Chapter 782: So, that’s it. I’m going to exterminate them all.

The forest had long since lost any semblance of a logical path. The group moved between thick trees, tall roots, and trails that seemed to appear and disappear without warning. The damp ground retained marks for a few minutes and then erased them as if nothing had passed there. At certain moments, Viper swore he recognized a fallen stone near a twisted trunk; a few minutes later, Raven pointed to the same stone from another angle, as if the entire scene were slowly rotating around them. The air remained heavy, hot, and full of natural sounds, but there was something artificial in that repetition. It wasn’t just a difficult forest. It was a living barrier.

Vergil stopped in the middle of an area surrounded by ancient trees and observed his surroundings without haste. His face remained neutral, but his eyes analyzed details too small for any human to notice. A broken branch to the left, shallow marks in the mud, leaves recently moved by the group itself. He turned slightly and then let out a short sigh.

"We’re walking in circles."

The statement came simply, directly, and without irritation. Kaguya, who was a few steps ahead, looked back and crossed her arms. Viper raised an eyebrow, while Raven simply observed her surroundings once more, as if internally confirming it.

"I warned you that their forest does this," said Kaguya. "When they don’t want visitors, you walk until you’re exhausted."

Viper kicked a small root aside and grimaced.

"Great. So we’re being politely ejected without anyone showing up."

Raven crouched down near the ground and touched the damp earth with two fingers. Then she raised her hand, examining the moisture and some clinging leaves.

"It’s not just disorientation. Space is folding into small paths. The distance between points changes."

Kaguya nodded.

"They learned to do this a long time ago. It’s not refined magic. It’s territory responding to its owners."

Vergil listened to everything without commenting. Then he reached for his hip and slowly drew his sword. The metal emerged clean, reflecting the light filtered through the treetops. The weapon’s presence immediately altered the atmosphere. The air seemed to recede around the blade.

"Well," he said calmly, holding the sword at his side. "If we don’t find the entrance..." He paused briefly and raised the tip of the weapon towards the dense undergrowth. "I’ll just cut through the space until I find the entrance."

Viper smiled immediately.

"Finally, a fun idea."

Raven exhaled through her nose, already imagining the result.

"He’ll tear half the forest apart."

Kaguya turned her face quickly to Vergil and raised her hand.

"Wait."

He didn’t move the sword, but looked at her.

Kaguya took a few steps closer, then ran her long fingernail across her left arm. The skin split open in clean lines, and blood flowed. She repeated the gesture on her other arm without hesitation. The metallic smell spread quickly in the hot air.

Viper’s eyes widened slightly.

"Have you gone mad?"

Kaguya ignored the comment and opened her arms wider, letting the blood drip onto the ground.

"The wolves are jerks to us vampires," she said with complete nonchalance. "Just the smell will bring a mob."

Raven straightened slowly.

"So your plan is to provoke a race war in the middle of the woods?"

"My plan," Kaguya replied, "is to make them show up."

Vergil held his sword for a few more seconds before lowering it. His gaze swept over the cuts on her arms, then across the surrounding forest.

"Does it work?"

Kaguya smiled slightly.

"It always works. They hate our scent. They hate our presence. They hate practically everything that comes from us."

Viper crossed her arms.

"Strangely identifiable." Kaguya walked to a wide tree trunk and ran her bloodied hand along the bark. Then she repeated the gesture on another tree, marking the path.

"Now we wait."

Vergil sheathed his sword unhurriedly.

"How long?"

"If we’re near a patrol, minutes."

The group fell silent. The usual sounds of the forest continued, but something had already changed. The birds quieted down. Some insects ceased their noise. The wind seemed to lose strength among the leaves. It was subtle, but clear to those who knew how to listen to living environments.

Raven looked at the treetops.

"They already know."

Viper shrugged and gave a predatory smile.

"Great."

Kaguya wiped away the excess blood with her palm and casually licked some of it, slowly closing the wounds.

"When they come, let me speak first."

Viper laughed.

"It never ends well when someone says that."

Vergil took a step forward and stood in the center of the small natural clearing they had reached. His posture was too relaxed for someone about to be surrounded.

"If they attack?"

Kaguya replied without thinking.

"I’ll strike first."

Raven brought a hand to her face.

"Then there was no evolution at all."

The first sound came from the right. Tall branches snapping, something heavy moving too fast between dense trees. Then another from the left. Then, from behind. They weren’t human footsteps. They were long runs, jumps, and heavy landings.

Viper cracked her neck.

"I love it when they make a dramatic entrance."

Shadows began to emerge from between tree trunks. Eyes gleaming in the dark among the leaves. Tall, broad silhouettes, some partially human, others already in more bestial forms. In less than twenty seconds, the clearing was surrounded.

