She entered the fray blade-first, cutting down a beetle-like beast as it lunged toward a screaming boy. A second one came from behind, fast as lightning.
Too fast.
Ethan appeared in its path, slamming his shoulder into it mid-leap. Sand erupted.
He dragged the beast down and drove his dagger into its skull. The group of aspirants stared in shock as Ethan and Velina pushed forward, covering the injured. Ethan struck with brutal economy, slashing tendon, crushing eyes, twisting steel through soft underbellies.
Velina parried for one of the girls, then turned and helped lift another who was bleeding from the waist.
"Behind!" someone yelled.
A beast had snuck through the chaos. Ethan pivoted and hurled a broken scorpion stinger like a spear, it pierced the creature's skull and dropped it in an instant.
The rest of the pack finally scattered.
Fight over.
[×3 TARTARUS BEASTS DEFEATED]
[+20EXP GAINED]
[CURRENT EXP: 220/500]
Heavy breathing filled the silence. Ethan stood still, his chest heaving, blade dripping black. Velina crouched beside a wounded aspirant, checking for a pulse. "He's alive."
Then, the silence broke.
A tall noble boy stepped forward, dragging a golden-etched blade. His arm was cut, his robe torn.
He looked at Ethan… and spat.
"We didn't ask for your help, filth."
Ethan froze. Velina stood slowly. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me," the noble sneered. "We had it under control. Don't expect thanks."
Another boy, bloodied and limping, added with a sneer, "A beast saving us from beasts. How poetic."
Ethan's fingers twitched. His WRATH stirred like coals beneath a windstorm.
[WRATH SURGE DETECTED]
[WRATH OVERDRIVE IF CONTINUES]
Ethan calmed down, closing his eyes for a moment and clenching his fists. Then he walked to the noble boy.
"Say that again," Ethan whispered.
But Velina stepped in front of him. Her voice cracked like a whip. "You should be grateful you're still breathing."
"Grateful?" the noble scoffed. "To him?"
Velina's blade half-lifted.
"Enough," Ethan said.
His voice was low, dark, but contained. Every bone in his body wanted to break something. Every nerve screamed to release the burning WRATH clawing up from his core. He could feel the Leviathan mark along his chest tingling, like a beast pressing against the skin from inside.
He turned his back to them.
"Let's go," he said.
Velina hesitated, but followed. Behind them, the mutters continued.
"Freak."
"Scum...trash."
Ethan's fists clenched. He walked faster. Deeper into the dunes. Into silence.
They didn't speak for hours.
Just marched. The tension hung between them like a blade.
Finally, Velina broke the silence. "I'm sorry. I had to help."
"I know."
"They didn't deserve it, but I couldn't let them die."
"I know."
She looked at him carefully. "Are you… alright?"
"No," Ethan said plainly. "But I'll live."
He looked ahead toward the horizon. The wind had changed again. Cooler. Sharper. Like something was waiting.
---
That night, they made camp behind a crescent of stone. The sandstorm came suddenly, and they pressed their backs to the rock for shelter. Ethan sat with his knees pulled up, silent.
Velina wrapped her arms around herself, watching him. Ethan's hand absently brushed his side. The Leviathan mark still faintly glowed beneath his skin, like veins of fire beneath cracked ice.
He could feel it growing again.
Not in size.
In presence.
A knowing. A pressure.
Like the Abyss itself had taken root in him, and every insult… every restraint… every silent scream only fed it.
What am I becoming?
But Ethan didn't speak it aloud.
He closed his eyes.
And listened to the wind scream for him.
----
The storm had passed.
But the storm inside Ethan hadn't. Sand still clung to his back, to his hair, to his tongue. Grit scratched his throat with every breath. The wind had died down, yet the silence was worse than the howling. Because now he could hear his thoughts again.
And they screamed.
Velina walked beside him without speaking. She'd learned to read the shift in his posture, the stillness of his hands, the dark edge behind his eyes. His crimson light orbs glowed faintly, fury, and rage.
Ethan's expression hadn't changed since they left the group that insulted him. But everything inside him had.
They spat at you.
You saved them… and they spat...not once..
His fingers twitched at the memory. A growl crawled up his throat, low and dangerous. The Leviathan mark along his ribs throbbed, a slow burn like coals embedded in flesh.
He didn't reach for it. He didn't have to. It was always there now. Watching. Pulsing.
He glanced at his WRATH bar.
[WRATH: 43/35]
[OVERFLOW: Stabilizing... Pending Burnout]
The Abyss within wasn't just feeding off blood anymore. It fed off pride. Off insult. Off restraint. And Ethan had been holding back far too long. He didn't speak. He let the sand do that. Let the dunes stretch like an endless graveyard and walk in silence beside Velina, a silence that grew heavier with each step.
---
By midday, the heat had returned.
It wasn't as sharp now. The body grew numb to it after a while. Or maybe it just stopped smattering. What mattered now was the scent in the air.
Predators.
Velina paused and pointed ahead. "Ridge."
Ethan followed her gaze. Sharp rocks curved into a spine-like ridge across the dunes. On the other side: movement. Several shapes circled a large mound. At first glance they looked like four-legged lizards. But as they crept around the mound, Ethan saw more. Six limbs. Bulging carapace. And long forked tongues dragging in the sand.
[WRATH CHARGE DETECTED]
[CLASS TARTARUS BEASTS]
[NAME: MAW LIZARD – NUMBER UNKNOWN]
Velina crouched behind a stone. "Class I?"
Ethan shook his head. "Class II. Easy."
She raised a brow. "Confident, aren't we?"
Ethan didn't answer.
His eyes locked on the beasts like a hunter choosing where to plant his first arrow.
"Stay close," he said.
The beasts never saw it coming.
Ethan exploded from the sand like a wraith, his blade flashing in the sunlight. He didn't cry out. No battle shout. No warning.
Just violence.
The first beast lunged, Ethan ducked, slashed through its underbelly, and kicked it onto its back. He turned into a spin and severed the leg of a second creature, then planted his foot on its skull and crushed it down as it screamed.
Velina joined the chaos with a clean strike through a neck, but even she glanced once at Ethan, surprised. He was faster. Sharper. Each blow was brutal. Calculated. Final.
Ethan flipped his dagger and rammed it into a second creature's chest, then twisted hard, watching the light fade from its eyes. He moved to the last beast as it tried to flee.
And that's when the rage bled out of him. He grabbed the beast by the tail, yanked it backward, then slammed it into the rocks once—
Twice—
Three times—
Until the ground was soaked in black ichor.
Velina stared.
"Ethan."
He didn't move.
His chest heaved.
[WRATH : 80/35 — OVERFLOW SURGE]
[WARNING: Prolonged Overflow may trigger seal weakening]