The battlefield still smoked when Cael began to walk.
Not away from it—
Through it.
The scorched ground crunched faintly beneath his boots, brittle from heat and shattered mana. The air was thick with the lingering remnants of spells—burnt ozone, ash, and something darker… something corrupted that hadn't fully faded even after Echeron's defeat.
Behind him, the soldiers of Greywatch slowly began to move.
At first, cautiously.
Then with growing urgency.
Reality was settling in.
They had survived.
Not because of strategy.
Not because of numbers.
But because one man had erased an army.
Cael didn't look back.
Echeron's limp body hung from his grip, barely conscious, his breathing shallow and uneven. Without his core, the Retainer was nothing more than a broken vessel—alive, but stripped of everything that had made him dangerous.
Still, Cael could feel it.
Even now.
A faint residue.
Decay.
Soulfire had left its mark.
Interesting.
"L-Lance!"
Cael stopped.
A group of soldiers approached quickly, led by the fortress commander. The man's armor was scratched and blackened from the battle, but his eyes were sharp—alert despite the exhaustion.
He stopped a few steps away, glancing briefly at the unconscious Retainer before focusing on Cael.
"What are your orders?"
Cael turned slightly, his gaze sweeping over the battlefield.
Bodies.
Cratered earth.
Fragments of what had once been an organized assault.
There would be survivors.
There were always survivors.
And in this war…
Survivors were often more dangerous than armies.
"Secure the perimeter," Cael said calmly.
The commander nodded immediately.
"Yes, Lance."
"Search the area. Thoroughly."
Cael's tone didn't change.
But something in it made the air feel heavier.
"If you find anything unusual—documents, artifacts, mana signatures…"
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Report it directly to me."
The commander hesitated for just a fraction of a second.
"Directly… to you?"
"Yes."
No explanation.
No elaboration.
Just certainty.
The commander straightened instantly.
"Understood."
Cael shifted his grip slightly on Echeron.
The Retainer stirred weakly, a faint groan escaping his lips.
Still conscious enough to feel pain.
Good.
Cael turned away.
"Handle the rest."
And just like that—
He left.
No farewell.
No acknowledgment.
Just a single step—
And the air bent.
Wind gathered around him instinctively, lifting him off the ground as if gravity itself no longer applied. The soldiers watched in silence as Cael ascended into the sky, the unconscious Retainer in his grasp.
No one spoke.
Because no one knew what to say.
The sky was vast.
Endless.
Cold.
Cael moved through it like a shadow, the wind carrying him effortlessly across the mountains. Below, the world stretched out in fractured pieces—burned forests, abandoned roads, distant fortifications barely holding against the pressure of war.
He had seen all of this before.
Not with his eyes.
But through memory.
Through knowledge that didn't belong to this world.
And yet…
Living it was different.
Far more real.
Far more brutal.
His gaze shifted slightly downward.
Echeron was still alive.
Barely.
His body trembled faintly from the aftereffects of his shattered core. Even unconscious, his face was twisted in pain, his once confident expression reduced to something fragile… human.
Pathetic.
Cael's eyes hardened slightly.
This was a Retainer.
One of Agrona's chosen.
A being who had likely slaughtered countless people without hesitation.
And now—
Reduced to this.
"Power is everything," Cael muttered quietly.
The wind carried his voice away.
Without power…
This was the result.
A tool.
Broken and discarded.
His grip tightened slightly.
But he didn't kill him.
Not yet.
Because Echeron was more valuable alive.
Information.
That was the true objective now.
The battlefield had already been won.
But the war—
The war was still unfolding exactly as Cael remembered.
Retainers didn't move without purpose.
This attack on Greywatch wasn't random.
It wasn't even strategic in the traditional sense.
It was pressure.
Testing defenses.
Probing weaknesses.
Preparing for something larger.
And Echeron…
Was a piece of that puzzle.
Cael's eyes narrowed as he accelerated slightly.
The wind screamed past him now, the clouds parting as he moved through them.
"Let's see what you know."
Hours later, Cael descended into a secluded military outpost carved deep into the mountains.
Unlike Greywatch, this place was hidden.
Reinforced.
Quiet.
Only a handful of elite guards were stationed there, their presence subtle but precise.
The moment Cael landed, they reacted.
Not with panic.
Not with confusion.
But with immediate recognition.
"Lance Cael."
They bowed.
Their eyes briefly flickered toward the figure in his grasp.
Shock.
Carefully suppressed.
"A holding chamber," Cael said.
"Now."
No hesitation.
The guards moved instantly.
They led him through narrow stone corridors lit by dim mana lamps, the air cool and still. This place wasn't meant for comfort.
It was meant for containment.
For secrets.
For things that weren't meant to be seen by the outside world.
Perfect.
The chamber they brought him to was reinforced with layered enchantments—anti-mana barriers, suppression arrays, and physical restraints designed to hold even high-level mages.
It wouldn't have held a Retainer at full strength.
But Echeron wasn't that anymore.
Cael stepped inside.
The guards followed briefly before stopping at the threshold.
"Shall we remain, Lance?"
Cael glanced at them.
Then shook his head.
"No."
A pause.
Then—
"Wait outside."
The door closed behind him with a heavy thud.
Silence filled the chamber.
Cael dropped Echeron to the ground.
The impact was enough.
The Retainer stirred.
A weak groan escaped him as his eyes slowly opened.
For a moment—
Confusion.
Then memory.
Then—
Horror.
His hand moved instinctively toward his core.
Or where it should have been.
Nothing.
His breathing quickened.
"You…"
His voice was hoarse.
Broken.
Cael crouched down in front of him, his expression calm.
"Yes."
Echeron stared at him, something wild in his eyes now.
"You… destroyed it…"
"Correct."
A pause.
Echeron's lips trembled slightly.
Not from fear.
But from the sheer weight of realization.
A Retainer.
Reduced to nothing.
Cael tilted his head slightly, studying him.
"Now," he said quietly.
"Let's talk."
Echeron let out a weak, bitter laugh.
"You think… I'll tell you anything?"
Cael didn't respond immediately.
Instead, he raised his hand slightly.
Mana shifted.
Not violently.
Not aggressively.
But precisely.
Echeron's body tensed instantly.
He felt it.
The control.
The difference.
Cael leaned forward slightly.
"You misunderstand your position."
His voice was calm.
Almost indifferent.
"I don't need you to cooperate."
A faint pressure built in the air.
Subtle.
But suffocating.
"I just need you to survive long enough."
Echeron's expression cracked.
For the first time—
Fear.
Real fear.
Cael's eyes glowed faintly.
"Because one way or another…"
The air itself seemed to tighten around the Retainer.
"…you're going to tell me everything."
Silence fell again.
Heavy.
Unavoidable.
And outside the chamber—
The guards stood perfectly still.
Because even through layers of reinforced stone—
They could feel it.
Something shifting.
Something dangerous.
Not just a Lance.
Not just a weapon of war.
But something else entirely.
Something that was beginning to move beyond the boundaries of what Dicathen—
Or even the Asuras—
Could control.