Cairen took a deep breath atop the tree, feeling the calm wind spread across the entire inheritance territory.
His eyes turned into a black abyss, as if the very night had taken over his vision.
'Veil of Blindness.' Cairen murmured in his mind, letting the Fallen ability spread.
Immediately, a wave of invisible energy pulsed from his eyes.
His eyes burned. But the feeling was unique. It was as if he cast a net over the world around him. A net that did not merely obscure vision but tore through every sense.
This was the power that came from the Fallen Elthar bloodline. The bloodline of a single man, abandoned because of his ocular gifts.
Cairen watched as the effect began to take hold of his prey.
A few meters away, hidden in another tree, two rogue cultivators tried to catch their breath.
They had run after escaping a previous ambush. Their bodies still trembled from exhaustion.
"Damn place. If I'd known it would be like this, I'd never have entered." The taller one grumbled, sweating profusely.
The other, shorter one, took a deep breath.
"We need to stay still. Maybe we can hide until only a few remain and they're tired…"
But the next moment, as they thought of their next moves, something strange happened.
"Huh?" The taller one blinked several times. The light in his eyes simply vanished.
"I-I… I can't see anything…"
"Me neither…" The shorter one also screamed, panicking.
He tried to stand only to trip over his own foot.
It was as if their eyes had been ripped out.
Not only their sight. But suddenly, the two stopped hearing. Their hearing ceased abruptly.
Absolute silence enveloped them. Neither the sound of their own breaths, nor the rustling of the crimson leaves, nor the echo of their own scream. Nothing.
Right after, their smell disappeared. The taste in their mouths vanished. Even touch evaporated completely.
As if there were no more senses in their bodies, only the void of darkness.
An overwhelming panic greater than anything they had ever felt took hold of them.
Without their full senses, they could no longer act like arrogant cultivators, they were not warriors. Just a shell lost from the world.
Desperate, they thrashed like terrified children, falling from the tree with a dull thud as they hit the still lake below.
Their screams echoed, or didn't. They didn't know. Since they could not hear their own screams.
Yet still, they roared with the instinct to survive.
From above, Cairen watched.
His completely black eyes were cold. Almost as if no emotion existed at all.
There was nothing beautiful about that scene. Only the raw truth. The power of the bloodline, of the Fallen ability, had reduced the two men to helpless toys.
He clenched his fists. Near him, he hesitated for an instant. That wasn't a fair fight. They couldn't even resist. They didn't even know of his existence.
But he remembered Mei Ran's laughter. Remembered the advice not to hesitate before entering the inheritance. Remembered his silent promise to grow strong and not allow something like this to happen again.
And he recalled Ling's words.
'Show all your strength.'
And especially, the system's words.
'Show them the power of the Fallen!'
"If I waver now… then truly I would be a false genocider…"
Cairen leapt from the tree. His body falling silently between the two, who ran like madmen, lost in their own despair.
"Forgive me."
"But this is the path I chose." Cairen murmured softly, more to himself than to them.
The chain slid like a serpent through the air. It coiled around the first rogue cultivator in a single movement.
The man did not even react when the shackles bound his body. The mark appeared, the body vanished. And the energy was completely drained into Cairen.
His heart raced for a moment. He had already killed the two princes, but he had been under an effect then. His emotions had not worked properly at that time. But now…
His breath faltered for a moment, but only for an instant. And soon he recovered.
"That's it… if I hesitate, I'll be the next to die soon. Won't I?"
The second cultivator still struggled. Unaware that death was already near.
Cairen did not wait any longer. He moved his hand with determination.
The chain caught his neck. The transformation was immediate. And life faded into energy, in absolute silence.
Cairen absorbed both, feeling the Fallen energy flow through his body and temper every part. Becoming stronger, colder. More distant from who he once had been.
He took a deep breath.
Looking in a specific direction.
His eyes slowly returned to normal.
"This lake… will be my hunting ground."