Kael remained for a few monts observing the motionless woman inside the cube, frozen precisely at the point where she had tried to destroy her own ability to resist. Her expression, interrupted at the boundary between control and despair, was almost more revealing than any words she could have uttered over the past few hours. He showed no hurry to act. On the contrary—he seed to be orchestrating the sequence with the sa care with which he had conducted the entire situation up to that point.
Behind him, Exelia finished cleaning the blade and sheathed it with a calm, almost automatic movent, before taking a few steps forward, positioning herself beside him. Her gaze alternated between the two cubes, analyzing not only the current state of each, but what that implied from then on. The combat had ended hours ago, but, for soone like her, that was never the ultimate goal.
"So," she said, breaking the silence naturally, crossing her arms slightly, "what's the plan? Because staring at them isn't going to make either of them talk."
Kael let out a small sigh through his nose, still staring at the frozen woman, before answering without looking away.
"It's already decided for her," he said in a low tone, as if rely confirming the obvious. "In this state, physical resistance is useless. And now that she's made it clear she'd rather die than talk…" he tilted his head slightly, analyzing her paralyzed face, "…there's no point in continuing to try the conventional way."
He finally looked away, just enough to glance at Exelia.
"ntal magic solves it. Straightforward. No noise, no wasted ti."
There was no hesitation in the way he said it. No moral weight, no doubt—just efficiency.
Exelia nodded slowly, as if she had expected exactly that answer. There was no surprise, nor objection.
"That makes sense," she replied. "The way she's held out so far, you could spend days trying to break her… and still not get anything useful." A brief pause.
"But this way… there's no choice."
Kael looked back at the woman.
"Exactly."
Silence returned for a mont, but this ti it wasn't heavy. It was functional. A natural interval between decisions already made.
Then, almost without changing his posture, Kael shifted his focus.
To the other cube.
To Vlad.
The contrast was evident.
While the woman was contained in a state of absolute interruption, Vlad remained on his knees, conscious but limited. His breathing was still there, irregular, his gaze lost between fragnts of understanding and confusion. The structure that sealed him didn't freeze him—it kept him… incomplete.
Kael observed this for a few seconds.
More than he had observed the woman.
And this did not go unnoticed.
Exelia tilted her head slightly, following his gaze, before comnting:
"And this one?"
The question carried no contempt, but there was no sympathy there either.
"He's not like her. But he's not exactly… clean either."
Kael didn't answer imdiately.
His eyes remained fixed on Vlad, analyzing not only the current state, but what remained there. The fragnted energy, the recent attempt at integration, that small nucleus that was beginning to erge amidst the imposed chaos.
He saw all of that.
And considered it.
"He's not the main problem," he finally said, in a more reflective tone than before. "But he's beco one."
Exelia let out a light breath through her nose, almost a short laugh.
"He's beco a very big problem, actually."
Kael didn't disagree.
"Yes."
A pause.
A longer one this ti.
"But unlike her…" he continued, now with a slight narrowing of his eyes, "…he hasn't quite decided what he is yet."
Exelia looked at Vlad with a little more attention now, as if reconsidering the situation.
"Do you think it's still possible to recover?"
Kael tilted his head slightly, not in denial, but in calculation.
"It is," he replied. "His structure isn't destroyed. It's just been forced to operate incorrectly for too long."
He crossed his arms slowly.
"Cleansing his mind is possible. Removing interference, stabilizing what's left… maybe he'll return to his original state."
Exelia raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Maybe."
Kael gave a small, sideways smile.
"Exactly."
Silence.
She then asked directly:
"And is it worth it?"
The question hung in the air for a second.
Kael didn't answer imdiately.
His eyes remained on Vlad, analyzing not the structure—but its usefulness.
And, for the first ti since the end of the battle, there was sothing approaching… practical doubt.
Not emotional.
But strategic.
"He's not essential," Kael said finally. "But he could be useful."
Exelia uncrossed her arms, relaxing her posture slightly.
"Or he could beco a problem again."
"Also."
Another pause.
Shorter.
And then Kael concluded, with his usual objectivity:
"But unlike her… he didn't try to die to avoid being used."
Exelia gave a small, wry smile.
"Fair point."
Kael looked away for a mont, as if closing the matter internally.
"I'll see what's left of him," he said. "If there's still sothing functional… I'll restore it."
His gaze returned to Vlad.
