Part 1: The Rose That Snapped
The wind howled through the wreckage of the sky, but the silence between the three factions—Eclipse, the Prince, and the Assassins—was heavier.
Viper stood on the floating debris, tossing the glowing red orb casually in his hand. He didn't look at the furious Prince Thal'dor. He didn't look at Elian.
His eyes, hidden behind the porcelain mask, were fixed on the shadow standing behind Elian's left shoulder.
"You've been quiet, Little Spider," Viper said, his voice dropping the theatrical distortion, revealing a chilling, possessive warmth.
Elian didn't turn. He felt Isara stiffen behind him.
"Isara," Viper called out, extending a gloved hand. "You've done well. The information you provided on their climb was... adequate. But the play is over now."
The members of Eclipse—Valen, Jax, Roger—froze. They turned to look at the violet-eyed assassin they had fought beside for weeks.
"Information?" Valen whispered, betrayed.
"Isara?"
"Come here," Viper commanded, his tone shifting from playful to absolute. "Kill the boy.
Take your place at my side. You know I don't like it when my things are far away."
It was a secret Viper kept even from his own guild. Isara wasn't just a spy; she was his obsession. The one chaotic variable he wanted to own.
Isara stepped forward. She walked past Elian
She walked past Valen. She stopped in the middle of the debris field, halfway between her Captain and her Guild Master.
The air was thick with tension. Isara looked down at her chest armor, where a small, black pin was hidden beneath her cloak—the emblem of the Black Lotus.
She touched it.
"You're right, Viper," Isara said, her voice trembling, not with fear, but with rage. "The play is over."
RIP.
She tore the emblem from her tunic. The sound of tearing fabric cut through the wind. She threw the black metal pin at Viper's feet.
Clink.
"I am not a 'thing'," Isara shouted, drawing her twin daggers. The violet aura of the Nightshade flared around her. "And I am not Black Lotus anymore! I am Eclipse!"
She pointed her blade at the man she once feared.
"I don't see any point in continuing a journey in that rotten, stagnant cesspool of yours! My loyalty is to the Captain!"
Silence.
Viper stared at the discarded emblem. Then, he started to shake.
"Heh... hehe..."
He threw his head back and laughed. It wasn't a happy sound. It was the sound of glass breaking.
"Rotten? Stagnant?" Viper sighed, shaking his head as if disappointed by a rebellious child.
"Sentiment is a disease, Isara. And it seems you are terminal."
He turned his back on them.
"Retreat," Viper ordered his six elites. "We have the Key to the Domain. There is no point talking to dead men."
Part 2: The Monarch Denied
"You think you can just leave?" Elian's voice was a whisper, but it carried.
Viper was already grappling up toward the Silent Lotus.
Elian's eyes turned silver.
[Awakened Skill: Monarch of Seconds]
[Activation.]
The world turned grey. The wind stopped. The dust hung suspended in the air.
Viper and his six assassins were mid-jump, floating in slow motion.
Elian moved.
He didn't run; he vanished. He pushed his Agility to the breaking point, crossing the fifty-meter gap in a fraction of a heartbeat. He aimed Winter's Eclipse at Viper's exposed neck.
Got you, Elian thought.
But as the blade inches from Viper's throat... Viper's eye moved.
Inside the frozen time, Viper's pupil tracked Elian.
What?
Viper didn't just see him. He reacted.
With a movement that shouldn't have been possible—a burst of speed that defied the laws of the Skill—Viper twisted his body mid-air.
SWISH.
Elian's blade cut nothing but the fabric of Viper's cloak.
Simultaneously, the six elite assassins shifted. They didn't panic. They simply adjusted their trajectories, dodging Elian's follow-up strikes with fluid, rehearsed precision.
Time snapped back to normal.
CRASH.
Elian slammed onto the deck of the invisible ship, his sword hitting empty metal.
Viper stood ten feet away, unhurt.
"Ho!" Viper whistled, adjusting his collar. "That was close, Captain. But not close enough."
Elian stared at them. They dodged? How? My Agility is over 200. I stopped time.
"You rely too much on the System, boy," Viper mocked, the ramp of the Silent Lotus sealing shut. "Real speed isn't a stat. It's a talent."
The black ship's engines roared.
"We're going to the Thunder Peaks," Viper's voice echoed from the hull. "If you want the domain... come and take it."
The ship vanished into stealth, rocketing toward the black storm clouds in the east.
"Cowards!" Prince Thal'dor roared, preparing to launch his drake. "I will chase them to the ends of—"
"Stop!" Elian grabbed the Prince's arm.
"Let go of me, human!"
"Look at your father!" Elian shouted, pointing back toward the Aerie. "He's dying! If we leave now, the King falls!"
Thal'dor froze. He looked at the retreating ship, then at the smoking ruins of the Cloud Palace.
