The army finally reached the central square…
And only there…
The real horror appeared.
The old royal palace, once the ruling center of a prosperous city,
had turned into something completely different.
Its walls were covered with a thick layer of dried blood,
but it wasn't paint.
It was alive, solid, hardened like an organic armor protecting something inside the palace.
Every time the wind moved, faint sounds rose from the surface…
like bones grinding slowly against each other.
One soldier stepped closer…
and when he touched the wall with his fingertips…
it moved.
He stumbled back and shouted, because the dried blood "opened" slightly…
as if it was inhaling new air.
Korval stayed silent for a moment…
but his expression changed.
Not because of fear…
but because he recognized power.
"This place…"
he said quietly, almost whispering,
"is soaked in blood.
But it's not only human blood."
He focused his eyes on the walls.
They were carved—not by weapons—
but by claws.
Huge, deep claw marks,
as if a giant creature had tried to break in or out by force.
The ground also carried circular wounds,
as if bloody explosions had erupted from inside the earth itself.
When Korval saw all this,
he understood something important:
"The creature that did this… did not fight."
Then he added with a deadly smile:
"It ripped."
Those words alone made his soldiers swallow hard.
Then something happened that couldn't be explained…
Silence.
Not normal silence.
Not the quiet of wind dying out…
nor the emptiness of an abandoned city.
Total silence.
As if the world stopped.
The whispers in the alleys disappeared.
The breathing walls stopped.
The trembling ground became still.
It was as if the city sensed something…
something approaching it now.
The soldiers looked around with growing fear.
But Korval…
felt it first.
A sensation…
as if invisible eyes were searching his soul.
Pressure on his chest…
A heavy weight…
as if a massive shadowy hand was gripping his heart.
The veins in his neck bulged…
his forehead tightened…
his breathing grew heavy…
But he did not move.
He stood firm, as if facing a storm.
"My lord?! My lord!!"
a soldier cried, trying to reach him.
Korval raised his hand without looking back, ordering him to stay away.
He felt something closer to a beast than a human…
Intent.
A wild intent.
A destructive, raging, insane intent.
Then he murmured softly, but loud enough for all to hear:
"… This… is intent?
So this is what it means to awaken intent…
What an overwhelming force.
But that old man said the one behind this is just a young man.
Who is this boy, for hell's sake?"
When he said "young man"…
some soldiers trembled.
How could a "youth" create something like this?
From deep inside the palace…
another sound began to rise.
Not a scream.
Not a roar.
Not one animal's voice.
A mixture of sounds…
like thousands of torn bodies crawling over each other.
Then the noise became clearer:
Footsteps.
Heavy footsteps…
stiff…
irregular…
as if a massive creature was rebuilding itself while walking.
The walls cracked.
The ceiling shook.
The air in the square grew as heavy as lead.
Soldiers raised their weapons…
but Korval lifted his hand again:
"No one moves."
Then he added in a lower voice:
"This is not the time for stupidity."
Step…
Step…
Step…
The thing inside the palace approached the dark, blood-burnt doorway.
Its footsteps alone made spirits tremble.
Before Ashen—or the giant copy of him—could appear,
another sign appeared.
The shadows inside the hall…
began to gather.
As if the light itself feared something
and retreated backward.
Then the dried blood under their feet started moving again.
But this time…
it wasn't random.
It was flowing toward one point in the palace.
A dark point.
A still point.
A point waiting.
Korval experienced something he had not felt in decades:
He held his breath.
Because he knew…
They…
were no longer alone.
Then…
from within the darkness…
a voice appeared.
Not a whisper.
Not a scream.
Not a fully human word.
A voice…
like a torn throat speaking for the first time after a long death:
"… Wh…o… is… here…?"
Half the army shook violently.
Some collapsed to their knees.
But Korval…
smiled.
A cold, deadly smile.
The smile of a man who had finally found the monster he was searching for.
And he said in a calm, ruthless tone:
"Found it."