The Baron of Thornharrow seethed in his marble hall, clutching a crushed tea cup—shards embedded in his gloved hand.
"An entire armed force… defeated by villagers with illusions?"
His advisors dared not speak. One finally stepped forward.
"My lord, there is a... bounty hunter. Disavowed. Unaligned. Feared."
"Name?"
"They call him Ashblade. He used to train with the black-suited one. The 'ghost'."
That caught the baron's attention.
"Hire him. I want the entire village turned to ash. And I want that shadow freak delivered alive."
Elsewhere: The Untraceable Path
Ashblade walked alone. A lean man with silvered hair, steel-gray eyes, and a dark cloak hiding twin blades. His left hand always hovered near the hilt of the longer one—but he never looked rushed.
The air bent around him.
Not magic. Intent.
He reached a S.I.N dead-drop—a moss-covered stone near a half-frozen stream.
Pressed his thumb into the hidden slot.
A glow.
A voice in his ear.
"Ashblade. Mission parameters?"
"Baron Thornharrow. Targeting Thess Hollow. I'm being paid to burn it. Orders?"
"Proceed. Standard Coin-Twist Protocol."
"Understood. Status of Agent M?" he asked after a beat.
"Safe. Still unaware you're back in the field."
He closed the line with a faint sigh.
"Good."
— REVEAL: Ashblade = S.I.N Double Agent
Codename: Silent Fang
Rank: Shadow-Class (Former Instructor)
Status: Infiltration-Deep Layer
Hidden Objective: Sabotage high-tier noble operations from inside contracts
Family Connection: Father of Agent M (Revna Mireille)
As he approached the outskirts of Thess Hollow, he saw the village illuminated—not with fear, but community. Children ran laughing with false masks made of leaves and coin symbols drawn in chalk.
He almost smiled.
But instead, he walked straight toward the Baron's encampment on the western ridge. His contract was to "destroy the village."
So he started with the camp.
That Night
Supply wagons exploded in flame from hidden glyph mines.
Horses were spooked by silent whisper-chimes tied to their manes.
Soldiers found their food poisoned with calming herbs that rendered them unconscious for 12 hours.
The command tent was filled with illusions of S.I.N assassins circling silently.
And on the Baron's desk?
A coin, stabbed through the center with Ashblade's dagger.
Written in ash along the blade's edge: "Your war ended before it began."
He walked calmly through the woods, not even looking back as the Baron screamed.
From the shadows, Shin stepped beside him—hands in pockets, sipping tea.
"You were always better at fieldwork than retirement."
"And you still drink that overpriced tea."
They stood in silence a moment longer.
"Your daughter's made something of herself," Shin added. "She heals with both hands."
Ashblade gave the faintest nod.
"She'll never know I was here."
"She doesn't have to," Shin replied. "But she'll know why the fire never reached the village."
Ashblade vanished again without a sound.
— SYSTEM NOTIFICATION —
[ Double Agent Success – Code: Silent Fang ]
Target: Baron Thornharrow Operation – Neutralized
Village Threat: Eliminated
Coin Preservation: +2
Family Link Maintained: ✔
Passive Unlocked: "Shadowblood" – S.I.N gains resistance against future bounty attempts from nobles with known Ashblade connections
It was supposed to be a "closed auction."
A secret event held in the underbelly of Velcrest, a noble-controlled port city where laws bent to coin and cruelty.
Inside the dim hall, gilded in cursed silver and iron runes, chained beings stood under spell-dampening light. Demi-humans, beastfolk, orphans, and—
At the center of it all, surrounded by buyers:
An elf.
Tall. Regal. Dignity intact despite bruises. Her white hair spilled over her shoulders like moonlight on ash. Her mouth bound with a silence seal. Her emerald eyes held fire—and grief.
"Next up," the announcer sneered, "a rare prize. Untouched, magically bound, and former nobility."
The room filled with vile murmurs and eager bidding hands.
Until.
Flash—
The auction lights flickered.
Then died.
The chains unlocked.
A coin dropped onto the stage.
"This event has been canceled due to violations against civilized law."
Shadows fell like knives.
Veilbinders dropped illusions.
Echo-smoke erupted across the hall.
The buyers panicked.
The guards drew weapons.
But before any could react, the slaves were gone.
Vanished.
Only the announcer remained—his clothes gone, tied upside-down from the chandelier with a sign stapled to his chest:
"I sell people. I regret it deeply."
— SYSTEM NOTIFICATION —
[ S.I.N Black Tier Operation: "Auction Shutdown" – Success ]
Slaves Freed: 48
Auction House Erased: ✔
Nobles Exposed: 4
Coin Sentiment in Port Velcrest: +++
Back Alley, Post-Extraction Site 3
The freed elf woman sat beneath a conjured heater, sipping water. Her chains were gone, but her silence seal had left her voice hoarse.
