Chapter 7: A SHIFT IN THE WIND
Adlan ran like a man possessed. His feet slipped across the snowy stone path, his breath short and jagged. The image of Logan standing calm amidst the shattered woods, a broken Zereth sprawled behind him, still haunted Adlan’s mind. That wasn’t a boy. That was something else entirely.
He burst into Lady Mirena’s chamber without waiting for permission, eyes wide and face pale.
"Logan... He... He crushed Zereth!" Adlan gasped. "Without using mana. Not even a sliver of it! He fought with something else. Something I’ve never seen."
Lady Mirena, seated by the window with a wine glass in hand, didn’t even glance his way. "You dare barge into my quarters babbling nonsense?"
"I swear it, sis! I saw it with my own eyes. That pressure... that speed. Zereth’s spirit guardian—even with a spirit guardian he couldn’t beat Logan. Logan moved like a blur. My eyes couldn’t even follow him. And then... one punch... with just one punch Zereth was immobilized."
Her grip on the glass tightened. A long silence followed.
"He didn’t kill him," Adlan continued, voice dropping. "He could have, but he didn’t. He let Zereth live. And then he turned his eyes on me.
It felt like I was standing before a starving lion—helpless prey with nowhere to run. I was terrified. Sis, I’ve never felt fear like that in my life. If we keep pushing him, we may end up digging our own graves."
Mirena finally turned her head. Her expression was unreadable, but behind her calm exterior, thoughts raced.
A child with a sealed mana core capable of suppressing a seasoned black magic user?
Was it really possible? She wasn’t dreaming, right? Or was this stupid cousin lying? But why would he lie? He didn’t have any reason to. Mirena thought to herself. She was sure that Adlan was not hallucinating either.