B3 - Chapter 65: Misstep

"Just kill me," Floria rasped.

The heavy iron shackles around her wrists and ankles clinked with every sluggish step, each stride slower than the last as she trudged through the mud.

Nightmare slammed his shoulder into her back.

The impact sent her stumbling forward, and the low growl rumbling from the direwolf's chest was enough to get her moving again.

A few paces behind them, Seth resisted the urge to rub his temples.

The restraints Toren had forged and given to Seth months prior cut Floria's physical attributes in half and completely suppressed her aether flow. Even if she tried to flee, Seth would catch her before she managed more than a few steps.

She knew it too, so she kept walking.

"What did he offer you?" Floria asked, throwing a resentful glance over her shoulder.

"None of your business," Seth answered flatly.

The woman's expression twisted with bitterness, deepening the scar that ran from her left eyebrow to her cheek.

Silence settled over the forest as they continued their march toward the Kastal survivors. For the first time in days, the rain had finally stopped.

After several more minutes of walking, Floria spoke again.

"Where's that scorpion?" she asked, looking at Seth's chest. "I'm surprised you didn't use him to capture me."

Seth kept his mouth shut. Explaining Colossus's absence to her would accomplish nothing.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a fleeting change in her expression. Grief? Sympathy? He wasn't sure.

She had drawn her own conclusion: she thought the giant scorpion had died during the fighting against Jaz.

Seth offered no correction.

If her mistake bought him some much-needed silence, he was perfectly fine to let her believe it.

Time slipped by as they made their way through the forest. Eventually, the makeshift Kastal camp emerged through the thinning mist.

The perimeter guards spotted them right away, yet the moment their eyes fell on Floria, their expressions hardened. Several hands instinctively dropped to sword hilts.

"At least they'll kill me," Floria muttered.

"No," Seth replied. "They won't."

He guided her through the campsite and toward his own party, keeping a firm grip on the chain of her shackles.

Marine and the other nobles standing beside her frowned at the sight. Selena and Henry, however, showed no surprise. Seth had already briefed the two of them about the plan, since they would share the responsibility of watching Floria alongside Elena.

To minimize their involvement, Seth had deliberately withheld the real reason for taking her prisoner. Neither of them had questioned him since

Seth had saved both their lives more than once.

Marine crossed her arms, her gaze shifting from the shackled assassin to Seth. "You suddenly wish to show mercy? I am surprised."

"A man can change," Seth said.

"We don't take prisoners," a harsh voice cut through from the left flank.

Jaxar stepped forward from behind his armed escort. The king's grandson wore his trademark arrogant smirk, a few rebellious strands of his slicked-back black hair having escaped and now clung to his forehead in the mist.

Around the clearing, other groups of Kastal soldiers turned toward the commotion. Among them stood Sasha, the daughter of Caryss Chester, the director of Sidera Academy. She and the rest of the surviving troops tensed, hands drifting toward their own weapons.

Seth met Jaxar's gaze without flinching. "I do."

"I'll kill her for you," Jaxar snarled.

Blue lightning crackled violently along his staff, bathing his face in flashes of azure light.

Before Seth could so much as shift his footing, a suffocating wave of killing intent exploded across the clearing.

Nightmare's Dreadful Shroud washed over the camp like a tidal wave, and the air itself seemed to grow heavier. Thick, corrosive black smoke curled from the direwolf's jaws as he took a single deliberate step toward Jaxar.

"You are not."

Another step.

"The one."

Another.

"Who decides."

The beast's guttural words echoed through the clearing.

Jaxar and the guards around him instinctively stumbled back through the mud. The king's grandson clenched his jaw, glaring at Seth.

Seth didn't even bother looking at him and simply turned his back on the arrogant noble.

Part of him almost wished Jaxar would attack.

After everything that man had done, after all the Kastal soldiers who had died because of his arrogance and incompetence, Seth just hoped the bastard would give him a reason to kill him.

"Wolfy's angry," Floria muttered, forcing a mocking smile as the chains around her wrists rattled.

