NOVEL WEB Chapter 43 – Vernara Village (9)
(We're outnumbered… outmatched… I need to think...)
Khael's mind raced. His eyes flicked between the rebels, searching for openings—but none appeared. Only more danger.
That's when it happened.
A pulse of pressure flooded the clearing.
Two shadows emerged from the smoke stepping in silence, but radiating killing intent like a blade unsheathed.
Elder Lao's voice thundered:
"Ko. Li. Kill the rebels. No exceptions."
Khael's chest tightened.
(What a cruel order... and who are these two?)
They didn't look like normal guards.
They didn't move like normal guards.
Ceyla, mid-clash with Kirell, noticed too. She parried with a flash, then called over her shoulder:
"Who the hell are they?"
Elder Lao answered with grim certainty.
"They are my Shadow Guard. Their strength is comparable to the Crimson Veinwalker rank."
Even Raiquen paused his gaze flicking to the smoke, where the two figures stood.
Ko.
Li.
Eliryn and Raiquen lowered their weapons, breath stilling. The dance between them broken.
Raiquen turned toward the rebels now flanking him.
Kirell Shadepetal, her silver dagger still gleaming with Shinrei.
Sil Vorrun, cloaked in whispering vines that trailed behind him like smoke his moniker whispered in taverns: The Whisperbloom.
Braggen Mossvale, towering and slow-breathing. His skin glowed faintly with Taishin sigils pulsing beneath the surface his Bloom affinity weak, but fused through force with his own body.
Therys Nolemire, silent, eyes sharp, palms marked with sealing glyphs.
Five rebels. Scarred by the past. Hardened by betrayal.
Raiquen narrowed his eyes.
"Tsk… Ko. Li!!"
The two didn't flinch.
Ko, calm and tall as ever, took one step forward. The very grass curled away from his boots wilting not from poison, but memory.
"Raiquen… It's time for you to stop this."
"Stop?"
Raiquen's voice dropped. Bitter.
"You still think I'm that kid you beat two years ago?"
He extended his hand.
The ground cracked beneath him.
"Echo Art: Vine Flame!"
Crimson vines laced with embers erupted around him, twisting with Shinrei and fire, blooming out of the very earth as if the soil itself had turned against the zone.
Ko didn't hesitate.
A ripple of water bloomed beneath his feet.
"Echo Art: Water Vine."
His vines surged upward blue and glistening, coiling with sharp petals, slicing through the burning crimson ones like a blade through smoke. The vines collided midair—fire and water clashing in a burst of vapor.
Steam blanketed the clearing.
Li finally stepped forward.
The wind shifted.
She swept a hand outward petals curling through the air like blades. Her eyes, calm and unreadable, fixed on Raiquen.
"You never understood, Rai," she said, voice soft as falling ash.
"We didn't betray you. We protected you."
Raiquen growled.
"By lying to me? The ritual!!!"
Therys, from behind Raiquen, murmured:
"They were always watching us. Waiting. Like farmers watching their crops grow ripe."
The five rebels moved slowly, like seasoned predators circling prey, surrounding the two Shadow Guards Ko and Li with eerie calm.
Braggen Mossvale, the massive man, cracked his shoulders with a sound like splintering bark. Steam rose from his breath, nostrils flaring as his taishin-infused bulk shifted forward, vines trailing along the ground like lazy snakes. The very air seemed to pulse with the strange bloom of tension earth, smoke, and Shinrei energy threading through the wind.
Ceyla snarled, eyes flashing.
"Hey, don't turn your back on me!!"
She lunged forward her blade already raised toward Kirell Shadepetal, the silver-haired rogue who had been her opponent just moments before.
But a firm arm shot out across her chest Khael.
"No. Don't move… not now," he said quietly, eyes locked not on the fight, but on the patterns forming around them.
Ceyla turned her face to him, breath hot and ragged.
"What are you sayin—"
Before she could finish, Khael leaned in, his lips brushing her ear, voice low and urgent beneath the chaos.
"Let me analyze this first. Something's wrong with this village. The air, the timing, the silence from the crowd—it's not just a coincidence that they got accused on something but no one's reacting. Something is off. Just this once, Ceyla… please. Trust me."
She clenched her jaw. Her knuckles tightened around the hilt of her dagger. Her pride itched like fire. But the cold logic in his tone and the chill creeping up her spine made her pause.
"Tsk…"
Across the clearing, the air shimmered.
Ko stood at the center, calm and focused. Water vines swirled around his arms—fluid like blades, moving in smooth, deliberate arcs. His breathing matched his stance—measured, controlled.
Just behind him stood Li.
Petals spun around her in the wind sharp-edged and beautiful. Her Shinrei aura shaped the air itself, forming thin, slicing gusts. This was Wind Bloom at its purest form elegant, but deadly.
Ko's voice broke the silence. Calm. Firm.
"Raiquen… don't force this."
Across from him, Raiquen Veylthorn sneered. His crimson cloak flared like a living flame.
"Force what? My own freedom?"
He snapped his fingers.
"Echo art: Vines Ember."
From the ground beneath him, flaming red vines shot upward each one tipped with fire and laced with Shinrei energy. They spun outward in a wide circle, forming a burning web that aimed to trap and scorch everything inside. Smoke rose with them, curling into shapes that looked like blooming roses.
Ko didn't flinch. He stepped forward, raising his palm.
Water Shinrei pulsed from his hand.
"Echo art: Aqua Bind."
At his feet, puddles of water surged upward. They hardened into blue-white water vines, clashing with Raiquen's flaming web in midair. Steam burst between them. The fire hissed. The water cracked. A thick fog of mist began to fill the space between both sides.
But Raiquen wasn't finished.
His arm lifted veins glowing red, Shinrei marks spreading from shoulder to fingertips.
"Let me show you what your teachings really created."
Then he spoke the name of his final move.
"Echo Art: Bloombrand Explosion!"
A violent pulse of Shinrei exploded from his chest.
BOOM.
Even Braggen the martial arts of the rebels stumbled backward, surprised by the shockwave.
Around Raiquen, fire and Shinrei energy erupted in petals, like a flower blooming in reverse blazing outward instead of inward. The entire clearing shook beneath the force.
To be continue