The silence within the underground tunnel felt oppressive. The narrow passage, built from ancient ruins, was filled with dried roots twisting along the walls, as though trying to strangle anyone who dared to pass through.
Along the walls, faded glyphs-long stripped of their color-were illuminated only by the faint glow of pale green luminescent fungi, casting a bleak and haunted atmosphere.
Kaera walked alone.
Though her steps were steady, her shoulders felt heavy, as if she carried the weight of the entire world upon them.
Her katana had been cleaned of bloodstains, yet the aura around her still burned hot-the boundless anger that clung to her.
She stopped abruptly. Her hunter's instincts caught something.
Tap... tap... tap...
Soft. Extremely subtle. But to someone who had long lived in the shadows, the sound was unmistakable.
"I told you... don't follow me," Kaera's flat voice echoed through the tunnel walls.
No reply. Only the sound of water dripping from rotting roots.
"Come out. Now!" This time her voice was sharper, laced with threat.
From behind the massive crawling roots, Eira's figure slowly emerged. She did not raise her bow. Her hands were empty, showing no intent to attack.
Her green eyes calmly studied Kaera, searching for something behind the mask of coldness.
"I just want to know who you really are," Eira said quietly. "Because I feel like... we're not that different."
Kaera clenched her teeth. A bitter, cynical smile formed.
"You want to know? Fine. Let my katana speak."
SCHLING!
Without warning, the blade left its sheath. Kaera lunged forward like a black streak of lightning.
THE BATTLE BETWEEN BLOOD AND ROOTS
Kaera attacked relentlessly. Every swing of her katana carried pure killing intent, leaving Eira no space to breathe.
Eira relied on her agility, narrowly evading each strike that nearly claimed her life.
"Hah!" Eira stomped her foot against the ground, sending a pulse of green magic deep into the earth.
Under the influence of nature magic, the ancient roots that once lay dormant began to writhe as if awakened from a long slumber. They tore through the soil, twisting and extending into flexible whips before coiling toward Kaera's limbs, attempting to bind her with the crushing grip of the earth itself.
But Kaera was faster.
She sliced her palm slightly, allowing her blood to spill.
Blood manipulation.
The blood did not fall. Instead, it hovered in the air, hardening into crimson crystals that spun violently.
With a single mental command, the crystals severed every root in an instant-like a hot blade through butter.
But the moment the roots were cut, Kaera froze.
Her gaze locked onto the blood still flowing from her palm. The metallic scent... the warmth of the red liquid...
Suddenly, the world around her vanished.
She no longer saw Eira.
What she saw instead were her small hands drenched in her mother's blood.
"Run, Kaera... don't look back..."
Her mother's final whisper echoed as if it had happened yesterday. Kaera clutched her head with the bloodied hand, trying to drive away the memory tearing her apart.
She began to lose control. Her breathing turned ragged. Her ocean-blue eyes darkened, tainted with a deep crimson hue. Along her neck, arms, and cheeks, dark purple demonic markings emerged like pulsating tattoos-the sign that she was entering her rage phase.
Her demon side awakened-not to protect, but to destroy everything so she would never have to feel that pain again.
"You're fighting everything... even yourself!" Eira shouted, her chest rising and falling as she struggled to catch her breath.
"Shut up! You don't know anything!" Kaera hurled her fury back. Her voice cracked-caught between the roar of a monster and the cry of a child who had lost everything.
Her voice no longer sounded fully human; a faint rasp echoed behind each word. Eira's Echo Vein shrieked sharply-the vibration it received was no longer the frequency of a girl, but of something far darker and more violent.
The ground beneath Kaera began to fracture-not from magic, but from the sheer pressure of her aura.
Kaera did not hesitate.
With a leap that cracked the earth beneath her feet, she shot forward like a crimson shadow.
ZAASS!!
Her katana swung horizontally, slicing through the air with impossible speed.
Eira slid backward, nearly slammed against the wall from the pressure of the wind alone.
In a blink, the tip of Kaera's blade hovered only inches from Eira's throat.
The strike halted by force, causing the katana to tremble violently, emitting a high, painful ringing sound.
Kaera bit her lip so hard that blood seeped from the corner of her mouth. The veins along her arm bulged as she wrestled with the demonic instinct screaming for blood.
Eira did not move.
She simply stared into Kaera's burning crimson eyes.
In that moment, her Echo Vein read something.
Through the emotional resonance surging within every drop of Kaera's blood, shattered echoes of memory pierced into Eira's mind like shards of glass-
A little girl crying in terror...
A mother dying to protect her child...
And the figure of a father dragged away, turning back one last time with a sorrowful gaze...
Eira drew in a slow breath. Her voice softened, as though trying to soothe a soul torn apart.
"You... just want him back... don't you?"
For Kaera, the world stopped.
The trembling of her blade ceased instantly. A painful silence filled the tunnel.
The red in her eyes slowly receded, leaving pupils that trembled with shock and vulnerability. Her grip on the hilt loosened, as if all her strength had just been pulled away by that single sentence.
The overwhelming power that had surged moments ago vanished, replaced by a crushing emptiness.
"...I don't need anyone's help," Kaera replied, her voice fractured-though the coldness in it had faded.
Eira stepped forward without fear, even with the blade still drawn.
"But I'm going to help you anyway."
For the first time, Kaera lowered her weapon.
She did not fully trust her yet.
But in the darkness of that tunnel, she allowed someone to step closer to the most hidden space in her heart.
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