Ashyrn rose slowly, brushing the dust from his coat.
Then he laughed.
Low.
Dark.
Dangerous.
"Bring it on," he said, eyes gleaming beneath his twisted smile.
"…Mr Nobody."
Varo forged a thin blade from compressed grains of sand, blackened by Aegis Mantra.
The air around it trembled.
He rushed forward.
"Come," Varo shouted, voice shaking yet defiant.
"Come toward the death waiting for you."
Mid-stride, he hurled the blade straight at Ashyrn's head.
THUD!
The blade pierced through Ashyrn's cheek — or so it seemed — before slamming into the stone wall behind him.
Ashyrn didn't flinch.
Varo planted his hands against the floor, sand surging upward beneath his palms, grinding and screaming as it moved.
A faint grin crept across Ashyrn's face.
In an instant—
He was behind Varo.
A whisper brushed against Varo's ear.
"Fatal mistake… Mr Nobody."
Varo's eyes widened.
He forced himself backward, but Ashyrn surged forward, fingers snapping shut around Varo's throat.
"Let go— you damn murderer!" Varo gasped.
Behind them—
"MMMMM!"
Princess Amelia struggled violently, her muffled cries echoing helplessly through the hideout.
Ashyrn laughed.
Deep.
Lethal.
"This is the end."
His grip tightened.
Varo's body began to dry, his skin cracking, veins collapsing as Ashyrn siphoned the water — the blood — from within him.
THUD!
Varo was slammed into the ground like discarded ash.
"Your mistake," Ashyrn said coldly,
"was letting me touch you."
His long, dusty black coat fluttered as he turned away, footsteps echoing toward the exit.
Varo lay there, body screaming in silent agony.
"Ugh…"
Only a faint breath escaped him.
Ashyrn's voice lingered in the air.
"You will die a painful death."
Varo's vision darkened —
but he was still conscious.
And through the ringing silence,
he could still hear Amelia's desperate, muffled cries.