Fear is a process that goes through different stages before it finally dies.
Initially, it makes a lot of noise and draws attention to itself with its loudness, then it becomes less intrusive by talking softly, and finally, it gets to the point where it knows how to wait silently for long periods.
The rumors about BLACK LOTUS at first were still not the most spectacular ones. They were actually warnings—if anything, quiet ones, passed and not discussed openly through whispers and broken glances. BLACK LOTUS territory had become a place that people avoided, unless they were explicitly invited. Not because it had the strongest power.
Quite the opposite.
It was the least predictable.
The decline of the very strong and powerful took place through the way footsteps were heard, and I felt it in the gradually fading control of our area. I felt it in the way footsteps slowed nearer to our borders. In the way shadows were lingering longer than they should have, as if even the darkness was hesitating to cross without getting a green light first.
The system had started to adapt an overtly subtle way around us.
Things that were subtle. Routes changing. The spawning of monsters becoming fewer in number around the areas that were controlled by us and becoming greater in number in other places. It was as if the world itself was moving danger— pushing it outward, away from us.
That kind of pressure always calls for a response.
---
The first indication of the situation getting serious was the present that was given.
A human.
The corpse was delivered right at the very edge of our land, on the verge of our territory, kneeling arms tied behind its back, head down and body still. No blood. No open wounds.
Just one hovering system panel above the body.
[STATUS: TERMINATED]
CAUSE: CORE EXTRACTION
The signature was flawless,
It was that of a professional.
Dragon came only a few seconds after me, his face becoming hard while studying the dead body. "I don't think this was a gang," he said.
I said, "No, I concur. It was not a gang. It was an act of intimidation."
Akino took the last place and bowed down to the man. He was looking at the symbols that were burned on the man's chest and slowly released a breath.
"Marked Ones," he stated. "But organized."
Not harvesters.
Collectors.
A new category.
Sasha cursed quietly. Taro gritted his teeth. Rei's light flickered nervously.
Chiemi moved a bit closer to the corpse. Her attention was on the absence and not the dead body.
"There's no trace," she whispered. "The being who drew off his core exerted no resistance."
That meant force.
Force that was under control.
Power that was dangerous.
And they had put the corpse right there on purpose.
So that I could discover it.
---
The following night, the system made a move it had never done in the past.
It posed a question.
[GLOBAL ANOMALY DETECTED]
[NOTICE: HIGH-RISK ENTITIES EMERGING]
[RECOMMENDATION: ALIGN OR ELIMINATE]
To align.
Or to eradicate.
The world was limiting its choices.
---
I didn't catch any sleep.
Rather, I was atop of a half-demolished skyscraper on the periphery of our area, my shadow extended very skinny over the landscape of the city that was below me. Lights were going on and off in far-off places—fires, powers, fights. The Descent was always active.
That's when the feeling hit me.
Not the sound of steps.
But a presence.
Something touched my shadow as if a finger was tracing a scar.
I rotated slowly.
On the opposite building, a silhouette was.
No hostility.
No hiding.
They had on a long coat decorated with system symbols, a hood pulled down low, and their face was not visible. Their aura was like soft air distortion, as if the world had so much power that it could easily twist around them.
They applauded once.
Slowly.
In a controlled manner.
"Great job," they said. Their tone was gentle and leisurely. It was pretty clear that they were not trying to hide themselves. "You have changed the concept of fear into a foundation."
I stayed silent.
If you know how to wield it, silence becomes a weapon.
They chuckled. "So this is the Umb—"
"Stop," I interrupted.
Their grin was getting bigger, although it was not seen but sensed. "Alright."
They stepped forward and at once disappeared.
Reappeared a little closer—ten feet from me.
My shadow flared up without me making any conscious effort.
They stood their ground.
"Calm down," they told me. "In case I really wanted to kill you, the shadow would not even be moving and yet you wouldn't be able to feel it."
That was not a menace.
It was an assertion of truth.
"Who are you?" I demanded.
"I am a spokesperson," they answered. "Of something older than gangs. More patient than monsters."
Collectors.
I see now.
They went on, "We are establishing a network. Power acknowledges power; Order acknowledges Order. You, Kuro Ayanagi, are constructing a thing that will eventually touch us."
Then why, I inquired, did they come by themselves?
They moved their heads in the opposite direction. "Curiosity. And a kind of cortasy."
Cortasy from a being like this was more dreadful than enmity.
"You are at a very interesting intersection," they remarked. "Would you like to live as a shadow underneath a king—or would you like to go beyond the board altogether?"
The system stirred very wildly as I was imagining their words.
[HIDDEN PATH INTERACTION DETECTED]
I maintained eye contact not a single time with them.
"To speak simply."
There was a change in their tone—an edge. "Come with us. Or rather, become a factor we will get rid of."
So, There it was. I gave a smile. A tiny one. A cold one.
"I pointed out the issue, that you were trying to eliminate people," my voice was steady. "But I am still here."
Their self-control had slightly given way for the first time.
They retreated a bit.
"Take your time to think it over," they spoke. "Our next encounter will not be a dialogue."
They turned into light and shadow particles and the rooftop became desolate.
The night seemed to breathe out.
---
Akino was already there when I got back to BLACK LOTUS.
"You experienced it as well," he declared.
"Definitely."
"More than the gangs?"
"Indeed."
He was reading my expression. "Are we prepared?"
I sidelined him—the inhabitants behind the strengthened barriers, Chiemi serving the injured, Rei training the control, a loud Sasha trying to laugh the tension away.
"At your place," I furthered.
Then I replied.
"No," I said. "But they won't hesitate."
Akino was shaking his head in slow motion. "Then we won't either."
I was stepping back into the shadows when one thought reverberated through me with a horror-striking crystal-clearness:
Territory had been secured with fear.
But whatever is coming next—
Would demand a sacrifice of an entirely different nature.
Not blood.
The right, not the ability.
And then you make a choice.
But choices, once made
are tohimmer about done wrong for fear of reverberations.