CHAPTER 160: RECKONING

"I’m looking forward to destroying it," I said quietly, my boot still pressing against Ezekiel’s throat as I savored the flicker of terror in his eyes.

I hadn’t expected to end up here, of all places—this supposed graveyard of the enemy. In my mind, I had pictured something far less convenient: appearing in the middle of a crowd of their warriors, claws and blades raised, a fight waiting to explode the moment I showed myself. But that wasn’t the case.

Instead, I’d landed here, in this chamber steeped in oil-lamp shadows and stale earth, surrounded not by living foes but by their unholy anchor.

The realization hit me like a slow-burning fuse.

This wasn’t just luck; it was an opportunity.

And what an opportunity it was.

The graveyard was the heart of their strength.

Every rune, every staff crowned with a skull, every mound of disturbed soil existed to cheat death—to pull their warriors back from the void, piece by piece, no matter how brutal the end I gave them.

Destroying it now, before they understood what I was capable of, would tilt the scales completely.

From this moment forward, any goblin I cut down would stay dead. No more clawing back from graves.

No more second chances.

It was, without question, the best place I could have appeared in.

And I intended to make the most of it.

I lifted my boot from Ezekiel’s neck and stepped back, glancing toward Ariel.

"Watch him."

She let out a dramatic sigh and rolled her eyes like she couldn’t be bothered, but I saw the way her ears twitched—the way the blue flames around her body stirred. She was already moving before I finished the gesture, her padded steps soft against the stone as she stalked over to the squirming goblin.

Ezekiel, freed from my weight, gasped and coughed, clutching his throat like air itself had betrayed him. But the moment he could breathe again, he did the one thing I expected: he tried to run.

He scrambled up, half-crawling, half-limping, a strangled cry for help spilling from his mouth.

Ariel didn’t even flinch.

With a blur of motion, she pounced, one paw slamming into his back with a force that flattened him to the ground. Her claws didn’t draw blood—yet—but her aura surged like a wave of heat, the blue flames around her dancing violently as her anger took shape.

"Don’t test me, goblin," she growled, her voice low and steady, a predator’s promise buried beneath each word. "I’m not as lenient as your friend here. I will burn you to ash before you get your second breath."

Ezekiel froze beneath her paw, his body shuddering as the heat singed the edges of his panic. Then his eyes flicked toward me—wide, desperate—just as I began walking toward the graves.

My blade was already unsheathed, the metal whispering against the scabbard as I dragged it free. I wasn’t rushing. Every step was measured. Deliberate.

"Stop! Don’t—don’t do it!" he stammered, his voice cracking as he twisted under Ariel’s weight. "If you destroy this place... you and your clan will regret it! Do you hear me? You don’t know what you’re doing!"

I paused mid-step and glanced back over my shoulder, watching the fear bloom fresh in his eyes.

Ariel let out a harsh laugh and dug her claws a little deeper into his back, not enough to break skin—but enough to make him feel it.

"You still have the balls to talk?!" she snapped.

I froze, caught off guard by what the fox had just said.

Did she just say... balls?

My head tilted slightly as I stared at her. I could’ve sworn she didn’t understand that kind of speech. Not the slang. Not the nuance. Had she pieced it together just by listening to me use it? From context alone?

I furrowed my brow, unsure whether I should be impressed or concerned. Just how smart was she?

But I shook the thought off with a quiet breath. It didn’t matter right now. What mattered was the graveyard—the pit of this clan’s power—and I needed to destroy it before anything else.

I stepped forward, stopping at the edge of one of the graves, and tightened my grip on Gravefang.

Its hilt was cold in my hand, but the moment I willed it, my class skill surged to life.

[Rift Annihilation]

A deep hum tore through the air as void energy rushed into the blade, spiraling along its length in jagged streaks of black and violet. The energy didn’t just shimmer—it warped the air around it, bending light, distorting sound. Like the world itself was recoiling.

I could feel its weight in my arms—not heavy in a physical sense, but in its sheer force. It wanted to tear loose, to erupt outward without control. The pressure of it made my fingers twitch, my forearms tighten. If I let it flow freely, I knew exactly what would happen. The cavern would collapse.

So I did the only thing I could—I compressed it.

With immense focus, I forced the power down, holding it inside like a dam straining to contain a flood.

The void energy clawed at the edges of my control, begging to be unleashed fully, but I kept it tight, compressed, focused into the blade.

And then, with a slow exhale, I swung.

The slash wasn’t wild—it was deliberate, precise. I angled it low, aiming to cut across as many graves as possible in a single arc.

The void surged forward in a crescent of pure destruction, howling through the chamber like a rift in reality itself. It struck the graves with a concussive blast, the impact sending a shockwave through the stone that made the very air quake.

The explosion thundered through the chamber. Dust and smoke billowed instantly, swallowing everything in a gray veil.

When it cleared, I saw the result.

Five graves—obliterated.

Gone.

Splintered staffs, shattered bones, and craters in the stone where the earth had once been sacred to them.

Ezekiel screamed behind me, his voice raw and cracking with disbelief.

"No! Stop—please! You don’t have to do this!"

I didn’t turn around.

"You can join us!" he shouted, more desperate now. "You’re strong. Stronger than any of us. Our chief—he’d accept you. We need someone like you. Just stop—"

I tuned him out.

I stepped forward again, raising Gravefang once more, the void still thrumming through it like a restrained roar. With another controlled swing, I carved through what remained.

Six more graves erupted into rubble, ripped apart in a single sweep of annihilation.

Only one remained now.

And even that last grave was...