled a paper talisman from his belt and imdiately hurled it forward.
Kael instantly shifted aside, and the talisman whistled past him, sticking firmly to the wall of a nearby building.
“What are you—” Kael began, sharply turning his gaze toward the paper talisman.
But the mont he saw the inscriptions drawn across it, his expression imdiately darkened.
“Damn!”
At that sa instant, the talisman erupted in a blinding flash.
A powerful explosion thundered out, and part of the nearby building’s wall literally peeled away, crashing down across the alley with a deafening roar. Stone blocks and splintered wood flew in all directions, throwing up a cloud of dust.
Kael barely managed to lunge forward to avoid being buried beneath the debris.
But that was exactly what Aiden had been waiting for.
A long sword had already appeared in his hand, covered in writhing blue lightning. The blade sliced through the air with a whistle, hurtling straight toward Kael.
“What are you doing?!” Kael roared, abruptly striking the air with a pulse of gray mana.
His body was instantly jerked sideways, forcibly changing its trajectory. Aiden’s sword passed within a finger’s width of Kael’s chest, splitting the wall behind him apart in a flash of lightning.
But the mont Kael hit the ground and rolled, Aiden imdiately leapt backward, once again blocking the entire passage.
Blue sparks continued crawling across his sword, arms, and shoulders, while the smile on his face only widened.
“Why are you in such a hurry?” Aiden drawled almost cheerfully. “Don’t you want to talk a little before you die?”
Kael twisted sharply, bleeding off the montum of his roll, and instantly sprang back to his feet.
The first thing he did was glance sharply behind him.
The collapsed section of the building completely blocked the narrow alley. Massive stone blocks and beams sealed the passage so thoroughly that there was no way to break through the rubble quickly.
And Aiden was already standing ahead of him.
Lightning continued crawling across his sword, shoulders, and arms, illuminating the narrow alley with blue flashes.
Seeing the look in Kael’s eyes, Aiden rely laughed in satisfaction.
“What a useful talisman…” he drawled with a smirk. “Too bad Valkeris only gave one.”
For a mont, fury boiled inside Kael.
But he almost imdiately suppressed it through sheer force of will, understanding that now was not the ti to lose his head.
“Get the hell out of my way!” Kael roared, clenching his fists inside the silver gauntlets. “I don’t have ti for you right now!”
Yet Aiden only kept smiling.
And then Kael abruptly released all of his mana.
Gray energy flared around his body, pressing the dust to the ground, and the air in the alley noticeably grew heavier.
“You damn brat!” Kael roared even more furiously. “If the Human Dinsion falls because of you, it’ll be the greatest joke in the world!”
At those words, Aiden’s face twisted into a snarl.
“Who the hell are you calling a brat, bastard?!” he bellowed, and the lightning around his sword imdiately intensified. “Today I’ll make you pay for everything! My family’s honor will be restored!”
But Kael rely hissed back with contempt, “Your family’s honor? You’ve got to be kidding …”
At that mont, sothing seed to change in his amber eyes.
His gaze beca colder and sharper, as though the last remnants of doubt had finally vanished from within him.
Slowly raising his head, Kael murmured, “I thought the grudges of my past life had long been left behind… But apparently, I was wrong.”
With those words, he slowly settled into a combat stance.
Gray mana flowed in a thin layer across the silver gauntlets, and the air around Kael’s hands began to tremble faintly.
“It seems…” he said coolly, never taking his eyes off Aiden, “people like you need to be killed without hesitation.”
Aiden rely smirked in response, clearly intending to throw another insult back.
But Kael’s next words froze the smile on his face.
“I don’t have much ti,” Kael said calmly. “So I’ll try to send you to your grandfather quickly and without suffering.”
Aiden frowned.
“To my grandfather?” he said slowly. “What the hell are you talki—”
But Kael did not even let him finish.
“Your grandfather has been dead for a long ti,” he said coldly. “And like the scum he was, he died in terrible agony.”
For a mont, a tense silence hung in the alley.
Then Aiden suddenly roared, “Lies! You damn liar!”
The lightning around his sword flared brighter at once, and he nearly shouted, “The only one who’ll suffer here is you!”
Yet despite the bravado, Kael noticed the most important thing—Aiden’s hand had trembled ever so slightly. Just for an instant, as though his mind had indeed been shaken by what he heard.
And that was enough.
Kael’s eyes narrowed sharply.
The next mont, he was already charging forward.
“Did you think you were a predator cornering its prey?!” Kael roared, instantly closing the distance.
