They buried the two dead Harvesters behind the chapel. No one would find them there. The academy had plenty of secrets.
Tobin was shaking. He had never seen death before—not like this.
"You did good," Varyan told him. "You pushed him. That gave the opening."
"I froze," Tobin whispered. "I just stood there. If you hadn't shouted—"
"But I did shout. And you moved. That's what matters."
Seris sat on a fallen log, staring at her hands. They were still shadow-touched, the fingertips blackened.
"Your corruption?" Varyan asked.
[Seris Vane – Chaos corruption: 32%. Up from 24% before the fight.]
"Manageable," she said. "But I can't keep doing this. Every ti I use the Chaos form, the corruption grows. Eventually..."
"Eventually what?"
"Eventually I beco one of them. A stalker. Or worse."
Varyan sat beside her. "We'll find a way to stop it. The chronicle ntioned Order-Choros balance. If we work together, Order and Chaos can stabilize each other."
"That's a theory."
"Right now, theories are all we have."
They sat in silence, watching the stars appear. The storm clouds had passed.
[Quest partial complete: "The Lord Harvest's Response" – Survived first wave. Reward: 「ECHO」Level 10. New ability unlocked: "Order Sight" – Briefly see Chaos entities through walls.]
Varyan focused. The world shifted—he could see faint glows through the chapel walls, through the ground, through the academy. Human-shaped glows. Student glows.
And one dark glow, moving away from the academy, heading east.
The tall Harvester. Escaping.
"I can see him," Varyan said. "The one who got away. He's heading toward the mountains."
"Let him go," Seris said. "We need to rest. We need to plan."
"He said 'next ti, we take them both.' He ant you and Tobin. He knows who we are now."
"Then we need allies. Real allies. Not just three kids with powers."
Varyan nodded. "The headmaster. He's a forr fragnt-bearer. He might help."
"Or he might betray us. 'Trust no one, not even .' Rember?"
"I rember. But we don't have a lot of options."
They decided to approach Corvin in the morning. For now, they slept in shifts, the sword between them.
No one ca.
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