Hosan had just left, vanishing into the distance together with several of the shadow troops that obeyed his command.
David’s gaze lingered on the window for a mont before he slowly bent forward. Morning light slipped gently through the gap in the curtains, spilling into the room in faint rays. The golden shafts of light caught on the thin layer of dust floating in the air, making the particles swirl as if they were performing a slow and silent dance.
For a brief instant, David’s hand clenched tightly against the fabric of his trousers, as though trying to suppress the weight of thoughts pressing against his chest. Only after a long pause did he finally turn around.
Without uttering a word, David bent lower and carefully lifted Kareeza, who was still lying motionless on the floor. He carried her in his arms, not unlike the way a father would cradle his infant child. The gentleness of his movents amplified the heavy silence that hung in the room, a silence that felt almost deafening after the chaotic storm that had torn through it only monts earlier. His shoulders sagged slightly as he held the small figure, betraying a kind of reluctance even though his grip remained steady and cautious.
He stared at her for quite a while in his arms, his eyes narrowed with a trace of disdain.
I never thought I would have to do sothing like this for a child of the djinn, he muttered inwardly.
His fingers drumd softly against Kareeza’s arm, a small, almost childish gesture that revealed the irritation he tried so hard to keep buried.
Kareeza, however, looked utterly unbothered. She had fallen into a deep sleep, her small face resting peacefully against him. She looked almost adorable in her slumber, an expression of pure tranquility that sharply contrasted with the shards of broken glass, the overturned furniture, and the general wreckage scattered all around them.
"Ru... ri..." Kareeza mumbled faintly, her lips barely moving. Her quiet breathing, steady and soft, filled David’s ears and made the mont feel strangely suffocating. She was dreaming—dreaming of sothing, or perhaps of soone.
David drew in a long breath, filling his lungs until it almost ached, then slowly exhaled, as if releasing a heavy burden he could not na.
Shifting his attention to the far side of the room, he carried Kareeza toward a small wooden cabinet that stood beside his bed. His steps were deliberate, steady, every movent revealing a cold determination.
He slid open one of the drawers and withdrew a peculiar object from within—a stone, marbled black and white, faintly glowing. It shimred with a muted light, not like sothing that radiated brilliance, but rather like sothing that devoured the surrounding illumination, only to return it as a cold and lifeless gleam.
David’s brows furrowed slightly as the stone trembled within the palm of his hand.
"From now on, you’re a soldier. Forget every trace of the past you once clung to. Stop acting like a spoiled child." His voice was low, almost a whisper, as he pushed magical energy into the stone.
Black-and-white energy rippled from his hand, seeping into the stone. The air around him vibrated faintly, producing a sound like fragile glass on the verge of breaking.
His arm tensed, veins rising visibly along his wrist as the current of energy continued to surge.
And then—
CKRACKK!
The air split apart. A dinsional fissure, roughly the size of a door, ripped open in the middle of the room. The dark oval stretched outward, a blackened tear that revealed nothing but void within. The light from the room was imdiately drawn toward it, making the shadows of furniture elongate grotesquely, twisting across the floor and walls in shapes that seed almost alive.
David’s eyes fixed on the dinsional crack. He lowered his head slightly, closing his eyes as he began to recite a particular chant. His lips moved in quiet rhythm, murmuring words spoken in a voice so low it was not ant for human ears. It was a sound only he, and the beings that should never have existed in the human world, could understand.
From within the rift ca a low rumble, like distant thunder muffled beneath the earth. And then—
SKWUSHHH!
A massive blue tentacle erged slowly, pushing through the tear in reality. Its slimy surface glead wetly under the dim light, viscous fluids dripping from it. Every drop that splattered onto the marble floor hissed and smoked faintly, releasing a pungent, fishy stench that imdiately saturated the air.
David opened his eyes. He stared with a muted gaze, his expression calm but with the faint shadow of disgust flickering across his features. He turned his face briefly aside, pushing away the repulsion, before looking forward again without flinching.
"Discipline her," he commanded flatly, his tone as cold as iron. His chin lifted slightly, a gesture of absolute authority.
GRAB!
The tentacle lunged forward, wrapping around Kareeza’s body with swift precision. It tore her gently but firmly from David’s hold and began pulling her into the dinsional rift. Slowly, inexorably, the void consud her small figure.
Bit by bit, the rift closed upon itself. Within seconds, it was gone, vanishing as if it had never been there. A sickening suction sound echoed briefly in the room, followed by silence. The quiet that returned was even heavier than before, as though the space itself had grown colder.
David stood unmoving, his face a mask of indifference.
"You are a soldier now, Kareeza. You will learn restraint. You will learn obedience. Only then will I be able to command you whenever I want." His words were calm, asured, and rciless. His gaze swept across the room, now a battlefield of wreckage, remnants of Kareeza’s earlier rampage.
He lifted a hand to his temple and rubbed it slowly, shaking his head faintly.
The overturned chair, the cracked table, the shattered vase on the floor—each fragnt stood as silent witness to the storm that had just ended.
A sigh escaped him. He still had school to attend this morning, yet his day had already been marred by two unpleasant encounters: first Yura’s slap, and now Kareeza’s outburst.
His eyes carried a weary light, the kind of exhaustion that suggested the world demanded too much from soone his age—soone who should not have been forced to carry such burdens. His shoulders drooped, his body slumped slightly forward as he stared blankly up at the ceiling.
