76 Chapter 76
The neon buzz of Plaga's skyline never reached the alleys. Here, everything stank of oil, rot, and smoke. I heard the kid before I saw him — that desperate cry, choked, strangled.
I turned the corner.
There he was. Some bastard with his hand clamped around a boy's collar, magic crackling green in his other palm. The kid couldn't have been older than seven, face bruised, struggling just to breathe.
"Pathetic little rat," the man spat. "You think you can steal in my district?"
My jaw tightened. "Let the kid go."
The man sneered at me like I was nothing, his eyes blazing. "Walk away, stranger. Unless you want to die."
He moved first. The bolt of green light hissed through the air, fast, deadly—
—but I didn't dodge. I walked through it. I felt the energy sting my skin, then dissipate, nothing but smoke trailing off my cloak.
His eyes widened. My hand snapped out, crushing his wrist. Snap. His scream filled the alley. I yanked him down and smashed my forehead into his face. Blood sprayed across the wall.
"You think you're strong?" My voice came out low, guttural. "You're filth."
He swung at me with his other hand, sparks already forming. I grabbed it, crushed it until I felt bones grind and snap beneath my grip. His shriek broke something inside me.
The child scrambled away, stumbling into the darkness, as Aruno drove the man into the concrete wall again and again. The impact rattled the alley, cracks spiderwebbing across the bricks. Blood smeared across the surface with every blow.
I jammed my thumb into his eye socket. His scream split the night in half, animalistic and broken.
I didn't stop. I couldn't. I slammed him down, knuckles tearing through his chest, ripping flesh and bone apart until the glow of his magic sputtered and died. His body twitched once, then went still.
Silence.
I stood there, panting, blood dripping from my arm. Holding the corpse by the neck with blood continuously dripping.
The lights continually flickered across the carnage, painting Aruno's shadow across the tiles. Behind him, Liraya hadn't moved, frozen where she stood. Her face was pale, her hands trembling, eyes locked on him in horror and awe.
I exhaled, steady now, my voice flat as steel.
"No one hurts kids. Not while I'm here."
My hands were trembling, not from fear, not from exhaustion—but from restraint. I hadn't even used Durandal. Just my fists.
"Aruno…"
Her voice slipped into the night, softer than the hum of the lights. I didn't turn, but I felt her move closer. Liraya's steps were cautious, deliberate, almost as if she was afraid the wrong sound would set me off again.
Then her hand touched my arm. Light, uncertain, but there. Her fingers curled just slightly around the bloodied sleeve, not pulling me, not pushing—just anchoring.
"Enough," she said quietly. "He's dead. You don't need to… keep carrying it in your hands."
Liraya grabbed my hand, to which I looked down at her touch. Her hand was so small compared to mine, and yet it burned like fire against my skin. My chest tightened. I could still hear the echoes of the child's cry, the crack of bones under my grip. And here she was, trying to stop the weight from spreading further.
"…You don't understand," I muttered, finally meeting her eyes. They were steady, though I could see her pulse flicker in her throat. "People like him—if you hesitate, you lose. If I hesitate, that child dies. You die. Everyone dies."
Her grip on me firmed, just slightly. "Maybe so," she admitted. "But if you don't stop after… then it's not just him you're killing."
The words hung in the air, cutting sharper than any blade.
For a moment, I almost pulled away. Almost told her she didn't know me, didn't know what I had to do. But I didn't. Instead, I let the silence swallow us both, the blood dripping off my knuckles into the gutter, neon reflecting red in the puddles at our feet.
Her hand stayed on me. Warm. Grounding. Real.
We left the body where it fell. The alley swallowed it whole, another piece of filth rotting under Plaga's neon glow. No one would mourn him. No one should.
I wiped the blood from my hands onto my cloak as we stepped out of the shadows. Liraya kept close, though she didn't say a word. Her silence was heavy but not uncomfortable—it was… grounding.
My eyes drifted upward to the rooftops, the night air cutting sharp against my skin. Something prickled in my chest. A pulse. Not the kind born of mana swirling through the city, not the hum of Plaga's machines. Something else.
"…That aura," I muttered under my breath, words barely reaching my own ears. My voice came low, rough, almost like I was afraid saying it too loud would summon it closer. "It's… out of this world."
I turned my head slowly, scanning the skyline, the rooftops. Neon lights reflected against glass and metal. People far away, a few cars streaking through the night. But here—here there was only stillness.
My gut twisted. I could feel it, but… nothing was there. Not a shadow, not a flicker.
Liraya glanced at me, lips parting as if to ask—but she stayed quiet when she caught the look in my eyes.
I clenched my fist at my side. "…I don't see anyone," I said, low. "But something's here. Watching."
The air pressed down heavier, like unseen hands dragging across my skin.
Up above, unseen by either of us, two figures knelt in silence. Their outlines blurred against the skyline, cloaked in invisibility that bent the very light around them.
One.
Four.
Not a whisper, not a breath escaped them. Their eyes locked onto me from the rooftop's edge, hunting without ever revealing themselves.
"I see you both. For your own sake- stay away. I fought you once masked man, did you not warn your friend?" I say in a low voice knowing they are able to hear me.
On second thought. "Go," I whispered.
The blood streaked upward, slicing the night air like a living spear. Within moments, it coalesced into Void, fully formed. He hovered just meters in front of them, eyes blazing like molten embers. His form was sharp, rigid, impossible, a revenant of my will given flesh.
One and Four froze. Now their concealment meant nothing. Void's presence radiated like a physical weight, bending reality around him.
"You think hiding helps?" he said, voice low, scraping like gravel across glass. "You think we don't see you?"
He leaned slightly forward, the city wind stirring his sharp silhouette. The edge of his form hummed with the sting of blood magic, and even without moving, he was close enough to make them flinch.
"You stalk him again," Void continued, voice jagged, echoing in the narrow rooftop space, "and I'll drag you both into the same grave I just crawled out of. Bones gnawed clean. Flesh torn. And your king will never have to lift a finger."
They didn't move. Their aura trembled in tiny pulses—subtle but undeniable. Void's grin widened, impossibly cruel.
"Fuck. Off."
"Absorb."
Then, just as abruptly, Void zipped back down the ribbon of blood, slicing through the night, and collapsed seamlessly into my hand. The rooftop was silent again, the neon lights painting only the empty tiles.
I clenched my hand, keeping my calm as Liraya tugged at my arm below. "Aruno? What—what's happening?"
"Nothing," I said, not looking at her. "Just the night watching itself."