Muliad saw it, a flash of concentrated Essence erupting along the boy's sword.His breath caught.
To gather Essence into a weapon like that…That took years.Years of battle, discipline, control and above all, talent. Real talent. The kind that appeared once in a generation.
Yet he saw it.
A 17-year-old skinny boy doing it flawlessly. Without hesitation. Without fear.And Muliad understood immediately what that meant.
Weapon-fused Essence wasn't just powerful, it was catastrophic. He had seen only one monster capable of that level of destruction before.
Leon Lighthart. And Leon Lighthart was heading this way.
But that wasn't his concern right now.
The instant Harian ignited his sword with Essence, Muliad reacted on pure instinct. He grabbed the nearest prisoners George, the old man, the unconscious red-haired kid and jumped back with everything he had, throwing himself in front of them, shielding their bodies with his own.
A heartbeat later-..
BOOM.
A massive explosion ripped through the prison.
Everyone caught in the path of the blast was hurled into the air like dolls. Stone shattered. Iron bars tore loose. The very ground shook, the force rattling through bone and blood.
Muliad hit the floor hard, still curled protectively around the others.
Smoke filled the air instantly thick, choking, impenetrable. The entire corridor vanished in a wall of gray. Nothing was visible. Nothing but silence, dust, and the aftermath of an impossible strike.
As the smoke finally began to thin and chunks of debris dropped from the ceiling and shattered against the ruined floor, Muliad crawled out from the rubble with the others behind him. The blast had left them all too shocked to speak their ears rang, their lungs burned, and their minds struggled to accept what had just happened.
Light slowly crept through the smoke, piercing narrow shafts through the dust-choked air.
And then they saw it.
A massive hole yawned open where the prison wall used to be. Stone, steel, and bars had been torn apart and scattered like scraps of paper.
When the smoke cleared even more, the truth hit them, Maxwell was gone.
Nothing remained of him except the shattered sword lying on the ground...and a wide stain of blood soaking into the cracked floor. The attack hadn't killed him. It had erased him.
A cold shiver went through every prisoner who saw the aftermath. It was terrifying, horrifying, unbelievable.
More inmates, the ones Muliad had freed earlier, gathered around the destroyed corridor. Their eyes darted everywhere, frantic, terrified. Muliad pushed himself up, shaking, trying to find the boy responsible for all of this.
Then he saw it.
Through the thinning smoke, a silhouette emerged calm, straight-backed, unhurried.
Harian stepped forward.
Essence vapor leaked from his body in slow streams, like heat above a fire. The air around him was heavy, suffocating, vibrating with raw energy. He looked nothing like a prisoner. Nothing like a boy.
His sword, however… was gone.
Only the handle remained in his hand, the blade completely disintegrated. Harian clicked his tongue in annoyance and tossed the useless hilt aside.
"Weak sword," he muttered.
Muliad stared. Not at Harian at the path behind him.
The line.
A single, clean line of destruction stretched from where Harian had stood… all the way to the massive hole in the wall. The stone along that path had been carved through, deep and straight. Even the reinforced metal bars of the cells had been sliced apart.
The strike wasn't messy.It wasn't wild.
It was controlled.Perfectly controlled.
And the most shocking part?
Maxwell was the only one caught in the kill zone.
The prisoners standing near the edges of that path the ones who should have been torn apart were untouched. Not a scratch on them. Muliad felt his scalp prickle. His throat tightened.
A destructive strike was one thing.But a destructive strike with that level of precision…
For a 17-year-old?
It was beyond talent. Beyond genius. Beyond anything he had witnessed in decades. Muliad's voice trembled under his breath.
"Unbelievable…"
Everyone stared at Harian in stunned awe.
He had just wiped out two of Rezia's knights effortlessly, brutally and now every prisoner knew one thing: If anyone was getting out of this hellhole, it would be because of him.
Dozens of eyes followed his every breath, waiting for what he'd do next. Muliad was tense, the old man was shaking, and George… George looked at his closest friend with fear, confusion, and something close to admiration.
But Harian?
Harian had something else to worry about.
Inside his head, Vex spoke:
[YOUR ESSENCE LEVEL HAS DROPPED DRASTICALLY. YOUR BODY IS NEAR EXHAUSTION. REMAINING HERE IS DANGEROUS.]
Harian exhaled sharply, half laugh, half wheeze. He felt it the heaviness in his limbs, the dull ache running up his bones. Shadow Ascend had taken almost everything he had left.
In his past life, he could unleash it over and over again. Now? One use was enough to nearly make him collapse.
Pathetic… he thought bitterly. But temporary. This was only temporary.
Vex pressed again, sharper this time:
[LEAVE. NOW.]
Harian understood instantly why Vex sounded impatient.
A monster was coming.
He turned toward the prisoners, toward George, toward all the faces staring at him.
"I know you have questions," he said, voice steady despite the fatigue shaking his muscles. "But ask me later. If we stay here, none of you will see daylight again. The kingdom will slaughter every last one of us."
He bent down, picked up a sword from one of the fallen guards, and tossed it to Muliad.
"We're getting out of here."
Muliad caught the sword, blinking."So you want me to become a wanted criminal now?"
"Aren't you already?" Harian shot back.
For the first time, Muliad actually laughed loud and genuine.
"Fine, boy. I'll follow you. Let's see where this madness leads."
He rushed back to free prisoners from their cells. George followed, pulling unconscious men to their feet. The old man supported the red-haired kid, still unconscious.
Meanwhile Harian closed his eyes and focused, desperately pulling what little essence he could into his drained body.
But it wasn't fast enough.
The monster was almost here.
He felt it pressure, killing intent, essence so sharp it cut the air. Harian lifted his gaze to the sky.
A silhouette dropped from above, blocking the sun for a split second-......then hit the ground outside the shattered prison wall like a meteor, stone erupting upward, earth cratering beneath the force of the landing.
The shockwave shook the entire structure.
Dust swirled. Smoke hissed. And in the center of the crater, a man knelt with one fist pressed into the ground. Slowly… he rose.
Essence unfurled from him like a storm.Cold blue eyes gleamed through the settling smoke.His posture was unshakable, his armor gleaming beneath the fractured sunlight.
A presence heavy enough to crush a room full of killers.
The monster had arrived.
Leon Lighthart.