Kael sprinted through the winding tunnel, his breath sharp, his boots echoing off damp stone.
Yue's voice drifted beside him—tense, urgent.
"You need to be quick. If Veyran catches up, everything ends here."
Kael nodded grimly, eyes locked forward.
They passed rows of sealed vaults—thick iron doors lined with arcane seals, humming with forbidden power.
Yue murmured, "Only the Duke can access those—don't waste time."
Kael exhaled hard, ignoring the allure of cursed relics and buried sins.
He pressed on.
But then—the air shifted.
Cold.
Still.
Too still.
Like a beast lay sleeping beneath the stone.
A pressure built around him.
The mana felt thicker.
Heavy.
Watching.
Kael didn't slow.
He ran faster.
And then—at the tunnel's end—a door.
Older. Rusted. Scorched.
He yanked the earlier key from his ring and shoved it into the lock.
Click.
The door creaked open—slow, reluctant.
Smoke spilled out.
Thick. Chemical. Sour.
Kael coughed, eyes watering as he pushed through.
"Quick—go!" Yue snapped.
He stepped inside.
At first, all he saw was shadow and smoke.
And then—
The haze parted.
Kael froze.
His heart stuttered.
There, chained to the far wall like a crucified relic, was a man—barely human anymore.
Golden hair, matted and soaked in blood, hung in clumps across his face.
Both legs twisted—broken.
His arms stretched above him, shackled in cruel iron, joints dislocated. Spikes pierced his palms and shoulders, holding him upright in a torturer's display.
His eyes were gone.
Gouged.
Empty sockets stared into nothing.
Insects crawled freely across his skin—nesting in open wounds, feasting.
And yet—
He smiled.
A slow, awful smile.
Not mad.
Not broken.
Just… waiting.
Kael took a step back, blood cold.
The man on the wall stirred.
Chains rattled.
His ruined face tilted toward Kael, blind sockets fixed where eyes used to be.
"You made it here, boy?"the General rasped, voice like iron dragged across stone.
"Do you not fear him?"
A faint smile ghosted his cracked lips.
"The Duke, I mean."
Kael met the hollow gaze without flinching.
"I fear nothing."
Behind him, Yue snorted.
That was a lie.
Rats still made him twitch.
But it didn't need to be said out loud.
The General chuckled.
"So? You've come to free me, is that it?"
Kael nodded once.
"Yes."
A dry laugh echoed through the smoke-choked cell.
"Why? Out of mercy?"
"No," Kael said calmly.
"I want you to work with me."
That earned a proper laugh—low, rough, mocking.
"You? Bend me to your will?" His voice cracked like thunder.
"I am the Divine General.
Feared across all provinces of Velmora.
Do you have a death wish, boy?"
Kael didn't blink.
"I can offer you something you want more than life."
The General went still.
"Oh? And what's that?"
Kael took a step closer.
His voice dropped, a whisper laced with steel.
"Revenge."
Silence followed.
Thick.
Heavy.
Then… a slow, guttural chuckle.
"I like you," the General said.
"But if you want me at your side—you'll have to earn it."
His broken body shifted, chains groaning.
"Fight me. Break me. Or die trying."
Yue stiffened behind Kael.
Rank 3.
Even crippled, even blind—he was still a monster.
Kael said nothing.
He stepped forward.
"Wait—" Yue whispered, grabbing his shoulder. "You won't survive."
Kael looked at her, calm and resolute.
"Then just tell me the codes."
Yue exhaled shakily.
Then nodded.
She whispered the unlock sequence—one she'd gathered through "staking," cough coughspying, as she liked to call it.
One by one, the bindings released.
With a final hiss, the last shackle clanged to the ground.
The General collapsed forward—limbs trembling, bloodied feet slipping on the stone.
"Hah… finally,"he breathed.
"My hands… they've been frozen in blood for too long."
Kael said, voice sharp with urgency,
"We don't have time."
The General tried to stand.
Both legs gave out beneath him.
He chuckled darkly.
"Let's begin."
Kael didn't hesitate.
No taunts. No delay.
He leapt forward—striking fast, ruthless.
He wasn't going to gamble on mercy.
