Chapter 117: Targets Found
Tyler looked down at Rebecca, his gaze locked on her as she remained pinned to the spot, sitting back on her ankles with the full weight of her body resting on her shins. Her palms pressed hard against her knees, bracing herself against the ground while she waited for the interrogation.
"What the hell happened last night?" Tyler’s voice cut through the quiet. "Why did that man try to kill you?"
The words hung in the air between them. Rebecca did not answer right away. As the memory took hold of her, her fingers dragged against the coarse leather of her pants, curling inward until the thick fabric creased and strained beneath her grip. Her throat tightened, her chest hitching with a shallow, restricted breath.
"It's because of what he did," she said. The words dragged out of her mouth, muffled and raw, as though her throat were closing around each syllable.
Tyler stepped closer, keeping his focus pinned to her face while the brutal imagery of the previous night surged in his mind, the battered, bleeding state she had been left in, and the motionless, ruined body of the man she had fought.
"What did he do?" Tyler demanded, his voice hardening. "What made the two of you go at each other like that?"
Rebecca tilted her chin up, meeting his eyes. Her jaw clenched tight, her lips pressing together into a pale, rigid crease.
Neither of them spoke. The silence stretched between them, heavy and stagnant. Seconds dragged out as Tyler waited for a response that never came, watching the stubborn defiance set into her features while her mouth stayed shut.
Tyler let out a heavy, tired sigh that blew past his teeth. He pivoted on his heels, turning his weight away from her. "If you're not going to answer, forget about it."
"Wait."
The word cracked out of her. Tyler stopped as Rebecca sucked in a sharp, ragged breath.
"He... He took something from me."
Tyler turned his head back toward her, his brow drawing together in deep confusion. His eyes narrowed, searching her face for clarity. "What? What are you saying? He stole something from you?"
"No."
"Then what is it?" Tyler snapped, cutting in before she could even complete the breath in her lungs.
"He killed—" The words broke out of her with sudden, uncontrolled fury before she bit down hard on her own voice, cutting herself off mid-sentence. Her hands curled into tight, trembling fists against her thighs, the muscles in her forearms shaking under the sheer strain of holding back the surge behind her ribs.
"He killed my mother," she said.
Tyler’s eyebrows lifted, the sharp shock hitting him instantly. The rigid, coiled tension that had locked his neck and shoulders began to drain away.
"Your mother?" Tyler breathed.
"My parents," Rebecca muttered, her voice dropping into a hollow, quiet register. "Both of them."
Tyler stood over her in absolute stillness. Her eyes had fallen away from him, staring blankly down at the dirt between her knees. Her posture had shrunken inward, her shoulders pulled rigid and high toward her neck, weighted down by a raw, suffocating shame.
"I..." Tyler muttered, his voice barely rising above a whisper.
The anger that had burned hot in his chest throughout the confrontation cooled into hollow silence. His fingers, which had been locked white-knuckled around the cold, unforgiving frame of his metal bow, gradually eased their grip. He stared down at her trembling frame, her fingers dug deep into the leather of her pants, her head lowered away from his sight.
The memory of the dark forest rushed back to him with vivid clarity. He could almost feel the chill of the night air, hearing the broken sound of her weeping while her fingers desperately gripped the light fabric of his coat in sheer ruin and despair.
"So that's why you killed him," Tyler muttered.
"Yes," she said.
The grief drained out of her voice, replaced by cold, unyielding steel. The sorrow on her face hardened into raw fury, tightening the corners of her eyes and locking the muscles of her jaw into sharp lines. Her stare fixed on Tyler with absolute conviction.
"He is only one of them," Rebecca said, her voice dropping into a venomous, measured cadence. "The members of the Black Cloud Guild. Every last one of them has to pay for what they have done."
Tyler took a slow step back, absorbing the weight of her words. "Wait. More people took part in this?"
"Yes," Rebecca answered, her chin tilted high. "Nearly the entire guild."
A heavy, rapid thudding surged against Tyler's ribs. The sheer scale of what she was describing pressed down on the quiet between them.
