Wake up.
The voice echoed inside Regius's mind.
His eyes snapped open. The darkness of the guest room pressed in, heavy and silent. The scent of dried lavender on the pillow had been replaced by the faint, acrid smell of fuel.
Perimeter breached. Orion's voice resonated in his skull.
Regius sat up, his heart hammering a frantic beat against his ribs. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, shifting his perception.
True Sight.
The world changed into a high-contrast wireframe grid. True Sight stripped away the walls and the darkness, revealing the thermal and energy signatures of the house. His eyes had turned bright violet with glittering starlight.
Three heat signatures moved in the kitchen below. Two crouched on the roof above the stairwell. Their energy signatures burned with the distinct power of Rank 2 summoners.
Regius slid out of bed. His hand hovered over the hilt of his sword hanging on the bedpost, his other hand grabbed his belt.
A dark, violent impulse surged in his chest. He could end this, manifest Libra and flood the house with spatial distortions that would sever every intruder. He could summon Orion to pin them to the ceiling with his gravity arrows, crushing them internally.
He suppressed it. He gripped the steel sword instead.
Regius moved into the hallway. The wooden floorboards—usually prone to creaking—remained silent under his weight as he adjusted his center of gravity.
Reaching the top of the stairs. Through the banister, he saw the kitchen below. Two assassins clad in matte-black armor. Between them, a rat Beast summon vomited a stream of black, viscous liquid onto the floorboards.
Fuel. Regius vaulted the railing. He dropped ten feet in silence, landing in a crouch behind the rearguard.
One of the assassins turned; his Rank 2 reflexes screamed for danger. His thumb twitched towards a detonator rune on his belt.
Regius moved with the speed of a viper. He threw a throwing spike into the man's throat. The assassin dropped with a dull thud, the rune clattering harmlessly to the floor.
The rat summon hissed, its tail beginning to flare with ignition fire. It lunged for the fuel puddle.
Regius crossed the room in a blur. He kicked the body of the dead assassin into the summon's face, pinning it against the wall. In the same motion, he caught the second assassin's wrist, twisting it until it snapped like a twig, and drove his palm upward to the chin.
CRUNCH.
Two down.
The summon dissolved into ash as its master's heart stopped.
More from the roof, Orion warned. Three seconds.
Regius looked up at the ceiling. He couldn't stop them all silently.
"Kael!" Regius roared. "Shields up! Ambush!"
The shout shattered the peace of the house.
BOOM.
Above them, the roof exploded.
Concrete and drywall rained down into the living room. Three Rank 2 assassins dropped through the skylight. Beside them, their summons materialized in bursts of black smoke, feline constructs made of solidified darkness.
"Bastion!" Kael screamed from the armchair where he had been dozing.
Blue energy flared. The hulking stone form of Bastion erupted from the floorboards, interposing its massive arms over the sleeping form of Tavus just as a feline summon lunged.
Sparks flew as claws raked against stone.
"Vera!"
Vera rolled off the rug, grabbing her heavy iron hammer from the fireplace. She couldn't summon her Boar, unless she wanted to destroy the entire house. Instead, smashing an assassin into the wall.
"Get them out!" Regius ordered. "The house is compromised! Move to the backyard!"
Milo appeared at the top of the stairs, guiding a terrified Sarra. His dark lynx prowled at his feet, hissing at the shadows.
"Go!" Milo nudged his wife towards Kael's protective dome.
They scrambled toward the back door. Olin covered their retreat, his Zephyr Elemental creating a wind wall to deflect poisoned darts launched from the windows outside.
Regius held the flanks. He fought with a steel sword and grit, parrying strikes that would overwhelm a normal man. There was a constant, nagging itch in his mind—using the power of the Order. He held on to the restraint.
They burst out into the backyard.
The cool night air should have been a relief. Instead, it was filled by the cold sense of death.
Streets and roofs were filled with mercenaries. Wolf summons circled the perimeter, their eyes glowing red. Venomous snakes perched on the fences, dripping acid onto the ground. Dozens of Rank 2 signatures encircled the house.
"We're surrounded!" Kael held up his shield, cracking under a barrage of energy attacks.
From the shadows of the streetlamp, a figure emerged. He wore the heavy, embroidered robes of a mage. His energy signature flared brighter than others, a rank 3. He was one of the four captains leading the assault.
Floating beside him was a mid-tier Elemental of swirling fire.
"Burn them," the mage said.
His Summoner's Mark flared. The summon shrieked. It gathered summon energy, compressing the fire into a dense, spinning lance of white-hot flame.
Flame Lance.
Regius saw the buildup. His perception slowed to a crawl.
He knew the trajectory. The spell was aimed at the center of the group—at Kael, whom Sarra and Tavus huddled behind.
