Cloudia was relentless, her strikes methodical and effit. She wasn't simply attag—she was dismantling their morale.

  The disciples filed in desperation, their swords slig through empty mist, striking nothing but air as their screams grew more frantic.

  Every attempt to ter her was met with failure. In the blinding fog, Cloudia was everywhere and nowhere, a spectral predator tormenting her prey.

  One by ohe disciples fell, their cries of pain and panic eg into the swirling mists.

  The leader gritted his teeth, trying to steady his trembling hands as he popped another pill into his mouth to dull the pain from his severed arm. His mind raced, grasping for a strategy, but the situation was slipping through his fingers.

  "We 't fight like this! Disperse the fog! Someone use a Wind Sshing Teique!" he anded, his voice ced with desperation.

  "I-I 't!" stammered one of the disciples, clutg at his side where Cloudia's cws had torn through his robes. "The mist... it's too thick, too heavy. It's like it's alive!"

  Suddenly, a sharp, guttural growl emerged from the fog, freezing them in pce. Cloudia appeared briefly, her glowing eyes pierg the darkness, her form both ethereal and terrifying.

  Just as quickly, she vanished again, leaving only the sound of her padded footsteps cirg them like a predator toying with its ered prey.

  Reon watched silently from the edge of the battlefield, his sword still humming with Spiritual energy. His face remaioic, though his eyes carried a gleam of satisfa.

  "Struggling already?" he called out, his voice slig through the mist like a knife. "Weren't you Inner Disciples supposed to be the elite? The pride of the sect? A here you are—filing, g, stumbling around like blind fools. Truly pathetic."

  He paused for a moment, letting the taunt sink in before tinuing with a mog smirk. "Then again, perhaps you're just the weakest of the Inner Sect Disciples."

  "Shut up!" the leader roared, though his voice trembled slightly, betraying his growing frustration. "You think this is over? You're just hiding behind that beast! You're nothing without it!"

  Reon tilted his head, a faint smirk pying on his lips. "Oh? is that what you think? Funny, sidering this is the same beast you dismissed earlier—g it could only haer Sect trashes."

  The leader ched his teeth, blood dripping from his injured arm as he gred at Reon. "We were misinformed! We thought it was just a High-Rank Demonic Beast! Who would have guessed it would asd to the rank of a Demonic Soldier in a single month? And with aal attribute at that!"

  Reon chuckled softly, his gaze sharp. "Of course it did. Cloudia improves because she has a purpose—unlike you, who squander your time bullying the weak and doing your master's dirty work."

  The leader's face twisted in anger. "Hah! Listen to you preach! Aren't you the same Xue Taiyang who was infamous for his cruelty ier Sect? The rumors about you painted you as a viper among snakes. And now you're pying the righteous hero?"

  Reon's expression darkened for a moment before he let out a cold ugh. "Rumors. Do you holy believe the lies spread by jealous failures who couldn't stand my achievements? If I were half the mohey cimed, do you think I'd be wasting time talking to you?"

  The leader scoffed, but before he could respond, another blood-curdling scream echoed through the mist.

  Cloudia struck with precision, her cws tearing through another disciple's defenses. He colpsed to his knees, clutg at his chest as his sword cttered to the ground.

  The remaining disciples instinctively huddled clether, their backs pressed against one aheir once-proud stances were gone, repced by trembling limbs and darting eyes.

  "Sure enough," Reon thought to himself, his expression darkening. "I may not kly what this bastard Xue Taiyang did ba the Inner Sect, but it's clear it was far worse than I initially imagined. And now, I have to bear the sequences of his as."

  He paused, his thoughts settling as he tightened his grip on his sword. "When I return to the Sect, I'll find the truth and deal with it iime. For now, these fools are my problem."

  The leader barked out, "Stand firm! Don't let the fog or that beast break you! It's just a trick! Focus, damn it!"

  But his words fell on deaf ears. The fog seemed to press in tighter, sm their fidend leaving only fear in its pce.

  Reon began to walk forward, his steps unhurried but purposeful. The mist parted slightly with his movement, revealing his darkly glowing sword. His voice, cold and unyielding, reached them like the final toll of a bell.

  "Futile... utterly futile," he said, his tone dripping with calm authority. "You're wasting your strength. Enough games. Let's end this."

  Cloudia's low growl rumbled in the mist, a prelude to the impending onsught, as Reon closed the distahe fear in the disciples' eyes turned into pure terror as they realized there was no escape.