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CHAPTER 10: UNLEASHED THE VOID
The heavy steel doors of the auction hall didn't just open; they were vaporized."Target sighted! The bidder in the black cloak!"A squadron of Seven Stars secret police stormed in, their silver-and-black armor gleaming under the flickering emergency lights. They weren't like the street thugs I’d just stepped over. These were professional killers, each one a Tier 4 specialist."You’ve made a mistake, boy," the captain of the guard growled, his voice amplified by his helmet. He raised a heavy mana-cannon. "Nobody robs the Alliance and lives to spend the change."I stood over the Auctioneer’s shriveled corpse, the Void-Devouring Seal in my chest thrumming with a frequency that made the floor tiles vibrate. "I’m not here for the money," I said, my voice echoing with a double-tone that wasn't my own."He’s unarmed!" a guard shouted. "Kill him and secure the vessel!""Unarmed?" I whispered.I reached into the air. My fingers closed around a handful of nothingness, and then, I pulled. The s
CHAPTER 9: THE UNDERWORLD AUCTION
The sewers of the Iron Slums reeked of rot and desperate magic. I moved through the knee-deep sludge, the "Void" within me humming a low, predatory tune. The city above was screaming—sirens, heavy boots, the sound of doors being kicked in—but down here, the only sound was the drip of filth and the clinking of gold.I reached a rusted iron grate. Two hulking guards in reinforced scrap-armor blocked the path, their eyes glowing with low-grade thermal implants."Password, rat," the bigger one grunted, leveling a steam-cannon at my chest."The sun sets in the gutter," I said, my voice filtered through the black cloth over my face.The grate groaned open. "Get in. Auction’s already started. Don't cause trouble, or you'll leave in a jar."The Underworld Auction was a cavernous, torch-lit nightmare. Crime lords, disgraced nobles, and Alliance spies sat in velvet chairs, their faces hidden by masks of porcelain and bone. I stayed in the back, the shadows clinging to my tattered cloak like a s
CHAPTER 8: A MASSAGE IN BLOOD
I didn’t need to kill Headmaster Valerius tonight. Death was too quick for a man who had spent ten years sleeping on a bed of stolen Thorne legacies. I wanted him to wake up. I wanted him to remember the smell of burning roses.The hallway outside the Headmaster’s sanctum was a death trap of pressure-sensitive tiles and sonic resonators. I moved through them not by dodging, but by existing in the gaps between the frequencies. The "Void" within me acted like a silencer for reality itself."The lock is a bio-signature weave," the First Overlord’s voice rasped in my head. "He’s keyed it to his own heartbeat. You touch that handle, and the whole mountain explodes.""Then I won't touch the handle," I whispered.I placed my palm against the reinforced stone wall beside the door. I didn't push. I just opened the drain. The Seal hummed, and the molecular bonds of the stone began to fail as the energy holding them together was siphoned into my marrow. The stone turned to fine white sand, pouri
CHAPTER 7: THE RIVALS DOUBT
The heavy iron gates of the sparring pits groaned as they slammed shut behind me. The air here was thick with the scent of old sweat and iron. Rafe Valerius stood in the center of the ring, his face twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated loathing. He wasn’t wearing his student robes; he was in full combat gear, his knuckles white as he gripped a practice spear."You're late, janitor," Rafe hissed, his voice echoing off the stone walls."I had floors to scrub, Rafe," I said, my voice flat. My chest still burned from the Void-Devouring Seal’s hunger, but I kept my posture slumped. "What do you want?""What do I want?" Rafe stepped forward, the spear tip whistling through the air to rest just beneath my chin. "You made a fool of me in the courtyard. You broke the Pulse Pillar. You’ve got the whole Academy whispering that a Thorne rat might actually have teeth.""It was a fluke. The machine was old," I replied, staring directly into his eyes."Liar!" Rafe roared. He swung the butt of
CHAPTER 6: THE PRICE OF STRENGTH
The lightning wasn’t just in my veins anymore; it was in my lungs. Every breath felt like inhaling ground glass. I leaned against the cold stone of the archive corridor, my chest heaving."You’re dying, boy. And you’re doing it very loudly."The voice didn’t come from the hallway. It vibrated from the base of my skull, ancient and dripping with disdain."Who is that?" I gasped, clutching my chest.[VOICE: THE FIRST OVERLORD. SEAL AUTHORITY: AWAKENED.]"A name? I’m more of a consequence," the voice echoed, sounding like a man who had watched empires burn and found it mildly amusing. "That 'meal' you just ate? That Tier 4 shadow-scum? It’s sitting in your core like a lead weight. You’re a bucket with a hole in it, Cassian. If you don't fill yourself with high-grade Ether in the next hour, your new 'Void' is going to collapse and take your soul with it.""How much Ether?" I gritted out."A tribute," the Overlord chuckled. "The kind they keep in the Main Spirit Vault. The kind that makes
CHAPTER 5: THE DEADLY SILENCE
The shadows in the Forbidden Archives felt like they were shrinking, pulled toward the void in my chest. The Seven Stars Assassin stood twenty feet away, his black-bladed dagger glinting in the dim light of his lantern. He was a professional—a butcher who specialized in ending bloodlines."Cassian..." Luna whispered, her voice a ghost of a sound. "That’s you. That’s your face on that file.""Stay down, Luna," I hissed. "And don't breathe."The Assassin’s head snapped toward our alcove. "I hear you, little bird. And I hear the ghost too."He moved. He didn't run; he blurred. A streak of charcoal gray cutting through the library's gloom."Luna, move!" I shoved her to the left just as the black dagger whistled through the air, burying itself inches deep into the oak bookshelf where her head had been."You're fast for a janitor," the Assassin sneered, appearing out of the dark as he retrieved his blade with a flick of his wrist. "But I’ve killed Tier 6 masters who were faster. Are you the
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