Kaiser and Ivan raced down the narrow, dirt-packed street, blades drawn and glinting beneath the fading light of the strange sunset. Kaiser's stride was swift and confident, each step precise, balanced, and deadly. In stark contrast, Ivan stumbled clumsily in his new armor, breathing heavily and muttering curses under his breath.

Kaiser surged ahead, but after several dozen paces, he slowed deliberately, calculation flickering in his crimson gaze. He glanced back, measuring Ivan—not with warmth, but with cold, clinical assessment. It would have been easy to leave him. He'd left hundreds behind in the Nebrosan campaigns, letting the weak fall so the strong might press forward. But this threat was unknown, and Ivan, clumsy as he was, could not be discarded.

Ivan's safety was no act of mercy; it was a matter of reputation. If Ivan died under his command, the stink of failure would cling to Kaiser. It would be another weapon for his rivals, evidence that Kaiser's word meant little, and his protection even less. A handful of dead villagers was a minor loss, collateral and forgettable. Ivan was different. Losing him would be a stain he refused to bear.

He slowed his pace, matching Ivan's stumbling rhythm.

"Damn it!" Ivan wheezed, wrestling with the armor that clung to him like leaden chains. "How the hell are you moving so easily in this? I can barely breathe!"

Kaiser allowed a low, humorless chuckle to slip through. "Did Botanica explain nothing to you about how that armor works?"

Ivan's cheeks flushed with embarrassment, though he tried to hide it beneath an annoyed scowl. "She might have said something, but—I was kind of busy thinking how badass I looked, okay?"

Kaiser slowed his pace and finally halted, placing one hand firmly on Ivan's shoulder to stop him. "Idiot. This armor is embedded with Sol cores—use them."

Ivan blinked in confusion. "Use them? How the hell am I supposed to—"

Kaiser sighed, placing his palm flat against the center of Ivan's chestplate. A soft, ethereal blue glow seeped from Kaiser's hand, flowing directly into the armor. Ivan suddenly jolted upright, a surge of energy electrifying his limbs, eyes widening in shock.

"W-what the—!" Ivan exclaimed, leaping experimentally and nearly toppling forward at the unexpected ease and height of the jump. A wild grin spread across his face as he swung his sword experimentally, laughing as the blade moved twice as fast as usual. "Holy shit, Kaiser! You never told me it could do this!"

"I'm telling you now," Kaiser said dryly, though he couldn't entirely hide his amusement at Ivan's excitement. "Channel your Sol carefully into the cores in your armor. Don't waste—"

But Ivan had already tuned him out, excitedly kicking at the air and thrusting his sword, marveling at his enhanced speed and power. With a deep sigh, Kaiser reached out and smacked Ivan firmly on the back of the head, snapping him back to attention.

"Hey—ow!" Ivan snapped, rubbing the spot indignantly. "What was that for?"

"You weren't listening. Now pay attention," Kaiser said sharply, though his tone lacked any genuine harshness. Before Ivan could retort, another scream tore through the air.

Both immediately snapped to attention. Ivan's excitement faded, replaced by seriousness as his Sol aura surged around him. Kaiser briefly considered instructing Ivan further about properly channeling his Sol, but the urgency of the situation demanded swift action.

Kaiser nodded once. "Stay sharp. And stay behind me."

Ivan gave a curt nod, suddenly alert, posture tense and ready as he fell into step behind Kaiser.

They followed the scream to a modest house, barricaded hastily from the inside. Ivan approached first, rattling the door handle uselessly before stepping back, frustrated. He glanced at the window, hesitating briefly. "Should we break it?"

Kaiser didn't answer. Instead, he stepped forward calmly, raising one leg and delivering a sharp, precise kick. The door splintered violently off its hinges, crashing into the darkness inside with a loud, echoing thud.

Ivan's jaw dropped slightly, but Kaiser didn't pause to acknowledge him. They stepped cautiously through the shattered doorway, swords at the ready.

Inside, the dim interior was filled with unsettling paintings of civilians. Each portrait was framed by those peculiar pearls, glimmering faintly in the low light. Some frames were pristine, their pearls intact, while others lay broken on the floor, covered in thick, black pools of ink.

Ivan spoke softly, voice barely above a whisper. "Kaiser, what the hell are these things…?"

But Kaiser wasn't listening. His eyes narrowed sharply, fixated entirely on the pearls themselves. They held an unmistakable glow of Sol within them—but the hue was disturbingly wrong.

"Celestine said these pearls were strange," Kaiser murmured thoughtfully, stepping closer. His crimson eyes narrowed further as he scrutinized their dull, lifeless glow. "But this… Grey?"

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"Grey Sol?" Ivan repeated, confused. "I've never even heard of that before. What does it mean?"

Kaiser didn't respond, reaching out tentatively to touch the pearl embedded on one of the frames. A cold shiver raced down his spine the moment his fingers brushed the strange substance, an empty, hollow sensation flooding his senses.

"It's drained," Kaiser said quietly, almost to himself, pulling his hand away. "Empty of life, empty of intent. Someone, or something has corrupted it."

Ivan swallowed nervously, glancing around uneasily. "Corrupted? Why would anyone do that?"

Their gazes locked, understanding the gravity of their situation without another word. Suddenly, a muffled sound came from upstairs, followed by a heavy thump, jerking their attention sharply upward.

"Come," Kaiser commanded sharply, already striding toward the staircase, Ivan falling quickly into step behind him, determination shining clearly despite the unease etched deeply into his features.

