Chapter 70: The Cursed Attacks

Chapter 69

Before, Gazel had been trying to understand the strange vision.

Now it clicked.

His eyes locked onto the dead-eye girl.

She had been staring at him the entire time.

Unblinking. Silent. Watching.

He was certain of it now.

She was there.

That night.

When he killed the Shural.

Maybe that was why her gaze never left him. Maybe she saw everything.

But what twisted his thoughts even more was this…

If she saw him kill the Shural, why did she not report him?

He still could not remember everything. The night was shattered into broken fragments in his mind. Blood. Heat. Power. Something inside him awakening.

Yet she said nothing.

She just stared.

All day long.

Gazel did not know whether to feel relieved… or terrified.

And then the real bomb dropped.

The old Oracle’s voice rang out, filled with finality and iron confidence.

“The most important part is this… the demon is here. On these grounds. With us.”

Gazel’s heart stopped.

Not slowed.

Stopped.

His mind, which had been racing, froze mid-thought.

Is this it?

Was he going to die before he even understood what happened last night? Before he figured out how he killed a Shural?

I’ve been found.

Dread sank deep into his chest.

But then his rational mind clawed its way back.

If they already knew who the demon was, they would not gather everyone here. They would not make a show of this.

Which means…

They do not know.

Not yet.

Relief tried to rise.

The Oracle crushed it.

“We may not know who the demon is,” she continued calmly, “but we will see for ourselves.”

She lifted a white orb into the air.

It floated, suspended by her essence.

She spoke words that sounded like broken fragments to ordinary ears, but Gazel felt it. Those were runic command words. Ancient. Heavy.

The orb erupted in radiant white light.

Then it stabilized.

The Oracle smiled faintly.

“This is the Truth Orb. I have already asked it about the demons who escaped the formations of the Bulwark and our senses.”

Her gaze swept over the crowd.

“No matter how well you hide… it is too late.”

Then she sent it forward.

“Stand still. Do not move.”

Her voice was not loud.

Yet thousands stiffened instantly.

Spines straightened. Muscles locked.

It felt like their bodies were obeying her without asking permission.

She was not even using her full power. If someone resisted hard enough, they could break it.

But resisting meant guilt.

And guilt meant death.

So no one moved.

Gazel’s mind spun.

How bad is this?

The orb stopped before the first person. A young woman. Bronze two-star badge. A Shural.

The Oracle explained calmly as the orb began to glow.

“The orb will scan your entire being. Down to the last detail. If you are human, it remains white. If you are blessed, it turns gold.”

Her voice lowered.

“If you are a demon… it turns red.”

The Shural woman froze as energy washed over her. Even knowing she was innocent, her mind raced.

Please don’t turn red.

The orb glowed.

White.

Then gold.

A collective breath released.

The girl inhaled sharply as the orb floated away.

Next.

And next.

And next.

Gold.

Gold.

Gold.

No red.

The more people passed, the worse the tension became.

Because something was coming.

It had to.

Meanwhile, for Gazel, this was not tension.

This was execution marching closer.

The orb drifted down the rows.

Closer.

Closer.

His pulse thundered in his ears.

He could feel Blaze beside him, stiff as stone.

The dead-eye girl still stared.

The orb moved again.

One more row.

Then another.

Almost here.

Gazel swallowed.

If it turns red… I die.

If I run… I die worse.

The more people passed the test, the higher the tension rose.

Ironically.

Because with every golden glow, everyone felt it.

Something was coming.

For Gazel, though, this was not just tension.

This was personal.

The closer the orb moved, the closer his secret crept toward exposure. The secret he swore to carry alone. The secret soaked in blood.

His heartbeat climbed higher with every person the orb passed.

Closer.

Closer.

Then it reached his column.

Every hair on his body stood on end.

He was scared.

Not the shallow kind.

The deep kind.

The kind that grips your spine and whispers your death is near.

So far, no demon had been detected. For a brief, fragile moment, Gazel allowed himself to hope.

Maybe he would pass.

Maybe nothing would go wrong.

But deep down, he knew better.

If he was lucky, maybe he would survive.

If.

But Gazel was cursed.

Physically.

Mentally.

Spiritually.

Even his luck was rotten.

He really was damn cursed.

Yet on the outside, he looked calm. Composed. Controlled.

Only the slight tremor in his fingers betrayed him.

The orb floated from one person to another.

Gold.

Gold.

Gold.

Then it stopped in front of him.

The white light flickered.

It did not turn gold.

It was changing.

Not toward blessing.

But toward something else.

Gazel felt it.

His stomach dropped.

This is it.

Suddenly, the figure standing beside him moved.

A blur.

A strike.

The orb shattered.

The sound cracked across the plaza like a gunshot.

Two wings burst from the man’s back as he shot into the air.

Not escaping.

