The portal tore open.
Golden light split the darkness.
Night had fallen over Blackthorn Grove.
Elya stepped through.Nana behind him.
The forest clearing was wide.
Surrounded by ancient trees a perfect kill zone.
And in the center—
Hundreds of bodies scattered across the ground like broken dolls.
Blood pooling in the grass,eyes staring at nothing.
Elya walked forward.Boots stepping over corpses unhurried,like he was taking a stroll.
Behind him, Nana stopped.
Staring at the bodies.
Her hand covered her mouth.
"What... what did you do?"
Elya didn't answer and kept walking.
Ahead—
A building three stories tall.
Two figures stood on the roof.
Elya stopped in the center of the clearing.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."
One of the figures moved.
A woman tall and lean in a red military uniform.
She looked at the Elya
"So you are the famous ghost."
Elya tilted his head.
"Am I?"
The second figure stepped forward.Ipt was a man.Massive and muscular.Heavy gauntlets on both hands.
"Magnus. First Inquisitor of Nai."
He gestured to the woman.
"Silva. Second Inquisitor."
Elya looked at them both.
Then reached up and grabbed the collar of his green uniform jacket.
Pulled it off and Underneath: a black sleeveless shirt.
Lean muscle.The pendant hanging against his chest.
He tied the jacket around his waist.
"Inquisitors," he said flatly. "So Darien sent his best."
Magnus's jaw tightened.
"You won't leave this grove alive."
Elya's smile widened.
"We'll see."
Silva teleported.
Nana gasped.
"Elya, behind—"
Silva appeared.Three feet behind Elya.
Her hand raised.Fingers crackling with energy aimed at his spine.
Before could She strike—
Something black shot from Elya's shadow in a blur of motion.
The creature slammed into Silva.
She flew backward and crashed into a tree.
Bark exploded.
She hit the ground gasping and clutching her stomach.
Puma landed beside Elya with low growl.
Elya didn't even turn.Just looked at Puma.
"Make sure she doesn't get hurt."
He gestured toward Nana.Puma's ears flicked then padded over to Nana.
Nana stared at the creature.
Then at Elya.
"So that explains why it was missing"
Elya raised his hand.
"Release "
His Spada appeared sleek and single-edged.
Glowing faintly with golden light.
Elya stared at them with bloodlust.
Magnus felt it.His breath caught.
Sweat beaded on his forehead.
Elya looked at his blade.
Then at Silva.
"Let me start with you—"
She teleported.
Appeared to Elya's left—
Gone.
Appeared to his right—
Gone.
Above—Behind—Below—
Moving at the speed of sound.Blinking in and out of existence.
Trying to disorient and to find an opening.
Elya stood still.
"Mutated humans. How disgusting."
Silva appeared directly in front of him.
Hand thrust forward.
Energy blade materializing in her palm.
Aimed at his throat.
"DIE—"
Elya moved.Her blade missed by inches
His Spada moved.
FLASH.
Too fast to see.
Silva froze and looked down.
Her right hand was gone, bloodless for a heartbeat—
Then spray.
She screamed.
Elya's blade moved again but this time , he aimed for the left hand.
She staggered back—
His blade flashed twice more but this time her legs.Both severed at the knee.
She dropped. Hit the ground.Screaming.
Elya walked past her and reached down.
Grabbed a metal rod from the debris.
Part of a broken fence.Walked to the building wall.
Lifted Silva with one hand.
Slammed her against the stone and drove the rod through her skull.
She hung there Gasping for air.
Elya stepped back ,looked up at Magnus.
Who stood frozen on the roof.
Staring.at his partners dead body
Then Magnus's shock turned to rage.
"SILVA!"
He leaped.Dropped from the roof and landed HARD.
Crater forming beneath his feet.
"ALL UNITS! ATTACK! NOW!"
His voice BOOMED.
Echoed through the grove.
Silence.
Magnus looked around.
"Where... where are they?"
Elya pointed his Spada at the Magnus.
"They're all dead."
His voice was flat.
"Those worms were just taking space on this planet."
He tilted his head.
"They were waste."
Then gave smile.
"So I helped mother nature by killing all of them."
