Kael walked beside Liora, his gaze flicking between the quiet lane ahead and the faint reflections of movement in the shop windows they passed.
Three shadows still followed at a careful distance. Patient. Measured. A predator's patience.
«You know,» Kael said casually, «there's a little square just ahead that's always lively at this hour. Street food, music… I think you'd like it.»
Her face brightened immediately. «Really? Let's go then.»
A few turns later, they stepped into the glow of lanterns strung above a bustling plaza. Street performers juggled glowing orbs, musicians played a lively tune, and the air smelled faintly of grilled skewers and sweet bread. The space was crowded enough to make an ambush impossible without witnesses.
Perfect.
Kael stopped beside a honey cake stall. «Why don't you wait here? I'll grab us some drinks to go with the sweets.»
She nodded. «Don't take too long.»
«I won't.»
He waited just long enough to see her lean against the counter, watching the performance with a relaxed smile. Then he slipped into the crowd, weaving through the bodies with an ease that came from long practice.
Within three turns, the light and noise of the square fell away.
By the time he emerged in the shadowed lane, Kael was gone.
In his place stood the Ghost.
The white mask, curved into a smiling expression, caught the faint light. Shadows clung to him like they belonged there, his presence pressing against the senses like a weight. His aura was invisible to all but the most trained mana readers, yet it carried the unmistakable feeling of something wrong.
He didn't walk. He appeared. One moment, the alley was empty; the next, he stood behind the three cultists.
The tall man stiffened first, a hunter's instinct warning him too late. He half-turned, eyes narrowing, his jaw clenching.
«Enjoying the night?» the Ghost asked, voice smooth but with an edge that hinted at knives hidden behind the words.
The hooded woman tensed, mana sparking faintly at her fingertips. The limping man's gaze darted around, assessing escape routes.
The Ghost tilted his head. «Not going to answer? That's fine. We can talk somewhere more private.»
Before they could react, the air thickened. Reality warped, not violently, but with a subtle shift that made the hairs on the back of their necks rise. The faint hum of the city faded to nothing. The breeze died. The lanternlight dimmed into a washed-out echo.
The cobblestones, the walls, the night sky, they were still there, but they weren't.
The woman's eyes widened. «A sealed dimension…»
The limping man's voice was tight. «Powerful one. He's… advanced.»
The Ghost chuckled, the sound low and amused. «Flattery won't save you. But points for recognizing good craftsmanship.» He gestured vaguely. «Welcome to your own little box. No witnesses. No way out. Just me, and the bill you've run up with me.»
The tall man's lips curled. «We don't even know who you are.»
«You will,» the Ghost said lightly. «Though not for long.»
The woman's mana flared; she drew a charm-laced dagger. The limping man shifted his weight, his own blade catching the dim light. The tall man cracked his neck.
They'd decided to fight.
Good, Kael thought. It's more fun when they resist.
The tall man moved first, fast, faster than most could follow, his black-flame blade sweeping for the Ghost's head.
Kael's hand twitched. Space folded, and the strike passed through empty air, reappearing a meter to the side.
«That's adorable,» the Ghost said, stepping into the man's guard and shoving him back with a single palm strike. The force carried him ten steps before he dug his heels in.
The limping man came next, dagger aimed for the Ghost's ribs. Kael caught his wrist mid-swing, squeezed until bone cracked, and flung him aside like a sack of grain. The man hit the cobblestones hard, gasping in pain.
The hooded woman launched her spell, a spiraling lance of Void-touched light. The Ghost reached out, caught it between his fingers, and crushed it until it dissolved into dust.
«You'll have to try harder than that,» he said.
They regrouped, circling. The Ghost let them, shifting just enough to keep them all in his line of sight.
Inside, his mind was already cataloging them.
The limping one? Weakest. Break him early to scare the other two.
The woman? Skilled enough to be annoying, but predictable.
The tall one? He's mine.
And not because of his strength. No, because Kael could still see that slow, predatory smile he'd given Liora.
