The trio had never seen the black fang city breathed like this before.
It was morning after two days of the broadcast—the declaration that the Black Fang Forest would be opened to the Great Hunt. The creature referred to as 'The Crimson Howl 'had been followed by the scouts of various legacy families, and that glory and gold were waiting for those with the courage to walk into its jaws.
Now, streets throbbed with an infectious excitement. Vendors sold "Beast-Sense Charms" and "Blood-Repellent Oils" like missionaries.
Blacksmiths clanged away through the night, their forges glowed like small suns in backstreets.
Recruiters yelled offers of shares and protection to awestruck young men who'd never seen a blade longer than a kitchen knife.
Street prophets, clothed in tattered silks and holding obsidian scrying stones, cried prophetic warnings: "Danger in the third moon! Forest is thirsty for loyalty like wine!"
Natasha pushed through crowd surrounding a soothsayer. Her frowning was becoming deeper with each step .
"Half of these will never return," she said, voice low but as keen as a scalpel. "They think it's a carnival. A game."
Behind her, Jax settled the strap of his pack, gaze sweeping rooftops. "They'll learn quickly," he said, but his voice wasn't convinced. As a tier 3 he'd participated in enough hunts to know the reality: the forest didn't worry about learning quickly. It cared if you bled.
William walked between them, silent. Not out of fear but focus. His gaze moved like a blade testing the air: over the throng of merchants, past the nervous recruits, toward the distant silhouette of the Black Fang Forest, its jagged peaks cutting into the bruised sky. He didn't flinch when a street urchin tried to pick his pocket. He simply shifted his weight, and the boy stumbled past, wide-eyed.
A new rumor slithered through the crowd like smoke: "Veyra's already sent assassins to take out Dinklay's scouts."
Natasha bristled. "House Dinklay ranks only second in influence and power after the top five legacy houses."she whispered. "If they're taking out Dinklay's people, this is not only about the Hunt anymore. This is a purge."
William finally broke his silence. "Then we should hurry.
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The three threaded through the Iron Bazaar, where steel trilled and magic sparked in a balance of power.
Natasha haggled with a salesman for anti-venom kits, her voice rising like a tempest. "Thirty credit for five vial ? You're assuming I was born under a fool's moon? I pay twenty five, and you include the bandages or I leave."
The vendor, a spindly fellow with ink-stained fingers, threw up his hands. "Fine! But if your friends poison themselves ,don't come crying to me!"
Jax ignored the gibe. He stood before a weaponsmith's stand, tracing a calloused thumb along the blade of his sword. "This needs retempering," he said. "And a new hilt; something that won't slip in blood."
The smith nodded, already heating the forge. "You're going into the Fang, aren't you? Most who ask for that kind of grip don't come back with fingers."
"I'll keep mine," Jax said flatly.
Meanwhile, William drifted toward a stall draped in black velvet, its wares humming with latent energy.
Artifacts. Cursed blades. Relics from the age of Skyfall.
His gaze was drawn to one thing in specific: an unknown metal coin, it was inscribed with a writhing draconic sigil—scales, fangs, eyes that blinked in the lantern's dancing flame.
He extended a hand towards it.
"Don't," the vendor cautioned, voice low and rasping. An old woman with a face like a map of scars and mysteries. "You touch that thing, it bites back."
But William's hand didn't move. A weird heat throbbed in his chest, a vibration he couldn't identify. It was like recognition. Like memory.
The sigil briefly glowed—only for a heartbeat—before it faded.
William slowly withdrew his hand. "What is it?"
"The Dragon's Life" she replied, eyes narrowing. "Not a weapon. A key. The key only open doors meant for their keepers."
He didn't believe her. Not yet. But he memorised the stall's location to memory.
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The mood changed as darkness seeped into the streets.
By the eastern gate, crowd had gathered around an alley entrance. A corpse stretched out in the gutter—male, mid-twenties, throat cut ear to ear. His equipment was taken. 'Independent hunter' the crowd anticipated.
Natasha knelt down, studying the wound. "Clean cut. Professional's work. Not a street thug." She rose to her feet, shaking dirt from her knees. "Perhaps one of the Five commissioned this. Testing out the waters, seeing who flinch"
Jax spat. "We don't flinch."
William did not say a word. But his gaze darted to the rooftops but saw nothing.
And far above, invisible to everyone ,Hemlock observed.
Hemlock's POV
I slit the assassin's throat before his knife reached William's shadow. They're testing the waters.Soon they'll discover Shen blood doesn't come cheap.
