Chapter 9: City of Cracks
The city was breaking.
Not from war or flame, but from something deeper—something that could not be seen, only felt. The streets that once pulsed with hollow order now trembled under the first stirrings of chaos.
It began quietly.
A merchant dropped his wares in the middle of the market. His hands trembled, eyes wide with a confusion he couldn't name. When the crowd demanded he move, he screamed. Not out of anger—out of fear.
A child nearby froze, tears falling down her cheeks for the first time in her life. She didn't even know what sadness was.
Within hours, the calm hum of the City of Lirath turned to a dissonant roar of emotions—grief, laughter, rage, longing. It was the sound of humanity rediscovering itself.
From a rooftop high above, Aiden watched as the awakening spread like wildfire. The night air carried voices of confusion and wonder, but also panic. His cloak billowed in the cold wind, and his reflection flickered faintly in the broken glass of a nearby window.
"System Notice: Emotional Field expansion at 31%. Sin Core resonance stable. Heart Vein Realm fluctuation—contained."
He exhaled slowly. "It's accelerating faster than I predicted."
His Sin Core throbbed beneath his chest like a second heart, each pulse echoing with hundreds of foreign emotions feeding into him. Happiness, sorrow, anger—they crashed inside him like waves. He clenched his jaw. Too much, too fast.
He knew the danger. Emotional overload could fracture his core, destroy his sanity. But as he stared down at the people rediscovering what it meant to feel, a faint smile tugged at his lips.
"It's working."
But not everyone saw it as salvation.
Inside the Mind Guild's tower, the leaders watched the city's chaos unfold through psychic screens. Dozens of emotionless faces, eyes glowing faint blue, mirrored the same cold intent.
"Subject A-001—code name Aiden Varos," one of them said, his tone devoid of inflection. "Initiate Purge Protocol."
"Confirmed," another replied. "All Sentinels will deploy. Emotional contamination must not spread."
Across the city, the night trembled. Mechanical echoes filled the streets as black-cloaked Sentinels moved with perfect synchronization, blades gleaming under the dim glow of moonlight.
Aiden felt it immediately—forty-seven distinct energy signatures, each one sharp and hollow.
He turned his head slightly. "So they finally came."
His shadow lengthened across the rooftop as crimson sparks danced around him. The power of his Sin Core reacted to their presence, whispering like a voice at the edge of his consciousness.
"Enemies approaching. Emotional frequency: void. Recommended action—corruption infusion."
He smirked. "Let's try something new."
In a blink, he vanished from the rooftop. The wind screamed where he once stood.
When he reappeared, it was in the heart of the market district—right in front of the first squad of Sentinels. The crowd fled in panic as the soldiers formed a circle, their movements precise, lifeless.
Aiden walked forward slowly, his boots crunching against the cracked stone.
"Emotionless shells," he murmured. "Do you even remember what it feels like to be human?"
None answered.
Their leader raised his blade—a weapon humming with suppressed psychic energy—and lunged.
Aiden didn't move. He simply raised his hand, and the air around him distorted. The attack froze mid-swing as the world bent under the pressure of his Emotional Field.
"Emotion Detected: Fear."
"Sin Core absorption: In progress."
The Sentinel's eyes widened as color bled into his irises for the first time in years. He gasped, trembling violently before collapsing in silence. The others hesitated—a flicker of uncertainty in their mechanical rhythm.
That was all Aiden needed.
He exploded forward, his body moving like a blur of light and shadow. Every strike was fluid—precise, beautiful, devastating. He wasn't fighting to kill. He was fighting to awaken.
Each time his aura touched an enemy, something inside them cracked. A flash of emotion—a tear, a scream, a flicker of humanity—escaped before they fell.
"Your silence," he whispered, catching a blade and shattering it with his bare hand, "isn't peace. It's a cage."
The System chimed.
"Sin Core resonance increased. Emotional Field expanded to 43 meters. Heart Vein stabilization—19%."
The last Sentinel tried to strike him from behind, but Aiden's senses flared before the blade could connect. He turned, eyes burning gold, and the emotionless soldier froze.
"You can't kill what's already broken," Aiden said softly.
He touched the man's chest. The blade fell.
A wave of red light burst outward, swallowing the entire street. When it faded, only silence remained—broken masks scattered across the ground, and in their place, people trembling, crying, breathing again.
Aiden stood among them, the crimson moon hanging overhead.
He closed his eyes and felt the rhythm of thousands of heartbeats below him. Each one echoed within his soul, feeding the Sin Core's growing power. But along with strength came something else—a whisper at the edge of his mind.
A memory.
The first time he had lost his emotions. The sterile white room. The machine that tore his heart apart in the name of control. The voice of the Mind Guild leader saying, "Emotion is the disease. Purity is the cure."
His eyes opened, burning brighter. "You were wrong."
The wind shifted, carrying the scent of smoke and tears. In the distance, the Mind Guild's tower loomed like a black spear against the sky.
He turned toward it. "You tried to erase humanity. Now, I'll remind the world what it means to feel."
The System pulsed again:
"Sin Core resonance +8%. Emotional Synchronization expanding."
Aiden walked through the ruins, past those newly awakened. They reached for him—not to worship, but to follow. To remember.
And as the storm clouds rolled in, lightning tracing the cracks in the city's skyline, one name began to spread across the streets like a whisper of rebellion.
The Emotionless Hunter.
The one who felt everything.