*An entire guild? Why would a guild target her family?*
"Why did they do it?" Tyler asked, the words breaking through his confusion. "Why would an entire guild hunt down your family?"
"They wanted revenge," Rebecca answered, the words flat and certain.
"Revenge?"
"Yes."
"Why? What happened?" Tyler asked. The sharpness had vanished from his tone, replaced by an unmistakable edge of concern.
Rebecca caught the sudden change in his posture. Her eyes flickered over his softened expression, registering a reaction she clearly found unexpected.
"The guild leader had a violent clash with my father," Rebecca said, her voice low and steady. "It ended with the death of one of the leader's men. In return, that leader rallied his allies, marched on my family's home, and slaughtered every single one of them."
*That's... horrible*, he thought.
A heavy stillness hung in the air before Rebecca spoke again, her eyes narrowing as she locked onto him.
"And now you have struck their vice guild captain's son," she said, her voice carrying a grim certainty. "They will hunt you down just the same."
Tyler blinked, a wave of sheer disbelief hitting him. "For that? That is completely ridiculous. I landed one minor blow."
Rebecca watched him, genuine confusion furrowing her brow. "The hunters throughout the area are claiming you shattered his shoulder."
"I dislocated it," Tyler answered, raising a hand in exasperation. "There are healers. They can heal him in moments."
"Even so, their guild will hold the grudge," Rebecca stated.
She pressed her palms hard against her thighs, planting the sole of her boot firmly against the dirt. She drove her weight through her legs, gritting her teeth against the lingering ache as she rose to her full height. Dust clung to the dark leather of her pants as she straightened her back, towering upright before him.
"The location where you found me," Rebecca said, pinning him with a sharp, calculating stare. "You must've been close by."
"I was," Tyler answered.
"Then that's why he was here," Rebecca stated, the realization locking into place with lethal certainty. "He was looking for you. He was going to kill you."
Tyler's brow pulled into a tight, frustrated knot. "That doesn't make any sense. How did he even know where I was?"
"It's because of their ability," Rebecca said, her voice dropping to a grave, quiet warning. "If you hurt one of their own, they can find you no matter where you are. As long as you're in range, which is about hundreds of kilometres."
"Hundreds of kilometers? What kind of skill is that?"
"It's the skill Kindred Flame," Rebecca answered. "I'm not surprised you haven't heard of it. Not a lot of fire mages have it. It's super rare, so barely anyone knows about it. Because the guild's base isn't far from here, they can still track you down and find you. That's how that assassin was able to get close to where you were. If he hadn't run into me, he could have found you."
*Though I doubt he could have killed him,* Rebecca thought, keeping her expression guarded.
A heavy chill sank into Tyler's chest as the gravity of her words settled over him. Past warnings resurfaced in his memory, first from Serena, then from James prior to his departure.
"Why did you attack Gary in the first place?" Rebecca asked, shifting her weight onto her heels. "It looks like you don't know a thing about them."
"I didn't know who he really was back then. I didn't care," Tyler said, his tone turning cold. "I simply taught him a lesson because he pissed me off."
Rebecca’s eyes widened in genuine shock. "What?"
"Yeah, he was calling James names, making fun of him for nearly dying, calling him weak," Tyler said. His gaze bore straight into hers, his pupils dilated with burning hostility. "Just like you did."
A searing resentment flared in Tyler's eyes at the reminder of her past actions.
Rebecca let out a heavy breath, resting her palm against her waist. "I said I'm sorry."
"Yeah, I heard it," Tyler said.
He pivoted on his heels, putting his back to her as he began to walk away.
"Wait, where are you going?" Rebecca called after him, taking a quick step forward. "You said you'd give me back the bow!"
Tyler kept moving. He raised his arm, thrusting his open palm forward into the empty air before him. He activated Chamber, channeling the skill to replicate the internal metals of the bow.
"What are you doing?" Rebecca asked.
Her jaw dropped open. Her eyes stretched wide as a radiant pillar of light erupted straight out of the earth, surging upward to a towering height of two and a half meters. The blinding glow collapsed inward, solidifying into a monolithic rectangular structure of gleaming silver metal.
