Sariel's body reconstruction was normally very fast. He would combust upon a fatal attack and then the fire when regroup and become a body once again. In less than 2 seconds.

However this time, the reconstruction was oddly slow. Very slow. A full minute had passe, yet his body of fire was still scattered all over.

There was one good news, Lurock also haven't moved, no breathing or heart beat was coming from him.

Outside of the room, the men that was station in the hallway to keep guard to make sure no one escaped the room found it weird no sound was coming from it.

They were given orders to not enter. Besides who in their right head would think their leader, a very powerful person would lose against some kid?

But the silence was concerning. Too concerning. One of the men who was closet to the door suddenly said to his fellow comrades. "I'm going to check inside. The silence is weird."

His name was Zack.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same."

"Cool Cool."

He did a nod and walked to the opened door, and entered. He was expecting to see Lurock sitting in silence or something similar, but what he saw shocked him.

The flames didn't matter to him, but Lurock on the ground, seemingly dead, did.

But if he thought that was the worse thing to happen on that day, he would have been wrong.

A sudden loud sound came from up, and the building began shaking. It was like an earth quake, non stop and then there was silence.

What the hell?

And then, there was screams.

The man heart began beating harshly. He didn't understand what was going on. An attack on them? Now? So coincidentally?

"Sapphire." he heard a voice he didn't recognize. However, he knew the name. Everyone that lived in the North knew the name.

One of Zaphael's two guards and assistants. But that couldn't be right, why would one of them be here...

The screams were getting louder and closer to him. He should run, but to where? They would be able to track his soul.

He was scared, nervous, unsure what to do.

While that was happening, the purple flames had gathered more and resembled a body now. But what was going on outside was scarier than the flames.

“Help!” A man’s desperate cry echoed as he stumbled through the room, one bloodied hand clawing at the iron door frame. He threw his weight against the door, slamming it shut, his body trembling violently as he fought to catch his breath. His eyes darted wildly, every muscle taut with fear.

The room was deathly silent—no words exchanged, only the sound of his ragged breathing. And then, without warning—

The door exploded inward with a deafening roar, smashing into the man’s back. He barely had time to gasp before the sheer force launched him across the room. His body collided with the wall, bones cracking under the door’s weight as it pinned him in place, crushing him in an instant.

The air had left Zack's lungs out of fear.

Standing outside the two, were two women. Not particularly tall, but not short either. They both looked similar, with the exception of their eye colors.

One of them were blue, the other were green. Even their hair style was the same, simply down to their shoulders. The main other difference was mainly seen when they spoke.

Sapphire looked inside the room, ignoring Zack, like he was a bug.

She then pointed something near him. Zack was hesitant, but he turned to see what it was. A body of a... 16-17 year old kid. It was in the same one that was out of the room for a while, and he was in the spot that the fire was gathering.

But... the boy had silver hair, the left of his hair was completely silver while the other half was black.

... Zack didn't know what to think, he didn't even want to think.

"Why isn't his heart beating," she suddenly said.

Hazel wiped the debris, and blood off her face, and walked towards Sariel. Zack became like a statue, afraid to move or even dare to breath.

Hazel and Sapphire was instructed to keep and eye on Sariel and report if he was important to Zaphael. How could they do that if he was dead or kidnapped and taken out of their range?

But the issue was them responding too late. Zaphael wouldn't be happy about it one bit.

Hazel went on a single knee, flipped Sariel to his back and touch his chest. "I think he used too much imperia, burning through most of his soul. Oh, his heart has burst."

Sapphire asked, "How is that possible?"

"Stress, possibly."

"Can't you resurrect him?"

Hazel went silent for a second, looking at a strange silver ring on her finger. But before she could respond, they suddenly starting to hear the small beating of Sariel's heart.

"What the hell...?" Sapphire was shocked. "Did you..?"

"No."

Sapphire eyes widen in wonder. “Ah..."

She then looked at his hair, half silver and half black, deprived off all the black dye he usually put in it and the hat he used to conceal his hair.

Sapphire muttered, "Neil wasn't lying."

Hazel picked up Sariel. "Let's return to Zaphael. The state slayers would be here to handle everything here."