Slowly, they moved further into the house. Ivan's footsteps were louder, heavier now, his newfound agility still awkward and untested. Kaiser moved fluidly, his presence silent and predatory, alert to even the smallest disturbances. He could hear shallow breathing from deeper inside the house, a survivor, perhaps, or the enemy itself. Either way, caution was necessary.

As they passed the eerie portraits, Kaiser noticed each pearl seemed to pulse faintly as he drew closer, responding to his presence. A chill crawled down his spine. Was it coincidence or were these cursed artifacts reacting specifically to him?

Then again, from upstairs, another muffled scream pierced the air. Ivan nearly jumped, armor clanking loudly as he stumbled back.

"There it is again!" Ivan hissed urgently.

"I know," Kaiser replied coldly, already moving up the staircase, his sword held firm.

Together, they rushed up the creaking stairs. The upper floor was even more sinister, walls lined densely with more portraits, each grotesquely framed with those grey pearls. Kaiser's gaze flickered briefly to one particularly large portrait depicting an elderly woman whose expression had been twisted into a silent scream of agony. It felt all too real.

A noise snapped Kaiser's attention down the hallway to a closed door. It rattled violently, followed by a muffled cry, weaker this time. Without hesitation, Kaiser sprinted forward, delivering a sharp, precise kick that sent the door splintering inward.

Inside the dimly lit room was a woman, huddled and trembling in the far corner. Tears streaked her face, eyes wide in shock and horror. Around her lay shattered frames, fragments of canvas, and ink-stained pages. Kaiser stepped forward carefully, lowering his sword slightly to appear less threatening, though his eyes remained vigilant.

"You're safe now," he stated clearly, evenly. "What happened here?"

The woman stared at Kaiser in disbelief, eyes flicking between him and Ivan, clearly still afraid. "You—you're real? You're not one of them?"

"One of who?" Ivan asked gently, stepping closer as well, his voice trembling slightly with suppressed fear.

"The… creatures," she whispered, voice shaking with lingering terror. "They were… born from the paintings. They dragged the others away. They turned people into those—those things."

Kaiser's eyes narrowed further, a dark realization dawning. "The pearls were filled with Sol, and each one was different in it's amount, meaning…"

Ivan went pale, visibly shaken. "You mean all these paintings, they're people!?"

Kaiser nodded grimly, gaze fixed on the shattered frames around them. "Or at least what's left of them."

He turned back to the terrified woman. "Where did the creatures go? Are they still here?"

She shook her head frantically, voice breaking into sobs. "No, they moved on. They came from the old painter's house, at the west of the village. It's… it's where it all started."

"Painter's house," Kaiser repeated thoughtfully, turning to Ivan. "Remember that."

Ivan nodded, eyes still wide, but steeling himself. "Right."

Kaiser straightened, offering his hand to the woman. "We'll take you somewhere safer."

She hesitated, staring into the red, intimidating eyes that seemed more beast than man, but the chaos outside made even a monster's protection look like salvation. She took his hand, unsteady but desperate, and rose shakily to her feet.

A sudden, guttural growl ripped through the house, vibrating the floorboards. Ivan spun, sword raised in both hands. Kaiser moved with cold precision, shifting his stance to place himself between the woman and the doorway.

From the darkness of the hall, ink bled from a shattered portrait, bubbling and pooling until it erupted in a grotesque mass. The thing that formed was barely feline—a warped, oversized cat with too many legs and a nightmarish tangle of eyes blinking in impossible patterns, each one reflecting a different hue of madness. It dragged itself forward, inky tendrils slapping the floor, jaws splitting open far too wide.

Ivan's breath caught. "Gods, what is that?"

The ink beast lunged, faster than any real cat ever could, claws slashing for Ivan's throat. Ivan swung, but his blade passed harmlessly through the creature's midsection, slicing only liquid shadow. Black ink splattered across the wall, sizzling where it struck the paint. The monster reformed instantly, hissing as dozens of eyes snapped to Kaiser.

Kaiser moved in with no wasted motion, just pure, merciless efficiency. He ducked beneath a swipe, drove his blade through the creature's skull. The monster shrieked, body rippling and splitting as inky heads split off from its sides. One snapped for the woman, an action Kaiser intercepted with a brutal kick that sent the malformed thing crashing into a dresser, splintering wood and glass.

Ivan gritted his teeth, hacking at a tendril that wrapped around his leg. "Kaiser, these things don't die!"

"They bleed." Kaiser said, teeth bared in something between a grin and a snarl.

The ink cat reared up, towering now. Kaiser planted his foot, eyes narrowed, and called on his Sol. His sword blazed with cold blue light as he swept it upward, cleaving through the monster's center with a crack like splitting stone.

Ink sprayed everywhere, the smell acrid, filling the room with darkness. The beast convulsed, shattered into a rain of oily shards, then melted into puddles that evaporated in the light of Kaiser's blade.

For a heartbeat, nothing moved but the trembling of the woman pressed against the wall and Ivan gasping for breath.

Kaiser sheathed his sword and turned to the woman, who clung desperately to Ivan's sleeve. Ivan, still pale, looked at Kaiser for direction. "Where do we take her? There might be more survivors, should we lead her to the teleporter, or—?"

Kaiser paused, eyes flicking from the woman to the ruined room. Then he laughed—a low, humorless sound that sent chills through the house. "Right now, the safest place in this entire village is next to me." He met the woman's gaze, iron in his voice. "Stay close, and you'll live."

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