The valley did not celebrate the Chimera's death.
For a few brief seconds after the monster collapsed, silence spread across the battlefield like a fragile illusion of peace.
The enormous corpse of the Chimera lay twisted across the muddy valley floor, its three heads slumped lifelessly against the earth as thick blood seeped slowly into the grass beneath it.
The battle had been violent.
Rats lay crushed beneath claw marks.
Serpents lay broken near the creature's wings.
Even the Bloodheart soldiers bore fresh wounds from the chaotic clash.
Yet despite the damage…
The battlefield belonged to them.
Ashfang stood atop the Chimera's corpse like a conquering king.
The Alpha Direwolf's chest rose and fell heavily as steam rose from his dark fur. His golden eyes burned fiercely as he lifted his head and released another deep, thunderous howl that rolled across the valley like a victorious war cry.
The vermin network responded instantly.
Thousands of rats surged across the battlefield, swarming over the fallen monster like a living tide reclaiming territory.
Serpents coiled through the grass.
Insects circled the corpse in thick clouds.
The battlefield was alive again.
Izazel stepped away from the Chimera's body, wiping black blood from his claws with a look of mild annoyance.
"That creature tasted terrible."
He glanced at Kael.
"Next time your enemies send a monster, please request something less unpleasant."
Kael did not respond.
His attention remained fixed on the system interface floating faintly across his vision.
---
[S-Grade Marked Beast Eliminated]
[Crimson Authority Growth +21%]
[Subsystem Synchronization: 41%]
---
The crimson subsystem pulsed quietly inside his chest.
The power he had stolen from the controllers earlier had not faded.
Instead, it had deepened.
The ability to override control threads had proven far more dangerous than Kael had expected.
And the system knew it.
He exhaled slowly.
This war had changed again.
Ashfang stepped down from the Chimera's corpse and approached him.
The Alpha Direwolf now stood nearly as tall as Kael's shoulders, his massive frame casting a long shadow across the battlefield.
"…Dead."
Kael nodded.
"Yes."
Ashfang looked toward the forest.
"…More coming."
Kael's eyes narrowed slightly.
"You feel it too."
The wolf growled softly.
"…Something wrong."
Behind them, Bloodheart soldiers began gathering cautiously around the Chimera's body.
Vampires examined the creature's wings.
Others inspected the strange armor-like scales covering its hide.
Dormon Bloodheart approached the corpse slowly, his ancient eyes studying the fallen monster with quiet calculation.
"This was not a natural beast."
"No," Izazel replied calmly. "The Cull made it."
The vampire lord placed a hand on the Chimera's corpse.
"They are improving their experiments."
Kael turned toward the eastern mountains.
"That was only the beginning."
For several seconds the valley remained quiet.
The soldiers relaxed.
Weapons lowered.
The vermin network settled into its usual hum of small movements.
Then—
Something changed.
Not loudly.
Not violently.
Just a subtle shift in the air.
Ashfang's ears snapped upward.
The Alpha Direwolf froze.
His golden eyes widened slightly.
"…Wait."
Kael felt it too.
The vermin network shuddered.
Thousands of signals across the forest suddenly reacted at once.
Birds took flight.
Rats scattered.
Serpents fled their burrows.
A wave of instinctive terror spread across the entire eastern forest.
The system pulsed violently.
---
[Authority Disturbance Detected]
---
Kael lifted his head slowly.
Far beyond the valley…
The eastern forest canopy began to move.
Not from wind.
From pressure.
Something was walking toward them.
Every step it took bent the surrounding trees slightly, like a force pushing against the natural world itself.
Izazel stopped joking.
The vampire prince's eyes turned crimson.
"…Oh."
Kael spoke quietly.
"They sent someone else."
The system pulsed again.
---
[Unknown Controller Signature Detected]
---
The vermin network screamed.
Rats scattered wildly.
Insects abandoned the battlefield.
Even serpents fled deeper underground.
Kael had never felt the network react like this before.
Not even when the Chimera appeared.
This was different.
This was fear.
Real fear.
Dormon Bloodheart's expression darkened slightly.
"…Interesting."
The ancient vampire turned toward the forest.
"That presence…"
Izazel finished the thought.
"…is stronger."
The forest parted.
Trees bent aside.
And a single figure stepped into the valley.
He did not rush.
He did not attack.
He simply walked forward calmly as though the battlefield already belonged to him.
The man wore black armor etched with deep crimson sigils that glowed faintly with controlled power.
But unlike the Tier-3 controllers Kael had fought before…
This man carried something else.
Authority.
Real authority.
Four sigils rotated slowly around his forearm like orbiting blades.
Each symbol pulsed with a heavy crimson glow.
The Bloodheart soldiers felt it instantly.
Several stepped backward instinctively.
The air itself had grown heavier.
As though gravity had suddenly increased.
The controller stopped near the forest edge.
His gaze moved slowly across the battlefield.
Over the vermin.
Over the soldiers.
Over the Chimera's corpse.
Then his eyes stopped on Kael.
"…So."
His voice carried easily across the valley.
"You are the anomaly."
The system pulsed violently.
---
[Controller Rank Identified]
[Tier-4 Authority Detected]
---
Kael's eyes sharpened.
Tier-4.
That meant the Cull had escalated.
The controller stepped forward slowly.
His boots crushed the grass beneath them with quiet confidence.
Behind him, the forest seemed to shrink away slightly from his presence.
He examined the Chimera's corpse with mild curiosity.
"…You killed the prototype."
Izazel leaned casually against a broken stone.
"Yes."
The controller looked up.
"And you must be the Bloodheart prince."
Izazel smiled.
"I try."
The controller returned his attention to Kael.
But his expression remained calm.
Almost bored.
"I expected more destruction."
Kael did not answer.
The controller tilted his head slightly.
"…Interesting."
His gaze moved across the battlefield again.
"Your vermin swarm is impressive."
The sigils around his arm began rotating faster.
"But irrelevant."
He raised one hand.
The battlefield trembled.
The vermin network shrieked inside Kael's mind as thousands of creatures suddenly froze in place.
The rats stopped moving.
Serpents stiffened.
Insects dropped from the air.
The Tier-4 controller smiled faintly.
"…Authority suppression."
Kael's eyes widened slightly.
The vermin network had just gone silent.
For the first time since the system awakened…
Kael could not feel the creatures.
Ashfang growled.
"…What…?"
The controller stepped forward again.
"You rely on numbers."
He gestured toward the vermin.
"I rely on control."
Then he snapped his fingers.
A Bloodheart soldier screamed.
The man's body twisted violently as an invisible force crushed him into the ground like a discarded puppet.
The soldier's armor crumpled.
Bones snapped.
The valley fell silent.
The Tier-4 controller spoke calmly.
"That was a warning."
His crimson eyes locked onto Kael.
"Send the vermin away."
Kael remained still.
The controller's smile widened slightly.
"…Or I will begin killing your allies one by one."
The war had just become serious.