Seth didn't look at her as he said, "Do you know how many times he's asked for permission to tear out your throat?"

Floria's smile vanished and her mouthshut as she swallowed.

That's what I thought.

All her talk about wanting to die was a lie, and Seth knew it.

The two of them crossed the last stretch of the clearing and stopped before Elena.

The noblewoman studied Kaelen's sister in silence; her posture remained perfectly straight.

"I strive to act with justice and uphold what is right," Elena said at last. "But don't mistake that for weakness." Her voice turned cold. "If you endanger my friends, I'll kill you and not think twice about it."

Seth met Elena's eyes.

A faint, genuine smile tugged at the corner of his mouth before he turned away. After walking over to Henry, he clasped the man's shoulder.

"You still good with guarding her?"

Throughout the upcoming battle, Henry would stay with Floria while remaining close to Elena. Selena would help if necessary, but Seth's former squad leader would bear most of the task.

The man gave a firm nod. "Yeah. Don't worry about it."

Seth released his shoulder and drew a long breath of the cool air.

Time to end this.

Seth pressed his shoulder against the trunk of a massive oak, his eyes fixed on the Imperial force ahead. The surviving enemy soldiers clustered tightly within the protective field of their last three Stabilizer Obelisks.

The rest of his strike team waited nearby, hidden among the ferns and tangled roots: Marine, Elena, Selena, the Priest, and the survivors of Squad 48.

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Roughly twenty yards farther back, Henry remained concealed in the dense undergrowth. He kept a firm grip on Floria's shackles to ensure she couldn't run away or shout to expose their position.

Once the attack began, he would join the assault.

Farther along the tree line, Kastal's main force stood in silent formation, weapons drawn as they waited for the signal.

Jaxar had spent the better part of the morning complaining about the timing of the offensive. Elena had deftly stroked his ego until the king's grandson proudly declared the battle plan to be his own brilliant strategy.

Despite the noble's agreement Seth knew the truth of how the fight would go.

When it started, Jaxar would inevitably keep his personal escort in reserve, allowing Seth's party to absorb the first wave of attacks before committing himself.

At the same time, Seth didn't particularly care.

After his three relentless days of guerrilla warfare, the balance of the battlefield had completely shifted. The imperial army had been reduced to fewer than a hundred exhausted, demoralized soldiers, while Kastal still fielded more than a hundred and fifty combatants.

The outcome was no longer in doubt.

The Empire had already lost.

Seth's only concern now was ending the battle quickly enough to keep Kastal's casualties to a minimum.

Seth projected his consciousness into the teardrop necklace.

Inside the pocket dimension, Lumi hovered anxiously beside Colossus waiting for him to wake up. The giant scorpion remained rooted to the sand, his carapace glowing with aether as he absorbed the last remnants of the Legendary Seed.

He was close. Very close.

Yet they couldn't wait any longer.

Seth focused on Lumi.

The otter had adapted quite well to fighting without Colossus over the past few days, so there was no reason to keep her in the necklace during the battle. Without the scorpion protecting her, however, Seth would have to be far more vigilant. One mistake could cost the little otter her life.

He drew in a slow breath and raised his hand.

The members of his party tensed.

Across the clearing, Sasha caught the signal and relayed it to her personal squad.

A heartbeat later, Kastal's siege cannons roared from behind the tree line.

The imperial response came exactly as Seth had predicted: three shimmering domes of aether blossomed over the remaining Stabilizer Obelisks through the means of Instant spell-scrolls.

Seth charged while Nightmare broke to the left, vanishing into Illusionary Emptiness.

Seth triggered both his Protecting Belt and his Swift Eagle Bracelet while simultaneously crushing a speed-boosting Instant spell-scroll looted from Jaz's Endless Pouch. Then, he unleashed Beastmaster Rage.

Power erupted through every muscle in his body. His vision narrowed into a blood-red tunnel, and the world blurred around him.

