Kain Clinton's gaze fell on Blake, sprawled pitifully in a heap on the ground. Blood stained the earth around him, and the countless punctures across his body were ghastly reminders of his defeat.
"Kill me! Just kill me!"
Blake's scream tore through the night, ragged and desperate. Only his head still held some semblance of strength; his limbs were effectively paralyzed. His lower body lay useless, a testament to the cruelty of Kain's tactics. The brutal precision with which the attacks had been delivered left marks not just on the body, but deep in the psyche.
"Master, he's barely hanging on. A few more strikes and he'll be done for," Barrett Ironhide said, tilting his long, serpentine spear. The places he struck were deliberately non-lethal, yet blood loss was a concern. He frowned; Blake's survival was hanging by a thread.
Kain Clinton scanned the scene. Even a high-tier healing mage would have been helpless against this extent of injury. It was the kind of scene that would leave most healers powerless, forced to watch as the victim's life slipped away.
"Let's go. You carry him," Kain said with cool disdain, glancing at the barely-living figure. He had expected a hardened, unyielding Black Cult operative—someone who could endure and resist—but all he saw was a puddle of pus and sticky blood, a pitiable shadow of defiance.
"Poor old Barrett, what a cursed life," Barrett muttered, clearly disgusted. He lifted Blake effortlessly with the spear as if hoisting a bundle of luggage, ignoring the nauseating mix of blood and waste beneath him.
The spectators shuddered. "Is… is that Blake? He looks… horrible."
The sight was enough to make anyone's stomach churn. The once-proud soldier, now a broken, pitiful heap, was almost unrecognizable.
"Damn it!"
Commander Kane's mind snapped to a crucial point. The dire wolf beast—Blake's summon—was still out there. His initial plan had been to let the students learn a lesson with the summon as part of their trial, but now the summoner had been neutralized. Yet the beast remained uncontrolled in the wilderness.
The students were still en route to the caves, days away from returning. If the dire wolf beast roamed freely, the consequences could be catastrophic.
"Training suspended immediately! Bring the students back at once!" Commander Kane barked, his voice cutting through the night. Darkness still cloaked the landscape, with hours to sunrise. If the students encountered the beast, there would be no survivors.
"Training suspended?" Lieutenant Lucas blinked in disbelief, but when the leader spoke, dissent was unwise.
"The beast is still out there," Commander Kane added grimly.
"What?!"
The gathered soldiers were horrified. The dire wolf beast was no ordinary monster—it was stronger than the single-eyed demon wolves they had trained against, an apex predator in its own right.
"I'll go immediately," Lucas said, nodding sharply. A few light mages accompanied him; even at night, visibility would not be an issue.
Meanwhile, Blake lay with no will to live, laughing and screaming maniacally as if to dare anyone to end him. "I want all of you to die with me! Ha ha ha!"
The soldiers' anger was palpable. Any sympathy or old camaraderie had vanished. This was a traitor, a Black Cult agent, and their patience had run out.
Commander Kane's eyes swept over his troops, assessing the danger. Unsure if other infiltrators remained, he turned to Jayce with a request:
"You're a psychic mage. Can you scan the ranks for any hidden Black Cult operatives?"
A ripple of tension spread through the camp. Even the soldiers themselves wondered if more traitors had infiltrated their midst. Doubt now crept into their hearts, the seeds of suspicion threatening to disrupt trust among comrades.
Jayce met Kain Clinton's knowing glance and nodded. "Line them up. This will take some time. Get me a stool."
Commander Kane complied, summoning an aide to fetch the stool and the roster. Without a roster, how could they confirm each person's status?
"Adrian, assist him. I'll check on the students," Commander Kane instructed, activating his Wind Wings spell. This was his oversight—any harm to the students would be his responsibility.
"Tara Young, he still has a few breaths left. Ask anything you need," Kain said, motioning for Barrett Ironhide to place Blake on the ground. The punctured body hit the stones with dull thuds, yet Blake's bloodshot eyes remained fixed on Kain and Barrett.
"Your 'achievement' is just a corpse?" Tara Young murmured in frustration. She had expected some measure of interrogation, not this level of near-lethal punishment. Yet, despite the cruelty, she respected Kain. A person of such cunning and resolve would be an invaluable addition to the Arcane Tribunal.
"Hmm. I recall one of the cultists had a bounty," Kain said lightly. "You can take it. Consider it for your merit."
Tara Young did not refuse. Compared to Kain, her resources were paltry. A single vein of star-matter could easily be worth billions, a fortune she could only dream of.
"I'll check on the students," Kain said.
"Go ahead. I've got this covered," Jayce replied. A group of novice mages, few even reaching mid-tier, could not possibly oppose him effectively.
"Eldric Shade, monitor these people closely. Anyone acting suspiciously, deal with them immediately."
"Understood!"
"Gareth, take me to the wilderness!"
"Yes, Master!"
A silver flash streaked across the camp. Gareth "The Spear of Dawn" Stormspear appeared, clad in silver armor, gripping his Dragon Gallant Silver Spear. Beneath him, The Silverstorm King—a magnificent, snow-white beast with fur that shimmered with subtle lightning—waited.
Kain leapt onto the beast's back. Despite its size, it carried both perfectly, moving like a living bolt of lightning. Four hooves touched the ground, and in an instant, they vanished into the darkness at a speed faster than Commander Kane himself could move.
"Holy… that's fast!"
The novice mages were left gaping. Even the camp leader's movement had seemed slow compared to this.
"Earlier, that blinding white light—what was it? It came from that direction," Murray noted beside the fire. The immense glow had startled the team, but they had initially assumed it was a natural phenomenon. Now he suspected otherwise.
"Better not act rashly. We must wait until sunrise," Murray cautioned, eyes scanning the star-speckled sky. Inexperienced as they were, navigating the dark wilderness was far too dangerous.
A low, distant growl cut through the night. The quiet had magnified the sound, startling several students awake.
"The fire! The monster's been drawn to it!"
Murray rose quickly. Extinguishing the fire was no longer an option.
"Murray, was that the monster's growl?" Connor Sanderson, a corpulent but loyal student and Murray's aide, asked.
"Almost certainly. Wake the others. The instructor should be en route," Murray said. Calmness amidst chaos defined his leadership. Even facing an unknown beast, he could assess the situation rationally—a quality rare and precious among new mages.