The gates of House Stone creaked open, and the siblings followed Asra inside. The air grew colder as they passed through high archways of carved granite, the torchlight flickering against banners of black and silver.
Asra smiled faintly over her shoulder. “I hope you’ve found our town interesting. But now… my father wishes to meet you. It has been fifty years since a Riftborn appeared near our lands. He is a baron, so show him the proper respect.”
Her words hung heavy as they entered the great hall.
The chamber was vast, lit by chandeliers of glowing crystals. Polished marble floors reflected the light, and long tables stretched beneath soaring pillars. At the head of the room sat her father—Baron Stone. Stern. Broad-shouldered. His silver-trimmed cloak was draped across one arm like a judge’s mantle. Around him stood armored guards, halberds gleaming.
As the siblings stepped fully inside, a pressure pressed down on their chests.
Not magic.
Authority.
The baron’s eyes glowed faintly for a moment.
[Skill Activated: Identify]
Targets: Riftborn (3)
Threat Evaluation: Ongoing
Lokey felt it then—something cold brushing against his soul, peeling at layers he hadn’t known existed.
Hela flinched.
The baron studied them one by one.
Then his gaze locked onto Hela.
The air tightened.
His jaw clenched.
“Guards,” he said, voice flat and merciless.
“Kill the girl.”
The words struck like a hammer.
For a heartbeat, the world stopped.
SYSTEM ALERT
Hostile Lethal Intent Detected
Target: Bound Soul — Hela
Protective Instinct Triggered (Lokey)
“What—?” Asra gasped, stepping forward. “Father, wait—!”
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The guards surged forward.
Lokey moved.
Not thought. Not reason.
Instinct.
Something inside him shattered.
His body trembled as rage detonated in his chest. A crimson aura erupted around him—thick, oppressive, flooding the hall like blood in water.
SYSTEM EMERGENCY RESPONSE
Trait Manifesting: Protector’s Wrath
Condition: Sibling Threatened
Strength Output — Temporarily Unrestricted
Consequences: Unknown
Lokey’s hammer came up in a blur.
The marble beneath his feet exploded as he brought it down, the shockwave shattering stone and hurling the first guard into the floor like a broken doll. Armor crumpled. Bones snapped.
The hall rang with the sound of impact.
The guards froze.
Lokey’s eyes burned red, his voice rolling like thunder through the chamber.
“You tried to have my sister killed, you piece of shit!”
“I’ll kill you myself!”
“Lokey!” Artemis shouted, dragging Hela back as his blade ignited, fire roaring to life along its edge. “We can’t win this—we’re outnumbered!”
SYSTEM SYNC
Arcane Blade — Emotional Surge
Flame Output Increased
Mana Drain Accelerated
“HE’S DEAD!” Lokey roared, hammer slick with blood.
“He dies for what he tried to do!”
“Brother!” Hela screamed.
She clutched Artemis’s sleeve, tears streaking down her pale face. Her voice cracked—not with fear for herself, but terror for him.
“Please—we can’t survive without you. Don’t leave me. Not like this.”
The words cut through him.
Harder than steel.
SYSTEM CHECK
Core Bond Detected
Emotional Override: Engaged
Rampage State — Unstable
The guards regrouped, shields rising. Fear warred with training. None of them advanced.
Then—
The temperature dropped.
Not from magic.
From death.
Hela lifted her head slowly.
Her tears evaporated against skin gone cold. Her wand slipped from her fingers, clattering uselessly against marble as something ancient and furious rose behind her eyes.
SYSTEM OVERRIDE — SOULBINDER
Threshold Crossed
Authority Asserted
Grave Alignment: Absolute
“No one,” she said, her voice echoing unnaturally,
“touches me.”
The floor split open.
Stone screamed.
Seven armored figures clawed their way upward from beneath the hall—silver skeletal knights, rising from cracks in the marble as if the world itself were yielding to her will.
Shields locked.
Axes gleamed.
Ghostly blue fire burned in hollow eye sockets as they turned in perfect unison toward the guards.
SUMMON REGISTERED
Unit Type: Gravebound Sentinels
Count: 7
Control Method: Soul Authority
Mana Cost: Extreme
Status: Sustained
The guards broke.
Some stumbled backward. Others dropped weapons outright. One screamed.
Lokey laughed—a savage, feral sound—as his aura continued to bleed crimson across the floor.
“Glad you’re no longer holding back, sis.”
He turned slowly toward the dais.
Toward the baron.
His hammer trembled—not with fear, but with barely contained violence.
“You invited us here,” Lokey said, his voice shaking the hall.
“We came in peace.”
He raised the hammer and leveled it at the baron’s chest.
“And you attacked us—unprovoked.”
SYSTEM JURISDICTION ANALYSIS
Noble Authority: Detected
Self-Defense Clause: Valid
Retaliation Rights: Confirmed
“By the laws of your kingdom,” Lokey continued, voice cold now, razor-sharp,
“noble or not, I am within my rights to defend my family by any means necessary.”
He took one step forward.
“By your own laws—”
“I can kill you.”
“And I won’t spend a single day in prison.”
Fear flickered in the baron’s eyes.
Real fear.
For the first time, the mask of absolute authority cracked.
Asra stood frozen near the dais, unable to breathe.
The three Riftborn she had brought here—lost, wounded, displaced—
No.
They weren’t children.
They weren’t guests.
They were forces.
And her father had tried to murder one of them.
