Sylvia’s presence shifted, turning sudden and severe. She laced her fingers into a complex seal, lips moving in a quiet, urgent chant. Raw power gathered in her palms, swelling into a sphere so dark it seemed to drink the light around it.
“Heavenbane Annihilation!” Her shout cracked the air. She thrust both hands forward, releasing a jet-black wave that hurtled toward Jaehaerys and Brennan.
The wave carried ruin itself. Stone vaporized. Shattered blades became dust. The two hall masters stared, terror hollowing their eyes. They tried to move, too late. The torrent swallowed them. Flesh, bone, and spirit burst into a red mist, then vanished on the wind.
Silence returned to Death Gorge. Only scorched earth and drifting ash whispered of the battle that had raged seconds ago.
Jared let out the breath he had been holding. Pain throbbed where blades and claws had found him, yet beneath the ache simmered fierce satisfaction. He was wounded, yes, but experience like this could not be bought, only bled for.
Sylvia turned, eyes softening when she saw the fresh gashes across his ribs. “Jared, you’re in pieces. We need cover and time to heal, now.”
“Not yet. One target remains.” Jared’s gaze locked on Morcant, who was still drawing breath.
“W-Wait… This is all a misunderstanding!” Morcant blurted, cold sweat beading under the dirt on his face. “I was merely passing by. Your quarrel never concerned me!”
He spun on his heel, desperation propelling him toward the shadows.
“Trying to leave?” Jared flickered forward, the ground cracking under his step, and materialized in front of the fleeing elder, cutting off every escape.
“Easy, boy! Don’t overstep!” Morcant snarled, masking fear with bluster. “I’m an elder of Malevolent Path Hall. Kill me, and the entire hall will hunt you down.”
“An elder? That title means nothing to me.” Jared’s laugh was icy. “I slaughtered Prince Percival, Grand Elder, Lord Moffat, and even Lord Ashcroft. Why would I fear a minor functionary like you?”
Hearing this, Morcant’s face drained of color. “Y-You… You slew Prince Percival, the grand elder, and the lords?!”
“Exactly,” Jared answered with a curt nod.
“Lies, nothing but empty bragging,” Morcant muttered, shaking his head.
He had heard the rumors of those deaths, but this wounded youth couldn’t be the butcher. If the rumors were true, today’s assignment would never have fallen to him.
This Jared must be bluffing!
“Believe what you like,” Jared said, voice dropping to a killer’s calm. “Call me a braggart again, and you die where you stand. In fact…”
His fingers curled, aura igniting around his fists. “You die anyway…”
Jared finished speaking, then shifted his weight forward, shoulders squaring for the strike he had already marked out in his mind.
There were evenings when the young cultivator enjoyed puffing himself up, spinning a little myth around his own name, but he loathed, absolutely loathed, anyone brazen enough to call that bluff to his face.
“W-Wait!” Morcant threw both hands up, voice cracking around the single word. He swallowed hard and rushed out the rest.
“I can reward you, richly, any treasure you ask. Just spare my life.” Morcant’s gaze darted past Jared to Sylvia, who hovered behind the young man like a silent executioner.
Jared was wounded head to toe, but Sylvia had already butchered the first and second hall masters. Morcant knew he was no match for her, let alone the two of them together.
“I don’t need your bribes,” Jared said, voice low and flat. “Today you die, and that’s non-negotiable.”
A sudden gale of spiritual aura rolled in from the far ridge. Figures streaked through the gray sky of Death Gorge, led by Winston Woodridge, one of Malevolent Path Hall’s dreaded Lords.
Morcant’s relief exploded into a shrill cry. “Lord Woodridge, save me!”
Winston landed, long cloak snapping, and took in the carnage. His face darkened. “Boy, who are you? You dare lay a hand on a Malevolent Path Hall elder? You must have a death wish.”
The pressure radiating from him marked a cultivator at Heavenly Immortal Realm Level Two, stronger, Jared realized, even than Sylvia.
