The silver thread felt unnaturally warm against Shin's palm, a stark contrast to the biting cold of the Oakhaven night. He stood atop the ruined bell tower, his gaze fixed on the violet glow pulsating from Baron Kaelen's estate. Most men in his position would have rushed forward, fueled by a decade of hatred. But Shin wasn't most men. He was a survivor who understood that rage, while powerful, was a blunt instrument. To dismantle a fortress like Oakhaven, he needed a scalpel.
[Whoosh...]
A sudden gust of wind rattled the loose stones of the tower. Shin didn't flinch. His eyes, cold and analytical, were busy mapping the invisible ley lines of mana that protected the perimeter. He wasn't just looking at guards; he was looking at a system of security that had been perfected over centuries.
「 Three minutes and forty-two seconds, 」 Shin muttered, his voice barely a whisper against the wind. 「 That is the window between the shift change and the lighting of the secondary torches. Narrow, but sufficient. 」
He looked down at the silver thread again.
[Hummmmm...]
It didn't just lay there; it hummed with a rhythmic vibration. As he turned his hand, the vibration intensified whenever he pointed it toward the estate's library—the one wing his father had always warned him never to enter. It was as if the thread was reacting to something ancient hidden deep within those stone walls.
「 Who are you, silver phantom? 」 he wondered. The girl from the alley was a variable he hadn't accounted for. She knew his true name. In the world of Oakhaven, knowledge was more dangerous than any blade, and right now, she held the advantage.
Shin descended from the tower with the silence of a shadow. He bypassed the main streets, moving through the "dead zones" he had memorized over the years—alleys so narrow and foul that even the most desperate beggars avoided them. But as he reached the edge of the Merchant's District, the air changed. The smell of ozone and wet metal hit his nostrils.
[Clank! Clank! Clank!]
Heavy footsteps echoed through the narrow alley. A trap. Shin didn't stop. He didn't reach for his sword. He simply slowed his pace, his brain already calculating the angles of escape and the number of heartbeats in the shadows.
「 "Shin Van Croft," 」 a voice boomed, heavy with the weight of steel armor. A captain of the Iron Guard stepped into the dim light. His armor was etched with violet runes that glowed with a predatory hunger. 「 "The Baron wants a word about what happened at The Broken Anvil. You've caused quite a mess, boy." 」
Shin stopped, his face a mask of absolute indifference. 「 "The Butcher was a sloppy fighter. I hope the Iron Guard provides more of a challenge. Otherwise, this will be a very boring night." 」
The Captain's eyes flared with anger. 「 "Arrogant whelp. Surround him! Leave the legs, the Baron wants him to crawl." 」
[Zzzzzzt—!]
Black sparks flickered around Shin's fingertips. He didn't draw his blade yet. Instead, he closed his eyes for a split second, tapping into the cold void within his chest. The Black Lightning didn't explode outward this time; he channeled it into his own nervous system, accelerating his perception. The world slowed down. The falling rain seemed to hang in mid-air like diamonds.
[Swoosh!]
The first guard lunged with a spear. To the onlookers, Shin was a blur. He stepped inside the guard's reach with surgical precision. With a flick of his wrist, a thread of lightning snaked up the spear's shaft.
[Bzzzt! Crackle!]
The guard's eyes widened as the lightning bypassed his armor, striking his nerve endings. He didn't just fall; his mana circuits overloaded, causing a small feedback loop in his runic armor. Shin used the falling body as a stepping stone, launching himself toward the archers on the rooftops.
[Twang! Twang!]
Arrows hissed through the air. Shin caught the first one mid-air, his hand glowing with dark energy. He infused the wood with the Void and hurled it back.
[BOOM!]
The arrow struck the stone ledge, not with a physical impact, but with a conceptual one. The dark energy ate through the stone, causing the entire roof section to collapse. The archers fell into the darkness with muffled cries.
The Captain roared, drawing a massive claymore that glowed with a sickly violet light.
[Schwing—!]
The heavy blade sliced through the air, barely missing Shin's cloak. Shin leaned back, his movement fluid and calculated. He grabbed the Captain's gauntlet, ignoring the searing heat of the violet mana.
[CRACK!]
「 "My father died for an ideal," 」 Shin whispered into the Captain's ear, his voice devoid of emotion. 「 "I live for a result. And the result of this night... is your end." 」
[VROOOOM—!]
A final, concentrated surge of Black Lightning forced its way through the Captain's runic defenses. It wasn't just a shock; it was a cancellation of his very essence. The violet glow on the armor flickered and died, replaced by the suffocating silence of the Void. The Captain collapsed, his eyes rolling back.
Shin stood alone in the alley, his breath hitching. He looked at his hands; the skin was scorched, but the wounds were already beginning to knit together, fueled by the "Essence" he had absorbed during the fight. He had won this round, but the Baron would know soon. The library was calling. And Shin knew that whatever lay inside was the key to either his salvation or his absolute destruction.