Strongest Incubus System

”They’re alive.”

Aria’s words had barely left their mouths when the first figure emerged from the darkness of the tunnel.

A veteran.

Then another.

And yet another.

They all looked like they had been through a war.

Which, technically, was true.

Blood.

Soot.

Wounds.

Empty stares.

Exhaustion etched into every movement.

Cherry appeared soon after, completely broken physically and emotionally, her hair plastered to her face by the mixture of rain and sweat.

Seeing the two waiting at the entrance, she immediately pointed behind her.

”Before anyone asks...”

She took a deep breath.

”It was worse than it looks.”

Aria observed her state.

Then she looked at the ruined mansion in the distance.

Then she looked back at Cherry.

”That doesn’t reduce the possibilities much.”

”Fair enough.”

More people began to appear. Veteran survivors.

Ingrivid.

Some wounded men being carried.

Duke Arven.

Morgana.

Elizabeth.

And then...

Ester finally saw Damon.

For a second, she simply stopped breathing.

The world seemed to shrink around her.

Everything else disappeared.

The rain.

The mansion.

The people.

The tunnel.

None of it mattered.

Because something was profoundly wrong.

Much more wrong than any injury.

Much more wrong than blood.

Much more wrong than exhaustion.

She saw the ice.

Not the visible ice.

Not the small crystals that occasionally appeared on her clothes.

She saw what was behind them.

The signature.

The flow.

The circulation of energy.

Ester was probably the greatest living expert on glacial techniques Damon knew.

She had studied it for decades.

Maybe more.

And that’s precisely why horror immediately struck her face.

Her face completely lost its color.

She turned white.

Literally white.

Aria noticed it instantly.

”Ester?”

No answer.

The woman was already running.

Without saying a single word.

Without even realizing she had started running.

Elizabeth saw Ester approaching even before she arrived.

But, from her expression...

Elizabeth already knew.

She knew exactly what the reaction would be.

Because she herself had been observing it the whole way.

And the more she observed...

The less she liked it.

Ester practically crossed the last few meters.

She arrived in front of Damon.

She stopped.

And stared at him. She just stared.

Damon slowly raised his eyes.

He looked too tired to even feign normalcy.

”Hi.”

It was a terrible choice of words.

Because Ester’s reaction was immediate.

”WHAT DID YOU DO?”

The voice came out so loud that even some veterans turned around.

Damon blinked.

Once.

Then again.

”It’s good to see you too.”

”No.”

She pointed directly at him.

”No. Don’t do that.”

Another point.

More aggressive.

”WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?”

Even Cherry was silent.

Which was rare.

Very rare.

Elizabeth approached.

”I was expecting that reaction.”

Ester turned immediately.

”Explain it to me.”

Elizabeth didn’t waste any time.

She summarized quickly.

The battle.

The Duchess.

The ritual.

The collapse.

The explosion of energy.

The cold.

The loss of control.

As she spoke, Esther remained watching Damon.

But not with her eyes.

With her perception.

Feeling.

Analyzing.

And the more she analyzed...

The worse it got.

Much worse.

When Elizabeth finished, Esther remained motionless for a few seconds.

Absolute silence.

Then she closed her eyes.

Took a deep breath.

Opened them again.

And said something that made everyone’s stomach sink.

”He’s going to die.”

The silence that followed was immediate.

Heavy.

Complete.

Even the rain seemed more distant.

Morgana raised her head instantly.

”What?” Ester ignored the question.

She kept staring at Damon.

”You idiot.”

Her voice was now much lower.

Much more dangerous.

”Didn’t you notice?”

Damon answered honestly.

”I noticed something’s wrong.”

”Something?”

She let out a humorless laugh.

An extremely rare laugh.

”Your veins are freezing.”

That made several faces change immediately.

Elizabeth frowned.

”Physically?”

”No.”

Ester shook her head.

”Worse.”

She pointed to his chest.

”Internally.”

Then she pointed to his head.

”There too.”

Another pause.

”The mana flow is completely out of control.”

Now everyone was paying attention.

Even the Duke. Until Morgana.

Until Cherry.

Ester continued.

”Normally, icy Qi travels through specific channels.”

Her voice had taken on the tone of someone explaining an inevitable execution.

”There is circulation.”

”Control.”

”Pressure.”

”Balance.”

