CHAPTER 52: TEVIN’S ENLIGHTENMENT

"Why?" Professor David whispered.

Merek didn’t turn to face him, his voice quiet but resolute. "At level 20, you stop leveling through essence alone. From then on, you must meet certain conditions to ascend. Entering that forest..." he glanced toward the distant white glow through the trees "might be the only way I can fulfill that requirement. I’ll return once I’m done."

"What if you die?" David asked, his voice sharp with desperation.

"I won’t." Merek’s reply came like steel, short and final. He didn’t need to convince anyone. He just needed to survive.

A moment of silence passed, then Nero stepped forward, his voice cutting through the still night. "Let’s stay here."

The group, which had once numbered 102, now stood at 97, 98 if Professor David was counted, and a full hundred if Felicity, Tevin, and Merek were included.

A hundred people moving through a silent street was no small thing. The collective shuffling of shoes against cracked asphalt echoed ominously, each step loud enough to be heard by any mutant lurking a mile away. In this new world, even breath was a weapon. Too much of it, and you brought death to your doorstep.

Nero pointed toward a looming building just ahead, its sign barely legible in the flickering torch light of Everburn. The words were clear for his enhanced eyesight.

Charlie’s Total Fitness.

Recognition lit in Fred’s eyes. "This... This was one of the biggest gyms in Blue Star City," she murmured. "Its founder was one of the richest men in the world. What’s a franchise doing way out here?"

"Making money, what else," Nero muttered. "I’ll go check."

He stepped up to the double glass doors and gave the handles a push. To his surprise, they opened with a low creak. Not locked. That was either a good sign, or a bad one.

He took a cautious step inside. The smell hit first: old sweat, rotting flesh, mildew. He raised the Everburn torch high, its warm orange glow spilling across exercise machines, dumbbells scattered across the floor, shattered mirrors, and...

"Guys!" he shouted, voice strangled.

Inside, roughly two dozen zombies turned their heads. These weren’t the average infected, they were gym-goers, muscular builds preserved beneath rotting skin. Every inch of them was bloated with decaying muscle mass, twitching as if remembering old workouts.

Before Nero could retreat, the door behind him burst open.

Thud... clink... thud... clink...

The metallic rhythm of the armoured wraiths announced itself. Yuki appeared, helm glowing eerily in the dark, followed by the Vultures, Merek’s undead knights, moving like hunters set loose.

They tore through the gym.

Yuki didn’t stop walking. Her blade flashed in her hand, slicing through zombie skulls as if they were paper. With uncanny precision, she split heads down the middle, severing life with every motion.

Behind her, the Vultures struck with brutal force. Chains whipped through the air, wrapping around thick necks and pulling tight, too tight, until the chains cut clean through flesh and bone.

One zombie tried to charge at Yuki. She simply twisted her wrist. The head fell before the body hit the ground.

It was carnage. Swift and horrifying.

In under a minute, the gym floor was drenched in gore. Limbs twitched on treadmills, and walls dripped with what was once blood but now looked more like black tar.

Without a word, Yuki and the Vultures walked back out, not sparing a glance at Nero.

He stood there in shock, hand over his mouth, taking deep, steady breaths to keep his stomach from revolting.

And still, the blood hadn’t finished dripping from the walls.

While the rest of the group busied themselves inside the gym, scrubbing bloodstains from the tiles, dragging corpses out the back door, and fetching water from the bathroom sinks, Merek stood outside beneath the weak silver light of the moon.

Beside him was Professor David, seated and leaning against the wall, and Tevin, who cradled the duplicated Blazing Inferno crossbow in his hands.

Up above them, Felicity sat quietly atop the gym’s roof, her legs pulled in close as she gazed at the star-studded sky. Her silhouette was still, but her presence was anything but calm. A complicated light flickered in her eyes as she listened, unseen.

Tevin turned the crossbow over in his hands, visibly impressed by the craftsmanship. "Master Weaver, why don’t I—"

"My name is Merek," came the reply, sharp and grudging.

Merek didn’t look up. He was squatting beside David, his voice cool but edged. "Only my knights call me by that title."

Tevin blinked. "Ah, I didn’t mean—"

"And no," Merek continued, lifting his gaze at last, golden eyes meeting Tevin’s. "You’re not getting the Blazing Inferno."

The smile on Tevin’s face faded.

Merek stood slowly, brushing dust from his palm. "Sometimes, I feel like you’re holding back. Fighting beneath your real potential."

Tevin straightened slightly, confused at the sudden lecture.

"The skill you got from that Type One we killed... it allows you to manipulate bone, doesn’t it?" Merek asked flatly. "But so far, all I’ve seen you do is form a spear."

Tevin opened his mouth but couldn’t find a reply.

Merek stepped closer, his voice dropping, sharp as a blade. "You’re built for defense. Area control. You’re a wall in the middle of a battlefield and yet, you’re trying to fight like a spearman. Charging forward. Always attacking. You’ve made yourself less effective... and less relevant."

The truth of it hit like a hammer. Tevin’s grip on the crossbow slackened slightly.

"You don’t need to thrust that spear into every enemy," Merek went on. "When you’re stronger, you can break their bones from the inside. Snap their ribs. Shatter their legs. They don’t need you to stab holes through them to be beaten. Just make them helpless."

From a short distance away, Fred, who had been keeping an eye on the perimeter, shuddered slightly at the words.

Above them, Felicity’s sharp gaze didn’t waver. A strange, unreadable emotion swirled in her chest as she listened to Merek speak.

"Use a shield, too," Merek added. "With your physique, with your Job... you’re wasting your talent by not using one."

Tevin stood there like a student in a moment of rare clarity. Like a man suddenly seeing the battlefield from above.

Professor David turned his head slightly. "He’s a knight?" he asked, a bit surprised.

Merek gave a curt nod.

David looked up at Tevin. "Then why haven’t you been using a shield?"

Tevin’s response was a quiet, shame-filled dip of the head.

Merek let it sit for a second before turning back to David. "So... I’ll leave it to you. You decide who gets the Blazing Inferno. Tomorrow morning, I’ll head out to get food and, more importantly, a wheelchair for you."

David gave a quiet chuckle, nodding. "Don’t bring back one with pink wheels."

Just then, Nero emerged from the gym, wiping his brow with his sleeve. "We’re done," he said. "Gym’s cleared. As clean as it’ll ever be."

As Tevin, Fred, and Felicity made their way inside to see the new safe zone, Merek pushed himself to his feet, brushing his hands together.

He was about to follow them when David’s voice stopped him.

"I heard about you and Felicity," the old man said casually. "Back at the cafeteria."

Merek’s steps halted.

"The accusation. Honestly, I haven’t heard of anyone touching her so I was quite shocked," David said, eyes half-closed. "She’s sharp. Strong. Beautiful, too. I guess even someone like you isn’t immune to that."

Merek froze.