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They exited the secret base of the silverback hunters association which was hidden many meters underneath the ground. On the way out, no one attempted to stop them. Because almost all of them were dead.

**

Sapphire and Hazel arrived at Yurilen, the land of the Museigens, carrying Sariel directly to Zaphael's personal doctor, Olivia.

She was a middle age woman that looked like she smoke and drank often. Donned in a long yellow coat and a red long shirt and pants.

When Olivia laid eyes on Sariel—naked and unconscious—her expression shifted to confusion.

“Why is he naked? And unconscious?” Olivia asked. "And why're you bringing him here?"

"Isn't his hair color stranger to you?"

"It's obviously fake. No idea how he got it to work or why he would do it, but I'm not foolish."

"Zaphael wanted us to keep an eye on him. The circumstances he was in made it seem bringing him somewhere safe was the best option, and he clearly isn't in the best condition."

Olivia eyes widen. "Oh, so that's the kid... How'd you two let it get this bad?"

Hazel tilted her head in Sapphire’s direction, wordlessly passing the responsibility. Sapphire clicked her tongue and spoke up. “Things happened, and we lost track of him. Then we got intel from someone about where he was being held. But hey, he’s alive. Even if we can’t read his soul, we know that much.”

"His condition doesn't look that bad."

"From the information we gained, he was tortured... Possibly for hours."

Olivia’s face tightened before she let out a defeated sigh. “Hell… whatever. This is on you two. I’ll do my job as best as I can,” she muttered, rubbing her temple. “If he can't even function or his functionally is severely hampered, Zaphael would be mad with you two, not me."

With a final sigh, Olivia waved them off. “You can go now. I’m going to start by examining his brain—literally.”

Once they left Olivia to her work, Hazel turned abruptly and began to walk away. “I’m heading back to Zaphael.”

“Right, I’ll join you,” Sapphire replied, falling into step beside her.

But as they walked, guilt churned inside Sapphire.

Sapphire remembered the paranoia that had taken root in her mind. When Sariel appeared, she had been convinced he was an assassin sent to kill Zaphael. It was possible for it to be an attempt on Hazel too. The Temple of Kama had already made one attempt on her life, and they had made it clear they would try again.

Who would have believed otherwise? The appearance of a silver-haired individual was legendary. Tales of those with that trait spoke of impossible feats—one had emptied an entire universe, another was hailed as a savior to many worlds, and there were more just like them. Silver-haired beings weren’t ordinary; they were icons, figures of immense power.

But this Sariel? A weak creature with only some silver hair? It didn’t add up. Worse still, Sapphire couldn’t read a single thing off him—not levels, no intent, nothing. He was an enigma, and that made him a potential threat.

And now... because of my suspicions, he ended up like that.

When Sapphire was first tasked with keeping an eye on Sariel, she couldn’t make sense of his behavior. He moved clumsily and pathetically.

He chose to linger in the city, eating lightly, filthy, and getting treated like he was barely human. It baffled her.

While keeping a careful watch from a distance, Sapphire had noticed Louis glance sharply in their direction.

Damn it. She had cursed under her breath, realizing her focus had wavered. But the day went on like usual. Of course by then they had seen enough information to report to Zaphael.

He was weak, pathetic. Neil is full of shit. But the voice in the head when she tried to real his soul, and his odd healing ability, and the fact he kept his hair hidden and dyed the strands was suspicious. Too suspicious. All that made her think he was acting.

That him, Neil and others were trying to get to Zaphael. Sapphire had no interest in reporting anything. She wanted to see him die, she wanted to kill him with her own hands just to be safe. But she couldn't, not with Hazel being around her.

But those feelings were affected when Sapphire saw Sariel save the two kids in the forest. He didn’t hesitate to throw himself in the path of danger, facing down a silverback bear that had its sights set on the kids.

But she still thought, It's all an act. He's aware we're watching him. Neil told him so.

Hazel almost acted, thinking Sariel was about to die there. He needed to be alive for them to keep spying on him. But Sapphire had stopped her, saying, "Not yet." The yet would have been never of course.

Hazel was like a robot, barely talking and only doing what she was told. Almost never acting or giving her opinion unless told too. Unless she felt like she absolutely needed to.