"If there's nothing—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
Exelia understood perfectly.
And nodded.
"Then start with her," she said, tilting her head slightly toward the larger cube. "Because this one… she's already made it clear she's not going to make things easy."
Kael nodded slightly.
"Yes."
He took a step forward.
His hand began to rise again.
And this ti—
Not to restrain.
But to enter.
Directly into her mind.
No room for resistance.
No choice.
Because now—
The options are gone.
Kael made no grand gesture as he began.
There was no intense glare, no overwhelming pressure as before. His hand simply remained raised, slightly tilted toward the cube, while his presence—once expansive and dominant—retracted almost imperceptibly, condensing into sothing much finer, more precise.
Surgical.
The surface of the cube did not react outwardly, but inside, sothing changed.
The woman's immobilization remained intact, her body still frozen in that interrupted instant—however, what Kael sought was no longer there. Not physically.
He didn't enter by force.
He entered… through structure.
Her mind wasn't open like a common door. There was no obvious entry point, no glaring weakness after hours of torture. On the contrary—what he found first was resistance.
Not active.
But constructed.
Layers.
Internal protections, not in the classic form of magical barriers, but as rigid ntal patterns, organized to prevent exactly that. Thoughts that led nowhere, mories deliberately fragnted, connections that dissolved the mont they were touched.
She didn't even trust her own mind.
Kael realized this imdiately.
And, therefore, he didn't try to go straight through.
He went around.
Her presence didn't force its way in—it infiltrated the gaps, the spaces where the protection wasn't perfect. Small deviations, minimal gaps between one structure and another. He wasn't seeking everything.
Just enough.
First ca the na.
Not as a clear mory, but as a recurring pattern, sothing repeated enough to exist even amidst fragntations.
Nyra.
Short.
Precise.
And carefully hidden.
Kael didn't react outwardly.
But he registered it.
He delved deeper.
The images began to erge inconsistently—not as a continuous line, but as disconnected flashes. Orders not fully heard. Presences that never fully revealed themselves. Environnts that seed to exist only partially, as if mory itself refused to complete them.
She wasn't the center of anything.
She was… a ssenger.
That beca clear quickly.
Not a leader.
Not a key player.
But soone trustworthy enough to execute.
And that already said a lot.
Kael deepened the intrusion even further, ignoring useless parts, discarding irrelevant fragnts, focusing only on repeating patterns. Relationships. Directions. Intention.
And then—
He found it.
Not a direct image.
But a line of purpose.
Sothing being built.
Sothing being prepared.
Vlad wasn't the final objective.
He was… part of sothing bigger.
A ans.
A point of convergence.
Kael narrowed his eyes slightly.
Now, there was real interest.
He followed that line.
And the resistance increased.
Not actively, but structurally denser. The mories there were more protected, more fragnted, as if that specific information had been buried deeper than the rest.
But not deep enough.
Not for him. Kael's presence adjusted again, ceasing to circumvent and beginning to press—not brutally, but with enough precision to dislodge what was hidden.
And then—
It ca.
A clearer image.
Not complete.
But sufficient.
A figure.
Imposing.
Not in its exact form, but in the feeling it left even within an incomplete mory. Authority. Antiquity. Sothing that didn't need to prove its power—because it already existed above that.
A presence… regal.
And, along with that—
A bond.
Elizabeth.
Not direct.
But undeniable.
The connection closed.
And the na… ca along.
Unspoken.
But understood.
The Queen of Vampires.
The mother.
That's what they were protecting.
That's what was behind everything.
Kael didn't try to force it anymore.
He didn't need to.
The remaining information there was already too compromised to extract with imdiate efficiency, and continuing to press would only destroy what little could still be useful later.
Then he… left.
Without rupture.
Without further damage.
His presence simply receded, leaving her mind exactly as it was—broken, fragnted, but still functional enough not to collapse completely.
Outside, nothing changed for a second.
Kael's hand was still raised.
The cube still intact.
The woman still frozen.
But then—
He lowered his hand.
Slowly.
And let out a small sigh.
Not of weariness.
But of confirmation.
His eyes opened fully, his focus returning to the destroyed hall around him.
Exelia was already watching him.
Attentive.
Without asking.
Just waiting.
Kael turned his head slightly in her direction.
And said, with the sa calm as always—
But now with a different weight behind the words:
"We found the Queen."
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