She looked directly at Damon.

”In your case...”

A pause.

”...there is no more balance.”

The storm wind blew through the tunnel entrance behind them.

No one spoke.

No one interrupted.

Ester continued observing his face.

Then his arms.

Then his hands.

Small ice crystals involuntarily formed on his skin.

External signs.

But they weren’t the problem.

The problem was what she could feel.

The energy.

The pressure.

The circulation.

It didn’t feel like a flow.

It felt like a flood.

A frozen flood trying to break through a container too small.

”Your body isn’t distributing the energy.”

She crossed her arms.

”Your body is trying to survive it.”

The sentence hit everyone.

Especially Damon.

Because, for the first time since the battle...

He saw genuine fear on Ester’s face.

Not worry.

Fear.

Ester rarely showed fear.

Rarely.

Which made it much worse.

Elizabeth spoke first.

”Is there a solution?”

Ester didn’t answer immediately.

Which was also terrible.

Very terrible.

Finally she sighed.

”I don’t know.”

The answer made several faces harden.

”But I know what’s happening.”

She looked back at Damon.

”Your Qi has changed.”

Damon stood motionless.

Because he already suspected that part.

But hearing it from Esther was different.

Very different.

”It’s not just out of control.”

She narrowed her eyes.

”It’s behaving differently.”

Another pause.

”As if it’s not the same anymore.”

The silence became almost suffocating.

Elizabeth immediately remembered the conversation inside the tunnel.

The feeling.

The presence.

Something responding.

Something taking over.

Esther noticed it from her expression.

”Has he said anything?”

Elizabeth nodded slowly.

”And said he felt like something else had taken over.”

That made Esther pale even more.

What seemed impossible.

But it happened.

”Shit.”

The word came out immediately.

Aria blinked.

”Do you wish to elaborate on this extremely reassuring reaction?”

Ester ignored him.

Completely.

She approached Damon.

Very slowly.

Observing every detail.

Like a doctor examining a disease he’d never seen before.

Or perhaps something worse.

Finally, she reached out her hand.

But stopped before touching him.

Because the cold was absurd.

Even for her.

Even for someone like Ester.

The absolute expert in glacial techniques.

It simply didn’t make sense.

And that scared her.

She turned her eyes to Damon.

For the first time, there was something close to urgency in her voice.

”Did you feel anything besides loss of control?”

Damon took a few seconds to answer.

Because he was thinking.

Trying to organize fragmented memories.

Sensations.

Moments.

Things difficult to explain.

Finally, he answered.

”Cold.”

Ester rolled her eyes.

”Excellent observation.”

Cherry nodded.

”I agree.”

”I’m not talking to you.”

”Fair enough.”

Damon ignored them both.

He continued.

”It wasn’t mine.”

Now Ester was motionless.

Completely motionless.

”Explain.”

”It looked old.”

Silence.

”Old how?”

Damon breathed slowly.

Steam escaped his lips.

”Old like something that was sleeping.”

Ester remained motionless for several seconds after that answer.

The rain continued to fall around them. The wind blew through the trees while, in the distance, the last fragments of Arven Mansion still crumbled amidst fire, smoke, and ruins. But, at that moment, no one paid attention to the mansion.

Everyone was looking at Ester.

Because she seemed to be thinking very fast.

Too fast.

And that was never a good sign.

Damon watched her expression change several times in a few seconds. First worry. Then reasoning. Then something very close to denial.

As if she were trying to fit some impossible piece into something she knew.

Finally she closed her eyes.

She took a deep breath.

A long one.

When she opened them again, she had regained some of her usual control.

Not much.

But enough.

”We’ll talk about this later.”

The voice came out firm.

Direct.

No room for discussion.

Damon raised an eyebrow.

”That sounds like a threat.”

”It’s a promise.”

Cherry immediately pointed at Ester.

”Oh, great. She’s using the serious voice.”

”I always use the serious voice.”

”There’s a difference between your normal serious voice and your ’someone did something catastrophic’ serious voice.”

Ester didn’t even look at her.

Which was answer enough.

Cherry decided to stay quiet.

For approximately three seconds.

Then she gave up.

”So we’re officially in the catastrophic scenario.”

”Yes.”

Ester’s response was instantaneous.

Without hesitation.

Without softening anything at all.

Cherry closed her mouth again.

This time for longer.

