Over an hour later, the deep silence in the camp was broken only by the spitting sounds of the fireplace as I carefully added more wood to keep the flames alive.

When the fire was steady, I sat back on the grass, watching the orange light dance for a quiet moment before turning my attention to Yami.

He was lying on his back with one leg crossed lazily over the other, his eyes wide open and staring at the night sky.

In that brief moment, he sighed and abruptly sat upright, running a hand through his hair as he muttered, "This is pointless."

He chuckled once and pushed himself off the floor, then drew in a deep breath as he tilted his head back, fixing his gaze on the sky once more.

After a few tense seconds, he began to quietly mutter into the night air. "It had always been easy, you know? Getting into the midst of a party and being accepted by them. After all, in this dastardly realm, everyone needs each other to survive. The stronger the people in your party, the higher the chances of survival. This has been perfect… perfect for someone like me. Because while everyone is on the watch for the creatures of this realm, no one has time to be on the lookout for members of their party, as people seem to think that we are all dominants with the same goal at the end of the day."

He finally lowered his head and looked around the camp to see everyone now sitting upright and staring at him with intense wariness. When his gaze settled on me, he continued. "However, this particular party has all been wary of me right from the moment I arrived. It's almost as if you can see right through me. Makes me wonder if one of you has the abilities of a seer or something."

He closed his eyes and breathed out a long, heavy sigh. "Ahh… This is burdensome. Why couldn't you guys just be like the rest of the naive first years around? Does that mean I'll have to damage my toys tonight because of you guys?"

At this point, the members of my party had already begun getting up on their feet and braced themselves to summon their bonds.

When Yami's eyes snapped open again, the easy warmth was gone, replaced by a cold, calculating focus. "Well… whatever. Seeing as you are all already bracing yourselves against me, I might as well just get straight to what I came for."

He reached out a hand to the side and called out, "Come, Valerius Drakmor."

The moment the words left his lips, it felt like the very air curdled and grew darker. Then a large, coal-black cobra rolled out from under his sleeve, the hiss of its scales suddenly becoming a hollow chime as its body solidified into an obsidian staff.

While this was happening, the members of my party had also quickly summoned their bonds to their weapon forms.

Then Evelyn pointed one of the blades of her Kama towards Yami and spat contemptuously, "Oi, you son of a witch. What exactly is it you aim to achieve?"

Yami tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at her, his gaze settling partially on the weapon in her hands. From the handles, around the chains, and to the edges of the chained Kama was a layer of thick dried blood.

Upon seeing the blood, Yami grinned broadly and declared, "You are a Necromancer, just like me. Then you should surely understand why I'm doing this."

"Huh?" Evelyn's eyes widened.

Yami then began to chuckle, covering his face with the palm of his hand as his laughter grew into a dark, self-satisfied mutter. "Oh, what luck… Never would I have thought that I'd finally run into a Necromancer I can add to my collection. This… this is good. No, it's perfect. Now, I won't be so pissed if a few of my toys get damaged."

Seeing his descent into madness, Evelyn arched a brow. "What the fuck is this crazy bastard on about?"

She had barely finished speaking when Yami snapped his staff up high and slammed it hard against the ground.

[The character Yami Natsogu has activated the exclusive skill: Soul Corridor.]

From the point of the staff's impact, a darkness that wasn't shadow per se suddenly rippled outwards like a wave, stretching several meters in front of Yami and coiling a few dozen meters back and round his position.

In the next instant, ten dominants began climbing out of the darkness.

A look of shock crossed over the faces of my party members as they saw their fellow cadets suddenly crawl out of the bubbling darkness that enveloped the ground. Most of them had injuries on their bodies, one was missing an arm, and all looked hollow. Their eyes were cloudy, devoid of focus, yet fixed menacingly on us.

Even the fellow, Micheal, had suddenly stood, planting both feet on the ground and ignoring the large injury on his right foot.

Then… the horror deepened even further as all the hollow dominants began summoning their bonds.

"What in the world..." Dion muttered shakily in disbelief as he tightened his grip on his weapon and took a cautious step back.

At the same time, Evelyn quickly uncorked the vial I gave to her earlier and began frantically chugging down my blood.

A few meters behind her, Celeste had already raised her knife to her chest. She took a few shaky, shallow breaths, her fingers trembling violently around the hilt. Then she swallowed hard against the fear and cast a quick, desperate glance at my direction.

When our eyes met, I nodded gently in encouragement. She returned a barely perceptible nod, looked away, and with a terrible, silent resolution, drove the knife into her chest.

I watched her fall to the ground. She gasped and choked on her blood before finally succumbing to death with her lifeless eyes staring at me.

Looking away from her corpse, I sighed bitterly and gripped my katana. As I drew the blade, feathers erupted from the sheath, coalescing instantly into three ravens. They cawed as they shot upward and then circled the dreadful battlefield.

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