"Wait, what the fuck?!" Tom, Lyra, and Blake shouted in unison as they stared at Zen like he had lost his mind or something.

"Yes." Zen said with a shrug as he stared at everybody. "I mean, the clan does pay, he is an awakened with a really useful veil, so why won't the clan accept him?"

"Do you know what you are saying, Zen?" Tom asked with his brows furrowed. "Do you think the master would agree to this?"

"I mean, why won't he? Don't we need more members? Judging by his strength, he could easily be a B or even an A ranker, so it's a win-win for the clan." Zen added with another nonchalant shrug, as if the matter was already settled in his mind.

"I kind of agree with Zen's words here." Jace chimed in as he fully rose upright, dusting off his clothes, and stared towards Blake who had a deep frown on his face.

"It was because the clan turned him away when he hadn't awakened or passed the assessment, that was why Blake became a scammer. He extorted money from innocent people under the guise of our clan name.

He needed to survive, and he did what he had to do for that. But if he were to join the clan now, he could hunt beasts legitimately and also earn money from it. We wouldn't have to worry about someone somewhere using our clan's name for evil anymore. It's actually a win-win situation for us."

'I can't help but see the kids' reasoning here. Their words are kind of making sense, but there are two issues here. Firstly, will the master accept this? And secondly, will Blake himself accept this?' Lyra thought as she rubbed her temples in deep thought, her expression betraying both doubt and consideration.

"Whatever. I don't see a problem with your reasoning." Tom said with a casual shrug as he glared at Blake. "So do you want to join us or what?"

"Tsk! Never!" Blake waved through the air dismissively as he spun around and began walking away. His steps were heavy, as if each one carried his stubborn pride.

"Think about it though," Lyra began as she stared at his back. "If you leave today and go continue your disrespectable job, the clan might not send us out again for this task. They would instead send maybe an AA ranker or worse, an S rank.

I guarantee you, you don't want to see or feel the power an S rank holds. Your fancy veil would do nothing against them."

"And this is no hype. She speaks the truth. S ranked Reavers even we haven't seen them before, but we know they hold tremendous abilities. They would wipe you out before you even blink." Tom added, and the moment Blake heard these words, he halted his steps instantly.

His throat went dry, sweat began trickling down his face as he tried to imagine how powerful the S ranked Reavers were.

'S rank huh? I wonder how powerful those type of Reavers are. A rank just below the rank the master holds. How intriguing. I wonder though, how long till I get to that rank.' Zen thought as he rubbed his temples, imagining the kind of power he might hold if he ever became one.

"Fine." Blake sighed as he clenched his hands tightly, then slowly turned around with a frown on his face. "I will join the SilverFall Clan."

"Cool." Lyra muttered, relief flashing across her face for a brief second. She then spun around in the direction of where the shack was and there, she could see the hat man strolling over with an unconscious Vynn in his hands.

"I also want to join the SilverFall Clan." The hat man said suddenly as he stood a few feet away, his voice steady as he stared at Tom and Lyra.

"Huh? Why do you want to join?" Tom asked with a raised eyebrow, clearly suspicious of the sudden declaration.

"When I was lacking a means of livelihood, sir Blake picked me up, made me into who I am today. Even if what we did wasn't respectable, we did it to survive and in the process, I was able to feed and clothe myself.

I'm not an ingrate like those bastards that ran away. So wherever he goes, I go." The man replied firmly, his grip on Vynn tightening as if to emphasize his resolve.

"Thank you, Gustav. At least you're a grateful fella." Blake smiled widely, his grin stretching across his tired face as he turned to stare towards Tom and Lyra for approval.

"I don't care. As long as he is an awakened, sure, why not?" Lyra shrugged as if the matter was beneath her concern.

"So shall we leave now? It's already late. We'll head back to the inn, rest up, and tomorrow we leave Magnolia to return to the SilverFall Clan." Tom said firmly, and without any complaint, everybody began leaving the forest area.

'Xar!' Zen thought as his gaze lingered on the crater and the dead body of the creature. 'I wonder where he came from and what he really is. Something about all of this doesn't sit right with me.' With that troubling thought, he turned away and followed the others as they exited the forest.

A few minutes after they left, the atmosphere shifted. The air grew unbearably tense, and the temperature plummeted so suddenly that frost clung to the edges of broken rocks and twisted roots. Out of nowhere, a figure materialized, stepping into view like it had walked out of the void itself.

The figure looked humanoid at first glance, but its feet were grotesquely inverted, positioned in the opposite direction of where a human's would be. Its entire skin was blood-red, glistening faintly under the moonlight, and fangs jutted from its mouth in an unnatural, predatory way. Its gaze fixed on Xar's corpse, lingering on the mangled body with something close to sorrow—an emotion that felt eerie coming from such a monstrous form.

"Xar... Ill a mua." The figure muttered in a guttural tone, each word dripping with an ancient cadence as it kept staring down.

Then, after a pause, it corrected itself, its lips curling. "I believe they say it this way—rest on, my dear friend. Our number one enemy will be taken down soon. And after him... I will avenge your death at the hands of these ignorant fools. They have no idea what is about to descend upon this world."

Its voice grew darker, and then it broke into a wide, twisted smile. "Let the bloodshed begin."

Crouching low, the figure reached out with long, clawed fingers and lifted Xar's headless body with disturbing ease. For a brief moment, it stared into the hollow emptiness where Xar's head once was, its fanged mouth twitching like it relished the silence of the dead.

Then, just as suddenly as it had arrived, the figure vanished from view, leaving behind only the heavy chill of its presence and the promise of chaos soon to come.

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