Chapter 85
Around 2 a.m. earlier, without hesitation, Zavi blew the house apart until nothing remained but rubble, sending a storm of dust and black smoke swirling in the aftermath of the explosion.
As he waited a few seconds for the dust to settle, he quickly stepped forward to check whether there were any traces of blood or anything at all among the scattered debris.
There was nothing. The realization left Zavi's mind blank.
'Was I hallucinating when I saw those two figures enter this house?' he wondered as he scanned the surroundings. Sensing no presence of anyone, Zavi hurriedly left the place and decided to continue with his diversion plan.
Meanwhile, after making sure that the mad, strange, and mysterious man who had suddenly attacked their hideout was gone, the three of them immediately came out and checked whether Zavi had truly left the area.
"Who was he?" The woman who had been firm earlier now had trembling hands and a rapidly pounding chest as she recalled the madness Zavi had displayed.
The man let out a weak sigh. "No idea. But one thing's certain—he's not an ordinary person."
From behind them, another man stood within the rubble-filled remains of the house, searching for something buried beneath the debris.
"Where are you," he whispered, his breath hitching as his hands kept tossing aside small stones at his feet.
'Damn it, if only I hadn't left him earlier. But if I hadn't, I'd be dead from that explosion and buried under this rubble,' he lamented inwardly, occasionally kicking small stones to vent his frustration.
Meanwhile, the other two perked up when they heard the sound of shifting debris and their companion's strange muttering.
The three of them were not the people Zavi had been searching for. More precisely, they belonged to a different group—an allied faction to the one Zavi was after.
The Blazing Dawn.
...
A gray tint in the sky was slowly eroded by the creeping light of dawn rising from the eastern horizon. Although the sun had begun to illuminate the world, no warmth followed. In Forgenate, the morning air felt even sharper, as if the earlier events had left behind the pungent scent of death and a faint burnt odor carried by the wind from the comet's impact site.
After wandering aimlessly for so long, his physical and mental state pushed to the brink, Zavi eventually fell asleep on a long bench on the terrace of an empty house in an alley, after spotting those two figures.
It was the sunlight that woke him, and also the sudden presence of someone who disturbed him while he was still asleep.
That person was Aaron Kwok.
He had tracked Zavi through the traces of spiritual energy clinging tightly to his body, along with other residual traces scattered along the streets. If not for his Exorcist ability continuously emitting signals of the presence of spirits and ghosts, Aaron wouldn't have even bothered to move from where he had been resting.
"Wake up, wake up. How long are you going to sleep?" Aaron stood leaning against the left side of the doorway, while Zavi lay on the right.
Zavi sat up unsteadily, still half-conscious, his mind sluggish. He didn't respond to Aaron's earlier question until a realization snapped him back.
"Huh?" He quickly stood, looking around the house with a dazed expression. Zavi rubbed his forehead before shaking his head and turning to Aaron beside him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"What are you doing here?" Aaron repeated indifferently. "That's what I should be asking you."
"I fell asleep from exhaustion," Zavi replied, only then realizing that the carefully prepared plan he had made earlier had completely fallen apart.
'Damn it, how did I end up falling asleep in a place like this?' Zavi cursed inwardly.
Zavi clicked his tongue. "Sorry, I didn't expect to be this exhausted after fighting those wandering spirits and ghosts—and setting off multiple explosions."
Aaron sank into thought upon hearing that. After confirming that what he had witnessed earlier wasn't something strange but originated from Zavi, his Exorcist ability finally stopped sending signals ringing through his mind.
'Damn you, so it was you,' Aaron thought irritably.
"They found about six people appearing in North Syrp," Aaron finally said, his tone restrained. "So I came to find you first, then I'll track those six. Before that, I—"
His sentence never finished as Zavi suddenly manifested two foxes with dark purplish-black forms and a pale gray aura, his gaze locking onto the small staircase in front of the house.
The foxes were imperfect—one had an incompletely formed tail, and its head was split on one side.
"What are you trying to do?" Aaron asked in confusion, his face tensing.
