He didn't hide.
He waited.
Kneeling beside the half-broken statue, Elian watched the threads ripple. A new presence entered the zone — smooth, system-aligned, precise. Not infected. Not twisted.
Yet.
[Surveillance Reconnected: Foreign Threadwalker Detected]
[Class: Veinmarked (D)]
[Faction Affiliation: Crownshard Sanctuary – Directive: Echo Purge]
[Status: Soul Echo Stabilizer / Cleanser]
Elian stood slowly.
The man emerged from the decay — clad in gold-thread armor, face masked, eyes cold.
"You are infected," he said flatly.
"You will surrender your Echo and be remade."
Elian smiled.
"You're late."
Then he moved.
Not to attack.
To bleed.
He slashed his own palm, threads flaring, letting corrupted light spill into the air. The stabilizer recoiled — too late.
The light touched him.
[Warning: Soul Echo Contamination Detected]
[Viral Trait Detected: Devil's Core I – Mutative Signature Attempting Breach]
The man screamed.
Not in pain — in horror.
"What did you do?!"
Elian didn't answer.
He just watched as the purifier staggered, clutching his head. His soul echo — once a perfect golden ring — cracked.
And something darker began to leak through.
Elian stepped forward.
"You came to cleanse me."
"Now you'll carry what I gave you."
"Let them track you home."
The man collapsed.
Elian didn't kill him.
He left him alive.
A walking infection.
A warning.
[Lucid Trait Sync: 41% → 42%]
[Devil's Core Progression: 4% → 7%]
[System Notice: Regional Infection Flag Placed – "Soul Echo Deviation Class II"]
For the first time, Elian wasn't just being hunted.
He was becoming the reason others were hunted.
And the system?
It was starting to understand.
Too late.