Chapter 119: Repayment

The atmosphere in the mission preparation room felt different from every previous assignment.

The Ashcroft Family and the Nephilim had worked through enough difficult missions together that preparation usually meant some mix of tactical discussion and Reinhard tossing in a comment nobody needed.

This time Mara stood at the front with the mission report open in front of her, and there was no trace of her usual relaxed expression anywhere on her face.

"Before we leave, there’s something you need to understand about Bloodkin," she said.

Everyone turned toward her.

"Don’t treat this like a monster nest."

"They think," Rika said, arms crossed.

"They remember," Seraphine added quietly.

Mara nodded. "And they have territory." The room went quieter. "Normal creatures protect territory out of instinct. Bloodkin are different. They set boundaries, recognize threats, remember encounters, and coordinate with each other. If we walk into their territory without understanding what they’re doing, we could be fighting on their terms before we even realize a fight has started."

Maki looked at the report again. "So the objective isn’t simply suppression."

"Correct. We find the affected settlements, figure out what happened to the missing teams, rescue anyone still alive, and eliminate the Bloodkin threat if it comes to that."

"And if they don’t attack us?" Reinhard asked, leaning against the table.

Mara looked at him directly. "Then don’t assume we’re safe."

He nodded, and that single line was enough to change how everyone in the room looked at the mission ahead. They weren’t walking into a monster nest. They were walking into someone else’s territory.

The forest changed long before they reached the reported activity. The trees thickened, and the Mana in the air carried a strange metallic quality Reinhard could taste every time he breathed too deeply. Thin red veins ran beneath the bark of several trees, spreading through the wood like roots that had no business being there.

Maki stopped beside one. "Is that Blood Mana?"

Seraphine examined it without touching the bark. "Part of it. The Mana’s been absorbed into the environment itself."

They kept moving, and the deeper they went the stranger the surroundings became. Small stone markers lined the path, each covered in dark red symbols. Some of the ruins had been rearranged, broken wall fragments set into deliberate patterns. Blood-colored strands stretched between several trees, nothing about them looking remotely natural.

Lily studied one of the structures. "Who built all of this?"

"We don’t know," Mara said.

A few minutes later Maki slowed to a stop. "Wait." Everyone froze. She looked back the way they’d come. "We’ve been walking for several minutes, and nothing’s attacked us."

"Maybe they’re afraid of us," Rhea said, glancing into the trees.

"No," Seraphine said, pointing at the ground.

Footprints. Not the scattered tracks of wandering creatures, but several distinct sets that trailed their own movement from a distance.

"They’ve been watching us," Seraphine said.

"The entire time," Maki said, frowning, and pointed toward another set of markings along the path. Several routes branched off through the ruins, but the ones they’d actually taken were oddly clear of any Bloodkin markings at all.

Maki understood a beat too late. "They’re letting us walk through."

"No," Seraphine said, shaking her head. "They’re deciding where we’re allowed to walk."

Nobody spoke for a moment. Reinhard looked deeper into the forest, the realization settling uncomfortably. They hadn’t been moving freely this whole time. They’d been moving along a path someone else had already chosen for them.

"Stay alert," Mara said, and the group pressed on, nobody taking another step without checking the surroundings twice.

They reached an old stone courtyard near the center of the ruins, the Blood Mana noticeably stronger here. Then something moved, a figure stepping out from behind a collapsed building, human-shaped at a glance, pale-skinned, dark red eyes, thin lines of Blood Mana running beneath its skin like veins full of glowing liquid.

Nobody attacked.

The Bloodkin stared, and then it spoke. "Leave."

Rhea’s eyes widened. "Did it just tell us to leave?"

"Yes," Mara said slowly.

"That’s new," Reinhard said, and the creature’s gaze shifted toward him.

"Why..." Emily asked before her eyes narrowed. "Did your family tell us?"

"... We have no family." The Bloodkin bluntly stated.

Another figure appeared behind them, then another, then another, until the team was fully surrounded within seconds. None of the Bloodkin attacked. They simply stood there, waiting, while Yuna moved her hand just enough to signal everyone not to make the first move.

Mara stepped forward. "We’re looking for missing Awakener teams and civilians." The Bloodkin said nothing. "There are people somewhere in this territory. If they’re alive, we’re taking them with us."

Its eyes narrowed. "You enter." Its gaze swept the team. "You take." A pause. "Then you repay."

"Repay what?" Mara asked.

It didn’t answer.

It simply stepped aside, a narrow path opening behind it.

Reinhard looked at Mara who was looking at the path. The choice sat in front of them plainly enough, leave and abandon whoever was still alive out there, or keep going.

"We continue," Mara said, and nobody argued.

The Bloodkin watched them pass, and as Reinhard walked by it spoke again.

"What you take, you must repay." T

Reinhard glanced back but the Bloodkin had already turned away. The words stayed with him anyway. It hadn’t sounded like a threat.

It had sounded like a rule.

The attack came without warning. Blood erupted from the ground beneath Rika, who threw herself backward as a Blood Mana spike tore through the space she’d been standing in a second earlier.

"Of course, it wouldn’t so easy."

