The air hung thick with shock as Lucas's eyes widened in horror. The man clad in all black stared down, his gaze sharp with surprise, while the mistress—stabbed through the heart by the one she had trusted most, the very person she had entrusted with her son—collapsed to the ground.
TiTi looked down at her with cold disgust. "I warned you. I begged you to run, gave you a way out. But no. You damn Velerions and your godforsaken pride. You put your ego before your life. You and your wretched family are a stain on this world."
The mistress of the Ronhargg estate gritted her teeth, summoning her mana in a desperate attempt to rise. With the last of her strength, she gasped out a single word: "Why?" before collapsing back onto the earth with a scream. "Haaaa—!" Agony wracked her body, far worse than the wound itself should have caused.
Even with her heart pierced, a woman of her caliber should not have been felled so easily. Yet she could not stand, could not move—it felt as though her insides were being devoured, her bones and flesh corroding from within.
"Sreverton poison. Interesting," the man in all black mused.
Sreverton poison—a banned toxin from the deserts of Wan Uong, originally crafted to kill Wirens. The Warriors of Sand had outlawed it, not just for its lethality, but out of fear of its unknown origins. Yet somehow, a mere maid like TiTi had gotten her hands on it. Who is she, really? The man in black narrowed his eyes as realization struck.
"So, you're the one he sent. Never thought we'd meet like this," he said, voice dripping with mockery.
Lucas stood frozen, struggling to comprehend the nightmare unfolding before him. His mother lay dying. His friend—the maid he had laughed and played with every day—had betrayed them all.
"Mummy…" His voice was small, trembling with fear and pain. Then, as the full horror crashed over him, he screamed: "MAMA!"
He thrashed against the man's grip, desperate to reach her. "Let go of me! Leave me alone!"
"No, you little bastard,"the man snarled, tightening his hold. "Watch. Watch your proud mother suffer."
He strode toward TiTi, his tone laced with menace. "How intriguing. Tell me, maid—why wait so long to fulfill your mission?"*
TiTi ignored him, wrenching Lucas away as the boy screamed and fought. "You hurt my mama! Let me go! Why did you hurt mama! What did you do to her! I said let me go
With an emotionless stare, she struck the back of his neck, knocking him unconscious. Then, finally, she turned to the man in all black.
"Let's go,Before the velerian knights that where called get here. "she said turning with Lucas in her hand heading towards the direction of the forest.
"What velerian knights." The man in all black asked with a look of contempt.
"The knights you killed already called for back up before they died. We have to leave here before the velerian knights get here."
"Don't worry yourself about that the knights they contacted are just like you, spies in the velerion workforce." He replied with an hint of mockery in his voice.
" But you still haven't answered my question though why did you wait so long to accomplish your mission, I would love to know maid." He said with a look of curiosity and doubt
TITi faced him and replied "i don't have time to waste explaining things to you."
" We leave now." TITI said in a commanding tone "He's waiting."
The man in all black faced tensed after what TITI said. " Fine but you will tell me why maid." He said curiously.
A weak, guttural voice rasped from behind them. "Let… him… go."
Both whirled around. Against all odds, the mistress was standing—her body broken, her movements stiff like a reanimated corpse. A luminous, mist-like fog swirled around her, coalescing into a predatory force that lunged at them with terrifying speed.
They barely dodged as the mist reshaped itself into the mistress's spectral form. She slashed at them with a power so immense it split the clouds, her mana surging in a way that defied nature.
"A Wiren's last sacrifice," the man in black realized. "Burning her life for one final burst of strength. She's really going this far?"
" Can't you just die in pain. "He yelled at the half died mistress."
He tried to strike from behind, but she caught his blade bare-handed and slashed him across the chest, the wound sizzling like melted flesh.
TiTi lunged with her dagger, but the mistress seized her wrist mid-thrust. The maid twisted free, still clutching the unconscious Lucas, and sprinted into the forest, mana enhancing her speed.
Moving like a blur TiTi tried to escape the overwhelming presence of the mistress.
Given it her trying to move as far as possible away from the frightening mistress.
Yet the mistress moved faster—a monstrous blur—cutting TiTi off with a mana-charged slash aimed to kill.
At the last second, TiTi hurled Lucas directly at her.
The mistress's instincts flared. She reached for her son—only for the man in black to drive his poisoned blade through the base of her skull.
This time, she did not rise.
The man in black, bleeding heavily but still standing, limped toward TiTi. "Clever. Dropping the dagger as a distraction. You truly are one of his Riäno."
Lucas stirred awake, his vision blurry. Then he saw her—his mother, lifeless in a pool of blood.
"MAMA!" He scrambled to her side, shaking her, sobbing. "Mama, please wake up! PLEASE!"
"Enough, you little brat, "the man sneered. "That witch is dead. Beg me, and I might just reunite you with her."
"YOU BASTARD!" Lucas screamed, hurling himself at the man, tiny fists pounding uselessly. "You'll PAY for this!"
The man kicked him away in disgust. "You dare touch me?" he spat. *"You dare stain me with your filth?"
Rage overtook him. He stomped on Lucas's head, over and over, until blood coated his boots.
"That's enough," TiTi said coldly. "He wants the boy alive."
"I wasn't going to kill him," the man scoffed. *"Just teaching him his place."
Lucas, battered and bleeding, dragged himself toward his mother's corpse. *
"Mama… mama, get up…"
Then—rain.
It fell in heavy sheets, as though the sky itself wept for him. The man in black tilted his head back, grinning. "Ah, rain. What a lovely coincidence." He turned to TiTi. "Look, Riäno—it's as if the world mourns with this bastard."
"Shut up and pick him up," TiTi snapped. *"We need to move before the Velerions grow suspicious."
"Relax. We're completely isolated. Even if they find out, it'll be too late."
"Enough stupidity,"* she hissed. "Get the boy. Now."
With a sigh, he stalked toward Lucas, still sobbing over his mother's body. "Still conscious? Impressive."
Then—
THUNDER.
A deafening crack split the sky. The wind howled like a beast, and space itself trembled, warping violently. The ground heaved as reality seemed to tear apart.
"A SHIVER?!" the man in black gasped. "No—that's impossible!"
"A SHIVER can't happen in Agos!" TiTi shouted.
But the impossible had come to pass.
The chaos ceased as abruptly as it began. Silence.
No birds. No wind. Nothing.
The Ronhargg estate, the Metabus Road—everything within a 30-kilometer radius—was simply gone.A vast, smoldering trench was all that remained.