"Three of them coming," Elene said, eyes closed. "Maybe four."
Arthian didn't respond. He felt it too. Not from sound, but because the rhythm of surrounding stillness began to distort.
The 6% soul core in his chest was still, pure, and *too loud*.
It wasn't light. It was *difference* too clear in a space full of rotting impurities.
He didn't open his eyes. Didn't stand. Didn't adjust posture.
Just exhaled slowly. Once.
The hunter pack emerged from surrounding energy wreckage. Three forms. Twisted structures. Cracked soul cores with visible impurities seeping through.
They didn't hide. No need.
One made a sound like scraping bone.
"Fresh scent."
Another answered, voice hoarse.
"New... but not yet hardened."
The third laughed, voice cracking. "Easier than expected."
Elene still sat where she was. Back straight. Hands on knees. She looked on without hope, without fear.
Like someone who had seen enough endings to expect nothing more.
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Arthian spoke up, voice level, no threat.
"This space requires stillness."
A pause.
"Don't seek disintegration before your time."
All three hunters laughed together. Hoarse sounds. Cracked sounds.
"Who do you think you are?" the first asked.
"No one owns this place," the second stepped forward.
The third smiled with a cracked mouth. "Except the *strong*."
Elene sighed softly. "You should run."
"Run where?" Arthian asked, voice so calm it was frightening. "There's nowhere to run here."
"Then what will you do?"
"What I've always done," he replied, smiling faintly. "Eat."
The hunter pack lunged together. Their will like claws, meant to tear soul cores from bodies.
Arthian *opened*.
Void Field unfurled in a narrow radius. Dense. Thick.
The attack rushed in...
*Vanished.*
The first form froze. Eyes wide.
"Wh... what—"
It had no time to finish. Will was torn away. Energy structure began crumbling like sand.
It didn't explode. Didn't scream.
It simply *stopped being what it was*.
"Run! It—" the second shouted.
But the void in Arthian's chest functioned like suction. It wasn't dragged. It flowed.
The body broke apart in layers. From will to core to raw energy fragments.
"No! I don't want—"
The voice was swallowed first.
The third tried to run. Screaming. Hand reaching out.
Stopped a mere span from Arthian's chest.
Before disintegrating to fine dust.
Everything happened in less than ten seconds.
No blood. No flesh. Just energy dust settling on the ground.
Arthian sat where he was. Didn't stand. Didn't move.
Only *digestion*.
When silence returned, Elene opened her eyes slowly.
She looked at the dust on the ground. Looked at Arthian. Looked at the dust again.
"You..." she paused. "It's not just that you devour energy."
Arthian didn't answer.
"You *devour everything*," Elene continued, voice colder. "Even existence itself."
The density in Arthian's chest increased. Not surging. Not crashing. But clearly *denser*.
6.5%
Absorbed energy was filtered. Refined. Pure.
Elene spoke softly, without judgment.
"You're louder."
A pause.
"And that will shorten your life."
Arthian turned to look at her. "I know."
"Then why do it?"
"Because in this rift," he answered, "the silence of the strong is an invitation to be eaten."
A pause.
"But the loudness of the strong..." he smiled coldly, "...is a declaration of still being hungry."
Elene stared at him long, then closed her eyes.
"You're insane," she said. But this time there was something in her tone that wasn't judgment.
It was acknowledgment.
Arthian didn't respond. He closed his eyes, returning to practice.
Elene sat where she was. She didn't agree, but she didn't object either.
She simply recognized that the figure sitting nearby wasn't someone who would listen to advice.
Because he wasn't walking a path.
He was *laying* a path.
In that silence, the world around began to fear.
Not because he was strong.
But because he *wouldn't stop*.