One thing was certain—Sapphire had completely misjudged him. He had survived the encounter, somehow he could use imperia.

Then the bear’s head was severed in one swift motion.

What…? Sapphire could only stare in stunned silence.

Sapphire's eyebrows drew together slightly, her eyes narrowing as if reevaluating Sariel. Later that day, she heard how he talked to the kids.

And she began wondering, maybe she was wrong about him.

Zaphael contacted Hazel and Sapphire through a report disc, a disc like device. “The elders are having a meeting again. I need you two by my side.”

It wasn't for protection, those two were simply always supposed to be at Zaphael's said as instructed by the clan elders.

Sapphire was hesitant. "But what if... he were to die, or he does something that would be note?

“I highly doubt that if you aren’t there for a single day, something catastrophic will happen,” Zaphael retorted.

There wasn't much to say, the two returned to Zaphael.

By the time the meeting concluded and they returned to the forest, Sariel had vanished. No matter how hard they searched, they couldn’t trace his soul. All that remained were his torn clothes.

Then they sensed it—a faint trace of Sariel’s soul.

They landed heavily near a few scattered tents, the ground trembling beneath their force. And just as quickly, the trace disappeared.

It didn’t matter; someone was inside the tent.

Hazel strode forward, her gaze steely.

“Uh… you’re here for Sariel, right?” Hira, her accent marked her as an Avioneer, a race of people known for their expertise and willingness to go wherever they could find mercenary work—no matter how remote.

Sapphire asked, "Where is he?"

“Five miles north. If you search underground, you’ll sense a lot of people. He’s there.”

*Underground?* Sapphire’s eyes narrowed. She stepped forward, intending to press the woman for more information, but Hazel stopped her.

“He’s not in that direction. Move north.”

Sapphire gritted her teeth. “What if it’s a lie?” she snapped.

“Then nothing.”

“…And what if it’s a trap?”

“That would be unfortunate for them.” Hazel raised a whistle to her lips, and within seconds, a bizarre creature descended. It was four meters wide, two meters long, with twelve crimson wings. The rest of its body resembled a giant beak.

Sapphire leaped onto the creature alongside Hazel. Before they could take off, the woman spoke again, her voice trembling. “That underground place is a hidden base for the Silverback Association. They’re responsible for the disappearances of slayer trainees and amateur hunters.”

Sapphire’s eyes widened. The Silverback Association? She had only heard of slayer trainees dying to wild beasts in this forest, but if the Avioneer was telling the truth…

Sapphire reported the information to the Deflen Slayer Department via the report disc and turned to the woman. “You’re involved in this?”

The woman hesitated, seeming to weigh her options. “Yes. But I’m taking responsibility for what’s happened.”

Sapphire studied her, suspicious. Why would someone suddenly change their nature? Maybe it was regret. But her kind wasn’t known for such sentiment if it interfered with a job.

Hazel’s Belion-Yunex took flight, and just as they were about to leave, the woman shouted after them. “I know he won’t forgive me. But if you’re his friend, please… tell him and the others—I’m sorry. I’m sorry an adult did this to them.”

“I’m not his friend,” Sapphire called back before they disappeared from the woman’s sight.

It took time, but they reached the location described. As soon as they landed, Hazel leaped down, forming a massive energy whip as thick as the walls of Deflen and as long as the Temple of Kama. The weapon coiled like a serpent before surging forward, ripping apart the ground and tearing deep into the earth.

Hazel dropped into the massive pit she had created, and Sapphire followed close behind. Soil and shattered concrete littered the underground base, with bodies scattered among the wreckage. Many had died instantly, but some still breathed.

“I can sense him,” Hazel muttered, her gaze piercing through the dust.

“Me too,” Sapphire agreed. Sariel wasn’t too far—but far enough.

“Wha—”

“The hell just happened?” Confused and disoriented, the survivors struggled to make sense of the chaos. They couldn’t see past the swirling dust and debris, nor did they seem to sense the deadly presence of the two cultivators.

It didn’t matter.

Sapphire’s chains slithered from her sleeves, gleaming in the dim light. With a single powerful sprint, Hazel charged, and together they unleashed utter devastation on the remaining forces.