"Get ready!" Emily shouted.

The courtyard broke into chaos.

Bloodkin poured out of the ruins from every side, not charging blindly but working in coordinated waves, one group hitting the front while another pushed the left flank, several more staying hidden and waiting for anyone to peel off from the group.

"Stay together!" Yuna called.

Emily and Rika pushed forward, their strikes landing on the first wave, but the creatures didn’t simply retreat from them. One let Emily’s attack connect on purpose so another could hit her from behind.

"Behind you!" Emily shouted, intercepting it before it could land. Emily turned and finished it off, then looked around at the ring of Bloodkin still closing in. "I’ve seen this before."

"Same behavior?" Rika asked.

"Similar." Emily blocked another strike. "But they’ve changed... This level of danger is unheard of. And they’re adapting faster than the ones I remember."

"Then we need to hurry before things get worse." Rika said, and attacked again.

The fight kept escalating. Maki and Seraphine worked through the Bloodkin’s movement patterns while Yuna reshaped the formation around whatever they found, and Reinhard stayed near the center, stepping in whenever something broke through the line.

One rushed Maki, and he raised a hand, Spatial Pull yanking it sideways through the air before he struck it down. Another came at him directly, and Spatial Push threw it into a ruined wall, except it twisted mid-flight and landed on its feet instead of crashing.

He noticed immediately. "They’re watching our abilities."

The next one deliberately stayed outside Spatial Pull’s range. He smiled faintly. "Smart."

Before he could move on it, a Bloodkin tore up out of the rubble behind Rhea.

"Rhea!" Lily shouted, catching it first. A Blood Mana spear launched toward her, and Rhea twisted away but the edge of it still caught her side and dropped her hard into the ground.

"Lily, stay back!" she called, trying to push herself up, blood already spreading across her clothes.

Lily froze for exactly one second, then ran straight to her anyway.

"Go!" Rhea said.

"Rhea—"

"Lily, go!"

"No." Lily reached her and planted herself between Rhea and the next Bloodkin closing in. "We’re not leaving you."

Rhea just stared at her for a moment before another attack forced Lily into motion, ducking under it as Rika arrived to strike the creature from the side, Emily right behind her.

"Get Rhea out," Emily said.

"I’m staying," Lily said.

Emily looked at her, understood there was no moving her, and gave up the argument. "Fine. Then stay behind us."

The whole formation shifted around that decision. Yuna repositioned everyone fast. "Maki, find us a route out. Seraphine, help her. Rhea is priority."

Maki started scanning the ruins immediately, Seraphine beside her. "Eastern passage is blocked."

"Then find another."

"I’m working on it."

Emily and Rika moved to the front and became a wall between Rhea and the Bloodkin pressing in. Mara took the rest. "Kael, rear defense. Adrian, get the wounded ready to move. Lily stays with Rhea."

Reinhard stepped forward, and the easy humor dropped completely off his face. The Bloodkin noticed. Several of them actually pulled back.

"You’ve had enough," he said, Mana spreading across the battlefield hard enough to force a handful of them to hesitate outright. One moved anyway, and he was gone and back in the same instant, the creature driven straight into the ground. Another attacked from behind, and he caught its arm and threw it clear across the courtyard with Spatial Push, but he didn’t chase it. His attention stayed on Rhea.

He could already see how badly she was hurt. Lily was holding most of her weight.

"I’ve had worse," Rhea said, trying for a laugh.

"You’re lying," Lily said.

"Yeah."

Lily tightened her grip on her. "Then don’t."

Rhea stopped joking after that and simply nodded. "I won’t."

"Found a route!" Maki called.

Seraphine pointed toward a narrow gap between two ruined structures. "That way. The Bloodkin haven’t moved into it."

"Move!" Mara ordered, and the team fell back, the Bloodkin pursuing hard, Emily and Rika holding the rear with Yuna directing the retreat, Lily never leaving Rhea’s side, Reinhard covering behind them and cutting down anything that got too close.

For the first time since the Nephilim had joined them, nobody was thinking about mission efficiency or contribution ratings or rankings. Everyone was simply trying to get everyone else out alive, and the Nephilim noticed exactly what that meant.

Rhea had gotten hurt protecting the team, and now the Ashcrofts were protecting her in return without a second of hesitation, not because she was useful, not because she was part of the mission, but because she was one of them.

They reached the edge of Bloodkin territory as the Blood Mana in the air finally thinned, and the pursuit stopped cold. Mara looked back. The Bloodkin leader stood among the ruins, having watched the entire retreat without moving an inch.

Reinhard stared at it. It stared back. Neither side said anything for several seconds, until the leader finally spoke.

"You have repaid nothing."

"What does that mean?" Mara asked, eyes narrowing.

It didn’t answer. It simply turned and disappeared back into the ruins.

Reinhard looked at the territory they’d just escaped. The Bloodkin hadn’t been trying to kill them, not entirely. They’d been testing them, watching them, learning from them, and now they’d learned something new.

And for the first time, Reinhard found himself wondering exactly what they’d taken from the Bloodkin that they were now expected to pay back.