The first thing Singh noticed was the sound.
Bone doesn't normally make a sound when it moves, but the masked spirit masters approaching them gave off a faint, unsettling click… click… click, as if their joints weren't entirely human.
Elira's stance shifted instantly—low, balanced, her blade angled to strike or defend.
"Bone Crystal Pavilion," she whispered. "Masters of bone manipulation, soul bone crafting… and assassination."
The leader stepped forward, removing his mask with deliberate slowness. His face was lean, almost gaunt, and pale to the point of being corpse-like. A white spirit bone jutted from his left cheek like an ornamental tusk.
"You two are trespassing," he said, voice deep and smooth. "That obelisk was not meant to be disturbed."
Singh's grip on the Silent Kunai tightened. "We didn't come looking for trouble. But if you start it—"
"You'll what?" The man's thin smile didn't reach his eyes. "I've heard of you, boy. Twin spirits. Unregistered lineage. That makes you worth more alive… or in pieces."
The Bone Crystal Pavilion agents fanned out in a crescent, surrounding the pair. Singh could feel their spirit power—each one was at least a Spirit Grandmaster, some nearing Spirit Elder rank. Elira was strong, but they were badly outnumbered.
She leaned toward him just enough to whisper, "We can't outrun them in this terrain. We have to break their formation."
Singh nodded. The Eternal Sun Lotus flared in his palm, petals unfolding and radiating a warm, golden glow. Frostshade Vale's mist retreated from its heat.
"Last chance," Singh said, his voice echoing faintly in the cavern. "Walk away."
The leader laughed once. "Take him."
---
The First Clash
Three Pavilion assassins lunged forward, their martial souls manifesting instantly—elongated bone spears erupting from their arms, sharpened to lethal points.
Elira moved first, her spirit ring combinations bursting to life in a streak of silver light. Her blade intercepted the first spear, shattering the bone with a ringing crack. She ducked low, slashing the assassin's leg and sending him stumbling back.
Singh sidestepped the second attacker, the Silent Kunai vanishing from his grip and reappearing behind the man in a blink—Teleport Step, his second ring ability. The kunai slashed deep into the assassin's side before returning to Singh's hand in a swirl of shadow.
The third assassin thrust at Singh's chest—but the Eternal Sun Lotus pulsed. A sudden flare of heat erupted, melting the tip of the bone spear mid-strike. Singh's counterpunch sent the attacker sprawling.
---
The Leader Moves
The leader finally acted. His martial soul manifested with a sickening snap, a massive spine-like whip unfurling from his back, lined with jagged vertebrae.
Spirit rings lit up beneath his feet: yellow, yellow, purple, purple. A Spirit Ancestor.
"Bone Constriction!" he commanded.
The whip lashed out, bone segments locking together around Singh's torso like a skeletal serpent. The pressure was immediate and crushing, stealing his breath.
Elira cried out and rushed to help, but the other assassins closed in, forcing her into a tight defensive spiral.
Singh's vision blurred as the whip tightened. The Silent Kunai trembled in his grip, shadows licking along its blade. His heartbeat slowed—not from weakness, but from focus.
He closed his eyes. The shadow and the sun within him pulsed in unison.
"Twin Resonance."
The Eternal Sun Lotus erupted in golden fire, and the Silent Kunai's shadow bled into it, forming a swirling corona of black-and-gold flames. The whip around him hissed as the heat and corrosive shadow energy ate through its bone segments.
The leader's eyes widened. "Impossible—"
Singh burst free in a shockwave of mixed light and darkness, landing low in a fighter's crouch. "Your turn."
---
Turning the Tide
The assassins hesitated for just a moment, but that was all Singh and Elira needed.
"Cover me," Singh called.
Elira understood without question. Her blade became a silver blur, driving two attackers back and parrying a third.
Singh darted forward, using Teleport Step twice in rapid succession—first to close the gap, then to reappear above the leader's head.
The Silent Kunai spun in his grip, trailing a streak of burning shadow.
"Shadow Sun Strike!"
He brought the blade down, the lotus's golden fire bursting out at the point of impact. The leader barely managed to interpose his bone whip as a shield—but the force of the blow shattered it, the explosion sending him crashing into the cavern wall.
The assassins faltered. Elira didn't. She pressed the attack, her strikes clean and merciless. One assassin fell, then another.
The leader staggered to his feet, coughing blood. "This… isn't over…"
He raised a bone shard from his own arm, runes flaring along its surface. "We know what you are, boy. And now… so will they."
Before Singh could stop him, he stabbed the shard into the ground. A pulse of pale light spread out, vanishing into the earth like a ripple in water.
Then, with a grim smile, he and the remaining assassins retreated into the shadows, vanishing entirely.
---
Aftermath
Elira sheathed her blade slowly, scanning the cavern for any lingering threats. "They're gone."
Singh knelt by the shattered obelisk, touching the fragments. "No. They've sent a signal. Whoever 'they' are."
"Bone Crystal Pavilion works for itself," Elira said. "But sometimes… they take contracts from higher powers."
He looked at her sharply. "You mean Spirit Hall?"
Elira's jaw tightened. "…I mean we can't rule out anything."
The cavern grew colder again, the mist beginning to creep back in. Singh felt the weight of the vision he'd seen earlier—the erased twin-soul wielders, their legacies buried.
Whoever wanted that history gone… was still watching.
And now, they knew exactly where he was.
---
Far Away…
In the grand hall of an unknown fortress, a figure in a black-and-gold robe opened their eyes.
"The boy has awoken the seal," they murmured, voice like velvet over steel. "Prepare the hunters."