The forest held its breath.
The surviving bandits, bloodied and shaking, stood in a daze. Sweat mixing with dirt on their faces, eyes wide, chests heaving. A silence pressed in around them, thick and unnatural.
Then—
Snap!
Wood cracked. Trees splintered. Something massive barreled through the dark.
It returned.
The monster burst from the shadows, a towering mass of blood and muscle. Its fangs were still wet. Strips of torn flesh clung to its claws. Its eyes, glowing faintly in the gloom, locked onto them with a hunger that made the air feel colder.
The bandit leader gripped his sword, though his hand trembled. Beside him, one of the others whispered, "We can't defeat that monster."
"I know," the leader hissed. His voice cracked, but his eyes didn't waver. "But I'll take her to my grave."
He turned, blade rising.
The monster roared.
The sound was deafening. A raw blast that echoed through the trees and slammed into the bones of every living thing nearby. Before the leader could so much as move, the creature charged.
The first swipe took two men instantly. Bodies torn in a single motion. Blood sprayed high, catching the light in a red arc before falling like rain.
The leader barely managed a step before a claw cut across his chest. He gasped, more from shock than pain, and crumpled backward, sword still clenched in his limp hand.
The monster raised its head and howled. It wasn't just sound, it was pressure, vibrating through the ground, pulsing in her ears.
She curled into herself, hands pressed to her head, but it didn't help. The sound was inside her.
Then came the footsteps. Slow, heavy, final.
The earth shook with each one. She could feel it now, how close it was. The tremors rolled up her arms where they touched the ground. Her limbs wouldn't move. She wasn't even sure if she could breathe. Her entire body was lead.
The shadow of the beast fell over her. A claw rose above her. Massive, jagged, soaked in red.
She looked up.
There was no energy left to scream.
She didn't fight it.
She closed her eyes.
Crack!
A thunderous impact hit the ground in front of her.
She blinked.
The monster's claw had stopped.
Not in the air.
Against someone.
A man stood where the claw had been meant to fall. His stance wide, arms raised, body straining beneath the force of the blow. A shattered wooden sword lay at his feet, broken into useless splinters.
"Damn it," Leo muttered, voice low and tight with effort. His fingers dug into the beast's claw, boots skidding slightly on the earth as he held firm.
He didn't back down.
The ground beneath him cracked.
Another pulse of power rippled through him. Unseen but felt. A familiar weight pressed against him, the curse gnawing at every motion, every breath. His muscles burned more than they should have. His body, once used to power, now had to fight for every scrap of it.
He clenched his jaw.
"Are you alright?" a voice asked gently.
She turned. Ai stood beside her, calm, composed, flanked by two cats that now sat rigid and alert. Their eyes tracked the monster, but Ai's were on her.
Beyond them, Leo stood firm, muscles drawn taut, his grip locked onto the beast's massive claw. His black hair whipped with each gust of wind, the force of the monster's struggle making the trees sway.
He didn't flinch.
Roxanne couldn't look away.
He stood like no one she'd ever seen before. His back to her, facing death, not because he had to.
But because he chose to.
"Could you get me a sword?" Leo called, tone almost casual, as if he hadn't just blocked a killing blow with his bare hands.
A glow appeared at his waist.
He reached for it.
Another wooden sword.
He stared at it.
"Another wooden sword?" he asked, exasperated.
Ai gave a small shrug, almost teasing. "Next available sword unlocks at level twenty."
Leo didn't answer. He turned and smashed the sword against the monster's other claw as it came crashing down. It shattered instantly, splinters flying into the wind. But it bought him a second.
Bare hands again.
He grabbed both claws now.
Every vein in his arms stood out. His feet sank slightly into the ground. The creature strained, snarling, trying to break free. But Leo didn't move.
He held it there.
Like a wall the monster couldn't pass.
Ai, who is beside Roxanne, said something. Words muffled by distance, but Roxanne didn't hear. Her ears still rang. Her thoughts had gone strangely quiet.
She watched Leo.
Everything about him. The way he stood, the way he fought without a real weapon, even with the curse dragging at him, hit her with a kind of force she didn't expect.
She remembered then.
The adventurers who once approached her, bright-eyed and confident, offering promises they could never keep. They wanted power. Wanted her—not for who she was, but for what she could become.
A weapon.
An Arcanite.
A relic of a time long passed.
She'd been born for greatness, just like the others. Her skin faintly glowing, hair like light itself, eyes a sky-born blue. Her presence alone had marked her. But unlike the others, her power never activated. No weapon form. No transformation.
Nothing.
She tried all types of adventurers. All classes. Nothing worked. Even system users.
They called her broken.
So she stopped trying.
Hidden beneath robes, always alone. Hunted, avoided, forgotten.
Until Brokrun. Until the cave. Until the bandits dragged her out of the dark.
And now, this.
This man.
This moment.
Leo grunted, shifting his stance as the monster bucked again. His grip didn't falter. The impact of the struggle sent cracks spidering out from beneath his feet.
The power coming off him wasn't just strength. It was will.
Roxanne stared.
She didn't know why, but something deep within her stirred.
The way he looked at her. Not with awe, or greed, or expectation.
Just with certainty.
And she felt something.
Just for a second.
Not fear.
Not shame.
But—
Something.
And she couldn't look away.