The silence in the deep forest was heavier than the shadows. Elara gripped her staff, the wood warm against her palm. She felt like she was walking through a graveyard. To her right, the girl with the white hair and white eyes walked with a strange, light step, as if she weren't touching the ground at all. In front of them, Levi was a wall of cold, silent energy.
Elara couldn't take the quiet anymore. "We've been walking for miles. Are we ever going to talk, or is brooding a requirement for this team?"
The white-haired girl turned her head toward Elara. Her eyes were completely blank, yet Elara felt like she was being searched from the inside out. "My name is Mashiro," the girl said softly. "But you can call me Shiro. Levi doesn't talk because he doesn't need to. He's listening to the forest."
Elara huffed, swinging her staff in a small arc. "Listening to what? The sound of us losing points? We only have thirty."
"Levi is tracking a Core," Shiro explained. She stopped for a moment, her white eyes widening. "You see the world in shapes and colors, Elara. I see it in points. Every living being has a Core—the source of their Anym—and a Center Point—the physical anchor that keeps their body from falling apart. I also see the arrangement of points in the limbs. If I hit the right spot, I don't need strength to break a bone. I just disconnect the design."
Elara looked at her, skeptical. "Sounds like a lot of talking for someone who hasn't fought yet."
As if the forest heard her, a 10-point Purgatory Beast—a creature that looked like a jagged, black-scaled lizard with wings—dropped from a tree. It hissed, its tongue flickering with green fire.
"Finally," Elara said.
She spun her staff, the wood beginning to glow with a deep, volcanic orange. She didn't just swing it; she moved with a rhythmic, combat flow. As the lizard lunged, Elara stepped into its guard and slammed the end of her staff into its side .Sending a shockwave through the beast's ribs. She followed up with a spinning strike that caught the lizard under the jaw, the magical heat from her staff searing the scales. With a final, heavy overhead bash, she crushed the beast into the dirt, where it dissolved into smoke.
"Ten points," Elara panted, feeling the rush of the fight.
"Not bad," Shiro said. "But you used too much energy."
Suddenly, a second beast emerged—a 20-point Panther made of living thorns. It was faster and more aggressive. It leaped toward Shiro, its claws extended.
Shiro didn't move until the beast was inches away. She didn't use a weapon. She simply raised her arm, stiffening her hand like a blade. Her white eyes locked onto a specific shimmering dot in the air right at the beast's neck—the Head Point.
With a movement so fast Elara almost missed it, Shiro swiped her hand through the air. She didn't even seem to hit the beast with force, but the effect was instantaneous. The Panther's head didn't just fall off; it was "cut" away as if a laser had passed through it. The Head Point was destroyed, and the rest of the body simply ceased to function, falling to the ground in two clean pieces.
Total Points: 60.
Elara stared at the decapitated remains. "You... you just cut it with your hand?"
"I cut the point," Shiro said, wiping a non-existent speck of dust from her sleeve. "The body had no choice but to follow."
Levi suddenly stopped. He wasn't looking at them; he was looking at a massive wall of briars ahead. From behind the thorns, a 50-point Ancient Forest Guardian stepped out. It was a titan made of petrified wood and black iron, its eyes glowing with a dark, suffocating purple light.
The air in the clearing changed. It wasn't just scary; it was heavy.
Levi reached for his sword. As his thumb pushed the guard and the blade began to slide out—only two inches of steel showing—the world seemed to tilt.
Elara gasped, her knees buckling. It wasn't "Presence" like Yami's mental pressure; it was physical. The air felt like it had turned into lead, pressing down on her shoulders and lungs. She felt like she was being buried alive by the sheer weight of Levi's killing intent.
Levi glanced back and saw Elara struggling to breathe, her face pale. He let out a tiny, nearly silent sigh and clicked his sword back into its sheath. The crushing weight vanished instantly.
Instead of drawing his blade, Levi stepped forward. He raised his right arm. A dense, pitch-black coating of Anym began to crawl up his skin, covering his hand and forearm until it looked like it was made of indestructible obsidian. It shimmered with a terrifying, metallic luster.
The 50-point Guardian roared and swung a fist the size of a boulder at him.
Levi didn't dodge. He punched forward, his black-coated fist meeting the titan's stone arm.
"Boom," Levi said quietly.
The contact didn't create a shockwave—it created an erasure. The 50-point beast didn't just break; it totally blew away in an instant. The force of the strike traveled through the petrified wood and iron, shattering every atom of the creature until there was nothing left but a cloud of dust drifting in the wind.
Levi let the black coating fade from his arm and kept walking as if he had just swatted a fly.
The red card in his pocket hummed.
Total Points: 110.
Elara stood there, her staff trembling in her hand. She looked at Shiro, who was already following Levi, and then at the empty space where a 50-point monster had been standing a second ago.
"One win," Elara whispered to herself, remembering One from All's words about his mental battles. "We're going to need a lot more than one win to catch up to him."
She ran to catch up, the realization sinking in that her team wasn't just strong—they were a collection of apex predators.
End of Chapter 14