Chapter 5 UNCOMFORTABLE ALLIANCE

“You think scaring me is gonna make me beg for your help?” I snapped, knife still pointed at Scar’s chest. My hand wouldn’t stop shaking. “I’ve survived twenty-four years without some big scarred bastard playing savior. Move.”

Scar didn’t budge. He just tilted his head slightly, listening to the distant horns. “Patrols are closing. You leave a trail like a bleeding spirit boar. Watch.” 

He stepped past me without waiting, grabbed a handful of glowing moss from the wall, and crushed it in his fist. The faint light died instantly. Then he scooped up dirt mixed with my bloody footprints and scattered it different. “You run loud. I move quiet. Your choice, kid.”

I lowered the knife a fraction. “Why? What’s in it for you? Nobody does favors in the wastes.”

“Answers,” he grunted. “And maybe I kill you before it gets bad. Walk or die here. Your call.”

I cursed under my breath but fell in beside him. “Fine. Temporary. You try anything and I’ll drain whatever vein keeps your ugly ass alive.”

We moved fast through the thick vines. Scar led, stepping where the ground looked solid, brushing away broken twigs I would’ve snapped. For a big man he made almost no sound. I hated how good he was at this.

After twenty minutes of silence I couldn’t take it. “So you’ve seen this Emperor thing before. Talk. What am I actually dealing with?”

Scar glanced back, eyes flat. “Vessel. Previous one lasted six months after full awakening. Nice guy at first. Then the blackouts started eating days. When it finished… nothing left but the Emperor wearing his face.”

I swallowed hard. “Six months? I’ve had this thing two days and I already lost four minutes.”

“Faster this time,” Scar said. “You’re pulling bigger veins. Feeding it quicker.”

I flexed my fingers, feeling the new power humming under my skin. “Then I’ll just stop pulling.”

Scar gave a short, ugly laugh. “World’s collapsing, kid. Veins are dying. You stop, everything dies faster. System won’t let you anyway. It needs the power.”

I spotted a weak spirit vine pulsing in the wall ahead. “Let me test something.” I pressed my palm against it. The system window flashed.

[Minor Vein Fragment Detected.]

“Extract,” I whispered.

Warm energy trickled into me. My tired legs steadied. I grinned. “Still feels good. Really good.”

“Careful,” Scar muttered. “Every pull makes the voice louder, right?”

Before I could answer, voices drifted through the ruins ahead.

“Tracks here! Fresh blood smell mixed with vein residue. The rat came this way!”

“Five men,” Scar said quietly, axe sliding off his shoulder. “Iron Fang outer patrol. You take the two on the left. I’ll handle the rest.”

I stared at him. “Just like that? We’re doing this together now?”

“You want to run and get surrounded? Your choice.” He moved forward without waiting.

“Damn it.” I followed, heart pounding. Trust was a knife in the back waiting to happen, but dying alone sounded worse right now.

The patrol rounded the corner, five armed scouts, talismans glowing, weapons ready. Their leader spotted us first. “There! The system user and… Scar? Traitor bastard!”

Scar didn’t waste words. He charged like a wrecking ball, axe swinging in a brutal arc that took the first man’s arm clean off. Blood sprayed. The man screamed.

I moved on instinct, faster than before. The two on the left turned toward me. One raised a sword, the other leveled a crossbow. “Die, scavenger!”

“Not today!” I dodged the bolt and slammed my shoulder into the swordsman, sending him crashing into his buddy. While they stumbled I slapped my hand against the cracked ground where a mid-sized environmental vein pulsed in my vision.

“Extract now!”

Power ripped upward. Golden light flared around my arm as I drained the vein hard. Strength surged through me like liquid fire. I laughed wildly. “Come on then! You wanted the system? Feel it!”

The crossbowman fired again. I caught the bolt mid-air, actually caught it, and threw it back. It punched through his shoulder. He howled.

Scar roared behind me, axe crunching into someone’s ribs. “Stop playing! Finish them!”

“I’m working on it!” I shouted back, grinning despite the blood and screams. The power felt incredible. Addictive. I grabbed the nearest scout by the collar and slammed him into the wall. “Tell your elders Long Chen says they can choke on their bounty!”

The last man tried to run. Scar’s axe buried in his back before he made three steps.

Silence fell, broken only by the dying gurgles of the wounded. I stood there breathing hard, power still crackling through my veins. A deep satisfaction bloomed in my chest, not mine. Like a second heartbeat, warm and approving. The Emperor. It liked this. Liked the violence. Liked winning together.

Scar wiped blood from his axe and turned to me. His eyes locked on my face, hand resting heavy on the weapon. Same look he’d given me when I woke up in that camp covered in blood. Recognition. Dread. Ready.

“You felt it just now, didn’t you?” he said quietly. “That rush after the kill. That wasn’t all you.”

I opened my mouth but the words stuck. The satisfaction pulsed stronger, almost like a purr inside my ribs. My hands were shaking again, but not from fear this time. Part of me wanted to pull another vein right now. Bigger one.

Scar didn’t move his hand off the axe. “How much of you is still in there, kid?”

The whisper spoke softly in my head, calm and pleased. “We work well together.”

I clenched my jaw and met Scar’s stare, trying to hold onto my own voice. “Still me. Mostly me.” But even I heard the uncertainty.

The big man watched me for a long moment, fingers tight on his weapon, like he was deciding whether this partnership had already gone too far.

And whether he should end it right here.