"How do I crush the hopes of growing children".
The field was quiet.
Too quiet for a place where hundreds had already died.
Rhazar sat on the open field . He dark air blowing his silver hair .
He smiled.
"How do I crush their hopes…" he murmured softly, almost to himself. "So they can taste despair? So they rember what hopelessness feels like?"
The smile widened serene, childish, and wrong.
A faint hum echoed through his skull. He started communicating to vaelth telepathically.
"Vaelth," Rhazar's tone slipped like oil, smooth and deceptively calm. "Update."
Vaelth's voice flickered through the link, distorted by fear.
"...They are about to breach the do, Rhazar . Fifteen minutes, at most. There were things we didn't account for . It turned out there were powerful nobles present. They are all trying to breach the do together."
Silence.
Then....
"So you're telling …" Rhazar's tone remained soft, almost curious, "…you didn't account for that?"
He tilted his head slightly, the way a child might tilt it at an insect before tearing off its wings. "And whose fault is that, Vaelth?"
"W-we ran every scan..."
"What did I say," Rhazar whispered, "about checking all those who entered. Has Nythera gotten the seed of eternity we don't have much ti anymore ".
The link crackled with static and terror.
"I am sorry. Yes she has acquired the fragnt and is making her way back. I take responsibility for the setback".
"You will," Rhazar interrupted, voice lilting with a faint amusent. "You always do."
For a mont, he humd a childish, broken lody. "Fifteen minutes…"
His gaze lifted to the bleeding sky above.
"Should I kill them all now?" he mused softly, eyes brightening. "No… no fun in that. What should I do so they can't crawl back later…? Hm."
He grinned, teeth glinting faintly in the crimson glow.
"I'll play. Let's see how humans behave when they beco desperate."
He took a step forward.
The ground rustled behind him—faint movent.
"...Bingo."
The grin sharpened.
Before Cael could even place a foot in the open field, Rhazar was already there.
"Hi" the boyish voice sang, right before his hand cracked across Cael's face.
The world spun.
Cael's body slamd into a tree with a sickening thud, bark splintering, air bursting from his lungs. He coughed blood before he even hit the ground.
The others froze.
Then hell began.
Rhazar didn't move like a fighter.
He moved like a ghost with no wasted motion, no pause between cruelty and grace.
Ryn charged first, will flaring blue around his fists. Rhazar ducked beneath the swing and drove an elbow into his gut.
The sound was deep like sothing tearing.
Ryn's body folded and flew backward.
Noah followed imdiately, his aura blazing with lightening aether. His sword sang a clean arc of light that should've split the air itself.
Rhazar caught it with two fingers.
"Too slow," he whispered and twisted. The blade snapped like glass.
Serlene's scream cracked the air as she tried to strike from behind, her mana forming a crystalline whip.
Rhazar tilted his head aside. The whip passed harmlessly by.
He caught her by the hair and slamd her face-first into the dirt.
"Stay down," he murmured, soft as a lullaby.
Yelena had followed another path and was already working on her attack. She had concentrated enough aether in her hands . Auren and Aurora were around the corner ready to jump in if Rhazar attacked again.
Cael roared again, his aura igniting his feet in molten fla. He darted forward, every motion a desperate blur.
"Stay—DOWN—!"
His kick t air.
Rhazar sidestepped lazily and drove his knee upward.
A crack echoed.
Cael's ribs folded. He hit the ground, rolling, coughing blood.
Lucien was watching.
Not blinking. Not panicking.
Every second, every breath, he wasn't just concentrating on Rhazar . He was concentrating on everyone. Trying to analyze their aura , aether and wills . He could not let this opportunity pass by . H
[Ti Genius—active.]
Patterns. Micro delays. Energy dispersion rates. The monster's aura pulse frequency—3.2 per second. When it ca to Rhazar analyzing was impossible.
Too fast to read.
Copy protocol: unstable.
Even with Architect processing, his eyes struggled to follow.
Rhazar's movents weren't simply fast they were wrong, as though physics bent politely to let him pass.
Lucien clenched his jaw. He made usenif Vyre sweep trying to catch the enemy by surprise.
The air rippled. A dark aura burst , he beca one with darkness and attempted to catch him by surprise.
For an instant, Rhazar's head tilted.
Then he laughed softly, genuinely.
"I almost forgot about you Valecrest "
Before Lucien could react, Rhazar vanished and reappeared in front of him.
The world went white.
He grabbed Lucien by the collar and lifted him effortlessly.
"You look just like your mother," he said sweetly, his childlike voice trembling on the edge of madness. "I wonder if you scream like her "
Lucien's expression didn't change. Cold eyes, calculating even as his ribs scread.
"...You talk too much," he rasped.
The smile widened. " Ouch . That was cold , I like it."
The first impact cracked the earth.
Then another.
And another.
Rhazar slamd him into the ground again and again five tis in quick succession each hit shaking the air, each strike a thunderclap of pain and dust and blood.
By the fifth, Lucien's ribs had splintered inward, threatening to pierce his lungs. He coughed crimson, his fingers twitching, trying to trigger Reactive Steps but the system lagged.
Pain blurred everything.
Rhazar stood over him, watching the boy's body tremble.
"Hmm," he whispered, wiping the blood from his cheek where Lucien's aura had barely grazed him. "Still breathing. Interesting."
He dropped him like a broken doll.
The ground around the impact craters smoked faintly, aura bleeding into the dirt like liquid shadow.
Lucien lay there, half-conscious, eyes dimly focused on the faint pulsing of the do above. He looked at the direction on the artifact. He hoped Seris had made it .
Rhazar's head turned suddenly, his smile returning.
He sensed movent in the far distance the shimr of essence trying to hide. He moved and grabbed Seris neck sohow. She has reverted back to human .
"Where are you going, spirit?" he asked softly, voice playful again.
Everyone 's eyes has widen it seed all hope was truly lost .
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