Commanding.

“Our cover is blown. Kill all the blessed humans.”

His voice was no longer human.

It was cold.

Sharp.

Demonic.

And then chaos erupted.

Within the ranks of the Shurals and even among the blessed humans, people who had been normal seconds ago twisted.

Claws tore out.

Bladed limbs formed from flesh.

Weapons grew directly from bone.

Dark energy flooded the air.

They attacked at once.

Too fast for the blessed to react.

Too fast even for most Shurals.

But not too fast for the ones above.

Among the Silver Shurals, Nightflash moved.

He had kept his distance from the massive presence of Guath, one of the Five Terrors.

His hand dropped to his sword.

And then he vanished.

Not moved.

Vanished.

His speed broke perception itself.

Only minds that had surpassed mortal limits could even begin to follow.

A silver flash tore through the battlefield.

One strike.

Perfect.

Another.

Precise.

Every blade cut directly through a demon’s dark core.

Every attack they launched was dismantled mid-air.

No wasted motion.

No hesitation.

Less than three seconds.

That was all it took.

Nightflash stood at the center of the crowd.

His sword slid back into its sheath with a clean sound.

His eyes were still closed.

Then he was gone.

Back on the plaza.

Silence followed.

It happened so fast most people could not even process it.

But Gazel did.

His mind connected the dots.

There were demons among them.

Not one.

Many.

They had just tried to slaughter everyone.

And Nightflash had killed them all.

More than thirty.

Some of them stronger than Gazel.

Some he knew he could not defeat alone.

Nightflash ended them without breaking a sweat.

Without harming a single innocent.

The level of power…

Speed.

Battle sense.

Control.

It was monstrous.

“Hey. You should not have killed them all. How are we supposed to interrogate them now?”

The Head Healer’s voice cut through the silence, annoyed.

Nightflash shrugged lightly.

“I did not kill all of them.”

He looked up.

“There is still one left.”

Every gaze followed his line of sight.

In the sky, the winged demon hovered.

The one who gave the order.

He was the one who gave the order to attack.

A Fallen.

Low rank, yes.

But powerful.

Experienced.

He knew some of the demons would die. Maybe even all of them. They were standing in a plaza filled with Shurals after all.

What he did not expect… was that they would not even manage to scratch a single blessed human before being erased in three seconds.

For the first time, fear cracked his composure.

His pale face tightened.

His senses screamed.

He did not hesitate.

He turned and fled at full speed, wings beating violently as he shot away from the gathering.

“Are all demons this foolish?”

Guath snorted.

The massive man gave the ground a light kick.

The stone cracked.

A small pebble jumped into his palm.

He weighed it lazily.

Then flicked it forward.

The throw looked casual. Almost sloppy.

Like it would drop halfway.

It did not.

The pebble vanished.

The next sound was a loud pop in the sky.

Then something fell.

Fast.

Heavy.

It slammed into the ground with a sickening thud.

Silence followed.

When the crowd turned, they saw it.

The Fallen.

From the hip up, he was gone.

Erased.

His upper body had been completely obliterated by that tiny pebble.

The lower half lay twisted and lifeless.

Dead.

Just like that.

Gazel stared.

A pebble.

He killed a Fallen with a pebble.

The awe that flooded the plaza was suffocating.

This was power.

Not flashy.

Not dramatic.

Just absolute.

The Silver Shurals were monsters.

And Guath… he was something else entirely.

While others looked at the giant with admiration, the Head Healer looked at him with a glare sharp enough to cut steel.

“And which part of leaving him alive for interrogation did you not understand?”

Guath blinked.

Shrugged.

“I only aimed for the head. A Fallen will not die from that alone.”

That was true.

Normally.

What he did not expect was that a thread of his essence had slipped into the pebble when he threw it.

Just a thread.

But from him, that was more than enough.

The attack became something far beyond what he intended.

The plaza fell into stunned silence as the Head Healer argued with the giant, who tried and failed to defend himself with half-hearted explanations.

But Gazel…

Gazel felt something else.

Relief.

Deep, shaking relief.

And awe.

All the Silver Shurals were monsters.

If he could reach that level…

If he could stand there one day…

Then his goal would no longer feel impossible.

And more importantly…

The orb was destroyed.

Shattered.

Gone.

Which meant he was safe.

Safe.

Gazel exhaled slowly.

He had survived.

Again.

He almost smiled.

Then the old Oracle’s voice rang out.

Clear.

Calm.

Carrying across the entire plaza.

“Now that the nuisances have been taken care of…”

She reached into her space ring.

Pulled out another white orb.

Identical.

Her eyes swept over them.

“Let us continue the inspection.”

Gazel’s breath froze in his lungs.

No.

No, no, no—

The orb began to glow.

And this time…

It was coming straight for him.

TO BE CONTINUED.

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