The rain-slicked alley in the City of Perpetual Night was now charged with an entirely new kind of tension. The murder mystery, the ghost, the noir detective—all of it was suddenly secondary to the shocking new variable that had just made its debut.
Another mysterious, shadow-dwelling hero.
Cid Kagenou, for the first time in his entire reincarnated life, was genuinely, profoundly flabbergasted. His usual, smugly omniscient 'I planned this all along' facade had crumbled, replaced by a look of pure, unadulterated disbelief.
On the fire escape, Detective Sterling watched the spot where Zenith had vanished, a thoughtful scowl on his face. "First the Black Feather Killer, now this... this vigilante. My city is turning into a circus." He then turned and retreated back into his apartment, the translucent ghost of the first victim trailing sadly behind him.
The stage was now clear, leaving Jin-woo and Cid alone to process the new, bewildering development.
"This changes the entire narrative," Cid said aloud, his composure returning, his shock now morphing into a competitive, analytical fury. "We came here to be the mysterious, outside force that solves the unsolvable case. But the role is already taken! We've been narratively upstaged!"
"This 'Zenith' is a piece of the puzzle," Jin-woo countered, his mind focused on the core mystery. "The Author King didn't introduce him by accident. He is connected to the Black Feather Killer. Two sides of the same coin."
The mission had just changed. It was no longer just about solving a murder mystery. It was now about uncovering the identity of this rival and defending Cid's "brand."
Their first step was to gather information. They needed to understand the case from the perspective of the original protagonist, Detective Sterling.
Gaining access to his apartment was child's play. Jin-woo simply used his 'Silence' authority to make the lock on the window 'forget' it was locked. They slipped inside, silent as ghosts, into a room that was a perfect noir cliché. It was messy, smelled of stale coffee and regret, and one wall was covered in a chaotic web of crime scene photos, newspaper clippings, and strings connecting them all together.
Sterling was in an armchair, a glass of cheap whiskey in his hand, staring at the evidence wall. The ghost of the woman floated behind him, her ethereal hand resting on his shoulder, a gesture he could not feel.
Jin-woo focused his Narrator's Eye on the ghost.
[Entity: 'Lily's Echo'.
[Backstory: The first victim of the Black Feather Killer. A journalist who uncovered a deep city-wide conspiracy. Her death was the catalyst for Detective Sterling's obsession.
[Plot Relevance: She is not a true ghost, but a psychic imprint left behind by the trauma of her death. She is drawn to Sterling's guilt and cannot rest until her killer is found. She holds the key to the killer's identity, but cannot communicate it.]
"It's always the same," Sterling muttered to his empty room. "A locked room. No forced entry. A single, black feather on the victim's chest. And a look of... pure, absolute terror on their face. As if they were killed by a ghost."
"Perhaps they were," a quiet voice said from the corner of the room.
Sterling shot to his feet, his hand grabbing the revolver tucked into his coat. He spun around to see two figures standing there. Jin-woo, a silent, imposing presence, and Cid, now wearing a ridiculously appropriate trench coat and fedora he had 'acquired'.
"Who the hell are you?" Sterling growled, aiming his gun. "How did you get in here?"
"The door was unlocked. Just like all your murder scenes," Cid said smoothly, tipping his fedora. He was in his element. "Let's just say we are... consultants. Specialists in cases that defy conventional logic."
Sterling's eyes narrowed. He was a man who trusted no one, but he was also a man who was out of options. The police department thought he was crazy. The city officials wanted the case buried. And now, two phantoms had appeared in his room, speaking of his case as if they understood it.
"You know about the locked rooms," Sterling stated, not lowering his gun.
"We know that you're hunting a killer who doesn't use doors," Jin-woo said, his calm, deep voice seeming to suck the tension from the room. He looked directly at the space behind Sterling's shoulder, at the ghost. "And we know you are not as alone in this room as you think."
The ghost of Lily recoiled, her spectral eyes widening. The silent man could see her.
Sterling's blood ran cold. "What did you say?"
This was their way in. They revealed a fraction of their true perception, proving they were not of this world, that they understood the supernatural nature of the case. After a tense standoff, Sterling, a man desperate for any lead, reluctantly agreed to cooperate with the two mysterious 'consultants.'
He laid out the case for them. The victims were all powerful, corrupt figures: a city councilman, a mob boss, a corporate CEO. All were part of a secret cabal that Lily, the first victim, had been investigating. All had been found dead in sealed rooms, killed by what the coroner could only describe as 'acute, systemic spiritual failure.' They had been literally scared to death.
As they discussed the case, a police radio on Sterling's desk crackled to life. "All units, report of a disturbance at the old Zenith Tower. Witnesses report sounds of fighting on the top floor. Known hideout of the Vulture Gang."
"Zenith Tower," Sterling mused. "The irony." He looked at Cid and Jin-woo. "Sounds like our other mystery guest is making a house call. Want to see him in action?"
The three of them made their way to the scene. The Zenith Tower was a derelict, art-deco skyscraper, the former headquarters of a defunct corporation. On the top floor, the lights were on, and the silhouettes of figures could be seen fighting through the large, grimy windows.
They found a vantage point on a nearby rooftop, giving them a perfect view.
Inside, the vigilante Zenith was doing what he did best. He moved like a phantom, his black coat a blur, dismantling the Vulture Gang with a brutal efficiency that was both terrifying and beautiful.
Cid watched, his arms crossed, a critical expression on his face.
Jin-woo, using his Narrator's Eye, focused intensely on Zenith. He saw past the fighting, past the dramatic flair, and looked at the core of the man's being. The fragmented, echo-like energy. And then he saw it. A single, connecting thread. A piece of data that linked Zenith to something else he had seen.
His eyes widened in a moment of pure, shocking realization.
He knew who Zenith was.
Jin-woo focused, pushing the information he was seeing through the resonant link, sharing the revelation with Cid.
Cid's mind was flooded with the truth. Zenith was not a plagiarism. He was a plagiarist. A being born from the legend Cid himself was creating.
The warning from the Unwritten Page suddenly made perfect sense. 'The Echoes of your Legends are growing.'
Zenith wasn't a gift from the Author King. He was a consequence. A side effect. A piece of Cid's own story, his own "Eminence in Shadow" persona, had gained so much narrative weight that it had bled through the cracks of reality and spontaneously manifested in this world as a new, separate entity.
He wasn't a rival. He was a reflection. An echo of Cid's own myth.
Cid Kagenou, the boy who role-played as a legendary hero, had just discovered that his role-playing had accidentally created a real one. And he had no idea if that made him a god... or a monster.