CHAPTER 462: CHAPTER 462 - NIGHT RAID [LL]

Mukhlis and Ayana watched as the D’Archy siblings began moving with quiet coordination, not a word of strategy exchanged, yet every motion synchronized as if they’d done this a thousand times before.

While on the outside, the faint tremor of distant roars echoed through the frozen wind.

"Mukhlis, you want to join?" Askara asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"No, I mean..." Mukhlis hesitated, his voice laced with unease. "Don’t you guys even worry? There’s a whole horde of beasts out there, and that mysterious cult too"

"Worried?" Askara repeated, then turned to his siblings. Their eyes met, silent but amused. A low chuckle escaped him.

"...Yeah," Askara said, the corner of his mouth curving upward. "I’m worried"

Mukhlis blinked. "Then-"

"I’m worried there won’t be enough beasts for us," Askara finished, laughing, tapping his chest where the Family Crest lay. In response, a katana materialized, its blade dark as night, streaked with a faint crimson glow."... C’mon. Let’s go greet our guests"

With that, he strode out into the cold night, his siblings falling in step behind him, soundless, confident, and deadly.

Mukhlis and Ayana exchanged a look before following, the frozen wind howling around them as they stepped into the storm.

---

As they stepped outside, the cold air bit against their skin, sharp, thin, and alive with tension. Erick stood waiting near the entrance, his composure steady but his eyes betraying unease.

"My Queen-"

"Tell everyone to prepare," Kiara cut in softly, her tone calm yet absolute. "We have a visitor. If they still wish to remain here, they’ll have to earn it through battle. I’ll give you five minutes at most"

Erick stiffened, then bowed deeply. "...As you command, my Queen." He turned on his heel and vanished into the camp, barking orders as he went.

Askara’s gaze followed him for a moment before he said quietly, "That’s enough." His tone shifted, not loud, but carrying the weight of command. "Let’s go meet our guest"

Litani’s lips curved in a faint grin as gold gauntlets shimmered into existence around her hands.

Anindha adjusted her stance, fingers tightening around her staff as faint threads of light coiled along its length.

Anggana sighed, the sound half irritation, half amusement, before pulling his blade from his spatial storage.

Kiara didn’t move, she merely nodded once, her eyes like frost. She didn’t need a weapon. She was the weapon.

--------

The ground began to tremble before they could even take a step forward.

A low, guttural roar rolled across the valley, then another, and another, until the air itself seemed to shudder under the sound.

From the treeline beyond the fortress walls, shapes began to emerge.

Eyes gleamed in the dark like scattered embers, dozens at first, then hundreds. The stench of blood and damp fur thickened the air.

"Guess that’s our visitor," Anggana muttered, resting his blade on his shoulder.

"More like a whole banquet," Litani added, cracking her knuckles as the mana in her gauntlets began to hum.

Anindha’s staff pulsed faintly, the air around her shimmering as protective sigils took form. "Their mana... It’s unstable. Something’s driving them mad"

Kiara’s expression hardened. "Then put them down"

Askara stepped forward, his katana gleaming faintly crimson beneath the dim light.

The wind shifted, quiet for a heartbeat, then... he smiled. "Looks like there’ll be enough beasts after all"

And with that, the horde roared and surged forward.

They erupted from the treeline in a wave of claws and fangs, shaking the earth beneath their charge. The howls of a thousand beasts drowned out the wind itself.

Kiara raised her hand.

The air dropped in an instant, breath crystallized, frost raced across the soil.

When she spoke, her voice was calm, cold, and absolute. "...Glacial Domain"

A torrent of snow and ice burst outward. In a heartbeat, the front line of beasts froze mid-charge, their roars silenced in crystalline death.

The ground turned white under her will, and every breath of mana she released carried the weight of winter itself.

Litani dashed past her sister with a smirk. Her gauntlets blazed with golden veins as she slammed into the frozen beasts, shattering them like glass.

Each strike sent shockwaves rippling through the air. She was pure motion, a storm of fists, her laughter echoing between the cracks of battle.

"You freeze ’em, I’ll break ’em!" she shouted, grinning wildly.

Behind them, Anindha planted her staff into the ground. A radiant sigil expanded beneath her feet, spiraling outward like a blooming star.

"... Blessing Field!"

The air shimmered. Mana flowed into her allies, amplifying their strength and mending wounds as fast as they came, if they came at all.

Within her circle, every step of her comrades felt lighter, faster... invincible.

Anggana strode forward, blade humming with verdant light. Roots erupted from the frozen earth, coiling around fallen beasts and draining their life essence in streams of emerald glow.

