Laxyie could not draw air.
Each breath rasped like stone dragged across bone, shallow and broken. The weight in his chest was wrong—too heavy, too warm. His vision swam, moonlight tearing into fragments above him. The taste of iron coated his tongue.
A shadow loomed.
Aîiurh stood over him, sword lowered but ready, its edge catching the pale blue light. Up close, the man did not look rushed. He never had. His presence bent the space around him, like the world adjusted itself so he would not need to.
"You know," Aîiurh said, almost conversationally, "you only escaped death because of your mother."
Laxyie's eyes twitched.
Aîiurh tilted his head slightly, studying the reaction. "She was… inconvenient." A pause. "But admirable."
The sword lifted.
"But I believe that," Aîiurh continued calmly, "this ends now."
The blade began to fall.
A dull thwack echoed across the square.
A clay pellet smashed directly into Aîiurh's forehead.
It didn't wound him. Didn't even stagger him.
But it stopped him.
Aîiurh froze, eyes narrowing, fingers tightening around the hilt.
For a heartbeat, there was silence.
Then—
"—HEY!"
Tyke stood near the edge of the square, slingshot still raised, chest heaving. His face was pale, eyes wide, but his jaw was clenched hard.
"I— I got lonely," he shouted, voice shaking but defiant. "So I came back!"
Aîiurh slowly turned his head.
"…Interesting."
Fire stirred behind him.
A presence returned.
"Step away from them."
Lyla's voice cut through the air like steel drawn from a sheath.
She stood several paces away, white gown scorched at the shoulder, hair loose, eyes burning with restrained fury. The ground beneath her feet and the wall behind her was cracked, stone darkened where heat had been absorbed and dispersed.
Aîiurh exhaled softly, then smiled.
"So it really is you," he said. "Lyla Kaelthrin."
Her full name hung in the air.
"It's been two years," Aîiurh continued, tone light. "And you're still the same. Can't even detect us until we choose to be seen.
And if not for fate for you to be with this Ashborn"
Beside him, another figure stood—silent, cloaked, heat distorting the air around them.
The elemental user.
The square was empty now.
Most of Cohen had fled. Those who remained—guards in ceremonial armor—stood frozen at the edges, weapons lowered. They recognized him. Every one of them did.
Aîiurh glanced back at Tyke.
"And you," he said thoughtfully. "So you're the one."
Tyke stiffened.
"Elemental and magic," Aîiurh mused. "Both running through one body. And yet—" his gaze flicked to the slingshot, "—you throw clay."
He laughed, short and sharp. "Curious."
Laxyie forced himself to move.
Pain screamed through him as he rolled, then kicked upward with everything he had left.
Aîiurh blocked it effortlessly.
Still, the opening was enough.
Laxyie twisted, pushed off the stone, and stumbled backward—hard—toward Lyla and Tyke. His legs barely held him.
"Are you alive?" Lyla demanded, gripping his arm.
"I'll manage," Laxyie rasped. He looked at her, eyes frantic. "You?"
She nodded once. "Absorbed it. Unbreakable Defense."
Tyke stared between them, shaking. "W-Who is he?"
Aîiurh's laughter answered first.
"You think," he said, spreading his arms slightly, "the three of you can take me?"
Lyla didn't respond.
She stepped forward and ripped a sword from a still guard's grasp. The blade hummed faintly as her grip tightened.
Beside her, Laxyie closed his eyes.
The world sharpened.
Heartbeats surfaced. Heat signatures. Motion paths.
Sensory Blade.
He moved.
Laxyie lunged, striking with everything he had—precision guided by sensation, steel following intent. The attacks were fast, desperate, layered.
Aîiurh dodged every one.
He shifted with minimal movement, blade deflecting, body flowing like water around the strikes. No strain. No rush.
Lyla roared.
Valor surged.
Her body expanded, muscles thickening, stone cracking beneath her feet as Titan Stance took hold. Her voice thundered across the square—
"MOVE!"
War Cry erupted outward.
The guards staggered. The air trembled.
Aîiurh did not flinch.
Fire exploded beneath Lyla's feet.
She endured it, teeth gritted, body absorbing the force as she drove forward anyway—sword arcing down with devastating power.
Aîiurh slipped past the blow and slashed.
Steel met flesh.
Blood sprayed across stone.
"LYLA!"
She staggered, clutching her stomach, breath hitching—but she did not fall.
Aîiurh stepped back, lifting a hand.
"That's enough," he said calmly, to the elemental user. "Don't interfere."
He looked at them all.
"This Small land or province might you say," Aîiurh said, "is nothing compared to the world out there. Like an ant, a quiet corner in a much so vast world. You mistake peace for importance."
His eyes returned to Laxyie.
"I came here ten years ago," he continued, "to kill Boron."
A pause.
"And his wife."
Laxyie's heart shattered.
Aîiurh was already moving.
Steel flashed.
Pain consumed him again as the blade cut deep.
Tyke screamed and fired—again and again—pellets bouncing uselessly off armor and stone.
Aîiurh turned, struck Tyke once with the pommel of his sword.
The boy collapsed.
"No!" Lyla shouted.
Aîiurh caught Tyke as he fell.
"I'll take the child," he said calmly. "You two will die here."
Laxyie barely heard it.
The world dimmed.
Then—
Something broke.
Lyla straightened.
Her breath came ragged. Her eyes burned white-hot.
"Valor Burn," she whispered.
The surge was violent.
Power flooded her body at the cost of years yet unlived or one's sanity.
Aîiurh's smile widened.
"Oh," he said. "You really are insane woman."
She was faster.
Much faster.
Her blade struck again and again—forcing Aîiurh back, steel ringing, blood spilling. She swept his leg and sent him crashing to the stone.
She raised her sword— as she was about to slash.
Fire slammed into her back.
She cried out.
Aîiurh was already up.
Four slashes.
She blocked the last.
And struck him hard.
Both staggered, blood soaking stone.
Laxyie screamed and charged.
Aîiurh caught him mid-motion.
"Weakling," he said quietly.
He leaned close.
"The sins of the father," Aîiurh whispered, "will paid by the son."
The blade plunged in.
Pain went white.
Aîiurh staggered back, wounded, breathing harder now.
"To Thleen,we only have five days" he snapped to the elemental user. "We''ll take the child and we leave."
He looked down at Laxyie.
"If you survive," Aîiurh said calmly, "I'll be waiting for you at AZOL."
The world faded.
Only the word remained.
AZOL.