News of the Ash Circle swept into the marble halls of the Skybound Council like a contagion. Arch‑Warden Vorn snarled as Sireen prostrated before him, announcing a darker tool: a pack of vampire‑hunters, bred for tracking Soul‑Flame auras and draining magic from the living.
Under cover of a moonless sky, the hunters descended on the Ash Circle's hidden stronghold. Lanterns flared as bone‑cold claws slashed through barricades. Elira raised her gauntlet, unleashing a titanic wall of flame that cracked stone and sent hunters flying—yet for every one she felled, two more emerged from the shadows.
Jin hurled time‑shards to stall their advance; Mila shielded her with psychic bursts. Roshan threw himself into a duel, phoenix fire dancing at his fingertips. Dante buckled under a spear of shadowfang, venom seeping into his veins. Elira fought to save him, to save them all. But the hunters' numbers were endless—each strike meant to kill, not merely to wound.
When the base exploded behind them, only four stood breathing: Elira clutching Dante, Jin barely conscious, Mila's eyes ablaze with grief. The Council's net had closed around their hearts.
As they fled into the sewage tunnels, Elira's voice trembled with rage:
"They think this is over. They have no idea who they're hunting."