The vehicle slowed as it arrived at a luxurious residential building in the wealthy district. The place looked peaceful—wide balconies, tall glass windows, everything radiating comfort and prosperity.
But Tiflos saw beyond the walls.
Through his perception, waves of anxiety and suppressed fear pulsed through the structure like a hidden disease.
"Target is in Apartment 304," Phoenix whispered.
"He lives alone, but the surveillance system is advanced. We move fast and quiet—according to plan."
They entered.
Tiflos dropped to one knee immediately, activating his ability and analyzing the security wave frequencies. His silver eyes revealed a complex energy network wrapped around the building.
"Motion sensors. Thermal cameras. Acoustic detection systems…"
He paused.
"But there are gaps. We can use the ventilation access from the lower floor."
Noor nodded.
"I'll create visual phantoms to mislead the cameras. A stream of decoys moving in the opposite direction."
The infiltration was a perfectly choreographed dance.
Tiflos led by reading security waves.
Noor bent reality with illusions.
Phoenix covered their rear.
They moved like shadows in a world that could not see them.
Each step reminded Tiflos of the stealth games he used to play with Orion in the palace corridors.
But this was no game anymore.
And the consequences were lethal.
---
Inside the apartment, they found Arthur Kane seated behind his desk, typing calmly on his computer.
He was a man in his fifties. Graying hair. Thick glasses magnifying tired blue eyes.
What shocked Tiflos wasn't the man himself—
—but the wave surrounding him.
Arthur's emotional frequency was different.
Clear. Stable.
Nothing like the distorted patterns of criminals Tiflos had encountered before.
"So," Arthur said without looking up,
"you found me."
He closed his laptop slowly.
"I knew they'd send someone eventually. I just wondered when."
Tiflos stepped forward, his red sword drawn, silver eyes locked onto the man.
"You know why we're here."
"I do," Arthur replied calmly.
"But do you know why you're killing me?
Have you read my reports?
Do you know the truth I'm trying to expose?"
Phoenix answered coldly,
"You threaten public security."
Arthur laughed—a bitter laugh soaked in years of frustration.
"Public security? Or the organization's filth?"
"I exposed the truth about the eye trade.
The corruption of those who claim to protect us from the state—when in reality, they are far worse."
Tiflos froze.
"The eye trade?"
"What nonsense is that?"
Arthur slowly opened a drawer in his desk.
"They didn't tell you?"
"The organization doesn't just harvest blind eyes for power…
They sell them."
---
He pulled out a thick, worn folder.
"All the evidence is here."
Tiflos took it with trembling hands.
The documents were worse than he imagined.
The process involved extracting a transparent essential ocular fluid—the core substance of the eye.
It could only be obtained by removing the victim's eye entirely.
The fluid was then injected into the buyer's eyes.
Results:
Visual power amplification by 40–60%
Restoration of weakened eyesight in the elderly elite
Delay of blindness in those who overused their abilities
The eyes were sold on the black market for unimaginable sums.
Client lists included politicians and powerful business figures.
Many recorded "accidents" were in fact disguised abductions—hidden by the organization itself.
Noor's face went pale.
"This… this is monstrous.
How can humans do this to other humans?"
"Monstrosity is profitable," Arthur said quietly.
"So now that you've seen the truth—what will you do?
Kill me for exposing the corruption of those who pay you?"
Phoenix raised his gun without hesitation.
But Arthur was faster.
In one swift motion, he pulled a pistol from beneath the desk and aimed it—
—not at Phoenix—
—but at Noor.
"Don't move!" Arthur shouted.
"I'm leaving here alive. I have a family waiting for me!"
Time stopped.
Tiflos saw the gun aimed at Noor.
Saw the fear in her eyes.
Instinct took over.
He saw the waves clearly—lines, gaps, weaknesses.
A powerful sonic whistle burst from his eyes, slamming into Arthur.
But it wasn't enough.
The gun was about to fire.
In that instant—
everything happened at once.
Tiflos lunged forward.
His red sword flashed through the darkness.
He spoke only one word.
"Don't."
The sound of air being severed—
Then silence.
Arthur's head hit the floor.
His hand—still gripping the gun—fell beside it.
His eyes remained wide open in shock.
The body stood for a second without head or hand—
Then collapsed.
Blood flooded the luxurious carpet.
---
Noor trembled, staring at the severed head… then at Tiflos.
"What… what did you do?"
Tiflos looked at his blood-soaked sword.
At his hands.
At the spreading red beneath his feet.
The smell of blood filled the room.
His breath was ragged.
"One word escaped his mouth."
"I saved you…"
The justification came instinctively.
"By cutting off his head?!" Noor screamed.
"This wasn't like Nathan!
You could've disarmed him!
Cut his hand—anything but kill him!"
Phoenix stepped forward coldly.
"The decision was correct. He was a threat. You saved your partner."
But Tiflos didn't hear him.
His eyes were locked onto a photo on the desk.
A smiling wife.
Two small children.
"He had a family…" Tiflos whispered, voice breaking.
"Children who'll wake up tomorrow without a father."
Noor collapsed to her knees beside the body.
"We killed a man with a family…
What have we become?
What kind of monsters are we?"
Tiflos sank beside her, hands still shaking.
"I saw the gun aimed at you…
I couldn't control myself.
All I thought about was protecting you."
"But you didn't have to kill him!" Noor cried.
"You could've taken his hand!
He was just a man—not a fighter!"
Her words cut deeper than any blade.
She was right.
It wasn't necessity.
It was instinct.
Rage.
And something else—
A disturbing sense of power.
Control.
The moment the body fell.
---
On the way back, silence filled the car like a grave.
Tiflos sat in the corner, staring at his hands as if expecting blood to still be there.
Every streetlight reminded him of the sword's flash.
Every shadow reminded him of the corpse.
Noor cried quietly.
"We could've…
We could've taken the documents and let him go…"
"No," Phoenix cut in coldly.
"Orders were clear. Him or us.
In our war, there is no room for mercy."