Gray mana flashed across his silver gauntlet as he drove his fist forward.
Only at the last possible mont did Aiden manage to raise his sword to et the attack.
A sharp tallic crack rang out.
Sparks and lightning burst in every direction, while Aiden was imdiately hurled backward. His boots screeched across the stone, gouging furrows into the pavent.
But the worst part was sothing else.
Aiden had not even co to a complete stop when he suddenly felt as though his sword had been filled with lead.
“What the—?!” he bellowed, barely managing to keep hold of the weapon with one hand.
Only now did Aiden realize that, during the collision, Kael’s gray mana had already infiltrated the blade.
And while he struggled to regain his balance, the sword’s weight continued to increase at a terrifying rate.
Aiden’s face twisted.
Lightning imdiately surged into the hilt and blade, furiously burning the foreign mana out of the weapon. Raising his head, Aiden hissed venomously, “Impossible. But I…”
He was interrupted once again by Kael’s mockery.
“A what? A Silver Mage?” Kael said coldly.
As he spoke, Kael made a short flick of his hand, simultaneously driving the remnants of Aiden’s thunder mana out of the gauntlet. During the clash, so of the lightning had managed to seep into the weapon, leaving an unpleasant numbness in his fingers and forearm.
Gray mana imdiately flowed through the inner segnts of the gauntlet, completely expelling the foreign energy.
And Kael was already taking another step forward.
“You’re just trash who has only managed to develop part of your mana channels,” he continued, never taking his eyes off Aiden. “You don’t deserve to be called a true Silver Mage.”
At those words, Aiden’s face contorted instantly.
“Shut up!” he roared.
At the sa mont, a bright blue mark in the shape of a tiny lightning bolt flared on his forehead.
A surge of thunder mana imdiately swept through Aiden’s body.
Lightning coiled violently across his arms, shoulders, and back, while the air around him began crackling with electrical discharges. Almost imdiately, translucent floating blades ford beside him, woven entirely from thunder.
They slowly circled around Aiden, releasing blinding blue flashes.
“I wanted to make you suffer…” he growled, raising his sword. “But now I’ll just kill you!”
And the mont those words left his mouth, every thunder blade around Aiden shot forward at once.
The blue blades shrieked through the narrow alley, ricocheting off the walls and leaving glowing furrows in their wake. The air instantly filled with the crackle of lightning and the sll of scorched stone.
Aiden charged right behind them.
His body practically transford into a flash of blue lightning, rapidly closing the distance.
But Kael rely clenched his teeth.
The next mont, he slamd his gauntlets together, simultaneously releasing two powerful pulses of gray mana.
The air in front of him exploded.
Several of the thunder blades were imdiately knocked off course. So slamd into the walls, while others veered upward, tearing through the masonry and showering the alley with debris.
But Kael did not even attempt to defend against every attack.
Instead, he imdiately lunged forward himself, straight through the remnants of the assault.
Several thunder blades slashed across his body at once. One burned through his shoulder, another skimd along his side, leaving behind a black, smoking scorch mark, while a third tore open the skin on his thigh.
Pain shot through Kael, but he did not so much as flinch.
“I don’t have ti to fight carefully…” flashed through his mind coldly as he continued charging through the lightning. “I need to kill him instantly!”
In the next mont, Aiden’s real sword was already reflected in Kael’s amber pupils, covered in roaring lightning and hurtling straight toward him.
“Now!” Kael roared inwardly and drove his right arm forward.
In that brief instant, both of them poured all their strength into the strike.
Aiden roared as every trace of thunder mana around him surged into the sword. The blue blade erupted with blinding light, and the surrounding air began to hum.
But Kael rely gritted his teeth harder.
Gray mana flooded into the silver gauntlet in a violent torrent, increasing its weight many tis over. The stone beneath Kael’s feet imdiately cracked and sank, unable to bear the load.
And then they collided.
The narrow alley literally exploded.
The shockwave thundered outward in all directions, while fragnts of stone and clouds of dust were thrown into the air all at once.
Lightning imdiately surged through Kael’s body.
Blue arcs burned across his chest, neck, and arms, leaving blackened scorch marks and filling the air with the sll of charred flesh.
Triumph flared in Aiden’s eyes.
He could clearly see his lightning devouring Kael’s body, and he was already anticipating the mont he would finally overwhelm his opponent with his mana.
But in the very next instant, Aiden sensed that sothing was wrong.
