Lucus gasped, eyes widening.
"Ahhh… this time… it's for my neck…" he thought grimly.
The Monk's blade descended—but suddenly—
CLANG!
The Monk caught its own blade bare-handed.
A surge of dark Kendra energy flared from its palm, coating the captured blade in crackling blue.
Lucus staggered.
"It blocked… with its hand?!"
The Monk's cracked smile widened.
"You… are…no .. more… interesting."
Before Lucus could react, the Monk stepped forward.
Its other hand surged with dense Kendra energy.
BOOM!
A brutal punch struck Lucus square in the chest.
"Crap—!!"
CRASH!
Lucus's body was hurled backwards, smashing through the
wooden wall of a nearby house, dust and splinters exploding outward.
"Captain!!" Derius screamed, his eyes wide.
Dan chuckled nearby.
"Focus on me, boy."
Derius spun around just as Lysa lunged from behind, aiming her sword at Dan's spine.
Dan smirked.
"Hmm?"
In a blink, he sidestepped.
Lysa's blade slashed empty air as Dan appeared a few feet away, utterly calm.
"Kukuku… sloppy."
Two of the Class B recruits charged in blindly.
"Idiots! Don't!" Derius barked—but too late.
Dan casually raised a glowing palm.
"Tempest Blast."
BOOM!
The two recruits were flung backwards like ragdolls, crashing into the snow, groaning.
Dan glanced back at Derius and Lysa, amusement in his voice.
"Insects."
He extended a hand lazily.
"Now then… your captain is dead. Or close enough. I'll give you one chance."
Dan's expression sharpened.
"Join me."
Silence.
Lysa, standing shakily behind Derius, lowered her blade slightly.
"...Sir…?"
Derius gritted his teeth. His hands trembled, spear clutched tightly.
Behind him, Lysa whispered to herself, terrified:
"Ugh… I'm no good with swords… I need… I need my bow… I can't fight him like this…"
Her knuckles whitened.
"I need my bow… or I'm useless…"
Dan smiled.
"So? What's your answer, little soldiers?"
The snow swirled around them.
And the nightmare wasn't over yet.
Derius's eyes sharpened. Without using his spear, he thrust out his other hand—his left palm crackling with raw Kendra energy.
"Tempest Strike."
But… it wasn't like the usual Tempest Strike.
Instead of a wide, chaotic blast, a concentrated spiral of energy formed—narrow, precise, and focused entirely on a single target.
Dan's eyes widened.
"What…? That's not—!"
BOOM!
The blast hit him point-blank, driving straight into his chest. The concentrated force smashed into his body with brutal precision.
"Ahhhhhh!" Dan roared as he was hurled backward, slamming hard into a wall with a crunch of splintering stone.
Smoke and dust burst out as the wall cracked behind him.
"Brat…!" Dan's voice snarled through the debris.
His cloak smoldered, his grin long gone.
Derius lowered his hand, breathing hard.
His version of Tempest Strike had worked.
A single-target variant.
High damage.
Minimal spread.
A killing move.
"Uhhh… that should've done some damage," muttered Derius, breathing hard.
"Let's move from here," said Lysa urgently. "I have the flare gun—we should alert them."
"Yes," Derius nodded, eyes darting around.
But then, suddenly—a soft whistling sound echoed through the mist.
Derius froze. Lysa too.
"W-What… what should we do now?" Lysa whispered, her voice cracking.
Derius's hands trembled as he tightened his grip on the spear. "We've got no choice... I'm going to die anyway. I'll die fighting."
He forced a shaky breath. "I'll hold him. You run for it, Lysa—call back up. Miss Violet… or my friend Kairoz."
"No!" Lysa snapped, stepping beside him. "He won't let me run. I'm going to die fighting too."
"Tch…" Derius clicked his tongue, planting his feet, readying his spear. Beside him, Lysa gripped her blade tight.
Ahead of them, the Monk's eerie smile widened.
"Hey! Stop it!" Dan suddenly barked at the Monk. "We don't need to kill them."
"What?! He's awake?!" Derius hissed in disbelief.
Dan's voice turned casual. "We're supposed to control them, remember? And I like them."
His gaze shifted lazily toward the two Class B recruits. "Go make them ours first."
The Monk's smile stretched grotesquely. It turned toward the recruits.
They took one look—and ran, screaming into the mist.
"Ahhh! Ahhh! Ahhh!!"
Dan's hand sparked with Kendra energy.
Derius's eyes widened.
"Lysa! Move!" he shouted, pushing her aside.
"Tempest Strike," Dan said calmly.
The blast hit Derius directly.
SLAM! He crashed against the wall.
"Ahhh!" he cried, struggling to get up—only for another blast to slam him again.
Another.
And another.
And another.
"Derius!!" Lysa screamed helplessly.
Blood dripped from Derius's mouth as he lay crumpled, his body battered and broken.
"Kukuku… how do you feel now, brat?" Dan mocked, stepping forward.
Behind him, the Monk floated silently, now joined by the two recruits, their expressions empty—puppets under its control.
Dan glanced at Derius, who still struggled to rise, trembling.
"Kukuku… I knew it. You're different. You're still conscious after all that. Impressive."
He turned lazily toward the Monk.
"Make him and that girl our puppets too."
The Monk began forming dark energy between its cracked hands.
Derius's body refused to move.
Ahh… it's coming… move… move! his mind screamed. But nothing worked.
The Monk's energy sphere crackled, then launched toward him.
At the last second—
SLAM!
