Morning sun arrived over the land of Aris.
Under the faint glow of the early sunlight, the small inn plaza slowly came back to life.
Shopkeepers lifted their shutters, travelers stretched sore limbs, and the faint commotion of routine work filled the surroundings.
Ethan, Leila, and Maximus walked toward the meeting spot their group had decided on earlier, each of them was unusually silent.
Although their steps were steady, their thoughts were anything but that.
They were weighed down by everything they were not saying out loud.
A few seconds later, Katherine arrived, still half-asleep, rubbing her eyes as she walked.
Not long after, Desmond, Kara, and Galeion emerged from the different taverns where they had spent the night, gathering together at the familiar spot.
Katherine looked around at their faces and frowned. "What is with your expressions?" she asked, yawning openly. "Did someone die or what?"
Ethan kept quiet, his gaze fixed on the ground.
Leila exhaled slowly before answering. "Let Sera come first. I’ll explain everything in one shot."
Katherine blinked, confused, but said nothing.
A few minutes passed...
"I think Sera is still sleeping," Kara said, glancing toward the elven tavern. "She must be tired from the journey."
They waited....
Another half hour slipped by, the morning sun climbing higher...
An hour passed.
"I think we should wake her up," Desmond said, pulling out his pocket watch and checking the time again. "It’s been almost an hour."
Leila hesitated. "But how will we go inside? We tried last night. We were shouted at and cursed by the inn owners."
Katherine’s brows furrowed sharply. "Wait a minute," she said slowly. "Why were you guys searching for her last night?"
Ethan, Leila, and Maximus stiffened at the same time.
Sweat formed almost instantly on their brows.
Leila swallowed and spoke carefully. "The thing is... we were searching for all of you."
There was no turning back now.
Leila explained everything that had happened the previous night, from the moment they entered the inn to the ambush, the cultists, the sudden appearance of the Hounds, and the tracking spells. She did not skip a single detail.
By the time she finished, the expressions of the others had turned grim.
"So your empire’s special guards are now sitting inside that inn," Galeion said slowly, "ready to surround everyone?"
"Yeah," Ethan admitted, his voice low. "Guys, I don’t even know what to say anymore. I don’t know what we will do now. We were just hoping one of you knew how to remove tracking spells."
He paused, then added bitterly, "But looking at your faces... never mind."
Silence fell over the group.
Everyone frowned, the weight of the situation pressed down on them.
"Let’s just bring Sera first," Katherine said suddenly.
She straightened her posture, eyes firm. "Let us all go together. I’m sure the innkeeper won’t do shit if we surround him."
The group looked at her for a moment.
Then, one by one, they nodded.
Without wasting more time, they walked toward the elven inn.
Galeion instinctively moved to the front, his towering figure would create a sense of pressure, or so they thought.
The moment they stepped inside, several heads turned.
The elven innkeeper recognized Leila and Ethan immediately.
"You!!" he shouted angrily. "You are here again!!"
Every person seated at the tables turned to watch.
"Shut up," Galeion said calmly, his deep voice dismissing the innkeeper.
The innkeeper flinched.
"There is a traveler named Seraphine who came here last night," Galeion continued, his tone firm. "Tell us which room she is staying in."
The elven innkeeper glared at them with open malice. "There was no one who came here with that name!!"
The group’s expressions darkened.
"Was she staying under another name?" Maximus asked the group, trying one last angle.
He turned to the innkeeper and asked, "A brown-haired elven girl, brown eyes, did she come here?"
The innkeeper said nothing.
Realizing they were not getting anything without causing a scene, the group exchanged glances and walked back outside.
"What do we do now?" Kara asked, her voice tight.
Before anyone could answer, a sudden commotion pulled their attention.
From the periphery of the clearing, a man walked toward them.
He was flanked by two familiar figures.
Leila’s breath caught. "The Hounds," she muttered unconsciously.
Ethan and Maximus recognized them instantly as well.
