Kai didn't know where the Guardian Beast was.
Didn't know if he was even in the right place.
Didn't know if his presence had already triggered some countdown to death.
He did know he couldn't see.
The light was all-consuming not magical in the elegant, directed way he was used to — but primal.
His breathing stayed low and shallow as he dropped his stance. Noise control. Posture control. He could hear again barely a faint resonance to the air, but everything visual was blown out.
This wasn't going to work.
He couldn't fight blind.
He couldn't navigate blind.
So he triggered it.
Ghostly Concealment.
His form vanished not with smoke, not with a shimmer. Just absence.
Sound?
Gone.
Presence?
Nullified.
Mana output?
Flatlined into the ambient layer.
He moved forward again, slower this time. Every step calculated. His blade hovered just beside him in his good hand. His numb arm he kept tucked close, trying to minimize any motion or brush.