Derius felt himself shoved aside.
"Ahhh!" he gasped, stunned.
"H-Huh?! Captain Lucus?!" Lysa's voice cracked in shock.
Lucus, bloodied and weak, stood in Derius's place—directly where the energy had struck. His body trembled.
"Take him… and run for it!" Lucus roared at Lysa, even as his body started convulsing. "GO!!"
"Tch… he's still alive," Dan muttered in annoyance.
Lysa, without hesitation, ran toward Derius, grabbing him desperately.
Behind her, the Monk extended its hand, starting to pull Lucus toward itself like a puppet.
"Where do you think you're running off to?" Dan sneered, preparing another Tempest Strike.
But—
BANG!
A sudden flare shot through the air.
"What?!" Dan snapped, eyes flashing as the red light illuminated the fog.
"Ahhh… great… Lysa…" Lucus gasped weakly, his body half-dragged by the Monk's pull.
Using the momentary distraction, Lysa pulled Derius upright and ran, her breaths ragged.
Dan's voice echoed behind them.
"Hey! You think you can run from us?"
But Lysa didn't look back.
She ran.
"Tch. They ran," Dan muttered, watching the flare fade into the mist. His smirk returned.
"No need to worry. Our people have already surrounded the village. We stay here. And wait."
Beside him, the Monk hovered silently, its eyes flickering like dying embers.
Then came the crackling, broken voice:
"I… want… to kill… the captain…" the Monk rasped.
Dan chuckled darkly, glancing sideways.
"Kukuku… you're getting impatient, aren't you?" He raised a hand lazily, gesturing toward Lucus's collapsed form.
"No need. Let's send this puppet instead."
Lucus twitched.
Dark tendrils of corrupted Kendra energy coiled around his arms like shackles.
Dan's grin sharpened.
"Look. He's already broken."
The Monk's smile stretched unnaturally.
And then… Lucus smiled too.
A hollow, lifeless smile.
Dan's voice was casual, amused:
"Go. Hunt them down."
Without a sound, Lucus sprang forward—his movements unnatural, puppet-like—joined by the two corrupted Class B recruits. Their eyes were empty. Soulless.
Chasing.
Hunting.
At the Main Gate—Squad Strom Division.
Miss Violet stood abruptly, her expression tightening. Her gaze drifted toward the distant center of the village.
"...Something's wrong."
She narrowed her eyes, focusing.
"At the fountain... right in the center... I can feel it..."
Kendra energy. Dense. Suffocating. Twisting unnaturally.
"Ma'am? What happened?" Duke asked, stepping forward, concern clear in his voice.
Miss Violet sat back down heavily, her hand resting on her forehead. Her usual composure cracked—just slightly.
"We've miscalculated..." she whispered, almost to herself.
Duke froze. Jack exchanged a nervous glance with him.
"M-Miscalculated what...?" Jack asked, voice trembling.
Miss Violet looked up at them slowly, her voice hollow.
"Something's happening inside the village. Something… dangerous. There's someone there. Their Kendra energy…"
She clenched her fist tightly.
"...It's so dense, I can feel it from here."
Silence.
Even Duke's breath caught.
Miss Violet's voice turned cold.
Meanwhile… atop the mountain—Squad Raven Fang.
Kairoz stood at the edge of the cliff, eyes narrowing as he looked down toward the mist-shrouded village below.
A flare.
But… something was wrong.
His eyes widened slightly.
"That flare… it wasn't fired into the sky," Kairoz thought grimly. "It was shot horizontally… almost like a signal, not a distress call."
A bad feeling tightened in his chest.
"Isn't that where Derius's squad was patrolling…?"
Behind him, one of the recruits from his squad spoke nervously:
"K-Kairoz… we heard something too. Strange noises… from the village…"
Kairoz's jaw tightened. His dark cloak snapped in the cold wind.
"I'm going down there."
"W-What?! Hey! Didn't Sir order us to hold position?" one recruit blurted, fear in his voice.
Kairoz glanced back, his gaze sharp and cold.
"Didn't Sir order you to follow my command?" Kairoz said coldly, glaring over his shoulder.
The recruits hesitated, then muttered nervously:
"Ahh… a-alright, Sir…"
Kairoz clicked his tongue in irritation.
"Tch… pathetic. Now they even speak my name so easily…" he thought, stalking forward, both swords drawn, eyes scanning.
Then—
His eyes widened.
A glint.
A flash.
A knife.
It came from nowhere.
Kairoz barely twisted aside—the blade slicing past his cheek.
"Ambush!" he barked, voice sharp. "We've been ambushed! Stay alert!"
Before the words even finished—
Thump. Thump. Thump.
A hail of knives rained down from the mist.
"Damn it!" Kairoz snarled, crossing his swords to deflect, parrying some, sidestepping others—but a few slipped past, grazing his arms and shoulders.
Behind him, chaos erupted.
"Ahhh!"
"We're hit!"
"Take cover! Take cover!"
Kairoz's squad scrambled for nearby rocks and broken trees, dragging injured comrades behind cover as more blades rained down.
"Hold position! Find cover now!" Kairoz barked, standing alone in the open.
Knives kept coming.
Calmly, coldly, he focused.
"Try to sense them… focus… sense them"
Then—another blade—straight for his face.
He raised his right sword—CLANG!—blocked it perfectly.
A smirk tugged at his lips.
"Found you."
Kairoz's eyes snapped toward a distant shadow in the mist.
Without hesitation, he lunged forward.
"Found yaaaa!!"