The mountains of the dwarves were still several days away, their jagged silhouettes barely visible against the morning sky. But Luca and his companions did not slow. The air grew colder with each step, the earth harder, the silence heavier.

The night after the forest massacre never seemed to end.

Even after the cultists' last mocking echo faded, Luca and his companions did not slow. They moved as shadows across the land — silent, sharp, merciless — their steps fueled not by exhaustion but by a fire that refused to die.

The continent felt different now.

More brittle.

More infected.

And every stretch of land they crossed carried the stench of something festering beneath the surface.

Their destination:

The Dwarven Lands.

A place where the mountains rose like iron spires and the earth itself roared with ancient mana.

But the journey itself had other plans.

Kyle walked ahead, spear resting on his shoulder.

Sylthara moved like a half-visible phantom along the treeline.

Selena walked calmly, but frost curled at her heels.

Lilliane constantly adjusted her breathing, keeping her elements balanced.

Aurelia remained quiet, hands shifting near the hilt of her spear.

Luca walked in the center, eyes sharp and expression unreadable.

They had grown stronger, but danger had not diminished.

Three days later…

They reached a narrow canyon where the path split into two. The air inside felt unnaturally cold, shadows thickening even when the sun was overhead.

Sylthara's ears twitched.

"Something's watching," she murmured.

The next second, a dark blur exploded from the canyon wall—a Shadowmaw Panther, its body trailing black smoke, its eyes glowing like dying embers.

"Stay back!" Luca commanded.

Sylthara didn't wait. She dashed forward, her mana sharpening, her presence blending into the shadows.

She and the beast clashed—two blurs weaving in and out of darkness. Dust rose in spirals. Rocks shattered. The beast's maw bit into the air where she had been only a heartbeat ago.

Then—

A thin line of silver light.

The panther froze mid-lunge, collapsed, and dissolved into mist.

All that remained was a single obsidian fang etched with shadow runes.

Sylthara touched it—and shadows curled around her arm like silk.

Luca nodded once. "Your steps… they've become untraceable."

She said nothing, only tied the fang to her waist with steady hands.

After some hours…

They continued climbing along craggy terrain when a metallic scent grazed Luca's senses.

Blood.

"Everyone halt."

Figures dropped from the cliffside—five cultists in black, their masks painted with grotesque smiles.

"Well, well," one hissed. "Pretty children walking alone…"

Before he could finish, Kyle roared and lunged. His spear cracked ribs, tearing through two cultists instantly.

Aurelia followed, spear glowing with aura, slicing through the next.

Selena flicked her fingers—ice bloomed in the air like flowers before exploding into shards that pierced another cultist.

Luca stepped forward, sabers flashing—

And the last cultist didn't even get to scream.

They moved on in grim silence, boots crunching over fallen leaves dampened with blood.

***

Two days later…

The second relic revealed itself at a hidden mountain spring, steam rising into the frosty air.

Selena felt it first—a tug deep within her core.

The moment she approached, the water erupted upward, forming a colossal Frost Elemental, its eyes glimmering blue.

It didn't attack with rage.

It attacked with expectation.

Selena stepped forward, inhaled, and let her mana surge.

Ice wrapped around her arms, her breath turning crystalline. The elemental struck with a frigid tidal wave, but she countered, raising a wall of frost.

"Come," she whispered.

The elemental responded.

A storm of ice and wind filled the spring, but Selena stood firm, calm, controlled, until finally—

Crack.

The elemental bowed its head and dissolved into floating snowflakes.

A single pale crystal remained—the Frostheart Shard.

When she touched it, frost swirled around her hand like a living spirit.

"My ice… it seems there is something more to it. Are there any remaining shards?," she murmured.

***

A day later, crossing a bridge of broken stone, Luca halted.

Chanting.

Low, rhythmic, unnatural.

Below the bridge, in a hollow, six cultists stood around a bound villager, blade raised.

Lilliane gasped softly.

Kyle snarled, "Not again."

Luca didn't wait.

They descended like a storm.

Sylthara slit one throat before he even turned.

Aurelia clashed steel with another.

Kyle slammed his shield into a cultist's jaw.

Selena froze two in place.

And Luca severed the ritual leader's arms in a blur before bisecting him cleanly.

The villager fled sobbing.

The group continued, the weight on their shoulders growing heavier.

****

After 4 days…

The next relic awaited them in an abandoned ruin filled with floating motes of light—embers, droplets, tiny stones drifting mid-air.

Lilliane stepped forward instinctively.

A radiant orb of swirling elements materialized—a Prism Elemental—then split into four forms: fire, water, earth, and wind.

They attacked her all at once.

The ground erupted.

Winds slashed.

Flames roared.

Water spiraled violently.

Lilliane clenched her jaw.

