“Stay away from her.”
Etzel did not end the call. For a second, there was only silence.
Then the thing using Neris’s voice laughed. Not Neris’s laugh. Close enough to be worse.
“Which one?”
Etzel stopped moving. The question struck harder than a threat. Neris. Ismera. Veydan. Which one?
His hand tightened around the communicator until the casing creaked. “DK.”
“I am ready.”
“Home.”
Halven was already opening the transport route. Renn’s voice came over the local channel. “Four minutes, eighteen seconds.”
Etzel looked toward the vehicle. “Too long.” He started forward.
“Etzel.”
Renn. Etzel did not answer.
“Listen to me.”
“My family is in that house.”
“Exactly.”
That stopped him. Not completely. But enough.
Renn continued. “Mireth knows how you behave.”
Etzel’s jaw tightened. “It knows some of it.”
“It knows enough to threaten your family because it expects that to change your decisions.”
Silence. Etzel looked at the communicator in his hand. The call was still connected. The false Neris said nothing. Listening? Recording? Waiting?
Etzel killed the connection. Then looked at DK. “He wants me predictable.”
DK nodded.
Halven glanced over. “Difference?”
Etzel looked at him. “If someone threatens your family, Mireth doesn’t know what you’ll do.” He pointed at himself. “He has records of what I do.”
The picnic. Neris running. The A-Rank creature. DK appearing. Hidden power revealed. Everything Mireth could have found in public Hunter archives.
Etzel’s expression hardened. “He isn’t just threatening them.”
DK understood. “He is testing you.”
“Yeah.” Etzel stepped into the vehicle. “That makes this worse.”
The transport accelerated. Etzel sat forward. No jokes. No restless conversation. Just the map.
Renn sent the Deymar residence feed. Four registered identity signals were inside the house.
Veydan Deymar. Ismera Deymar. Neris Deymar. And—
Etzel stared. Etzel Deymar.
Halven saw it. “You’re here.”
“I know.”
One Etzel sat in the transport. Another was inside his home. The other three signals remained valid. Unchanged.
Etzel leaned closer. “So it hasn’t taken them.”
Renn answered. “Not according to current verification.”
“Current verification is becoming a very flexible concept.”
“Agreed.”
Etzel studied the house layout. No movement from the outside. No visible breach. No broken windows. No emergency call from inside. Too quiet.
Then he noticed something. “Neris’s communicator.”
“What about it?”
“Track the device separately.”
Renn pulled the data. The device was in the living room. But Neris’s bio-registration signal—second floor.
Etzel’s eyes narrowed. “She left the communicator downstairs.”
Halven looked at him. “On purpose?”
Etzel almost smiled. “Neris is annoying.”
DK looked at him. “That was not the question.”
“It means yes.”
The family had not simply sat there waiting. Good. Veydan had moved furniture against the upstairs hallway. Ismera and Neris were together. Veydan’s signal remained near the stairs. Makeshift defense. Improvised. Primitive. But deliberate.
Etzel exhaled. “They’re thinking.”
Renn answered. “That helps.”
“A little.”
The vehicle turned onto the final street. Etzel was moving before it stopped. The side door opened. He jumped down.
“Etzel!” Halven.
Etzel kept moving.
Then: “Etzel.” DK.
Etzel stopped. Not because DK had raised his voice. He hadn’t. DK stepped beside him. Black armor. Red eyes behind the helm. Hellscript Greatblade already in hand.
“You are angry.”
Etzel looked toward the house. “Yes.”
“Then I enter first.”
Etzel’s first instinct was rejection. Immediate. Automatic. His house. His family. His responsibility.
Then he looked at DK. The man who had stood between Neris and an A-Rank monster. The man who had taken a strike meant for her. The man who had stayed beside Etzel when everything else became strange.
Etzel breathed once. “Okay.”
DK nodded. No dramatic speech. He simply walked.
Etzel followed. Saeva stayed near Etzel’s shoulder. Halven and the Authority team spread around the building.
The front door was closed. Not locked.
DK opened it. Dark hallway. No lights. The black armor seemed to swallow what little illumination entered from outside. Two red eyes burned beneath the helmet. The central runes of the Greatblade began to glow. Slowly. Controlled.
DK took one step. Then another.
Etzel entered behind him. And saw himself.
Standing in the living room. Same face. Same body. Same height. But cleaner somehow. Too composed. Too still.
The false Etzel looked at DK first. Then at the real Etzel. “Hello.”
Etzel stared. “No.”
The copy tilted its head.
Etzel pointed at it. “I refuse to believe I look that irritating.”
DK answered. “Sometimes.”
Etzel slowly turned. “Not now.”
The copy watched the exchange. Then spoke. “Veydan.”
Upstairs—Veydan’s identity signal flared on the Authority map.
“Ismera.”
Second signal.
“Neris.”
Third.
Etzel’s expression changed. The copy looked directly at him. “Family.”
“Don’t use that word.”
The false Etzel paused. Then smiled. “Reaction confirmed.”
Etzel immediately understood. His anger cooled. Not vanished. Controlled. Mireth wanted responses. Measurements. Triggers.
Etzel stopped talking.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
DK noticed. “Good.”
Etzel gave him a look. But said nothing.
The copy studied him. For the first time—its expression changed. Uncertainty. Tiny. But there.
Etzel saw it. Good. Silence could also be new behavior.
The copy moved. Not toward Etzel. Toward the stairs.
DK stepped into the path. The false Etzel stopped. Then spoke.
“Picnic.”
Etzel’s eyes sharpened.
The copy continued. “Neris threatened.” Silence. “Hidden asset revealed.”
DK’s red eyes brightened. Etzel’s hand tightened around the spear.
There it was. Mireth had found the public event record. The video. The combat footage. The moment Etzel had manifested DK in front of everyone because Neris was in danger.
The copy looked at DK. “Dark Knight.”
Etzel understood. “This isn’t about Neris.”
The copy looked at him. Not entirely. Etzel glanced at DK. “It wants you.”
Black filament emerged from the false Etzel’s hand. Not a weapon. Threads. They reached toward DK.
Etzel moved instantly. “DON’T TOUCH HIM!”
The copy’s eyes snapped toward Etzel. Another reaction. Damn it.
DK did not retreat. He swung. The Hellscript Greatblade cut through the filaments.
Normally black strands separated and continued moving. These did something else. The runes flared. Red-black fire ran through the cut. The filament screamed. Not metaphorically. A sound tore through the room. The severed strands burned from the cut outward.
The copy recoiled. Etzel stared. DK looked at the blade. The runes pulsed.
The System reacted.
SYSTEM ALERT
[Hellscript Greatblade — Resonant Effect Detected.]
[Infernal Severance]