Just as he was about to summon his shadow troops once more—
DUGH. DUGH!!
"Daviiid! Are you there?!"
A series of sharp knocks rattled the door, accompanied by Vianna’s anxious shout. The sound pierced through the grim atmosphere, yanking him abruptly back into the present reality.
David let out a small huff, the corner of his lips twitching faintly into sothing that resembled a smirk before he turned toward the door.
He buried his face in both hands, as if trying to erase the remnants of everything that had just transpired. By the ti he lowered them, the expression that had been tense and grim only monts earlier had softened into sothing bright, almost cheerful—an expression he had perfected, the face he chose to show his family.
---
anwhile, outside the room—
Vianna had just arrived in front of David’s bedroom door, a place she suddenly realized she had not visited for quite so ti. Or perhaps, if she thought more carefully, had she ever truly set foot here since David started staying in this particular part of the house?
That thought troubled her for a mont, stirring a faint unease, but she quickly dismissed it. There was no way she had never been here before, and yet the sense of unfamiliarity pressed on her all the sa.
Still, such musings mattered little compared to the worry gnawing at her heart right now. What mattered was David. Though on one hand she felt a small asure of relief—the faint trace of dark, ominous energy she had sensed earlier was no longer present—her anxiety still lingered stubbornly.
Unable to bear it any longer, she raised her fist and knocked firmly on the door.
"David! David! Open the door! Are you alright in there?!" she called, her voice tight with urgency as her other hand tried to push the door open with a bit of force.
BEEP!
A soft chi rang from the digital intercom device fixed to the wall.
"What’s wrong, sis? I’m just getting ready. Give a second," ca David’s calm reply through the speaker.
"Really? Are you... are you truly okay?" Vianna pressed again, her tone betraying her worry.
"What do you an, sis? I’m fine. Perfectly fine," David answered, his voice light and almost puzzled, as if he genuinely did not understand why she was so worked up. In truth, he was carefully masking everything that had taken place.
Hearing that, Vianna felt her nerves loosen a little. The oppressive energy she had sensed earlier had slightly vanished, and although questions still piled at the back of her mind, she decided to remain silent for the mont and wait.
Not long after, the door clicked open. David appeared before her, and through the small gap she could see a portion of his room. Nothing looked particularly strange—certainly nothing alarming enough to explain the heavy dread she had felt earlier.
"What’s the matter, sis? It’s been a while since you ca here," David asked, deliberately steering the conversation far away from the earlier commotion. He knew that the racket from his room must have been felt by Vianna, as surely as Uncle Acok and Dedy had noticed as well.
His eyes scanned quickly and confird that only Vianna had co. There was no sign of anyone else approaching. That could only an Sappe had succeeded in diverting Uncle Acok, Dedy, and the other bodyguards elsewhere.
"Ah... David, are you really alright?" Vianna stepped closer, her hands reaching out almost instinctively to check him. She brushed her fingers lightly over his face, down to his shoulders and chest, before cupping both of his cheeks firmly in her palms. Her worried inspection left David a little short of breath.
"Ugh—Sis! What are you doing? I’m not a little kid anymore, you can’t treat like this," he protested with forced playfulness, gently prying her hands away.
"I’m fine, really. Why are you asking that? Did sothing happen?" he said once her hands finally released him.
Vianna only chuckled softly in response. No matter how much he grew, no matter how much ti passed, she would always see David as her younger brother.
"Ahaha..." Her small laugh escaped her lips, carrying with it a wave of relief, as though her frantic dash here that morning had not been in vain. "No, nothing happened. Maybe I was just... dreaming?" she offered, inventing an excuse rather than explaining the strange occurrence that had left the household in panic. "Well, that’s good then. I’m glad you’re fine."
"Heh? What’s that supposed to an, sis?" David replied, feigning annoyance at her evasive answer. Inwardly, though, he was relieved. This ant the incident remained hidden, and the chance of his shadow troops being exposed had diminished for now.
But just as that relief began to take hold, reality struck him once more.
"What’s that?!" Vianna’s voice suddenly rose in alarm as her eyes darted toward David’s window. From the narrow gap between the curtains that opened onto the balcony, she caught sight of sothing shifting outside, and her whole body tensed in response.
David spun around instantly.
Through the narrow gap of the curtains by the window, both of them could see faint movents—dark shadows clashing violently just beyond the edge of their sight.
"David, get out of here right now!" Vianna shouted, panic evident in her voice as she shoved him roughly aside.
Without another word, she dashed forward, using David’s room as her route of entry.
BRAKKK!!
The door slamd wide open under her forceful push, and before her eyes—
A faint protective barrier shimred across the space, obscuring her view sowhat, but not enough to hide what lay within. Inside the barrier, countless black shadows writhed and clashed.
From sowhere deep within, the ground shuddered faintly, sending a vibration through the air strong enough to throw Vianna slightly off balance.
David’s eyes widened at the sight, his panic rising sharply. He rushed closer, his thoughts boiling.
Are they insane? Why would they reveal themselves here?! he cursed inwardly, furious at his shadow troops.
At the sa ti, Al—who had just delivered his final line in the previous Chapter—shifted his gaze slightly, noticing a figure erging at the edge of his vision.
Vianna had appeared, striding onto the scene.
And so, it seed that what awaited them next... was a three-way battle ?
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