Blake Shadow vanished without a trace.
The warehouse, however, remained frozen in time.
The survivors were still there, kneeling or leaning against the walls, unable to catch their breath. No one dared speak. Even after they left, the tension hadn't dissipated.
The zero was still there.
Not on a back.
In their minds.
The Living
One of the mercenaries tried to get up.
His legs gave way immediately.
He wasn't injured.
His body was still functioning.
But something had broken.
He remembered that precise moment:
his gaze fixed on the black moon,
the absolute certainty that his life no longer belonged to him.
Some were crying.
Others were trembling silently.
None of them thought of fleeing.
The Retreat
On the rooftops, Blake Shadow was already advancing.
The movements were fluid, precise.
Everyone knew their place.
Nyx broke the silence, speaking in a low voice:
"No alert. No reinforcements."
Kaito nodded.
"Normal."
He paused for a moment, observing the dim lights of the slums.
"They won't understand what happened to them until later."
The Meaning of Zero
Chiyo walked beside him.
"You deliberately left survivors," he said.
"Even though you could have eliminated them all."
Kaito didn't answer right away.
"Death is swift," he finally said.
"Fear, on the other hand, travels."
Chiyo gave a slow, faint smile.
"So zero isn't a threat."
Kaito nodded.
"That's a question."
Musashi
A little further back, Musashi calmly sheathed his swords.
"They will talk," he said.
"Even if they swear to silence."
"Yes," Kaito replied.
"And they will all say the same thing."
What Begins
At dawn, in the slums, rumors began to circulate.
Not of a massacre.
Not of an armed group.
But of a man.
A man who had done almost nothing.
A man whose mere presence had been enough.
A man with a black moon.
And a zero.
End of Chapter 4
The shadow will remain in the shadow.