Seth exploded forward, tearing up great chunks of mud from the ground as he accelerated beyond the speed of any Iron Wielders.

An imperial sentry shouted from the edge of the encampment, "He's—"

That was the last word he ever got out.

Dusk Scythes came in and sliced through the man's throat before the warning could finish leaving his lips. Seth then tore into the heart of the encampment, and panic erupted among the enemy ranks.

Soldiers crushed spell-scrolls by the dozen: fireballs, lances of condensed aether, and bolts of lightning converged on him from every possible direction.

Seth cast Shadow Step, and his body dissolved into darkness.

The barrage scorched the ground where he had been as he reappeared fifteen yards deeper inside the imperial formation.

Inside his Well, the grooves of the teleporting spell trembled. Instead of going on cooldown, a cool pulse echoed through his core; Nightmare's Legendary Seed had triggered a reset.

Lucky me, Seth thought.

Without hesitation, he cast the spell again to materialize right next to the nearest Stabilizer Obelisk.

The surrounding guards had no time to react. Before even a sword could be thrust, Seth had driven his shadow blade into the runic stone of the obelisk. The structure exploded into a shower of rock and sparks.

With a stream of aether, he activated his Distortion Rod, and a wave of suppressing aether surged outward.

Every Instant spell-scroll within the artifact's radius died, then the slaughter began.

War cries reverberated through the forest as Kastal's main force rushed out from the surrounding forest.

Spells streaked across the gray sky and crashed into the disorganized foes while Seth and Nightmare tore through the enemy from the inside out.

Against them, the imperials might as well have been Copper Wielders facing Irons. Armor split beneath Seth's blows; Nightmare's fangs ripped through throats and flesh, while blood splashed across the clearing.

With their spell-scrolls suppressed and Kastal attacking from two directions, the enemy formation collapsed.

A second volley of cannon shells screamed overhead.

This time, panic kept the defenders from raising any barriers. The bombardment struck the second obelisk and blasted the stone structure into a cloud of dust.

Seth seized the occasion to cast Night Veil. Pitch-black smoke erupted from his body and swallowed the battlefield. He and Nightmare then became phantoms within the spell's gloom.

One soldier after another died before they even realized he was beside them. When Dusk Scythes finally dissolved, Seth transitioned into his other fighting style by casting Armored Phantom Fists.

A Guardian roared nearby, unleashing a taunt to force Seth's attention onto him.

Seth reacted by lowering his Distortion Rod and activating the Unshackled Bracelet right away. Silver light pulsed from the artifact and dispelled the compulsion.

Using the opportunity, he freed Lumi from the teardrop necklace.

The moment the otter appeared, she unleashed waves of restorative aether that washed across Kastal's front line, knitting wounds shut.

From the safety of the rear, Elena orchestrated a ranged assault.

Ice lances and arrows of frost streaked across the battlefield, each spell hitting its target as the enemy tried to advance.

Marine, Selena, Brandon, and the other nobles formed a defensive ring around her. Henry stood beside them, Floria's iron chains wrapped around his left gauntlet while his sword was ready in his right hand, ready to intercept any attacker.

Across the battlefield, Jaxar barked orders to his own men as arcs of blue lightning burst from his staff—he still hadn't moved up to the melee. Rather than engaging the opponents directly, the king's grandson targeted wounded soldiers already collapsing. Each bolt landed on an enemy that would be killed anyway.

It was clear he was trying to inflate his contribution score before the battle ended, even if that wasn't how it worked.

The one-sided clash unfolded at a higher pace than Seth would have expected.

Surrounded on every side and stripped of their ability to use spell-scrolls by the Distortion Rod, the last remnants of the imperial force collapsed.

Less than ten minutes after the attack had begun, the battle was already over.

The haze of Beastmaster Rage faded from Seth's vision almost on cue. A crushing pressure then slammed into his body. Every muscle screamed as the unnatural boost drained away, leaving behind a deep exhaustion.

He gritted his teeth, forced himself upright, and looked across the clearing.