Magnus stared.
"You... you monster—"
Elya's smile didn't change.
"Monster?"
He looked at Silva.Pinned and bleeding.
Then at Magnus.
"No. This is me being nice."
Magnus's hand moved. And pulled something from his belt.
A flare gun and aimed at the sky.
BOOM.
Red light shot upward and exploded.
Illuminating the entire grove.
Magnus dropped the gun.
Reached up.
Grabbed his gauntletsand pulled them off
They fell sinking into the dirt.
Magnus flexed his bare hands.
"I am not holding back."
Green energy began to rise from his body.
The air around him shimmered.
The ground beneath his feet cracked.
Spiderwebbing outward.
Grass withered.Stones split.
Magnus's voice was deeper now.
"I will make you pay ."
The green aura expanded bursting outward.
Wind ripping through the grove.
Trees bending,debris scattering.
Nana threw her arms up shielding her face.
Puma crouched low.
Magnus stood in the center.
Green energy flickering around him.
Every breath he took.Every movement.
Crackling with energy.
He looked at Elya.
"You killed my men."
"You crippled my partner."
His fists clenched.
Green light flared.
"Now I'll erase you from existence"
Elya watched.
Blood dripping from the blade.
Expression unchanged.
Then—
He smiled.
"Interesting."
Magnus moved three times faster than sound.
Fist pulled back. Surrounded by green energy
The air where Elya had been standing shattered.
Molecules ripped apart,space itself cracking.
Elya had dodged by inches.
He landed twenty feet away.
Magnus didn't stop and charged again.
Each creating mini-nukes.
Elya moved.Dodging.Weaving.
Blocking with his Spada.
Each blocked hit sent shockwaves.
Trees EXPLODED.
Ground cratered,rocks turned to dust.
Nana stumbled back.
Eyes wide.Trying to follow but she couldn't.
They were too fast for the eye.
One moment: here.
Next: a hundred feet away.
Then BACK.Just blurs and explosions.
Puma growled and grabbed Nana's dress in its teeth.
"Wait—I need to—"
Another explosion.
A mountain peak collapsed.
Debris raining down.
Puma dragged her into the forest.
Back in the clearing—
Magnus's fist connected to Elya's chest.
BOOM.
He backwards through three trees, through a boulder and into a mountain.
Cracks spiderwebbing.
Dust exploding outward.
Magnus landed breathing hard.
"The reports said you used ice manipulation!"
He raised his hand, green energy crackling.
"They were wrong, weren't they?"
The dust cleared.Elya stood in the crater.
His shirt torn,small cuts on his face.
He raised his hand.
"Pesante."
Magnus dropped.Slammed into the ground.
Like gravity had tripled.
He gasped.
"What—"
Elya pointed.
"Catena."
Golden chains erupted from the ground.
Wrapping around Magnus's arms.
Magnus's eyes went wide.
"You—you're not just an ice—"
Elya tilted his head.
"Did I say I was?"
Magnus roared.
Green aura exploded.
Chains sharttered.
Gravity broke.
He stood.
Fists clenched with a furious expression.
"You want to know what we are?"
He gestured to himself.
"Humans learned to fuse with rune stones. To become more."
He smiled.
"We're mutants.The FUTURE.
"And we're stronger than witches now."
Elya's expression didn't change.
"Mutated humans."
"How pathetic."
Magnus charged.Faster this time.
Punch after punch after punch.
Elya dodged one,blocked two and took three.
Each hit launched him.
The entire range shook.
Peaks collapsed,stone turned to rubble.
The landscape flattened.
Magnus opened his mouth.
Generating a death beam.
Then—fired.
Pure atomic energy.
Elya dodged by an inch.
The beam carved through a mountain.
The top sliding off.
Magnus fired again.
This time—
Direct hit.
BOOM.
Elya flew backwards into another mountain.
The entire peak exploded.
Stone raining down,dust everywhere.
Silent fell for three seconds.
Then—
Elya stood.
Clothes torn further.
Blood on his lip but with a smile
"Stronger than I thought."
He raised his spada and stared at Magnus.
Who stood in the flattened wasteland breathing hard.
"My turn," Elya whispered