Kael flicked a dart toward the board mounted on the wall, listening as the Feather Quill scratched steadily across the paper behind him.
'It should be finished soon.'
The soft scrape of the pen continued, then, as if in response to his thought, a sharp cling rang out as it fell against the desk.
Kael released the final dart before turning toward the notebook, careful not to let his gaze linger on its contents.
He closed the book, turned it in his hand once or twice, then slid it into the desk drawer.
His eyes shifted to the calendar on the wall.
"I suppose now is as good a time as any," he murmured.
He raised his hand and studied his empty palm. A heartbeat passed, then golden sparks gathered from nothing, drifting into his grasp until a pine cone shaped mote formed in his hand.
Kael dismissed it and looked out the window.
'And so my Thoughts begin to thin again…'
Under normal circumstances, he could have carried this many motes without strain, but his soul still had not fully recovered from losing his soulbound mote.
'I'll need food for them,' he thought, 'if I want to compensate for my declining Thought production.'
Just like most Luminaires, Kael knew it was possible to replace natural Thought with refinement ingredients, but until now, the idea had always been too absurd to consider seriously. With his resources, it had never been a real solution, only a theory meant for people with deeper pockets or fewer constraints. Now, with pressure tightening from every direction and the margin for error thinning by the day, theory was becoming necessity. Removing any of his motes was no longer an option, not with what awaited him in the near future. If survival demanded sacrifice, then he would sacrifice everything except his ability to act.
Kael let gravity pull him onto the bed.
'So this is where comfort ends.'
He lifted a hand toward the ceiling and moved it, watching his fingers drift aimlessly through the air.
Life within Claymore's walls had been undeniably comfortable. For many, it would have been something to cling to, even something to build a future upon. But Kael had never mistaken safety for permanence, nor comfort for stability. From the moment he stepped inside, he had known it would end. Nothing granted by circumstance lasted, and anything that could be taken away inevitably would be.
If anything, the coming months stirred something restless in him.
Even knowing they would likely become the bloodiest stretch of his life, he could not deny the thrill simmering beneath the surface. Crisis stripped away illusion. It forced truth into the open. It punished complacency and rewarded preparation. And in a world governed by uncertainty, preparation was the closest thing to control.
Chance decided outcomes. Luck tilted scales. Coincidences shaped lives.
But effort bent probability.
existence was a game of chance threaded through with inevitability, a hidden current running beneath every decision, deeper than even Paragons could reach. Perhaps fate truly existed. Perhaps every living being was already walking a path they never chose. If so, free will might be nothing more than a convincing illusion.
But illusions could still be exploited.
Even if destiny waited at the end of the road, he would decide how far he walked before reaching it, how high he climbed, and how much of the world he carved apart along the way.
A bird did not leave its nest because it knew it could fly.
It left because the thought of staying had never occurred.
Kael closed his fist, pushed himself off the bed, and moved toward the mirror.
He was still wearing the black waistcoat, with his coat draped loosely over his shoulders. He tilted his head, watching a few strands of snow white hair fall across his face. Unwillingly, he narrowed his eye as he untied the blindfold. An ice cold gaze met him in the glass.
His left eye remained sewn shut by the Weeping Eye. The threads were so fine, the wounds so cleanly healed, that it almost looked as if he were merely closing his eye.
He sighed inwardly.
He did not care about appearances, not truly. But white hair, while not uncommon among Luminaires, was rare among mortals. Even if he continued suppressing his aura, blending in had become more difficult.
Kael wrapped the blindfold around his head again before stepping out of his room, moving through the Claymore estate with the familiarity he had gained over the past few weeks, enough that housekeepers now bowed when they passed him and occasionally dared to exchange a few words of small talk.
He stopped before a door and knocked.
"Come in," Mael's voice answered from within.
Inside, she sat at her desk with a candle burning beside an open notebook, the warm light tracing soft shadows across her features, and the moment she noticed him she closed it and turned her full attention his way.
"Writing in your diary?" Kael asked as he stepped in.
Mael smiled and shrugged, her tone tinged with something faintly wistful. "I cannot help it… now that I am older, I have started to realize how many fond memories and thoughts I have already forgotten with time."
She hesitated for a fraction of a second, then added with a playful smile, "Maybe I will let you read it someday."
Kael walked over and sat down on the edge of her bed, resting his weight there as though it had already become a familiar place. "I will leave tomorrow," he said simply.
Mael straightened at once, concern flashing across her face as she looked at him more closely. "You are sure?"
"I am. There are things I need to do before it happens."
He did not elaborate, yet she understood immediately what he meant.
Eventually, her expression shifted, concern giving way to a forced, lighter smile.
"Wow, I'm not sure if I should feel honored or worried that you even considered telling me first."
She stood, stretching her arms overhead with an exaggerated sigh before turning toward the door.
"Then we should at least have a warm meal before you go."
She reached for the handle and nodded for him to follow, and Kael did not comment, because he knew she understood as clearly as he did that this farewell carried no promise of another.
Once he left the estate, any continued association would become nothing more than a risk. Mael could not afford to be seen with him without drawing attention that might stain the Claymore name, and Kael, in turn, viewed her as his closest and most valuable connection to the family.
