THE GENERAL'S DISGRACED HEIR-Chapter 327: MASTER’S RETURN (1.2)

The cosmic figure tilted its head, the starry void within its hood seeming to focus on Seraphina with calculating interest. It raised both bandaged hands, channeling power into the hex circles.

Overhead, Katrina's struggle against the hex intensified. The vines sensed her weakened state and redirected, dozens of thorned tendrils lashing upward toward her position. She attempted to conjure an ice shield, but the hex drained her power too quickly.

"Who's the newcomer?" a sharp, feminine voice cut through the chaos. A blur of motion streaked through the warehouse doors—a woman with short black hair, her form nearly invisible with speed.

"External threat! Unknown origin!" Seraphina called back, recognizing the voice without turning. "Angelica, careful of the hex circles!"

Angelica skidded to a halt beneath Katrina's position, wind still swirling around her from her incredible speed. Her eyes glowed with concentrated mana as she assumed a classic swordsman's stance, one hand on her sheathed blade.

"Formless," she whispered, drawing her sword in a movement too swift for normal vision to track.

In the space between heartbeats, she executed dozens of precise cuts, her blade leaving trails of silver light. The vines approaching Katrina disintegrated, falling as harmless dust before they could reach their target.

"Not bad," Angelica remarked, resheathing her sword with a smooth click. "But it's regenerating faster than I can cut."

Just as the hex patterns completed their formation, something unexpected happened. The shadows beneath the cosmic being rippled—not from its own power, but from something else. Something ancient and terrible stirring beneath the warehouse floor.

Katrina's eyes lit up as she grounded herself upright., her laughter cutting through the tension like a knife. "They're here," she said, her voice carrying a note of reverent anticipation. "Katrina, what did you do?" Seraphina demanded, not taking her eyes off the cosmic figure.

"I didn't summon them," Katrina replied with a smile that suggested otherwise. "But the master always knows when we're in danger."

The shadows surrounding them deepened, coalescing into a massive, formless maw of absolute darkness. It rose from the floor like a tidal wave of night, jaws opening wide enough to swallow the cosmic entity whole.

The entity reacted with surprising speed, abandoning its hex spell to hold back the shadow maw with both hands. Incredible strength was evident in its stance as it physically fought against the encroaching darkness. The nebulae within its hood swirled faster, stars blinking out one by one as it channeled more power.

"Now!" Seraphina ordered, taking advantage of the distraction.

Vivian and Shay broke free from the weakened hex, moving in perfect tandem. Vivian's obsidian sword found vulnerable points where the bandages covering the entity revealed glimpses of what lay beneath. Shay's raiper struck the warehouse floor, sending a wave of aura racing toward the entity's feet, anchoring it in place.

For a moment, it seemed they might prevail. The entity's movements grew sluggish, its attention divided between the shadow maw and the coordinated attacks from three sides.

Then the glass roof exploded inward.

Shards rained down as a figure plunged through the opening, trailing darkness that moved and shifted with purpose rather than simply following physical laws. Unlike the women's flowing shadows, this darkness carried weight and substance—ancient, aggressive, almost predatory in its movements.

The newcomer landed with enough force to crater the concrete floor, one hand extended to grasp the cosmic entity by what approximated its face. The impact drove both figures down, the entity pinned beneath grip of iron.

Dust billowed outward, temporarily obscuring the scene. When it settled, the warehouse fell silent.

David stood over the fallen entity, his expression cold and analytical as he studied what lay beneath him. His armor—similar in nature to the women's shadow suits but clearly more evolved—had already begun to recede, flowing back beneath his skin like a living thing returning to slumber. Where the entity had been overwhelming in its cosmic presence, David simply was—his power so contained and fundamental that it needed no display.

The entity twitched, raising one bandaged hand in a final, desperate attack. David's response was immediate and without emotion.

"Devour," he commanded softly.

Darkness surged from David's palm, engulfing the entity's form. Unlike the wild shadow maw from before, this darkness moved with surgical precision, targeting specific points along the entity's body. As it worked, the entity convulsed, its form becoming increasingly unstable.

Instead of being consumed, however, the entity seemed to collapse inward, its cosmic energy dispersing as its physical form crumpled like paper. Fine threads—barely visible in the moonlight—snapped one by one, the sound reminiscent of breaking spider silk.

When the process completed, all that remained was a husk of bandages and robes containing nothing but darkness and fragments of bone.

David straightened, brushing dust from his shoulders as his armor fully disappeared. He turned to face the women, his eyes lingering on each of them in turn.

"You've grown strong," he observed, his tone carrying neither praise nor criticism—merely acknowledgment.

The women's reactions were immediate. All four dropped to one knee, heads bowed in perfect unison.

"Young Master," they intoned together.

The formality lasted only seconds before Vivian broke ranks, her crimson hair flying as she launched herself toward David with childlike enthusiasm. "David! You're finally back! Do you have any idea how boring it's been without—"

She never completed her sentence. Shay had already moved, somehow reaching David first despite starting from a greater distance. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her auburn ponytail completely undone now, allowing her hair to cascade down her back as she pressed against him with evident familiarity.

"I missed you," she murmured, just loud enough for the others to hear. "It's been too long."

Vivian froze mid-stride, her crimson eyes transforming into murderous rage as she glared at Shay. The temperature around her seemed to rise several degrees, her obsidian sword unconsciously twirling between her fingers.

"You," she hissed, the single word carrying volumes of promised retribution.

Seraphina and Katrina exchanged knowing glances, neither seeming surprised by the display. This was clearly a familiar dynamic among them.

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David placed an arm around Shay's waist, his expression softening fractionally—the barest hint of emotion breaking through his composed exterior. He studied the crumpled remains of the cosmic entity, nudging them with his foot.

"Not a true being," he remarked. "A puppet. Someone is manipulating forces darker, but different from corrupted mana."

"We nearly had it handled," Seraphina stated, though without real conviction.

"Of course you did," David replied, the hint of a smile touching his lips. "That's why I gave you those books."

He surveyed the warehouse, taking in the smuggled artifacts and the bodies of the fallen smugglers. "Gather what intelligence you can from this location. We'll discuss your findings somewhere more secure."

As the women moved to comply, David's gaze returned to the puppet's remains. The dark energy that had animated it was similar to what he'd encountered before—not identical, but related.

The question was who—and why now, when his own condition continued to deteriorate.