Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls

Amelia remained silent for a few seconds, observing everyone around the table. Since arriving in the Vampire Kingdom, she had practically vanished whenever a new report came in. While Kael trained, Sylphie explored the palace, and Irelia conversed with Elizabeth, Amelia spent hours reading documents, cross-referencing information, and noting down small details that, in isolation, seemed useless.

Now, finally, she closed the last folder.

Liza watched the movement.

"Finished?"

Amelia nodded.

"I’m done."

Elizabeth straightened her posture.

"And?"

Amelia took a deep breath before beginning.

"I think we’re approaching this problem the wrong way."

The councilors exchanged quick glances.

Liza remained silent.

"Explain."

Amelia placed three folders on the table.

"I’ve spent all this time trying to figure out who this organization is."

She pushed one of the folders forward.

"But I don’t think that’s the right question."

Elizabeth tilted her head slightly.

"Then what is?"

"What they need."

The room fell silent.

Amelia opened the first report.

"Look at this."

She turned a few pages.

"Abandoned laboratories."

Another page.

"Missing researchers."

Another.

"Massive purchases of alchemical ingredients."

One more.

"Merchants who simply vanished after selling specific materials."

She looked up.

"They leave traces."

One of the councilors spoke.

"Any organization does."

"Yes."

Amelia agreed.

"The difference is, we never follow those traces."

She picked up another document.

"Notice something."

Everyone looked.

"They never attack the same way twice."

Elizabeth nodded slowly.

"That’s true..."

"They never use the same agents."

Another sheet. "They never use the same base."

Another one.

"They never persist with a failed operation."

Liza crossed her arms.

"Have you reached a conclusion?"

"Yes."

Amelia answered immediately.

"They work on a project basis."

Silence returned.

Amelia continued.

"Their goal was never to dominate the Vampire Kingdom."

She pointed at Elizabeth.

"The goal was to obtain Command of the Lineages."

Elizabeth nodded.

"I agree."

"They also never tried to confront the Witch Kingdom."

She looked at Liza.

"Nor Yggdrasil."

"They simply collect what they need and vanish."

Liza rested her elbow on the table.

"Go on."

Amelia unrolled a map of the continent.

"To this day, each kingdom protects only its own territory."

She drew four circles.

"Witches."

Another.

"Vampires."

Another.

"Humans."

Another.

"Yggdrasil."

Then she drew them all separately.

"They take advantage of exactly that."

She then connected all the circles.

"We need to stop acting separately."

Elizabeth asked:

"A military alliance?"

"No."

Amelia shook her head.

"An intelligence alliance."

The councilors paid even closer attention.

"Any suspicious information must be shared immediately."

She began to list them.

"Missing researchers."

"Strange merchants."

"Unusual purchases."

"Stolen artifacts."

"Nobles acting differently."

"New cults."

"Unknown magic."

"Nothing remains restricted to a single kingdom."

Liza fell into thought.

"And who coordinates this?"

"No one."

The answer caused a few eyebrows to rise.

"No one?"

"That’s right."

Amelia drew a large circle in the center of the map. "If there were a command center..."

She marked an X over it.

"They’d attack that center."

Then she drew several small dots.

"Each kingdom maintains its own intelligence network."

"But shares everything."

"That way, there’s no single head to cut off."

Elizabeth smiled faintly.

"Interesting."

Violet crossed her arms.

"That solves half the problem."

"It does."

Amelia replied.

"But the other half remains."

She opened another folder.

"They need resources."

"Mana."

"Money."

"Ingredients."

"Researchers."

"Mercenaries."

"Transport."

She closed the folder.

"If we cut that off..."

"...they can’t operate."

A councilor asked:

"And how do you intend to do that?"

"By monitoring those who supply these resources."

Amelia answered.

"We won’t go looking for the organization itself."

"We’ll go after those who sell to it."

Elizabeth’s eyes widened slightly.

"...that’s much easier."

"Exactly."

Amelia nodded.

"An organization can hide its leaders."

"It can’t hide hundreds of suppliers."

Liza rested her chin on her hand.

"Go on."

"Every major alchemist."

"Every artifact maker."

"Every researcher."

"Every specialized merchant."

She looked at Violet.

"Will be discreetly monitored."

Violet replied almost immediately.

"The Army can handle that."

Irelia spoke next.

"The Ainsworth Family controls a large portion of the trade routes."

"We can help, too."

Elizabeth added.

"And the vampire nobility knows practically every major merchant in the kingdom."

Amelia nodded.

"Perfect."

"If they need to buy anything..."

"...we’ll know."

Liza then asked:

"And Kael?"

Amelia smiled for the first time during the meeting.

"Kael isn’t involved in this stage."

Elizabeth laughed.

"I figured."

"He wasn’t born to investigate."

Amelia replied.

"He was born to resolve things."

A few people smiled.

Amelia continued.

"We investigate."

"We find."

"We confirm."

She paused briefly.

"Then we call Kael."

Violet let out a laugh.

"That really sounds like his kind of job."

"I agree."

Elizabeth said.

Liza gazed at Amelia for a few seconds.

Then she smiled faintly.

"How long did it take you to put all this together?"

"Since the day we arrived."

Amelia answered.

"I wanted to find a pattern before suggesting anything."

Liza picked up one of the folders and quickly flipped through a few pages.

