On the way up, the pulse of the guildhall reached him first—the faint clink of cups, the grind of gear-teeth, the barely-there humor of people who kept their laughter sheathed.
He emerged into emptiness.
The hall that had been a hive now held only echoes.
Cups still steamed.
A map still lay pinned by a dagger.
But the hunters were gone, pulled away by the bell he had heard earlier.
Convocation swallowed its own.
Someone waited for him in the middle of the floor.
He was tall, lean as a spear, and draped in green so dark it drank the lamplight—the color of deep jade after rain.
His hair was bound high in a warrior's tail; a circlet of gold rested crookedly over it as if it had been thrown there on a dare.
His eyes were lively, mischief chained to discipline.
He leaned on a staff as if it were merely a friend he liked to carry.
"Azrael," the stranger said — and the name came out like he had tasted it before, and found it enjoyable."It's a pleasure to meet you again."
He smiled — not insolent, not reverent.
Pleased, as a man is pleased to find a story finally standing in front of him.
"I've been told," Lu Mo went on, spinning the staff once so casually the air whistled, "that people are having quite a problem near the western capital."
Azrael's eyes took in the stance, the balance, the smile that could harden in a heartbeat — and found no reason to dislike any of it.
"How do you know?" he asked, studying the warrior before him, analyzing every line, every breath.
"Let's just say I've been told to help you," Lu Mo echoed, amused, as if tasting a plum. "In the Capital of the Unfortunate."
They stood in silence a moment longer, listening to the gears breathe.
"Mmh?" Azrael hummed.
"The Master told me everything while you were away," Lu Mo said lightly.
"I just talked to him," Azrael replied, his tone sharp. "He didn't mention anyone else beside me."
Lu Mo fell in beside him, staff on his shoulder, grin a little sharper."You're too serious, Azrael. Look at this."
The Jade Warrior handed him a small folded piece of paper.
Azrael unfolded it carefully — a formal letter from the Master.
"Mission: Arkatzil
Coordinates: Θ-87.340 / Δ-52.006 — Astral Field: Red Crown
Participants: Azrael Noctis, Lu Mo of Jade, Freya Valken, Kymrith of the Bladed Veil.
Date: Next Saturday.
Target: Duskbane Family, Haagmoran the whisper of pain."
"I wonder why he didn't tell me anything." Azrael asked, while giving the paper back to him.
"He said that you would've insisted on going alone, that's why." Lu Mo said.
Azrael sighed.
The old man perfectly knew that Azrael didn't want anyone else to stay with him for a simple reason: He didn't want to put anyone's life at risk.
"We gotta run and make a plan along the way there, that's why we should also talk to Kymrith and Freya very rapidly." He added.
Lu Mo nodded his head. "You're right, but we still have a week to prepare. I guess we have some time. You know we have to respect everything he says."
Azrael gave him a sharp look. "There's no time when you're against Maria. Every moment could be the last. Moreover, people are dying right now. I think we should already go there." His voice was aggressive.
"There's no need to be so fast, Azrael." A female voice spoke.
A whisper of air brushed his ear.
Not sound — pressure.
Azrael felt a shiver down his spine, feeling that something was coming behind him.
His body reacted before his mind did.
He immediately raised his sword up and managed to parry a deadly attack aimed straight to his neck.
The sound of steel against steel echoed in the hall, but Azrael didn't seem surprised at all.
In fact, he parried the attack with a very calm look on his face.
Lu Mo didn't seem surprised too, probably because he already knew this.
Then, a dark figure jumped back , before revealing itself.
"Well, well , well..." The figure then became clear, revealing a female hooded hunter with two deadly pins in her hands. "It seems like you've gotten stronger, Azrael~." Her voice was flirty.
"Kymrith." Azrael sighed.
The female hunter then bowed her head. "In flesh and bones." She said, with an elegant voice.
"Still sneaking around like a shadow, I see," Azrael said flatly, lowering his sword.
"You missed me, didn't you~?" she purred, twirling one of her silver pins between her fingers like a coin.
"No." He said, with a cold voice.
Lu Mo's grin widened.
"You two should really put that tension to better use. It's thick enough to forge armor with." He said, with a mischievous tone of voice.
Kymrith laughed — low, dangerous, musical.
Her hood slipped back, revealing hair the color of black spilled ink and eyes that shimmered like polished obsidian.
Every movement of hers seemed half dance, half threat.
"Ah, the jade philosopher speaks," she said, tilting her head. "Tell me, Lu Mo — do you always watch people fight, or do you only show up when it's time to look good doing nothing?"
