Screams tore across the suspended iron walkways.
Rowan's squad scattered, panic overwhelming discipline as the golden-eyed creature blurred through their formation like a streak of living shadow.
One cadet dropped before he even understood he'd been struck.Another was hurled across a platform, crashing through a rusted railing and dangling over the abyss by one trembling hand.
"Regroup!" Rowan shouted, voice cracking under the pressure."Form up! FORM—"
He didn't finish.
The creature appeared in front of him.
No sound.
No warning.
Rowan froze mid-breath, his aura flickering with pure, instinctive terror.
The creature leaned forward slightly, golden eyes studying him the way a scientist might observe a failing experiment.
"Unmarked."
The verdict dropped with cold finality.
Then a thin, black tendril of mana slithered from the creature's fingertip—so sharp, so fast, Rowan barely had time to scream.
Aria lunged forward.
"Elias! Move!"
But Elias didn't move.
Neither toward the fightnor away from it.
He wasn't frozen in fear.
He was evaluating.
Every step.Every strike.Every movement of that golden-eyed being.
Trying to understand what it wanted.
Why it touched him.Why it whispered those words.Why it said he must survive.
The tendril struck—
—but Kellan Drax was faster.
A primal roar tore from his throat as he slammed his iron staff into the walkway, sending metal shards flying.He used the recoil to launch himself forward like a cannonball.
His staff intercepted the tendril mid-strike.
A shockwave exploded outward.
Rowan stumbled back, gasping as Kellan landed in front of him, staff spinning in a violent arc.
The creature drifted back a few paces, expression unreadable.
Kellan spat in the dust.
"You want prey? Pick someone who won't break so easily."
The creature tilted its head.
For the first time, a hint of curiosity flickered in its golden eyes.
"Strong."
Kellan grinned, eyes shining with feral excitement.
"Careful. I bite."
He attacked.
And for a moment—just a moment—the creature actually stepped back.
Kellan's staff swung with crushing weight, sparks exploding with each impact.He drove the creature across the walkway, pushing it back through sheer brutality.
Jarek gaped in disbelief.
"H-He's winning?! Kellan is actually—"
Aria cut him off sharply.
"No. He's not."
Because the creature wasn't retreating.
It was… analyzing.
Measuring Kellan.
Predicting.
Learning.
The next time Kellan swung, the creature shifted only half an inch out of range.The staff missed by a margin too precise to be instinct.
Kellan's grin faltered.
"Oh… that's new."
The creature whispered, voice soft:
"Predictable."
It moved.
Kellan's eyes widened, but he reacted on pure muscle memory—parrying the first strike, ducking the second, twisting away from the third.
Barely.
Sparks flew as the creature's limb carved a gash across the walkway, close enough for Kellan to feel the burn.
"Ward!" Aria snapped."Do something!"
Elias didn't look at her.
He was focused entirely on the creature.
On its stance.On the small motions before it attacked.On how its mana signature shifted between strikes.
And he understood something chilling.
"It's not trying to kill Kellan," Elias murmured.
Aria's head snapped toward him.
"What?"
"It's testing him."
Kellan swung again—this time with desperation, with instinct, with survival on the line.
The creature dodged effortlessly.
Elias continued, voice low.
"It's testing all of us."
The creature blurred behind Kellan in a blink.
Kellan spun, but too late.
A clawed hand slammed into his chest, sending him flying across the walkway and crashing into a broken pillar.
Jarek screamed.
"KELLAN!"
Kellan coughed blood, staggering back to his feet, staff shaking in his grip.
"Not… done yet…"
Elias finally stepped forward.
Aria grabbed his arm instantly.
"Ward—DON'T."
He looked at her calmly.
"This won't stop by running."
She bit her lip, eyes burning with calculation and fear.
"Then what do you plan?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he walked past her.
Straight toward the creature.
The walkways shook under every step of his boots.The metal echoed his approach like a war drum.
The creature turned its head toward him.
Its golden eyes brightened.
"Marked," it said again, almost softly."Finally."
Rowan, bleeding and terrified, shouted from behind Kellan's limp form:
"Ward! Don't you dare—run, you idiot!"
Jarek was openly crying.
"Elias please—just run—please—"
Aria stood frozen.
Not because she was afraid.
Because Elias was showing something she had spent years trying to read.
Resolve.Cold.Calculated.Unshakable.
Elias stopped two meters from the creature.
His voice was quiet.
"Why are you here?"
The creature's head tilted.
Then it spoke.
"For you."
Aria inhaled sharply.Jarek fell backward.Rowan's pupils shrank.
The creature continued:
"You shine in the dark. A beacon. A wound in the world."
Elias's breath didn't change.
"But you are not ready."
It stepped closer.
"And you must be."
Elias's hand clenched slowly at his side.
The creature raised an arm—not to strike—but to place its hand on Elias's shoulder.
Aria moved immediately.
"No!"
Her mana surged.Time shifted around her hand.
But the creature flicked a single finger.
A ripple of force struck her, sending her sliding backward across the walkway.
"AR—" Jarek screamed, rushing toward her.
Kellan forced himself up again, eyes burning with fury.
Rowan watched in horror.
The creature gazed down at Elias.
"You will seek me."
Its voice was soft.Almost mournful.
"When your threshold breaks."
Elias met its eyes without blinking.
"And if I refuse?"
The creature leaned closer.
A whisper against his ear.
"Then you will die."
Silence fell like a blade.
Then—
It vanished.
No sound.No ripple.No trace.
Gone.
Jarek collapsed to his knees.Kellan slumped against the broken pillar.Rowan sank to the ground, staring at his trembling hands.
Aria stood slowly, hair disheveled, breathing ragged.
She walked toward Elias—stopping just a step away.
Her voice was barely audible.
"Ward… what are you?"
He didn't answer.
Because even he didn't know.
Not yet.
But the world around him was beginning to.