Kai’s scream tore through the room, raw, wild and animalistic as the blade twisted mercilessly inside his eye, and a sickening crack followed as blood gushed down the right side of his face it soaked his neck, stained his clothes, and dripped in heavy, red splats onto the floor.Zora didn’t flinch at his scream, her hand still gripped the dagger buried in his eye, wrist firm and cold like she was tightening a screw, not skewering someone's soul and then pulled it out and dropped it. “Activate your cultivation technique,” she said coolly, like this wasn’t the most brutal thing she’d ever done. “Now, focus the energy directly into your eye unless you wanna keep crying like a newborn.”Kai’s mind was foggy, pain clouded every thought, every breath, his mouth opened, and all that escaped was another broken scream, hoarse and guttural, but her words pushed through the haze of pain.Through clenched teeth and clenched fists, Kai tried, he summoned his inner energy, the core flow within hi

Three hours slipped by as quietly as a shadow at dusk.Zora had dozed off somewhere between her fifth meat skewer and the sixth, her pale face resting against the sofa, rising and falling softly with her breathing. By the time she woke up, blinking groggily and stretching her limbs, Kai hadn’t moved an inch, he was still seated in the center of the room, legs crossed, his breathing steady, his body glowing faintly with spiritual light.But something was different now.A straight, delicate line had formed right in the middle of his forehead, so thin at first, it looked like a faint scar but it pulsed with energy, almost like it was alive and with each passing minute, the line deepened, stretching further, as if something underneath was trying to claw its way out.Kai clenched his jaw, his fists tightening on his knees, the pain he'd been feeling was crazy, sharp, searing but this time, he didn’t scream, he’d been through worse, he had already survived the madness of being stabbed in th

Kai stilled as realization hit him, so she hadn’t been stopping him, she had wanted to prepare him, forcing him to activate the eye properly, on her own damn terms and here he’d been, barking at her like she was the enemy.He felt stupid.No, scratch that, he felt played. Zora had manipulated the entire situation so subtly, so effortlessly, he hadn’t even realized it until now. She’d slapped him, stabbed him, tortured him and now she was yawning like none of it mattered.And honestly? He had to respect that level of chaos.Still, before he could even ask her who the hell she really was or what her game was...Smack!Her palm landed on the back of his head again.“You thinking again?” she asked, voice dry. “You wanna explode your brain for real this time, or you gonna get to work?”“Don’t stand there like a confused squirrel,” Zora groaned, her voice muffled with sleep. “I need to nap. You need to see. So close those damn eyes and get to work.”Kai muttered something under his breath,

The convoy pulled up to the location, black cars lined the dusty, half-abandoned industrial zone, their engines humming low with restrained menace. Kai stepped out of his matte obsidian beast of a car, adjusting his sleeves with the kind of calm that made grown men rethink their life decisions."Lock down the entire perimeter. No one gets in. No one gets out," Kai ordered coolly, his voice cold."Yes, Young Master!" the men chorused, instantly dispersing, surrounding the place with swift, lethal precision.Thane stepped forward, his expression unreadable but his hands twitching slightly. He wanted to say something, anything but he swallowed it. He knew better than to interrupt his master when his aura had that still-deadly quality… the kind that always preceded chaos.Thane's brows furrowed as he glanced at the rust-stained structure. “Young Master… should I go in with you?”Kai’s jaw flexed. “No. Stay here. Clean-up comes after the mess.”Kai walked toward the building like he owned

Getting back home, Kai pulled into the driveway just as the sky began to fade into the soft hues of twilight. Thane was already standing by the door like a loyal hound who hadn’t blinked since he left.“How’d it go, Young Master?” he asked, stepping forward with a hint of concern. “I was… a little worried when you decided to go there alone.”Kai raised a brow and smirked. “The Darclays apologized.”Thane blinked. “Apologized?”“Mm-hmm.”“…To you?”Kai’s smirk deepened. “Who else?”Thane opened his mouth, then wisely shut it, a man could only take so much before his brain short-circuited, so he bowed slightly and shifted the topic.“Miss Abigail is awake now, she’s inside,, Zora’s been taking care of her and she's really kind.”Kai, though surprised, just nodded once and strode inside without another word. But nothing, nothing prepared him for what he walked into.Abigail.In the dining room and absolutely demolishing a plate of meat like it owed her money.Chunks of it disappeared wi