Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls

Kael appeared on the other side of the courtyard without the thunderclap of the previous attempts.

The movement still was not perfect. The air vibrated, a thin line of scarlet mana remained along the path for less than a second, and the stone beneath his starting foot opened a small crack. But compared to what he had done the day before, it seemed almost elegant.

Almost.

Liza narrowed her eyes, observing the point where he had been before, then the point where he had stopped.

"Better."

Kael turned around.

"You said that as if it hurt."

"Because there are still mistakes."

"But you saw it."

"I did."

"You had to pay attention."

Liza was silent for a second.

Sylphie smiled immediately.

Irelia brought the cup to her lips, hiding her amused expression. Amelia wrote something in the notebook with suspicious calm.

Kael pointed at Liza.

"That was a victory."

"It was progress."

"Small victory."

"Moderate progress."

"You are horrible."

"You asked to learn."

Kael opened his mouth to answer, but stopped. Technically, she was right. That irritated him even more.

Sylphie approached him, her green eyes shining with pride.

"It was good."

Kael looked at her.

"Actually good, or good because you like me?"

"Both."

"That reduces the usefulness of the evaluation."

"But increases the emotional value."

Irelia commented from where she was:

"I only saw the end of the movement. For me, it worked like a false teleport."

Amelia raised the notebook.

"Against common enemies, it would be mistaken for spatial displacement. Against experienced combatants, there are still traces. The scarlet mana appears right after the impulse, and the sound of the air being cut reveals direction."

Kael sighed.

"You are crueler than Liza."

"I am more specific."

Liza nodded.

"She is correct."

Kael looked at the two of them.

"I am starting to regret allowing observers."

Sylphie smiled sweetly.

"You did not allow it. We came."

"That explains a lot."

He returned to the center of the courtyard and tried to repeat the movement. This time, the transition failed slightly. His body arrived too fast, but the mana lagged a fraction of a second behind, creating a red snap in the air. Kael stopped without falling, but the residual force struck one of the courtyard barriers and made the runes glow.

Liza raised an eyebrow.

"Impatient."

"I was trying to adjust."

"You were trying to force it."

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes."

Kael took a deep breath.

"I hate technical training."

"You like fast results," Liza said.

"Because slow results are slow."

"A profound observation."

Sylphie laughed.

Kael tried again.

And again.

With every repetition, the technique changed a little. At first, it seemed only like a less destructive version of his previous impulses. Then, little by little, it became something of its own. Kael was not copying Liza. He could not. Her body moved with the predatory naturalness of vampires, guided by blood, hunger, and instinct. Kael’s body responded to something else. Dense mana, compressed will, trained strength, and a stubbornness irritating enough to make even a vampire queen keep watching.

On the tenth attempt, he disappeared for an instant.

Not truly.

But enough for Sylphie to blink.

Kael appeared behind a statue, kneeling, with one hand on the ground. The stone beneath his fingers smoked a little, but did not break.

He smiled.

"Now yes."

Liza looked at the ground.

"Control the stop better."

"I almost got it."

"You almost destroyed your knees."

"My knees are fine."

Amelia raised the quill.

"Observation: user demonstrates recurring denial regarding joint limitations."

Kael slowly turned his face toward her.

"Are you actually writing that?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"To give to Ester someday."

Irelia almost choked on her tea.

Sylphie began to laugh.

Kael closed his eyes, as if struck by an inevitable future betrayal.

"You do not even know Ester properly."

"She seems like a natural ally," Amelia said.

Liza observed the exchange with curiosity.

"Who is Ester?"

"Someone who stops me from doing useful things," Kael replied.

Sylphie corrected:

"Someone who stops you from dying out of stubbornness."

"That is what I said."

Liza tilted her head.

"Then she must be very competent."

"You would all meet once and form an organization against me."

Irelia smiled.

"It already exists. It only lacked a name."

Kael pointed at her.

"No."

Sylphie rested her chin on her hand, thoughtful.

"Order for the Preservation of Kael."

Amelia wrote it down.

"A functional name."

"Amelia."

"It is for the record."

Kael ran a hand over his face.

Liza, who until then had maintained the cold expression of an implacable teacher, finally let a small smile escape. He noticed.

"You are laughing at me."

"Discreetly."

"That does not make it better."

"It makes it better for me."

Before Kael could answer, hurried footsteps sounded at the courtyard entrance. Violet appeared between the columns, accompanied by two royal guards. Her expression remained controlled, but there was tension in her red eyes.

Liza noticed immediately.

"What happened?"

Violet placed a hand to her chest in salute.

"Your Majesty. Lord Cassian Veyr has arrived at the palace."

Liza’s expression cooled.

Elizabeth was not there, but everyone realized the name carried weight.

Irelia set the cup aside.

"Ancient clan?"

Amelia was already attentive.

Violet nodded.

