The blinding flash of violet fire collided with a barrier that did not exist a second ago. Nicolás didn't even raise his hand. He simply exhaled. A translucent ripple, shimmering like heat haze over asphalt, bloomed outward from his body. The dark fire hit the ripple and vanished as if it had been swallowed by a hungry void. Not a single spark touched the table. The coffee in his cup remained perfectly still.Renata gasped, her body pressed so tightly against his that she could feel the steady, infuriatingly calm thud of his heart. She looked up at him, her eyes wide with bewilderment. He was still holding his half-eaten croissant in one hand, the other resting firmly on her hip as if they were dancing in a ballroom rather than standing in a slaughterhouse."You are not human," Renata whispered, her voice barely audible over the crackling energy outside the shield."I am a man who prefers his mornings quiet," Nicolás replied. He took another bite of his pastry and chewed slowly. "You

The silence that followed Nicolás’s question was heavy enough to crush bones. The dozens of black-robed mages froze, their fingers twitching over their staves as they waited for a signal that never came. Nicolás didn't wait for them to decide. He shifted his weight, his hand still clamped firmly around Renata’s waist, and let out a long, exaggerated yawn that sounded like a tectonic plate grinding against the earth."I have reached my limit for social interaction today," Nicolás muttered, his eyes narrowing.He didn't make a grand gesture. He simply tapped the toe of his shoe against the cracked asphalt. A ring of golden light expanded from the point of impact, moving at the speed of a falling star. The mages didn't scream. They didn't even have time to blink. The light washed over them, and in a blink of an eye, they were simply gone, leaving behind nothing but the faint, lingering smell of ozone and the sound of the wind rushing into the vacuum they had occupied.Renata gasped, her

The faceless entity tilted its head, the mirror-like surface of its visage rippling like disturbed water. Renata felt a primal scream rising in her throat, but the sheer intensity of the encroaching shadows stole her breath. Nicolás, the man who had effortlessly vaporized armies with a flick of his wrist, lay slumped against her chest like a discarded doll. The needle in his neck shimmered with a sickly, pulsating violet light that defied his system recovery."Nicolás, wake up!" Renata shrieked, shaking his shoulders. Her hands were slick with the cold, viscous sweat pouring from his skin. "This isn't funny anymore!"The mirrored entity stepped closer, its boots making no sound on the floorboards. It raised a slender hand, and the blades held by the surrounding shadows began to vibrate with a high-pitched frequency that shattered the nearby vanity mirror. Every shard of glass levitated, turning to face them like miniature daggers."The Idle God sleeps," the entity hummed. The voice wa

The metal carcass of the car screamed as it spiraled through the freezing night air, tearing through the canopy of ancient, jagged trees lining the bottom of the ravine. Nicolás did not panic. He braced his feet against the dashboard and reached over, wrapping his arm securely around Renata’s waist. He pulled her against his chest, shielding her face from the flying shards of glass and the twisted frame of the vehicle as they slammed into the damp, mossy earth. The impact was a bone-jarring symphony of metal on stone, a final, violent shudder that left the car embedded in the mud like a tombstone.Silence reclaimed the forest. The only sound was the hissing of steam from the shattered engine and the distant, mocking laughter of the wind through the pines. Renata gasped, her lungs burning, her body aching with a thousand bruises. She looked up at Nicolás. He was still holding her, his expression as calm as a summer afternoon, though his jacket was torn and his hair was dusted with dirt

Renata felt the gargoyle give way under her boots. Gravity seized them, pulling the pair down into the gaping maw of the abyss while the dragon’s hellish fire rained down like molten gold. Nicolás did not let go. Instead, he twisted his body in midair, shielding Renata with his own frame as they plummeted toward the jagged palace gardens below. His hand reached out, not toward the dragon, but toward his own pocket. He pulled out a crumpled, neon-glowing energy bar wrapper. He flicked it into the air.[System Ability: Kinetic Absorption Activated]The wrapper expanded into a shimmering, gelatinous dome of pure, solid force. It caught them seconds before they hit the manicured topiary. They bounced twice, the dome absorbing the catastrophic velocity, before they slid to a stop in the dirt. Nicolás stood up instantly, his hand still firmly clasped around Renata’s waist, pulling her upright with a grace that made the adrenaline in her blood feel like liquid heat. He looked up at the drago