Chapter 1 – Blood in the Alley
Rain slicked the streets of Erevos City like a mirror for the neon lights above. The hum of distant traffic, the occasional siren, and the faint drip of water from a cracked gutter filled the night. It was a city that never truly slept, yet beneath the sheen of progress, something rotted. Corruption ran in the veins of every alley, every skyscraper, and every politician who smiled for cameras while their hands were stained with blood.
Kael Varrick turned the key in the lock of his apartment and stepped inside. The place smelled of antiseptic and faint traces of coffee. His wife, Mara, was probably finishing dinner, and his daughter, Lila, was likely scribbling with crayons on the living room floor. Normalcy, he thought. Fragile, temporary, precious.
The door swung open fully, and the hum of the city outside faded into silence. But then—a shadow moved too quickly.
Before he could react, three masked figures burst inside. The first struck Mara across the face; the second grabbed Lila, lifting her like she weighed nothing. Kael barely had time to register before the first intruder lunged at him with a metal pipe.
The fight was instinctive. His military training surged into every muscle, every reflex. He blocked the pipe with his forearm, twisting his body, ducking, striking. But there were too many of them. They fought with the cold, ruthless efficiency of professionals, not thieves.
"No! Stop!" His shout was swallowed by the city beyond his walls.
Mara screamed. Lila's cries pierced his chest, a raw, unbearable sound. One of the intruders grabbed a knife from the counter and lunged. Kael reacted instinctively, but the room was small, chaotic. The blade nicked his arm. Pain shot through him, but it was the scream—the sound of Mara's voice—that made him stumble.
It was over in less than a minute. The intruders left as suddenly as they arrived, vanishing into the night like phantoms. Kael's family lay on the floor, lifeless, and the apartment smelled of blood and burnt fear.
Kael fell to his knees, hands trembling, eyes stinging. He checked their pulses, hoping, praying. Nothing. Silence.
Somewhere in the distance, the faint wail of a siren approached. He didn't move.
He remembered the city outside, indifferent. He remembered the police report that would follow—a formality, a shrug of a badge. Gang retaliation, they would say. Nothing to see here.
He closed his eyes and let the grief wash over him. Rage came next, hot and pure, coiling around him like a living thing. He swore he would not be helpless again.
Rising, he surveyed the apartment, every detail etched into his mind. The overturned chairs. The broken vase. The blood. Each fragment a reminder of the life that had been stolen.
Kael Varrick was no ordinary man. He had trained for this, for combat, for survival. But nothing had prepared him for the death of his family, for the raw emptiness that followed.
He pulled a chair to the kitchen counter and sat, resting his elbows. He stared out the window at the city skyline, rain blurring the lights. Erevos City stretched before him, indifferent and cruel. Somewhere in those streets, the people responsible for his family's death walked free, laughing, or planning their next crime.
Kael clenched his fists. His hands shook, but only from the remnants of shock. By dawn, he knew what he had to become. The police would not deliver justice. The courts would not deliver justice. The city itself had turned a blind eye.
He would deliver it himself.
And when he did, they would know the ghost of Erevos City had risen.
Outside, the rain fell harder, drumming against the glass. Kael made a single, silent vow to himself: This city will pay, one shadow at a time.
He stood, the first movement toward a path that could not be undone. Darkness was coming—and it would wear his face.
This chapter introduces Kael's trauma, motivation, and the tone of the manhwa: dark, grounded, and cinematic. The pacing alternates between emotional beats and intense action, giving the reader a visceral experience of loss and rage.