Kai did not run.

Running meant the twelve puppets would simply swarm him in the open ground, and he would die tired.

He stood his ground on the dirt path and tightened his grip on the dark blade.

Lilith closed the distance between them.

She was furious now.

The composed mask of the arrogant general was gone. Black blood soaked her dark leather armour, dripping steadily down her arm and splashing onto the pale stones beneath her boots.

She raised her curved blade high, aiming directly for his chest.

’Just wait,’ Kai thought to himself, watching the sharp tip of her sword get closer.

’Let her overcommit. If I jump too early, she will just adjust her swing.’

He waited until the very last possible second.

The blade was inches from his shirt, and he could feel the cold wind coming off the steel.

He triggered Shadow Step.

The magic pulled him straight through the air as he reappeared directly behind her, his boots hitting the gravel without a sound.

This time, he did not go for the protected back of her neck. He aimed lower.

He drove the black steel blade straight into the existing, bleeding wound on her right shoulder.

The metal sank deep into the torn flesh, and he twisted the hilt with all his strength to maximise the damage.

Lilith dropped her sword.

She made a terrible sound that was not quite human.

It was an echoing gasp that rattled deep in her chest.

Her knees hit the gravel path hard, kicking up a small cloud of grey dust.

A silence swept through the narrow canyon.

The twelve blood puppets collapsed simultaneously.

It looked exactly like invisible strings had been cut from their limbs.

All of them dropped mid-stride without making a single sound; their armour crashed into the dirt road, sending up plumes of dust.

They did not twitch, and they did not try to get back up. The magical connection was permanently severed.

The wider camp immediately fell into chaos.

Drone vampires began milling about near the dying fires, bumping into each other in confusion.

They had no direction and no commander to issue new orders.

Five hundred low-level vampires were suddenly trapped in a canyon, and not a single one of them knew what to do without Lilith’s strict chain of command guiding their fragile minds.

Kai stood over the fallen general. He was breathing hard, keeping the black blade ready in his hand just in case she tried to stand up again.

She did not try to stand. Lilith slumped backwards and looked up at him.

The intense anger was gone from her red eyes. Something much older and far sadder took its place.

She looked like a very tired soldier who was finally allowed to rest after a long, brutal war.

"She marked you," Lilith said quietly. Her voice was weak, barely carrying over the distant panic of the scrambling camp.

"On her wall."

Kai frowned, lowering the tip of his sword slightly.

"I know she is watching me. She made that very clear."

"It is more than watching," Lilith coughed, and more black blood spilt over her pale lips.

"If she gave you the seed, she put your name on her wall. It is where she keeps her favourite things. She collects us."

"I am not a thing," Kai said firmly.

"I am going to break her game."

Lilith offered a pitying smile.

"We all said that once. Then you already know you cannot leave her. You have to go back to her estate. Because nobody on that wall ever left."

"There is a first time for everything," Kai replied, keeping his voice cold.

"No," Lilith whispered, her eyes losing their sharp glow.

"She will consume you. She consumes us all in the end."

She stopped breathing.

Her head tilted to the side, and her pale skin turned to grey ash, blowing away in the cold canyon wind.

A bright blue screen filled Kai’s vision.

[System Event: Quest Complete]

[Quest Title: Decapitate the March - SUCCESS]

[Army Status: Collapsed and Leaderless]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Kai’s Level: 50!]

[New Skill Unlocked: Blood Puppetry Fragment]

[Description: Kai can issue one suggestion per day to a target whose blood he has touched. This is Lilith’s copied remnant.]

[Greed Feast absorbed the dying echo.]

Kai stared at the floating text for a long time.

He had levelled up three times from a single kill.

The experience points from a general were huge, but the new skill was the real prize.

The system had copied a fragment of her magic through the Devouring Seed.

He could control minds now, even if it was just a small suggestion once a day.

’The seed is growing,’ Kai thought to himself, dismissing the blue screen with a quick mental command.

’And Millenia wants to see what it blooms into. She gave me the sword because she wanted me to absorb this specific power.’

He wiped the black blade on a piece of discarded cloth and tucked it back into his belt. He turned his back on the ashes and walked away from the choke point.

The long walk back to his horse was quiet.

The leaderless army was already dissolving behind him.

Drones were wandering into the deep woods, and the low-tier officers were fleeing back toward the eastern borders to save their own lives.

By morning, there would be nothing left of the marching vanguard.

The capital was safe from the immediate threat, and the inner circle would have no choice but to listen to Eevy now.

Kai found his black horse exactly where he left it.

He untied the leather reins and pulled himself up into the saddle.

He thought about what Lilith had said during her final moments.

’Nobody on that wall ever left,’ Kai thought, replaying the phrase in his mind as the horse’s hooves struck the dirt road.

He knew she was waiting for him, likely pouring two glasses of dark wine right now, anticipating his return.

She expected him to win, and she expected him to come back to her side to report his success.

Kai looked up at the moon hanging over the dark trees. He did not think about whether the situation bothered him yet.

He refused to let the fear take root in his chest, focusing instead on the cold logic of the system. That was a problem for later.

Right now, he had three new levels, a mind-control skill, and a city council to conquer at dawn.

He kicked the horse’s sides to ride faster.

The first stage of the game was officially broken, and he was the one holding the pieces.

[A/N: The slow-paced storyline is over. It will be very explicit from here on out. Enjoy reading.]