Chapter 11

...⚠ Warning:...

...This chapter contains scenes of injury, destructions and distress. Reader discretion is advised....

...— Arcllumen...

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...𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍...

...𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙾 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙰𝙱𝚈𝚂𝚂: 𝚂𝙷𝙰𝙳𝙾𝚆 𝙾𝙵 𝙵𝙴𝙰𝚁 𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙿𝙾𝚆𝙴𝚁 𝚅...

ᴵᵐᵃᵍᵉ ⁷• ᶜʳᵉᵈⁱᵗᵉᵈ ᵗᵒ ᴾⁱⁿᵗᵉʳᵉˢᵗ•

꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭ ⭑꒷꒦꒷꒦︶꒷꒦︶ ๋ ࣭

"Found it!" Matthew spoke, his voice low but with a trace of relief as he reached the corner of the school hallway. After minutes of pursuit, they had finally found the Hexed they had been tracking.

Chugar, who had followed closely behind, stopped near him, her sharp eyes scanning the scene. "Seems it can't run anymore," she said, casting a glance at the path they had just taken. "And we even finished off the small Hexed who tried to block us."

Turning her gaze back to the massive Mutadaptive Hexed ahead, the high school girl trapped in its grasp clung to its twisted body. This time, however, it seemed as though the Hexed was fully intent on consuming her—an overwhelming hunger evident in its every movement.

"Shit!" Matthew swore under his breath, his mind racing. The Hexed plans to eat her whole, he thought, a surge of urgency flooding him.

He exchanged a fleeting, silent thought with Chugar, both understanding the grim reality. I won’t make it in time, Matthew realized, his eyes wide. The Hexed was too far, the space too wide, and the girl’s life hung in the balance.

The scene before him felt distant, his mind dark and quiet as the weight of the situation pressed down on him. Then, unbidden, a string of memories flashed through his mind.

...°❀⋆.ೃ࿔.*:･･:*.ೃ࿔.⋆❀°°❀⋆.ೃ࿔.*:･･:*.ೃ࿔.⋆❀°...

"You're stubborn and short-tempered, you know that?"

"No one checks on you except for me. You said you didn't want to end up like me, remember?"

"Well, I know it's true but—"

...°❀⋆.ೃ࿔.*:･･:*.ೃ࿔.⋆❀°°❀⋆.ೃ࿔.*:･･:*.ೃ࿔.⋆❀°...

The fragmented thoughts were cut short by the sudden crash of a window. "Thornhold!" Matthew shouted, startled by the unexpected arrival of Yuri.

With lightning speed, Yuri leaped into the fray, his body breaking through the window with ease. His swift motion sent a powerful blow to the Mutadaptive Hexed, knocking it off balance. In one smooth motion, he grabbed Mark and Jane, pulling them from the Hexed’s grasp.

As he landed, still holding Jane effortlessly in his arms, Yuri got his first full look at the creature. The Hexed's body was twisted and grotesque, resembling a massive frog, its skin bulging with worms, and its numerous eyes staring vacantly. ‘I guess my grandfather’s death was a more honorable fate than this kind of disgusting death,’ Matthew thought bitterly.

Yuri straightened up, still holding Jane as if she weighed nothing. Sweat dotted his forehead as he surveyed the creature, disbelief in his eyes. "Is this... a Hexed?" he muttered, his voice tinged with awe. He had never seen anything like it before.

Matthew, his focus sharpening, moved. This time, the Hexed was no longer holding victims, and he could act freely. With a decisive leap, his glowing hand struck, delivering a fatal blow. The Mutadaptive Hexed crumpled under the force of his attack, completely defeated.

A sigh of relief escaped Matthew as he turned to face Yuri, noticing that Chugar had disappeared from the scene. ‘Where could she have gone?’ He thought, but didn’t dwell on it—he knew she could handle herself.

His gaze fell on Yuri, who stood there, still carrying Jane with ease. "I’d like to ask why you didn’t follow my orders," Matthew began, but then paused. "Nice assist though," he added, surprising himself with the rare praise.

Yuri, still processing the chaotic events, glanced at Matthew. "What’s with the praise?" he asked, a hint of confusion in his voice as he turned his attention to the defeated Hexed being devoured by two ancient beasts.

"And what's up with those dogs?" Yuri continued, his tone laced with indifference as he eyed the creatures.

‘He saw them as dogs?’ Matthew thought, his expression growing serious. ‘Melisylva thinks they're terrifying.’

