---
📍 Juren – Medical Bay, Shadow Flame Stronghold
Nara sat on the edge of a cot, her arms wrapped around her knees.
She had seen death before—but not like this.
Not something that erased people.
Kael had saved her.
Again.
But this time… something was different.
His shadows felt unstable. His aura was colder.
And the look in his eyes wasn't fear. It was resolve—the kind that meant he no longer expected to come back.
Syl approached, tossing her a ration bar.
"You should eat."
Nara looked up.
"He's changing."
Syl leaned against the doorway, arms crossed.
"Of course he is. Power changes everyone. Especially when it's the kind meant to fight monsters."
Nara's voice trembled.
"But what if it turns him into one?"
---
📍 Guild of Crimson Mantle – Confidential Debrief
Elrik slammed his fist on the conference table.
"He survived. Again."
One of the researchers spoke nervously.
"We underestimated his system's ability to adapt. The Shadow Forge function he activated wasn't part of the normal progression…"
"Meaning?"
"Meaning… he's either evolving past guild-registered shadow types—or the system itself is bending to him."
Elrik sat down, seething.
Lady Virellen smiled faintly.
"We wanted to test his limits. Now we know. And now…" She slid a document across the table.
"...we shift strategies."
On the document:
> Operation: Black Veil Phase II – Infiltration Protocol
Objective: Collapse Kael's internal alliance from within.
---
📍 Outer Sector – Independent Tavern, Neutral Territory
Myrla sat in a corner booth, hood pulled low.
Across from her was an older man with white hair and a cracked monocle.
"Your message was dramatic," he said. "Calling me out of retirement?"
"I need access to high-guild rotas, encrypted mana-tracks, and old portal records from before the Fall."
He raised an eyebrow.
"And in return?"
She pulled out a small crystal drive.
"Proof that Guild Dragoon assassinated its own ranking officer to cover Kael's survival."
He took it slowly.
"My dear," he said softly. "You're playing a game bigger than you think."
"I'm done playing," she replied.
"I'm here to burn the board."
---
📍 Kael – Ruins of Old Station Zero
The ruins were silent.
Kael stood alone in the heart of the dead zone—where one of the first collapsed portals had swallowed a training center whole years ago.
No one came here.
The energy was unstable. The ground itself felt… wrong.
But Kael had come to listen.
He knelt.
His shadow flickered across the broken stone.
> [Unknown Signal Detected]
[Listening…]
[Error: Interference]
[Distortion Present: Signal Origin – Unknown Plane]
A faint voice echoed in his mind:
> "You move like us… but you are not one of us yet."
Kael opened his eyes.
He whispered:
"I don't want to be like you."
But a part of him already was.
And he knew… the line was thinning.
---
📍 Final Interlude – Public Square, Juren
On a cracked wall, someone painted a new symbol—half flame, half shadow.
It spread across sectors in whispers and graffiti.
A voice recording surfaced across illegal channels:
> "They tried to erase him. They failed.
They called him a monster. He became legend.
Now they call him enemy.
We call him the future."
The people were listening.
And so were the enemies in high towers.
---
📌 Next: Chapter 17 – Bloodlines and Blasphemy*