The wind howled through the desolate ruins of Morveth as Ray sprinted like a man possessed. His heart hammered against his ribs in a chaotic, deafening rhythm, and sweat streamed down his temples, stinging his eyes. Beneath the heavy cloak of exhaustion, he could still feel it—Leo's aura and mana flickering dangerously low, like a candle caught in a tempest.
"Please, Leo... don't you dare die on me. I'm coming!" Ray gasped, his voice choked with panic.
Pushing past his limits, he poured every ounce of remaining speed into his legs. As he rounded the corner of a towering, dilapidated clock tower, the breath caught violently in his throat. His eyes refused to process the carnage laid out before him.
Every single inch of the ground was soaked in thick, dark blood. Severed monster limbs and grotesque carcasses littered the courtyard, turning the earth into a sickening swamp of gore. Panic surging anew, Ray whipped his head around, scanning the sea of death until his gaze locked onto a slumped figure.
Blood was pouring from Leo's body as if from a ruptured water vessel.
Ray closed the distance in a blur, dropping to his knees beside his friend. He pressed trembling fingers against Leo's pulse. A fierce, desperate grin broke through Ray's pale face.
"Brilliant," Ray muttered, half-laughing through his terror. "You don't get to die yet, Leo. Besides... I still have to kill you myself."
Without wasting a second, Ray hoisted Leo's battered body onto his shoulder. Just as he turned to leave, a familiar, agonizing groan cut through the silence.
Ray spun around. Stumbling forward amidst the blood was Chris. His face was smeared with crimson, blood still leaking freely from his nose and mouth. Every step looked like an act of supreme torture, his body wracked with tremors, yet sheer willpower kept him upright.
Ray closed the distance, gently placing a hand on Chris's battered shoulder and channeling a steady stream of his own mana into the captain's core.
As the mana transferred, a soft click echoed. On Ray's index finger, the red gemstone embedded in his ring suddenly stopped glowing. A web of fine cracks raced across its surface before the stone shattered completely, fragments scattering into the dust.
Ray stared down at the ruined ring. "Chris... are you alright now?"
Chris swallowed hard, his breathing finally settling into a stable rhythm. He offered a weak, blood-stained nod. "I'm... I'm alright. But tell me, what happened to the child?"
"I handed him over to Anthony," Ray replied softly. "He's safe."
A genuine smile touched Chris's lips, ignoring the fresh smear of blood it caused. "You did well, Ray. Truly. If you ever decide to take the Knight Entrance Exam... I'm claiming you and Leo for my squad immediately, no tests required."
Ray let out a breathy, grateful laugh. "Deal. Now come on, Leo's in bad shape. We need to get him out of here."
Moments after Ray and Chris vanished into the night, leaving behind the river of butchered monsters and chilling silence, a disturbance rippled through the blood-soaked earth.
In the center of the crimson pool, Vortan Wells stirred.
His eyes snapped open, blazing with a terrifying, unnatural red. He couldn't even twitch a finger; his bones were shattered, his mana completely exhausted, leaving him entirely paralyzed.
Out of thin air, the towering skeleton entity materialized, hovering just above him. Its hollow, empty eye sockets locked onto Vortan's face. In its bony hand, a pristine steel dagger materialized, catching the pale moonlight in a cold, deadly gleam.
The entity extended its arm, holding the blade directly over Vortan's heart.
With a superhuman surge of defiance, Vortan's lips curled into a twisted, blood-flecked smirk. "So... someone finally came to finish me off. Was my performance not good enough for your Lord?"
The entity tilted its skull sideways, the bone shifting with an eerie click. In a voice that sounded like grinding stones, it replied, "No. You were a magnificent pawn for the Master. But... you lived long enough to become a liability. You have to die."
Vortan chuckled, a wet, rattling sound.
The entity released the dagger.
Squelch.
The blade drove straight through Vortan's chest muscles, piercing deep into his heart. Blood surged from his mouth and chest in a final, violent cough. Vortan Wells went completely still.
"Such a wonderful pawn," the entity whispered into the empty air, watching the corpse. "I truly didn't want to kill you. But no matter... if I find your soul in the Soul Realm, I will gladly make you my personal slave."
With a soft whisper of wind, the entity dissolved into nothingness. The steel dagger disintegrated into ash, blowing away into the night.
Hours later, sunlight filtered through the window of a quiet recovery room.
Leo groaned, his eyelids fluttering open. He tried to push himself up, but a sharp, biting pain flared across his shoulders and torso. Every inch of his body was wrapped tightly in pristine white bandages.