Selena and Marine stood among the Kastal soldiers with Brandon, their chests rising and falling with ragged breaths. A short distance away, Elena waited beside Henry.

Between them, Floria scanned the battlefield, eyes visibly searching for any sign of her brother.

Nightmare prowled the perimeter, while Seth looked at Lumi.

The little spirit otter hovered beside him as she finished channeling a stream of light into the gash carved across his upper torso.

"You did great, Lumi," Seth said softly over the crackling fires still burning across the battlefield. Even without Colossus there was basically no casualties on their side.

The otter chirped happily.

The corners of her tiny muzzle lifted into what looked remarkably like a proud smile. Seth smiled back before sending a pulse of aether into his teardrop necklace.

Swirling blue light enveloped Lumi, drawing her safely back into the pocket domain.

Silence settled over the clearing.

Even the Spirit remained silent above them, offering no declaration that the Rift had ended. Seth knew why: one combatant was still alive and uncaptured within the Rift's boundaries.

Kaelen.

Seth had somehow expected the Spirit to declare Kastal the victor regardless. By now, it surely knew the assassin had abandoned the Empire.

So why is it still waiting?

A scream tore through the silence.

It came from the left flank.

Seth spun on his heel, hands clenching into fists, only to find out that the sound hadn't come from a cornered imperial survivor.

Jaxar stood over a Kastal soldier writhing in the mud, blue lightning still crackling viciously along the length of his staff. The king's grandson glared down at the man with undisguised contempt.

"I said I was the one who kills those who surrender," he snarled. "Didn't you hear me, scum?"

Seth's jaw tightened; on instinct, he checked his spell grooves. Everything except Beastmaster Rage was off cooldown.

Without making any obvious gesture, he drew a stream of aether from his Fine Storing Ring to refill his depleted Well.

Just in case.

Jaxar turned and strode toward Seth's party.

As the prince passed through the battlefield, his gaze drifted over the countless imperial corpses impaled by jagged ice lances and frozen arrows. His eyes went hard.

He realized it, Seth thought. Elena contributed more than he did.

Jaxar stopped several yards away and leveled his crackling staff toward Floria.

"I'm going to execute that prisoner now," he ordered. "Keeping her alive is absurd."

He took another step.

Henry instinctively shifted in front of Floria, tightening his grip on the chains.

"No," Elena said firmly. She stepped between them, extending an arm to block Jaxar's path. "She is my prisoner."

For a moment, Jaxar simply stared at her.

Then a grotesque smile slowly spread across his blood-spattered face. He threw back his head and roared, "NOW!"

The king's grandson plunged a hand into his cloak and yanked out a short, metallic wand.

In the same motion, his other hand seized Elena by the collar and wrenched her backward against his chest. The tip of the wand jammed beneath her jaw and pressed hard enough to cut the skin.

A thin line of blood trickled down her neck.

At the same instant, the dozen surviving soldiers of Jaxar's personal escort drew their weapons. They spun as one, raising their blades at Seth's party, Sasha's squad, and the stunned Kastal bystanders in the clearing.

Seth's eyes locked onto the wand.

Just like the ones Toren crafted for me.

At the edge of the clearing, Nightmare silently dissolved into Illusionary Emptiness.

"No!" Jaxar barked. His eyes snapped toward the place where the direwolf had vanished as he drove the wand even harder against Elena's throat. Another red bead rolled down her pale skin. "Your beast stays exactly where it is! One more step and I'll blow the head of this beautiful little lover of yours to pieces!"

The clearing fell deathly silent. No one moved, the tension stretching as tight as a drawn bowstring.

Seth's mind raced. He could activate the Distortion Rod, but if Jaxar reacted quickly enough, he could still use the wand in time.

The risk is too great.

Seth met the man's feverish gaze. "What do you want?"

Jaxar smiled. It was the expression of a man who believed he had already won.

"Just do what you were always supposed to do," he answered at last. The man's eyes slid past Seth and settled on Marine. "Kill her."