An O.S. Veilbinder knelt beside her, wrapping a thermal cloak around her shoulders.
"You're safe now."
The elf looked at the black coin in her hand—light flickering over the smooth obsidian face.
"You're… not just rebels," she whispered.
The O.S. smiled softly. "No. We're just people who decided silence wasn't acceptable anymore."
The elf's voice was quiet.
"Can I… join you?"
The O.S. blinked, then touched her communicator crystal.
"Requesting evaluation clearance: potential candidate. Strong magical presence, tactical calm, former noble education."
A pause.
[ Approval granted. Recruit as O.S. Cadet – Evaluation period pending. Codename to be assigned. Escort to HQ. ]
Later that night, as she donned her provisional black garb, the elf woman spoke to herself in the mirror.
"No more chains.
No more auctions.
No more watching others suffer."
She held the coin to her chest and whispered:
"You saved me. Now let me help save others."
— SYSTEM NOTIFICATION —
[ New O.S. Candidate: "Aurellia Silversong" ]
Role: Support-Mage / Language Decoder / Cultural Liaison
Specialty: Magical legal codebreaking, elvish cryptorunes, calming field auras
Passive Skill Gained: Voice Returner – allies near her resist silence, emotional suppression, and obedience charms
Status: Under Evaluation by O.S. Command / Agent E
Aurellia Silversong had seen what slavery did to a person.
Now she walked willingly into its jaws.
Dressed in muted noblewear, with a translator sigil humming at her throat and a fake identity embedded in her coin-chip, she posed as a potential buyer. Beside her, O.S. Veilbinder Nyen wore the illusion of a merchant's assistant, quiet and forgettable.
This auction, held beneath the Sable Spire Cathedral, was far more discreet than the last.
But something felt wrong.
Too polished.
Too silent.
No scent of fear from the "product."
No visible guards.
Only smiles.
They reached the inner chamber where the auction would begin—only to have the illusion collapse around them.
Trigger Glyph Activated.
"Welcome, S.I.N rats."
Cursed light erupted. Sigils flared.
Both Aurellia and Nyen were struck with a spell field that suppressed coin signals.
Chains of hexed silver whipped around them, and masked bounty enforcers emerged from the walls.
"You should've stayed quiet, Silversong."
"We were never quiet," Aurellia spat.
Nyen blinked, her cloak's fade-weave failing. Her limbs slowed. Her lips bled from biting down on her own tongue to stay focused.
Aurellia screamed a name that didn't exist—her coin-pulse jammed. No backup.
Then.
A gust.
A silence.
A heartbeat skipped.
And suddenly—
All the lights went out.
Enter: The Pink-Haired Shadow
They didn't see her arrive.
Only the aftermath.
One bounty hunter fell—his throat numb, blade clattering.
Another collapsed with his own chain wrapped tight around his chest, spell seal sizzling.
Then—
A girl stepped into the flickering light, pink hair tied in a loose ponytail.
Wearing the unmarked Shadow Mask.
Her cloak shimmered with faint runes of silence.
She never spoke.
Only pointed.
Aurellia. Nyen. Move.
Aurellia stared—half in awe, half in disbelief.
"A Shadow… with pink hair?"
The girl nodded once.
Then turned to face a dozen more enemies as Aurellia and Nyen bolted for the exit tunnel.
— SYSTEM NOTIFICATION —
[ Unofficial Rescue Protocol Triggered: Agent Unknown – Code: Shadow 12 ]
Status: Black Tier Operative
Age Estimate: 15
Codename: "Echo Petal"
Confirmed Skills:
– Multi-point silent takedowns
– Adaptive magi-thread cloak
– Micro-coordination field for allied pathing
Passive Trait: "Innocent Presence" – enemies underestimate her until it's too late
As the three emerged into the moonlight on a rooftop above the cathedral, the Shadow finally spoke:
"HQ said you were rookies. You held up okay."
Aurellia blinked. "You… saved us."
The girl simply offered them each a folded slip of black paper.
"You don't owe me. You owe the coin.
Now next time… don't walk into bait without a backup plan."
She vanished over the ledge before Aurellia could even thank her.
Back at HQ, Shin reviewed the mission log.
He tapped his tea once, letting it cool.
"Looks like Petal disobeyed her quiet route again," he said dryly.
"And saved two agents."
Agent F chuckled nearby.
"Should we reprimand her?"
Shin smirked faintly.
"Give her a new cloak. She's outgrowing the old one."
— SYSTEM NOTIFICATION —
[ Mission Success: "Cathedral Bait" ]
Agents Survived: ✔
Coin Jam Field Mapped: ✔
Shadow Petal Promoted to Field-Class Tier I
Passive Buff Gained: Shadow Trust – All rescued O.S. gain +10% resistance to fear-based magic when operating with Shadow support nearby