Chapter 3

"Brothers... please, stop!"

Cassianne's shrill cry pierced the air.

She clutched her chest with both hands, a trail of dark blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

"It wasn't Seraphina's fault! It was me... I absorbed too much of the Vein's power at once. My body couldn't handle it... Hurry, pull her out of there!"

She lunged toward the rim of the Rot Pool, staging a desperate attempt to jump in.

Four figures materialized in an instant.

Alaric scooped her into his arms. The other three High Lords immediately threw up a shield, blocking the noxious fumes three full paces away from Cassianne.

They wouldn't risk even a single drop of acid staining her dress.

"Don't touch the water, Cassianne," the Fourth Lord told her, his voice sickeningly gentle. "Seraphina is a Guardian. A little acid won't kill her. But you have a mortal's constitution—a single drop would melt right through to your bones."

"You're far too kind." The Second Lord glared down at me with pure venom. "She sabotaged you, and yet the first thing you do when you wake up is beg for her life. This vicious bitch only wants you dead."

Alaric raised a hand, wiping the blood from Cassianne's lips with excruciating tenderness.

"Go back inside, Cassianne. We'll stay by your side until the Vein is fully integrated into your body. Once your foundation is stable, no one will ever lay a finger on you again."

Having pacified his precious pet, he turned his gaze down to me, still submerged in the Rot Pool. "Seraphina is a Guardian. This acid won't kill her."

His eyes instantly dropped to absolute zero as he snapped out an order.

"Guards, set the perimeter. Seal the edge of the pool. Let her rot in the acid until sunset. If she wants to live, she'd better hand over the unbinding rune."

They turned on their heels, practically carrying Cassianne away in a protective cluster.

Over her shoulder, Cassianne shot me a glance. Her fake tears hadn't even dried, but the corners of her mouth slowly curled upward, flashing me a smirk of absolute, triumphant malice.

Agony. The kind of bone-deep, soul-tearing agony that defied logic.

Fighting off a wave of dizziness, I reached out to grab the side of the pool. My fingertips had barely brushed the ledge—

A pike drove mercilessly through my shoulder blade, slamming me right back into the bubbling green depths.

"Get back down." The guard sneered down at me, pressing his weight into the shaft of the pike. "Lord Guardian? Please. You're nothing but an empty husk now. Stop acting high and mighty."

The cruel metal was lodged firmly in my flesh.

I was still in my Molting Phase.

Stripped of my Vein and submerged in lethal acid... for me, this wasn't just punishment. It was a death sentence.

The air was growing thin. The crushing weight of the pike made it impossible to breathe.

I stopped fighting. Slowly, I released my grip on the submerged wall.

My bones let out a series of sickening cracks. My limbs began to shrink uncontrollably. The sharp, elegant tips of my elven ears rounded off. Stripped of magic, I couldn't even maintain my adult form, forced to regress into my most vulnerable, infantile state.

I sank to the bottom of the pool.

Through the murky green filter, I could faintly hear the guards chatting above.

"She stopped moving. You think she's dead?"

"Good riddance if she is. Once Lady Cassianne finishes absorbing the Vein, she'll be the new Guardian. The Enclave doesn't need a broken piece of trash anyway."

My consciousness began to fray.

Just as I was about to slip into the permanent dark, the temperature plummeted. An oppressive, terrifying aura of death blanketed the air.

A pair of strong hands hoisted me from the muck.

The stranger's energy was dark, ancient, and utterly feral—reeking of fresh blood and deep shadows.

I forced my heavy eyelids open, catching a single glimpse of piercing, crimson eyes staring back at me. The eyes of the Abyss.

And then, everything faded to black.

.....

The four High Lords approached the Rot Pool side by side. Now that Cassianne's condition had stabilized, they had finally remembered that I was still chained to the bottom of the acid pit.

"The sun has set." Alaric frowned slightly. "After a punishment like that, she ought to have learned her lesson by now."

He raised a hand, dispelling the lockdown barrier.

The guards rushed out the acid. But the bottom of the pool was empty. I had vanished into thin air.

Alaric's pupils blew wide.

"Where is she?!" Enraged, he grabbed the day guard by the throat and slammed him brutally against the stone pillar. "I asked you a question! Where did she go?!"

The guard's face drained of color, his legs shaking violently. "H-High Lord... Not long after you left, she sank to the bottom and stopped moving... She's dead!"

"Bullshit!" The Fourth Lord's face turned livid. "She's a Guardian! There's no way she died that easily!"

Choking and rolling his eyes backward, the guard shrieked in absolute terror:

"Then—then a man broke into the pool! He didn't even flinch at the wards! He... he took her body! He took her away!"

The four High Lords froze. In a split second, the violent rage on their faces fractured, replaced by sheer, creeping panic.