Two nights later, Phantom and Lucian struck their first Crimson Hand safehouse. The building was a nondescript warehouse in the dock district, operating under the guise of a shipping company. Inside, six Iron Rank and two Bronze Rank members ran a smuggling operation—weapons, contraband, and information trafficking.
"Remember," Phantom whispered from their rooftop position, "we use Silent Blade techniques. Quick, clean kills. Their signature is throat cuts with curved blades and poison that causes paralysis before death. We need to match that exactly."
Lucian nodded, checking his curved dagger—purchased specifically for this operation. "What about the victims? Do we leave them?"
"No. We take anything valuable, destroy their records, and leave Silent Blade calling cards. Make it look like a territorial raid, not an assassination." Phantom pulled out a black cloth embroidered with a silver blade—the Silent Blade syndicate's symbol, purchased from a criminal fence for three hundred gold.
They moved.
Phantom entered through a second-floor window while Lucian came through the loading dock. The operation was synchronized, practiced through hours of planning.
The first Iron Rank guard died without sound—Lucian's curved blade across his throat, the specialized paralysis poison working in seconds. The second guard turned at the sound of his partner falling and met Phantom's Dragon-Steel Dagger, also coated in the appropriate poison.
Within three minutes, all eight Crimson Hand members were dead, their throats cut in the Silent Blade style, their bodies arranged to suggest a coordinated assault.
Phantom planted the calling card prominently on the main desk, then systematically destroyed the safehouse's intelligence records. He took fifty thousand gold in cash and various valuable contraband items, making it look like a robbery disguised as a territorial hit.
"Done," Lucian reported, meeting him at the exit. "No witnesses, no survivors. It'll look exactly like Silent Blade work."
"Good. Two more safehouses tomorrow night, then we wait and see if they take the bait."
They vanished into the night, leaving behind a crime scene that would ignite exactly the conflict they wanted.
The Next Morning - City Guard Headquarters
Captain Helena Darkshore, Gold Rank investigator for the City Guard, stared at the crime scene report with growing concern. This was the third Crimson Hand safehouse hit in two days, all with Silent Blade signatures.
"This doesn't make sense," she muttered to her lieutenant. "The Silent Blades and Crimson Hand have maintained cold peace for five years. Why escalate now?"
"Maybe the peace was always temporary, Captain. Criminal syndicates aren't known for long-term cooperation."
Helena studied the evidence photos. The kills were professional, clean, matched Silent Blade methodology perfectly. But something felt wrong. The escalation was too sudden, too coordinated, too... convenient.
"Get me everything we have on recent assassin activity. Phantom, Silent Blades, Crimson Hand, any independent operators. I want cross-referenced timelines, pattern analysis, anything that connects these incidents."
"You think someone's playing them against each other?"
"I think someone smart enough to eliminate three Crimson Hand safehouses without leaving evidence is smart enough to use misdirection. Question is who benefits from a shadow war between syndicates?"
As her lieutenant left to gather intelligence, Helena pulled up Phantom's case file. The mysterious assassin had been active for four months, eliminating exclusively criminal targets with transmutation magic. Never sloppy, never caught, never leaving witnesses.
Could Phantom be behind this? And if so, why start a gang war instead of just killing Crimson Hand members directly?
Helena made a note to increase surveillance on known syndicate locations. If a war was starting, the City Guard needed to be prepared for collateral damage.
Crimson Hand - Red Three's Perspective
Red Three received the reports with barely contained rage. Three safehouses destroyed, twenty-four members dead, over two hundred thousand gold in assets stolen or destroyed. All bearing Silent Blade signatures.
"Those bastards violated the treaty," he snarled to his assembled cell leaders. "They think they can attack us with impunity?"
"The evidence is clear, Red Three. Silent Blade calling cards, their specific poison, their trademark throat-cutting technique. It's definitely them." Red Five, a Silver Rank enforcer, spread out the intelligence reports. "Question is, do we retaliate immediately or gather more information?"
"We retaliate. Hard. Fast. Make them regret breaking the peace." Red Three's aura flared with Silver Rank power. "Hit their safehouses, eliminate their members, send a message that the Crimson Hand doesn't tolerate aggression. I want five Silent Blade operations destroyed within the week."
"What about the authorities? This level of violence will draw City Guard attention."
"Let them investigate. By the time they understand what's happening, the Silent Blades will be too weakened to matter. We eliminate the competition while it's off-balance." Red Three smiled coldly. "And once the Silent Blades are dealt with, we find the independent operator who rejected our recruitment and eliminate that threat as well. Phantom won't escape forever."
The meeting dispersed, cell leaders heading out to organize retaliatory strikes. Within hours, the shadow war Marcus had ignited would explode into open violence.
Exactly as planned.