Kaguya smiled. "See? I told you."

The first werewolf emerged completely from the woods. It was enormous, broad-shouldered, with arms covered in dark fur, an elongated snout, and old scars on its chest. Behind it came others, armed with spears, makeshift axes, bare claws, and bared teeth.

The leader sniffed the air and growled upon seeing Kaguya.

"Vampire."

She gave a small, false bow.

"Big dog."

Viper let out a short laugh.

Raven only closed her eyes for a second, disappointed by the speed of the provocation.

The leader took a step forward.

"You bleed in our territory and still mock us?"

Kaguya pointed to her own arm.

"I bleed wherever I want."

Growls echoed around. Some wolves leaned forward, ready to pounce. Vergil remained motionless in the center, observing everything like someone watching a common negotiation.

The leader finally noticed this and narrowed his eyes.

"And this one?"

Kaguya answered before anyone else.

"Your problem if you irritate him."

Viper covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.

Raven murmured:

"Excellent help."

The leader stared at Vergil from head to toe.

"Human?"

Vergil answered calmly.

"No."

"Demon?"

"Not exactly."

This seemed to irritate the creature even more.

"Then what are you?"

Vergil tilted his head slightly.

"Someone looking for Sankaria."

The name changed the atmosphere immediately. Some of the wolves exchanged glances. Others took a half-step back. The leader bared his teeth.

"No one looks for Sankaria. Sankaria decides." Vergil looked around, then back to him.

"Then decide quickly."

Viper almost clapped.

"He’s very good at this."

Kaguya grinned widely.

"I missed this part."

The leader growled louder and slammed his spear into the ground.

"Kill the vampire first."

Kaguya sighed.

"I knew it."

Three wolves leaped at once. Before they touched her, Vergil moved once. No one saw the beginning of the gesture. Only the result. The three bodies were deflected in the air by an invisible pressure and struck different trees, knocking down leaves and branches.

Total silence.

Vergil was already back in the same place.

"I’d rather talk," he said.

The leader looked at his fallen companions, then at Vergil. For the first time, there was calculation in his bestial gaze.

"You enter our territory, bring vampires, and demand passage."

Vergil corrected without changing his tone.

"I asked. I haven’t demanded yet."

Viper whispered to Raven:

"That part comes later."

Raven nodded.

"Clearly."

Kaguya took two steps forward and pointed at the leader.

"Listen here, furball. Alexa is missing and probably in there. So either you take us to Sankaria or he’ll start taking matters into his own hands."

The leader froze upon hearing the name.

"Alexa?"

Kaguya realized.

"Ah. So you know her."

Murmurs arose among the besiegers. Some growls ceased. The leader looked back for a moment, too thoughtful for someone so aggressive seconds before.

Vergil noticed the change.

"Is she alive?"

The wolf took a few seconds to answer. "If it’s still in the exam hall... maybe."

Kaguya clenched her teeth.

"What does that mean?"

The leader looked at them again.

"It means you arrived late."

The air changed before anyone could understand why. The heavy humidity of the forest suddenly dropped, as if all the surrounding temperature had been ripped from the environment. The natural warmth of the woods disappeared, replaced by a strange, dry cold that didn’t belong there. The leaves stopped moving, the insects fell completely silent, and even distant sounds vanished. The entire clearing seemed to hold its breath.

Vergil remained in the same place, looking at the wolf leader after hearing those words. "You arrived late." There was no immediate response. He only lowered his face slightly, as if thinking for a second. Then he smiled.

It wasn’t a gentle smile, nor a calm one, nor an amused one.

It was something wrong.

Kaguya knew Vergil well enough to notice immediately that this was not a good sign. Viper’s smile instantly faded. Raven stood motionless. The werewolves, who just seconds before had surrounded everyone aggressively, reacted in a much more brutal way.

Their senses exploded.

Scent became threat. Sound became pain. Instinct became pure panic. Every part of their bodies screamed the same thing at the same time: run. Escape. Get out of there now. Don’t fight. Don’t challenge. Don’t look.

Fear.

A fear so absolute that it didn’t even seem emotional. It was biological. It was the flesh trying to survive in the face of something beyond logic.

The leader took two steps back without realizing it. Another wolf dropped its weapon. Some were already turning to flee among the trees, trampling their own companions in a desperate attempt to escape that presence.

Viper’s eyes widened.

"...Wow."

Kaguya smiled nervously.

"It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this."

Raven remained serious.

"They understood too late."

The wolves began to run.

They didn’t get far.

There was a dry sound in the air, almost too silent to follow what happened next. No visible blows. No large movements. No explosions.

The bodies simply... separated.

