Ravian’s heart nearly stopped when he saw the tent flap open and the newcomers step inside—but he settled the moment he recognized them.

Lysandra entered with her metal armor covered head to toe in purple blood, though there wasn’t a visible wound on her anywhere.

A crushing victory, clearly.

The other six elite members were in much the same state—except for Claria, who was fine and only seemed a little tired. Not a single drop of blood had touched her, which made sense, given that her role was limited to healing.

Claria was the first to hurry forward, crossing to Ravian to examine him.

"Oh my God—Ravian, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?!" she cried, worry plain in her voice as she checked his whole body and began casting her basic healing spells.

"Calm down, Miss Claria. I’m fine. If anything, that is what you should be worried about," Ravian said, pointing at the corpse a few meters away—though his eyes never left Claria’s face.

A faint shock crossed her features for a moment before it gave way to relief, her shoulders sinking as she let out a breath. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"Thank goodness you’re alright. I got worried when the Intelligence Unit informed us there was a surprise raid on the camp today, and that the infiltrators were Rassasians. Tom’s sudden disappearance only made me more suspicious. I’m glad you’re safe," Claria said, exhaling clearly.

’No trace of grief on her face. Either she’s perfectly trained, or she’s genuinely innocent and has nothing to do with that spy,’ Ravian guessed.

"It’s good that you’re safe." Then a clear, delicate voice came from behind him.

He turned and found her standing there—the person he had once thought was the cause of his death, only to learn she wasn’t.

"Hello, Miss Lysandra. I apologize for my behavior earlier. I was genuinely exhausted," Ravian said politely, looking at the beautiful red-haired girl as she approached.

"It’s fine. Claria told me how serious your injuries were and that they couldn’t wait, and the captain came by a little while ago and passed along your apology—so there’s no need to say it again," Lysandra said with a smile, patting Ravian’s shoulder before moving to inspect Xavier’s corpse.

’Huh? What apology did I send with Captain Malrik?’ Confusion sat openly on Ravian’s face—until his eyes landed on Malrik, who stood there with a proud smile, as if he’d done Ravian a tremendous favor.

’So that’s why he left the second I fell asleep... Things are starting to come together, piece by piece,’ Ravian thought, breathing out in relief.

There was no longer anyone dangerously suspicious around him.

At least for now.

For the first time in a while, his senses eased and his heart settled a little.

Kael noticed the sudden slackness in his body and moved quickly to support him.

"Haha—what’s wrong, man? You fought one Awakened Rassasian. Don’t act like you just took on a whole battalion of them," Kael said with a laugh, though he stayed steady at Ravian’s side, holding him up.

A soft laugh escaped Ravian’s lips, but he didn’t answer. He didn’t have the energy for it.

"I think he needs rest more than anyone here," Evelyne said, looking at him.

"Agreed. He’s already killed his first target, and he fought him alone... wait—how did Ravian fight him without a weapon?" Elias began calmly, before his eyes suddenly widened along with everyone else’s by the end of his sentence.

"He cut his stomach open with a short sword," came Lysandra’s answer as she crouched beside the corpse, examining it.

"But where did he get a short sword?" Darius asked this time, leaning on his massive blade, purple blood dripping off it like dew sliding from leaves.

"Here." Kael said, glancing at the short sword still in Ravian’s hand—the one he hadn’t let go of even in his half-conscious state.

"Hmm. I don’t remember him arriving here with any kind of sword," Malrik said with a frown.

"He didn’t. This isn’t his sword. It’s the spy’s," Lysandra said, standing and holding up the second black short sword—the one Ravian had dropped while fleeing from them earlier.

"What?! Are you saying he killed an Awakened spy with the spy’s own weapon—while the spy had the advantage of surprise?!" Darius’s voice boomed, as thunderous as ever.

"Yes. It seems so," Lysandra said, nodding as she looked at Ravian, whose eyes were closed now as he leaned against Kael.

For a moment, no one could quite believe it.

The infiltrators had killed many Awakened members of their squad—and of the camp itself—before anyone even realized an attack was underway, and the state of emergency had been declared straight from the fortress, a measure of just how sudden and severe the danger had been.

And yet here, a young man who had only just awakened his soul power had killed one of those infiltrators—someone more experienced and stronger than him—without even having a weapon of his own.

It sounded like complete nonsense.

But the evidence in front of them didn’t lie.

"Let’s move. Ravian needs to be taken somewhere safe. Lysandra, stay beside him, please. I need to go inform Sir Karius of this myself, and ask about the orders for tomorrow’s battle," Malrik said.

"Don’t worry. I’ll stay with him," Lysandra replied.

"Good. Claria, same goes for you. The rest of you—go help with whatever fighting is still happening near us. Only Kael stays behind to secure our belongings," Malrik continued, issuing his orders.

"Understood, Captain!" the rest answered in one voice and set off at once.

Malrik then headed toward the large building at the center of the camp to meet Karius.

’I hope there’s good news about tomorrow’s battle. Today caused heavy losses—especially among the ordinary soldiers who couldn’t even put up a fight before they were cut down,’ Malrik thought, running toward the building, ignoring the echo of swords clashing in scattered pockets across the camp.

It was an operation that had been in the works for a long time.

And only the Rassasians knew its true objective.