"So how dangerous is this monster, exactly?" Winter asked, his boots crunching softly over the tangled underbrush as he followed behind the four elven teens weaving through the dense jungle ahead of him.
"It's taken nine lives so far," Dae replied without looking back, his voice flat and clipped. "All the victims turned to ash."
Winter gave a quiet nod. "I see. Sorry for your loss," he said, and his voice held a note of genuine sympathy.
"We didn't know the victims," Lai responded, tone indifferent.
"You don't have to know someone to mourn them," Winter replied simply, his gaze ahead.
Vee groaned and rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Humans and their human morals," she muttered, crossing her arms with a sharp huff.
Jae glanced down at his empty belt and scratched the back of his head. "By the way... how are we supposed to do anything without any weapons?" he asked, turning the question to their older brother.
"The man will 'take care of it,'" Dae said, jerking a thumb toward Winter as they walked.
Winter raised a brow. "You didn't use air quotes, but the way you said it really made it feel like you did in your head," he remarked, his tone dry.
Dae sighed in irritation. "I still don't get what you meant when you said you 'asked it for direction,'" he said, mimicking Winter's earlier phrasing with exaggerated mockery. "But it's pretty obvious you didn't fight it. If you had, you'd be dead."
Winter hummed thoughtfully, tilting his head. "I'm starting to think you don't have much faith in me."
The group groaned in unison.
"Oh, really? Glad you noticed," Lai shot back with a sneer.
As their footsteps carried them deeper into the woods, Vee leaned over toward Dae and lowered her voice to a whisper, "Do you think he could be using something like our hereditary ability? When he said he asked the monster for directions?"
Dae shook his head almost immediately. "Don't be absurd," he muttered. "No human can just use our hereditary ability like that without using ritual magic."
His gaze flicked to Winter with a faint scowl. "He's probably just manic. That's all."
Winter heard them. Every word of it. But he said nothing. Honestly, he couldn't blame them for thinking that.
Suddenly, he came to a halt.
He didn't speak. No warning, no signal. Just reached over his shoulder and drew the spear from his back in a single, fluid motion.
"What are you—" Dae started, but the words never finished.
Winter hurled the spear without a word. It whipped over Dae's head, slicing cleanly between hanging vines and clustered trunks. A sharp screech echoed through the jungle a moment later.
All of them froze.
"What was that?" Jae asked, his voice suddenly tight, eyes darting through the shadows.
Winter didn't answer. He simply extended his hand.
The spear snapped back to him, ripping through the humid air and slamming into his waiting palm. Impaled on the blade's length was a small, contorting creature—a twisted, leathery imp choking on its own black ichor.
Winter lifted the writhing thing closer to his face, his expression cold. "Here as well?" he muttered, eyes narrowing. "Where are the rest of you?"
"Is… is that a demon?" Lai asked, voice cracking as he stared at the imp with disbelief.
"But there were no reports of any portals opening here!" Vee snapped, already backing a step away.
Dae's voice came low and grim. "And even when they do open, the demons avoid us. Always."
Winter didn't react. He only leaned in closer to the gagging imp. "Where. Are. The rest. Of you?" he asked again, slower this time.
A voice answered from above.
"Right above you!"
The shriek of a blade unsheathing cut the air—and a glint of silver streaked down. Steel crashed against Winter's spear in a loud metallic clang that rang through the canopy. Sparks snapped across the impact point.
"Wow. You caught that?" the attacker spoke mid-motion, their voice edged with amusement.
The elves stared, wide-eyed, as the strange figure landed lightly before Winter, springing back from the deflected blow. Their blade, long and gently curved with a single edge and no crossguard, shimmered faintly with residual energy—its smooth spine and wrapped hilt distinctly foreign. They looked human. Almost too human. No horns. No scales. Their body type was androgynous enough that the elves couldn't place their sex, and the strange black clothing clung loosely to their frame like a mix between robes and a uniform.
Winter flicked the imp's corpse off his spear with a sharp twist before turning the point toward the newcomer.
"You're not a demon," he said, voice steady. "What are you?"
The figure licked their lips, a forked tongue flashing between teeth. "Wouldn't you like to know?" they purred. "Why don't you find out... by fighting me?"
They grinned wide and ignored the elves entirely, casually raising their sword again. The metal caught a shaft of sunlight as they slid into a loose, open stance.
"Kids," Winter said over his shoulder without looking. "Stay back."
None of the elves argued. They could feel it in the air—like the sudden shift of pressure before a storm. Whatever this was, they didn't want to be in the middle of it.
"Good job listening," the figure commented with a smirk, finally glancing toward the elves. "You'd die fast if you got involved. And honestly…" they turned their sharp gaze back to Winter, "I'd hate for that to happen too soon."
They planted a foot, body coiling like a spring, and let a crooked grin stretch across their face.
"Weeping Phantom," she said, the name sliding out of her mouth like a threat. "And for your knowledge, I am a woman."
And then she charged.