The forest exhaled cold.
—WHISSSSH—
Snow drifted down in lazy spirals, settling on the three figures moving single-file along a narrow deer path. Orion led, ironwood spear balanced across his shoulder like a pilgrim's staff. Lira followed five paces behind, bow unstrung but never far from her grip. Ren brought up the rear, eyes wide, knuckles white around the short knife Lira had tossed him without explanation—or reassurance.
They had been moving for another hour when—
Orion stopped.
He raised a closed fist.
Lira froze instantly. Ren nearly collided with her back.
Ahead, through the trees, came the faint jingle of tack and the muted thud—thud—thud of hooves on packed snow.
Ten riders.
Maybe twelve.
Fast.
Orion's Blood Sense unfolded the scene in his mind like a map painted in heat and pulse.
Nine ordinary soldiers—blood warm, thin, mortal.
One heavier presence: a knight encased in iron and earth, affinity dense and grinding.
And one pulse that made the Fallen Fragment in Orion's chest recoil—
Cold.
Sharp.
Restrained.
The Inquisitor.
Lira stepped up beside him, voice barely a breath. "They're cutting across the old logging trail. If we keep north, we'll intersect in ten minutes."
Orion nodded once.
"Good."
Ren swallowed hard. "Good? There's—there's twelve of them."
"Eleven soldiers," Orion corrected calmly. "One knight. One Inquisitor."
He turned to Lira.
"You wanted his ring."
Her eyes gleamed. "I still do."
"Then you'll have it."
Orion surveyed the terrain.
To the left, a shallow ravine choked with deadfall and young pines.
To the right, a steep slope littered with half-buried boulders.
Ahead, the deer path dipped into a clearing—thirty meters across, ringed by ancient evergreens.
A killing ground.
Perfect.
"Lira," Orion said, pointing toward the ravine. "Take Ren. Circle west. High ground. Wait for my signal."
Her gaze flicked to him. "And you?"
"I'll greet them."
Ren opened his mouth to argue.
Lira grabbed his arm and dragged him into the trees without a word.
Orion waited until their blood signatures vanished beyond the ridge.
Then he walked openly into the clearing.
He planted the spear butt-first into the snow and leaned on it, shoulders slouched like a weary traveler. The crippled leg he kept bent, weight shifted subtly—old habits of deception lingering.
Then—
He waited.
—THUD—THUD—THUD—
The riders burst into the clearing, spreading in a practiced fan.
Nine soldiers in Valthor black and gray, crossbows already raised.
At their center stood the knight—towering, plated in heavy armor, bear-faced visor snarling in iron.
And beside him—
The Inquisitor.
A silver mask polished to a flawless mirror. No eye slits. No mouth. Only smooth metal etched with glowing runes of suppression. White robes flowed untouched by snow, trimmed in gold. No weapon visible.
Yet the air itself bent around them.
The knight raised a gauntleted fist. The formation halted.
The Inquisitor spoke.
The voice was calm.
Genderless.
Echoing faintly behind the mask.
"The escaped slave. Orion Voss."
Orion tilted his head. "You know my name."
"We know many things," the Inquisitor replied. "You bear a Forbidden Fragment. Surrender it, and your death will be painless."
A faint smile touched Orion's lips.
"And if I refuse?"
The Inquisitor raised one gloved hand.
—CRACK—
Chains of pale blue light erupted into the air—dozens of them, hovering like spectral serpents.
"Then we extract it."
The knight dismounted heavily, mace slamming into his grasp. Earth affinity rolled outward; snow hardened into stone beneath his boots.
"Form up!" he barked. "Crossbows—limbs only!"
Nine bolts leveled at Orion.
He didn't move.
The knight frowned. "Something's wrong. He's too—"
—THWIP—
An arrow punched through the nearest soldier's throat.
He dropped without a sound.
Chaos erupted.
Crossbows fired wildly as soldiers spun toward the ridge.
And Orion moved.
He ripped the spear free and lunged—not at the soldiers—
—but straight at the knight.
