Three days passed after the duel.
Cinderguard's outer wards had begun whispering about the "outsider who bled the heir," and though no proclamation had been made, the tension across the city had sharpened like drawn steel.
Kian didn't bask in the victory.
Instead, he worked.
Inside Echo-Ward's inner bay, he stood before a suspended fragment of the Spire-Knot Citadel blueprint, integrating new memory channels through a lattice of system-weaved runes. Arc-light flared behind his eyes as the Codex cycled simulations in silence.
[Codex Update: Structural Node Anchor (Incomplete)]
▸ Predation Sync: 43%
▸ Memory Sync: 62%
▸ Combat Integration: Pending...
His hand twitched.
The structure bent.
And then it collapsed in simulation. Again.
Kian exhaled and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It's not working."
From behind him, Kess' voice floated in. "Because you're forcing three systems to agree on a purpose they weren't designed to share."
He didn't turn. "No choice. We'll need the citadel operational before we move south."
"To the Hollowfang Valley?" she asked. "You're still set on it?"
"Yes. It's where the missing Predation Trait is. I can feel it."
Kess crossed her arms. "Then we split the team."
That afternoon, under the flickering glyphlight of the underlayer chambers, the decision was made.
They had two objectives:
Infiltrate the Heraldic Court's Vault Archives to recover a map of the lost Architect Vault beneath Hollowfang. Hunt and isolate the Predation-beast that roamed that valley—rumored to be a creature born of system experimentation.
They couldn't do both together. Not unnoticed.
So they split.
▸ Team One: Kian, Veyna, Jerie
Mission: The Hunt – travel to the lower southern ridges, track the creature, and extract the core
▸ Team Two: Kess, Gellon, Seris
Mission: Infiltrate the vault, gather intelligence, return with the schematic
"I still think I should be on the beast hunt," Gellon grumbled, slinging his rifle over his back.
"Which is exactly why you're not," Kess said dryly. "You'd try to shoot it before we learned anything."
He huffed. "That's a valid method."
Jerie grinned. "We'll bring back a piece for your wall."
Gellon raised an eyebrow. "You bring back half its ribcage, I'll name my next rifle after you."
Kian turned toward Kess. "No contact until both groups complete their missions."
Kess nodded, serious. "Stay alive."
"You too."
Veyna clapped her palms together. "Alright, children—off to hunt monsters. Jerie, bring the snacks."
Jerie raised the satchel with mock salute. "I packed dried meat and guilt."
They left under cover of night.
As the city's upper walls faded into mist behind them, Kian felt the familiar calm settle in. It always came before hunts—not excitement, not fear, but focus. The weight of movement, decisions, and unseen outcomes.
By dawn, they were deep in the southern ridges.
The air here was different. Dry, heavy. The trees sparse, their bark twisted by old system storms.
Veyna crouched at a bend in the path, fingers brushing a set of claw marks in the stone.
"Deep. Fast. Whatever made this wasn't fleeing—it was chasing."
Jerie muttered, "That's encouraging."
Kian closed his eyes briefly and tapped into the Predation thread.
[Predation Path Engaged]
▸ Hunter's Insight: 17%
▸ Bloodline Match: Partial
▸ Memory Residue Detected…
"East," he said. "It's close."
They found the beast just past a dead gully—perched on a stone ledge, drinking from a cracked mana spring.
It was massive.
Almost feline in build, with scaled hind legs, long obsidian claws, and a row of sensor spines trailing its neck. Its eyes shimmered with fractured system light.
[Identified: Varrakar-Class Mutation – Codename: Emberclaw]
▸ Rank: System-Fused Alpha
▸ Trait: Recursive Instinct Loop
▸ Extraction Chance: Moderate
▸ Lethality: High
Veyna whispered, "So… do we pet it, or scream?"
Jerie loaded a bolt. "Definitely scream."
"Neither," Kian said, stepping forward. "We test it."
He crouched, drew his spear, and let the Codex overlay the terrain in glowing threads of combat prediction. Then, without waiting, he moved—darting left, spear trailing.
The Emberclaw reacted instantly—vanishing in a flicker of speed and slamming into Kian with a roar.
The spear blocked most of the hit, but the impact threw him ten feet backward. He hit the dirt hard, breath gone.
[Predation Reflex Triggered]
▸ Damage Registered: Moderate
▸ Echo-Adaptation Queued…
"Kian!" Veyna yelled, drawing twin daggers. She rushed forward, slashing toward the beast's hind legs.
Jerie backed her up from a ridge, launching a harpoon bolt that cracked into the Emberclaw's shoulder.
Kian rolled to his feet, blood in his mouth, grinning.
"It adapts by watching," he said. "So let's give it something new to learn."
The fight stretched into the afternoon.
At last, with a final feint—Kian leading it into a trap of recursive echo-signatures—the beast faltered. Jerie's final bolt struck true through the spine. Veyna slashed the final tendon. And Kian drove the spear through the creature's core.
[Predation Core Acquired]
▸ Trait Unlocked: Recursive Instinct Loop
▸ Merge Stability: 91%
▸ Codex Upgrade Possible…
Kian sat beside the beast's carcass, breathing hard.
The wind shifted.
A whisper rode it.
"He watches from the bones..."
Kian looked up.
Nothing there.
But the shadow that lingered felt familiar.
Far across the city, Kess reached for a door etched in gold beneath the archive vault.
Her hand hovered over the glyph.
Inside, a voice whispered from behind the door:
"He's nearly complete. Burn the map."
She froze.
The glyph flared red.
End of Chapter 37