Despite the roaring lightning and the monstrous pressure of mana, Kael had not retreated even a single step. His body only trembled slightly from the lightning coursing through it, while the silver gauntlet continued slowly forcing the sword back.
And only now did Aiden suddenly realize that the pressure was increasing.
Aiden’s eyes widened abruptly as he understood that, sohow, his own sword was being forced back toward him.
At that mont, ti seed to freeze.
Kael’s and Aiden’s gazes t for only a fraction of a second, but that was enough.
Kael’s face remained terrifyingly calm. Despite the lightning burning through skin and flesh, he did not even wince from the pain, continuing to slowly drive his strike forward.
Aiden’s face, however, began to change.
The triumph in his eyes quickly twisted into confusion, and then into fear.
He had not even noticed that his sword had gradually begun moving back toward him. A mont later, pain shot through Aiden’s arms and shoulder, as though the bones inside were beginning to crack under the monstrous pressure.
It was in that brief instant that Kael sharply pivoted on his heel, driving the strike forward with an additional pulse of gray mana.
The next mont, the alley exploded with thunder once more.
A sickening wet crunch rang out.
And then a soul-rending scream pierced the air.
Aiden’s body was hurled away like a rag doll. He tumbled across the ground several tis, spraying blood across the walls and pavent, while his sword flew off sowhere with a tallic clang.
“AAAAAAAH!” Aiden scread, trying to push himself up.
But the mont he saw his own arms, genuine horror flared in his eyes.
Bones protruded through the skin in several places, while his arms themselves were twisted and crushed into unnatural shapes. His ribcage had also partially caved inward, causing every breath to be accompanied by a hideous wheeze.
A bloody cough mixed with sparks of residual lightning burst from Aiden’s mouth.
“No… NO! Khaa!” he scread, writhing on the blood-soaked ground.
“Kgh…” ca from Kael’s side.
Blood was running down his chin as well. Black burns in the shape of branching lightning bolts slowly spread across his chest, neck, and right arm. His muscles twitched unpleasantly from the lightning coursing through them, and many patches of skin throbbed with searing pain.
But Kael seed not to notice any of it.
He simply straightened slowly and strode toward Aiden.
And that was when Aiden truly panicked.
As he looked at the calmly approaching Kael, terror finally overwheld him.
“No! Spare !” Aiden rasped, trying to crawl backward with his shattered arms. “This was all Valkeris! He made do it!”
But Kael had already crouched beside him.
The next mont, the silver gauntlet clamped around Aiden’s throat, instantly cutting off the stream of screams.
“Shut up,” Kael said coldly. “You’ve already stolen too much of my ti.”
Aiden wheezed desperately, trying to break free, but his broken body barely obeyed him anymore.
Kael rely poured more mana into his weapon.
“Give my regards to your damned grandfather,” Kael said calmly. “From my parents… and from Girren.”
Aiden only twitched, clearly not fully understanding the aning of Kael’s words.
But in the very next instant, Kael made his hand far heavier.
A short crunch rang out.
Aiden’s neck snapped instantly, forever sealing that mixture of horror, disbelief, and shock upon his face.
For several seconds, Kael continued looking at Aiden’s dead body.
Then he rely grimaced, feeling a strange mix of emotions inside.
“Killing people is still just as disgusting…” he muttered quietly, wiping the blood from his chin with the back of his gauntlet. “But I suppose I’ll have to get used to it…”
For a brief mont, images of his parents, his sister, the years of imprisonnt, and all the horrors he had endured in his “previous life” surfaced before his eyes once more.
“There’s simply no other way with bastards like that…”
But Kael quickly pushed those thoughts aside.
This was not the ti.
Abruptly rising to his feet, he clenched his jaw and imdiately burst forward down the alley, once again reducing his weight and increasing his speed.
“So you decided to resort to murder, Valkeris?” Kael hissed irritably, vaulting over chunks of broken stone. “And here I thought there was at least a little intelligence in that head of yours.”
Murderous intent flashed through Kael’s eyes.
“One day I’ll repay you in kind…” he thought coldly. “You and Aiden ca from the sa rotten stock.”
But only a few seconds later, his gaze involuntarily flicked back to where Aiden’s body lay.
Kael winced slightly and muttered under his breath, “I’ll have to apologize to Girren… I think he wanted to do that himself.”
With those words, Kael accelerated again as much as his wounded body would allow.
Now he tried to think only about what truly mattered—the beastfolk, the Imperial Bloodline Source, and how to warn the elders before it was too late.
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