The question lingered like mist in the air before being swept away.
Zavi moved forward, each step heavy as if his legs bore an unseen weight. His fingers curled into fists, his jaw tightening as he sensed something disturbing his mind.
'Hurry... hurry...'
A familiar sensation crossed his thoughts as the foxes appeared in such an incomplete state.
Aaron followed him, trembling slightly, even though he had no idea what was going on in Zavi's mind.
A few minutes later, in a remote part of Syrp, an area with two narrow alleys only dozens of meters from the house Zavi had destroyed earlier.
Zavi stood there, staring at what he had done. Not in regret, not in remorse, but because something in his mind kept urging him to come here.
"So you've finally come..." The voice was flat, cold, unmistakably feminine.
The world around them seemed to freeze in response. Aaron, who had been running, froze as well without understanding why.
The sky darkened completely, as if the sun had vanished from existence, leaving the surroundings filled with emptiness, nothing but darkness flowing like an endless sea.
At the same time, numerous strange symbols descended like strokes of cloud, some recognizable to Zavi, hanging all around as if observing him standing alone in suffocating confusion.
"I knew it," Zavi said, anger burning in his chest, "you're the one who made me come here, you damn bitch—or more precisely... Aurora Chevalya."
Without revealing herself, she let out a soft giggle before replying cheerfully, "Sorry, you must be annoyed that I've been interfering, right?"
The mysterious figure fell silent, waiting for Zavi's response. But Zavi said nothing, contrary to her expectations.
Then, for the last time, she let out a quiet laugh and began to reveal herself in a form resembling Aurora Chevalya.
A woman with long black and blue hair, wearing round glasses and matching blue earrings. Her intense expression and melancholic aura shimmered like a shifting diamond. She wore a black shirt with sheer, patterned sleeves, giving her a captivating, mesmerizing presence.
"Still not going to answer, Liam Tirarty?" she asked casually, letting Zavi's deadly gaze remain locked onto her.
She took a deep breath before snapping her fingers, revealing a beautiful world filled with exotic animals, each occupied with their own activities, along with a stunning landscape of rushing rivers and towering mountains piercing the sky where the two of them now stood.
Zavi's face remained expressionless, but deep within, shock and unease stirred as he took in both the ground beneath his feet and the breathtaking scenery.
Finally, the woman raised her hand and said in a slightly weary tone, "I went through so much trouble to find this world, and you're still looking at me like that?"
"Cut the chatter," Zavi said, raising his palm toward her. "What do you want from me, and how do you know my real name?" he asked, his right hand gripping his knife tightly.
'Yeah, this might answer why I'm in this body... and in this world,' Zavi added inwardly.
"Answer me," Zavi pressed, preparing to strike.
The woman arched her brows, her melancholic gaze fixed on him. "I didn't hear anything. Besides, it doesn't matter. This is an opportunity I've been waiting for."
"Answer me," Zavi repeated, his face darkening.
"No," she replied flatly.
Zavi took a deep breath before speaking with heavy pressure in his tone, "Get me out of this place."
Without waiting for a response, he added again, his voice bordering on a threat.
"Are you the reason I ended up in this body?"
The woman kept her lips sealed, offering no answer to his questions.
Zavi tightened his grip on the knife.
"Who are you really? Why do you always appear at critical moments?"
He didn't expect an answer. Yet the woman began to move, walking around him with the corners of her lips lifting into a faint, almost-smile.
"I'll tell you something that means nothing to me... but everything to you," she said calmly.
"Tell me," Zavi demanded, unable to suppress his curiosity as his wariness and irritation slowly faded.
"I'm the one who caused those wandering spirits and ghosts to appear. And the Chalog-Chalog that attacked you in the forest—I was the one who commanded it. Though I lost control at the very last moment."
She paused for a few seconds before continuing, "That's why you became a fugitive... and were captured."
Zavi's eyes widened as anger surged through him. His jaw tightened, his fingers clenched hard around the knife's handle as he stepped forward, intent on killing the woman.