Kai had been bleeding for a long time.
Blood coated his body, but what truly terrified him… wasn't the pain, but the silence he began to hear beneath his skin—
as if something inside him had withdrawn, leaving a void heavier than any wound.
The Ravagers of Veins had not yet decided:
would they allow him to survive…
or slowly devour him?
He tried to stand.
His knees betrayed him.
He fell, energy seeping from him like blood, his breaths fracturing, as the creatures closed in.
Then—
it stopped.
It wasn't something he heard… but a sensation that cut through space itself.
The air stiffened.
Something invisible collided between them and him.
A muffled sound— like flesh striking crystal.
The Ravagers recoiled violently, and the void before him cracked with phantom fissures that flickered… then vanished.
A barrier.
Invisible.
Yet unyielding, refusing to break.
Kai rose with effort, his body shredded, and this time his pain was physical…
clear…
real.
He looked at the stone in his hand.
It was no longer as he had left it.
Strange markings crawled across its surface, a pulse defying his will, accelerating… then stopping, like another heart that did not belong to him.
He screamed—
not in fear… but because the stone moved on its own.
Its weight shifted, its heat pulsed, as if testing its wielder… or daring him.
The Ravagers' sounds returned— not merely screams, but hunger, and rage, tearing at the air around him.
They surged forward again, but the moment they advanced, they veered aside, as if driven back by an unseen force.
In that moment, Kai understood one truth:
he was not alone.
He was not the first to face this weight.
Before this forest, entire villages had vanished without a fight, as if something had passed through them… and found no resistance.
At the edges of the Desert Kingdom, the land burned with emptiness, entire names erased from the maps.
Before anyone realized that the Ravagers did not move at random.
At an immeasurable distance… darkness was forming anew.
The Ravagers halted. No retreat… no attack.
They stood frozen, as if the very ground had claimed their feet.
Beneath the soldiers, the soil trembled faintly—
not an earthquake, but a vibration, as though something beneath the surface had begun to breathe.
The sky fell silent.
Not the absence of sound… but a suffocating presence.
The wind hung trapped in the trees, unable to move, unable to obey.
Skyler pressed a hand to his wound, blood seeping between trembling fingers.
Daemon drew breath with difficulty— not from the wound alone, but because the air itself had grown too heavy to bear.
Ragen lifted his sword— then slowly lowered it.
Not from exhaustion… but because his hand no longer felt like his own.
The soldiers exchanged fleeting glances.
No one spoke, yet the thought was unanimous, clear… and crushing:
"We are not in the right place."
It was no ordinary fear.
It was recognition— as if their presence here was an ancient mistake, and the world had just begun to remind them.
Amid this weight, Lilithia stood.
She did not move. She did not raise her hand.
The Ravagers before her did not scream,did not attack.
They bent— their threads of existence pulled taut by an unseen hand that could neither be seen… nor resisted.
In that instant,
Ragen looked toward Daemon, bleeding, his body worn thin, and shouted:
"Wa—"
He never finished.
The air split behind him.
A black blade emerged from the shadows.
A Ravenger surged silently— a strike, direct, lethal.
But— the air froze.
An arrow cut through the void,
without whistle,
without warning, and struck the blade.
Crimson ice exploded outward.
Frost surged like a silent shockwave.
The Ravenger recoiled violently, its body cracking under a cold it had never known.
Silence fell.
From afar, upon a frost-laden ledge,
stood a man.
His long cloak flowed behind him like frozen night,
and his blue eyes glowed with the color of pure ice.
He lowered his bow slowly.
The Qi around him did not surge— it forced the ground itself to retreat a step.
Ragen turned, whispering:
"Commander Kisho."
Kisho advanced with steady steps, as though the space itself opened for him alone.
He spoke in a low, cold voice, barely audible— yet heavy with authority:
"Lilithia…
you are accused of killing Villiam Darkwell.
The case will be referred to the Drakhaen Special Judicial Center."
For a single moment… the forest held its breath.
Ragen's eyes widened.
Kisho turned to Skyler and Daimon, his coldness sharpening:
"Commander Daemon… I have always respected you.
But you and your deputy, Skyler, are accused of covering up… and treason.
You will be arrested immediately."
Silence prevailed, like a sword suspended in the air.
He approached Ragen deliberately.
"The healing unit is on the way.
We will return to the Kingdom. And we will take with us…
this demoness,
Skyler,
Daemon,
and Villiam's corpse."
Skyler moved with difficulty, his voice breaking:
"But… this isn't over…"
He hesitated, then whispered, as if the world itself might hear:
"Kai…"
Kisho did not look where he pointed.
His reply was absolute:
"What happens outside my orders… does not exist."
Skyler took a single step forward.
Not a Drakhaen step…
but a human one— watching something slip from his grasp.
"Kai—"
A hand closed around his arm.
Daemon.
He did not pull hard.
He did not shout.
His voice was low…
steady:
"Stop."
Skyler turned, eyes trembling.
"If we leave now… we leave him to die."
Daemon's expression did not change.
"We are Drakhaen soldiers.
We do not break formation.
We do not let the banner fall… even if the heart is torn apart."
Skyler froze.
And in the instant his balance faltered—
Lilithia moved.
A single surge, as if the forest itself had pushed her forward.
But the ground moved first.
Crack.
A white fissure raced outward.
Ice surged from beneath the soil, coiling around her legs, rising… sealing.
A cage.
Cold pierced her chest— not pain… but judgment.
Kisho lowered his hand slowly.
He did not look at her.
The ice obeyed regardless.
The soldiers advanced.
Her name echoed once more in the air:
"Lilithia."
The restraints snapped shut.
Before she was led away— she looked back.
The forest.
Not with longing… but with the gaze of someone leaving behind something never allowed to be complete.
She screamed once:
"Villiam!"
The gate rose. Cold light swallowed the scene.
A step. Then it closed.
Silence returned.
The forest… stilled.
Daemon lowered his head.
Skyler remained standing.
No sword.
No sound.
No strength to move.
And so…
Lilithia emerged from the forest.
But the world… did not emerge with her.
Amid it all, Villiam's hand trembled— once.
No one noticed.
_________
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System: Stoneart RPG — Living Stone Users
(This character uses the Stone Arts System, based on Living Stones, Sync Rates and Stone Levels.)
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[SYSTEM LOG — ACCESS ATTEMPT FAILED]
Character Card — Kisho
Name: Kisho
Rank: ???
Race: Drakhaen
Role Tag: Ice Execution Commander
Aura Type: Ice Dominion
Energy Capacity: Beyond System Threshold
Base Ability (Pre-Stone): Authority Suppression
Level: —
Light Points (LP): — / —
Dark Points (DP): — / —
Sync Rate with Ice Stone: Locked
Stone Card — Ice Stone
Stone: Ice Stone
Stone Rank: Unknown
Element: Absolute Ice – Control – Judgment
Inner Spirit: [DATA SEALED]
State: Active
Stone Type: Dominion Stone
Current Stone SkillsFrost Mark
[Other Skills — Restricted Access]
⚠ System Notice:
Full data unavailable.
Authority level exceeds readable limits.
This card is incomplete by restriction, not by error.
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© 2026 Lobna. All rights reserved.
-To be continued...-