The Shadow Blade’s Revenge: From Trash to Sword Saint

Chapter 5: The Heir’s Panic

High above the rain-slicked streets of Sector 7, in the glass penthouses of the Vance Core Tower, soft classical music played over hidden speakers.

Julian Vance stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, swirling a crystal glass of blue spirit-wine. He looked out over the glowing grid of Neo-Aethelgard, a faint, contented smile on his face.

The morning news feeds were already running his prepared press release: Kaelen Vance, disgraced adopted son of the former patriarch, succumbs to spirit-core rejection in private quarters.

Clean. Simple. Flawless.

His tablet chimed on the mahogany desk behind him.

Julian didn't turn around. "Did Victor finish clearing the auction house? Tell him to deliver the rapier directly to my private vault. I want it mounted by midnight."

"Young Master..."

The voice on the communicator was shaking so violently the speaker rattled. It was his chief intelligence officer, Marcus.

Julian frowned, turning slowly. "Report properly, Marcus. You sound like a servant who dropped the tea."

"The auction house in Sector 7... it was hit ten minutes ago."

Julian’s eyes narrowed into cold slits. "Hit? By whom? The Viper Syndicate controls that block. Who would dare touch a Vance transaction?"

"A masked cultivator," Marcus stammered, his voice dropping to a frightened whisper. "He... he killed Victor's team in under ten seconds. Then he executed Victor on the main stage."

Crack.

The crystal glass shattered in Julian’s grip, blue wine spilling over his hand and dripping onto the white marble floor.

"Victor is dead?" Julian stepped toward the desk, his aura flaring with golden Light Qi, cracking the marble beneath his leather boots. "Victor was a Bronze-Tier 5 fighter! Who was this assassin? A hired blade from the Sterling Conglomerate?"

"We... we don't know, sir," Marcus said, sending a live security feed directly to Julian’s tablet. "The killer wore a black mask and a trench coat. He used dual blades—a dark, shadow-element longsword and... and the Star-Fall Rapier."

Julian snatched the tablet off the desk, his face instantly draining of color as the footage played.

On the screen, the masked figure moved like a ghost. The black sword cut through Bronze-tier armor as if it were parchment. But it wasn't just the speed that made Julian’s chest tighten—it was the footwork.

The low center of gravity. The subtle, half-step pivot before every lethal strike.

It was the foundational stance of the Vance Clan's ancient Void-Sealing Style—a dead technique that only Kaelen’s father had ever mastered.

Then, the masked figure turned toward the security camera, raised a gloved hand, and slowly drew his finger across his throat.

Tell Julian the Shadow Blade is coming for his head.

"Impossible..." Julian whispered, his fingers digging into the glass edges of the tablet until the screen fractured. "He was coreless! His breastbone was shattered! I watched him fall into the Abyssal Trench myself!"

"Young Master, what should we do?" Marcus asked nervously. "Elder Vance is requesting an immediate update. If the Council finds out the rapier was stolen and Victor was killed in public—"

"Silence!" Julian roared, smashing the tablet against the wall.

The screen exploded into sparks, leaving a dark scorch mark on the wallpaper.

Julian paced across the room, his breath coming fast and ragged. If Kaelen had somehow survived the fall, it meant two things: first, he had unlocked a hidden power deep within the trench; second, if Kaelen revealed his identity to the Grand Council now, the murder attempt would be exposed, ruining Julian’s legitimacy as the sole heir.

"Deploy the Shadow-Hounds," Julian commanded, his voice trembling with a mixture of rage and mounting horror. "Activate every low-level gang in Sector 7 and Sector 8. Put a fifty-million-credit bounty on anyone wearing a black mask and wielding dual swords."

"And if it really is... Kaelen?" Marcus asked quietly.

Julian’s face contorted into a hideous, cruel sneer.

"Then bring me his head in a box," Julian spat. "He was trash on the rooftop, and he'll die like trash in the dark. He isn't reaching the upper city alive."

Meanwhile, deep in the neon-drenched alleys of Sector 8, Kaelen sat cross-legged atop a high crane overlooking the docks.

The cold rain washed the blood from his black coat.

In front of him, floating in mid-air, his system UI pulsed with vibrant violet light:

[QUEST UNLOCKED: THE FIRST REVENGE]

[OBJECTIVE: DESTROY THE VIPER SYNDICATE'S MAIN SUPPLY DEPOT IN SECTOR 8 AND CUT OFF JULIAN'S UNDERWORLD FUNDING.]

[REWARD: SOVEREIGN BLADE TECHNIQUE — FORM 2: SHADOW PIERCE]

Kaelen opened his eyes. The violet glow within his irises shone brighter than the neon signs below.

He reached down, gripping the hill of his mother’s rapier in his left hand and his shadow blade in his right.

"Let the hunt begin," he whispered to the wind.