The splintered door smoked behind the five mercenaries now standing in a loose formation across the cramped shack, their armor gleaming faintly from Ki enhancements.
Dust still floated in the air, dancing in the tense silence like ash before the fire.
Rudra stood still as stone, the fractured moonlight from the broken window catching in his white hair.
His shadow stretched behind him like a cloak of tension. The Ki in his body pulsed slow and heavy—the calm before his storm.
The leader, a tall man with a scar carved across his chin and eyes like tempered steel, shifted his stance.
Flames coiled faintly around his sword, their heat tangible.
His name was Garrick and he was Level 59 at the Ki Purifying Stage.
And as of now–
Rudra narrowed his eyes.
The most dangerous thing to his survival in Velstrum.
The other four slowly moved to surround him as they stood with him in the middle.
