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Chapter 3 - CITY OF SHADOWS — PART THREE: The Silent Reign

Rain hammered against the glass towers of Lumeris.

The city glowed dimly beneath a thunderstorm — as if the sky itself feared what walked its streets.

It had been three days since the 7th District vanished.

Not destroyed. Erased.

No one spoke about it, but everyone knew. The Hunters called it a "Mana Collapse." The people whispered a different name — "The Eclipse."

Somewhere deep within the ruins of the old subway tunnels, Kael sat on a cracked stone throne, his eyes closed. Shadows coiled around him like snakes, whispering fragments of lost voices. His aura pulsed like a heartbeat — slow, steady, consuming.

Across the room, six figures knelt — each wearing a mask carved from obsidian.

> "My lord," one said, voice trembling. "The Guild has raised your bounty. Two hundred million. Dead or alive."

Kael didn't open his eyes.

> "Alive? Then they're still pretending they can control me."

He rose slowly. The room darkened as the shadows drew closer, thickening around his form until he looked less human, more like a being carved from the void.

> "What about the eastern sector?" he asked.

"Fallen," another masked one replied. "The Hunters are retreating. Your aura devoured the barrier."

Kael walked forward, dragging his fingers along the wall. The stone rotted under his touch.

> "Good," he murmured. "Let them run. Fear feeds the shadows."

Lightning cracked above the city, and for a second, his reflection appeared in the broken window — faint red eyes glowing through the storm.

---

Meanwhile, in the Hunter Guild's central tower, chaos reigned.

Reports flooded in: corrupted districts, missing agents, unstable Gates.

Lira stood before the Guild's Commander, her face pale.

> "It's Kael," she said. "He's building something. A legion."

The Commander slammed his fist on the table.

> "He's one man!"

"Not anymore," she whispered. "He's becoming something else. The shadows follow him."

A silence followed. The only sound was rain tapping against the glass.

Then the Commander said, "Send the Seraph Unit. Every last one."

Lira froze. "That's suicide."

> "So is doing nothing," the Commander said. "If Kael becomes unstoppable, there won't be a city left to save."

---

Night fell.

The Seraph Unit — the Guild's elite — descended into the lower tunnels with glowing blades and prayer seals.

They didn't find Kael immediately.

They found silence.

Bodies.

Hundreds of them.

Eyes open. Not a single wound.

Just… drained — of light, of life, of soul.

Then came the voice.

> "Tell me…"

A whisper echoed through the darkness, calm and emotionless.

> "…how do you kill what doesn't fear death?"

The torches went out.

Only the leader's blade glowed — faintly.

Then a hand reached from behind him, resting on his shoulder. Cold. Heavy.

> "You came to hunt shadows."

The voice was close now — almost in his ear.

"Instead… you became one."

A flare of aura tore through the tunnel — a massive explosion of darkness that consumed everything in sight. The shockwave reached the surface. Buildings trembled. The sky turned red.

From a distance, Lira saw it — a single dark beam erupting from beneath the city, followed by silence.

Then… the sound of footsteps.

Kael emerged from the underground ruins, his cloak torn, his body steaming with aura. In his hand — the leader's glowing blade, cracked and flickering.

He looked up at the city above, eyes faintly glowing.

> "Light dies fast," he said quietly. "But darkness… learns to wait."

And as he vanished into the storm, the Guild tower's lights began to flicker one by one — until only one floor remained lit: the Commander's office.

Inside, a message was carved into the wall —

written not with ink, but with aura burn.

> "The city falls at dawn."

And the clock struck midnight.

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