Tyler turned toward Rebecca and hurled the metal bow across the gap. "Here."
Rebecca snatched the weapon out of the air with both hands.
Tyler turned his focus back toward the silver chamber.
"What is that?" Rebecca muttered, her voice barely audible.
"You don't need to know," Tyler said.
He pressed his flat palm against the cold silver surface. Fine rectangular seams ran across the entire face of the metal, dividing the massive block into precise patterns resembling miniature construction bricks.
"Dismantle," Tyler muttered.
The solid structure fractured instantly along its seam lines, crumbling into a shower of small rectangular metal bricks that piled against the earth. Rebecca took a sharp step forward, her eyes pinned to the collapsing mass in pure shock.
"What is that skill? I thought you were an assassin."
"What I am shouldn't matter to you," Tyler muttered, glancing back over his shoulder.
Stunned awe washed across Rebecca's face. The metal bricks emitted a faint blue glow, dissolving into thin air as they transferred directly into his inventory.
"That other skill," Rebecca said, her curiosity breaking through her guard. "Is it some type of unique spatial skill? I saw you using it on your bladen and Dracos earlier. You store these things somewhere, don't you?"
"Stop asking me questions and leave me alone," Tyler said, resuming his forward march. "I already gave you your bow back."
Rebecca lowered her eyes to the weapon in her hands. The metal limbs were violently distorted, curving inward into a sharp, exaggerated arc that mimicked the letter C.
"It wasn't like this!" she yelled, hoisting the warped bow high in the air.
Tyler threw a casual wave over his shoulder, continuing forward with steady footsteps. "Well, that's what you get for talking shit earlier. Bye."
"Wait!"
Rebecca sprinted ahead, cutting a wide arc around him until she planted her boots directly in his path. "Didn't you hear what I said? The Black Cloud Guild is looking for you. They're looking for *me*."
Tyler maintained his stride, driving his shoulder hard against hers as he shoved past her path. "So? Do I look like I care?"
Rebecca clamped her teeth together, rage flaring behind her eyes at his cold indifference. "You're so stupid! They're going to kill you. We should do something about this. If they find us, we're both dead."
Tyler halted mid-step. He turned his entire body around, locking his eyes onto hers with sudden intensity.
"Us?"
"Yes," Rebecca said, nodding firmly. "You're in the same situation as I am. We should find a way to stop them together."
Tyler chuckled, shaking his head as he pivoted on his heels. The raw dismissal in his reaction struck a sharp nerve in Rebecca, his amusement treating her words as sheer absurdity.
"What are you laughing at?" Rebecca demanded, her voice sharp with anger. "I'm being serious here!"
"You think I'm stupid? You just want to use me for your revenge. I have nothing to do with this," Tyler said as he continued his stride. "If you want to do something about it, you should do it on your own. Try running away."
He glanced over his shoulder to read her expression. A sudden realization seized him; his breath locked in his chest, his eyebrows shooting upward in alarm.
A violent rush of wind tore across Rebecca's face, whipping strands of hair backward as Tyler surged past her with blinding speed. Rebecca gasped, shifting half a step back from the sudden displacement of air.
Tyler was already anchored at her flank, one hand clamping down hard against her shoulder. She turned her head, her eyes locking onto his raised fist.
He held the wooden shaft of an arrow firmly in his grip, having snatched the projectile out of the air right in line with her skull. Her pulse hammered wildly against her ribs at the sight of the sharp steel tip suspended inches away.
Her focus shifted toward the origin of the strike, peering across the open ground.
Three figures stood at a distance, watching them. A man on the flank glared in their direction, his features twisted in pure, violent fury. A dark-skinned woman held the center position, while a younger woman of petite build stood on the left side.
Naomi drew a black curved sword from the sheath at her hip, the dark metal clearing the leather with a slow, deliberate motion.
"We only need one," Naomi said.
The three hunters advanced across the terrain, closing the space between them with steady, predatory steps.
"They found us," Rebecca whispered.