Chapter 146:
Kaya ran south through the forest with her mana signature suppressed to barely a whisper, placing each foot carefully on patches of soft earth between exposed roots and fallen branches.
Every movement sent another wave of exhaustion through her body, but she refused to slow down. Behind her, miles to the east, the decoy team continued its desperate flight, carrying the false signatures that Tisha was following.
Somewhere beyond them, the real Tisha was closing the distance with terrifying speed, and the thought made Kaya's already strained heart tighten.
She reached the edge of a ridge and abruptly stopped, pressing her back against the trunk of an ancient pine.
Her chest rose and fell as she fought to steady her breathing. Then her Pure Eyes swept across the forest, piercing through the trees and the enormous distance separating her from the decoy team.
What she saw made her breath catch.
The clones had lasted barely four minutes.
Tisha had descended upon them like a storm given flesh. Her partial manifestation had erupted around her in blue-white flames, illuminating the gray morning sky as she tore through the forest.
The false Ethan had attempted to meet her attack, but Tisha's claws ripped through his body in a single devastating strike. The clone dissolved into swirling wind mana before it could even reach the ground.
The false Lucas had survived longer. His programmed combat instincts allowed him to read Tisha's first movement and turn aside one strike, then another, but the third attack slipped through his defense.
Her claws tore across his chest, scattering his body into fragments of blue light that vanished among the trees.
The false Austin had immediately attempted to retreat.
Tisha had anticipated it.
Water surged from beneath her feet and twisted through the trees like living serpents.
The spell struck the clone before it could gain enough distance, tearing apart the lightning construct and reducing it to crackling arcs of electricity that quickly faded into the morning air.
The other decoy, Kaya's own clone, suffered the same fate moments later.
The real Tisha stood among the dissipating remnants, her chest rising and falling from the brief exertion.
Then she turned her head.
Kaya's blood ran cold.
Tisha was looking directly toward her position.
The distance between them was enormous, with miles of forest, stone, and winding rivers separating the two women, yet Kaya felt as though those predatory eyes had pierced straight through the landscape.
She knew Tisha was not truly seeing her. The Calamity Tiger's senses were simply too sharp.
Tisha had followed the faint mana trail Kaya had left behind during her escape, a trail that even perfect suppression could not completely erase.
The realization sent another surge of urgency through Kaya's exhausted body.
Tisha began moving south.
Toward her.
Kaya pushed away from the tree and immediately resumed running.
Her legs burned with every stride, while her lungs struggled to draw enough air to keep pace with her body.
Her mana reserves had fallen dangerously low, and maintaining the suppression around her signature required concentration that was becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.
Even so, she forced herself onward, descending the ridge and entering a narrow valley where a stream cut through the rocky terrain.
Then she saw the waterfall.
A wide basin had formed at its base, its dark water deep enough to conceal her body.
Kaya did not hesitate.
She plunged into the pool.
The cold struck her like a physical blow. Water swallowed her body, stealing the warmth from her limbs as she forced herself downward. Her fingers searched through her pocket until they closed around the folded piece of paper Lucas had given her before she left the cave.
The concealment rune.
Kaya pressed the paper against her chest.
Mana immediately surged through the parchment.
The rune activated in a flash of pale light before dissolving into countless glowing particles that sank beneath her skin. A strange warmth spread through her chest, and the sensation of her own presence seemed to disappear.
It was not suppression.
It was not concealment in the ordinary sense.
To any external sense, Kaya simply ceased to exist.
She opened her eyes beneath the water and searched the dark pool. A large rock rested at the bottom, partially hidden beneath the wavering shadows cast by the waterfall. Kaya swam toward it, wrapped both arms around the stone, and pulled herself beneath its shadow.
The cold water pressed against every part of her body.
Her lungs began to burn.
Still, she remained motionless.
Above her, the surface suddenly rippled.
Kaya's heart hammered against her ribs.
Tisha had arrived.
The Calamity Tiger's partial manifestation had already faded, the blue-white flames receding into her body until only faint traces of power remained.
She stepped onto the surface of the pool, channeling mana through the soles of her feet and distributing her weight across the water without sinking.
Her gaze moved slowly across the pool.
The waterfall continued pouring into the basin, its constant roar masking smaller sounds beneath the surface. Water flowed between the surrounding rocks and continued downstream, carrying leaves and bits of debris toward the forest.
Tisha remained perfectly still.
Her senses spread outward.
She searched the trees.
The rocks.
The water.
Every trace of mana in the surrounding area.
Kaya held her breath.
The burning in her lungs intensified until every instinct screamed at her to surface. Her fingers tightened around the rock as she forced herself to remain still. Even the slightest movement might create a disturbance that Tisha could notice.
But the concealment rune remained active.
Nothing reached Tisha's senses.
After several long moments, Tisha's expression hardened with frustration.
"This was another clone to confuse us," she said quietly.
The Calamity Tiger stirred within her, its presence pressing against her thoughts like a living shadow, but even its heightened senses found nothing that contradicted her conclusion. The trail had simply vanished.
Tisha exhaled and looked toward the forest.
