Shing!The sharp, metallic noise of a katana being drawn from its scabbard echoed through the concrete room.The other three hostages snapped their heads in the direction of Silent Shadow, their eyes widening in horror.The razor-sharp edge of the gleaming blade was already pressed against the tender side of Mia Langston’s small neck. Yet the apprentice remained perfectly still without slicing forward. His eyes weren’t looking at the terrified girl; they were fixed squarely on something—or rather, someone, standing ahead in the blinding light.They all turned their terrified gazes to see the Shadow of Death. The imposing figure had his hand raised in the air, a silent command.It was as though all the oxygen had been violently sucked out of the room. None of the hostages could even remember how to breathe. The kid had pulled and swung his blade with such terrifying speed that they hadn’t even realized he had moved until the steel was already resting against Mia’s throat.“Hmm…” the Sh

The popular Black Hour nightclub was officially closed for the day. There was no more heavy bass music rattling windows and shaking the building’s foundation, nor were there any flashes of neon light escaping from the main doors.For the very first time since the establishment of the notorious club, the ground floor was as eerily silent as a graveyard.Anyone who hadn’t been present on the club floor tonight would genuinely wonder what had occurred to cause this unnatural level of silence in the heart of the East District.Meanwhile, inside the dimly lit main hall, Brother Derek’s men had just finished tying the unconscious Dead-Eye Serpent to the iron railing of the staircase. They were finally preparing to leave. They had done an exceptionally thorough job of deeply interrogating the remaining clubbers, explicitly outlining exactly what would happen to them and their families if they dared to breathe a single word of gossip about what had transpired tonight.Of course, those who kn

The cold steel of the katana began to rapidly change color. Pushed to its limits by the boy’s violent spiritual energy, the blade glowed a furious, blinding red-hot, looking exactly like metal that had just been pulled from a blacksmith’s furnace. Thick, scorching smoke began to emit from the superheated edge.“I normally only pour my spiritual energy into my sword to fight truly worthy supreme masters. But you... you are not even close to the level of my Master.” Silent Shadow spat, his eyes turning bloodshot red, his small face completely twisted in malice. “Count yourself incredibly worthy just to be crippled by this blade tonight. The only reason I am leaving you breathing is because of my Master...”“I truly do not know what things they did to your mind to make a child become this broken,” Elijah said softly as he took another step up the stairs. He completely ignored the suffocating, deadly aura emitting from the boy’s glowing sword. “But all I am interested in tonight is a loc

“You are the next in the elder line here. It will take a considerable while to lose all the blood in your body if I hit the exact right artery. I am sure you know that perfectly well as a medical practitioner. I am going to count to three. If by three you do not provide me with actionable information... you can forget about ever using your legs in the future. Yes, you can forget about ever being the so-called Number One Beauty of this city... One...”Serena tightened her fists, squeezing her eyes shut.“Two...”“Mmm! Hmm! Mmph!” Rosalie suddenly started to shake vigorously in her chair, violently groaning aloud through her gag for the first time that night.The Shadow of Death paused the countdown, a highly displeased expression radiating from his masked face. He immediately marched over to her, cursing coldly. “You want to play the hero just like your old man? Good. I will happily grant you that exact wish, to cry until you bleed out...”He roughly grabbed the thick gag and violently

But the bullet merely wheezed millimeters past Rosalie’s ear, burying itself into the solid wall directly behind her head.The Shadow of Death had jerked the pistol upward from her shoulder at the last microsecond; otherwise, her shoulder bones would have been completely shattered into dust.Rosalie instantly started to hyperventilate and cry like a terrified child. “Don’t kill me! I’m not lying! It is really a white card with a dragon head! It is resting on... on grass! Yes, a dragon head on white grass!”She had physically held the card for a few seconds that day, so she clearly and vividly remembered the exact imagery embossed on the white metal.Clatter!Without a single shred of warning, the pistol completely slipped out of the Shadow of Death’s fingers, crashing onto the concrete floor with a heavy, echoing thud.The towering man actually stumbled backward. He frantically regained his footing and instantly dug his hand into his jacket, pulling something out with a shaking grip.