Arthur didn't turn around. He stayed seated in the center of the dark room, his white hair glowing faintly in the shadow. "You've been holding your breath for exactly three minutes and twelve seconds," he said, his voice cold and devoid of any emotion. "Your heartbeat is steady, but your Qi leaks like a broken pipe."
From the shadows, a figure materialized. It was a man clad in a liquid-metal suit—a Shadow Stalker from the Helios Corporation's intelligence wing. He was a Rank 5 (Soul Integration) specialist, a killer meant to handle threats that the school couldn't.
"Arthur Pendragon," the spy whispered, drawing a vibro-blade that hummed with high-frequency energy. "The Elders don't like anomalies. You're coming with me, or you're staying here in pieces."
Arthur finally stood up. He looked at the spy, and for the first time, he didn't use his fake smile. His crimson eyes were cold, calculating.
"Rank 5," Arthur mused. "In this world, you are a master. But in the eyes of the Void, you are just a glitch in the code."
The spy lunged, his blade moving faster than the human eye could follow. But Arthur didn't dodge. He simply reached out and caught the blade between his thumb and forefinger.
Sizzzz...
The high-frequency vibration of the blade stopped instantly. Where Arthur touched the metal, it began to turn grey and crumble into fine ash. The spy's eyes widened in pure terror. He tried to release the weapon, but his hand was frozen in space.
"Let's test the new Rank," Arthur whispered. He activated his Dimensional Sensing and pointed his palm at the spy's chest.
"Void Erasure."
There was no blood. No scream. No explosion. A sphere of absolute grey darkness expanded from Arthur's palm for a microsecond. When it vanished, the spy's entire torso was gone. Not cut, not burned—simply erased from the physical dimension. The remaining parts of his body collapsed into grey dust before they even hit the floor.
Arthur looked at the empty space where a Rank 5 killer once stood. His room was silent again. Not a single drop of blood ruined his carpet.
"Rank 4 is... efficient," Arthur said, wiping a non-existent speck of dust from his sleeve. "Now, let's see who else the Sun King sends to die."