Sion couldn't contain her excitement.

Her heart was beating fast, extremely fast.

Watching him leap in the air, walk like wind and climb the sky. While being followed by hundreds of deadly moths flickering like darkness and making the air tremble with a disgusting stench.

Even when she led the others, her hands slick with dry blood would push past the men and stab the leathery moths. Her eyes remained on him alone.

However, she wasn't alone.

The others watched him from time to time as well. Watching with awe, as amidst the deadly battle filled with abilities flaring around, the captain of the 11th division, Asher, was moving with a blur of speed.

They watched him being surrounded by countless moths, their uncanny and cold teeth trying to tear him apart. Even then, Asher's blade moved as fast as him.

"Oh, no. Is he alive?!"

Asher's figure was swallowed completely, his presence vanishing to those who could have sensed him.

The moths leaving the fields had chosen Asher as their prime target. From outside it looked as if a pillar had risen in the sky along with trees with a buzzing sound. The soldiers' panic was evident; if the man inside was dead, the leathery moths would again come for them.

Sion glanced at them with a frown on her face.

"Keep going! Don't stop."

Her words were sharp, not showing the fear others held.

With a cold look she made the others hurry—it was not that their abilities were time-consuming. Rather, it was the opposite; they had years of practice and skills.

The issue at hand was disarray.

They had spread far and wide in the dark forest and were facing their own adversaries.

However, they worked fast.

Under the guidance of Sion, they took a crooked step forward. Some soldiers raised their hand, while others raised their weapon at the pillar of moths circling around.

Suddenly the pillar distorted; something shot out like a brick had slung out.

What emerged wasn't a brick or a stone—it was a man. His dark hair swirled with the wind, his presence faint, almost slipping from sight. From below, the soldiers could only make out a white, faceless mask and a glass-like sword in his hand, its tip still aimed toward the place he had come from.

"Now!"

The pillar of moths tried once more to coil around Asher, wrapping him in a curtain of shadows.

But this time, the wind rose from below—strong and wild—lifting him higher into the air. A second surge followed from the soldiers' ranks, crashing together like a wall and halting the swarm in place. The air grew warm, and then fire bloomed from within like a raging cyclone. Abilities flared, their resonance spilling beyond control as the dark forest erupted in flame, burning everything in their path. Smoke climbed toward the sky, carrying with it petals of fire that drifted down like embers of ruin.

From below, Sol watched the moths writhe and burn. His eyes were cold, unshaken by the chaos. He drew in a breath of heated air—and exhaled frost. As he stepped forward, the roaring blaze froze mid-dance, solidifying into crystal ice. Within moments, the fiery monument shattered under its own weight, scattering shards of snow and frost across the scorched ground.

In Asher's silver pupils reflected the viscous dance of wind and fire. The embers were beautiful; even when he was in the air, pulled away from the curtain of darkness, he couldn't help but admire the sight.

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Asher pushed the sky and landed safely on the branch of a tree and watched the chaos unfold.

The embers and smoke intertwined and the ice fell after. The deadly dance of destruction came to a halt but didn't disappear entirely.

Everything happened so fast and so ferociously that one might have missed it if they blinked twice.

However, Asher saw it clearly.

For a moment, it looked as though the flames themselves had frozen—but that wasn't the truth. The fire hadn't turned cold; the air had. Sol had simply released his power, smothering the warm winds that had been feeding the blaze. With the currents gone, the ice took the shape of what once danced with the heat, capturing the frozen memory of the flames mid-motion.

'I shouldn't call him a corpse like anymore.'

A little later frost spread from his lips, and for a heartbeat his face paled, veins flickering blue beneath the skin. Sol looked shaken but not enough to fall on the ground.

Asher scowled and turned his head to see some of the moths still left alive. They had turned charred, with black ashes lingering on their wings. They had been burnt badly yet still moved with whatever life was left in them. Crawling toward him, to be specific.

Asher's frown deepened at this sight.

'Why are they obsessed with me?'

It was strange enough that they could sense his presence. But the eerie obsession—it would make anyone go crazy.

Asher jumped off the branch and landed on the dead soil with a slow speed, almost like a feather falling from the sky. His feet touched the land, and he raised his hand to remove the mask outlining his face.

In the next moment he appeared near the moth crawling on the ground. It shivered and raised its head to look at him with an abysmal look. The moth's mouth again opened, trying to bite Asher.

However, before it could, Asher plunged his blade inside the moth; a dark ichor splashed on the ground and the moth's body withered, turning into ashes.

Asher raised his head once more to take a look at the surroundings. The area they had been traveling through had almost been decimated. The leaves atop the tree had vanished and the bark of the tree had turned grey with pitch-black spots covering it.

Except for a single fallen tree, every other had stood its ground and not moved an inch.

Asher's lips turned dry as he understood how destructive and strong a legion of awakeners could be. He even thought that if they met a group of beasts at this point, it wouldn't pose too much of a threat aside from a few casualties.

In any case, the fight was over. Asher wished for nothing more than to relax his body for a moment; however, he couldn't afford such luxury right now.

The march through the dark forest again started in the next few seconds. While they needed rest, a more dire threat loomed over their heads. They had just destroyed a small portion of the forest—it was loud enough to bring a lot of unwanted attention.

The creatures of beyond would come out soon. And when they do, the fight will be much more deadly than before. It was something Asher couldn't afford right now. He needed to conserve his strength for what was to come.

Not long after the decimated and burned place couldn't be seen anymore.

Two or more hours then quickly passed as they passed through the grim-looking world. The forest had remained calm and eerie; though the peace was welcoming, the silence was pressing loudly against Asher's ears.

The deeper they ventured, the eerier the surroundings turned. Now it was as if they had reached a forbidden land.

The forest breathed differently here—a slow, labored rhythm that made Asher's skin prickle. The air hung thick with the scent of damp earth and something metallic, like old blood soaked into the roots. Above, the canopy had grown so dense that only slivers of moonlight pierced through, casting jagged shadows that seemed to twitch when no one was looking.

Sion walked behind calmly with muffled steps. Asher hissed as he sensed her figure coming closer.

"You look tense."

She asked with a gaze hard to read.

Asher remained silent. His eyes scanned Sion, her black hair falling down her shoulders, her small frame walking gracefully even amidst the dark scenery.

Then in a small voice Asher cautiously answered back.

"I do, don't I?"

He hesitated and continued with a wry smile.

"...Eyes, I feel eyes on us. Someone or something is watching us."

Sion didn't answer at once; her eyes traced the terrain and stared at the soldiers and then trees. Her smile suddenly deepened as she opened her mouth, speaking evenly.

"I know, but don't let your words spread any further. Fear is a strong factor here."

Asher blinked, confusion evident in his face. He pursed his lips; his silver pupils seemed to lighten up briefly as he whispered to her.

"You don't look surprised."

No traces of the fear she spoke of were present in his voice.

Inside Asher was in disarray but was able to mask it. He had not taken this route the last time he had come here, so the gazes on him were unsettling.

'She knows? No, what does she mean by 'fear'?

He wanted to ask more but before he could, she answered back.

"It was obvious they would come to watch you, haha."

Ba… thump!

His heart seemed to come out as he heard her words.

As if realizing something, Sion placed her hand on her lips and whispered, her cheeks turning a light shade of red.

"You shine brightly… so much that everyone wishes to come near."

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