Lionel stormed into the stone compound. The stench of wet dog burned his nostrils. Covering his nose with disdain, he marched straight toward the mansion like an unleashed storm. Dawn had broken, but his fury darkened the corridor.
The beasts guarding the place tried to block his path, but with a twist of his wrist and a single precise blow, he broke their necks one by one, leaving their lifeless bodies strewn on the floor.
"Tell me—what happened to the people here? Where are they?" he roared into the void, his eyes scanning the chaos around him.
He didn't wait for an answer. With a single blow, he shattered the main doors and climbed the stairs, checking each room until he found Cristal sitting on the bed, motionless, her gaze lost in the horizon.
"Cristal, what happened to you?" he asked, visibly shaken at the sight of her wounds.
Cristal didn't move. Only the slow blinking of her eyes confirmed she was still conscious.
"Did you find Rasen?" Her voice was low, soaked in a sorrow that seemed to have consumed her.
Lionel sighed, unable to hold her gaze."No trace of him. I'm sorry, Cristal."
The silence that followed shattered when Cristal let out a heart-wrenching cry, her tears falling in restrained fury. Lionel waited for her to calm before speaking again.
"Why are you like this? What happened to Aisha? Tell me!"
Cristal looked up, her face a reflection of anguish and resignation."She didn't back down… and they took her," she said between breaths. "It was Salomon. Him and his followers."
Her eyes welled up again, but this time no tears fell. She just closed her eyes tightly and let the silence speak for her. Moved, Lionel approached and wrapped her in a firm embrace.
"Wait… someone else is here," he muttered, tension thickening in his voice.
The roar of hybrids tore through the silence—deformed beasts charging toward them. Lionel moved swiftly, but there were too many.
A howl boomed like thunder ripped from the earth's core. The walls trembled. The hybrids shrank back. And at the top of the staircase, like a legend stepping into light, Sanathiel stood bathed in pale glow.
"The White Wolf…" Lionel murmured, eyes wide with disbelief as the hybrids fell from the walls.
"Lionel, why are you here?" Sanathiel asked, his voice a blend of authority and surprise.
Before Lionel could answer, Cristal slowly stood and, without hesitation, said:"Sanathiel… my father."
Caught off guard, she rushed into his arms like a child seeking shelter. There was no hate. No accusation. Only need. Only blood calling blood.
"Father, it's good to see you."
Sanathiel held her loosely at first, as if his arms had forgotten what to do with the word "daughter." His golden eyes scanned her, not with affection, but with the urgency to believe she was real. As though time, blood, and war had rusted his tenderness.
Finally, with a heavy sigh, he pulled her closer and patted her back awkwardly. His touch was uncertain, as if he no longer knew how to comfort.
"I should've looked for you sooner…""I'm sorry, daughter." His voice dropped, thick with guilt.
Cristal looked at him, her eyes trembling but steady."I'm glad to see you—especially now that my life's been threatened… by your kind. One of them called himself the Ebony Wolf. Salomon. Because of him, I nearly died. But I don't blame you, Father. I was just… afraid."
Her voice quivered with each word. Sanathiel tilted his head, catching an unusual scent in the air.
"I'll take care of it. But I can smell Aisha here. She was with you, wasn't she?"
Lionel stepped forward, avoiding Sanathiel's gaze."Aisha was here. Where is she?... Tell us, Cristal."
For a moment—before the lie took shape—Cristal saw the memory. Aisha's body shielding hers from the beast. The blood. The trembling. The scream.
But she erased it.
As if the memory hurt more than betrayal.
Interrupting with a mix of rage and despair, she said:"At first it was hard to accept her sudden arrival. She pretended to protect me, but it was all a ruse. She came only to hand me over to Salomon."
Sanathiel fell silent, processing the accusation. At last, his voice turned grave:"That doesn't sound like Aisha," he said—voice steady but laced with threat. "What exactly happened before they took her?"
Cristal clenched her fists, averting her gaze."I told you—she pretended to help, only to betray me to your enemy, Father."
Lionel frowned. Something in her tone stirred doubt. Sanathiel sensed it too, though he didn't press further. His expression darkened.
"If that's true, then Aisha has made a mistake… one she'll have to pay for," he said in a low, dangerous voice. But his eyes didn't leave Cristal, still searching for a hidden truth in her silence.
Lionel couldn't shake a gnawing thought:"How far are you willing to lie, Cristal?"
Sanathiel looked directly at him as Lionel stepped protectively in front of her, his stance challenging even Sanathiel's authority.
"My daughter's life is precious, Lionel. Even if we've shared little time, she carries my blood."
Lionel didn't back down."And you forget something important: I'm her uncle. I won't let this happen again. Bring me that Nevri's head, Sanathiel… or I'll make sure someone pays for it."
Sanathiel studied him for a moment, then nodded. He turned and left the mansion.
Lionel didn't take his eyes off Cristal. His jaw tightened. His voice dropped to a sharp murmur.
"I saw Aisha's sword… not yours. That doesn't add up, Cristal. Not when I know how someone fights when they want to live."
His voice was quiet, but it stung.
Not as judgment—but as someone who realized he could no longer trust.
Cristal held his gaze without blinking, but her fingers curled slightly against her wrist, as if clinging to something unseen. Her face calm, almost rehearsed, yet behind her eyes flickered something else. Doubt? Pain? Fear?
"If that's what you want to believe… so be it," she said, voice firm but restrained. As if trying to convince herself. "If not, then let's leave now."
Lionel clenched his teeth. His instincts screamed to push further, to make her speak the truth—but something in her stare, in that calm calculation, stopped him.
It wasn't indifference beneath her surface.
It was something deeper.
He exhaled sharply and rubbed a hand over his face."This isn't over, Cristal."
She didn't reply. She simply walked to the door with steady steps, never looking back. But as she crossed the threshold, her fists clenched, and her trembling lips betrayed her.
Lionel closed the door slowly behind her.Not because he doubted his next step…But because, for the first time, he didn't know if his niece was fleeing the enemy… or becoming one.
Outside, the moon dripped light across the threshold, as if the world already knew something had broken… and could never be whole again.
And in his mind, Aisha's name echoed like a broken promise he would one day have to face.
Because if Cristal could lie about this…what else had she buried beneath silence?
The moonlight seeped through shattered windows. The blood of hybrids still stained the floor. In that post-battle silence, Lionel knew a new war had begun—one not fought with swords…but with unspoken truths.