Kaelen did not use the door. He focused his newly expanded mana pool and locked his eyes onto the shadow cast by the barracks' outer wall, forty yards below his window.
He activated Shadow Step.
The world turned into a pitch-black blur. There was no sensation of falling, only a freezing rush of wind. A fraction of a second later, his boots touched the solid marble of the courtyard.
He had bypassed the Platinum guards entirely.
Kaelen moved through Sector One like a phantom. The towering, golden spires of the noble district pierced the night sky. He followed the soaring hawk crests carved into the street lamps, tracking the territory of House Valerius.
The Valerius estate was a massive fortress of white stone and gilded iron gates. A glowing, translucent dome of Aether protected the perimeter. Two Silver Tier mercenaries patrolled the entrance, armed with enchanted halberds.
Kaelen crouched in the darkness of an alleyway across the street. He pressed his hand against the ground. The Void Core pulsed, analyzing the magical barrier. The dome was made of pure, dense mana. It was designed to repel kinetic force and unauthorized Aether signatures.
It was not designed to repel a parasite.
Kaelen activated his core. Shadowy tendrils seeped from his fingertips, burrowing directly into the glowing barrier. They did not shatter the shield. They quietly ate a hole straight through it.
The barrier flickered. A gap just large enough for a man opened in the magical dome.
Kaelen slipped through. The hole sealed silently behind him.
He drew the assassin's poisoned short-sword, having quietly smuggled it out of his barracks room before the guards noticed. He locked onto the shadow of the first mercenary. He activated Shadow Step and teleported, appearing instantaneously at the man's back.
Kaelen drove the poisoned blade through the gap in the mercenary's heavy helmet, severing the spinal cord. He grabbed the falling body, silencing the armor's clatter, and plunged his free hand into the dying man's chest.
[Target Devoured. Moderate density essence absorbed.] [Agility +4. Strength +3.]
The second guard spun around, his halberd humming with golden light. He opened his mouth to shout an alarm.
Kaelen channeled his mana into the stolen blade. "Aether Slash."
A crescent of purple kinetic force erupted from the short-sword. It crossed the ten-yard distance in a flash, decapitating the guard before a single sound escaped his throat. Kaelen devoured the second corpse, leaving nothing but two piles of gray ash on the pristine white steps.
He pushed the heavy oak doors open.
The interior of the estate smelled of expensive wine and burning incense. Kaelen bypassed the grand ballroom and scaled the sweeping marble staircase. His heightened senses easily tracked the lingering, cowardly scent of Lord Valerius's weak Aether signature.
He found the master bedroom at the end of a platinum-lined hallway.
Kaelen kicked the door. The thick wood shattered completely off its hinges.
Lord Valerius shot up in his silk bed. The arrogant noble was clutching a healing crystal to his bruised wrist. When he saw Kaelen standing in the doorway, his eyes widened in absolute, paralyzing terror.
"You," Valerius choked out, scrambling backward against his headboard. "The Silencer... he was supposed to kill you!"
"He missed," Kaelen said coldly.
He took a slow step into the luxurious bedroom. The abyssal black glow in his eyes illuminated the dark space. Shadowy tendrils began to writhe around his boots, eager to consume the pathetic noble.
"Guards!" Valerius shrieked at the top of his lungs. "Father! Help me!"
Kaelen raised his poisoned sword. "Your father cannot hear you."
Suddenly, the entire bedroom violently shuddered. The temperature in the room skyrocketed, turning the air into a suffocating furnace. The wooden floorboards beneath Kaelen's feet instantly blackened and began to smoke.
A booming, apocalyptic voice echoed from the hallway directly behind Kaelen.
"You are remarkably arrogant for a slum rat."
Kaelen spun around.
Standing in the shattered doorway was an older man wearing a crimson velvet coat. A massive, roaring lion was tattooed across his exposed neck. He held a heavy broadsword that literally dripped with liquid magma. The sheer magical pressure radiating from the man cracked the stone walls.
It was the Patriarch of House Valerius. And he was a Gold Tier combatant.