Recognition sparked in Renâs eyes.
He knew who Jin was. Had probably known the moment Jinâs mana appeared in his detection range.
Probably knew why they were here.
Maybe even knew how this would end.
But Jin didnât give him a chance to speak first. Didnât let Patinder âtry to talk his way outâ or appeal to reason or do whatever verbal manipulation he might attempt.
First was his turn.
"Ren Patinder," Jinâs voice resonated through the tunnel. But it sounded strange to his own ears. Too loud... Too intense, as if someone else was speaking through his throat. "Finally I have you where I wanted you."
But that wouldnât ruin the moment... He paused, savoring the moment.
Letting it stretch and letting the tension build.
Letting Patinder understand that this was different from every other conflict, every other rivalry, every other moment of danger heâd somehow survived.
This was personal.
"Do you remember your remote house? Almost four years ago? A patrol that found your family?"
He watched recognition shift to understanding in Patinderâs eyes.
The boy remembered.
âOf course he remembered, right?.â
âThey say your first kill tends to stay with you. Became the moment that divided your life into "before" and "after", the point where you stopped being innocent. â
It was maybe true... even if youâd been defending yourself, even if youâd had no choice.
Probably the kind of memory that haunted him. That woke him up at night in cold sweats. That made him wonder if he was becoming a monster.
Jin hoped it haunted him.
Hoped Patinder had suffered even a fraction of what Jin had likely endured.
"That day you claimed your first victim," Jin continued, spiritual energy beginning to dance between his fingers like captured lightning. The power felt good... Felt right, it felt like the universe was finally aligning to deliver justice. "My brother. Jean Strahlfang. Heir to our house. Leader of that patrol..."
He let the words hang for a heartbeat.
"The man you murdered."
The accusation fell into the tunnel like a stone into still water.
"Iâve waited years for this," Jin took a step forward. "Years searching for the perfect moment. The moment when I could finally deliver justice for my brother."
He shook his head, the gesture almost sad.
"But now..." Another step forward. The tigerâs energy coursing through him, making his muscles feel impossibly strong. "Here. Away from your protectors. In territory where accidents happen."
His smile widened... It wasnât a pleasant expression. It was meant to be the last thing Ren Patinder saw before violence erased him from existence.
"Finally I can give you what you deserve."
"I can finally sleep peacefully... Knowing my brother has been avenged."
âBrother,â
Jin thought as he prepared to strike,
âtoday you finally rest in peace.â
"No."
The voice came from behind Jin.
â˘â˘â˘â˘
Renâs POV seconds before
Jin Strahlfang, or what remained of him beneath layers of bestial fusion that went far beyond normal... straightened slowly.
His skin had almost completely disappeared. The spirit tigerâs marks covered every visible inch, but there was something else. Something unnatural in how they pulsed and writhed, like living things crawling beneath the surface rather than simple manifestations of spiritual energy.
The patterns moved wrong. Shifted in ways that didnât match breathing or heartbeat or any normal biological rhythm.
Jinâs eyes glowed with a sickly blue that wasnât the purple corruption nor completely normal. The color flickered at the edges, bleeding into darker tones that had no business existing in a human iris. And when he opened his mouth to speak, his fangs were too long, too
wrong
.
Not the elegant yet sharp teeth of a properly fused spirit beast.
These were jagged. Uneven... mutation rather than enhancement.
Klein stepped back instinctively.
This looked too much like...
"Corruption."
Renâs voice cut through the silence.
The word landed like a physical blow. Renâs group tensed immediately, hands moving to their bags and the ones in their beasts to free them, combat instincts triggered by a threat theyâd adapted to recognize and fear.
Ren raised one hand, his senses extending outward in careful analysis. The mana emanating from Jin was erratic, unstable, with dark veins interweaving with his beastâs normal brilliant blue, like parasites consuming a healthy body.
The corruption wasnât complete yet. Not like the fully transformed abyssal creatures theyâd fought during the war. But it was progressing, spreading, consuming more of Jinâs natural spiritual energy with each passing moment.
How long had he been doping with whatever new mad drug theyâd keep hidden until now?
"I can finally sleep peacefully... Knowing my brother has been avenged."
Jin finished his monologue. He crouched, preparing to launch his attack with the explosive power of someone whoâd sacrificed stability for raw strength.
"No... That wasnât the first. And you wonât get anything here."
Renâs voice came from behind Jin.
Jin froze.
His brain took a full second to process the impossibility of the situation. To understand that the voice heâd heard came from the wrong place, from a position that should have been empty because Ren had been in
front
of him, surrounded by the ambush formation, trapped exactly where Jin wanted him.
He spun sharply, movements jerky with corruption-enhanced reflexes.
Ren Patinder stood directly behind him, less than a meter away.
Heâd left his backpack somewhere. His expression was completely bored, like this entire assassination attempt was mildly inconvenient rather than life-threatening.
âWhen...?â
The question burned in Jinâs corrupted mind. When had Ren moved? How had he crossed that distance without Jin sensing it? The spirit tigerâs enhanced awareness should have detected any approach, should have given warning before Ren got close enough.
But there had been nothing.
No warning, no sound and no disturbance in the mana flows.
Just a sudden presence where emptiness should have been.
Jin tried to move. Tried to step back, create distance, do
anything
to establish defensive space.
He couldnât.
His legs didnât respond. His entire body felt heavy, like the air itself had solidified around him. He tried to scream an order to his group, to tell them to attack, to coordinate the ambush theyâd planned so carefully.
His throat closed before he could form words.
The pressure was immense. Invisible. Suffocating without actually affecting his breathing, a purely spiritual weight that held him immobile more effectively than chains.
"I missed you," Ren said casually, as if they were chatting about weather instead of facing each other in a lethal ambush. His tone carried genuine amusement, the kind you might use greeting an old acquaintance you hadnât seen in years. "Really. Iâm glad to see that you havenât stopped being an idiot."