The stone streets of Noctera pulsed with unease. The fog lay thick tonight, but it wasn't natural—it was breathing, alive, laced with Ether and bloodlust. Somewhere in this once-calm northern city of the Mystra Realm, something was hunting.
Kev walked with measured steps, cloak dragging against the dirt. Two years had changed everything. His appearance, his presence, his power—and yet, the past still chased him.
Literally.
He felt the presence long before the figure stepped into the open. It was cold, pressing, like a needle brushing against skin teasing, testing.
A chuckle broke the silence.
"You walk like prey, but smell like something far more interesting."
From the top of a shattered bell tower, a man dropped down, landing with an effortless crouch. His eyes gleamed red-orange, like embers behind cracked glass. Wild silver hair crowned his head, and bloodstained armor covered his lean body.
Dorrell, one of the two disciples of Collen Koran—sent from the capital to eliminate a problem that had returned stronger than expected.
He licked his lips. "Kev, isn't it? I was told you'd be cautious. But you're just walking in the open. Are you offering yourself, or testing me?"
Kev didn't answer immediately. His red eyes narrowed. "You're Dorrell. A hunter."
Dorrell smirked wider. "Correct. One of the finest. And you're still only a Peak Soldier Rank, yes? How unfortunate."
Dorrell's aura surged slightly. Low General Rank. The next level.
His Hunter Path energy leaked into the air—thick, predatory. Unlike Kev's path, which thrived through exploration and conquest, hunters grew stronger through kill-count and survival instincts. Their energy, Blood Aura, sharpened senses, enhanced reaction, and strengthened all bodily functions over time. They weren't built for war. They were built to hunt.
Kev clenched his jaw. His Adventurer Path was rarer—but riskier. Fueled by Ether, the energy of origin, it made him stronger the more realms he conquered or explored. But it required danger, constant motion, and sometimes... losses. As blood aura uses is know ether own isn't it uses re mysterious .
Dorrell circled him like a beast. "You know… I expected something broken, something hiding. But you're standing tall. Strange. Collen said you were unstable."
"You came to toy with me?" Kev asked calmly, fingers twitching near his blade.
The wind howled across the shattered northern stone streets of Noctera as silence settled like dust. The once-busy city now stood eerily quiet, a thick tension hanging in the air. The skies above churned a strange, pale red. Somewhere near the heart of the ruined city, Kev stood amidst the cracked ground, his red and purple eyes focused forward.
From the mist emerged Dorrell—smiling.
Tall and lean, Dorrell's dark hunter robes fluttered with each breeze. His hair was a slick silver, eyes sharp like a hawk's. His aura was erratic yet refined—dangerous. On his gloved hands, blood threads danced subtly between his fingers. Unlike warriors who overflowed with brute Qi, Dorrell's power pulsed in short, intense bursts—more like coiled springs waiting to snap.
Kev narrowed his eyes.
[ANALYSIS: SHADOW EYE ACTIVE]
Target: Dorrell Koran
Race: Human
Path: Hunter
Rank: General - Low
Unique Skill: Predator's Echo (Extraordinary)
Normal Skill: Threaded Fang, Blood Lure, Mind Split , unknown
"...General level, huh," Kev muttered under his breath. "You Koran bastards really don't know how to give up."
Dorrell chuckled. "You returned much too strong, Kev. Collen was right to send me."
Kev's expression remained calm, his fingers twitching as his shadow stretched beneath him. Shadow Movement kept his form slightly blurred as if melting into the ground and reappearing with each subtle shift. It allowed him to narrowly match Dorrell's terrifying speed, though the strain was building.
Kev wasn't trained in the Abyss… he survived it. He explored it. The Sixth Abyss wasn't a place of structured guidance. It was chaos, and that chaos forged him through constant death trials and puzzles no living being should've endured.
"Shadows," Kev whispered internally. "Track his blood movement."
From within his cells, ancient voices stirred.