Morgana watched the exchange in silence.

She still seemed distant.

Like someone who had just survived something too big to process immediately.

Her father was alive.

Her house was destroyed.

Her mother was dead.

Her family had practically ceased to exist that night.

And now Damon was apparently dying.

The feeling was so absurd that her brain seemed unable to keep up.

”What do we do?” she asked.

Ester answered immediately.

”We get out of here.”

She looked back at Damon.

”Now.”

Elizabeth crossed her arms.

”Do you have anywhere in mind?”

”I do.”

”Nearby?”

”No.”

”Safe?”

”More than here.”

Cherry raised a hand.

”That answer was frighteningly vague.”

”Nobody asked your opinion.” ”I feel like this is becoming a pattern.”

Ester completely ignored it.

She walked over to Damon and finally grabbed one of his wrists.

This time she didn’t hesitate.

The contact lasted less than a second.

She let go immediately.

Her expression worsened.

Much.

”This is accelerating.”

Elizabeth noticed.

”How fast?”

Ester ran a hand through her wet hair.

”Faster than I’d like.”

”What does that mean?”

”It means we need to put him in a controlled environment before something happens.”

Damon let out a small sigh.

”That’s still extremely vague.”

”Because I still don’t know exactly what’s happening.”

That caught everyone’s attention.

Because Ester rarely admitted it.

Very rarely.

She was the kind of person who usually had answers.

Or at least theories.

Now he seemed to have only worries.

And that was alarming.

Aria finally approached.

She observed Damon for a few seconds before speaking.

”Can you walk?”

”I can.”

”Liar.”

”I can out of stubbornness.”

”Ah.”

She nodded.

”That sounds more believable.”

Damon didn’t answer.

Because, honestly, she was right.

With each passing minute, his body felt heavier.

Slower.

The cold continued to intensify.

Not externally.

It wasn’t just the temperature.

It was something deeper.

Something circulating beneath his skin.

Something that seemed to press on his energy channels from within.

Like a river trying to break through its banks.

And the worst part was that he didn’t know why.

The persistent feeling of that presence still lingered in his mind.

Distant.

Almost impossible to describe.

But real.

Very real.

Ester observed his expression.

Then she spoke in a lower voice.

Just to him.

”Don’t try to use any techniques.”

Damon turned his face away.

”I wasn’t planning on it.”

”Not even instinctively.”

This made him frown.

”Do you think it’s that bad?”

She held his gaze.

For a few seconds.

Then she answered.

”Yes.”

No beating around the bush.

No comfort.

No lies.

Just the truth.

And that, coming from her, was enough.

Further on, some veterans were already beginning to reorganize the march. The wounded needed shelter. The Duke needed treatment. Cedric seemed determined to stay alive by sheer willpower, but no one believed that would last forever.

Elizabeth observed the group.

Then she turned to Esther.

”How much time do we have?”

The ice expert took a few seconds to answer.

Which reassured no one.

”I don’t know.”

Elizabeth sighed.

”I’m starting to hate that answer.”

”Me too.”

The rain intensified.

The trees swayed in the storm wind.

Behind them, a distant part of Arven Manor finally gave way completely, producing a rumble so deep that even the ground vibrated beneath their feet.

No one looked back.

Not even Morgana.

Which was significant.

Because that had been her home.

Her world.

Her entire life.

Now it was just a ruin.

She remained motionless for a few seconds.

Observing the ground.

Thinking.

Trying to feel something.

Anger.

Sadness.

Relief.

Anything.

But everything seemed distant.

As if her mind was still trying to reach it.

Then she felt a hand touch her shoulder.

Her father.

The movement was small.

Weak.

But enough.

Morgana raised her eyes.

The Duke looked exhausted.

More exhausted than she had ever seen him. But there was something different now.

Something light.

Something free.

He said nothing.

He didn’t need to.

For the first time that night, Morgana allowed herself to rest her forehead briefly against his shoulder.

Just for a moment.

Small.

Silent.

Human.

Then she took a deep breath and stepped away again.

Because there was still work to be done.

There were still survivors.

There was still a future.

Even if she didn’t know what it was.

Further back, Esther was already beginning to take control of the situation.

Something that happened naturally when she decided there was an emergency.

”Let’s move.”

She pointed to the forest.

”There’s an old winter estate a few hours from here.”