"One of the heads of the conservative faction. He came accompanied by three lesser representatives and demands an immediate audience."

Liza narrowed her eyes.

"Demands?"

"That was the word used."

Kael looked at her.

"That sounds fun."

Sylphie turned to him.

"No."

"I did not even say anything."

"Your face did."

"My face has been censored by everyone lately."

Amelia closed the notebook.

"Why did he come now?"

Violet replied:

"According to his messengers, he wishes to discuss rumors about the Queen handing vampiric hunger over to the witches."

The courtyard went silent.

The humor disappeared.

Liza became completely still. Not surprised. Not frightened. Furious in a way so controlled that it seemed more dangerous than any explosion.

"Rumors," she repeated.

Violet nodded.

"The information leaked far too quickly."

Amelia stood.

"Too quickly to be an accident."

Irelia added:

"The meeting was confidential. The number of people with access to the content is small."

Kael looked at Liza.

"There is someone inside the palace."

"Or close enough to hear what they should not," Liza said.

Sylphie grew serious, her green eyes turning toward the walls, toward the ground, toward the nonexistent roots beneath the vampiric stone.

"I did not sense any natural presence. But this palace is not alive like a forest. There are shadows, ancient blood, and many overlapping memories."

Kael immediately thought of Umbra.

Then of Inari.

Then of what the two had said about traces, shadows, and spiritual memory.

"Interesting."

Liza looked at him.

"That tone rarely announces anything safe."

"Because it rarely is."

Violet asked:

"What do you wish us to do with Lord Cassian, Your Majesty?"

Liza took an instant to answer.

"Receive him in the Crimson Hall. No access to the records wing. No approaching Princess Elizabeth. Double the guard in the inner passages and place observers on the servants who serve the wine."

Violet nodded.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Kael folded his arms.

"Should I go?"

Liza looked at him.

"No."

Sylphie answered at the same time:

"No."

Irelia added:

"Definitely not."

Amelia, more diplomatic, said:

"It would be strategically inadvisable."

Kael looked at all of them.

"I only asked."

Liza approached him.

"Lord Cassian came precisely because he wants to provoke a reaction. If you appear beside me before I control the tone of the conversation, he will say I am already a puppet of the witches."

Kael nodded.

"Makes sense."

"Besides, he will probably try to insult you indirectly."

"Then I really should go."

"No," Sylphie, Irelia, and Amelia said again.

Kael sighed.

"You are too coordinated."

Liza looked at Violet.

"Prepare the audience. I will enter in ten minutes."

Violet bowed and left as quickly as she had arrived, taking the guards with her.

The courtyard remained silent for a few seconds.

Kael looked at Liza.

"You look like you want to kill someone."

"Wanting is not the problem."

"It is doing it?"

"It is a matter of the right timing."

Kael smiled faintly.

"Good answer."

Liza turned to him.

"Do not get involved."

He raised his hands.

"I will stay quiet."

Sylphie, Irelia, and Amelia looked at him.

Kael frowned.

"What?"

Sylphie tilted her head.

"Will you really?"

"I will."

Irelia raised an eyebrow.

"Quiet?"

"Yes."

Amelia held the notebook against her chest.

"For how long?"

Kael looked at her, offended.

"That is lack of trust."

"It is experience."

Liza observed the four of them for a moment and then said:

"Perhaps it would be better for you to watch from a side room."

Kael smiled.

"That is practically getting involved."

"It is watching."

"Watching is the first step."

Sylphie held his arm.

"Kael."

He looked at her.

She held his gaze.

"No destroying the vampiric social structure before lunch."

"Eleonor said that yesterday."

"I am reinforcing it."

Kael took a deep breath.

"All right. I will watch."

Amelia murmured:

"With supervision."

"With supervision," Irelia repeated.

Kael pointed at the two of them.

"You are officially on my list."

Sylphie smiled.

"Which list?"

"I am still deciding."

Liza walked toward the courtyard exit, but stopped before crossing the columns. Without looking back, she said:

"King Kael."

"Yes?"

"Your last movement was good."

Kael went still.

Sylphie smiled.

Liza kept walking.

"But still slow."

Kael stared at her back.

"She did that on purpose."

Amelia wrote something down.

"Observation: partial praise works well for motivation."

Kael turned to her.

"Amelia."

"Record."

Irelia laughed softly, and Sylphie pulled Kael by the hand so they could follow Liza.

As they left the courtyard, Kael looked one last time at the marks on the ground. The technique was still incomplete, but it already existed. A movement between magic and body. Between explosion and control. Something that perhaps, soon, would be fast enough to deceive even vampiric eyes.

But before he could continue training, politics had knocked on the door.

With demands.

With pride.

And, probably, with a trap hidden somewhere.

Kael gave a faint smile as he crossed the corridor.

Perhaps, after all, the day would not be so boring.