The transition from the ancient, crystalline silence of the mountains to the chaotic roar of Onyx City was jarring. Rain fell in heavy, rhythmic sheets, washing away the dried blood and frost from Shin's black coat. He stood on a skyscraper's edge, his figure hidden by the flickering neon signs of the lower districts. He was looking down at the city he once served—a city that had officially declared him deceased six days ago.
In his right hand, the hilt of The Fractured Monarch felt unnervingly calm. The blade didn't exist in the physical world; it stayed tucked away in the 'Void Fold' Shin had opened, a pocket of space-time that only he could access. His grey eyes, now possessing a predatory clarity, analyzed the patrol patterns of the Organization's automated drones below.
[The Shadow Encounter]
"You've been gone for a while, Van Croft," a cold, feminine voice whispered from the darkness behind him.
Shin didn't flinch. He didn't even turn around. His aura, now saturated with the Void, had felt her presence the moment she stepped onto the rooftop. It was Sera, the Organization's premier cleaner and the only operative who had ever come close to matching his tactical speed.
"The Council held a memorial for you yesterday," she continued, stepping into the dim light of a buzzing billboard. "They've already redistributed your sectors and erased your security clearance. To them, you're just a ghost in the system."
"A ghost is exactly what I need to be," Shin replied, his voice a low vibration that seemed to cut through the sound of the rain. "Because ghosts aren't bound by the laws of the living, Sera. And I'm about to walk through the heart of the Council without them ever seeing me coming."
[The Manifestation]
Sera reached for her daggers, her instincts screaming that something was fundamentally wrong with the man standing before her. The air around Shin felt... heavy, as if it were being sucked into a vacuum.
"You've changed," she muttered, her eyes narrowing. "There's a smell of... nothingness on you. What did you find in that Fortress?"
Shin finally turned, his face partially obscured by his wet hair. As he did, a faint spark of Black Lightning danced between his fingers. The air around him distorted slightly, bending the neon lights of the city into a surreal purple haze.
"I didn't find something, Sera. I became something," Shin said, taking a measured step forward. The concrete beneath his boots didn't crack, but the rain seemed to vanish before it could touch his skin.
[The Demonstration]
Sera lunged—not out of malice, but out of fear. Her movements were a blur of professional efficiency. But to Shin, her trajectory was painfully obvious. With his expanded perception, he could see the slight tensing of her muscles, the way her weight shifted, and the panic in her pupils.
He didn't draw his sword. He simply stepped to the side and caught her wrist in mid-air.
A localized surge of Void Energy traveled from his palm into her arm. It wasn't a blast, but a silent erosion. Sera gasped as her high-frequency daggers, made of the strongest alloys the Organization could produce, began to turn to grey ash in her hands. They didn't break; they were being systematically erased from existence.
"Go back to the Council," Shin whispered, his gaze locking onto hers. She was paralyzed, not by a spell, but by the sheer overwhelming pressure of his presence. "Tell them the Van Croft they knew died in the ice. Tell them the Nameless Sovereign is here to dismantle their world, piece by piece."
[The New Beginning]
Shin released her, and she collapsed to her knees, staring at her empty, shaking hands. He watched her flee into the rain, her spirit shattered. He looked at his hand, where the purple energy was still humming a dark melody.
The city was vast, the enemies were entrenched in their towers of glass and steel, and his Views were about to reach a new peak. The Fortress was just the preparation. The city was the execution ground.
"Let the games begin," Shin muttered, stepping off the edge of the building and disappearing into the night.