The night was alive with tension.
Korir felt it in his bones—the weight of the moment, the silent anticipation before a storm.
Zero stood at the edge of the fire escape, blade gleaming, breath steady.
Eight hunters surrounded them—silent, relentless, lethal.
The leader, the one who had fired the harpoon, tilted their head slightly. No mask. No expression. Only cold, calculating eyes.
Korir's breath hitched. They weren't human.
Or if they were, they had long since abandoned what made them so.
A whisper cut through the air. A single, sharp command from the leader.
The hunters moved.
Fast.
They didn't rush like common thugs. There was no wasted motion, no hesitation—just pure, perfect synchronization.
A hunter leaped from above—blade flashing.
Zero… smirked.
His body shifted. A blur.
The knife was already moving before Korir could blink.
A flash of silver—a clean cut.
The hunter's wrist snapped backward, disarmed mid-air.
Another hunter lunged from the side. Zero sidestepped effortlessly, twisting his wrist—his blade found flesh.
The second hunter collapsed, blood spraying across the metal railing.
"What… the hell?"
Korir had seen fast. But this?
Zero wasn't moving like a human.
It was like he already knew what they would do.
The next attacker struck from behind—silent as death.
Zero didn't even turn around.
His foot slammed backward, hitting the attacker's knee before the blade could touch him.
A sickening CRACK.
The hunter screamed as they collapsed.
Korir barely had time to process that three were already down.
The remaining five didn't hesitate.
They surged forward at once.
Korir tensed. There's no way he can handle them all at—
Then he saw it.
The air around Zero… shifted.
A flicker of blue light.
"That's not normal."
Zero exhaled.
His eyes flashed.
The world blurred.
And then—
He disappeared.
Not a dodge. Not a step.
He was just—gone.
Korir's breath caught in his throat.
"What…?"
The hunters hesitated for half a second.
And that was all Zero needed.
He reappeared behind them.
A whirlwind of silver and motion.
The first hunter didn't even get to react. Zero's knife slit their throat in a single clean motion.
The second turned—too slow. A flash of steel.
Two down.
The last three faltered.
Zero tilted his head. Mocking.
"Come on," he whispered. "I thought you were hunters."
The leader didn't flinch.
Instead, they raised a hand.
Korir saw the shift in the air.
A distortion.
"Not good."
Zero moved.
But so did the leader.
And then—the world snapped.
Zero froze.
For the first time, he hesitated.
Korir felt something press down on the air itself.
Like reality was suddenly being bent—forced to obey something else.
"A power?"
The three remaining hunters moved instantly.
Zero gritted his teeth. "Tch."
His body flickered—trying to move, but slower.
One hunter's blade found his side.
Korir acted without thinking.
His body moved before his mind did.
And then—he felt it.
A pull. A whisper in his blood.
Something inside him reacted.
The shadows… moved.
For a moment—**just a moment—**he saw them bend.
Not just from the moonlight.
Not just a trick of the night.
They shifted toward him.
And the next thing he knew—
Zero was free.
The world snapped back into motion.
Zero exhaled sharply, twisting his body mid-motion.
His knife found its mark—the attacker's neck.
The final two tried to retreat—too late.
Zero didn't let them.
Three seconds.
Two more bodies hit the ground.
Korir barely processed what he had just done.
His fingers trembled. The shadows around him flickered before settling back into place.
Zero wiped his blade on a fallen hunter's coat. "Neat trick, rookie."
Korir stared at him.
"You… killed eight of them."
Zero shrugged. "They were slow."
"That's slow?"
The leader—the only one left—still hadn't moved.
Zero's eyes sharpened. "Tch. Figures you'd be different."
The leader tilted their head. "You've improved, Armand."
Zero stiffened.
Korir caught it. That name.
"Armand."
Not Zero.
Armand.
Korir saw Zero's fingers tighten around his blade.
"You talk too much," Zero muttered.
The leader took one step forward.
Korir felt something heavy press down on his lungs.
Like the entire world was reacting to this person's presence.
Zero narrowed his eyes.
"...Korir."
Korir flinched. "Y-yeah?"
Zero didn't take his eyes off the leader. "You need to run."
Korir's stomach dropped. "What? But—"
Zero's grip on his knife tightened.
"That's not a request."
And then—the leader finally moved.