[YES, KING.]
His vision sharpened as bloodstreams glowed faintly around Dorrell's limbs. Kev adjusted his stance slightly.
Dorrell blinked. "That eye of yours… it's not just for show."
"Neither are the voices in my bones," Kev whispered.
Suddenly, Dorrell struck. His body blurred forward, leaving only red lines where his blood threads lashed out like razors. Kev's form dissolved into a shadow and reappeared behind him, blade-shaped fingers grazing Dorrell's side.
But Dorrell didn't flinch. "Predator's Echo," he muttered.
In a blink, Dorrell twisted his body mid-air, perfectly anticipating Kev's angle—striking his rib with a blood-threaded knee. Kev staggered back as blood trickled from his mouth.
"You're fast," Dorrell said. "But not faster than time itself. I only need to watch you once."
Kev's breath was ragged, but his eyes remained focused. "Then I won't let you watch me again."
The street around them cracked as Kev unleashed Shadow Movement at full tilt. Dorrell grinned and followed with hunting precision, their battle spiraling deeper into Noctera's collapsing ruins.
The silence was broken by a whisper of wind. Kev stood amid the shattered ruins of the eastern watchtower of Noctera, his breath calm—controlled. His right eye glowed crimson, but his left burned with an eerie violet, pulsing as though alive.
Dorell grinned from the edge of a collapsed archway, his boots crunching on broken stone. The smirk never left his face, even as a faint cut bled across his cheek. "That eye," he chuckled, voice amused, "You're finally using it. What does it show you, I wonder?"
Kev didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he let the Shadow Eye peer deeper. Information flooded his mind—not words, but impulses, sensations. Fear hidden beneath Dorell's laughter. Pressure points on his ribs. A sudden shift in stance suggesting a feint, not a real strike.
"Your smile trembles when you lie," Kev said coldly.
Dorell's eyes narrowed. "You think you've figured me out?"
"I don't think," Kev replied, "I know."
With a blur, Dorell moved. His body vanished into a streak of blood-red afterimages, closing the distance between them in a blink. But Kev had already anticipated it—Shadow Movement folded him into a mist of black, and he reappeared behind Dorell, blade of condensed shadow forming from his hand.
They clashed again, and the ruins trembled.
Dorell spun mid-air, catching the shadow blade with a hunter's dagger glowing in crimson bloodlight. Sparks flared as the two energies collided—Blood Aura pulsing violently against Kev's ether-infused shadows.
"You've gotten faster," Dorell admitted, arms strained. "But you're still one ranks beneath me."
"Ranks mean nothing when I see your every move."
Dorell's grin broke for the first time. "Tch… annoying."
With a roar, Dorell unleashed a shockwave of blood energy. The force shattered a nearby pillar and sent Kev flying into a wall. Dust clouded the air. But through it, a violet glow remained steady—his Shadow Eye never blinking.
Kev coughed, blood trailing from his lips, but he was smiling now. A thin, dangerous smile. "You're panicking."
The words hit harder than his blade.
Dorell was indeed growing cautious. The boy in front of him wasn't fighting wildly. He was dissecting every move, reading each emotion, every flaw. That wasn't a battle—it was an autopsy.
"You know…" Dorell said, stepping back, "I was told to drag you back barely alive. But maybe I'll rip out that eye instead."
He slashed downward with both blades, the ground erupting. Kev countered, shadows rising around him like a vortex, swallowing debris, redirecting attacks.
Still, Kev's breathing was uneven. The fight wasn't even. He was only peak soldier, and Dorell—a low general—was faster, stronger, and more experienced.
Kev needed an edge. His eye showed him Dorell's weakness, but landing the blow?
That would require something else.
Suddenly, Dorell's aura shifted. His dagger trembled with an unfamiliar energy.
He was preparing a unique skill.
Kev's eyes narrowed. If he didn't stop it now… this battle would end.
And not in his favor.