Although Asher understood that the True Awakening was a trial of survival, he had no intention of spending the entire duration in retreat. Constantly fleeing for six hours would leave him on the defensive, offering no tactical advantage, a risk far too great to ignore.
With that thought, the moment his feet touched the ground, he propelled himself forward, slicing through the air as his form surged in the direction from which the arrow had been fired.
His eyes narrowed, and his senses sharpened, scanning through the swirling smoke and lingering flames from the explosion.
Though darkness veiled the entire forest, Asher saw everything within his Omni Perception with crystal clarity, each detail illuminated as if under the midday sun. Beyond the bounds of his Omni Perception, his vision subtly adjusted to the shadows, adapting seamlessly to the natural gloom.
Pain flared violently from his wound, a searing explosion across his nerves, but Asher paid it no mind. His focus had narrowed to a singular, all-consuming intent: Kill.
Within the range of his Omni Perception, two figures emerged. One, a nimble archer, was already vaulting toward another tree. The other surged forward, daggers gleaming in hand, closing the distance with deadly intent.
’Assassins,’ Asher thought coldly.
As the dagger-wielding assassin lunged forward, his blade snapped toward Asher’s eyes, gleaming with murderous intent. But Asher merely sidestepped, effortlessly slipping past the strike. He didn’t retaliate, at least not directly. Instead, his body blurred forward, leaving the assassin behind as he sprinted toward the archer.
A flicker of confusion crossed the assassin’s face, its mind barely beginning to register the anomaly.
But it never got the chance to understand.
In a flash of silver, Virelass moved of its own accord, carving through the assassin’s neck in a single, fluid stroke.
Another arrow whistled through the air toward Asher, its sound sharp and lethal. This time, he didn’t dare to deflect it, instead, he dodged. But in the span of that single moment, time seemed to distort.
His Instinctive Adaptation surged to life.
Lightning crackled violently across his body as purple arcs danced over his skin. In an instant, he vanished, disappearing in a bolt of electricity just as his senses detected the arrow swelling, on the verge of detonation.
A heartbeat later, the explosion ripped through the forest, but Asher was already gone.
He reappeared directly in front of the archer, his fist rocketing forward with the intensity and force of a high-caliber sniper round.
The sudden burst of speed caught the archer off guard, he simply couldn’t keep up. Asher’s fist crashed into his face with brutal force, snapping his head violently to the side.
But the archer reacted with practiced motion.
This wasn’t his first mission. Using the momentum from the blow, he twisted away, creating distance as his fingers moved fluidly, already drawing his bowstring and reaching for another arrow.
But Asher wouldn’t give him the chance.
Now that he understood the true danger, those arrows could detonate on command, he moved in again like a phantom. In the blink of an eye, Virelass appeared in his grip as if it had materialized from thin air.
His arm blurred, and in one savage motion, the blade’s gleaming edge tore through the archer’s throat, clean as a razor slicing paper.
The archer staggered as his world tilted unnaturally. His vision fractured. His clarity faded. A geyser of crimson erupted from his neck, painting the air in red as the last of his strength drained away.
Asher’s gaze snapped to the side, his senses already registering movement, monsters drawn by the noise and the scent of fresh blood were closing in.
Virelass responded without delay.
It activated Crimson Pact, and at once, blood surged from the fallen assassins in rippling waves, pulled as though summoned by an unseen force. The crimson tide spiraled through the air before converging on the blade.
Moments later, Asher’s wounds began to seal. Flesh knit itself together with supernatural efficiency, charred skin gave way to fresh new layers, and even his scorched hair began to regenerate. The searing pain that had wracked his body dulled, then vanished entirely.
Something stirred within Asher, a subtle, uneasy ripple across his consciousness. This had been his first kill. Even though it was an assassin who had come for his life, the weight of taking a life felt no lighter.
But before that feeling could rise, before it could shape itself into guilt or doubt, Asher crushed it.
There was no room for hesitation in a world like Crymora, especially not during the True Awakening.
With his injuries fully mended, Asher turned to move. He had no intention of engaging the incoming monsters. Not yet. He needed to conserve his energy, every ounce of it would count before the six hours were over.
With his muscles coiled like a compressed spring, Asher was ready to launch forward, until a piercing screech shattered the air above him.
SCRRAAA!
His head snapped upward, eyes locking onto a monstrous owl hurtling down from the night sky like a feathered missile.
’Fast.’ Asher noted, his thoughts sharp.
But he was faster.
He had no intention of wasting time on a single beast.
Lightning crackled violently along Virelass, its edge humming with raw energy. Thunder rumbled through the forest as Asher raised the blade in a swift, fluid motion.
With a single strike, a blinding arc of purple lightning surged upward, an electrified crescent slash unleashed with lethal intent.
The owl attempted to veer off, wings flapping as it twisted midair to avoid the attack, but it was futile. The lightning slash cleaved through its body cleanly, slicing it in two with surgical precision. The halves spiraled in opposite directions, perfectly symmetrical, as the creature’s remains crashed to the forest floor.
Asher didn’t pause to admire the clean kill. Without hesitation, he vaulted from the tree canopy, leaping to another branch with fluid movement. The trees hissed with the sound of disturbed snakes, but their aggression was short-lived.
Without Asher so much as lifting a finger, Virelass acted. The blade lashed out on instinct, shredding the serpents mid-strike, their bodies falling in pieces behind him.
Landing silently, Asher crouched low in the shadows of a thick branch, choosing a new vantage point. His breathing slowed, heart rate steadying, and his mind began to churn.
’Was it the family that sent those assassins?’ he wondered, his thoughts circling back to the two fallen enemies.
Asher was no fool, his intellect was razor-sharp. With only a handful of clues, he could begin to piece together the larger game at play.
’Is this the True Awakening?’ he thought. ’The Wargraves send assassins after their Sun and Moon, forcing them into bloodshed, attrition, and death from an early age. And if they survive... they’re forged into something more.’
His eyes narrowed slightly.
’And the assassins won’t stop coming. Their only goal is to complete the mission before dawn.’
His conclusion came cold and certain.
’If that’s true, then someone is watching, everyone, maybe. The entire Wargrave family could be observing, measuring me. There’s no reason for all of them to return for the True Awakening without some deeper purpose behind it.’
As this realization struck, Asher’s head subtly turned, his eyes scanning the shadows of the forest as if trying to locate the hidden ’camera’ of this era, the unseen eye he was sure was tracking his every move.
But after a moment, he gave up the search.
Finding it wouldn’t improve his odds of survival, and it might only make it easier for the next assassin to find him.
Asher’s breathing gradually leveled as he focused on recovering the stamina and Astra he had already expended. Though he wasn’t anywhere near depletion, he understood the value of maintaining peak condition, especially in a trial where death could arrive without warning.
But even in stillness, his awareness remained razor-sharp, never slipping for a single second. Every rustle, every distant sound was registered and assessed. Rest might be necessary, but vulnerability was never an option.