Night fell heavy across Kael's territory.
Not peaceful.
Not quiet.
Just… tense.
Even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
The moon hung low, veiled by drifting clouds, casting dull silver glimmers across the cleared battlefield. The troops rested in shifts, the Vanguards positioned along the perimeter with their shields grounded like immovable statues.
Aeris stood on the tallest watchtower, bow drawn but relaxed, eyes scanning the tree line with predatory precision.
Lunaris slept curled next to Kael's cabin steps, silver fur pulsing softly with evolution energy.
The baby dragon floated above her, using weak wind currents to hover, as if keeping guard.
Kael sat cross-legged inside his cabin, the Gacha Core pulsing before him like a heartbeat made of light.
He wasn't meditating.
He was listening.
The Obsidian Order assassins were known for one thing—
You never heard them until your life was already over.
But Kael had lived through their techniques once.
He remembered the rhythm of their movements.
The unnatural gaps in sound.
The way the air shifted before they struck.
Tonight… something felt familiar.
A silence too absolute.
A stillness too careful.
Kael opened his eyes.
"They're here."
A gust of wind slammed the windows.
Aeris appeared instantly at the door.
"My lord. Movement. Very faint. East side."
Kael stood, brushing dust from his coat.
"Good. They arrived within the timeline I expected."
Aeris blinked.
"You expected assassins tonight?"
Kael's eyes glowed faint gold.
"Yes. Exactly tonight."
He stepped outside, Lunaris instantly alert, tail flicking with electricity.
The baby dragon hissed softly, sensing danger.
Kael raised a hand.
"Don't attack yet."
The forest looked empty.
No monsters.
No Lords.
No sound.
But Kael could feel them.
Shadows that didn't match their angles.
Leaves that didn't fall naturally.
Air pressure bending wrong in three different directions.
A whisper brushed his ear:
"Target confirmed."
Aeris's arrow shot like a shooting star—but passed through an empty afterimage.
A black-clad figure appeared behind her, blade aimed for her spine—
Kael was there first.
He caught the assassin's wrist mid-strike.
Aeris didn't even see him move.
The assassin's eyes widened beneath the mask.
"Impossible—no one reacts to Shadowstep—"
Kael twisted.
A crack echoed.
The assassin dropped silently.
The system chimed.
[Assassin — Neutralized]
Rank: C+ Shadowblade
Aeris stared at Kael, stunned.
"How—how fast are you…?"
Kael didn't answer.
Because he felt two more signatures flaring simultaneously.
One behind the storage shed.
One on the roof.
He blurred.
Not ran.
Blurred.
Aeris barely saw shadow streaks flashing across the camp.
One assassin fell with a severed weapon arm.
Another collapsed unconscious with a pressure strike to the neck.
Kael appeared back beside Aeris before she could blink.
Three bodies hit the ground at once.
Aeris felt her heart hammer.
"My lord… your speed… how did you—?"
Kael exhaled calmly.
"When I died in my past life… it was to an assassin. I spent months studying them. Learning their breathing patterns. Their movement codes. Their combat logic."
He looked at the fallen assassins with cold eyes.
"Shadowstep users always move before the sound registers."
Aeris's jaw tensed.
"You learned all this… just to survive?"
Kael shook his head.
"No."
His eyes hardened.
"To make sure that if I ever came back… they never killed me again."
A soft crackling sound echoed above.
Kael froze.
Not fear—
Recognition.
A presence far heavier than the previous assassins stepped out of the shadows.
A tall figure draped in dark armor, a cloak decorated with obsidian shard patterns.
A mask with a single horizontal slit hid his face.
Aeris tensed, breath catching.
"That aura—Rank B… no… A."
Kael's chest tightened.
He remembered this presence.
This pressure.
This killing intent.
He whispered one name:
"Nightchord."
The assassin commander who had killed him in his past life.
Nightchord stepped forward, voice smooth and cold.
"Kael Ardent.
It seems death did not teach you enough."
Kael's fists clenched.
"No.
Death taught me everything."
Nightchord lifted one hand.
The shadows behind him rippled like a black ocean.
"You have evolved faster than predicted. So I will erase you myself."
Aeris gripped her bow, trembling.
"My lord… that monster… what do we do?"
Kael stepped forward, eyes blazing gold, aura swirling like a rising storm.
"We fight."
He raised his hand.
"And this time… I won't die."