Chapter 18: The Red Night Rising
The sky over Oakhaven didn't just turn dark; it turned bruised. A thick, crimson haze settled over the skyscrapers, reflecting the neon lights in a way that made the entire city look like it was bleeding. This was the [Blood Moon], a signal to every shadow-dweller and oath-breaker in the underworld that the rules were suspended. The Sterling Plaza, a monolith of glass and ambition, stood at the center of the storm, its lights flickering like a dying pulse.
I stood in the command center on the 40th floor, surrounded by holographic screens. Beside me, the twelve men of the Sovereign Guard were checking their gear, their movements robotic and precise. Through the [Mental Network], I could feel their collective heartbeat—a steady, rhythmic drum of readiness.
[System Notification: Siege Mode Initiated]
[Target Count: 142 Hostiles detected within a 2-block radius]
[Threat Levels: White (Grunt) to Red (Master Assassin)]
"They're not just coming for the front door," I said, my voice cold as I watched the thermal sensors. "They're coming from the sewers, the helipad, and the maintenance shafts. They want to tear this building apart from the inside out."
"Fang," Elena's voice came over the comms from the safe room. She sounded remarkably calm, a testament to the [Sovereign's Bond] we shared. "The security feeds on the lower levels just went dark. They've breached the perimeter."
"Let them in, Elena," I replied, a dark smirk tugging at my lips. "A trap is only effective when the prey thinks it has the advantage."
I closed my eyes, activating [Sovereign's Eye: Rank 2]. The silver rings in my pupils began to spin, and the walls of the building seemed to turn translucent. I could see the 'Desire Threads' of the invaders—jagged, hungry lines of red greed and black malice.
The first wave hit the lobby. It was a group of 'Iron-Fist' mercenaries—brutes with hydraulic limbs and zero subtlety. They tore through the glass doors, firing heavy-caliber rounds at anything that moved.
"Guard 1 and 2, hold the elevator shafts. The rest of you, fall back to the kill zone on Level 10," I commanded through the network.
As the mercenaries crowded into the main lobby, thinking they had secured a beachhead, I focused my mind. This was the moment to test the limits of my new evolution. I targeted the lead mercenary—a scarred giant with a 'Greed' thread so thick it was almost physical.
[Skill Activated: Desire Injection]
[Target: Mercenary Captain 'Voss']
[Injection Parameter: 'Paranoia']
I didn't just influence him; I rewrote his immediate reality. I took his natural greed and twisted it into an overwhelming, suffocating fear that his own men were planning to kill him and take his share of the Triad's bounty.
In the lobby below, Voss suddenly stopped firing. His aura turned a sickly, swirling purple. He looked at his second-in-command, then at the soldiers beside him.
"You... you're looking at my neck," Voss growled, his voice trembling over the comms I had intercepted. "You want it all for yourselves, don't you?!"
"Captain? What are you—"
Voss didn't let him finish. He spun around and opened fire on his own squad, the heavy machine gun ripping through his comrades in the confined space. The lobby turned into a meat grinder of friendly fire and chaos. The mercenaries, confused and under fire from their own leader, began shooting back.
[Ding! 14 Hostiles Neutralized (Friendly Fire)]
[Desire Points Earned: 450 DP]
"Efficient," I whispered. But I knew the real test was coming. The mercenaries were just the distraction.
[Warning! High-Threat Signatures Detected in the Ventilation Shafts!]
[Identity: The Silent Sisters (Second Wave)]
[Threat Level: RED]
Suddenly, the lights in the command center died. The emergency red lights kicked in, casting long, dancing shadows against the walls. From the vents above, three figures in white silk descended like spiders. They didn't make a sound as they landed, their bone rapiers already drawn.
They were faster than the one I had fought on the overpass. They didn't play the flute; they were the music of death.
"Sovereign Guard, engage!"
The room erupted into a symphony of gunfire and clashing steel. My guards moved with perfect synergy, their movements predicted by my brain and relayed in milliseconds. But the Sisters were ghosts. They moved between the bullets, their blades finding the gaps in the tactical armor of my men.
"One is coming for you, Fang!" Guard 5 shouted as he was knocked back by a psychic blast.
The lead Sister glided toward me, her pupilless white eyes fixed on my throat. She moved with a frightening fluidity, her blade a blur of necrotic light.
I didn't draw my obsidian blade. I stood perfectly still, my eyes glowing with an intense silver light that cut through the darkness.
"You have no desire," I said, my voice calm as she reached striking distance. "But you have a 'Function'. And even a function can be overwritten."
She lunged, the tip of her rapier inches from my heart. I didn't dodge. I used [Desire Injection]—not on her mind, but on the fragment of the bone flute I still carried in my pocket. I used the fragment as a lightning rod to channel the injection directly into her soul-link with Grandmaster Zhao.
[Injection Parameter: 'Self-Preservation']
For a creature built to be a mindless tool, the sudden, violent urge to exist and stay alive was like a virus. Her rapier stopped mid-air, trembling. The "Silence" she embodied was shattered by a new, loud, and terrifying desire to survive.
She screamed—a real, human scream that tore through the veil of her training. She clutched her head, her aura flickering from dead white to a frantic, neon yellow.
"Run," I commanded, my voice echoing with the full weight of the System.
She didn't hesitate. She turned and leaped back into the ventilation shaft, fleeing from the very mission she was born to complete. The other two Sisters, seeing their leader break, faltered for a microsecond—long enough for my Sovereign Guard to eliminate them with a barrage of concentrated fire.
[Ding! Quest Update: Survive the First Wave (Complete)]
[System Reward: 1,500 DP]
[Current Status: 128 Hostiles Remaining]
I wiped a drop of sweat from my brow. The neural strain was immense; my vision was blurring at the edges. But the night was young.
"Fang! They've reached the 50th floor!" Elena's voice was terrified now. "It's not assassins anymore... it's Grandmaster Zhao. He's here, Fang. He's in the hallway."
I felt a cold shiver go down my spine. The boss had arrived sooner than expected. I looked at my soldiers—half of them were wounded, their armor scorched.
"Guard, regroup at the elevator bank," I said, drawing my obsidian blade. The silver rings in my eyes were spinning so fast they looked like solid metal. "The King of the Shadows wants to meet the King of the System. Let's not keep him waiting."
The elevator doors at the end of the hall began to glow a deep, ominous red, the metal starting to melt from the sheer pressure of the aura on the other side.
The real fight was about to begin.