The Ghost's voice was mild, but venom curled beneath it. «You know, I wasn't going to bother drawing this out. But then you had to notice her. Target her. That means you've earned… special treatment.»
The tall man sneered. «That girl with white hair? You know her? Are you perhaps a hiden guardian for her or maybe related to her? Whatever it is I don't car, I'll make sure She'll scream for us before …»
He didn't finish.
The Ghost was in front of him before the last word could leave his mouth. A twisting ripple in the air marked the instant jump; his knee slammed into the tall man's gut with bone-rattling force.
The man staggered, coughing blood.
«Oh, don't worry,» the Ghost murmured. «I'll make sure you scream first.»
The limping man lunged again, desperation making him reckless. Kael caught the dagger mid-thrust, snapped the blade in two with a casual flick, and kicked him square in the chest. The blow sent him sprawling into the woman, disrupting her casting.
They recovered quickly, credit where it was due, and attacked in tandem.
The woman's spell flared again, wrapping her blade in a shimmering curse. The limping man tried to flank. The tall one came in from the front, blade swinging low this time.
Kael's world slowed.
He stepped between them like he was strolling through a garden, weaving through their strikes with impossible precision. A twist of space sent the limping man's lunge stabbing into the woman's side; her blade deflected, sparks flying.
The tall man swung again, only for his target to vanish. The Ghost reappeared behind him, a hand resting almost gently on his shoulder.
«Slow,» Kael murmured, and slammed his elbow into the back of the man's skull. The tall man crumpled to his knees.
Kael straightened, voice still conversational. «Here's how this is going to work. I'm going to break you. Slowly. You'll tell me what I want to know. And the only choice you have is whether you do it conscious or not.»
The limping man cursed, charging again. The Ghost's shadow stretched unnaturally, rising from the ground like tendrils to wrap around the man's legs. He hit the cobblestones face-first.
The woman tried to retreat, muttering a rapid incantation. A tiny sphere of warped space bloomed in Kael's palm; he flicked it toward her. The moment it touched, her own magic collapsed in on itself, knocking her breathless.
He glanced at the tall man, who was staggering back to his feet. «You're first. I'm going to make sure you never even think about her again.»
The Ghost stood in the center of the sealed street, white mask fixed in that eternal curve of amusement. The three cultists panted in a loose triangle around him, battered but not broken. Not yet.
Kael could feel it, they were getting desperate. Desperation made people show their cards. He wanted that.
«Still standing?» His voice was light, mocking. «Good. I'd be disappointed if you folded too quickly.»
The tall man's shoulders heaved. He spat a glob of blood onto the cobblestones. «You'll regret keeping us alive this long.»
The hooded woman hissed something in their tongue, a quick, sharp warning. The limping man just gripped his dagger tighter, eyes darting in a frenzy between Kael and his allies.
Then, without another word, they moved.
The tall man slammed his palm against his own chest, right over the heart. A black sigil flared across his skin, pulsing like a heartbeat. His aura swelled instantly, violent, raw, suffocating.
Kael's eyes narrowed. Life force burn.
His mana signature twisted, threads of void-taint bleeding into it. Not the diluted corruption Kael had felt before, this was thicker, denser. Pure Void energy… from a human.
Impossible. Humans couldn't hold that power without it eating them alive. Unless… they'd been altered.
The tall man's eyes turned a bottomless black. A faint shimmer of void rippled along his muscles as he gripped his black-flame blade and charged.
When the strike came, it split the air like tearing cloth. The sheer pressure of it cracked the cobblestones under Kael's feet.
Kael caught it on a single shadow-forged blade, the impact rippling outward in a visible distortion of space.
«Not bad,» the Ghost murmured. «But power without control is just noise.»
The woman's voice rose suddenly, melodic and heavy with layered mana. She pulled back her hood, revealing striking, symmetrical features framed by pale hair. Her eyes glowed like molten gold.
The magic poured from her in waves, each word a hook meant to sink into the minds of those who heard it.
Serve me. Obey me. You are mine.
