The highway stretched dark and empty under a sky full of stars, the kind that looked too bright and too close after living so long under broken ceilings. Tony walked in the middle, Lila on his left, Elias on his right, their footsteps falling into a quiet rhythm that almost felt like music if he listened hard enough. The packs were light on their backs, but the silence between them was heavy, full of things no one wanted to say out loud yet.
Tony kept his hands in his pockets, fingers brushing the trombone bell wrapped in cloth. He didn't dare hum again—not after what happened with Darius. The memory of the flames dying with one clap still made his palms tingle. He glanced sideways at Elias, who walked with that calm breeze always circling him, like the air itself was his bodyguard.
"You've fought S-Class before?" Tony asked, voice low.
Elias nodded once. "A few. Not many live to talk about it."
Lila looked over at him, her face lit by faint moonlight. "You never told me the details."
"Didn't want to worry you," Elias said simply. "Most were raiders like Darius. Thought their Title made them untouchable. Learned different."
Tony swallowed. "And you beat them?"
"With help sometimes. With wind mostly. It's not about being stronger. It's about being smarter. Or faster. Or meaner when it counts."
Tony thought about the clap again—how it felt sharp and right, like the perfect end to a bad song. "I didn't plan it. I just… did it."
Elias gave a small smile. "That's how the good ones start. Instinct first. Control comes later."
They walked on for another hour, the road climbing gently toward an old overpass that looked like it might collapse any day. Vines hung from the cracked concrete like green ropes, and the wind carried the faint smell of smoke—not campfire smoke, but something sharper, angrier.
Elias slowed. "We're not alone."
Lila's hand went to her water skin. "More raiders?"
"Worse," Elias said. "Listen."
Tony listened. At first he heard only crickets and distant night birds. Then, underneath it, a low crackle—like fire eating dry wood. It grew louder, closer, until a figure stepped out from under the overpass, flames curling around his shoulders like a living cloak. The man was shorter than Darius but twice as mean-looking, eyes glowing orange, teeth bared in a grin that promised pain.
"I am Kael Draven," the man called, voice rough and hot. "Ashen Lord. S-Class hunter. This stretch is mine. You pay the toll in blood or ash. Your choice."
Lila tensed, water already swirling at her feet. Elias raised his hands, wind sharpening into blades. Tony felt the same spark from before ignite in his chest—fear, yes, but also something clear and bright, like a note waiting to be played.
Kael laughed, ash exploding from his palms in thick black clouds that blocked the stars. "You think water and wind can stop me? I am the smoke that chokes cities. The ash that buries armies."
He thrust both hands forward. A wall of burning ash rushed at them, hot enough to blister skin from twenty feet away, thick enough to blind and smother.
Tony didn't think. He just acted.
He took one step forward, drew a deep breath, and hummed—low, steady, the same note he'd used on the beasts but sharper now, edged with purpose. The sound rolled out like a wave, invisible but heavy, pushing against the ash cloud. The flames flickered, confused, the smoke twisting away as if trying to escape the vibration.
Kael's grin faltered. "What—"
Tony clapped once.
The sound cracked like a whip. Vibrations slammed into the ash wall, shattering it into harmless gray flakes that drifted down like dirty snow. The force kept going, hitting Kael square in the chest. The Ashen Lord staggered back, flames snuffing out, eyes wide with shock. He dropped to his knees, coughing black smoke, hands shaking as he tried to summon fire again. Nothing came.
Lila stared. Elias stared. Even the night seemed to hold its breath.
Tony lowered his hands, breathing hard, a wild grin spreading across his face. "One hum. One clap. That's all it took."
Kael looked up, face twisted in rage and fear. "What are you?"
Tony met his eyes. "Someone you shouldn't have tried to burn."
Lila moved fast, water ropes wrapping Kael's wrists and ankles. Elias called a gust that pinned him flat against the concrete. The Ashen Lord struggled, cursing, but the fight was gone from him.
"We tie him," Lila said. "Leave him for whoever finds him next."
Elias nodded, pulling rope from his pack. "He'll think twice before hunting again."
They worked quick and quiet. When Kael was bound and left under the overpass, still coughing ash, the three of them stepped back onto the road.
Tony looked at his hands, then at Lila and Elias. "That… happened again."
Lila gave him a small, proud smile. "Yeah. It did."
Elias clapped him on the shoulder. "Keep practicing. The road's long. And you're just getting started."
They walked on, the stars bright overhead, the night quiet except for their footsteps and the soft hum Tony couldn't quite stop making under his breath.
The road remembered.
And now it had a song.