A chilling silence suddenly fell over that patch of forest.
The former waiter and his four hirelings widened their eyes in sheer terror. Although their bodies were locked tight by the Stasis magic, their ears functioned perfectly.
Calian's recent confession struck their common sense like a bolt from the blue.
"W-What did you say? Your spouse?" the man croaked, his face contorting into a mixture of disbelief, horror, and deep-seated disgust. "You... a noble like you, married a male from the beastfolk race? Disgusting! You are a disgusting human! Just as revolting as that pet of yours!"
Calian's gaze did not waver for even a fraction of a second upon hearing those foul insults. His purple eyes stared at the man with a coldness that could freeze one's very soul.
"Say what you will." Calian said flatly, his voice devoid of any emotion other than absolute resolve. "If he hadn't been there to accompany me, I might have gone mad living alone in that place of isolation. He is my everything. But one thing is for certain... the five of you die here, today."
Without a moment's hesitation, Calian raised his right hand and pointed it directly at the five men who remained frozen.
"Progression!"
The trigger word was spoken. Instantly, a dim yellow glow appeared, enveloping the five men like a thin mist shimmering in the air. What followed a second later was a horror that surpassed any nightmare.
The bodies of the five men began to transform. The skin on the former waiter's face, which had been taut, suddenly sagged and became etched with deep wrinkles. His hair faded to grey, then turned completely white, and began to fall out strand by strand, drifting away in the wind.
Their muscle mass shrank drastically, leaving bones protruding beneath skin that grew increasingly thin and dry. They aged. They grew older, and older, and older within a matter of seconds.
On the other side, Elara and Wolvin watched the drastic transformation in silence.
Wolvin's golden eyes widened slightly. His jaw was set tight. Beneath his calm expression, a storm of admiration mixed with horror raged within his chest.
I thought his [Time Loop] blessing could only be used to keep others youthful. Wolvin thought to himself, the hair on his neck standing on end as he watched time being forcibly snatched from the thugs' bodies. I never imagined... that my husband could also seize time and turn others into withered old men. He holds power over life and death.
Rather than feeling fear toward his husband, Wolvin felt a strange warmth spread through his heart. That lethal power was being used for a single purpose: to protect him.
"W-What are you doing, you cursed brat?!" barked one of the thugs standing next to the waiter. His voice now sounded hoarse and weak, trembling like a dying old man. Absolute panic had seized their sanity. "Free us! We were just people he paid! We know nothing about you!"
"I have no desire to hear your excuses." Calian replied coldly, looking at them as if they were dying insects. "You have seen my magic, learned my secret, and insulted my beloved spouse. There is no turning back for any of you."
"W-We promise not to say anything to anyone!" another man wheezed, tears of terror streaming down his now-wrinkled cheeks, which were covered in age spots. He begged for mercy from the purple-haired youth before him. "I beg of you... free the four of us. Please, mer—"
"It is too late." Calian cut him off mercilessly. "You will become skeletons here."
The man's four companions continued to whimper and plead with what little strength they had left, but Calian stood like a statue, choosing to ignore their desperate cries. His heart had closed completely to those who dared threaten the peace of his small family.
Eventually, the whimpering subsided. The five fit men had now turned into incredibly frail, elderly people, devoid of all life force. Their hearts stopped beating from the forced aging. They died in a standing position, still locked by the Stasis spell.
However, the terror of Calian's time magic did not stop at death.
The process of decomposition continued without pause. Before the eyes of his mother and spouse, he accelerated the decay of the five corpses. Their flesh, muscle, and internal organs melted away and dried into dust.
Strangely, even though the decomposition occurred so rapidly, not a single foul or pungent scent reached Wolvin's keen sense of smell. Within Calian's magical field, time moved so fast that the gases of decay didn't even have a chance to form, evaporating instantly into the air.
In mere seconds, the bodies of the five men were entirely consumed by time, leaving only pale white skeletons draped in their tattered clothes.
Seeing that the process was complete, Calian snapped his fingers softly. He released his Stasis magic.
Clack! Clack!
Without the magic to hold them, the law of gravity took over. The five piles of bones collapsed and scattered across the damp soil, creating the sound of clashing bone that echoed softly in the silence of the forest.
Calian let out a slow breath, his killing intent fading completely. He turned his body, looking at his mother with the expression of a youth who had returned to his calm and polite self.
"Mother..." Calian called out softly, as if he had just cleared away some weeds rather than killing five men. "Could I ask for your help in burying them? I wouldn't want any rookie adventurers passing by to be frightened by these skeletons while they're on a mission."
Elara, who had been silently observing her son's display of power with a proud gaze, offered a thin smile.
"Of course!" Elara replied, accepting the request casually. "But I don't think we need to bother digging into the earth to bury their remains. Step back, Calian!"
Hearing his mother's instruction, Calian didn't ask questions. He stepped back, moving away from the pile of bones and returning to Wolvin's side.
Elara took a step forward. She cast a fleeting glance at the bones, then flicked her index finger with an incredibly elegant motion.
And then...
Swoosh!
A bright blue flame suddenly ignited from nothingness, instantly engulfing the five skeletons and their clothing. The blue fire danced fiercely, yet strangely, no wave of heat radiated into the surrounding air. The temperature in the forest remained cool, as if the fire existed in its own dimension.
However, what happened to the objects it burned left Calian and Wolvin stunned.
The five skeletons evaporated into white ash in a matter of seconds. The blue fire consumed every bone and cloth without leaving a trace, then vanished as quickly as it had appeared. A forest breeze blew softly, sweeping away the white ash until nothing remained.
In the blink of an eye, the area was clean again. No bones, no scorched grass, no sign that five human corpses had ever been there. Everything looked perfectly normal, as if the horrific event had been nothing more than a passing illusion.
"With this, no one will ever know that you killed them here, Calian." Elara said with a tone of satisfaction.
Her words successfully pulled Calian back from his shocked reverie. The youth blinked several times, looking at his mother with awe.
"Y-Yes, Mother." Calian murmured, his voice slightly tight. "But... I truly never imagined your fire magic could be so lethal and so clean."
Hearing her son's praise and surprise, Elara couldn't hold back her laughter.
"Hahaha!" Elara laughed heartily, her laughter sounding so graceful and high-class, a stark contrast to the traceless massacre she had just performed. "Don't overthink it, my dear son. In this world, there are many things that are simply better cleaned without leaving a trace. Now, let's go back to the city!"
Calian and Wolvin shared a glance for a moment. There was a silent understanding between them: 'Never make a mother angry'.
With smiles finally returning to their faces, they both looked at her.
"Yes, Mother!" Calian and Wolvin answered in unison.
Leaving the forest area that had returned to peace, without a trace of blood or bone, the three of them walked side by side back toward the hustle and bustle of Argam City to report the success of their first mission.