Chapter 77: Loyal Even Beyond Death
The stench of blood was so thick it clung to the air, saturating every breath with a metallic tang that lingered on the tongue. Asher walked forward, each step squelching softly beneath his boot.
Squish. Squish. Squish. Squish.
The sound echoed through the darkness, unnaturally loud against the silence of the ravaged forest. The dense fog that once cloaked the woods had long since been torn apart by the fury of battle, leaving the world around him eerily bare.
Blood had gathered into stagnant pools, spreading like crimson lakes beneath his feet. Corpses were strewn across the terrain like fallen leaves, lifeless heads resting with the permanence of stone.
Despite the toll the fight had taken, Asher’s breath came slow and steady. His stamina was worn, but not broken. He still had more than enough left for anything... or anyone.
Virelass pulsed once, subtle, yet commanding. In response, the blood that soaked the battlefield began to stir. Whether it belonged to assassins, beasts, or the unfortunate monsters felled by the sheer force of Asher’s onslaught, it obeyed.
Like crimson threads pulled by an unseen loom, the blood rose into the air, writhing as though granted sentience. One by one, the strands were drawn into Virelass, her form absorbing them with silent hunger.
As they vanished into her, the minor wounds that marred Asher’s body mended, flesh stitching itself together with unnatural grace. The excess was stored within her, waiting.
At this moment, Asher could no longer sense the presence of any assassins, as if each one had already succumbed to the edge of his rapier. His gaze rose toward the silver moon suspended high in the night sky, its cold light glinting off his blood-slick form.