"Get away!!"

Deep within the forest, branches shattered and roots split as a deer like demigod tore through the undergrowth at a terrifying speed. Its hooves barely touched the ground, yet every breath burned. Panic flooded its wide eyes as instinct screamed only one truth. It was being hunted.

The crossbow was not even the worst of it. Nor the medallion hanging at the hunter's waist, seeping sickness into the air like an invisible rot. Far behind, yet impossibly close, was something else. A presence wrapped in living darkness. Its energy pressed down on every cell in the creature's body, making its blood churn and its muscles scream in rebellion.

"I can't let this chase continue. If I do, I'll run until there's nothing left of me."

It forced more power into its limbs, lungs tearing as it surged toward a distant clearing. Beyond it lay stone roads and rising smoke. Civilization. Salvation.

A city stood there, not far from Rune City. A sister city, though nothing alike.

Blast Furnace City.

A place of fire and brimstone, of molten streets and scorching towers. Where the air itself burned. It was nothing like the calm sigils and ordered runes of Rune City, but it was hope. Kilgar would never enter there. Never.

That land belonged to the Sun God Raz.

"Hmp!"

The thought had barely formed when the shadows beneath its hooves twisted. The darkness peeled open, and Enzo phased out of it as if reality itself had made room for him. In the same instant, his crossbow snapped forward. The bolt screamed through the air and struck the beast square in the face.

"Law!!"

The demigod retaliated with a desperate roar. Strange light erupted from its body, wrapping around Enzo in a heavy radiance meant to crush him downward. The force bore into his limbs, aiming to drive him to his knees and end the chase once and for all.

However, it did not work.

"Law? In my domain? You must be joking!!" Enzo sneered. His fingers dug into the medallion at his side as both crossbows snapped up in one smooth motion, strings screaming as they released.

"Impude."The word left his lips like a curse.

The forest answered. Roots groaned beneath the soil, leaves shuddered, and an unseen pressure wrapped around the flying bolts. The arrows struck deeper than steel should allow, sinking through hide and bone as if the beast itself was being judged by the land it stood on.

Five meters ahead, the creature staggered. Its legs buckled, and it crashed into the earth with a dull, final sound. Life bled out into the grass, staining the green black.

[you have slain a demi-god]

[you lack a divine core hence cannot absorb divine energy, please provide an alternative]

The system rang sharply in Enzo's ear. He moved without hesitation, already crouching as he pulled out a curved bull's horn, its surface etched with old ritual markings dulled by time.

The corpse twitched once.

Seconds later, divine energy burst free like escaping breath. Pale light poured from the dead body, spiraling into the horn and filling it to the brim, humming softly as it settled.

[divine shell]

[tyrant rank]

[description: allows user to store divine energy for long periods of time. typically used for ritual summonings and similar purposes]

Enzo straightened and let out a tired sigh. With a flick of his wrist, the echo in his hand dissolved into nothing, leaving only the quiet of the forest behind.

"That's good. Don't feel regret. It was far gone."Victoria's voice came from behind him, calm and unhurried.

She stood close now, crimson eyes resting on the fallen body. The creature, after witnessing Kilgar's death, had chosen its path. It had aligned itself with evil and preyed on the woodland beasts. For things like that, the forest offered no mercy.

"Regret?" Enzo let out a dry laugh. "Lady Victoria, don't tease me. I've killed far too many beasts for that."

A hunter had no place for pity. Pity dulled the blade.

"Oh? You've grown." Victoria smirked and knelt beside the corpse, fingers hovering above blood-soaked fur. "Mature, even."

Killing a beast was one thing.Killing something that understood what death meant was another.

There was a level of awareness that made a creature scream, plead, or beg. Hearing that carved weight into the mind, a burden that lingered long after the blood dried. For some, it hardened them. For others, it twisted them beyond recognition.

"I'll give you some privacy" Enzo smiled and turned away seeing Victoria hover before the beast hesitantly.

She was a vampire after all, and the blood of a demi god, even diluted by death and distance, still carried weight. It would not only mend her wounds but seep into her very essence, strengthening her in ways few things could. Power like that was never wasted on someone like Victoria.

"Thank you," Victoria said softly.

She watched Enzo's back as he vanished between the trees, his presence swallowed by shadow and leaves. The forest seemed to close behind him, as if acknowledging his departure.

Meanwhile.

"Hehe, unfortunately I can't take most of my echos back to the real world," Enzo muttered as he stood alone amidst the dense forest.

The air was thick here, heavy with old life and older deaths. Sunlight barely pierced the canopy, casting broken patterns across the ground. This place remembered everything.

At this point, he had killed at least three demi gods, with the forest and Victoria aiding him. It was a feat he would have laughed at if someone told him months ago. Impossible, unrealistic, absurd.

And yet, here he was.

For a moment, he imagined briefing the Federation. Their faces. Their disbelief. Their hunger. It would drive them insane with interest. No, that was a terrible idea. He was already neck deep in trouble with Weavetech and their hounds. Giving them more reasons to watch him was suicidal.

Better to keep it buried.

"That's with the prerequisite that I actually succeed," Enzo said quietly.

His tone made it sound trivial, almost casual. But the truth weighed heavily in his chest. Even with Victoria standing beside him, killing Raz was close to impossible.

If it were truly that simple, she would have done it herself long ago.

""I'm done. Let's go back."Victoria appeared beside Enzo without warning, her hand closing around his arm as the world lurched.

Goff roared beneath them as they were taken into the sky in an instant, the forest shrinking into a sea of green below. Wind tore past, cold and sharp, until the familiar clearing came into view.

Moments later, they were back at the cottage. Weapons were set aside, tension loosened, and the weight of the day finally began to sink in. Rest followed, quiet and fragile.

It did not last.

A pressure crept into the air, subtle at first, then suffocating. The forest fell unnaturally still, birds silenced, insects gone. Unease curled in their chests, tightening with every breath.

Then a figure stepped through the trees.

He stood at the edge of the garden, motionless, eyes drifting across the graves and worn headstones. His gaze lingered there, hands slowly clenching at his sides.

Enzo jolted awake the instant the man entered the clearing. His relaxed posture vanished as his eyes snapped toward the intruder, instincts screaming.

"What happened here?" the old man asked.

His voice was calm, but it trembled beneath restraint. He read the names carved into stone, jaw tightening, then lifted his eyes to Victoria.

Kilgar had been a man with a wife and children.Raz's men had taken them all.

And the man standing before him now was the father of that wife.

Qonas.

A divine ranked being whose presence alone weighed like a mountain. The kind of existence that bent the world simply by standing within it.

"I…" Enzo faltered, words failing him for the first time in a long while. His gaze shifted to Victoria, dread pooling in his chest.

His father in law had walked into his home, seen another woman at his side, and his daughter buried in the earth outside.

There was no worse moment imaginable.

"It's not what you think," Enzo said, though his hand trembled without his permission.

This was bad. Fighting here was impossible. A clash with a divine would echo far beyond the forest, drawing eyes that should never turn toward them.

"What is it then?!"Qonas's voice hardened, the restraint cracking. His eyes burned with venom as divine pressure flooded the clearing, pressing down like judgment itself.

This was not a joke, Enzo was right, if the case really was what he was thinking, it would spark a serious conflict in the divine court between himself and kilgars father….one that might very well bring the death of all his family members.

However he would be willing to risk it because there was no way in hell that he wouldn't be taking kilgars head with him today.

Someone had to pay for this

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