The night dragged on without sleep. Arden and his party stayed sharp, watching from the windows of their inn and taking turns patrolling nearby alleys.

Greyhold itself was restless, double guards walked the streets, their armor clinking under torchlight. Elemental users, hired from the outlands with heavy coin, moved in small units, faces tense. People whispered from shuttered windows, waiting for a strike that never came.

By dawn, Arden's frown had already settled. "It's too quiet," he muttered as they gathered around a table in the inn's backroom. "They want us tense. Distracted."

Nyra leaned forward. "Then we don't wait for them. We move."

Rael stretched, cracking his knuckles. "About time. I was starting to think the Creed ran dry."

Zephyra gave a low growl that rumbled in her chest, smoke curling faintly from her jaws. Arden placed a hand on her flank, steady but firm. "We do it clean. As a small group, covering ground. No fuss."

Their plan was simple, sweep through Greyhold quietly, stall by stall, house by house. They would split when needed, but stay close enough to regroup if something snapped. Suspicion was their torch.

The investigation began before most of the town stirred.

They questioned merchants who still dared open their stalls. Some gave quick answers, eyes darting nervously. A few whispered about strange faces in the night, cloaked figures carrying crates through alleys. Others refused to talk until Rael's lightning crackled close enough to make their courage bend. Arden himself met the two Creed members he had spared once before.

"You again," he said, voice calm but sharp enough to cut.

They dropped their gaze immediately, trembling. "We know nothing this time. Nothing," one stammered.

Arden's eyes lingered, then narrowed. He believed them. He could tell they weren't lying with his life sense which was alert to emotion. "Then be useful when it matters," he said, turning his back. Their shiver followed him.

It wasn't wasted effort, though. Piece by piece, patterns began to show. Homes with curtains always shut. Stalls where the goods never matched the records. Families too quiet, as if someone pressed their silence with coin or threat.

And then, Arden caught it.

That strange ripple in the air, faint but sharp against his instincts.

He moved fast, blade flashing, and within moments two hybrids were dead at his feet.

Their bodies twitched unnaturally before going still.

"Inside the town already," Arden muttered, wiping his blade. "Damn."

He knew the spies would notice soon. Their hunt would not stay hidden for long. He signaled his group to move faster.

But speed wasn't enough.

A deep BOOM! rattled through Greyhold, shaking dust from roofs. Arden's head snapped toward the sound. "Center of town."

He was already running. His party followed close, feet pounding against stone.

What they found was chaos.

A band of hybrids stormed through the square, scattering stalls and tearing through canopies.

Fire spilled from their mouths, claws raked stone walls, and one hurled a wooden cart aside with a crack of splinters.

People screamed, children pulled away by frantic mothers.

The guards rushed in, their weapon clashing against warped limbs. Elemental mages shouted their spells, fire and earth clashing against the hybrids' frenzy. But the number was overwhelming.

Arden's party broke into the fray without hesitation. His presence alone steadied the panic.

"Fall back!" one guard shouted as he spotted him. "Give them space!"

Arden's aura burst out mid-battle.

A pulse of his life energy swept across the square, a wave of warmth that seeped into the wounded fighters. Gashes knit shut, bleeding slowed, strength returned to tired limbs. The relic's dormant power had finally been called, and the effect was immediate.

"What—?!" A soldier stared at his healed arm in disbelief.

"Fight!" Arden barked, his shield already forming as he unleashed Lotus Fang's second stage. Translucent petals of energy spread around the defenders, coating them like armor. "You're covered. Now push forward."

The guards rallied with renewed vigor.

Shouts filled the air, no longer panicked but fierce.

Rael spun through two hybrids, his punches moving fast across their heads in one fluid motion. "Hah! Now we're talking."

Nyra's ice cracked against the ground, sending ripples of frost to trip the beasts. Her attacks flowed like a tide, precise and relentless.

Zephyra lunged, her cerulean flames biting through flesh as her roar shook the square.

Arden himself moved like a storm. Every swing of his blade crashed with fire, and shockwaves scattering the hybrids that dared rush him.

BAM! CRACK! WHOOOSH!

The sound of combat thundered, but the tide turned quickly.

With Arden shielding them and his party weaving seamlessly into the battle line, the hybrids were cut down one by one, given no room to rise again.

From the rooftops, elders of Greyhold watched in silence.

They had heard the tales, but seeing it for themselves was another matter.

The discipline, the synergy, the sheer pressure of Arden's group, it was unlike anything Greyhold had mustered before.

When the last hybrid fell smoldering on the stone, a hush rolled through the square.

Fighters leaned on their weapons, breaths heavy, eyes turning toward Arden with something close to awe.

But not all gazes were so simple. One elder, standing with arms crossed, let a faint smirk touch his lips. And then,

BOOOOM.

The ground quaked as a heavy pressure rippled through the square, thicker than before.

It wasn't the wild, unstable aura of the earlier hybrids. This one was sharp, focused, and stable.

The crowd stiffened. While some fighters took unsteady steps back as the weight bore down on them.

Arden's jaw tightened. He didn't know what was coming yet, but every instinct screamed louder than before.

This wasn't over. Not even close.

A/N:

Please vote for me with Powerstones, and Golden Tickets.

Also, Send Gifts to encourage my creation, and for better updates.

Please also Engage by leaving Comments and Reviews. Your reviews and interactions are very important for my growth!!

Thanks for the support thus far.🔥

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.