Rain lashes gaslamps into guttering stars. Big Ben's pendulum swings like the blade of a cosmic guillotine.A shadow balances on a wrought-iron lamppost, silhouette slicing fog like obsidian through flesh. Thomas Emmanuel Devassy—The Cold-Blooded Heir of Kalabhara—adjusts his silk top-hat, engraved with the forbidden sigil: a crowned skull devouring seven stars. Bespoke Victorian finery drips Kalabhara crimson, the empire's alchemical dye distilled from exactly 1,000 virgin hearts—color so profane, archbishops reportedly wept blood upon seeing it.27 years old. Eternal. Aristocratic predator's face: porcelain skin stretched taut over high cheekbones, void-black eyes dominating like twin abysses. Left pupil flickers silver—the Abyss Neural Interface Mark, legacy of contact with realities mortals dare not dream. Neural tattoos—"COLD-BLOODED"—pulse electric-blue across knuckles, visible when he flexes gloved fingers.Dual holsters gleam beneath Inverness cape:"Emperor's Lament"—revolver of blackened Damascus steel, 99 chambers loaded with Sorrow Echo rounds (etch victim's final scream into brass casing eternally)"Widowmaker"—cane-sword, hilt carved mother's screaming face, blade whispers regrets in victim's own voice, embedded neural disruptor hums infrasonic death-songWrist-mounted holo-bracelet ticks coldly: "Kill Tally: 1,246. Empire Favor: 87.3%. Heir Progression: Seq 9 Puppeteer - 47%."Time fractures. Augmented shadows hiss from occipital implant, voices overlapping like a choir of flayed throats:
Kalabhara blood demands symphony... Abraham slumbers within... duality awakens... Mount Hua coordinates locked...Below, Whitechapel Night Market throbs with doomed vitality. Fishwives hawk cod stinking of Thames rot. Gin-bloated sailors paw streetwalkers. Father Elias, red-faced preacher, mounts overturned crate: "REPENT SINNERS! THE RIPPER WALKS TONIGHT! DEVIL'S HEIR COMES FOR YOUR SOULS!"Thomas' razor smile metastasizes—perfected across 1,246 kills, each smile 0.3 millimeters wider than the last. Kalabhara accent drips Kerala-Victorian venom: "Repentance is for the living, Father. You audition for eternity."Fingers twitch symbiotically. From starched cuffs, nano-filament strings—Void Emperor's forbidden legacy tech—erupt like mercury vipers tasting blood-scented air. Left hand lightning-draws Emperor's Lament (0.47 seconds, personal record). Right unsheathes Widowmaker—blade keens "Your mother wept when you were born" in Elias' dead wife's voice.Target acquisition: complete.BANG-THUNDERCRACK. Emperor's Lament vomits Sorrow Echo—preacher's chest detonates in holographic mandala, ribs splaying like petals of flayed rose. Body levitates three feet, 1,247 filaments invading nerves at synaptic speed. Limbs contort Kalabhara execution angles (47° left shoulder hyper-extension, 132° right knee inversion—textbook psychopath geometry). Mouth wrenches into rictus symphony—synapses plucked like Stradivarius strings tuned to E-minor agony, perfect fifths of suffering.Market implodes into primal madness. Geometric blood-arcs paint QR-sigils that scan Neon Abyss portals for those with Interface Mark. Widowmaker flashes—bisects encroaching fishwife mid-scream; blade murmurs "Your children starve tonight" in husband's dying rasp from yesterday."Ladies. Gentlemen," Thomas proclaims, vocal synthesizer implant booming like Parliamentary thunder channeled through Gu-worm telegraph poles, "Kalabhara's opera premieres. Take your seats."ZAP-BARRAGE-SYMPHONY. Nano-strings + revolver duet escalates: preacher's cybernetic core implodes, weaving viscera into floating lotus branded heir-crest (seven stars pulsing in sequence). 87 civilians levitate—aerial corpse-constellation spelling "ABRAHAM" mile-high across Thames fog-bank. Augmented Reality overlays render "tragic gas explosion" to Surface civilians; Abyss natives witness Cold-Blooded's 1,247th masterpiece.Insanity cascade detonates like chain-detonated powder kegs:Fishmonger (Marty Jenkins, 43) claws eyeballs: "The sigils—they CRAWL across my soul! Kalabhara SEES US!"Gin-sailor (Patrick O'Malley, 29) laughs arterial spray, strings puppeteering tongue into blasphemous Kalabhara hymns14 collapse frothing—Stage 1 Sigil Madness (neural overload)7 mount lampposts, self-strangulation—Stage 2 Pilgrim ConversionFishwife (headless, strings reattach jaw at 180°) dances tarantella, skirt swirling crimson arcsThomas vaults from lamppost, anti-grav soles + cane-sword pirouette landing swan-grace amid apocalypse. Emperor's Lament twirls back to holster (0.37 seconds—new personal record). Widowmaker sheathes—shinkkkk resonates infrasonically, shattering 3 wine bottles. Top-hat tip reveals neural scanner visor array cycling 1,247 frequencies. Kneels by Elias' twitching ruin. Sefirah Castle Key implant pulses—data-crystal (stolen god-consciousness shard) rips free from pineal gland, hovering like unholy firefly."Bravura performance, Father," he breathes, pocketing crystal. Left eye silver-flares violently—neural net floods with forbidden data: Abraham... dormant half-soul... Kalabhara duality mandate active... Mount Hua transmission coordinates locked... Plum Sovereign protocol initializing...Holo-bracelet flares crimson-black:
"Abyss Credits: +250,000. Seq 9 Puppeteer Mastery: 47% → 52%. Empire Succession Favor: Kalabhara Heir Primus Confirmed. New Title Unlocked: 'The Smiling Ripper'."PSYCHOPATH CRESCENDO UNLEASHED: 1,247 nano-strings + revolver symphony elevates entire market into perfect ziggurat-pyramid formation. Chrome-black mandala incinerates fog-bank—Kalabhara Heir Portal throbs open to Neon Megacity core. Thames reflects "ABRAHAM" constellation—seven stars align into skull-crown pulsing heartbeat rhythm.Headless fishwife pirouettes on strings: "COLD-BLOODED WALKS! EMPEROR'S SON HARVESTS ETERNITY!" Thomas seizes her jaw—thumb traces jugular pulse (47 bpm): "Your vibrato? Flawless A-flat major. Immortalize it." CRACK—strings freeze rictus eternal, eyes rolled white in perfect symmetry.The Cold-Blooded—Kalabhara's apex psychopath symphony—sweeps Inverness cape to bedlam-ravaged Whitechapel:"For Abraham, my dormant harmony. Seven worlds' requiem commences. Take your ovation."Big Ben EXPLODES—pendulum shatters into 1,247 shards raining chrome. Guardian Loop Bell tolls monthly singularity—eleventh lifetime perfected? Smile evolves to teeth-bared rictus: "Kalabhara authors flawless tragedies. Encore?"*Sewer grate EXPLODES upward. Chrome hand emerges from neon abyss, fingers neural-wired, palm branded Kalabhara crest. "HEIR... WELCOME HOME."Thomas kneels, revolver drawn instinctively.
"Father sends regards?"Chrome hand curls around ankle.
"WORSE."