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Chapter 64 - 9. Cracks in the Order

The air reeked of rust and old chemicals. Fog rolled through broken windows and crumbled concrete. Above, the skeleton of a ruined crane creaked like it still remembered its purpose.

In the shadow of the building, sitting cross-legged on a fractured pillar, was Harlekin.

His white clown outfit was stained with blood. His hat was tilted slightly to the side. His mouth drained in blood… smiling. In one hand, he twirled a blood-dried knife between his fingers—absently, like a bored child waiting for a teacher.

A soft metallic click echoed from the corridor behind him.

Footsteps.

The Voice (Echoes): "You were told to finish the job. Emilia should be dead by now."

A man stepped forward from the mist—tall, cloaked, face hidden in the shadow of his hood. The Voice, the messenger of the Syndicate—who or what he is is a mystery even to the highest-ranked Syndicate members.

Harlekin (without looking): "Tick. Tock. Boom. Yet the girl still breathes, yes, yes."

The knife spun faster.

The Voice: "She's a threat. She remembers. She knows the network. She knows about—"

Harlekin raised his hand.

Harlekin (mocking): "—Knows about your little secrets? The codes? The caches?

The blood contracts scrawled in ash beneath the church ruins of Sector 13?"

The Voice froze. He hadn't expected that.

Harlekin (mocking): "What? Did you really think I would not find out what she had burned all those years ago? Why is your little councilso desperate in wanting her head?"

He quickly walks up to the voice, pointing his knife at him.

Harlekin (Furious): "Who do you think I am!"

Harlekin slowly turned his head, his hollow black eyeholes locking with the junkyard in front of him.

Harlekin (quiet, but lethal): "I kill when the curtain rises. Not when little rats squeak orders backstage."

The Voice (hissing): "The Council won't be pleased."

Harlekin jumped down from the pillar, landing silently.

Harlekin (grinning): "The Council never is. But they will be… soon."

The air around him grew colder—darker. Reality rippled around his body like shadows rejecting the light.

The Voice takes a nervous step back.

The Voice: "Where are you going?"

Harlekin turned, beginning to walk into the mist.

Harlekin: "I have a meeting. With ghosts draped in numbers. And death waits with tea on the table."

The Voice vanishes into the darkness.

Harlekin gets a small device out of his pockets. The device creates a small holographic room with a round obsidian table and 10 seats, each with a number engraved from 10 to 1, and a throne with the number 0 engraved in gold.

One by one four ghostly figures appear, each sitting on their seat.

Holograms flickered, identities hidden. Only numbers, distorted voices, and powerful presence spoke. To avoid unwanted viewers seeing their identities.

Soul Reaper #8 (calm but firm): "Pyraxis has started a new formation in the southern regions."

Soul Reaper #5 (cold): "The Crimson Court's failure in this conflict is pathetic; we should focus on leverage instead."

Harlekin #7 (waving his hand): "Present, yet distant."

Soul Reaper #8: "You, Harlekin. You were seen near Neoterra Prime. Do you have anything on the location of the one marked by heaven?"

A long pause. Harlekin tilted his head.

Harlekin #7 (sing-song voice): "The moon told me secrets. The wind carried whispers. But… location? Oh no no no, dearest 8, not today. "

Soul Reaper #4 (furious): "He's lying. He knows exactly where the boy marked by heaven is."

The room went silent.

Harlekin turned toward him, slowly, as if the betrayal didn't bother him—but his fingers twitched slightly.

Harlekin #7 (whispers): "Little flame… always ruining the fun. I met your pops; he's a funkiller just like you."

#5 (sharply): "Elion. If you have proof, present it. Otherwise, you're accusing one of us—"

Elion #4 (interrupts): "I and Joren were near his location. Met him for information exchange. He made contact with the boys' sister afterwards. I followed his signal. He was there."

Joren #6: "We should vote. If Harlekin's loyalty is—"

Harlekin #7 (smiling wider): "Oh no no no. Let's not play games we don't want to finish. I only ever do what the reapers demand."

Harlekin turns off the device. The holographic room and the four shadowy figures disappear.

Harlekin (grinning widely): "Oh, don't worry, fellow Reapers; the fun has only just begun."

Through the buildings, one hunting laugh echoes into the darkness of the night.

Joren Malvek stood near the edge of a holographic projection table, arms crossed. His coat fluttered slightly in the cool artificial breeze. He didn't turn as Elion entered, though the door had hissed open with intent.

Elion (calm but direct): "You called for me."

Joren (dryly): "Only because you made a mess again."

A long pause. Elion stepped closer, letting the silence stretch.

Elion: "And yet you haven't denied it."

Joren (finally looking at him): "That the clown is… unstable? Of course he is. He wears madness like a second skin. Over half of us are unstable. But it's effective."

Elion (tensed): "He's compromised. He's not just unstable. He's hiding something."

Joren (coldly): "So are you."

The words hit like ice. Elion narrowed his eyes.

Joren (stepping closer, voice low): "You've been watching your dad and sister. You tracked Harlekin on your own. And now you disrupt a Reaper assembly with accusations and sentiment."

Elion: "Because I care more than the rest of you."

Joren (cutting): "You care more than the mission."

They glared at each other. A current of barely restrained force hung between them.

Elion (after a beat): "Do you really think he's loyal? That he serves the Order?"

Joren (flat): "No one serves the Order. We serve power. And right now, Harlekin's chaos is more useful than your emotional outbursts."

Elion (quietly): "He's working with someone. I don't know who yet, but… the shadows around him—they're not just madness. They're planned."

Joren frowned for the first time.

Joren (suspicious): "You believe he's in contact with the Schatten Syndicate?"

Elion: "I think he himself is a Shadow. And the boy's sister's presence near him isn't coincidence."

A pause.

Joren (calculating): "If you're right… then we have a traitor sitting among us."

Elion: "I believe the Zero already knows."

Joren (steps back, coolly): "We should keep this to us right now. He probably has a reason for letting a Shadow become a Reaper."

Elion (nodding): "Exactly."

Joren: "But remember one thing, Elion—shadows always whisper. And sometimes… they lie."

Elion: "Understand, let's set course to the next mission and away from that slump."

Joren jumps up from his seat, taking Elion in a sweatbox hold.

Joren (mockingly, laughing): "That's how you talk about your home city? You really are a cold dude."

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