Shadow Of Kingscity

Flames Of Betrayal

The man drove up to the gate with shaking hands. The guards barked at him to stop, and he quickly flashed his ID card to prove he worked there. They scanned his face, still suspicious. Before they could drag him out, a voice from inside the mansion gave the order to let him in. The gate opened slowly.

The moment he rolled inside, the sunglasses on his face lit up. They scanned every corner he looked at, and Tony spoke into Ethan’s ear, feeding him constant updates. Ethan was already closing in on the building through the thick trees, moving like a shadow.

As soon as the man stepped through the mansion entrance, a group of guards stormed toward him. The head guard, a tall man with a scar across his cheek, stopped him with a smirk.

“How are you still alive?” the head guard asked, staring at him with disbelief.

The man clenched his jaw. He could feel his anger rising, but he forced himself to stay calm. Everyone around him was on kill-alert. One wrong word and he would be a corpse on the floor.

“I have a message for the boss,” he said, voice tight.

The head guard scoffed. “You have a message? For him? Deliver it to me. I will pass it on.”

“And you think I am stupid enough to trust you?” the man snapped before he could stop himself. His tone carried all the fire building inside him.

“Oh really?” the head guard said. He pressed a gun against the man’s forehead. “Either you talk, or I paint this floor with your skull.”

The man stared straight back. “If I can walk into the hands of a demon and come out alive, then I have conquered the fear of death. Pull the trigger and face the consequences of making the boss miss what I came to say.”

A voice crackled through the head guard’s earpiece. “Let him inside.”

The head guard clicked his tongue. “Search him.”

They ran their hands all over him, found nothing, and shoved him forward. The man let himself be dragged deeper into the mansion.

“He is in,” Tony said through Ethan’s earpiece. “Sending the coordinates now.”

Ethan checked the small screen on the device attached to his wrist. A glowing layout of the mansion appeared, with the man marked like a blinking dot. Ethan was already crouched at the fence, eyes locked on the target.

“Now we wait,” he said.

Tony stayed glued to the live feed from the sunglasses. The camera showed the guards dragging the man upstairs.

They pushed him into a dim chamber. Smoke curled in the air. A pot-bellied man in his late forties sat in a padded chair, puffing on something that looked like tobacco. His eyes were small and calculating.

Tony ran his facial recognition at once.

The man looked the new arrival up and down. “So you are the one 404 spared. That is strange. He does not let his prey walk away.”

His voice shifted, growing cold. “What message did he send?”

The room was packed with guards. The man knew he would die after this, but he had already made peace with that. Better to die from a bullet than be carved apart by the demon they all served.

“He said you signed your death sentence the moment you came for him,” the man replied.

The boss laughed, lifted a long pistol, and aimed it at him.

Before he pulled the trigger, a soft beep echoed across the room.

The man felt it under his foot.

He looked down.

The sound was coming from the sole of his boot.

Tony had swapped his soles earlier. Bomb soles.

“Oh, hell,” the man whispered.

The explosion tore through the chamber like a missile hitting solid stone. Fire, smoke, and screams blasted through the mansion. The shockwave shook the walls. Guards outside panicked, shouting and running in every direction.

Ethan moved.

He vaulted the fence and darted into the compound. The few guards who spotted him opened fire immediately. Bullets sliced through the air. Ethan swung an axe up, blocking shots as he ducked behind a broken pillar. Then he moved again, fast and silent, like a blur. He appeared behind the guards and cut them down before they could even turn.

“Lights going off in three… two… one… and off,” Tony said in his ear.

Darkness swallowed the mansion, except for the burning chamber lighting up the sky with orange flames. Ethan pulled down his night goggles. He could see every guard clearly. They saw nothing.

He used the chaos, cutting down anyone in his path as he made his way toward the main building. Some of the guards who recognized his hoodie ran for their lives. The unlucky ones met the edge of his blades, their screams lost inside the roar of the burning mansion.

The explosion had not been strong enough to take down the mansion, but the fire it sparked was crawling across the upper floors. If no one stopped it, the whole place would eventually burn. Ethan did not slow down. He cut through every guard he met, their bodies dropping behind him like discarded shadows. None of them could stop him.

Tony’s devices guided him to the second floor. The scan showed someone being held captive there.

That was when Ethan heard a voice waiting for him.

“Finally.”

The head guard stood in the middle of the long hallway. The lights were still out, and the corridor was wrapped in darkness, but the man could see Ethan clearly through his night goggles.

A loud hum filled the mansion as the backup generator powered on. Light flooded the hallway.

“The legendary 404,” the head guard said with a mocking smile. “We grew up hearing stories about you and your friends. But at the end of the day, you are human. You bleed like everyone else.”

Ethan’s hood covered his face, but his smile showed easily. He dashed toward him with silent speed.

The head guard was ready. He grabbed a shotgun and fired. Ethan blocked the shots with his axe and leaped toward him, aiming straight for his skull. But just before Ethan could strike, the head guard whipped out a long samurai sword. Steel flashed. Ethan twisted mid air, blocked the attack, and landed behind him at the far side of the hallway with his back turned.

He had barely touched the ground before the head guard charged again, spinning through the air with his sword like a deadly drill aimed at Ethan’s chest. Ethan slid backward, dodging the blow by a hair. The guard did not stop. He attacked again and again, swinging the sword with wild, furious speed. Each strike whistled through the air.

Ethan blocked all of them, but the pressure was enough to push him back.

“That is all you have?” the head guard taunted. “I thought they called you a demon. Yet here you are, cornered by my sword.”

He kept swinging, laughing like he had already won.

“You only prey on the weak,” he shouted. “You are nothing special.”

Ethan remained silent until another burst of swings rattled the hallway.

“You are strong,” he finally said. His voice was calm, almost bored. “I was just warming up.”

The head guard’s grin vanished. Rage took over. He charged with everything he had.

Ethan charged too.

But this time, before the guard could swing, Ethan had already passed him. The man did not even feel the cuts at first. He only heard Ethan’s voice behind him.

“We are not on the same level. Maybe in ten years you would have grown strong enough to challenge me.”

The head guard tried to turn, but then the pain hit him all at once. His body opened up in several vital points. Ethan had cut his wrists, hamstrings, ribs, and a clean line across the neck. Blood burst from him like water from a broken pipe.

“Too bad you wasted your potential,” Ethan said as he walked away.

The head guard collapsed, his blood painting the hallway.

Ethan reached the room and kicked the door open. He hoped to see his brother or Mara, but instead he froze at the sight inside.

A man was tied to a chair, bruised, swollen, barely able to lift his head. When he saw Ethan, he let out a weak smile.

“Well, look at this. The demon himself.”

Ethan’s eyes widened. He knew that voice.

Keon. His old teammate. Code 401. A man Ethan thought had died years ago.

“Keon,” Ethan said, breath catching in his throat.

“Hello, Ethan,” Keon replied. “I guess you were expecting to find your brother here.” He let out a dry laugh. “I wonder if you will keep this same fire in your eyes when you realize the brother you are looking for is actually your enemy.”

“What are you talking about?” Ethan snapped, shock shaking him.

“Untie me first,” Keon said. “Please. I will explain. I am not sure how long I have before someone comes back.”

Before Ethan could move, Tony’s voice blasted through the earpiece.

“Boss, you need to get out of there in thirty seconds! The whole mansion is planted with bombs. It was a trap from the start. Get out now!”

Ethan’s hands froze.

He stared at Keon.

Escape alone and live…

or untie Keon and risk both of them dying.

The choice hit him like a punch to the chest.