"Welcome to my domain, hunters."
The moment her voice reached them, something in the air changed. Heavier. Sharper. It was like the very laws of the portal had shifted. They could feel it in their lungs, in their bones. An oppressive pressure settled over the entire squad. Their instincts screamed, but none of them turned to run. These weren’t novices. They were some of the most elite hunters in the Black Veil Guild. A squad of ten. Three S-rank hunters. Seven A-ranks. They’d faced hell before. And survived it.
But none of them were prepared for her.
She stepped into full view under the red-tinted sky of the S-rank portal, and the hunters froze.
She looked almost human at first glance. Almost. Her skin was a smooth, deep crimson that shimmered faintly as if bathed in moonlight. Her hair flowed like liquid shadow, moving even when the air was still. Her eyes glowed blood-red, but there was intelligence in them. Power. Awareness. The glyphs pulsing across her skin weren’t just decoration, they were alive, like they breathed with her. Her ears long and pointy....She was an Elf....a dark Elf.
The air around her shimmered subtly, like the world was warping. And perhaps it was. She didn’t need to speak to be terrifying.
"My name is Velmaria," she said smoothly. "And your deaths... are long overdue."
Irie, one of the A-rank water users, gripped her twin daggers. Her throat was dry. "That’s no normal beast," she muttered.
"If she is the reason this portal is tagged S-rank, If she is the reason this portal was red, just how strong is she?"
Rael, one of the fire realm S-rankers, took a sharp step forward. His face was unreadable, but his hand hovered near his blade. "Spread formation," he ordered tightly. "No one acts alone. Don’t break line of sight."
The hunters responded immediately. Two A-rank ice users vanished into flanking positions. Earth realm users began channeling mana into the terrain beneath their feet, prepping defensive layers. Water shimmered and spread. A healer took position at the rear, cloaked in a barrier of soil and vines. Nyra and Solas, the two remaining S-ranks, ignited their mana cores. Fire and ice surged around them.
They were coordinated, sharp, efficient, but it still wasn’t enough.
Velmaria tilted her head. The corner of her mouth twitched upward.
"You all are gonna be fun to destroy." She said, chuckling.
And right at that moment, reality cracked.
It wasn’t visible to the eye, not at first. But they felt it. Like the world beneath them had just... shifted. Just slightly. And then violently.
Rael took a single step forward, and so suddenly, before he could even figure out what was happening, everything vanished around him.
He was suddenly standing in a wasteland of flame and lava. Alone.
He blinked. "Illusion?"
His mana surged, trying to dispel it, but the fire reacted. His power went wild, turning inward and against him, burning him.
Before he could react, his entire body was engulfed in flames. He screamed and trashed, but it was no use. His powers were going against him, something he never once thought possible. And in the real world, where his teammates still fought to understand what was happening, Rael’s body dropped to the ground, lifeless and burnt to a toast. Not a single word of warning had left his lips.
Everyone gasped, moving away from him.
"What the hell just happened to Rael? He....he is dead." Irie said in a shaky breath, her eyes widening in disbelief.
"Fear, yeah that’s it... I love fear." Velmaria mumbled more to herself than them, but they all heard her.
Borin, an A-rank earth realm user, saw it happen. He was one of the more experienced hunters, and he knew something was terribly wrong. He slammed his hand into the ground, raising stone walls and iron defenses. "Don’t let your thoughts slip! She’s using psychic projection! Stay grounded!"
But Nyra, the S-rank ice users, didn’t respond.
Borin turned, and she was gone. Mist shimmered where she stood.
A scream echoed from above. He looked up, and his breath caught.
She was falling. From an impossible height. Her body slammed into the ground like a dropped puppet. No resistance. No last-second defense. Just death. Blood splattered all around where she had fallen, her body crushed to bits. Three high rank hunters gone, just like that.
And Velmaria hadn’t moved an inch.
Irie activated six water clones, each darting in a different direction. Her real self darted left, sticking close to the shadows.
"If I can just distract her long enough for the others to--". The words never finished.
A warm breath touched the back of her neck. And right then, a hand pierced through her chest.
Velmaria’s voice whispered gently into her ear, "I already own time."
Irie crumpled, eyes wide...her clones crumpling into water puddles....blood pooling around her body.
"THIS IS INSANE... HOW? HOW IS SHE DOING THIS!"
Lio, the A-rank earth user, didn’t hesitate. His grief fueled him. With a guttural roar, he summoned massive pillars of reinforced stone. Vines surged forth, wrapping tightly around Velmaria’s limbs, torso, and neck.
The others responded. Ice spears rained down. Blades of water sliced through the air. Elric, one of the S-rank fire users, launched a compressed burst of fire strong enough to turn steel to vapor.
Velmaria vanished within the assault.
For a breathless moment, they thought they might have succeeded.
Then the world shuddered.
The vines turned to dust. The ice shattered mid-air. The fire reversed direction and scattered.
Velmira smirked, then raised her hand and whispered a chant...and with a single pulse of her crimson energy, four hunters disappeared instantly, turning to dust.
Selene. Flynn. Thesa. And Solas.
Their deaths were sudden, clean and effortless.
And now, only two remained.
Kael’s chest heaved. Blood trickled down his lip. His mana was nearly spent, his limbs shaking. This was a nightmare, this woman, what in the world was she?