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"Battle power 2,300.
Within Blood Puppet's forced range."
Sekhmet felt the thought rise like poison.
"I could mark him.
I could have a guide.
He could not betray me.
He could not run.
He could not lie."
The system did not chime. It did not demand. It simply waited, like a knife on a table.
Sekhmet's jaw tightened.
"No.
Not yet."
He had just regained his mind after being possessed by a blood god. He did not want to become the kind of man who solved every problem by turning people into tools. He might become that eventually, but he would not step into it without thinking.
Sekhmet spoke, voice controlled.
"You will come with me for now," he said. "Not as a servant. As a trade."
Renn blinked.
"A trade," he repeated.
Sekhmet nodded.
"You tell me the safest direction out of this ridge," Sekhmet said. "You help me reach a place to camp. In return, you get protection, water and food."
Renn hesitated. His eyes flicked to the dead scavengers.
Then he nodded quickly.
"Yes," he said. "I accept."
Sekhmet's coat pocket shifted.
"Batbatbat," the bat muttered sleepily, as if annoyed that Sekhmet was making friends without consulting it.
Sekhmet ignored it and started moving, letting Renn lead.
Tap… Tap… Tap…
They walked along a narrow path between rocks. Renn avoided open ground, moving with the caution of someone who had almost died too many times. Sekhmet watched him closely, studying the way he listened, the way he checked the wind, the way his eyes flicked to shadowed gaps in the rock.
They moved for a while in silence, broken only by the occasional distant roar and the hiss of wind.
Renn finally spoke.
"You killed them fast," he said.
Sekhmet's voice came out dry.
"I had motivation," he replied.
Renn nodded slowly.
"You are not from this area," Renn said.
Sekhmet glanced at him. "No."
Renn hesitated.
"You came from the orc cave," Renn said, voice cautious. "And you are alive."
Sekhmet did not answer.
Renn took the silence as a warning and stopped asking.
They reached a narrow ravine where the rocks formed a winding corridor. Renn pointed toward a crack in the wall where faint moisture glistened.
"There," he said. "A small spring leaks through the rock. Not much, but enough to fill the skin."
Sekhmet's chest loosened. He approached, crouched, and touched the damp stone. Cool water seeped slowly. It was clean enough. He filled the skin and drank again. But he still felt very thirsty.
Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!
He handed it to Renn.
Renn drank carefully, then sighed.
They kept moving.
As afternoon shifted, shadows lengthened. The sun began to lower, and the world grew slightly less harsh. That was when the real danger started, because night predators sensed the transition and began hunting early.
A sound came from behind them.
Scrape… Scrape…
Renn froze.
Sekhmet stopped immediately, blood sword forming in his hand again.
Shhhh!
Renn whispered, "Do not move."
Sekhmet listened.
Scrape… Scrape… Scrape…
Something heavy dragged across stone.
Then came another sound.
Sniff… Sniff…
Sekhmet's skin prickled.
A hunter.
Close.
Renn's eyes widened and he mouthed a word silently.
Shadow beast.
Sekhmet's grip tightened.
He remembered the ambush. He remembered fighting a shadow beast when the orcs captured him. The memory tasted bitter.
Not again.
A shape slid into view at the end of the ravine.
It was low and long, like a panther made of darkness. Its body shimmered with black mist, edges blurred as if it did not fully belong in the world. Its eyes glowed faint purple. Its mouth opened slightly, revealing teeth that looked too real for something that was half smoke.
The beast sniffed again.
Sniff!!
It turned its head slowly toward them.
Sekhmet's blood sword pulsed in his hand. The bat in his pocket stirred, sensing danger. It crawled out and clung to Sekhmet's shoulder, eyes wide.
"Batbat," it whispered, suddenly quiet.
Renn trembled slightly.
"That is a mid predator," Renn whispered. "We cannot—"
Sekhmet cut him off with a raised hand.
"We can," Sekhmet whispered.
Not because he was confident.
Because he had no choice.
The beast began to glide forward.
Sssss!
Its paws barely made sound on stone, but the air around it felt colder. It moved like a stain.
Sekhmet's mind raced.
"Blood Control.
Blood Sword.
Blood Puppet is useless here.
Void Land."
He could hide.
Ten minutes.
But hiding did not solve the problem. The beast would wait. And if he drained his chaos energy hiding, he would emerge weaker.
He had to fight.
Sekhmet stepped forward slowly, putting himself between Renn and the beast.
Renn whispered urgently, "If you die, I will die too."
Sekhmet muttered without looking back, "That is the most honest thing you have said."
The beast lunged.
Whoosh!
It moved fast, a blur of shadow.
Sekhmet swung his blood sword.
Clash!
The blade met the beast's body, and instead of cutting cleanly, the blood sword hissed as it sliced through mist. The beast screeched.
Skreeee!
Its shadow body wavered, then snapped back, and a claw came toward Sekhmet's chest.
Sekhmet twisted, but the claw still grazed him, tearing fabric and skin.
Riiip!
Pain flared.
Blood welled.
The beast's eyes gleamed with hunger as it smelled fresh blood.
Sekhmet gritted his teeth and activated Blood Control, pulling his own blood outward like a thread again, but stronger this time. The blood formed into a thin floating line, and he whipped it toward the beast's face.
Snap!
The blood struck the beast's eyes like a lash.
The beast recoiled, screeching again.
Skreeee!
Sekhmet lunged, driving his blood sword deeper into the beast's body, focusing on the one part that felt solid. The blade struck something resistant, like a hidden core.
Crack!
The beast convulsed, its shadow form splitting.
Sekhmet felt sudden resistance give way, and the beast's core shattered. Dark mist exploded outward like smoke blown by a storm.
Fwoosh!
Sekhmet stumbled back, coughing as the mist washed over him.
Cough!