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He knelt on the gargoyle of a decrepit watchtower, cloak merging with the darkness. The city reeked of ambition and terror. Ideal hunting grounds. But his quarry wasn't the fools in the backstreets. It was the hands that worked behind gilded doors.
He'd followed the assassins for days. Three of them. Now they were all dead. The fourth would be dead by dawn.
Hemlock became one with the darkness, a whisper on stone.
#########################
The trio encountered Darius Voss by the Guild checkpoint, where hunter teams gathered for final registration and confirmation before the hunt actually commenced.
He stood with four armored guards, all with the golden hawk of House Voss—a small legacy house but wealthy, influential, and arrogant.
Darius himself had a polished breastplate, his sword carried in a tigerbone-lined scabbard. He smiled upon catching sight of William's group.
"Well, well," he drawled, stepping forward. "The stray dogs have come to play."
Jax's hand went to his sword hilt. "Watch your tongue, legacy."
Darius laughed. "Or what? You'll bleed on my boots? Save your rage for the forest, mongrel. Stray dogs shouldn't chase wolves."
Natasha's eyes narrowed. "Careful, Voss. Wolves eat dogs, but wild dogs hunt in packs. And we've got teeth."
William placed a hand on Jax's arm, stilling him. His voice was calm, almost gentle. "Let him speak."
Darius raised an eyebrow. "Oh? The mute finally talks?"
"You're enjoying letting him live, aren't you?" Natasha murmured to William.
William didn't look at her. His eyes stayed on Darius. "People like him teach faster when they still have a tongue."
Darius's smirk stumbled for a half second—long enough for William to catch the flash of uncertainty. Good. Let him question.
They passed by without another comment. Behind them, Darius's laughter echoed, but it was forced.
### ########################
They camped between the inner and outer wall.
Black Fang's city lights glimmered behind them like extinguished stars. Ahead, the forest towered like a palisade of dark trees, their leaves devouring moonlight. Somewhere in the shadows, the Crimson Howl was waiting.
Natasha sat cross-legged on the ground, sewing herbs into linen bands. "If we find Dinklay's scouts alive, we give them shelter," she said without a glance. "They're not enemies."
"Enemie changes like the wind in that forest," Jax answered, honing his blade with slow, deliberate strokes.
William stood to one side, looking out into the forest. In his hand, he clutched a little unknown metal coin. The coin he had pulled from the artifact booth after bribing the old woman with his last credits. He explained it was for study purpose. She'd have known better.
He concentrated. Tried to sense the resonance once more, the faint glow but nothing happened.
He gazed at the far spires of the Guild headquarters, where lanterns flared in the windows of the Legacy dormitories. Lady Kiara would be in there, getting her team ready. The elected leader of this hunt.
"Tomorrow we enter the beast's world" he whispered. "Let's find out if we get long enough to make it change."
Jax tucked his sword away. "We'll survive.
Natasha topped a vial. "And if we don't?"
"Then someone else will," William replied.
A silence fell over them, heavy with unspoken terrors and unbreakable ties. The flames spat. The wind bore the fragrance of pine and blood.
And high in the trees, out of sight, Hemlock watched.
"They're prepared to march into the black fang.I'll be in the shadows .In every hunt, someone must watch the hunters. This time, that role is mine."."
Hemlock readjusted his quiver strap, fingers passing over the hilt of his dual daggers. The assassins were taken care of. But the true threat lay within the forest.
He sensed 'The Crimson Howl' wasn't just a regular beast. Someone had let it loose intentionally.
He'd tail William. Not to guard him.
But to make sure the boy didn't die before he knew the legacy of ' Shen.'
#####################
As the city lights dimmed behind them and the Black Fang rose like a beast ahead, three shadows left the human world—and one older shadow followed.
The Hunt had not yet begun.
But killing had.
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AN:- After reading the previous chapter several times as a reader i felt the introduction of five major legacy families were like a information dumping. So i thought of adding one mini chapter in the author's note already present in the auxiliary vol describing the five major legacy families and their role in human society after the age of Skyfall.
Also during the crimson howl hunt sub-arc there will be some tier related terms which are never disclosed or mentioned in the previous chapters.
So i thought adding a additional mini chapter in the same auxillary vol explaining those terms and the tier system.
The update will be done most probably this sunday or monday. So don't forget to check the author's note on sunday before reading the new chapter that day .
Also comment down your thoughts or suggestions about the five major legacy families or the tier system you want to include.
Comment down will these new information or future update will help you guys in understanding the novel better .
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