Kael didn't so much as flinch. He felt the charm wash over him and break instantly, like water on glass.
She didn't realize yet, she never would, that his immunity to all debuffs, curses, and negative effects wasn't a defense. It was an absolute. To him, her «ultimate» charm was little more than background noise.
But the spell hit the tall man and the limping man too. For a moment, their eyes glazed over, not from submission, but because her charm wasn't aimed at them. She was amplifying herself, making everything she did harder to predict, harder to counter, harder to look away from.
She lunged in close, blade flashing, her movements enhanced by the pull of her magic. Against anyone else, it would have been disorienting. Against Kael, it was merely… noisy.
The limping man's lips peeled back in a snarl. He drove his cursed dagger into his own thigh.
The change was immediate. Flesh warped, twisting and stretching, muscle fibers snapping and reforming. His bones popped audibly. In the space of three breaths, the man was gone, replaced by a sinewy, hunched void beast.
Its skin was pitch-black, veined with glowing red cracks. Its head was a twisted mockery of a predator's skull, jaw lined with too many teeth. It dropped to all fours, claws gouging the stone.
Kael's gaze sharpened. Cursed rank. Fast.
The beast blurred forward, vanishing from the untrained eye, reappearing at Kael's flank with claws extended.
Three at once. The tall man's void-infused blade from the front. The woman's charm-backed strikes from the side. The beast's claws from the blind angle.
Kael didn't move so much as shift. Space bent around him, placing him a half-step out of reach each time. The tall man's killing swing bit only air; the woman's blade skimmed harmlessly past his coat; the beast's claws sliced through a distorted afterimage.
«You're all so… enthusiastic,» the Ghost said, his voice carrying that infuriating calm. «But you should know… I'm not even trying yet.»
He flicked a hand, and a blade of condensed shadow shot out, nicking the beast's shoulder. Black smoke hissed from the wound as the curse in Kael's magic warred with the curse that made the beast what it was.
The tall man roared, swinging in a flurry of blows so fast the air cracked. Kael met each one with lazy precision, letting the impacts echo in the sealed dimension like hammer strikes.
«You,» Kael said, voice turning colder as he parried, «are first on my list for the way you looked at her.»
The tall man's blade flared brighter, void energy burning hotter. «She'll be nothing when we're done, »
Kael's counterstrike slammed into his ribs, bending him sideways with a grunt of pain. «Wrong answer.»
Kael stepped away from the tall man just as the beast lunged again. This time, Kael didn't dodge. He caught it, one hand on its throat, one on its shoulder, and hurled it into the woman. They tumbled in a heap, her charm sputtering as she struggled to regain balance.
The tall man charged again, pouring more life into his burning sigil. His speed spiked, strength doubling, but Kael could already see the cracks in his body from the strain.
«Going to burn yourself out before I even get started,» the Ghost observed. «How disappointing.»
He sidestepped, let the man's swing carve empty air, then twisted space so that momentum slammed the tall man face-first into the wall. Stone shattered.
The woman regained her footing, snapping a command word that sent a pulse of charm magic across the sealed street. It would have frozen lesser fighters in place, making them drop their weapons and kneel.
Kael didn't even slow. «Your voice is starting to annoy me.» A flicker of black light and the charm collapsed like a sandcastle in the tide.
The beast tried to circle wide for another flank. Kael vanished and reappeared right in front of it, driving a knee into its jaw. The impact snapped its head back and sent it skidding across the cobblestones.
Kael looked at the three of them, panting, wounded, but still defiant, and tilted his head.
«I told you I'd break you slowly. That's still true. But here's the thing…» His voice dropped, colder than ice. «…you made the mistake of putting your sights on her. And for that, I will make sure the last thing you feel before death is the despair of knowing you were nothing to me but an inconvenience.»
The tall man snarled, blood running from his mouth. «She's, »
A twist of space cut off his words, shoving him back. The Ghost's white mask gleamed faintly as he advanced, one slow step at a time.
«Let's finish the warm-up,» he said.