Matthew followed Yuri’s gaze, his tone casual as he spoke. "Those are ancient beasts. They're bound to me." He paused, and then, as if struck by a sudden realization, added seriously, “So, you can see them, huh?”

Yuri blinked at him, a completely dumbfounded expression plastered on his face. He looked at Matthew like he'd just spoken in a foreign language. “...Huh?”

Matthew watched him quietly, his serious gaze never leaving Yuri’s face. Then, he sighed and explained, his tone patient yet firm. "Normally, a Hexed Mutant can’t be seen by ordinary humans. Unless you’ve touched a Dread Relic or an object enchanted with Hexcraft. The energy from those objects connects you to the Hexed."

He paused, observing Yuri’s blank stare, then added with a hint of frustration, "I thought maybe you could see them because you touched a Dread Relic. But my logic doesn’t fit—you can see the beasts I summon too."

"Thornhold, do you have a bloodline connected to the Hexhunters?" he asked, his tone serious, his eyes speaking volumes.

"Huh?" Yuri, pale and dumbfounded, stared at him, clearly not understanding the jargon. ‘Dread Relics...? Hexcraft...? Hexhunters...?’ he wondered, his thoughts a jumble. ‘What does that even mean?’ His face, caught in confusion, looked almost comical.

Matthew simply stood there in silence, watching him, — "..."

Yuri, still carrying Jane, straightened up, his posture firm but still processing what he had just heard. "So that’s how it is," he muttered, as if everything was starting to make sense. "I haven't seen anything like that before."

Matthew studied him for a long moment before speaking again, his voice almost soft. "But it seems you show no fear," he said, his gaze piercing. "Interesting."

Yuri’s face darkened, his expression a mixture of gloom and amusement, as if Matthew’s assumptions were completely off. “You see,” he began, his voice almost ironic, “I’m also afraid.” He chuckled a little, the words coming out strangely lighthearted. “Humans can die pretty easily in situations like this, you know?”

Matthew, not catching the shift in Yuri's tone, gave him a poker face—one that somehow didn't match his handsome features. “What?”

Yuri looked down at Jane, still resting in his arms, his gaze softening as he spoke. "Maybe that's why I acted. So the people I know can have a proper death." He paused, brows furrowing as he tried to make sense of his own actions. “But… I don’t understand why I did it.”

Matthew gave a short "Oh..." in response, distracted by something that had fallen to the floor. His eyes narrowed as he immediately recognized it.

"The thing you’ve been looking for," Yuri said, adjusting Jane on his shoulder while picking up the object.

"Right," Matthew replied, his voice flat.

Yuri studied the Dread Relic in his hand. It was a sharp, black flesh with veins of red light pulsing through it. Shadows seemed to move around it unnaturally, and a low, eerie hum emanated from it, sending an unsettling chill through the air.

Matthew, still focused on the object, spoke from behind him. "It holds immense power. That's why Hexed, from the low-class to the highest, are desperate to possess the remnants of it." He paused, his voice growing more serious. "After all, it was a flesh of the fearsome ‘Coined Face King.’"

Yuri's brow furrowed in confusion. "Coined-faced?" He pictured a round, chubby face as the Hexed King, and a smirk tugged at his lips. The thought made him snicker, imagining a pudgy king with a giant, shiny coin for a face.

Matthew sighed, clearly unamused by Yuri’s imagination. "Even if I explained, you wouldn't understand." He raised his hand in a dismissive gesture. "Hand it over. It’s dangerous."

"Yeah, yeah," Yuri replied lazily, handing it over without a second thought.

Just as Yuri passed the Dread Relic to Matthew, a massive hand broke through the ceiling, reaching for the Dread Relic. The air cracked with the sound of destruction, but Matthew noticed it in time. His calm voice rang out, giving a command to his beasts. “Nyx, Solis, move!”

The two wolves reacted instantly, darting to Yuri’s side and pulling him away from the spot just as the ceiling collapsed. Yuri barely had time to react, his world turning into a blur of dust and rubble as he was dragged by the wolves, his hoodie clutched tightly in their jaws.

He couldn’t see Matthew through the chaos of the crash, the air thick with debris. The sounds of shifting stone and the growls of the wolves were the only things he could hear.

Once the dust settled, and Yuri found himself on solid ground again, with the two unconscious seniors in front him, he yelled out, his voice filled with both urgency and dread. "Ferroniger!" His gaze snapped in front of him as he remembered his surname. His throat tightened, a surge of worry flooding him. The damage to the school’s hallway was undeniable, and it was clear that they had narrowly escaped something far worse.

𝓣𝓸 𝓫𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓮𝓭...

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