Chapter 104: The Faceless Hunter and the Steel Jungle
I. The Weight of Silence
The roar of the Bronze Citadel had been left behind, replaced by the constant, humid hum of the Sea of Beasts. They had been running for three hours without rest, venturing deep into the thicket where trees had bark made of iron and vines sought out body heat.
Kael raised his fist, and the group stopped dead beside a stream of black water.
—"Five-minute rest," he ordered, his voice raspy. —"No more."
Eris collapsed against the trunk of a mossy tree, panting. The excessive use of her Flame of Ruin and the explosion at the auction gate had drained her reserves. Her skin was pale, and the black veins around her eyes were visible.
—"I'm fine," she lied before Kael could even ask. —"Drink this," Elara said, handing her a flask of diluted spiritual nectar.
Violeta remained standing, guarding the perimeter. Her eyes, usually calm, scanned the area with paranoia. —"Kael… the city's teleportation matrix didn't follow us. But the trail did." —"What do you mean?" —"Someone marked the space around us. It's not a physical mark. It's as if they tied an invisible thread to our souls. I feel… I feel them pulling on it."
Kael looked at the Odachi of the Ravenous Eclipse in his hand. The black blade pulsed weakly, as if warning of a presence his bloodlust recognized. —"The cultist spoke of a 'Hunter,'" Kael recalled. —"It wasn't an empty threat."
II. The Prey and the Bait
They resumed their march, but the atmosphere shifted. The jungle, usually noisy with the screams of monkeys and distant roars, had fallen silent. An absolute, unnatural silence.
—"Something is coming," Elara whispered.
CRACK.
It wasn't the sound of a broken branch. It was the sound of the air being split apart.
—"Down!" Kael shouted.
They hurled themselves to the ground just as a black arrow, long as a spear, pierced the trunk of the tree where Eris had been leaning a second before. The arrow didn't stop; it tore through the iron-bark tree and embedded itself in the rock behind it, humming with power.
—"Positions!" Kael roared.
But there was no visible enemy. Only the dense, dark jungle. —"Where is he?" Violeta asked, preparing an ice shield. —"Everywhere," a voice responded.
The voice didn't come from a fixed point. It seemed to emanate from the leaves, the water, the moss. It was a metallic voice, filtered through a mask or a technique.
From the shadows of the treetops, a figure descended slowly, floating as if gravity did not affect them. They wore light armor made of beast leather and polished bone plates. Their face was hidden by a white porcelain mask with a single red eye painted in the center.
—"You have run well, little mice," the Hunter said. —"Lord Cassian pays well for your heads. But the Cult pays better for what you carry in that ring."
Kael stepped forward, shielding his sisters. —"Who are you?" —"I am the end of the road."
The Hunter raised a hand. Five metal rings shot from his fingers, spinning in the air and expanding. —"Hunting Art: Cage of the Five Senses."
The rings slammed into the ground around the group, and suddenly, the world went dark. Kael stopped hearing. Violeta stopped seeing. Eris lost her sense of touch. Elara felt her orientation vanish. They were isolated—blind and deaf in the middle of enemy territory.
III. The Dragon's Instinct
Kael found himself in absolute darkness. He couldn't see his sisters. He couldn't hear their cries. He knew it was an illusion, a sensory barrier, but if he didn't get out fast, the Hunter would slit their throats one by one.
Think. Don't use your senses. Use the blood.
He closed his useless eyes and sought the bond. The family tie. He felt the heat of Eris to his right, a furious and frightened flame. He felt the ordered cold of Violeta to his left. He felt Elara's diffuse presence behind him.
And he felt something else. A cold, sharp killing intent approaching Eris's back.
Kael didn't think. He acted. He spun on his heels, swinging the Odachi with a blind force guided by the instinct of the Crimson Dragon.
CLANG!
The vibration traveled up his arm. He had hit metal. The illusion shattered partially. Sound returned in a rush—a deafening roar. Kael opened his eyes. He had stopped a curved dagger inches from Eris's neck. The Hunter, surprised, retreated with inhuman agility, perching on a high branch.
—"Interesting," the Hunter said, tilting his head. —"A sense that surpasses physical perception. Dragon blood? Cassian didn't mention that. The price just went up."
IV. The Storm in the Jungle
—"Now!" Kael shouted.
Violeta, regaining her sight, did not hesitate. —"Spatial Prison: Collapse!" She clenched her fist. The space around the Hunter's branch contracted violently. The wood exploded, and the Hunter had to leap into the void to avoid being crushed.
Eris, furious at having nearly been degatized, released everything she had left. —"Die!" She launched a wave of black fire that ignited the treetops. The jungle lit up with an infernal glow.
The Hunter moved through the flames and smoke like a specter, firing poisonous needles that Elara deflected with her daggers, moving so fast there seemed to be three of her.
Kael sheathed the Odachi for a second, adopting the Iaijutsu stance he had seen Samael practice. Concentrate. One strike. A single cut.
The Hunter lunged from above, diving with twin short swords, seeking to impale Violeta. Kael released his breath. —"Morningstar Style: Bloody Moon Slash."
He unsheathed. An arc of pure red light cut through the night, ascending toward the sky. The Hunter tried to block, but Kael's raw strength, boosted by the Odachi, shattered his short swords. The impact threw him back, slamming him into a tree with such force that the iron bark cracked.
The porcelain mask broke, falling in pieces to the ground. Beneath it, there was no human face. There was gray, scaly skin and reptilian eyes.
—"A half-breed…" Elara whispered. —"Half human, half beast."
The Hunter, spitting purple blood, smiled with sharpened teeth. —"You've won… the first round. But the Mark has already been set."
Before Kael could finish him, the Hunter bit something in his mouth. His body began to dissolve into a black, acidic liquid, melting into the jungle floor and disappearing through the roots.
V. The Death Mark
Silence returned, but now it was worse. Eris's fire crackled, consuming the undergrowth.
—"Is he gone?" Eris asked, trembling. —"He fled," Kael said, cleaning the black blood from his blade. —"But he said something about a mark."
Violeta approached Eris. —"Turn around." On the back of Eris's neck, just below the hairline, a black symbol had appeared, pulsing softly. It looked like a closed eye.
—"He placed it when he tried to kill you in the illusion," Violeta said, her voice full of concern. —"It's a Blood Trace. They know where we are. Always."
Kael gritted his teeth. They couldn't hide. They couldn't rest. —"Then we don't stop," Kael said, sheathing the Odachi and adjusting his load. —"If they know where we are, let them come. We will kill them all until we reach home."
Elara looked at the trail of black liquid the Hunter had left behind. —"Kael… that wasn't a normal mercenary. He had Abyss Qi. The Cult of the Sleeping King and the Citadel are collaborating."
Kael looked north, toward where his home and Samael waited. —"It doesn't matter. We have the Tear. We have the Root. If hell stands in our way, we will cross hell."
[End of Chapter 104]