The two men stood before Nash, their presence filling the forest like a suffocating weight. The one with stone skin, his body cracked with glowing veins of molten orange, gripped his warhammer tightly. The other, with hair white as frost and pale eyes that seemed colder than winter itself, narrowed his gaze at Hina's porcelain body. Both held devices that pulsed violently, lights flaring as if screaming at Nash's existence.
The stone-skinned man called out, his voice sharp and commanding. "Hey, porcelain girl. Stop right there. I want to talk to you."
Nash ignored him. He kept Hina's puppet body walking deeper into the forest, porcelain feet pressing into the soil with steady rhythm. His only thought was to get away before the situation escalated.
But it was too late.
The frost-haired man frowned. "Jack, it's flaring again."
The stone-skinned man, Jack, snarled. "Hey, transcender doll face! There's a supernatural nearby and you fucking know where it is. Don't play dumb. Where is it?"
Nash halted. Slowly, he turned Hina's head to stare at them, crimson glass eyes glowing eerily in the moonlight. His mind raced, scrambling for the right words, but nothing came. The silence stretched.
The frost-haired man suddenly moved, vanishing in a blur of icy mist. He reappeared several meters away, device still in hand, watching it carefully. The light on it dimmed. But when he stepped back toward Nash, the device wailed again, flashing violently.
His eyes widened in shock. "You… it's you. You're not a transcender. You're a fucking F grade supernatural!"
Jack's molten cracks flared at the revelation. His fury exploded in an instant. "You piece of shit!" He lunged, fist swinging like a boulder.
Nash twisted Hina's body at the last second, the punch tearing through the trunk of a massive tree instead. Wood shattered, debris raining down. Nash leapt back, putting distance between them.
Then he bolted. Porcelain legs tore across the ground, faster than human but not nearly as fast as the transcenders chasing him.
"Run if you want!" Jack roared, charging after him. His heavy footsteps thundered through the forest.
The frost-haired man, wings of pure ice bursting from his back, soared above. His breath fogged the night as he raised his hands. Walls of ice erupted from the ground, closing Nash's path. In seconds, an enormous barrier of frozen spires towered ahead, blocking his escape.
Nash skidded to a stop, staring upward at the wall. "Are you fucking kidding me?" he muttered. But he had no time to waste. He leapt, digging porcelain fingers into the ice, climbing with raw strength. Shards of ice cracked off as his hands carved into the frozen barrier.
Above, the frost-haired man dove, wings shimmering like glass blades. He raised his hands, icy mist swirling around them. "Freeze!" Frost exploded outward, racing down toward Nash, encasing the wall in a glacial prison.
Nash grunted, forcing himself to push faster. The ice crawled toward him, threatening to trap him solid. At the last second, he flung himself sideways, tearing out of the wall as the ice engulfed where he had been.
He fell back to the forest floor. The impact shook the ground. He had barely rolled to his feet when Jack came barreling in, shoulder first, like a charging bull. The porcelain body collided with the stone-skinned transcender. The crash sent them both slamming into the side of the ice wall, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface.
Jack grinned, glowing molten cracks pulsing brighter. His voice was vicious. "You're a rare one. You know how to fucking deceive. Supernatural like you will give us millions. But that makes you a bit more dangerous than typical supernaturals."
He slammed his warhammer down, the earth shattering beneath the blow. Nash leapt aside, porcelain body rolling across the ground. The weapon left a crater where he had stood.
The frost-haired man landed nearby, wings folding with a hiss of frost. His eyes gleamed. "Don't resist. You're cornered. The smart thing for you to do is surrender and let us capture you than to erase you."
Nash clenched porcelain fists, frustration boiling. "Surrender? Yeah, no thanks."
Jack snarled. "Then we'll break you first."
The fight began in full. Jack swung his hammer, forcing Nash to dodge relentlessly. Each swing carried the force of a landslide, smashing trees and sending shockwaves across the forest. Meanwhile, the frost-haired man fired shards of ice from above, wings beating to keep him mobile. Blades of frozen mist cut through the air, aiming to pin Nash down.
Nash weaved and ducked, the indestructible porcelain body saving him from lethal blows, but he could not escape. Every block rattled the body. Every dodge brought him closer to being cornered again.
He gritted his teeth. "This is bad… I can't outmuscle them. I can't outrun them. Escaping is almost impossible."
For a moment he considered giving up Hina's puppet body entirely, pulling back his control. But the thought of losing her made his chest tighten. He couldn't abandon her. Not like this.
Jack stomped forward, warhammer raised, molten cracks glowing brighter with every swing. "Stop running, aetherborn!"
The frost-haired man raised both hands, summoning a storm of icicles. His voice was cold as death. "There's nowhere left to go."
Nash's thoughts swirled like a storm. He had one option. A dangerous option. His eyes flicked to the glowing name etched into his system's roster.
Velith Scorn.
His lips curled into a grim smile. "Fine. If I can't win like this… then I'll have to choose but to merge."
He reached for her essence, calling the supernatural that now lived within his system. Crimson energy began to swirl, chains rattling faintly in the air. The hunters froze for a brief moment, sensing the change.
"What the hell is it doing?" the frost-haired man whispered.
Jack tightened his grip on the hammer. "Doesn't matter. We put it down before it finishes doing something!"
They both lunged. Jack from the ground, frost-haired from the air. Nash braced, crimson light flaring from Hina's porcelain frame as Velith Scorn's wrath began to merge with his body.
And then—