The guards smoked and joked, their boots splashing in rain-filled puddles—
when suddenly—
BOOM!
BOOM!
The palace lights shattered all at once.
Darkness swallowed the courtyard.
Guard #1 (voice tightening): "Be on your guard!"
Guard #2: "Stay focused!"
A flash ripped across the sky—
CRACK—THUD!
Thunder slammed into the street beside them, carving a smoking crater into the stone.
Guard #3 (panicking): "H-Hey—what's happening!?"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Gunshots? Explosions? Footsteps? The night blurred into pure chaos.
Man #1 (through radio, breathless): "Leader, outer guards are down. We're proceeding."
Leader: "Good. Three formations. Enter the palace at once."
The rain poured harder, drowning sound, lightning illuminating only flashes of movement—
silhouettes sprinting through storm and shadow.
Boom! Boom!
They crashed through the palace entrance, taking down guards in a blur of rain and fury.
Then—
everything stopped.
A woman stood alone in the grand hall.
Motionless.
Head slightly tilted.
Twin daggers shimmering like wet fangs under the lightning.
Man #2 (voice trembling): "S-So fast…"
Narration: Veyra Solen — The Shadow Serpent.
Her lips curled.
Veyra: "Pretty clever."
Leader (screaming into transmitter): "NOW!"
The air shifted.
A voice came from behind a column—calm, amused, terrifyingly confident:
"Bingo."