AETHER MIDNIGHT

The Confrontation

The acid rain on Level 1314 felt infinitely more biting than the familiar. Every heavy drop hissed softly, turning into toxic vapor the moment it struck the blistering hot pipes of the giant fusion reactor that stretched like rusted steel veins above the loading port. I moved fluidly across the decaying catwalk, my footsteps entirely swallowed by the deafening, rhythmic roar of industrial-scale cooling turbines.

Beneath my black cloak, my hand traced an object in my pocket. A mask.

I pulled it out and pressed it to my face, feeling its unnatural weight. Its magnetic clasps locked automatically behind my ears. This mask had no carvings, patterns, or even visible breathing holes. Its surface was coated in Vantablack material—an optical anomaly that absorbs ninety-nine percent of light.

Amidst the sickly glimmer of Noctis Reach's flickering neon lights, which painted the smog in bruised hues of dirty purple and jaundiced yellow, my face was now merely a pitch-black void. An absolute, terrifying emptiness that fundamentally rejected the existence of light.

I was no longer L the mechanic. Tonight, I was once again a nameless phantom.

I dropped down from the catwalk, landing silently on the roof of a cargo container. My eyes—though hidden behind the darkness of the mask—scanned the loading area below.

The sharp stench of ozone and scorched flesh wafted heavily, overpowering the sulfur smell from the waste factory. In the middle of the wet courtyard stood a tall man clad in black Imperium armor with red accents. His back was to me, his right hand gripping the neck of a thrashing Skarix man in the air. His left hand held a metal hilt.

The Eclipse Agent. The hunter.

"Where is the scavenger who bought this?" the Eclipse Agent's voice was cold. He showed the remains of a hologram projector to the choking Skarix. "You work his manifest route. Give me the buyer's name, or you will join your colleagues' ashes."

There was no time to waste. My eighty minutes were ticking. Kael, Grox, Risha and the others were waiting inside a fragile steel box.

I leaped from the thirteen-meter-high cargo container. Instead of landing with a heavy thud, I channeled the Veil to the soles of my feet, landing in deadly silence exactly seven paces behind the Eclipse Agent.

The Eclipse Agent tensed. His reflexes as a dark side user caught the fluctuation around him. He tossed the Skarix aside and spun around rapidly. His hand gripped his weapon's hilt.

However, he froze for one crucial second..

Under the pouring rain and the port's neon lights, he saw my figure. Or rather, he saw the absence of my face. A black-cloaked silhouette with a head that was entirely a void of darkness, staring at him without eyes. I could feel the spark of confusion and fear spreading through his mind.

I seized that second. My hand reached inside my cloak, pulled out a black metal cylinder that felt incredibly heavy, and pressed its activation plate.

SNAP-CRACKLE-HISS!

It wasn't the clean hum typical of a Veilbound weapon. The sound was more like the scream of tearing metal.

A plasma blade erupted from the tip of my hilt. Its color was blood-red, as sharp as an open wound. But the blade was unstable. The plasma crackled, throwing off black sparks, thrashing like a chained beast.

The moment this weapon ignited, my head felt like it exploded.

Harsh whispers swept through my mind. Kill him. Decapitate him. Cut off his limbs one by one. Make him feel the pain. The Veil Shard inside my hilt was bleeding. This weapon had absorbed too much of my anger and loss in the past. It was incredibly loud. It was bloodthirsty.

I gritted my teeth behind the mask, forcing my focus like bearing a thousand-ton weight, silencing those voices before they could swallow my sanity. Holding this weapon was far more exhausting than fighting itself. I had to end this as quickly as possible.

Seeing the color of my blade, the Eclipse Agent snorted. His confusion morphed into typical Imperium arrogance.

"A rival? Or just the remnants of a lost acolyte looking for a name?" he mocked. He ignited his weapon. A glowing red blade shot from the side of his cylinder hilt. He slashed his weapon through the air, creating an intimidating red glare, then dashed forward at me.

His steps were too wide. His swing radiated brutal raw power, relying on terror and momentum.

In the past, I had stood under a thunderstorm, deflecting a dual attack from two elite Eclipse Agents simultaneously. I had dodged the flashes of arcane magic from a ghost resurrected by the Emperor himself. Compared to the demons of my past, the figure in front of me moved as sluggishly as a factory machine lacking lubricant.

He attacked with a horizontal swing, intending to cleave my body in two.

I didn't retreat. I didn't perform any excessive acrobatics. I stepped into the blind spot of his slash—a precise, mechanical movement. His blade missed my chest by mere inches.

Before he could even realize his attack had missed and correct his balance, I twisted my wrist. I thrust my violently crackling red blade upward, piercing right through the gap in his right armpit guard that lacked heavy armor. With one cruel twist, I severed his shoulder joint and nerve cords in a single clean motion.

The Eclipse Agent screamed in agony, his voice breaking into static over his helmet's communicator. His weapon slipped from his now-numb grasp and rolled into a puddle of acidic water.

He stumbled backward, his left hand gripping his charred and smoking right shoulder. His arrogance vanished without a trace, entirely replaced by the pure panic of a man staring death in the face. He tried to retreat further, raising his trembling left hand, desperately attempting to gather Veil energy to repel me with a telekinetic push.

I lowered my stance and, like a released spring, darted forward before his fingers could even fully clench.