Their distance was born from unspoken words and mutual understanding. Even if their reasons differed, their desired outcome aligned.
The moon still hovered in the sky as the sun reappeared above the horizon.
Kael nodded to two housekeepers as they closed the door behind him.
'Now… where should I start'
He shook the remaining sleepiness from his hands as he continued down the path.
—
When Kael reached the center of the mortal district, he stopped to look around.
It had only been a month since Vael had declared the situation an emergency, but the people around him were already noticeably paler, moving through the streets like living corpses. Since his last visit, there were also more Luminaires patrolling the area.
'It most likely has to do with the increase of the Pale Ones.'
From Kael's understanding, the Pale Ones had not only appeared earlier than they normally would, but they had also become incredibly aggressive, attacking anything in sight. More than five Luminaires had already lost their lives, and the main wave had not even reached them yet.
His thoughts shattered as his foot struck something.
A malnourished body lay in the middle of the street with a blanket wrapped around it. Kael bent down and tapped it a few times. The young man was frozen to the core. The blanket was not meant to keep him warm, but to hide him from passersby.
'Mortals take the biggest hit when war comes…'
It was obvious, really. Families loved to boast about how they would protect mortals if they came under their care. They preached safety and shelter, but when situations reached an extreme, mortals were the first to be left behind. And why wouldn't they be?
With a war on the way, mortals would provide nothing but useless meat shields for the Luminaires. Why waste resources keeping them alive when those same resources could be focused on maintaining Luminaire strength instead?
As he traversed the streets, more and more bodies appeared, dragged to the sides to make room for the living.
He was just about to turn a corner when a hand pressed against his chest.
"Haven't seen you before."
A rank one Luminaire had stopped him in his path.
Kael only scoffed inwardly.
Not hearing any response the man raised his voice once again
"Are you deaf too?"
He asked mockingly.
It was obvious not all Luminaires could meet the requirements Valthorne placed upon them. Because of that, it was inevitable that some would flee the Luminaire district and hide among mortals.
This rank one Luminaire was without a doubt one of those.
But was he stupid?
Out of everyone walking these streets, why approach Kael? He was clearly the healthiest one here.
The man rolled his eyes and released Kael's chest.
"Whatever. Get lost before I kill you."
He turned away, already dismissing Kael as beneath his notice.
He had taken only a few steps when a woman passed them.
"Ahh, hello there."
His voice shifted.
Before she could react, the man twisted around and grabbed her by the hair, yanking her backward hard enough to make her stumble.
"You have awfully fair skin," he said, tightening his grip. "Are you a maiden?"
The woman froze. The color drained from her face as she realized what held her.
"I… I want no trouble."
Her voice trembled, useless against the street's silence.
The Luminaire grinned and clamped a hand over her mouth, cutting off her next breath. His other hand pressed against her chest hard, as if she were an object he had every right to inspect.
"No worries," he murmured. "Neither want I."
She let out a muffled scream, her eyes blown wide with terror. Her hands hovered uselessly at her sides. If she so much as touched him, it would be enough to justify her death.
Her body shook as she fought back tears. She stared straight ahead, refusing to beg, or give him the satisfaction he was after, as his hand explored her shamelessly.
No one intervened.
Mortals averted their gazes. Some crossed the street. Others lowered their heads and quickened their pace, eager to put distance between themselves and the reminder of what they were worth.
The woman's knees began to buckle.
"You really are an idiot," Kael said as he lowered himself to the man's level.
"Value the mercy I gave you and get lost," the Luminaire snapped, irritation twisting his face as he swung an arm toward him.
Kael shifted his head back just enough to let the strike pass, watching the hand cut through empty air.
He raised his own hand and flicked the man's head.
The impact detonated.
Snow burst outward in a violent cone, followed by a sharp rain of crystalline shards as nearby windows shattered. Glass clinked and clattered against the cobblestone, skittering across the street. The man's head snapped to the side, forcing his neck twisting at an impossible angle. Skin stretched and split, jagged points forcing their way out as bone tore through flesh.
He let out a wet gurgle as he collapsed to the side.
Kael seized him before he touched the ground and hurled him away.
The body sailed through the air like a discarded ragdoll before slamming into a stone wall with a sickening crack. He slid down the surface, leaving a dark smear behind, and collapsed atop two other corpses already piled there.
Kael straightened to his full height and brushed a dusting of snow from his coat.
The woman stared at him, horror frozen across her face, as Kael reached down and offered his hand.
"Don't be shy," he said lightly. "He's already dead."
He even gave her a warm smile.
After a moment, she took his hand with trembling fingers and Kael pulled her gently to her feet.
disoriented and shaking, the woman bowed deeply. She did not say a word. Then she turned and fled down the street.
Kael rolled his neck once and turned his gaze back to the lifeless body slumped against the wall.
The Valthorne could justify starving mortals. They could dress it up as necessity, as sacrifice. But allowing obvious criminals to roam the streets unchecked was another matter entirely. They still needed mortals once the war ended.
Letting idiots commit atrocities this openly would only force the Valthorne to respond.
And that was something Kael would never allow to happen.
He would not give them a reason to send more Luminaires here.