Path of the Unmentioned: The Missing Piece-Chapter 108: The Void Empress [1]

BOOM!

The train’s roof exploded.

Metal tore apart like paper. Pieces flying everywhere as a figure dropped from the sky. Fast and heavy. Like a meteor falling to earth.

CRACK!

A boot slammed into the cultist’s chest with a thunderous impact. He didn’t even have time to react.

His body flew backward. Crashing through and skidding across the train floor until he slammed into a wall, groaning in pain.

Smoke and dust filled the air.

Kyle blinked, dazed. Blood ran down the side of his face. Every inch of his body screamed in pain. He tried to lift his head. Tried to understand what had just happened.

Then he saw her.

She stood calmly in the middle of the wrecked train car.

She couldn’t have been more than Thirty. But there was something ageless about her.

She had long white hair that shimmered in the light, and her eyes. Golden, glowing faintly. Looked like they could see right through steel.

She wore a dark coat that fluttered around her legs. Her posture was straight, relaxed.

But there was power in every movement. It rolled off her like heat from a fire.

She looked down at Kyle and Eleanora. Her expression cool but not unkind.

"You did good, kids," she said, her voice calm and clear. "You can rest now. Leave everything to me."

Kyle wanted to speak. To ask who she was, to stay on his feet. But his body couldn’t take any more.

His fingers slipped from the hilt of his tachi, Zalrielle.

His knees gave out.

And he collapsed.

The last thing he saw was her turning away, moving toward Reo.

She walked with purpose. Her boots clicking quietly against the floor as she reached Reo’s body. He was lying on his back. Barely breathing, blood pooling under him.

She crouched beside him. Two fingers pressing gently to his neck.

A small sigh escaped her lips.

"Lucky guy," she said softly. "Still alive."

She placed her palm over his chest. A warm golden glow spread from her hand. Wrapping around Reo’s body.

His wounds began to close. Not fully. But enough to stop the bleeding. Enough to keep him alive.

Eleanora stared, barely able to lift her head. Her lip was split, her body weak. But her eyes widened.

She knew that glow. She knew that voice. That power.

"The Void Empress..." she whispered.

It couldn’t be anyone else.

The white hair.

The golden eyes.

The aura of space magic so dense the air seemed to bend around her.

She wasn’t just powerful. She was legendary.

The Vice Principal of Solvayne Academy.

Eleanora’s thoughts raced. ’What is she doing here?’

A groan interrupted her thoughts.

The cultist was moving again.

He pushed himself off the floor, rage twisting his face.

His coat was torn. Blood soaking through the leather. But he was still breathing. Still furious.

"You..." he growled. "How dare you interfere!"

The woman didn’t even blink.

She stood slowly and brushed dust off her coat.

Her expression was deadpan. Tired.

"You have no idea how annoyed I am right now," she said flatly.

"I just got back from a two-month mission. I was on my way to Solvayne. A hot bath. A soft bed. No screaming. No blood."

Her golden eyes narrowed.

"And then you happened."

The cultist snarled.

She vanished.

Just like that. Gone in a blink.

Then—

WHAM!

She appeared right in front of him. Grabbed his face with one gloved hand before he could move.

"This place is a bit cramped," she muttered.

FLASH.

The world bent around them, and they were gone.

Outside.

The sky was wide and dark above the train, wind roaring in every direction.

They reappeared high above the ground, suspended in open air.

The cultist’s eyes widened.

"Wha—?"

That was all he could say.

With one clean motion. She twisted in the air and hurled him downward.

He dropped like a stone.

WHAAAAAM!

The ground below erupted as he smashed into it. Dust and debris exploded upward in a thick cloud. The shockwave shook the train itself.

Far above him. The Void Empress hovered in the sky, untouched.

Her white hair swayed in the wind. Her golden eyes glowed like the sun.

She stared down at the crater where the cultist lay.

And this time. She wasn’t smiling.

———

The cultist hit the ground hard. His body smashing into the dirt with a loud, bone-jarring CRACK.

The earth split beneath him. Forming a wide crater.

Dust shot into the air, and chunks of stone rolled across the dry ground. For a few seconds, he didn’t move.

Then—

A wet cough. Harsh and broken.

He groaned and rolled onto his side, shaking all over. Blood poured from his nose and mouth, dripping onto the cracked earth.

One eye was swollen shut. His ribs throbbed with every breath.

His trembling hand reached for the twin daggers lying nearby.

With effort. He gripped them. Water mana flickered to life, coating the blades in a thin, deadly sheen.

The air around them shimmered from the sharpness.

Snarling. He pushed himself up and lunged—

But the daggers froze mid-air.

They didn’t fall. They just stopped. Locked in place like stuck in invisible ice.