Lu Mo leaned on his staff, unbothered. "Doing nothing is an art. You should try it sometime — before it kills you."
Kymrith's smile sharpened. "Cute. Maybe later I'll show you what trying looks like."
Azrael exhaled, a sound between a sigh and a growl. "Enough."
His tone silenced both of them for a heartbeat.
Kymrith's gaze softened a fraction, not in submission but in something stranger — curiosity.
She stepped closer, too close, until the faint scent of jasmine and iron reached him.
"You've changed, Azrael." she whispered, eyes tracing the lines of his jaw. "Your aura used to be colder. Now it just burns."
"Get to the point, you want to say something, don't you?" Azrael said, completely unbothered by her touch.
Any kind of reaction could be seen as a weakness, and he had to be ready to react to any kind of situation.
"Fine..." She straightened, flipping her pin back into its holster. "I came because Freya told me you'd do something stupid if left alone. Seems she was right..."
"Freya talks too much," he sighed.
"That elf already knew everything..." Azrael thought.
"Only when it's about you," Kymrith teased. "I think she already knew that you would've ignored the orders of our master when it comes to save people, that's why she told me to keep an eye on you."
"She shouldn't worry that much," Azrael replied. "I would've gone to talk with him again."
"Moreover, I won't die that easily." he added, with a cold voice, probably referring to an event in her past.
"No," she said quietly, almost kindly. "But everyone around you does."
The words landed like frost.
Even Lu Mo stopped smiling.
For a second, the silence that followed was heavier than any blade.
Azrael's eyes narrowed, but he didn't rise to it. "Did you come here to talk or to stab?"
"Both," she said, playful again. "But this time, just talking. For now."
She turned toward the great iron map pinned to the wall — a relic of the old wars, still marked with glowing leyline paths.
Her gloved finger traced the western border, stopping at a red mark pulsing faintly.
"Arkatzil," she murmured. "The capital of vanity. I've heard things. The nobles drink the blood of innocent virgins in crystal goblets and call it communion, like some sort of sacrifice to a kind of God."
"You've been there?" Lu Mo asked.
"Once. Long ago. The city smells like perfume and corpses. The perfect contrast." She said. "A City where everyone comes to find their success... with a great price. A Lot of nobles have been transformed into vampires with the promise of immortality and power, that's why I think that Sagast is involved in this."
Azrael's body twitched after hearing that name.
He was the vampire he hated the most.
The deceiver, the one who killed a childhood friend of his.
"Then you know what to expect," Azrael said. "We leave at dawn."
"Dawn?" Lu Mo arched a brow. "You know the orders are absolute, do you? There's a reason of why the master told us to go next Saturday."
"I cannot waste a second when people are dying," Azrael said. "And not when Maria moves her pawns. If Sagast is involved, the situation is really dangerous." He added, while clenching his fists.
Kymrith chuckled. "Still the same holy machine, aren't you? That's why Master told us to wait. He's still finding information , you can't go there and slay everything like a stupid hero of a Fairy tale. We're fighting against intelligent creatures." She said, her voice became more serious.
Lu Mo was listening carefully.
He felt a big tension in the air.
"Do I look like a stupid who doesn't know what he's doing?" Azrael said, his voice colder.
"No, Azrael, but you perfectly know that Master's orders are absolute. Everyone who didn't care ended up dying because his predictions were always right. We should use this time to rest and train." Kymrith said, trying to calm the tension.
"Rest is for those who have something to return to," he said, turning away. "I don't have time to waste."
The words hit her harder than she expected.
For a second, Kymrith saw the shadow beneath the hunter's calm — the weight of every life he'd failed to save.
She bit back a reply.
Lu Mo broke the tension, as usual.
He knew that Azrael wouldn't change his mind.
"If we're leaving that soon, you must talk with the master and gather some supplies. Freya's good at finding things that explode-"
"I'm going to talk with him again." Azrael said, while turning around and walking back to the master.
"He's so stubborn..." Kymrith sighed. "He had always been like this. But that's probably why he's so attractive." She added.
Lu Mo couldn't help but laugh.
"What are we gonna do now?" He asked, while leaning his back against the wall.
"Nothing. We stay here and follow the orders we received." Kymrith said, while stretching her arms.
Meanwhile, Azrael walked towards his master.
He wanted to ask him to go to save the people he saw.
A part of him knew that he had to follow the orders, while the other part wanted to save every single human possible.
He was moved by humanity, his only weakness.
"There's no time to waste." He thought.