Chapter 8: War in the Shadows
The first rays of dawn barely pierced the mists of the northern kingdom.
From hidden hills, Shadow watched the city below the capital of the kingdom that had dared host the Crimson Hand's remnants.
Thousands of soldiers patrolled, unaware that the real threat was already in their streets.
Shadow Veil moved like whispers, shadows gliding along walls, slipping through the cracks of reality.
Lyra and the others were already in position. Their numbers had grown to fifty each one a master of death in silence.
Shadow's eyes glowed faintly red. "Tonight, we strike the head of the northern network."
The Northern Strike
The fortress was heavily guarded.
Shadow moved like a phantom. Every lock, every rune, every trap dissolved before him. He had already calculated the paths of every guard and sent the shadows to eliminate them quietly.
Inside the throne room, a council of cult leaders argued.
"They will never breach this place," one hissed.
Shadow didn't speak. He appeared behind them. The shadows surged, swallowing the council in black mist.
When the dust cleared, the leaders lay dead their blood drained into the floor runes.
Lyra stepped beside him. "Master, their sigils…"
"They're decayed," Shadow said softly. "This network is already fracturing. They won't have time to regroup."
The Awakening of the Atomic Core
Shadow felt a change within him.
The more he fought, the more his mana coalesced into a singular core of energy black, violent, and infinitely dense.
Atomic Core… he whispered. So this is why they feared me in my past life.
He swung his blade casually. A single strike across the floor shattered it completely, leaving a crater large enough to swallow a dozen men.
Lyra gasped. "Master… that's not normal mana. That's"
"I know," Shadow said calmly. "It's why I'm called Atomic."
Across the Kingdoms
Over the next week, Shadow Veil moved through the shadows like a plague.
The southern empire's council of corrupted nobles fell to sudden massacres precise, silent, and untraceable. Every strike had one goal: eliminate the cultists, protect innocents.
Fifty thousand lives were saved, though the world would never know. Children trapped in abandoned villages, women in hidden slave markets all released, all guided to safety.
And Shadow? He still wore the mask of a background student in the academy.
No one suspected the boy who skipped classes, ate alone, and walked past the princess with calm indifference… was the very force that reshaped kingdoms overnight.
The Princess's Discovery
Elaria had begun noticing patterns.
Beasts attacked only when Shadow was absent. Corrupt nobles were eliminated just after he appeared in the city.
She confronted him one evening in the training arena. "Cid… I don't understand. How do you always know what's happening?"
Shadow didn't answer. He twirled a practice blade lazily in his hand.
"Is it… you?" she asked finally. "Are you the one controlling all of this?"
He smiled faintly. "I told you, Princess. I'm just a background character. You'll never notice me."
Elaria's eyes narrowed. "Stop lying to me."
"Fine," he said softly. "You want the truth? Then watch carefully."
With a flick, Shadow summoned a dozen shadow blades. They cut the dummy targets for practice not a single student harmed but the arena was sliced into perfect geometrical chaos.
"You just…" Elaria whispered, astonished. "You're… unreal."
The Warning
That night, Shadow stood atop the tallest tower of the academy, cloak flaring in the wind.
Lyra's voice came through the crystal. "Master… the southern empire detected our strikes. They're forming an alliance. They've deployed the first elite squad of their kingdom's strongest mages and they're coming for us."
Shadow's eyes gleamed. "Then let them come. I've already fought worse."
The wind tore through the tower. His cloak rippled like living darkness.
"I am Atomic," he whispered. "And I am Shadow.
The shadows will hunt all who stand against me."
Below him, the cities slept, oblivious.
But in the coming days, kingdoms would burn.
And Shadow would be the storm.