The Sinner's Banquet

The Outer Border

The glowing arrow left the bowstring with a sharp snap.

I threw myself flat into the mud just as the light projectile ripped through the air above me. It hit the iron grate behind me, exploding into a shower of white sparks that singed the hairs on the back of my neck.

"Run, kid!" Kaelen barked in my mind. "The high hunters use heat-tracking weapons. He does not need to see your core to find your position!"

I scrambled to my feet and leaped down the rocky cliffside, sliding through dirt and loose stones. Behind me, another arrow struck the rock I had just used for cover, shattering it into tiny pieces.

My physical stats were level seventeen now. My legs felt much stronger, moving faster than they ever had when I was a simple mine worker. I leaped over a five-foot drop and landed hard in a garbage-filled alley of the lower slums.

But the hunter was incredibly fast. I heard the heavy thud of his boots hitting the ground right behind me. He was already pulling a third arrow from his quiver.

I needed my shadow hand. But Lily’s core-masking potion felt like thick ice around my stomach, locking my dark mana away completely.

"Kaelen, how do I break this potion?" I thought, sprinting down the winding alleyway as fast as my legs could carry me.

"You have to overload it," the old general replied. "Focus on the level fifteen skill you just acquired. Minor Illusion uses mana differently than your offensive skills. If you force it to activate repeatedly, the internal spell will shatter the ice coating your core."

I did not hesitate. As I turned a sharp corner, I focused on the image of a random slum guard.

"Minor Illusion," I said aloud.

A thin purple mist started to form around my fingers but immediately died out. The ice in my stomach cracked slightly.

"Again!" Kaelen urged.

"Minor Illusion! Minor Illusion!"

I forced the magic out three times in a row. A sharp pain shot through my gut, and then the icy feeling dissolved entirely. A massive surge of freezing void energy flooded back into my veins. The purple shadow hand erupted from my right wrist, its dark claws growing long and sharp under the moonlight.

I stopped running. I turned around right as the silver-armored hunter rounded the corner.

His eyes widened when he saw my glowing hand. He tried to raise his black bow, but I was already moving. I lunged forward, swinging my shadow hand horizontally. The dark blade sliced cleanly through the center of his bow, snapping the magical wood in half.

The hunter dropped the broken pieces and reached for the silver sword at his waist. Before he could pull the blade from its sheath, I drove my shadow claws straight into his chest armor. The dark energy pierced the iron plates as if they were made of paper.

[Gluttony's Maw Activated.]

[Devouring Target...]

The hunter’s body stiffened. His flesh dried up instantly, turning into a cloud of grey dust that blew away in the midnight wind. His silver armor fell to the ground in a hollow heap.

[Level Up! Level 17 → Level 19.]

[Stored Essence: 210 Units.]

I leaned against the brick wall of the alley, pulling the hunter’s silver sword out of its sheath. It was a beautiful weapon, balanced and sharp. I could use it to fight when I did not want to show my dark magic to the world.

"Do not celebrate yet," Kaelen said, his voice tense. "The high hunters always travel in pairs. If this one is dead, his partner already knows his last location. You need to clear out."

I grabbed the leather satchel and ran deeper into the outer slums. This was the borderland, the gray zone between the bright upper city and the completely lawless wild lands outside the great wall. The people who lived here were outcasts, rebels, and criminals who refused to bow to High Priest Malakai.

After ten minutes of running through dark, narrow streets, the rows of shacks suddenly ended. A giant stone wall stretched across the landscape, blocking the path to the outside world. This was the Outer Gate, guarded by a completely different group of soldiers, the Blood Hawk Faction. They were a mercenary group that controlled the smuggling routes out of the city.

I hid behind a stack of wooden crates, looking at the gate. Six guards stood near the entrance, holding heavy torches.

"If you want to pass them, you need a trade pass," Kaelen noted. "Or a mountain of gold coins."

I opened Lily’s leather satchel to check for money. But my fingers touched something else at the very bottom of the bag. It was a small, black metal token.

I pulled it out and held it up to the faint light. The token had a strange symbol carved into the center, a crescent moon surrounded by three stars.

"What is this?" I asked myself, turning it over.

Kaelen gasped inside my head, his voice completely changing. "That is impossible. That token belongs to the Nightshade Faction. They are the secret rebellion that fought the king twenty years ago. They were supposed to be completely wiped out by Malakai's forces."

Suddenly, a cold hand pressed firmly against the back of my neck.

I froze, my body stiffening. A sharp, iron blade slid around my throat from behind, pressing just hard enough against my skin to draw a tiny drop of blood.

"Where did a little palace rat like you get that token?" a woman’s voice asked right next to my ear. Her tone was sharp, dangerous, and completely steady. "Answer me right now, or I will take your head."