The knight roared, swinging the mace in a crushing arc.
Orion slid low, snow exploding outward. His crippled leg dragged—but did not slow him.
The mace screamed past overhead.
Orion drove the spear upward.
Under the breastplate.
Into the gap at the groin.
—SPLASH—
Ironwood pierced mail, flesh, and bone.
The knight bellowed.
Orion twisted the spear.
Blood Draw.
The effect was immediate.
Blood erupted in a pressurized torrent, ripping free and funneling straight into Orion's chest. The knight's massive frame withered in seconds—armor sagging as vitality vanished.
Strength: 11 → 16
Vitality: 11.4 → 15.7
New Trait Absorbed: Earth Affinity (Minor)
The corpse hit the ground with a hollow clang.
Bolts screamed toward Orion.
He flicked his wrist.
—FWOOOM—
A cyclone of blood mist exploded outward, spinning into a crimson barrier. Bolts shattered against it like glass.
Orion stepped through the haze.
Two soldiers charged.
He parried one, slipped inside the other's guard, and pressed a palm to his chest.
Blood Draw — Close Range.
The man's eyes bulged as his blood tore free through armor seams.
Another soldier hesitated.
—THWIP—
Lira's arrow buried itself in his eye.
"Orion—behind!" Ren screamed.
The Inquisitor.
Blue chains lashed out faster than thought.
—SNAP—
One crushed his throat.
One pinned his arms.
One wrapped his crippled leg.
Runes flared.
Agony ripped through him—not flesh, but essence. The Fallen Fragment shrieked as binding sigils attempted to seal it.
[Warning: Forbidden Binding Active]
[Awakening Progress Frozen]
[Host Strain Increasing]
The Inquisitor approached calmly.
"You are strong," the voice said. "But the Fragment is older than you. It will not save you."
Orion met the mask's blank surface.
"You talk," he rasped, "too much."
He triggered Blood Echo.
The knight's stolen earth affinity surged.
—KRRRAAACK—
The ground erupted.
Stone spikes exploded upward, shattering the blue chains like glass.
The Inquisitor staggered.
Orion hurled the spear.
It wasn't perfect—but Blood Draw guided it.
—CRUNCH—
The spear punched through the Inquisitor's shoulder, pinning robe and flesh to a tree.
Orion limped forward.
One soldier tried to block him.
Orion drank him dry.
Another fled.
Lira ended him.
Only the Inquisitor remained.
Mask cracked.
One violet eye visible.
Orion stopped an arm's length away.
"You cannot control it," the Inquisitor said calmly. "Every life feeds it. One day you will wake with nothing human left."
Orion touched the cracked mask.
"Maybe."
Then—
Blood Draw.
—ROOOOAR—
Blue runes flared desperately.
They failed.
Divine-restrained blood—pure, potent—flooded into Orion in a radiant crimson torrent.
The mask shattered.
A woman's face beneath.
Ageless.
Serene.
The body collapsed.
Strength: 16 → 22
Vitality: 15.7 → 21.3
Affinity: 6 → 14
New Skill Unlocked: Binding Chain (Lv.1 – Corrupted Variant)
Fallen Fragment Awakening: 12% → 28%
Title Gained: Inquisitor's Bane
Silence.
Lira and Ren descended slowly.
Ren stared at the corpses.
Lira knelt, pried the silver signet ring free, and held it to the light.
"Worth a fortune," she murmured. Then looked at Orion. "You kept your word."
Orion pulled the spear free.
Crimson veins pulsed along its shaft.
[Optional Quest Complete: Name Your Blade]
[Weapon Bond Formed: Crimson Thorn (Growth Type)]
[Skill Evolution: Blood Draw Lv.3 – Storage Enabled]
Ren whispered, "What… what are we?"
Orion turned north.
Toward the Shattered Vale.
"We're alive," he said.
"And we're just getting started."
Snow swept over the clearing.
No survivors.
No witnesses.
Only footprints vanishing into the wild.