"The Mind That Hunts"
The Arrival of the 11th Knight
The wind died without warning.
Birdsong stopped mid-note.
Leaves froze mid-fall.
Even the sound of Violet's breathing hollowed into silence.
Kiyoshi felt it first — a pressure, like invisible fingers gripping his skull.
He's here.
From between the trees stepped a man in pristine silver robes and a mask shaped like an expressionless porcelain face. His presence felt wrong, like thoughts were being swallowed.
Sir Cael Arxen.
11th Knight of Malek.
Veilmind — Synapoc Architect.
"Two children," Cael said calmly, though his voice echoed from every direction. "And yet the 12th Knight falls. I expected more resistance."
Violet gripped her twin Veilblades. "Kiyoshi… this one isn't like the last."
"No," Kiyoshi whispered. "He's the one who thinks before killing."
A pause.
Cael's head tilted.
"You speak as if you understand me."
Kiyoshi smiled, faint and unreadable.
"I already do."
Cael's First Attack
Cael raised a single finger.
Reality shattered like glass.
A wave of psychic force swept outward — not pain, but disorientation. Violet staggered as colors inverted and shadows bled upward like liquid.
"Kiyoshi—! The world—"
"Don't trust your senses," Kiyoshi said sharply.
"He's attacking our perception."
Cael's footsteps did not disturb the leaves.
"You resist well. The average fighter breaks instantly. Perhaps your mind is… elastic."
Kiyoshi didn't answer.
He inhaled slowly — and listened.
The Veil Souls screamed in warning.
"Bend your thoughts, boy."
"Anchor yourself."
"Do not let him in."
Kiyoshi obeyed.
Violet's Strike
"Cover me!" Violet shouted, launching forward.
Her Veildance was flawless — sharp, elegant, shadow-gliding. Ethereal blades spun around her like petals of light.
She slashed at Cael's mask—
Her swords passed through him.
An illusion.
Cael whispered behind her ear:
"Pretty technique."
A mental blast sent Violet tumbling across the dirt.
Kiyoshi didn't move to help.
He spoke instead.
"You rely too much on illusions."
Cael froze mid-step.
"…Explain."
Kiyoshi tilted his head, reading him like a book.
"You can bend perception. Thoughts. Even memories."
"But you're avoiding direct psychic invasion…" His gaze sharpened.
"You're afraid of something, aren't you?"
Cael's aura fluctuated.
A microsecond — but enough.
"You're cautious," Kiyoshi continued. "Paranoid. The last Veilborn you hunted nearly broke your mind, didn't they?"
Cael's silence was confirmation.
Violet stared at Kiyoshi. "You're provoking him—"
"No," Kiyoshi murmured. "I'm rewriting the battlefield."
⸻
The Trap
Cael snapped.
"Silence."
The world folded in on itself — a labyrinth of mirrored forests where reflections moved wrong, smiling when their originals didn't.
A Synaptic Labyrinth.
Kiyoshi and Violet were separated instantly.
Her reflection whispered with her voice:
"He'll abandon you too."
Violet tightened her grip. "Shut up."
Meanwhile, Kiyoshi calmly observed nine reflections of Cael circling him.
"An impressive structure," Kiyoshi said.
"You can't escape it," Cael replied. "Your mind is caged."
"Is it?"
Kiyoshi closed his eyes.
And listened.
To the souls buried beneath the forest.
To the killers.
To the madmen.
To the fallen Veilminds.
Their memories poured into him.
"See through thought."
"Ignore illusion."
"Walk forward."
Kiyoshi opened his eyes.
He stepped forward.
And the labyrinth collapsed.
Cael stumbled back.
"That—should be impossible."
Kiyoshi brushed dust off his sleeve.
"You mistake me for someone playing your game."
"I'm simply refusing to acknowledge it."
⸻
The Escape Plan
Cael grew serious.
"You two have no chance. Surrender peacefully, and I will erase your suffering quickly."
Kiyoshi ignored him. Instead, he looked at Violet across the clearing.
"Violet."
She nodded instantly — trusting him without hesitation.
Kiyoshi whispered:
"Run straight. Don't look back."
Cael scoffed. "You can't outrun a mind—"
Kiyoshi cut him off sharply:
"I wasn't talking to you."
He reached quietly into the ground with his Veilborn sense — into the corpses buried long ago.
A forgotten battlefield beneath the soil.
Old soldiers.
Old rage.
Old memories.
Kiyoshi whispered to them.
"Wake."
The earth trembled.
Spectral arms burst from the dirt — grabbing Cael's feet, wrists, and shoulders all at once.
"Impossible—! These souls should be ash!"
Kiyoshi smirked.
"You overestimated your illusions…
and underestimated mine."
To Violet:
"Now."
She grabbed Kiyoshi's wrist, and they sprinted into the deeper forest as Cael tore through the restraints with a psychic scream.
⸻
The Knight's Vow
Cael erupted behind them, eyes glowing violet.
"You can run for now—
but the next time we meet…"
His voice warped, echoing through the trees and their minds.
"I will erase not just your body…
but your name."
Kiyoshi didn't look back.
"Good," he said softly.
"Then I will make sure the world remembers it first."
⸻
**Chapter 6 End —
A Mind That Hunts, A Mind That Learns**
Kiyoshi realized something new:
Strength alone cannot defeat the Twelve Knights.
But intelligence, manipulation, and the Veilborn's gifts…
Those could tear empires apart.
And Cael realized something even more terrifying:
The boy he hunted was learning too fast.