Kael crouched in the shadows, rain dripping off his hood, city lights flickering across wet asphalt. His gaze lingered on the faintly twitching threads of the Chaos Path user, still recovering atop the crate. The moment he had left them, their energy had begun to pulse irregularly, like a wound refusing to heal.
But it wasn't just the Chaos user anymore.
A subtle ripple moved through the district threads, brushing past Kael's awareness. Not force. Not violence. Observation.
Someone else had noticed.
Kael narrowed his focus. Faint, deliberate threads—clean, precise. Someone was analyzing the Chaos Path residue, measuring its instability, predicting its next reaction.
Not a scout. Not random. Professional.
He exhaled slowly. The first layer of threat wasn't immediate confrontation. It was someone waiting for him to act, waiting to see if he could extract the Chaos user without creating a chaotic signature.
Kael's fingers flexed. The Control Path pulsed faintly against his chest. He didn't reach out directly yet. Not with brute force. He couldn't afford to. One wrong motion, and the Chaos Path user's instability would spike—drawing the attention of whoever had arrived.
The figure who had noticed them didn't move openly. Threads only hinted at their presence, like a shadow flickering at the edge of awareness. Kael traced their subtle patterns. Observation wasn't enough anymore. He had to plan. He had to anticipate.
The Chaos Path user shifted slightly, muttering, unsteady. Kael's heart tightened. They were weak, but they were alive—and for Kael, that was all that mattered.
A faint pulse echoed from the new observer, almost imperceptible. Kael recognized it as calculation. They were waiting for a signal, for a disruption. The city itself seemed to hold its breath around them.
Kael whispered under his breath: "I can't wait any longer."
He began mapping the environment in his mind—pipes, support beams, loose panels, shadowed corners. Every potential path to safety. Every potential trap. The Chaos Path user couldn't move without help, and every step Kael made would have consequences.
Threads vibrated faintly in response to his intent. Control, not force. That was the lesson Selene had drilled into him.
Somewhere far away, invisible hands probed the Chaos Path user's threads. Someone was testing, observing, deciding.
Kael clenched his fists. He wouldn't act blindly. He wouldn't rush. But he would prepare.
The extraction hadn't begun. The tension was thick, palpable. Every heartbeat, every drop of rain, every flicker of light mattered.
And Kael knew one truth above all: the moment he intervened, the game would change—and he had to be ready.