Idiots.
I raised my palm. My magic burst forward, coiling like a serpent of black fire. It consumed their blades mid-air and slammed them into the wall with enough force to crack stone. One of them rose to his knees, blood on his chin.
“I’m only following orders,” he gasped.
“And I only gave you one,” I snarled, stepping forward. “Stay away from her.”
My blade dropped. Swift. Final. His blood joined the stone. I stalked through the Guild like a god of wrath, my shadow magic answering me with a hunger I hadn’t felt in centuries.
Every corridor brought back memories — of lies, of torture, of the sick righteousness these humans wore like armor.
Jisoo set the west wing ablaze with divine fire, golden flames licking the murals that once cursed our kind. Taeyang broke the armory doors, crushing anything that dared get in his way.
But I only had one name in my mind.
Seori.
I felt her. Through the bond. Weak… but alive.
And afraid.
The Guild burned around me like a dying beast. Walls cracked and groaned, centuries of stone no match for the inferno trailing in my wake. Screams echoed, steel clashed with steel, but all I heard—was her. Her heartbeat, through the bond. Weak. Erratic. Hurting.
Seori.
I tore through the smoke-soaked corridors, shadows flaring beside me like wings. I was close. I could feel it. But just as I turned toward the cells, a figure stepped from the crumbling doorway, blocking my path.
The Guild master.
Blood smeared his brow, and a blade hung at his side—drawn, steady, unwavering. The emblem of the Hunters, charred and barely clinging to his cloak.
“I should have known it would be you,” he said.
“Get out of my way,” I growled, fire curling at my fingertips.
“She is gone. Taken.”
My rage flared.
“You lie.”
“She was never meant to survive this long,” he said, voice too calm for a man facing death. “We were supposed to end this before it began.”
I froze.
“What are you talking about?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he stepped forward, sword raised—not to threaten, but to defend.
“You shouldn’t have come for her. You’ve made everything worse.”
I stepped into him, shadows slamming into his body like a wave. He grunted, staggered, but stood firm.
“What do you mean—‘she was never meant to survive’?” I snapped. “What did you do to her?”
His expression darkened.