The deception had worked.
For now.
She raised one hand, and water mana gathered above her palm. The energy condensed into the shape of a small bird, its wings formed from flowing liquid and its eyes composed of two dense droplets of water. The construct pulsed once before splitting into a dozen identical birds.
"Find the elites," Tisha commanded.
Her voice carried through the mana connection binding her to the water constructs.
"Tell them we need to return to the Hidden City. I must report this to the Zenith King in person."
The birds scattered immediately.
Some flew east.
Others turned north or south.
Their liquid bodies shimmered beneath the pale morning light as they disappeared between the trees, carrying Tisha's orders to the surviving elites scattered around the ruined depot.
Tisha remained beside the pool for another moment.
Her arms folded across her chest as she stared toward the distant horizon.
The fire at the depot had long since died, but a dark column of smoke still climbed into the sky. The destruction had been extensive. Four agents from the Hidden City of Sky had infiltrated the area, destroyed two warehouses, killed dozens of her elites, and then vanished into the surrounding wilderness.
She had chased them herself.
Yet all she had found were fragments of mana belonging to clones.
Her jaw tightened.
There was nothing else to gain here.
Tisha turned and began walking back toward the depot, her footsteps carrying her away from the pool and toward the ruins she had left behind. Within moments, the trees swallowed her figure, and her mana signature gradually faded into the distance.
Kaya remained beneath the water.
She did not trust the silence.
Her lungs screamed for air, her muscles trembled from the cold, and the rock she held seemed to grow heavier with every passing second. Still, she refused to move. She counted silently, measuring time through the steady rhythm of her heartbeat.
Five minutes passed.
Then eight.
At ten minutes, Kaya finally allowed herself to consider the possibility that Tisha was truly gone.
She waited a little longer before releasing the rock.
Her body immediately rose toward the surface.
Kaya kicked upward, forcing her exhausted arms and legs to move despite their trembling. When her head finally broke through the water, she gasped desperately and dragged cold morning air into her burning lungs.
For several seconds, she could do nothing but float.
The air tasted of pine needles and damp stone, with the faint lingering scent of smoke drifting from the distant depot.
The concealment rune remained active.
Its gentle warmth spread through her chest, reassuring her that she remained hidden from any senses that might still be searching the area.
Kaya closed her eyes.
Thank you, Lucas.
The thought carried more gratitude than she could have expressed aloud.
Eventually, she dragged herself toward the bank. Her fingers caught the edge of a rock, and she pulled her body from the water. Her soaked clothes clung heavily to her skin while uncontrollable shivers ran through her exhausted muscles.
She remained on the rocks for several minutes, allowing her breathing to settle before forcing herself upright.
Thirty minutes passed before she was ready to continue.
By then, the sun had climbed higher, and the shadows beneath the trees had begun to shorten. Kaya wrung the water from her hair and started walking toward the cave.
The journey was slow.
Every step reminded her how close she had come to collapsing, but her Pure Eyes guided her through the forest without difficulty. Eventually, the familiar terrain appeared, and she spotted the concealed entrance Lucas had marked with his runes.
From the outside, the cave appeared to be nothing more than a shallow depression in the rock face.
Kaya stepped through the illusion.
Lucas immediately looked up.
His injuries had healed significantly while she was gone, thanks to [Mana Spell: Great Healing], but his face remained pale, and he moved carefully as he rose to his feet.
Ethan sat against the far wall with his eyes closed, his breathing steady despite the exhaustion weighing upon him. Nearby, Austin remained unconscious, his face pale and the dried blood beneath his eyes forming dark streaks along his cheeks.
Kaya managed only two steps into the cave before her strength finally abandoned her.
Her knees buckled.
Lucas crossed the distance in an instant and caught her before she could hit the ground.
Kaya leaned against him, resting her forehead against his chest as she fought to remain conscious.
"You made it back," Lucas said quietly.
There was relief in his voice that he did not attempt to hide.
"Yeah," Kaya murmured.
Her voice was muffled against his coat.
Lucas shifted his grip and lifted her into his arms.
The movement finally allowed Kaya to stop fighting her exhaustion. Her eyes closed, and her breathing gradually became slower and more even.
Across the cave, Ethan opened his eyes.
He pushed himself upright, grimacing as one hand instinctively pressed against the wound in his side. Although his body was still weakened, he remained steady enough to walk. He crossed to Austin, knelt beside him, and pulled the unconscious man's arm over his shoulders.
"We need to move," Ethan said. "Tisha will regroup, and the elites will begin searching again. We cannot stay here."
Lucas nodded.
His gaze lowered toward Kaya, whose eyes remained closed in his arms.
"The nearest kingdom is three hours west," he said. "We can rest there before crossing back into Sky Empire territory."
Ethan gave a tired grunt of acknowledgment and adjusted Austin's weight against his side.
With no further discussion, he started toward the cave entrance.
Lucas followed with Kaya cradled securely against his chest.
Together, the three survivors stepped out of the cave and into the pale light, leaving the hidden shelter behind before Tisha and the surviving elites could return.