First the leader. Then the two closest. Then all the others around. Shoulders, legs, torsos, heads, arms, all separated into perfect cuts too small to make sense. In a second, dozens of werewolves collapsed to the ground transformed into cubes of flesh and blood.

Literally cubes.

Precise, clean pieces fell one on top of the other as blood soaked the damp earth. Some trees behind them slid broken in the same pattern. Nearby rocks shattered soon after.

Silence.

Viper looked at the scene and hissed softly.

"That was... excessive."

Kaguya crossed her arms.

"I disagree."

Raven took a deep breath and looked at Vergil.

"You’re angry."

He didn’t deny it.

Vergil raised his eyes to the deeper forest. The smile was still there, small and cold.

"From now on," he said calmly, "I will exterminate everyone."

Kaguya felt a shiver run down her spine. Not because of the words. Because of their naturalness.

Vergil reached for his sword and slowly drew it again. The blade emerged from its sheath with a clean sound, and the space around it seemed to crack at its mere presence. He flicked his wrist once and pointed the weapon at the dense undergrowth.

Then he cut.

Not a tree.

Not a target.

Space.

The blade descended in a straight line, and reality opened like paper. A black chasm appeared in the air, tearing the forest from end to end. Trees hundreds of meters ahead split in two without the sword touching them. The ground opened in a deep line. The sound came afterward, a long rumble that startled birds hidden miles away.

Vergil took another step and cut again in another direction.

More space torn.

More trees destroyed.

More invisible barriers broken.

The forest that had once confused paths began to crumble. False trails vanished. Territorial illusions shattered like glass. The environment tried to reorganize itself, but each blow undid everything before it could.

Viper looked around, impressed.

"He’s dismantling the entire system."

Raven nodded.

"He’s not looking for a path. He’s removing everything that isn’t a path."

Kaguya chuckled softly.

"I told you cutting through space was an option."

Vergil continued walking while striking. Each cut opened an absurd line through the woods. At times, cracks appeared in the air, revealing landscapes that didn’t belong to the forest: ancient walls, stone fields, dark corridors, red moons, pieces of another dimension blinking behind reality.

"Almost," he murmured.

One more blow.

A distant mountain trembled. The ground beneath them vibrated. The trees in the clearing tilted with the pressure.

Viper caught a branch that fell near her.

"He’s going to destroy Brazil."

"Probably only a part," Raven replied.

Kaguya watched intently.

"No. He’s sensing something."

Vergil stopped.

The sword hung motionless in the air for a second. His gaze focused on a specific point between two enormous trees covered in thick roots. To the untrained eye, there was nothing there. But distortion was present now. A crooked gleam. A void behind the green.

He smiled again, this time satisfied.

"I found it."

With a simple movement, he cut diagonally.

The forest opened like a torn curtain. The trees in that area disappeared from the foreground, revealing something that hadn’t been there before: a colossal arch of black stone covered in ancient runes, half buried in the ground, half floating outside of logic. Inside it, there was no forest. There was another night, another sky, another earth.

Sankaria.

Icy wind surged from the portal along with the smell of iron and blood.

Kaguya narrowed her eyes.

"Finally."

Viper smiled.

"Now it’s interesting."

Raven analyzed the runes.

"Main entrance. He forced the core to show itself."

Vergil sheathed his sword slowly and looked at the three.

"Stay here."

Kaguya immediately frowned.

"No way."

He stared at her for a second.

"I’ll be right back."

The tone wasn’t loud. Nor harsh. But it was definitive.

Viper crossed his arms.

"He always says that like it’s normal."

Raven replied dryly.

"Because for him it is."

Kaguya walked until she was in front of him.

"Alexa’s inside."

"I know."

"Then I’ll go with her."

Vergil raised his hand and sank his fingers into her hair for a moment, ruffling it lightly as if calming an angry animal.

"If I need help, I’ll call."

She froze for a second, clearly annoyed that it worked.

"That’s a low blow."

"Yes."

Viper started to laugh.

Raven turned her face away, hiding a small smile.

Vergil then passed Kaguya, crossed the stone arch, and entered Sankaria without hesitation. The portal rippled around his body and then stabilized.

On the other side, the pressure increased so much that it could be felt even from there.

Kaguya stared at the entrance, arms crossed and jaw clenched.

"Five minutes."

Viper looked at her.

"What?"

"If he takes more than five minutes, I’m going in."

Raven replied immediately.

"You’ll be in in twenty seconds."

Kaguya was silent for two.

"Maybe."

Behind them, the destroyed forest continued to crumble little by little, broken trees falling one after another along the entire path Vergil had opened. The blood of the werewolves dripped onto the earth, and no sound of patrols remained around.

Because everyone who sensed that presence ran.

And those who didn’t run...

They were already dead.