He let out a scream of pure frustration, slamming his spear into the debris.
"To the Palace!" Thal'dor choked out. "Healers! To me!"
Part 3: The Screaming Room
The infirmary of the Cloud Palace smelled of ozone and burnt flesh.
King Zephyr lay on a slab of white marble. His chest was a ruin of burns from Volcanis's final attack, and his mana veins were shattered from the ambush.
Seraphina, Luna, and Caelum worked alongside a dozen Sky-Kin healers. The room was a blinding storm of white and green healing light.
"Hold him down!" Luna shouted, pouring a numbing agent into the wound.
"AAAAAAAAHH!"
The scream that tore from Zephyr's throat shook the dust from the ceiling. It was the raw, animalistic sound of a god in agony.
Outside the heavy double doors, the rest of Eclipse stood in silence. Every scream made them flinch.
Thal'dor leaned against the wall, his hands gripping his spear so tight the wood creaked. He couldn't take it. Listening to his father—the strongest being he knew—scream like that was breaking him.
"I..." Thal'dor pushed off the wall. "I cannot be here."
"Prince?" Valen asked gently.
"I am going to the training grounds," Thal'dor growled, tears streaming down his blue face. "I must... I must hit something. Or I will kill everyone in this hall."
He stormed off down the corridor.
The screaming continued.
Elian stood apart from the group, leaning against a pillar. He looked at his hands. He replayed the moment on the ship. The way Viper dodged.
"I need air," Elian muttered to no one in particular.
He walked away, leaving the guild to their vigil. He needed to think.
Part 4: The Blade in the Shadow
The deck of the Obsidian Leviathan was quiet. The crew was at the palace.
Elian stood at the stern, looking out at the endless sea of clouds. The sun was setting, painting the sky in bruises of purple and gold.
He ran the simulation in his head again.
Monarch of Seconds slows perception. It doesn't stop time physically. If their raw Agility is higher than my swing speed... they can dodge.
Viper wasn't just a businessman. He was a Level 40+ Assassin who had specialized in evasion for three years.
"Stop hiding," Elian said, his voice flat. "I know you're there."
He didn't turn around.
A shadow detached itself from the main mast.
Isara stepped into the dying light. She looked exhausted, her violet eyes red-rimmed.
"Did you tell him?" Elian asked.
He didn't specify what. He let the question hang.
"I didn't," Isara whispered. "The dossier I gave him... it was vague. 'Strong warrior.' 'Good tactics.' I didn't give him the numbers. I didn't tell him about Monarch of Seconds. I didn't expect him to be able to react to it."
"Isara," Elian said. His tone dropped an octave.
It became menacing. "Tell me truthfully."
He slowly reached over his shoulder, his hand gripping the hilt of Winter's Eclipse. The frost aura from the blade began to seep into the air, lowering the temperature on the deck.
"Where does your heart really belong?"
Elian turned his head slightly, his hazel eyes cold.
"Depending on your answer... this will cost you your life."
Isara looked at his back. She knew, better than anyone, that he wasn't bluffing. She had seen him slaughter armies. She knew he was faster than her.
She didn't reach for her daggers.
THUD.
Isara dropped to one knee. She slammed her right fist over her heart, bowing her head until her forehead touched the cold wood of the deck.
"My heart," Isara said, her voice cracking but firm. "My body. My soul. They are with Eclipse."
She squeezed her eyes shut.
"If you want to kill me to be sure... then do it. I won't defend myself."
She waited.
She felt the temperature drop further. A cold wind brushed the back of her neck.
She knew the sword was drawn. She could feel the blade hovering inches from her cervical spine. One twitch, and her character would be deleted.
She held her breath.
Seconds passed like hours.
Then, the cold receded.
Click
The sound of the sword sliding back into the sheath.
"I'm going to trust this," Elian said quietly. "One last time."
Isara let out a shuddering breath, her shoulders sagging.
"But listen to me, Isara," Elian continued, turning back to look at the horizon. "The next time you hesitate... the next time you hold back information... I won't just kick you out."
"I will delete you," Elian promised. "For eternity."
Isara slowly lifted her head. She looked at the small back of her Captain—a teenager carrying the weight of two timelines.
A small, sad smile touched her lips.
"As you command, Captain."
"You're dismissed," Elian said.
Isara bowed again. She stepped back into the shade of the mast and melted into the darkness, leaving Elian alone with the wind.
Elian closed his eyes.
Viper is in the Thunder Peaks, he thought,
pulling up the map in his mind. He thinks he won because he has the stats.
Elian opened his eyes. They were burning with cold calculation.
He forgot one thing. He's playing an RPG. I'm playing a Strategy Game.
"System," Elian whispered. "Open Simulation Mode. Let's see how a Dragon kills a Shadow."