Her mana flared—

And all elements burst around her in perfect union.

Fire danced with water.

Wind curled with earth.

Light swirled in all colors.

The cavern glowed with a breathtaking aurora.

The elemental paused… then bowed, reforming into a glowing Prism Core that drifted into her chest.

Her aura shimmered with every color.

"I… finally feel like the elements are one," she breathed.

Night approached. Fog crept through the path like ghostly tendrils.

From the mist—

Ten cultists emerged, weapons drawn.

"This day again…" Kyle muttered, grip tightening.

They were stronger now.

Sharper.

Relic-empowered.

The cultists never stood a chance.

Luca's sabers cut lines of silver death.

Sylthara killed without sound.

Selena froze the ground, trapping multiple enemies.

Lilliane's multi-element orbs exploded like miniature stars.

Kyle and Aurelia formed an impenetrable frontline.

When the fight ended…

Fog drifted quietly over the corpses.

***

After another day…

As dawn crept in, they found a collapsed dwarven outpost along the trail. Amid the rubble, half-buried, Luca found a stone pedestal with a small octagonal charm on it—simple, sturdy, carved with runes.

A Bulwark Charm—a protective relic that could block a fatal blow once per day.

He turned it over, eyebrow lifting slightly.

Not for him.

Not his style.

But for Eric?

Perfect.

He pocketed it quietly.

"We move," he said softly.

Everyone nodded, stepping forward with new power, new weight, and a future they could no longer ignore.

The path to the Dwarven Lands stretched ahead—dangerous, cold, and shrouded with cultist shadows.

But their steps didn't falter.

Not anymore.

***

Under the thin blue wash of moonlight, they moved like ghosts through the forest—slow, weary, shoulders heavy with dust and dried blood. Their cloaks were torn, armor dented, mana flickering like dying embers around them.

If anyone from Arcadia Academy saw them now, they wouldn't recognize these seven battered figures as the same gifted prodigies who once shook everyone with their deeds.

Now they were something else—sharper, quieter, carved by battle.

Sylthara walked a few steps ahead, her silhouette dim and solitary, ears drooping just slightly. Even from behind, Luca could see it—something heavy sitting in her heart.

He moved forward until he walked beside her.

"You're still thinking about that little girl," he said quietly.

Sylthara didn't look at him. She just nodded, her silver hair glinting in the moonlight.

"I didn't think…" She exhaled shakily. "I didn't think this world could be this cruel and this… ugly."

Luca didn't speak for a moment. The forest whispered around them—leaves rustling, branches creaking, a lone owl breaking the silence.

"You're right," Luca finally said. "It is ugly. Cruel. Unfair. Worse than anything you or I believed as kids."

He paused.

"But… isn't that exactly why we have to make it beautiful? If not us, then who?"

Sylthara blinked, her steps slowing slightly.

"And about that girl," Luca continued softly. "Don't torture yourself. She's safe. We handed her over to the Magic Tower executives. Healers, mind menders… everything she needs. They'll take good care of her."

Sylthara's shoulders eased, just a little.

They walked in silence again. Wind pressed through the trees like a warning.

The air shifted.

Crkk… crkkk…

Sylthara's eyes widened. "Luca—"

FWISSHHH!!

A volley of razor-edged metal spikes shot out of the underbrush, slicing through branches, narrowly missing Lilliane's cheek as she ducked. Kyle immediately raised his spear, deflecting a spinning blade that shrieked past his ear.

Aurelia slammed her aura spear forward, blocking a rain of needle-thin bolts that struck with enough force to dent metal.

Then—

BOOMMM!

The ground beneath Aurelia erupted as a rune trap detonated, shaking the forest floor and blasting soil into the air. Flames curled up from hidden glyphs etched into tree bark.

Mana-wired snare wires snapped upward, slicing across the air like guillotine wires.

Luca leaped back, eyes narrowing. "Traps—mechanical and mana-based mixed… this kind of craftsmanship—"

"MOVE!" Lilliane shouted as a cluster of explosive stones ignited underfoot.

Everyone scattered just in time as a chain of detonations lit up the forest. Smoke rolled through the trees, mixing with burning leaves.

Luca watched the pattern, his eyes narrowing—not with fear, but with recognition.

Precision-triggered pressure glyphs. Mana-reactive tripwires. Stoneburst mines designed to fracture into clean, sharp shards.

"Only one race uses traps this meticulous…" he muttered.

Another rotating axe wheel sprung from a hollow tree trunk—he sliced it cleanly, the halves spinning past him.

Then Luca exhaled.

His eyes sharpened, reflecting the faint glow of the glyphs embedded deep in the soil.

"We've finally reached…"

The last trap clicked beneath his boot, harmlessly disarmed by his mana override.

"…Dwarven territory."

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