His instincts screamed. He could stop it. A Spatial Edge from Libra would be faster than the cast. A gravity arrow from Orion would crush the mage before the summon could finish its spell.
Fuck it!
His mark flared.
But the habit kicked in…
For two years, he had trained himself to suppress that instinct. He had built a mental wall to keep the Order hidden, to keep him and his family safe from any prying eyes. In that critical second, his muscle memory betrayed him.
He hesitated.
A fatal error.
The Elemental fired.
The lance of fire tore through the air, shattering any obstacles in its path like glass. It closed in on the group. Kael's cracked shield won't be able to sustain the impact.
Milo moved.
He didn't think.
He blended through the shadows, materializing directly in the path of the spell. He reinforced his body with every drop of his energy, crossing his arms. In his mind, the safety of his loved ones was always the priority.
But, Rank 2 against Rank 3. The power gap is clear and absolute.
The sound was wet and horrible.
The Flame Lance punched through the Lynx's spectral form, splitting the summon's figure. It continued, punching through Milo's clothes, through his ribs, and exiting his back in a spray of cauterized blood and fire.
The lance was stopped with Kael's shield melting it in the process.
The force of the impact lifted Milo off his feet and threw him backward onto the grass.
"NO!" A scream tore from Sarra's throat.
The Lynx lay on the ground beside Milo, its form flickering. It whimpered, dragging its broken body towards its master, refusing to dissolve while the bond still held a thread of life.
The squad turned inward. Kael dropped his guard to catch Milo. Vera fell to her knees. They were blinded by the afterimage of the fire and the panic of the moment. Their backs were turned to the street.
"Finish them off." The mage laughed.
The Elemental began to charge a second lance.
Regius didn't run to Milo. He stood perfectly still, facing the street.
The event hit him like a physical blow, followed by an instant cold, absolute rage that froze his blood and boiled it simultaneously.
I hesitated, Regius thought.
The mask grew cracks.
He didn't waste time with a full manifestation. He reached into the depths of his Soul Palace, past the throne of the Hunter, and grabbed the weapon itself.
He pulled his hand back as if drawing a bowstring.
A sharp, biting sting, a spike of heat flared in his left wrist—the Soul Sear.
He ignored it.
Starlight condensed in his grip. A bow formed, woven from deep midnight blue light that devoured the surrounding shadows. It warped the air around it, turning the energy still.
Singularity Shot.
He released the invisible string.
Fwoom.
A gust of air exploded outwards from where he stood. The arrow blitzed through the distance, its distorted starlight struck the center of the mage's chest.
Crunch.
The space where the mage and his summon stood twisted. The air collapsed inward with a violent pop, dragging matter with it. Armor, flesh, bone, and fire were crunched into a marble-sized sphere.
The sphere vanished, leaving nothing but an empty patch of pavement.
Mercenaries froze. The sudden death of their captain halted the advance. They stared at the empty space where one of their strongest fighters had stood a second ago. They hesitated, unsure what had just erased a Rank 3 Mage.
Regius released the bow. It dissipated into mist. He rubbed his stinging wrist, his face a mask of ice.
They turned back to the squad. They hadn't seen the shot, huddling around Milo.
Regius walked over and knelt on the dirt.
Milo's chest was a hole of ruin. The flame energy had cauterized the wound, but the damage was catastrophic. Beside him, the flickering form of the Lynx nuzzled his hand, its spiritual light fading with every beat of Milo's heart.
"Dad!" Tavus cried, clutching his father's hand. "Dad, get up!"
Milo's eyes fluttered open. They were hazy, unfocused.
"Sarra?" he wheezed.
"I'm here," Sarra sobbed, pressing her hands against his chest. "I'm here, honey."
Milo smiled weakly. His hand fumbled at his pocket. He pulled out a small velvet box, the one containing the necklace he had given her hours ago. It was stained dark with his own blood.
He pressed it into her hand, holding hers in its stead.
Regius watched the exchange. His heart tightened in a vise grip.
Milo looked at Regius. His grip on Sarra's hand tightened.
"Boss…"
"I'm here, Milo."
"Tavus…" He coughed, red froth bubbling on his lips. "Please…"
"I know. I remember."
"Give… Give him… a choice."
The light in his eyes dimmed. His hand holding Sarra's slacked. His chest stopped moving.
Beside him, the Lynx let out a final, silent howl and dissolved into motes of black light.
Milo stared up at the night sky.
"No," Sarra wailed, collapsing onto his body. "No, no, no!!"
Regius knelt there, frozen. He looked at the iron dagger lying on the grass, at the blood on his gloves.
He closed his eyes. The weight of the silence crushed him.
He had kept his secret. He had protected his lie. Yet Milo had breathe his last, lying motionless on the floor. Sarra and Tavus wailed on top of him. The rest of his squad silent, drowned in grief.
This is the price of his secret. The cost of silence.