Chapter 380 — Serath’ana

All of them B+ rank.

’They followed him... They’re tracking him here to finish what they started.’

Damian’s hand moved in a smooth wave and his axe vanished back into his spatial ring.

Then he pulled out something else.

Black clothes, simple and functional, the spare uniform from the Northern Mafia operations.

A white mask, featureless and clean.

He’d kept them for situations exactly like this, moments where his identity needed to stay hidden.

The clothes went on quickly and the mask settled over his face, covering everything.

The approaching signatures were closer now.

Three hundred meters.

Two hundred.

One hundred.

Damian activated his newly acquired skill.

Stealth

The world seemed to shift around him as the skill took effect. His presence diminished, his Aura signature was muted and his body blending into the surroundings.

He moved silently up the tree, until he crouched on a thick branch fifteen meters above the ground.

And waited.

The elves burst into the clearing seconds later.

Three males and one female, exactly as Kuro’s fragmented memories had shown.

Their dark skin made them look like living shadows despite the bright silk uniforms they wore.

Each male carried a sword that made a human sword look crude by comparison. The weapons were works of art, curved slightly, single-edged and the metal showing patterns like flowing water frozen in steel.

The female carried a bow that was silver-white and luminous.

All four of them were beautiful in a way that made human attractiveness seem plain by comparison.

Perfect features, elegant movements and an almost ethereal quality that suggested they existed slightly apart from the physical world.

They were speaking quickly in a language Damian didn’t recognize.

’Elvish...’

They spread out immediately, the three males moving with efficiency while the female remained in the center, bow ready, arrow nocked but not drawn.

She looked young compared to the males, maybe equivalent to late teens in human terms, though with elves that could mean anything.

Her dark eyes scanned the tree line, searching for any sign of the wounded raven.

The tallest male, his dark hair pulled back in a warrior’s knot, crouched near a patch of disturbed earth.

"Blood here..." His voice carried command. "The trail continues."

The second male moved to a nearby tree and examined the broken branches.

"The beast fled through here..." He touched the blood-soaked bark with two fingers, brought them to his nose. "It bleeds heavily."

The female elf stepped forward, her movements hesitant compared to the warriors.

"Kaleth..." Her voice came out softer, almost pleading. "Must we kill it..."

The tallest male, Kaleth, turned to her sharply.

"Princess, we follow the Major General’s orders!" His tone was formal but firm. "The beast attempted theft of your sacred treasure!"

’The General’s daughter insists on accompanying us, insists on claiming a battle trophy, yet balks when violence becomes necessary... Typical nobility.’

The thought flickered through the second elf’s mind as he continued tracking.

Serath’ana, the young female elf, bit her lip.

"But it’s magnificent... so intelligent..." Her hands tightened on her bow. "I wanted to keep it..."

The third male, younger than the other two, scoffed audibly as he checked his sword’s edge.

"You speak of keeping beasts like those light elves do, Princess." His voice dripped with barely concealed condescension. "It’s beneath us."

Serath’ana’s cheeks flushed but she said nothing.

’They always treat me like a child.’

Her thoughts churned with frustration and embarrassment.

’Father sent his best warriors to protect me, but they see me as a burden. A spoiled princess playing at adventure. I wanted to prove I could claim something powerful, something worthy... but they won’t even listen!’

Kaleth raised his hand suddenly, his body going rigid.

"Silence!"

All four elves froze.

The forest around them was too quiet.

There were no birds, no insects and no ambient sounds of life.

Just wind through leaves and the distant rumble of Aura-surge battles somewhere deeper in the forest.

Kaleth’s eyes narrowed as he scanned the tree line.

"Something is wrong..."

Then they heard it.

Snap

The sound echoed through the clearing, sharp and deliberate.

****

The elves’ heads turned in perfect synchronization toward the sound.

Kaleth’s hand went to his sword immediately.

"Formation–"

But the world around them changed.

The forest dissolved, replaced by an endless black void where floating bodies drifted in the darkness.

And with the bodies came the feeling.

Something that slammed into their minds like a physical blow, crushing their thoughts, drowning their consciousness in an ocean of negative emotions.

Serath’ana’s bow slipped from nerveless fingers.

"No... no this can’t..."

Her voice broke as visions of her dead mother exploded in her mind.

She was killed in a portal two years ago, body never recovered, just a formal military notification and an empty funeral.

But now she seemed to see it.

She saw her mother’s last moments in excruciating detail, saw the fear in her eyes, heard her screaming for her daughter, calling Serath’ana’s name as Demons tore her apart.

Saw her mother reaching toward her even as life left her eyes.

"MOTHER!" Serath’ana screamed. "MOTHER, I’M HERE! I’M–"

Her hands pressed over her ears but the vision wouldn’t stop, kept playing over and over, her mother dying again and again while calling her name.

"NO! THIS ISN’T REAL! PLEASE!"

The three male elves staggered as their own visions manifested.

Kaleth saw something that made him drop to his knees, his perfect composure shattering instantly.

"Orders... I followed orders..."

His voice came out broken, hands reaching for something that wasn’t there.

Thalas collapsed beside him under the weight of whatever his mind was showing him.

Ralen simply fell, his body hitting the black ground as terror overwhelmed every instinct.

All four elves were on their knees now, drowning in their own despair, in their own failures and guilt and fears made manifest.

Thud Thud Thud Thud

The void didn’t care about their training or their discipline or their rank.

It simply forced them to face themselves.

Then suddenly Kaleth split in half.

SSSSHHHHHUNK

His body separated vertically from crown to groin, the two halves falling away from each other as blood sprayed across the black ground.

He didn’t even have the time to scream before he died.

Splash Splash

The two halves hit the ground.

Thalas tried to move.

’Danger! Move! MOVE!’

His training screamed at him through the despair, combat instincts desperately reasserting themselves.

His hand reached for his sword, but it was too slow.

SLASH SLASH

Something invisible lashed out and his arm separated from his body at the shoulder, spinning through the air trailing blood.

Then his other arm.

SLASH SLASH

Then his legs, removed cleanly at the hip.

Thud

His limbless torso hit the ground.

He was still alive and conscious.

His vitality keeping him aware as blood pooled beneath him, as his vision started to fade at the edges.

Ralen fared no better.

His legs were gone before he even realized an attack had come, his body collapsing, hands trying to grasp at wounds that wouldn’t stop bleeding.

"HELP!" His voice broke as terror overwhelmed discipline. "HELP ME!"

Blood poured from severed arteries as he tried to crawl.

His arms scraped against the black ground, leaving red trails, going nowhere.

Serath’ana was on her knees, hands pressed over her ears, tears streaming down her face as she screamed.

Her mother’s death played on loop in her mind, drowning out everything else, trapping her in an eternal moment of loss and guilt and despair.

’If I’d been there... if I’d been stronger... if I’d trained harder... I could have saved her... I could have–’

Snap

Suddenly the bodies vanished and the black void dissolved.