The air pressure spiked.Even the mercenaries several meters away choked for breath.Azazel’s aura flared like a burning sun.He raised a hand.Dark flames spiraled into existence, forming a blade made of pure shadow and fire.His coat snapped violently behind him, reacting to the magic.“Today…” Azazel roared, pointing the flaming blade directly at Adrian’s chest.“…YOU. WILL. DIE.”The opera house trembled.Gaius whimpered at Adrian’s feet.And Adrian?He let go of Gaius’s hand…Straightened his suit…And stepped forward calmly.He stepped forward through the broken bodies, through the trembling guards.“I was just about to enter,” he said calmly, tucking his hands into his suit pockets, “when your men decided to be rude to me.”He tilted his head, eyes meeting Azazel’s blazing red stare with ice-cold boredom.“Maybe,” Adrian added, “you will apologize on their behalf.”Gasp rippled from the surrounding crowd.“He... he asked Azazel to apologize?”“Is he insane?”“Does he have a de

Azazel’s face twisted in disgust.“This man?” he spat. “This washed-up little bully? This is your shadow?”He scoffed, shaking his head.“No. Impossible.”He pointed a shaking finger at Adrian.“How can you claim someone this ORDINARY is your shadow?”The crowd erupted.Voices rose from every corner of the plaza.“This man mocks us!”“He killed a second-in-command of Azaael in front of the Summit!”“This is an insult to the underworld!”“He deserves to be beheaded on the spot, not promoted!”Finger after finger pointed at Adrian.Hatred spread like fire through dry grass.Some stepped forward boldly, emboldened by numbers.Others spoke with fake calm.“If you allow this,” one man said coldly, “then the rumors are true.”“You have grown old, Don Ventresca.”“Weak.”“Unfit to rule.”Another voice followed, quieter, sharper.“If you go ahead with this madness… an anonymous bounty will be placed on your head.”“And on his.”A murmur of agreement rippled through the elites.Threats disguis

The faceless figure straightened.Then slowly he bowed.His voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once. It was deep, hollow. Inhuman.“Master,” Morrgain said, lowering his head toward Azazel.“You have summoned me.”A chill ran through the plaza.Several people staggered back as if the word itself had weight.Azazel smiled, clearly pleased.“This man,” he said lazily, gesturing toward Adrian, “has challenged you to a Shadow Duel.”Morrgain turned.There were no eyes.No face.Yet when his head angled toward Adrian, disdain flooded the air so thick it was almost visible.The torches flickered violently.Even the stone beneath their feet felt colder.“Mortal,” Morrgain said quietly.“Shall I truly waste my blade on you?”A few people laughed nervously.Others swallowed hard.Azazel sighed spreading his hands dramatically.“Rules are rules,” he said. “If he wishes to die by your hand… then so be it.”He leaned forward slightly, his voice dripping with mockery as he addressed Adrian.

Morrgain straightened fully, the fractured marble falling from his armor in chunks. The shadows around him twisted violently.When he spoke again, his voice was filled with rage.He thought Adrian was just an annoying bully he could take out with one kill.“You think this makes you strong?” Morrgain said, his tone vibrating through the courtyard. “I will show you why I have never been defeated.”The air around him shuddered.Darkness poured outward like spilled ink, crawling across the ground, up the pillars, over the walls. Morrgain lifted both arms slowly, as though pulling something vast from another world.“Thousand Veil,” he intoned.Reality fractured.One Morrgain became ten.Ten became hundreds.Hundreds became thousands.They appeared everywhere at once, surrounding Adrian from every angle. On the stairs. On the rooftops. Between the torches. Each copy moved, breathed, and radiated the same intent to kill. Every one of them was real enough to strike. Real enough to kill.A hor