[FEW HOURS BEFORE HAVOC BECAME A SOULWRETCH...]
THUD-THUD!
THUD-THUD!
The reinforced containment cart rattled down the wooded trail of Sidonia, iron wheels grinding against the dirt path. A full squadron of Solar Knights marched in formation—twelve warriors in gleaming gold-plated armor, shields emblazoned with the Sidonian crest. The rising sun etched on their breastplates caught the morning light, casting dancing shadows through the forest canopy.
Spears raised. Formation tight.
Eyes forward.
"I still can't believe we actually caught the Fearscar Twins," one knight muttered under his breath.
"Shut it," another growled. "We didn't catch anything. We showed up after the real work was done—as usual."
"Not our fault," a third chimed in defensively. "Command never sends intel fast enough. We responded as quickly as we could."
"Doesn't matter now," the second knight snorted. "They're locked up tight. Either the gallows or life behind mana-sealed walls."
"Tch. Serves them right. They destroyed my favorite tavern—I was going to get a drink named after me there."
"Keep dreaming," someone laughed. "If those two had escaped, they would've flattened all of us without breaking a sweat."
A grizzled veteran's voice cut through the chatter: "Still can't wrap my head around that noble girl... what was her name? Elsa?"
"Lady Elsa Liana," another replied with respect. "And her partner was Lorenzo... something foreign-sounding."
"Doesn't sound Sidonian, that's for sure."
"The crazy part? He took down Bronn without even manifesting an Echoform..."
"Bullshit," a skeptical voice countered. "Bronn had Gorthok the Mountain Splitter. One of the nastiest tank-class Echoforms out there. No rookie drops him barehanded."
"Maybe not. But thank the stars they showed up when they did. We'd be corpses in the snow otherwise."
"Doesn't change anything," another knight grunted. "We're Solar Knights. We bleed, we fight, we stand our ground."
"Heh. Keep telling yourself that," one scoffed. "If those two break out of that cart, I'm sprinting straight back to headquarters."
"Coward."
"Realist."
A ripple of nervous laughter broke the tension.
"What's so funny? I'm dead serious!" the knight huffed, crossing his arms indignantly.
"Quiet!" barked the squad captain from the front. "Eyes forward, all of you. Have you forgotten who we're transporting? This is a Class-A threat. No more chatter."
"Yes, sir!"
Twelve boots stomped in perfect unison. Military discipline resumed instantly.
---
Inside the Containment Cart...
Bronn lay slumped in a corner, unconscious and broken. His Echoform, Gorthok the Mountain Splitter, was curled beside him like a wounded animal—tusk cracked, spiritual essence nearly drained.
And in the center of the steel chamber...
Encased in a coffin of crystal-blue mana ice stood Havoc.
Frozen solid.
But far from broken.
CRACK...
CRACK...
FWOOOSH!!
The ice prison began to splinter like fractured glass.
THUD! THUD!
Massive shards crashed to the steel floor with deafening impact.
Havoc gasped for air, steam curling off his shoulders as warmth returned to his body. The temperature in the cart plummeted as pure hatred radiated from his core.
"Haa... haa... where... am I?" he rasped, each breath visible in the frigid air.
"Elsa... Lorenzo..."
The names seared through his mind like red-hot brands.
CRACK!!
His fist smashed into the steel wall. The entire cart lurched violently.
"Huh? Did you hear that?" a knight asked from outside.
"Hear what?"
"...Never mind. Probably just a loose wheel."
Inside, Havoc knelt on the freezing floor. Hair still damp with frost, shoulders trembling—not from cold, but from pure, concentrated rage.
"You little ice witch," he muttered through gritted teeth. "When I get out of here... I'll rip both your hearts out and feed them to the crows."
He scanned his prison. Cold steel walls on all sides. Mana suppression chains hung from the ceiling. Dim overhead lights cast everything in sickly yellow.
"Sidonian military transport. So this is how the story of Havoc ends?"
He crawled over to Bronn, checking for a pulse at his neck.
Still breathing. Barely.
"Lucky bastard."
Gorthok stirred weakly—a low, pained groan. Too drained to even lift his head.
"Damn it... She nearly killed both of us."
Havoc's eyes flicked toward the heavily locked door, then to the shadowy corners of their mobile prison.
"Two knights, maybe... but twelve?" He shook his head grimly. "No chance. Not in this condition..."
Then his gaze dropped back to Bronn's unconscious form.
He stood slowly.
Silent as death.
Eyes gleaming with terrible decision.
"But there is one way out."
He crouched beside his partner and raised his hand—
THWACK!
"WAKE UP!"
Bronn jolted upright, eyes wide with confusion and pain.
"Wh—what the hell?! Where am I—?!"
SMACK!
