The cold, deathly silence of the ruins was shattered by the sound of rapid hooves. Leo pulled tight on the reins as his warhorse snorted restlessly before a weathered stone pillar. He swung himself into the saddle, his hawk-like gaze sweeping over the chaotic footprints on the ground before settling on the dark, deep cave entrance. Behind him, twelve shadow guards clad in black leather armor and wearing dark silver masks dismounted silently, their movements as synchronized as ghosts. The air was thick with dust and an indescribable, burning scent.
"The trail ends here," said one of the guards, crouching down to pick up a pebble from the edge of the cave. The stone was stained with dark red, nearly dried to a crust. "It's blood. He fell in."
Leo walked silently to the edge of the cave and looked down. The bottomless darkness resembled the throat of a giant beast, swallowing the faint light. An indescribable sense of oppression rose from below, causing his fingers gripping the sword hilt to tighten slightly. He remembered the exiled Seventh Prince—pale, silent, like a discarded porcelain figurine, his eyes empty and numb. Executing such a target should have been a matter of routine. Yet at this moment, a strange unease welled up within him.
"Go down." Leo's voice was low and hard, cutting through that unwarranted hesitation. "Bring him back alive or bring back his body. His Majesty demands absolute certainty."
The shadow guards moved with lightning speed, flinging out ropes with barbed hooks and gliding silently into the darkness. Leo followed close behind, his boots scraping against the damp, cold stone walls with a faint rustling sound. The deeper they descended, the heavier the oppressive atmosphere grew, as if the air itself had solidified, carrying a strange scent of sulfur mixed with rust.
When they finally stepped onto the solid stone floor at the bottom of the ruins, the sight before them caused every shadow guard to instinctively grip their weapons tighter.
Kelson stood in the center of the massive circular pattern, his back to them. He was no longer the frail, bedraggled exiled prince. He stood ramrod straight, enveloped in a faint, dark-gold aura that seemed like a layer of burning gauze. The thin, free-floating magical elements in the air—those energy particles imperceptible to ordinary people—were drawn to him as if by an invisible vortex, gathering in wispy strands and silently sinking into his body. The ancient runes on the stone floor beneath his feet seemed even dimmer than before, as if some power had been drained from them.
"Seventh Prince." Leo's voice echoed through the empty ruins, cold and formal. "By His Majesty's command, I ask that you… make your way."
Kelson slowly turned around.
Leo's heart lurched. Those eyes! No longer the familiar, restrained blue, but burning with a cold, dark-gold flame! In the depths of that flame, there was no anger, no fear—only an indifference as if surveying ants, as though he were facing not a group of deadly assassins, but a pile of insignificant dust. A chill rising from the depths of his soul instantly gripped Leo, and he could barely suppress the urge to step back.
"Kill!" Leo suppressed his pounding heart and barked the order. There was no time for hesitation! The Kelson before him had already transformed into some kind of… monster!
The two bodyguards at the very front reacted first; they were fire mages. Almost the moment the command was issued, both of them thrust their hands forward with all their might! Orange-red flames erupted from thin air, roaring as they coalesced into two searing fireballs. Carrying a scorching heatwave, they tore through the air, hurtling straight toward Kelson's face! The blaze instantly illuminated Kelson's impassive face and the flickering dark gold in his eyes.
Kelson did not flinch; he did not even raise a hand to block.
He simply watched silently as the two fireballs—powerful enough to melt rock—roared toward him.
Just as the fireballs were about to strike his body—
A sudden, unexpected change occurred!
The space less than a foot in front of Kelson suddenly warped! A tiny, dark-gold vortex—so deep it seemed capable of swallowing light—materialized out of thin air! The two raging fireballs plunged into it as if striking an invisible quagmire; their speed plummeted, and then, before everyone's horrified eyes, they were violently "torn" apart by the vortex!
The orange-red flames, as if devoured by an invisible maw, surged madly into the tiny vortex! There was no explosion, no shockwave—only the teeth-grinding "sizzle" of the flames being forcibly broken down and absorbed! In the blink of an eye, the two deadly fireballs vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed. Only the lingering smell of burnt air bore witness to the harrowing moment.
Kelson's body shifted imperceptibly; the dark-gold flames in his eyes flared violently for an instant before returning to their icy coldness. He slowly raised his right hand, fingers splayed, toward the two stunned fire-elemental bodyguards.
An irresistible suction force erupted suddenly!
"Aaah—!" The two guards let out piercing screams. The magical power within them—the very source they relied on to cast spells—now surged like a burst dam, flowing uncontrollably and frantically through some invisible channel, forcibly ripped from their bodies and rushing toward Kelson's palm! Their skin withered at a visible pace, their eye sockets hollowed out, and the breath of life rapidly faded away.
"Stop him!" Leo's eyes bulged with fury as he drew his sword and roared. He had never witnessed such a bizarre and terrifying ability! Devouring magic? No, this was nothing short of devouring life itself!
The remaining bodyguards snapped out of their shock; well-trained as they were, they immediately spread out. Two Wind-element Dark Guards became blurs, streaking toward Kelson from both sides at high speed, their poison-coated daggers aimed straight for his vital points! An Earth-element Dark Guard slammed both palms against the ground, causing sharp stone spikes to surge upward from the earth, piercing toward Kelson from below! Another Ice-element Dark Guard condensed several icicles radiating bone-chilling cold in his hands, firing them out at high speed!
Faced with these deadly attacks from all directions, the cold, dark-gold flame in Kelson's eyes flared violently, as if doused in boiling oil! A surge of savagery, chaos, and a desire for destruction erupted from within him!
"Roar—!"
