Chapter 70: Someone Wants Her Dead

The crimson notification remained suspended above Raevor’s wrist, its sharp holographic light cutting through the dimness of the room. The glowing text read clearly:

[TARGET: RHAEVIA RYTHUNDEIR].

The atmosphere inside the ancestral vault changed instantly. The calm that had settled over the family vanished, replaced by a sudden pressure that chilled the air.

Rhaevia’s newly relaxed expression disappeared. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the glowing prompt, her posture hardening back into that of a seasoned veteran.

Her brothers moved closer to her without hesitation. They formed an immediate protective barrier around her, their instincts honed by years of military training kicking in without a word. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The eldest stepped between Rhaevia and the vault entrance, his tall frame shielding her from any line of sight. His gaze locked onto the heavy steel doors, waiting for a breach.

The second brother’s hand went toward the weapon concealed beneath his coat, his fingers wrapping firmly around the hilt. His muscles coiled, ready to draw the moment a threat materialized.

The youngest stopped joking, his usual cheerful demeanor vanishing instantly. He shifted into a balanced combat stance, his eyes scanning every shadowed corner of the room.

Their father activated the defensive systems of the vault, tapping a series of quick commands into his wrist console. Blast doors began to shift, and ancient energy glyphs pulsed along the reinforced walls.

Their mother pulled Rhaevia slightly behind her, her arms wrapping protectively around her daughter. Her 3S Guide aura flared subtly, ready to shield her child’s mind from any incoming mental attack.

Raevor looked at the encrypted warning again, his sharp eyes analyzing the underlying signal code. The military priority tag was glowing bright crimson, signaling an emergency override.

"When?" Raevor demanded, his voice dropping into a harsh, commanding tone.

The communicator answered immediately, its artificial voice monotone and unfeeling.

[ESTIMATED ATTACK WINDOW: IMMEDIATE].

Raevor’s eyes sharpened as his Sentinel instincts flared to life. The ambient air temperature plummeted as his massive physical power began to leak into the room.

"Everyone down!" Raevor roared, grabbing the nearest console to brace himself.

A faint metallic click sounded above them, echoing strangely against the ancient stone ceiling. It was the subtle sound of a high-grade mechanical latch uncoupling.

Rhaevia looked upward instantly, her sharp vision catching the microscopic seam in the architecture.

"Above!" she shouted, pointing toward the dark ceiling vent.

Something moved inside the ventilation shaft, a shadow fast enough to blur against the dim lighting.

Raevor moved first, stepping forward before anyone else could react. His reaction speed easily bypassed normal human limits, driven by his 3S Sentinel conditioning.

A black projectile tore through the ceiling, shattering ancient stonework into a shower of lethal shrapnel. The kinetic energy behind the round was enough to obliterate heavy armor.

BOOM!

Raevor’s Sentinel energy erupted, filling the vault with a blinding flash of golden kinetic pressure. A translucent barrier formed in front of Rhaevia just as the projectile struck.

The impact shook the entire vault, sending shockwaves rolling through the reinforced floor. Dust poured from the ceiling as the force of the strike scattered in all directions.

Ancient symbols flashed violently along the walls, the vault’s ancient defense arrays struggling to absorb the massive kinetic shock.

"Stay behind me," Raevor ordered, his blade already drawn and humming with dense energy. He kept his body firmly positioned between her and the breach.

Rhaevia’s eyes narrowed, her Guide core pulsing with azure light. "No," she said firmly, her voice leaving zero room for debate.

Before he could respond, she stepped forward out of his shadow. She was a general who had led armies through the apocalypse, not a maiden to be hidden away.

Her Guide core surged, unlocking an immense wave of mental pressure. Azure energy exploded outward, colliding with the remaining force of the attack and dispersing it into harmless light.

Raevor looked at her, his dark eyes reflecting her glowing blue aura. He recognized the look in her eyes, it was the gaze of a veteran who belonged on a battlefield.

Rhaevia looked back, her expression cool and completely devoid of fear. Her mind was already calculating trajectories, enemy positions, and defensive openings.

Neither needed to speak. In that single glance, an unspoken understanding passed between them, bonded by their extraordinary natural compatibility. They moved together, their steps aligned as if they had trained alongside each other for years.

A second projectile came from the eastern wall, silent and deadly as it carved through the air. It was coated in light-absorbing stealth paint designed to bypass optical scanners.

Raevor raised his arm, sweeping his weapon in a violent upward arc. His golden kinetic energy formed a heavy wall of dense physical force.

Rhaevia simultaneously released a concentrated Guide pulse, aiming directly at the projectile’s micro-thrusters. Her azure power struck the shell’s internal guidance system with terrifying precision.

His defensive barrier redirected the projectile’s kinetic path. Her energy altered its trajectory, twisting its flight angle mid-air. The attack slammed harmlessly into the opposite wall, detonating against the heavy stone and blowing a massive crater into the masonry.

Their movements were synchronized. There was no lag, no misunderstanding, and no wasted motion between their actions.

No commands were shouted. They didn’t need words to divide the battlefield.

No instructions were passed. Their battlefield instincts aligned naturally.

No hesitation slowed them down. They trusted each other’s reaction speed implicitly.

Raevor moved left, drawing his heavy blade back to clear a broad sweeping line. His golden Sentinel energy scorched the air as he moved.

Rhaevia covered the opening, stepping into his blind spot seamlessly. She gathered her Guide energy into tight, lethal blasts, ready to intercept anything that bypassed his guard. She stepped forward, drawing the enemy’s potential line of fire toward her own azure field.

He immediately shifted behind her, his larger frame seamlessly blocking any secondary flank attacks aimed at her back. An enemy emerged from the shadows, dropping silently from the shattered ceiling vent like a phantom.

The assassin wore matte-black combat armor with no military insignia or identifying markers. The stealth suit absorbed the ambient light of the vault, making the wearer look like a moving void.

A full-face mask concealed the entire head, displaying only a blank, featureless visor that glowed with cold green tracking data. Three more figures appeared behind them, stepping out from spatial distortion fields that collapsed along the perimeter walls.

"Four," Rhaevia said, her voice calm as she registered their positions.

"Five," Raevor corrected instantly, his sharp senses detecting a subtle shift in air displacement directly above them.

A fifth assassin materialized from the ceiling, dropping silently with dual mono-molecular blades held in a reverse grip.

Rhaevia smiled faintly, her eyes flashing with a cold, dangerous light.

"Then five," she murmured, her pulse steady.

The first attacker lunged, his jet-assisted boots scorching the stone floor as he surged forward at blinding speed.