"Fuck, that’s cheating! You’re a damn cheat, man..." Kalso blurted as he approached Cassian’s tent. He’d rushed over after hearing the news of his team’s encounter with a troll—the story going that their leader had been badly injured and was only saved because Commander Lawk happened to be nearby.
But now, as Cassian stepped out of the tent, there wasn’t so much as a scratch on him.
"Well... that’s a Circle Warrior’s ability for you," Shera said, arriving to check on him as well. She looked just as shocked. "Yeah... they’re basically walking cheats."
Their own abilities were impressive, but Cassian’s healing was on another level entirely.
Cassian smiled faintly at them. "I just got lucky. Honestly thought I was done for—still breathing thanks to the Commander."
Kalso and Shera both nodded. Shera added, "I ca to check on you, but... you seem perfectly fine."
"Sa here," Kalso agreed.
Cassian gave them a slightly apologetic look. "Thanks for coming, but I’ve got to report to the Commander. He told to co as soon as I could talk, so... I’ll catch up with you two later."
As Cassian walked off, the tent flap behind them shifted, and Lumine stepped out, her face etched with worry.
"He seems busy..." Shera remarked when she noticed her.
"I told him he should rest a bit longer," Lumine said, her tone a blend of worry and frustration. "Just because he heals quickly or doesn’t feel pain doesn’t an what happened back there didn’t happen." She shook her head, voice tightening. "When I got there... you should’ve seen the state he was in. That troll bastard kept pounding him, over and over. The ground was soaked with his blood. I don’t even know how he stayed alive."
The image she painted made both Shera and Kalso grimace, their expressions shifting from disgust to concern. Shera glanced toward Cassian’s retreating figure as he entered the Commander’s tent.
"Don’t worry too much," Shera said quietly. "We Circle Warriors... we’re the embodint of strong wills. Wills that can bend the very rules of this world. And the will of a Circle Warrior isn’t sothing that breaks easily."
Lumine understood that, but the worry in her eyes didn’t fade.
Inside the commander’s tent, Naset Lawk wasted no ti getting to the point—exactly the question Cassian had been dreading."How were you still alive? How did you not end up a sar on the ground after that troll’s attacks?"
The words were blunt, even a little cold, but Cassian didn’t care about the tone. What mattered was coming up with a believable answer—believable enough to pass under the scrutiny of a high Circle Warrior like Naset, whose domain could catch even the faintest whiff of a lie.
Luckily, he’d already been preparing sothing while his body was knitting itself back together. Slowly, Cassian raised his arm and revealed a black leather bracelet inlaid with nine clear crystals.
Gasps and murmurs stirred among those gathered. Even Alix—standing near the back with the other high-ranking officers Cassian had only ever seen from afar—stared at the bracelet, eyes widening in shock.
"Commander Sher gave that to you...?" Alix asked, her expression openly shocked.
Cassian nodded. "Yeah. For the Valtross Academy matter."
A few others in the tent seed to recognize it, their faces tightening. But Alix’s visible surprise was enough to make Naset—who apparently hadn’t known—turn to her. "What does that bracelet do, Captain Alix?"
"That," Alix said slowly, "is an Assassin’s Bracelet, Commander. One of the most sought-after items in their world. They can’t be made anymore, so the few that exist are all there is."
She continued, her tone sharpening with each word."It lets the wearer blend perfectly into their surroundings—so well that even a high Circle Warrior would have trouble finding them. Well... unless they step into that warrior’s domain."
As Alix finished her explanation, Cassian silently thanked her—she’d unknowingly kept him from having to spin so half-baked lie.
Naset Lawk listened, then gave a slow nod. "So... you used it to hide from that monster. But when I arrived, you weren’t hiding anymore?"
"That’s because I can only keep it active for a few minutes," Cassian replied. "I don’t have enough mana."
It was the truth, and it seed to satisfy Lawk—at least enough that Cassian could feel the crushing weight of the man’s domain ease slightly. It still pressed against him like a guillotine blade hovering over his neck, but it wasn’t dropping.
Lawk’s gaze stayed locked on him. "If you were hiding... why didn’t you run when you had the chance?"
"I was already injured, so I couldn’t run right away. I was waiting for a chance to recover before making my move," Cassian said, his voice carrying a slight edge of nervousness. It was true—he’d planned to retreat after wounding the troll, but the beast had gotten to him first. As for the assassin’s bracelet... it hadn’t even crossed his mind in the heat of battle. He’d cursed himself for that more than once, though in this mont, it seed the oversight was working in his favor.
The commander gave a curt nod. "You can go."
Cassian suppressed the flood of relief, keeping his expression stern as he saluted, then turned and walked out of the suffocating tent.
As the flap closed behind him, the vice commander—a frail-looking old man Cassian knew to be a Sixth Circle mage—leaned toward Lawk and rasped, "Didn’t you say he was on the verge of death barely an hour ago?"
"He was," the commander replied, still sounding faintly surprised himself.
Alix stepped in, adding, "His healing ability is the strongest I’ve ever seen..." She let out a quiet sigh before continuing, "But knowing what he went through to gain it, I suppose it’s no surprise he ended up with an extra one."
"He has two abilities? And he’s only First Circle?" the old mage asked, his tone sharp with disbelief. Even the other two in the room—a Fifth and a Sixth Circle Warrior—looked equally stunned.
The commander gave a slow nod this ti. "Pain immunity, no less. And if you’d seen his domain, Vice Commander Orlando... you’d be even more surprised."
Orlando Shaw’s eyes lit up with excitent. "Is it one of the rare types? A nad domain—like the Domain of the Titan?"
Commander Naset’s lips curled into a faint smirk. "Even rarer."
Alix’s brows furrowed; she didn’t know the exact type of Cassian’s domain either—only its strange color and the unsettling sense of danger that washed over her whenever he used it.
Orlando’s smirk widened. He knew that ti-based domains were considered the rarest, even edging into the realm of myth. "Even rarer than your own ti-based domain, my lord?"
Naset’s gaze hardened as he looked at the smirking mage. "I’m your commander, Orlando—not your lord," he said sharply. Then, after a brief pause, he added, "And no, it’s not rarer than mine... but it stands on the sa level."
The room fell silent, the weight of his words sinking in. Even Alix’s eyes widened. "Really?" she asked.
Naset turned to her, surprise flickering across his face. "I thought you knew, Lieutenant. You’ve worked with him before."
Seeing her bafflent, he went on, "Didn’t you notice? The red hair, the red eyes, the deep crimson of his domain—anyone could guess, if they didn’t already feel the killing intent radiating from it. The mont I saw that, I was certain... that kid’s from the Van Dyke Duchy." A smirk spread across his face, sharp and knowing.
Gasps rippled through the room, but before anyone could speak, Naset continued, "The first ti I saw him in action, his domain was muted—didn’t give much away. But this ti... it was fully unleashed. So much killing intent it could make an ordinary man collapse in sickness, haunted by nightmares for weeks. That’s why I called him in. At first, I thought it might’ve been so artifact shielding him with that aura—but now I’m sure. He’s the new bearer of the Van Dyke’s Killing Domain."
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