CHAPTER 129 — FIRST BLOOD
Séraphine did not slow as the forest grew denser around them.
Leylin sensed the change before he could name it.
The moment she crossed the treeline, the world lost its order. The air moved in erratic currents, the ground rose and fell without reason, and an unseen pressure pressed against everything that existed here. It was neither hostile nor welcoming. It was simply present.
Why are we here?
This time, Séraphine answered without hesitation.
My resources are exhausted.
Her steps remained measured and efficient, wasting no energy.
I am approaching a threshold. If I stop now, the refinement will lose momentum. I would have to start the process over.
Leylin absorbed the information.
Then take more from the Marquis.
No.
The refusal was sharp and final.
The others have also requested resources. I am not the only one advancing.
Leylin narrowed his focus.
So there are others.
Yes.
Then where are they?
Séraphine slipped past a low-hanging branch without breaking stride.
In their chambers.
She paused briefly.
They rarely leave unless necessary.
Leylin went silent for a moment.
That makes no sense.
She slowed just enough to turn her head slightly.
Say it.
If they are stronger than the ones in the city, why are they hiding? Why am I only seeing yellow and red signatures?
Séraphine came to a near stop.
They are not hiding. They are refining.
The words settled between them.
Power is not displayed. It is condensed. The more refined a signature becomes, the less it leaks.
Leylin fell silent.
So the strongest ones…
…are the ones you cannot see.
The air shifted ahead.
Séraphine stopped completely.
Leylin felt it at once. A presence. Low. Dense. Unstable. Red.
It moved through the undergrowth without care, branches snapping and soil shifting beneath its weight. It was not cautious. It was hungry.
That is not human.
No.
She stepped forward.
Watch.
The creature emerged from the brush.
Its body was wrong, stretched and distorted in places where anatomy should have held firm. Its limbs were too long, its spine arched unnaturally, and its skin had a rough, uneven texture, as though it had grown without restraint.
Its eyes locked onto Séraphine.
The signature surrounding it was red, but not controlled. It bled outward in jagged, unstable strands, pushing violently against its own form.
Leylin felt the pressure immediately. Not overwhelming, but wrong.
If something like that entered the city, what would happen?
It would kill everything weaker than itself.
No hesitation. No exaggeration.
The creature lunged without warning.
Its body tore through the space between them with terrifying speed. Claws sliced through the air with enough force to split the ground where Séraphine had stood a moment earlier.
But she was no longer there.
She had moved only a short distance. Just enough.
Her hand rose with clinical precision. The blue energy around her did not flare outward. It gathered tightly, compressing into a thin, dense layer around her fingers.
The creature twisted mid-lunge, reacting on instinct as its red signature flared wildly to correct its path.
Too late.
Séraphine stepped inside its reach.
One clean step.
Her fingers drove forward. Exact. Unhurried. Perfectly timed.
The red flickered once, twice, then collapsed inward.
The creature dropped.
It slammed into the ground hard enough to crack the soil, then lay still.
Dead.
Leylin studied the scene carefully.
You did not overpower it.
No.
You interrupted it.
Séraphine lowered her hand.
The signature was unstable. It was leaking more power than it could contain. That makes it dangerous to the weak… and fragile to precision.
Leylin looked down at the corpse. The red energy was already breaking apart, losing shape.
If that thing reached the city, none of them would survive.
No.
Simple.
Certain.
Séraphine stepped closer to the body, then paused.
Something in her shifted. Subtle, but deep.
Leylin felt it too.
Recognition.
Not of the beast.
Of something else.
Faint. Ancient. Detached.
It lingered behind the fading red signature, thinner and older than the creature that had carried it.
Leylin went completely still.
For the first time, he did not ask a question.
He reached.
Not with a body. Not even with conscious thought.
Something deeper in him extended toward that lingering presence.
It stopped.
Not blocked. Not resisted.
Simply out of reach.
The moment stretched.
Then broke.
Séraphine placed her hand lightly on the corpse. The remaining red energy collapsed and flowed into her, clean and controlled.
She exhaled slowly.
The blue around her grew steadier. Sharper. Stronger.
Leylin watched her.
But his focus remained fixed on what he had almost touched.
Something that should not have been there.
Something older than the creature itself.
He said nothing.
And this time, he kept his silence.