Chapter 13 – in the Dark
The fog had not dispersed.
It had learned.
Blake realized that the moment his steps stopped echoing.
Sound was being eaten—not muffled, not bent, but erased. Every breath he took vanished a fraction of a second too early, as if the air itself refused to remember him. The aftertaste of the Counter Ambush still clung to his muscles. Blood. Iron. Burnt ozone from overused movement techniques.
He slowed.
This was no longer pursuit.
This was coordination.
"Don't rush," Blake murmured, more to himself than the system. "They want that."
A shadow detached itself from a collapsed pillar twenty meters ahead.
Not hostile.
Not yet.
"Relax," a gravelly voice said. "If I wanted you dead, you wouldn't have heard me breathe."
Blake's fingers twitched near the hilt of his shortblade.
"Kane Wilder," Blake said.
The man stepped into partial light—broad shoulders, scar-lined jaw, armor patched so many times it had lost its original color. His presence pressed outward, subtle but heavy. A veteran.
"You remember names well," Kane replied. "Good habit. Keeps you alive longer."
"Or gets you killed faster."
Kane smiled without humor. "Depends whose name you say out loud."
The system pulsed faintly in Blake's peripheral vision.
> [Observation Detected]
Threat Level: Conditional
"Three teams," Kane continued, eyes scanning the fog. "Two assassins. One handler. Military-style spacing. Not amateurs."
Blake exhaled slowly. "Hunter Association?"
"Not officially." Kane's voice dropped. "That's worse."
A second presence flickered into existence above them.
Not physically.
Spatially.
"Your stance is wrong," a woman's voice said coolly. "If you pivot like that, your left lung is exposed."
Blake reacted instantly—rolling, blade flashing upward.
Empty air.
Then she appeared, perched on a fractured beam like she'd always been there.
Aria Voss.
Slim armor. Precision lines. Eyes sharp enough to cut intent.
"Academy," Blake muttered.
"Graduated," Aria corrected. "Barely."
Kane's jaw tightened. "You brought an academy bloodhound into this?"
"I followed the bodies," Aria replied calmly. "They led to him." She nodded at Blake. "You're louder than you think."
Blake almost laughed.
Almost.
Another system flicker.
> [Multiple Named Entities Registered]
Synergy Potential: Unstable
The fog shifted again.
This time, it answered.
A blade slid from the mist, grazing Kane's shoulder. Blood sprayed.
"Rook," Kane growled.
The assassin stepped into view at last—lean, masked, eyes empty of urgency.
"Blake," Rook Vale said softly. "You survived."
"Disappointed?"
"No," Rook replied. "Interested."
Four names.
Four intentions.
And somewhere beyond the fog, a handler was watching, smiling, and deciding which of them would die first.
The hunt had evolved.
So had Blake.
And this time—
He wasn't alone.