Katherine, Kara, Desmond, and Galeion tensed the moment they felt the pressure radiating from the newcomers.
They knew who the Hounds were.
Everyone did.
The man stepped forward.
"Master Ethan, Master Maximus, Miss Leila," he said calmly. "I am number 5, one of the commanders of the Hounds Division."
He glanced around briefly. "My men have surrounded the area from all sides. I request the three of you to come with me to our camp until the situation here stabilizes."
The three freshers looked at each other.
Their expressions hardened.
"Please let them come with us," Ethan said, pointing toward Katherine, Desmond, Kara, and Galeion.
Number 5 studied them for a moment, then nodded. "Fine."
Katherine stepped forward and bowed respectfully. "Sir, I have a friend who went inside that elven tavern."
Her voice trembled slightly. "Can you help us find her?"
"Yes, please," Leila added quickly.
Number 5’s brows tightened behind the black mask. "Come with me. Your friend will be saved once we begin the purge."
*BOOM!*
A massive explosion thundered in the distance, shaking the ground beneath their feet.
Number 5, along with 35 and 36, stiffened instantly.
"What the hell?" Number 5 snapped. "That’s our base camp."
His hand rippled with the darkness element. "Shadow Blink."
Before anyone could react, he vanished; a few seconds later, 35 and 36 disappeared too.
Chaos erupted in the plaza.
The once-quiet clearing exploded into panic as people poured out of inns, screaming and running in all directions.
A translucent blue barrier rose around the area, sealing every exit and trapping everyone inside.
The group of freshers stood frozen, watching in shock.
In the sky above, they saw Number 5 clashing violently with a man wearing a blue military uniform similar to their own white uniforms, fighting with a cane that cracked the air with every swing.
Space rippled again.
Andrea, Yue Qinglan, and several race leaders emerged from a portal.
"Katherine!" Vivianne shouted.
Katherine ran forward instantly and hugged her mother tightly, relief flooding her face.
Galeion’s gaze met Rominus’s stern eyes, and he broke into a cold sweat.
Lord Ravenclaw appeared beside Leila. "Apple pie," he said gently, "why did you leave without telling your father?"
Leila pouted and turned her face away, refusing to meet his gaze no matter what he said.
Andrea walked toward Desmond and Kara. "Your father might arrive here soon," she said calmly. "He went to drop your sister back to your mother so that she doesn’t run away again like you."
Kara froze. "Wait... my sister ran away?"
Andrea nodded. "Just like you. She ran away to find someone."
Kara gulped. "How do you know we are here to find someone?"
Elsewhere, Klaus approached Ethan, sighing deeply. "Why do you not understand that you are not strong enough to clash with demons or cultists? at this point."
"There was a life at stake," Ethan replied firmly.
"Do you have the strength to save that life?" Klaus asked sharply. "Tell me, how is the training of the third form going?"
Ethan fumbled. "I... I haven’t started."
Klaus’s eyes narrowed. "Do you rem.."
A sharp, splitting blast sound shook the air.
"WHERE IS SERAPHINE?????"
The scream echoed with raw panic and rage.
Everyone froze.
Andrea turned.
Yue turned.
Marcus and Aurelius, who had been restraining Damian and Number 5 from clashing, turned too.
The panicking crowd fell silent as they felt invisible blades pressed against their necks.
Selena Sylvaris floated into the air.
Her brown eyes burned with fury, glowing brighter as her form slowly changed. Energy rolled off her in suffocating waves.
In front of her, the two-story elven tavern was split apart vertically.
An elven man lay twitching on the ground while the other elves ran away in terror.
The twitching man was the same inn owner who had chased Ethan and the others away.
Green Vines sprouted from the ground beneath him, and he was lifted into the air as the vines wound around his legs, and with a wave of Selena’s hands, his clothes were torn apart instantly by the vines before they flipped him over
A black demonic scar was revealed on his back.
Selena’s eyes burned with fury as realization struck her.
Her daughter had been kidnapped.