Shifting his gaze to the adjacent bed, he saw Chris, similarly cocooned in bandages. A small bedside table was crowded with empty magic potion bottles.
Leo sank back into the pillows.
"Lie still," Chris murmured, his eyes still closed. "Don't try to get up, Leo."
Leo looked at Chris for a moment, noticing the tense set of his captain's jaw. Looking away toward the window, Leo quietly broke the silence. "Chris... did you always know you were an orphan?"
Chris didn't hesitate. The question didn't require thought—only truth. "Yes. I knew I was an orphan. But I never knew... that my parents had left me tucked away inside a simple wooden box."
Leo paused, turning his head slightly. "Did you never try to search for your real parents?"
"I tried. God, I tried," Chris's voice dropped an octave. "I used to watch other kids walking with their mothers and fathers, wondering why I had no one. At the orphanage, there was this old lady... her face was always scowling, always angry, but she had a heart of gold. Until I was seven, I asked her about my parents every single day. She'd always just hand me a candy or change the subject."
Chris swallowed hard, his voice growing thick and strained. "I always thought she was just hiding the truth from me. But now... now I understand. She didn't hide it because she was cruel. She hid it because she didn't have any answers to give me either."
Leo watched quietly. He could hear the heavy tremor in Chris's voice—the dam of suppressed emotions finally threatening to break.
"For a long time, I actually hated that old lady," Chris whispered, a tear finally escaping the corner of his eye, cutting a clean path through the blood and dust on his cheek. "How foolish was I? I never once stopped to think if she even had the answers to begin with. She loved me, she raised me, she even paid for my academy tuition out of her own pocket. Everything I am today... it's because of her. And I never even got to say thank you."
Chris couldn't hold it back anymore. Sobs wracked his battered frame, his hands gripping the sheets tightly.
Leo quietly turned his face back toward the window, giving his captain the dignity of privacy while the suffocating weight of years of unspoken pain finally lifted from Chris's chest. After a long moment, Chris wiped his face roughly with a bandaged hand.
"Don't... don't say anything, Leo," Chris choked out, trying to steady his voice. "I'm done talking about it."
Before Leo could process the emotional shift, the door clicked open.
Benjamin Northern stepped into the room. Standing at 176 cm with a slightly dull complexion, a distinct scar carved into his cheek, and sharp, clipped hair, the 12th Division Sword Knight Captain wore a sleek greyish suit adorned with division badges.
He leaned his massive sword against the wall with a dull thud, followed closely by Ray, who slipped in behind him.
Benjamin glanced straight at Chris, a smirk playing on his lips. "Well, well. Look who survived, Junior. It's been a long time. Never took you for the type to climb up to 6th Division Magic Knight Captain."
Chris shot back a tired, sarcastic grin. "And I never expected you to become a 12th Division Captain, Benjamin. Quite ironic, considering how much you used to enjoy slicing up trainees under the guise of 'practice'."
Benjamin chuckled, unfazed. "Still as mouthy as ever, I see. Anyway, what on earth are you two doing in Morveth?"
"Just handling some business," Chris replied smoothly.
Benjamin raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "What kind of business? Care to enlighten me?"
"Personal," Chris said flatly. "Nothing you need to poke your nose into."
A brief flash of irritation crossed Benjamin's face, but he quickly masked it with a shrug. "Figures. You never were one to share. By the way... you seem to have made some rather young friends."
Before Benjamin could continue, Leo blurted out, "We're not kids, damn it!"
Benjamin's gaze flicked to Leo. With a flick of his wrist, he opened a small spatial portal. Out slid Leo's cracked Katana, which Benjamin caught and handed directly to Ray.
"Get that repaired before it shatters completely," Benjamin instructed Ray. Then, turning back to the door, he added, "I didn't bother asking where you got it—knowing you two, I wouldn't get a straight answer anyway. I'll take my leave. Your friend Ray here can fill you in on the rest."
With a final clank of his heavy sword, Benjamin picked up his weapon and strode out, the door clicking shut behind him.
Ray immediately walked over and sat down at the foot of Leo's bed. "You know, Benjamin isn't as bad as Helen made him out to be. His methods are strict, but he gets results."
"Maybe," Chris muttered. "Back in the academy, all he ever did was pick fights with anyone he crossed paths with."
Ray and Chris both nodded, before Chris turned serious. "Alright. Tell me everything."