He froze too. Eyes wide.

The Void Empress hadn’t moved a single step.

She stood calmly across from him. Long white hair drifting in the breeze. Golden eyes glowing faintly.

One hand was lifted, fingers slightly spread.

The space around the weapons had solidified. The air itself turned to glass.

The cultist grunted, straining, muscles bulging as he tried to move the daggers. But they wouldn’t budge. They might as well have been welded in place.

A slow smile crept across her face. It wasn’t kind.

"Oh?" she said quietly. "You actually thought that would work?"

Then—

CRUNCH.

Space folded.

His right arm twisted in the wrong direction. Elbow shattering, wrist snapping backwards, fingers curling like broken twigs.

The daggers fell from his now useless hand, clattering onto the dirt.

He opened his mouth to scream—

WHAM!

An invisible force slammed into his chest.

He flew backward, crashing through a nearby boulder. Stone shattered. His ribs cracked louder this time.

He wheezed, lungs burning, coughing up blood.

But it didn’t stop.

The world around him bent again.

Suddenly. He was in the air. Twenty feet off the ground, floating like a rag doll. His limbs hanging uselessly.

The Void Empress stood below him. Her eyes still locked on him like a hunter watching prey.

"You know," she said, voice calm but cold, "I hate when someone tries to hurt my students."

She flicked her fingers.

He dropped.

BOOM.

He slammed into the ground, dust exploding from the impact. His body flopped like a sack of broken bones. Blood sprayed from his mouth again.

Then—

CRACK.

His left arm twisted. The elbow snapped backwards with a sickening pop.

He screamed, high and hoarse.

The Empress didn’t blink.

She stepped forward slowly, boots crunching the dirt beneath her. Her golden eyes didn’t blink. They didn’t soften.

"Let’s try this again," she said. Her voice calm and cutting through the air like a blade.

She took a step closer. Her golden eyes narrowing.

"Who are you? Who sent you? And what was the purpose of this attack?"

The cultist gasped, struggling for breath. Blood foamed at his lips. His chest rose and fell in shallow, ragged bursts.

He glanced around in desperation. Eyes darting toward the broken terrain. The ruined train in the distance, the sky above.

But there was nothing.

No escape.

No one coming to save him.

Only her.

Her presence crushed everything else. Her power twisted the air itself. His broken body hung helplessly in front of her, held aloft by space magic like a puppet.

"I..." he wheezed, spitting blood onto the dirt. "I won’t... tell you anything..." freewebnoveℓ.com

The Void Empress tilted her head slightly.

"You know," she said, almost thoughtfully, "I’m giving you the chance to make it easier for yourself."

She raised her hand slightly, and his broken arm twitched. Sending fresh waves of pain through his body.

"Why attack the train? Why target innocent civilians?" she asked again. Her tone sharp now, cutting through the air like a lash.

"What were you after? Who gave the order?"

The cultist groaned. His lips trembled. The pain was unbearable. But he still clung to his silence.

"Speak," she commanded, her voice colder than before. "Or I start breaking things slower."

His teeth clenched. Blood dripped from his chin. One eye rolled back as another bolt of pain surged through his shattered limbs.

His jaw clenched. He spat blood at the ground.

"Go to hell—"

SNAP.

His right knee bent sideways, bone pushing through skin.

His scream ripped through the air, louder than before.

The Empress gave a small sigh.

"Wrong answer."

She raised her hand again.

The cultist’s body floated off the ground. Suspended in mid-air like a puppet. His arms hung at odd angles.

Blood poured from his nose, ears, and broken joints.

She tilted her head.

"Last chance," she said softly. "Who. Sent. You?"

His mouth twitched.

Then he smiled. A broken, twisted grin.

"You’ll... never... know..." he whispered.

His body began to change.

Bones cracked. Black veins snaked across his skin. Tumors bulged from his chest.

His teeth sharpened into fangs, and his eyes turned blood red.

A corrupted transformation.

The Empress didn’t flinch.

She clicked her tongue. Disgust clear on her face.

"Disgusting."

Then she snapped her fingers.

The space around his head compressed instantly.

For a moment. Silence.

Then—

POP.

His skull burst.

Blood, brains, and bone sprayed outward in a red mist. But never hit the ground.

It froze in the air, suspended inside a warped sphere of space.

His body dropped. Lifeless, hitting the ground with a thud.

She looked at the floating gore, her nose wrinkling.

"Ugh."

With a lazy flick of her hand, the floating mess vanished. Not cleaned. Erased.

Gone like it never existed.

Silence followed.

The wind blew softly across the battlefield. The distant sound of the damaged train creaked and hissed, smoke still rising from its roof.

Then she turned—

—and walked away.

———