Four gleaming Moonblades shot toward the General, each humming with arcane energy.
Kael followed behind them like a shadow, sword raised, aiming to end this before it truly began.
But the Divine General, even blind, even broken—still felt the shift in mana.
Still reacted.
A barrier spell flared to life around him—imperfect, rushed, but enough.
The Moonblades shattered against it with sharp bursts of light.
Kael struck next—hard, direct.
Thud.
His blade met the shield and bounced back.
The barrier didn't break.
The General laughed.
Rough, mocking.
"Don't tell me… you're a Rank 1 mage?"
Kael cursed under his breath and launched another attack.
But the General raised a trembling hand.
Fire Lance.
Dozens erupted around him, streaking out in spiraling arcs.
Craters exploded across the chamber.
The air burned.
Yue's voice rang out, tense.
"Careful!
He's weakened, yes—his mana's unstable—but he's still Rank 3.
Those spells hurt."
Kael gritted his teeth.
He activated Amplification—a boost spell on his legs.
Speed surged through him.
He darted between the flaming strikes, weaving past stone bursts and fire trails—until—
One lance clipped him.
Square in the helmet.
The side of it melted.
Molten iron splashed across his shoulder.
Kael hissed and tore the helmet off, smoke rising from scorched metal.
He tossed it aside, glaring through the haze.
"Definitely not dangerous at all."
The Divine General spat blood and grinned.
"What's this?" he growled.
"You scared already?
I'm just warming up, boy."
Kael cursed under his breath.
Two black lightning bolts shrieked through the air, streaking toward him with violent speed.
He didn't hesitate.
Amplification.
Mana surged through his limbs, and Kael moved—dodging with inches to spare, rushing forward with his blade raised.
His aim: the General's neck.
Fast. Clean. Fatal.
Most mages needed time.
Focus.
Chants.
But not Kael.
He could cast spell after spell without pause—an anomaly, a storm wrapped in flesh.
The General had just fired magic.
This was the moment.
His brief vulnerability.
Kael struck.
But there was a flaw in the plan.
The Divine General was no ordinary man.
At the last possible second, the bastard twisted his head.
The blade missed.
And Kael's gut exploded with pain as a fist slammed into him—hard, brutal, like a hammer through flesh.
He heard it—crack.
Not his ribs.
The General's own head had collided with Kael's—full force.
Bone shattered.
But the man didn't scream.
He didn't even flinch.
He used the pain like fuel.
Kael was sent flying—his body crashing into the stone with a harsh, echoing thud.
Yue's voice cut through the haze like a blade.
"Being ruthless to others is easy,"she said coldly.
"But to yourself? That's the kind of cruelty monsters are born from."
Kael coughed.
Blood spilled from his mouth.
His insides felt crushed.
Breath came shallow.
Pain wracked every nerve.
But he stood.
Sword in hand.
Eyes burning.
He knew Moonblades wouldn't work.
The shield would block it again.
So Kael did the only thing left.
He poured everything—all of it—into Amplification.
No restraint.
No second spell.
Just speed.
Just violence.
He became a blur—slashing, striking, a storm of swordsmanship and mana, every strike meant to kill.
The General met him head-on.
Laughing.
Bleeding.
Matching every strike despite his broken state.
The chamber roared with flame, steel, and mana.
And then—
Boom.
Distant explosions echoed through the tunnel.
The other mages.
They were trying to break through.
Kael's focus flickered.
A fatal mistake.
The General struck.
A blast of magic—raw, unfiltered—smashed into Kael's shoulder.
He screamed.
His arm went limp.
His legs buckled.
His body locked.
Dreamweaver trembled in his weak grip—but he couldn't lift it.
Couldn't move.
Smoke curled in the air as the General stepped forward.
His hand glowed.
A fireball, monstrous in size, spun in his palm—enough to reduce Kael to nothing but ash.
The General smiled grimly.
"You fought well," he said.
"But not well enough."
Yue's voice screamed through the chamber—panic and fury in every word.
"KAEL! MOVE! DAMN IT—MOVE!"
Kael's head sagged.
The fireball grew.
And his fingers—
Twitched.