Rivers of the Night

The Fourth Elder took deep breaths, his body shuddering as blood flowed down the wound above his hip. If not for his fluttering robes, one could have seen straight through, peering through his flesh and bone.

But at the moment, despite his pale face and ghastly wound, pain wasn't the predominant emotion he was feeling.

That was shock.

His head slowly turned to Theron, who was standing there with the same ice-cold expression, his immature features budding with a disguised arrogance as his hair danced in the wind along with the silky strands of Dark Water Mana.

Bylo's breathing hitched.

"… Theron… this battle has gone too far, no…? What do you say we both take a step back and let things end here…?" he hesitantly tested the waters.

In the far-off distance, Kaelen was truly shaken. He had thought that the moment a Core Elder stepped in, this matter would be over. There would be no need to worry about these things.

But then the Eighth Elder died—and in such humiliating fashion at that.

However, he managed to rein in his shock and helplessness, believing that the Eighth Elder had just been careless. And that was true enough for him to actually believe it.

When his master appeared, he thought that the end result would be just as obvious.

But then his master almost lost his head in a single exchange.

Once again, Kaelen convinced himself that it was just them underestimating Theron. So long as his master took things seriously, so long as he went all out, nothing bad would happen.

When he saw his master unleash his Echo right from the start and erupt with so much power, he was certain that this was it—that this would end everything.

But it didn't.

His master almost lost his life, suffering the most grievous wound of the battle, and now his master was actually asking… for a truce?

Kaelen felt his expression go as pale as the snow-capped mountain of the Hall of Ice and Heart.

If his master died, what would happen to him? Who would be there to protect him when Theron came for revenge? Did Theron already know he was involved?

Even if he didn't, Lyra would certainly tell him when she woke up.

Would Theron even take this truce?

Suddenly, Kaelen went from believing his master would certainly take victory here to hoping that Theron would actually sign a truce with him.

Theron, of course, didn't know of all of Kaelen's thoughts. That wasn't because he couldn't deduce them, but instead because he wasn't giving Kaelen even the slightest bit of mental space at all.

There was a silence that hung in the air, one that only seemed to grow heavier. Only the sound of crackling flames and the howl of wind seemed to ebb it the slightest bit, but to Bylo, it wasn't nearly loud enough to stifle the beating of his heart.

Here he was… actually asking a Silver Mancer for a truce…

He had never felt more humiliated in his life.

"Okay." Theron suddenly said.

The moment he said this, Theron was already walking toward Lyra. Even now, the young woman was still unconscious. She must have lost so much blood that she was unable to wake up with even all this commotion.

Theron carefully pulled her down and then walked away with her in his arms.

All the while, he didn't even look at the Fourth Elder again as though he was sure the man wouldn't dare to attack even his back.

Cloud Mancers are, indeed, difficult to handle… as far as I can tell, the Fourth Elder is a Runebound Mancer. It's hard to piece together what Mandate he has since it's so well hidden in his Echo, but it should be related to agility. He was quite fast, and it took a lot of forethinking to counter his speed.

Theron knew that the Fourth Elder was only asking for a truce because his Mana was completely depleted. Between protecting his spear from Theron's and that final attack just now, he was running close to empty.

But… so was Theron.

That was the longest he had kept his Dark and Water Mana fusion for, and the only reason he had been able to was because his Dark Mana Control had substantially improved.

But he was running close to empty as well. In a Sect where there were a lot of hostile parties to him in the shadows, it wasn't a good idea for him to push himself right to his limits.

That said, he had still gained a lot. The Fourth Elder was a good opponent to hone his actual spear skills against.

After his time with the unnamed cultivator, especially the time he spent studying his Blade Path, Theron knew that there was more to Weapon Resonance than just making his weapons mimic his element. He could definitely do a much deeper dive.

What exactly that was? He wasn't sure yet because he hadn't studied the Blade Path nearly enough.

But he would know soon. After he headed out, of course.

…

Theron laid Lyra to rest in his Immortal Cave. He fed her a few elixirs he got from the Sect. Luckily, not all the infrastructure of the Sect had crumbled just yet—mostly because elders were still the ones overseeing places like the two towers and the medicinal exchange spots.

She should mostly be tired. The wounds she had suffered were substantial, but not life-threatening. A Gold Mancer like her would definitely be able to bounce back quickly.

Now, it was time to head out.

Theron's main goal was to return to the Dark River. He felt that maybe it would have a secret that could allow him to awaken a Dark Resonance. He wasn't 100% sure about this, but he felt there were decent odds.

At this coming gathering, there would definitely be geniuses stronger than the Fourth Elder. They would have far stronger Mandates, Echoes, and Resonances.

He needed to be better.

That said, he was definitely going to kill the Fourth Elder first. As if he would allow such a threat to walk around freely.

He was an assassin, after all. Head-to-head combat had never been his forte.