Then she closed the document.

"This plan doesn’t just solve our problem."

She looked up.

"It works for any similar organization."

Amelia nodded.

"That was exactly the idea."

Elizabeth smiled.

"I think we’ve finally stopped just reacting."

"Now we can force *them* to react."

Liza agreed.

"Let’s start immediately."

She looked at Violet.

"Set up a division dedicated solely to intelligence."

Then she looked at Elizabeth.

"I want contact made with all the noble families today."

Finally, she turned to Amelia.

"And what about Kael?"

Amelia gave a half-smile.

"When everything is ready..."

"...we just show him the target."

Irelia chuckled softly.

"That way, he won’t even have to read the reports."

Amelia replied matter-of-factly:

"He probably wouldn’t read them anyway." A few quiet chuckles rippled around the table, wrapping up a meeting that—for the first time since Vlad’s fall—wasn’t about putting out fires, but rather preventing them from starting in the first place.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the palace—completely unaware of the meeting taking place in the administrative wing—Kael stood alone in the massive training ground reserved for high-ranking guests.

The place was already a wreck.

The stone floor was pockmarked with dozens of craters.

Cracks ran along the walls.

Several training dummies had simply ceased to exist.

Liza would probably have a minor heart attack when she saw the state of the place.

Kael took another deep breath.

"Again..."

He bent his knees slightly.

Mana surged through his entire body.

Not just his magic channels.

Every muscle.

Every tendon.

Every bone.

It was exactly what Liza had explained the day before.

It wasn’t a spell to move the body.

It was a spell to strengthen the body for a single instant.

An explosion.

All the mana concentrated into less than a tenth of a second.

He vanished.

BOOM!

A blast of air shook the entire training ground.

Kael reappeared nearly fifty meters ahead.

But he lost his balance.

"Shit..."

His body spun twice before he managed to come to a stop on his feet.

He scratched his head.

"Still too fast..."

He breathed in again.

"One more time."

The mana began to circulate again.

This time, he reduced the amount slightly.

He vanished.

The boom echoed once more.

He reappeared forty meters ahead.

Still off-balance.

"...Better."

He looked down at his foot.

"The direction is still crap."

He tried again.

And again.

Once more.

Hours passed. The sun had already shifted position significantly while Kael simply kept repeating the same movement.

Explosion.

Movement.

Balance.

Breathing.

Again.

Explosion.

Movement.

Breathing.

Again.

Until...

Something finally changed.

Kael closed his eyes.

He breathed slowly.

Instead of focusing all his mana solely on his legs...

He spread it throughout his entire body.

Hips.

Spine.

Arms.

Neck.

Even his jaw.

"Maybe..."

He smiled faintly.

"That was it."

He tensed his body.

The mana exploded outward.

...

No boom.

No exaggerated blast.

No loss of balance.

Just the faint sound of wind.

Whoosh.

The very next instant...

Kael was already on the other side of the field.

Standing still.

Perfectly balanced.

He blinked.

He looked back.

The distance was vast.

Over a hundred meters.

No marks on the ground.

No impact.

Nothing.

He stood motionless for a few seconds.

"...It worked."

He looked at his own hands.

Then at the field.

He took another breath.

"No..."

His smile widened.

"It really worked."

He vanished again.

Whoosh.

A hundred meters.

A different direction.

Whoosh.

Another hundred.

Another.

Whoosh.

Another.

Anyone watching from afar would truly believe he was teleporting.

There wasn’t enough time to track the movement.

He simply...

Vanished.

And reappeared.

Kael started laughing to himself.

"HAHAHA..."

"Finally."

He performed another sequence.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Whoosh.

Each movement was cleaner than the last.

More precise.

Quieter.

Until he decided to test the limit.

He took a deep breath.

"Let’s see."

This time, he channeled much more mana.

His body vanished.

The sound was so faint it barely existed.

When his vision cleared...

He was atop one of the palace towers.

"..."

Kael looked around.

"...Overshot it a bit."

He scratched his head.

"I still need to calculate better."

A familiar voice came from behind him.

"Looks like you managed it."

Kael turned his head.

Liza was leaning against the tower entrance, arms crossed.

She had watched the entire final movement.

Kael smiled.

"I did."

Liza walked to the edge and looked down.

"It’s not magic."

"No."

"Nor a racial ability."

"Not that either."

She looked back at him.

"So, you really created a body technique."

Kael nodded.

"I guess so."

She remained silent for a few seconds.

Then, she smiled faintly.

"Name."

Kael blinked.

"Huh?"

"Every technique needs a name."

He fell into thought.

He looked at the horizon.

Then at his own body.

"It’s not teleportation."

"No."

"It’s not a dash, either."

"No."

He smiled. "So..."

Kael took a deep breath.

"Celestial Step."

Liza repeated it softly.

"Celestial Step..."

She smiled slightly.

"It suits the Celestial Sun."

Kael grimaced.

"Don’t call me that."

Liza chuckled.

"It’s too late."

She looked back down at the completely destroyed field below.

"By the way..."

"Yeah?"

"Are you going to explain to the person in charge of the field..."

"...or would you rather I make up an excuse?"

Kael surveyed the scene.

Craters.

Broken walls.

Training dummies smashed to pieces.

He gave a discreet cough.

"...I vote for the excuse."

Liza let out a genuine laugh.

"I figured."