## Liam's Perspective
The hotel room stank of mildew. I sat cross-legged on the bed, staring at my laptop screen. The video footage showed Isabelle strapped to a tal table, needles piercing her arms as her blood drained into collection tubes.
Her screams made my hands shake with rage.
"This ends today," I muttered, preparing to upload the video.
The Ashworth approach had failed. Violence wouldn't work against them. But public pressure might. If the world saw what the Veridia City Martial Guild was doing to Isabelle Ashworth—their renowned "princess"—maybe they couldn't ignore it.
I clicked "upload" and watched the progress bar slowly fill. Three minutes to completion.
A cold sensation crawled up my spine.
Soone was coming.
I shut the laptop and moved to the window. The street below appeared empty, but my senses scread danger. The air had changed, becoming charged with martial energy.
Julian Radford had found .
I grabbed my backpack and shoved the laptop inside. The video needed just one more minute to finish uploading. I couldn't leave yet.
Footsteps sounded in the hallway—multiple sets, moving with practiced silence. They were trying to be stealthy, but my enhanced senses caught their movents.
The laptop chid. Upload complete.
I slung the backpack over my shoulder and kicked out the bathroom window. As I squeezed through the opening, the door to my room burst open.
"He's escaping!" a voice shouted.
I dropped two stories, channeling energy to cushion my landing. Pain still shot up my legs, but nothing broke. I sprinted toward the alley behind the hotel.
No ti to look back. I knew they'd follow.
The narrow streets of Eldoria beca my refuge as I weaved through the morning crowd. I blended with workers heading to their jobs, keeping my head down and pace steady.
Three blocks later, I ducked into a public restroom and locked myself in a stall. My phone showed the video was already gaining views. Thousands in just minutes.
Then my screen went black.
Account suspended.
"Damn it!" I slamd my fist against the stall door, denting the tal.
The Guild's influence reached everywhere. Of course they'd take it down imdiately.
I needed a new plan. Maybe I could—
My thoughts froze as I sensed a presence approaching. Soone had entered the bathroom.
I held my breath, lifting my feet so they wouldn't be visible under the stall door.
Silence.
Then a voice, calm and asured. "I know you're here, Liam Knight."
Julian Radford. The Guild's elite hunter.
I remained silent, calculating my options. The bathroom had one entrance, one exit. Julian stood between and freedom.
"Impressive evasion tactics," he continued. "But futile." The fu!ll s^e#rie@s is h&o!sted on My V.i%r$tu%a-l# Lib*ra!r-y& Em@pi@re!, k.n@o&wn* as *.#
I heard him moving closer to my stall.
"Do you know how I found you?" He sounded almost conversational. "A single strand of hair from the hotel room. Your DNA carries a unique energy signature. Once I have that..."
His hand slamd against my stall door, the impact shaking the entire wall.
"I can track you anywhere."
I kicked the door outward with all my strength. It tore off its hinges, slamming into Julian and sending him stumbling backward.
I didn't wait to see if I'd hurt him. I charged past, shoulder-checking another Guild operative who'd entered behind Julian.
Back on the street, I ran without direction, letting instinct guide . If Julian could track my energy signature, distance was my only temporary advantage.
Two hours later, I sat in the back of a moving bus, heading east toward the rendezvous point the Lord of the Celestial Apothecary Guild had ntioned.
My phone buzzed with a ssage from an encrypted number:
"Video taken down. Three mirror sites up. Spreading now. -M"
Mariana Valerius. Even in hiding, she was still helping .
I allowed myself a small smile. The Guild might control official channels, but they couldn't plug every leak. People would see what they were doing to Isabelle.
The bus lurched over a pothole, jogging from my thoughts. Through the window, I saw mountains rising in the distance. The eastern border wasn't far.
Just two more days until the eting of the Five Great Powers. If I could stay alive until then...
The hair on my neck stood up again.
I looked around the bus. Normal passengers. Nothing suspicious.
But the feeling persisted.
I got off at the next stop, a small roadside diner. As I stepped down from the bus, I saw them—four figures in casual clothes, watching from different positions around the parking lot.
Guild operatives. They'd found again.
I entered the diner, ordered coffee, and sat at a table with a view of all entrances. The operatives didn't follow imdiately. They were coordinating, setting up a periter.
How had they found so quickly? Julian's tracking ability was powerful, but I'd taken precautions, using techniques to mask my energy signature.
Unless...
I checked my backpack and clothing, searching for tracking devices. Nothing.
Then it hit .
The strand of hair.
Julian didn't just use it once for tracking. He'd sohow maintained the connection, like a hunter following a scent trail.
I downed my coffee and left cash on the table. The eastern mountains offered my best chance—terrain I could use to my advantage.
I slipped out through the diner's back exit, sprinting toward the tree line behind the building. The forest would provide cover, and the mountains beyond would force my pursuers to follow on foot.
For hours I pushed deeper into the wilderness, using every technique I knew to mask my trail. I crossed streams, doubled back, and laid false tracks.
Night fell. I made camp in a small valley, hidden beneath an overhang of rock. No fire. Cold rations from my pack. Every sense alert for danger.
Sleep ca in short bursts—twenty minutes at a ti, never deep enough to leave vulnerable.
Dawn broke with a heavy mist shrouding the valley. Perfect conditions to continue my journey east.
I packed quickly and moved out, staying low and using the fog as cover.
Two miles later, the mist began to thin. Sunlight filtered through the trees ahead, revealing a clearing I needed to cross.
I paused at the tree line, scanning the open space for any sign of threat. Nothing moved. No unusual sounds.
Too quiet.
Birds should be singing. Small animals should be stirring.
I took a step back, ready to find another route.
Too late.
Four figures materialized from the trees on the opposite side of the clearing. Not just Guild operatives—Martial Marquises, each radiating enough power to level a building.
They'd set a trap, and I'd walked right into it.
"Liam Knight," called one of them, a woman with silver streaks in her dark hair. "By order of the Veridia City Martial Guild, you are to surrender yourself imdiately."
I dropped my backpack and shifted into a fighting stance. "Not happening."
The four spread out, moving with fluid precision to surround .
"Your choice makes little difference," said another, a broad-shouldered man with a scar across his face. "You leave here either conscious or unconscious."
I gathered my energy, preparing for what would likely be the hardest fight of my life.
Then I felt it—another presence. More powerful than the four Marquises combined. A presence that had sohow approached without triggering my senses.
"Impressive posturing," ca a voice from behind . "But ultimately pointless."
I turned slowly.
Julian Radford stood ten paces away, his expression neutral, almost bored. He wore a simple gray tunic and black pants—practical clothing that belied the deadly power he contained.
"How did you mask your approach?" I demanded.
A slight smile touched his lips. "Trade secret."
The four Marquises closed in, forming a perfect circle around .
"Surrender now," Julian said calmly, "and I'll ensure your punishnt is rely of the flesh. Continue to resist, and I cannot promise the sa rcy."
I spat on the ground between us. "Go fuck yourself. I'll punish your mother's flesh."
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