A bestial roar, echoing like a dragon's cry, erupted from Kelson's throat! He was no longer passively absorbing; instead, he actively unleashed his "Devouring" domain!
Centered on him, a dark-gold vortex several meters in diameter expanded instantly! Wind blades, stone spikes, ice spikes… every incoming attack, the moment it touched the vortex's edge, shattered and vanished instantly, like glass thrown into a shredder! Even the magic within the spellcasters—and their very life force—was savagely torn apart and devoured by that terrifying vortex!
"No! My power!"
"Help! It's sucking everything out of me!"
"Monster! He's a monster!"
Screams rang out one after another. The Dark Guards were like insects trapped in an invisible spiderweb; no matter how they struggled or tried to escape, they could not break free from that terrifying suction. Their bodies twisted and shriveled within the vortex; their skin lost its luster, their hair turned ashen, and they eventually withered into desiccated corpses, utterly crushed by the vortex until not even a speck of dust remained!
The entire lower level of the ruins had become a devouring inferno. Frenzied energy currents tore through the air, emitting a piercing howl. Leo clung desperately to a half-collapsed stone pillar, barely managing to avoid being swept away by that terrifying suction. He watched helplessly as the Imperial Elite Shadow Guards he had brought with him were mowed down like straw, without even a chance to resist. Fear, like a cold, venomous snake, coiled around his heart, nearly suffocating him.
This wasn't a battle at all! It was a one-sided slaughter, emanating from the abyss!
Only when the last Dark Guard turned to ash amid a desperate wail did the terrifying dark-gold vortex slowly contract and vanish. The ruins were left in deathly silence, filled only with the thick, cloying stench of blood and the acrid smell of burnt energy lingering in the air.
Kelson stood where he was, head bowed slightly, his body shaking violently. The dark-gold aura surrounding him grew extremely unstable, swelling violently one moment and fading the next. He clutched his hair with both hands, a suppressed growl—like that of a wounded beast—rising from his throat.
"Stop… stop… Ah—!"
He jerked his head up, his eyes, burning with dark-gold flames, locking onto Leo! A wave of savage killing intent, as tangible as a tidal surge, instantly engulfed Leo!
Every muscle in Leo's body tensed instantly; the shadow of death had never been so vivid. He gripped his sword tightly, preparing for a final stand even though he knew it was futile. Resigned, he closed his eyes.
Yet the expected attack never came.
That cold, frenzied killing intent that had locked onto him suddenly hesitated for an infinitesimal moment, just as it was about to erupt.
The dark golden flames in Kelson's eyes flickered wildly, as if struggling violently. His face, streaked with dark purple light, was a twisted mix of agony and savagery; his teeth were clenched so tightly they ground together with a grinding sound. He stared intently at Leo, his gaze a complex tapestry of madness—a frenzy to destroy everything, a brutality driven by instinct—yet deep within this chaos, a faint trace of "Kelson's" own struggle seemed to linger.
An image flashed uncontrollably through Kelson's chaotic mind: a sudden sandstorm during his exile. He had been blown off a dune by the gale; sharp rocks had lacerated his calf, blood gushing freely. It was Leo who found him in the chaos, silently tearing off the lining of his own cloak to make a makeshift bandage to staunch the bleeding, then hauling him onto the horse's back and charging out before the sandstorm swallowed everything whole. In that moment, there was no contempt in Leo's eyes, only the cold, focused determination of one carrying out a mission.
It was this insignificant fragment of memory—like a single drop of water thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil—that stirred a brief ripple in Kelson's chaotic consciousness, which was otherwise consumed by instinct and the will of the dragon.
"Ugh… Ugh!" Kelson let out an incomprehensible growl from his throat. He suddenly raised his hand—not to attack, but to slam it viciously against his own temple!
"Get… out… of… here!" he roared hoarsely, as if wrestling with another presence within his body.
Taking advantage of this momentary loss of control and self-inflicted attack, Leo stumbled backward, his back slamming hard against the cold stone wall before he could barely steady himself. Still shaken, he watched the figure writhing in agony, his mind in turmoil. Why? Why had he spared him alone?
Kelson's body swayed even more violently, the dark-gold flames in his eyes flickering like a candle in the wind. He staggered forward two steps, as if trying to speak, but in the end, he merely opened his mouth. The violent power within him receded as swiftly as an ebbing tide, and the dark-gold glow faded completely.
"Thud!"
Kelson could no longer hold himself up. His body went limp, and he collapsed heavily to the ground, losing consciousness completely. The delicate dragon-scale patterns on the back of his neck seemed even clearer than before in the dim light.
Dead silence once again enveloped the ruins.
Leo leaned against the stone wall, panting heavily, his undershirt soaked through with cold sweat. He looked down at the unconscious Kelson on the ground, then surveyed the empty battlefield around him—a scene that seemed to have been completely "erased"—and a chill ran up his spine from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. The earth-shattering spectacle from moments ago, that all-consuming, terrifying power, and the desperate look in Kelson's eyes as he turned to look at him one last time…
A deep, resonant voice—as if transcending time and space—echoed clearly in Leo's ears the moment Kelson fell. Or perhaps it had been seared directly into the depths of the unconscious prince's soul:
"Every devouring… accelerates our fusion… until… you are no longer you…"
Leo shuddered violently. He stared intently at the prince on the ground—the very man he had once dismissed as a worthless waste—his expression a complex mix of emotions. Fear, doubt, and a hint of something he refused to admit even to himself… wavering. He slowly stepped forward, looking down at the unconscious Kelson. He raised the sword in his hand, then lowered it. Finally, he sheathed it, letting out a heavy, weary sigh.