"Nature Cycle." His voice was calm, almost reverent, as vitality flowed into him. The roots twisted and lashed outward, impaling new enemies before they could reach the others.

Askara, meanwhile, stood motionless for a heartbeat amid the chaos, then moved. His katana gleamed crimson, thirsting.

"Blood Magic: Severance"

A crimson arc flashed, and dozens of beasts fell at once. Their blood rose into the air, swirling around him like ribbons before feeding back into his blade. His mismatched eyes glowed faintly as he stepped forward.

"Let’s make this quick," he murmured, and vanished into the horde. Every slash drew new trails of scarlet light, every motion precise, deliberate, and merciless.

Kiara extended her hand once more, her tone colder than before. "Absolute Zero"

The world went silent.

Frost swallowed the battlefield whole, a single, frozen breath of stillness, then shattered in a blinding explosion of ice and blood.

When the light faded, the ground was littered with frozen corpses.

Steam rose where ice met warm blood.

Askara exhaled, lowering his blade. "Well... guess I was right. There were enough beasts after all"

Litani snorted, cracking her knuckles. "You always say that"

Kiara turned toward the horizon, her eyes narrowing as the frost wind stirred her hair. "Don’t relax yet," she said quietly. "That was just the first wave"

--------

Behind them, right in front of the Gate, more than a hundred prospective students had gathered. Standing at the front were Erick, Mukhlis, and Ayana.

They were all frozen in place, not by fear of the horde of beasts, but by the sight before them.

Five figures stood against an army.

Laughter echoed louder than the beasts’ roars. The battlefield itself twisted, the terrain rising and falling like a living thing, the ground freezing solid in waves of frost. The beasts howled in frustration as pillars of crimson light flared, staining the white frost red.

"Are we... still needed?" Mukhlis asked quietly, his eyes wide, his voice barely more than breath.

No one answered.

Even Ayana, who had trembled at the first roar, now only stared, not in fear, but in something close to pity. A pity for the beasts.

"Well..." Erick exhaled, hand tightening on his sword. "Let’s do what we can"

He raised his weapon high, his voice ringing out despite the storm. "Everyone... attack!"

A ragged, uncertain chorus followed. "O-Ohh!"

They surged forward, but their steps faltered almost instantly because none of them truly knew who the enemy was anymore.

The beasts? Or the five monsters standing between them and the night.

--------

Far from where the battle raged, eleven figures stood upon a jagged ridge overlooking the frozen plain.

Each wore robes that concealed their entire bodies, their faces hidden beneath hoods and white masks, plain, featureless, save for the holes cut for their eyes. Yet each mask bore horns: seven with a single horn, three with two, and one, their leader, with three.

They watched the battlefield in silence, the distant flashes of crimson and frost reflected in their empty gazes.

"Chief," one of the one-horned members spoke hesitantly, his voice low but tense. "Should we still proceed with the plan? The D’Archy siblings are there"

"We should." The three-horned leader’s tone was calm, measured, but beneath it lingered an edge of exhaustion, and something colder.

"Rookie, do you have any idea how long we’ve waited for this moment?" he continued, turning slightly. "Thirteen years. Thirteen years since our last contact with Hell. The one above devoted everything to the creation of this academy, the cornerstone of the Great Plan. But with Hell’s silence... our purpose was left to rot"

He paused, glancing back toward the distant flashes of battle. "But now, that changes. We’ve received new information, one of the candidates possesses a unique power, one that could reveal what truly happened. This opportunity comes only once. We can’t afford to miss it"

One of the others shifted uneasily, their single horn catching the faint moonlight. "But look at them," he said, pointing toward the battlefield. "The D’Archy siblings... they’re fighting an entire horde like it’s child’s play. Are we really going through with this?"

"...Idiot," hissed one of the two-horned members. "That’s why we unleashed the beasts, to keep them busy. This move already risks exposing our higher-ups, but failure would be worse"

The three-horned leader turned slightly, his voice soft, almost reverent. "No matter what happens tonight... the plan must succeed... The Great Plan must not fail again"

"So we move now, Chief?" the two-horned figure asked, voice barely louder than the wind.

The three-horned leader hesitated, eyes fixed on the distant, glittering slaughter. "Not yet. It’s too soon"

He steepled his gloved fingers. "Let them tire themselves out first. Keep them busy until their breath thins, their limbs slow. Only after we’ve bled them dry do we move in... and take the girl"

A ripple of agreement passed through the masked ranks, but none of them smiled.

The leader’s tone was flat, final. "Even if they’re the D’Archy, fighting that many beasts will drain them. Patience. We strike when they are weakest"

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