Ray took a deep breath. "Vortan Wells is dead."
Both Chris and Leo froze, their eyes widening in sheer disbelief.
"Dead?" Chris echoed, his voice rising. "But during the fight, all he suffered was a mana drain! I didn't inflict any fatal wounds on him!"
"I know," Ray nodded grimly. "That's what baffled the investigation. The autopsy showed his heart was pierced by a sharp object. But the strange part is... there was no weapon found at the scene. And to make matters weirder, when Benjamin and I went to Vortan's division headquarters, his Vice Captain, Ken Fenrir, was sitting there drinking."
"What did Ken say?" Chris asked urgently.
"Ken claimed that Captain Vortan was given coins by a high-ranking noble as a bribe to side with the cultists," Ray explained, his expression darkening. "He was threatened—told that if he didn't cooperate, every single innocent villager on the east side of Morveth would have their heads blown off."
Ray paused, hesitating.
"Go on," Leo urged.
"There's more," Ray said, glancing at Chris. "Ken told me that Vortan felt he had no choice; he had to protect his people by playing along with the cult. But... Ken also said that Vortan never truly saw you as a younger brother, Chris. To him, you were always a burden, a liability he had to deal with."
Chris flinched, a sharp pain striking his chest that hurt far worse than his broken bones. He lowered his head, a shadow falling over his eyes, before forcing a hollow smile. "I see... figures."
Silence blanketed the room once more.
Breaking the heavy atmosphere, Chris clapped his hands softly together. "Well. Our work in Morveth is finished. We need to head back to Norvia. I've got a mountain of paperwork waiting." He winced as he shifted his arm. "Though it's going to take me a while to heal. I can feel the bone in my arm is fractured. No idea how long this will take..."
"It'll heal fine," Leo interrupted with a confident grin. "It's just a scratch, Captain!"
Leo then turned his eyes to Ray. "By the way... what happened to Felix's family?"
"Oh!" Ray's eyes lit up. "I heard they left Morveth entirely. I spoke with Anthony Ward earlier—he told me they're settling down into a new house in Norvia."
Ray paused with a mischievous grin. "And you want to hear the best piece of news, Leo?"
"Hit me," Leo said, leaning forward.
"The Academy re-joining letters arrived. We go back next month!"
Leo sprang straight up in bed, ignoring the pain entirely, a massive grin splitting his face. "Are you serious?! That's amazing! Finally, I get to see everyone again!"
"I know right?" Ray laughed. "I can't wait to get back. Especially since I still need to settle that score with Noah."
Even Chris managed a genuine, pain-free chuckle. "You boys have quite the stories to tell everyone when we get back."
"You bet we do," Leo and Ray chorused.
Far away from the bustle of Norvia, across the vast, ink-black expanses of an uncharted ocean, stood a solitary unknown island.
The sky above was stained with an unnatural violet hue. Null stood at the water's edge, the skeleton entity hovering faithfully at his shoulder.
"Master Null," the entity's voice echoed in the void, "why are we standing before this vast ocean?"
Null's lips curled into a slow, sinister smile. "I am simply... resurrecting an old friend."
Without a word, Null sliced his fingertip with a razor-sharp nail. A single drop of blood welled up—so thick, so intensely dark red that it looked almost black. He let it fall into the churning ocean below.
The moment the drop hit the water, the entire sea reacted. The heavy droplet sank straight through the abyssal depths like a falling stone, plunging deep into the dark trench below until it struck a submerged, unmoving body.
Null and the skeleton entity turned their backs to the shore. Null raised his hand, tearing open a massive spatial rift—a gateway leading straight back to the Dimension of Asura.
The moment they stepped through and the portal closed, the ocean exploded upward in a violent geyser.
From the crushing darkness beneath the waves, a figure broke the surface.
A sword was jammed straight through his chest, dark blood slowly dripping from the wound and hitting the foaming water. He possessed impossibly long hair, flawless porcelain skin, and stood an imposing 190 cm tall.
Water sluiced off his muscular frame as he slowly lifted his head, locking his pale eyes onto the glowing silver moon above.
A chilling, raspy voice broke the night air, carrying across the dead sea:
"How many years has it been since I died... over 800 years, I suppose?"
He raised his hand slowly. A delicate blue butterfly fluttered down from the night sky, landing gently on his fingertip.
The ancient warrior's lips parted into a razor-sharp, bloodthirsty smile.
"Let the games begin. This is going to be fun."
THE END OF VOLUME ONE THE PATH OF REVENGE