Another vicious slap across the face.
"It's me, you idiot."
"Ugh... Havoc? My head feels like a mountain troll used it for target practice..."
"All that big talk until some pretty-boy punk folded you like yesterday's laundry."
Bronn winced as the memories came flooding back in painful waves.
"Elsa... Lorenzo... I want them to pay. I want their blood."
"So do I. But we're almost at the prison gates. Once we cross that threshold, it's over. Null magic fields. Mana-lock cells. Even I couldn't break out of that place."
"Then we make our move now!"
"You're not listening." Havoc grabbed him by the collar, eyes blazing. "You're half-dead. I'm running on fumes. We can't fight twelve Solar Knights in a straight battle."
Bronn looked down at Gorthok's broken form, his fists trembling with impotent fury.
"Then what the hell do we do...?"
Silence stretched between them like a blade.
Then Havoc stepped forward, his shadow falling long and dark across the steel floor.
"We invoke the Soul Pact."
Bronn's blood turned to ice.
"What...? No—absolutely not—"
"The pact we made three years ago."
"We said that was only if one of us lost the bet! That was supposed to be a joke—!"
CRACK!
Havoc's hand clamped down on his shoulder like a steel trap.
"AAAH—LET GO!"
"You were caught red-handed robbing that merchant's daughter," Havoc growled, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "You panicked. You killed her."
"I—I didn't mean to—it was an accident—!"
"I saved your worthless life. I trained you from nothing. You awakened Gorthok because of my guidance. I made you what you are."
"I KNOW! But I'm not dying for this revenge fantasy!"
Havoc's voice became soft as silk—and twice as dangerous.
"Wrong answer, old friend."
Before Bronn could react, iron fingers seized his head in an unbreakable grip. Havoc's eyes began to glow with hellish red light.
"By the Soul Pact we swore in blood... I, the victor, claim the loser's Echoform as my prize."
"NO! PLEASE! HAVOC—DON'T DO THIS!"
ZWHUOOOOOOM!!!
Blinding blue-white light exploded from Bronn's chest, mouth, and eyes simultaneously. His very soul—the core of his being—began to burn.
Screaming.
Tearing.
Being ripped from its mortal anchor.
"AAAAAAGGHHHHHH!!!"
"What the hell was THAT?!" a knight shouted from outside, his voice sharp with alarm.
"Sounded like someone screaming in agony!"
"Hold your positions!" the captain barked. "Stay alert! Something's not right!"
---
Inside the cart...
Havoc rose into the air as if gravity had released its hold on him.
Blue flames engulfed his entire body. Gorthok's tusk began to crack and splinter, transforming into fragments of pure spectral light that dove straight into Havoc's chest like hungry spirits.
CRACK! SNAP!
Bronn's body collapsed—a hollow shell, utterly empty of life.
"Yes... YESSS!!"
Threads of stolen soul-energy wrapped around Havoc's form like living chains, branding his heart with a second mystical glyph. Raw power surged through every nerve, every cell.
Strength returned tenfold. Mana overflowed like a bursting dam.
"With this power... I can destroy anything—"
LUB-DUB!
His eyes widened in sudden terror.
LUB-DUB!!
His chest convulsed violently, ribs cracking under impossible pressure.
"What... what's happening to me?!"
CRRRK!!!
Hairline fractures spread across his soul like a spider's web. Glowing veins of molten red energy slithered beneath his skin like parasites.
"IT'S TOO MUCH POWER!!"
SNAP!!!
His soul shattered completely.
Limbs twisted at unnatural angles. Bones snapped and reformed. His spine arched backward beyond what any human body could endure.
"AAAAAARRRGHHH!!!"
Organic armor burst from his flesh like the hardened shell of some ancient beast—black, jagged, and pulsing with its own malevolent life. Crimson reptilian eyes blinked open across his shoulders, each one filled with alien intelligence.
Outside, the knights froze in their tracks.
"Something's wrong... the entire carriage is shaking!"
"That presence... it's not human anymore..."
Inside...
The man once called Havoc no longer existed.
What emerged from the chrysalis of broken souls...
Was a creature born of blasphemy itself.
Two Echoforms crammed into a single vessel.
An abomination against nature.
A SOULWRETCH.
"HAHAHAHAHA!!"
The sound was no longer recognizably human.
"Elsa... Lorenzo..."
He took a step forward, his transformed body crackling with molten energy that made the air itself scream.
"Run while you still can..."
His voice echoed with the weight of damnation itself.
"Because Havoc... has been reborn."
The cart's steel walls began to glow cherry-red from the heat radiating off his new form.
And in that moment, something far worse than a criminal had been unleashed upon the world.
Something that would not stop until it had claimed its vengeance.
—TO BE CONTINUED—