Eliath. The Tower of Zenith.
At the highest level of the capital, where most would need permission from the royal family just to breathe the air, Commander Liora stood on the balcony overlooking the western horizon.
She was a legend.
The kind of knight bards sang about. The kind of warrior who once held back an entire army alone during the last Rift War.
And right now, she was gripping the railing hard enough to crack stone.
Something stirred in the wind.
Not magic.
Not divine energy.
But presence.
A weight pressing down from the sky like an invisible hand. Not trying to crush them—but to remind them they were beneath it.
Behind her, the elite gathered.
Ten knights. Ten living weapons, each bearing the mark of the Zenith Order.
All of them silent.
All of them still.
Because they felt it too.
One of them finally spoke. "That thing last night. The scar in the sky… was that a message?"
Liora didn't respond.
Her eyes narrowed. Breath slow.
"No," she said finally. "That was a warning."
Elsewhere. In a high temple.
She paused mid-step.
The girl in white.
The saint.
The one the city adored. The one they forgave. The one who betrayed him.
A breeze passed through the stained-glass windows and made the candle flames flicker. But it wasn't the wind that made her stop.
It was the sudden, gut-deep wrongness crawling up her spine.
The hair on her arms stood up.
Her heart skipped once.
Twice.
She touched her chest as if expecting it to stop altogether.
Someone… was thinking of her.
No.
Not someone.
Him.
She looked toward the horizon, even though she didn't know why.
But part of her did.
The part that never stopped fearing the day he'd come back.
Her lips trembled, but she whispered the name anyway.
"…Haesoo."
---
The Dungeon Beneath Drelos Ridge
The cave opened like a wound in the earth. The deeper I stepped, the quieter everything became.
No birds. No wind. Just the sound of my boots scraping against ancient stone.
It suited me.
This place hadn't seen light in decades. But darkness?
Darkness had made a home here.
Like me.
My hand drifted to the hilt wrapped in cloth on my back.
Not yet.
This wasn't a war.
Not yet.
This was something smaller. More dangerous.
This was me remembering how to kill.
The first monster lunged from the dark. Insectoid. Rift-born. Two mouths. Seven legs.
It screamed.
I didn't.
One cut.
One step.
Gone.
Ash and silence.
Another.
And another.
Three. Four. Five.
Each one faster. Each death cleaner.
And every kill made it easier to breathe.
I didn't need a system.
Didn't need a glowing interface or quests or fate.
I needed only one thing: clarity.
And here, in the dark, that's what I found.
---
A few hours later.
Bottom floor. Final chamber.
The final guardian loomed.
Not the biggest thing I've fought.
But it was smart.
It didn't charge me.
It watched.
And then—it bowed.
Not in submission.
But in recognition.
Even this thing understood.
I wasn't here to level up.
I wasn't here to conquer.
I was here to remember.
To awaken the part of me they tried to bury.
I drew the cloth from my blade. Slowly.
The shadows in the room recoiled.
The creature hissed. Not in fear. But reverence.
"I'm not your enemy," I said quietly.
"I'm theirs."
Then I moved.
A single slash. No wasted effort.
The Riftspawn vanished.
No explosion. No scream.
Just… gone.
---
I walked back up through the dungeon. One floor at a time. Slowly. Calm.
By the time I stepped back into the moonlight, the clouds had rolled in.
A storm was forming over the capital.
Fitting.
The girl who watched me fall still walked their streets like she belonged.
The knights who let it happen still stood tall like they earned peace.
Let them feel it.
Let them all feel it.
Not pain.
Not yet.
Just that creeping cold. That invisible weight pressing on their lungs.
That feeling you get when the shadow watching you isn't gone… it just hasn't moved yet.
---
Final Scene – Back in Eliath.
In the Council Chamber, a candle blew out for no reason.
Commander Liora raised her head.
The Saint nearly dropped her prayerbook.
And deep below the city, in an ancient vault where the sealed records of the last war were kept, a forgotten sword whispered.
It said one word.
"Haesoo."
---
Three days.
That's all I needed.
While the world slept in its lie of peace, I buried myself in the forgotten dungeon east of Eliath—no name, no map, just jagged stone and cursed things better left untouched.
Perfect for a shadow reborn.
When I emerged, I had new gifts.
---
[Skill Acquired – Shadow Drift]
Become invisible to all senses when standing in natural or magical shadows. Movement is completely silent.
[Skill Acquired – Phantom Step]
Short-range blink through darkness. Leaves no magical trace.
[Skill Acquired – Abyssal Echo]
Mimic any voice heard recently, perfect tone and cadence. Can be used mid-combat or during infiltration.
[Skill Acquired – Severance]
Ignores armor and enchantments. Slashes through spiritual wards and mana defenses. Fatal when aimed with intent.
---
And tonight, I would use them.
The chapel at the heart of Eliath was gold-trimmed and holy in name only. Marble polished so bright it reflected heaven, while shadows festered beneath it. I walked those shadows now.
My body a ghost.
My will a blade.
---
She was here.
Sitting alone at the altar, hands folded in mock reverence. Dressed in white, eyes closed, whispering hollow prayers to gods she didn't believe in.
The same girl who said "I'm sorry" as she condemned me.
The same girl who walked away clean while I bled out in the mud.
She knelt in her role. Priestess. Saint. Savior.
Liar.
I stood behind her before she even realized she wasn't alone.
My voice was quiet.
But my words weren't.
> "You prayed with those lips the night you betrayed me, too."
Her breath caught.
Her eyes opened, wide and white.
She turned—too slow.
I was already moving.
[Severance] activated in a blink.
A black slash traced the air—
Clean.
Final.
Her head slipped from her shoulders without a sound. Blood didn't even hit the floor before I caught her by the hair.
The holy aura around her died in a heartbeat.
Her body fell forward, still kneeling.
It looked like she was still praying.
I stepped over the corpse, silent, calm.
Then I disappeared into the shadows once more.
---
Ten minutes later – Eliath's central square
The great bell tower chimed midnight.
A guard stumbled backwards, hand covering his mouth, eyes wide in horror.
On the bronze gates of the chapel square…
Her head had been nailed.
Right between the archway.
Hair still swaying.
Eyes frozen in shock.
Blood running down the white marble like ink on parchment.
Above it, scrawled in dark mana, five simple words burned into the stone:
> "I remember what you did."
---
Elsewhere
I didn't wait for the screams.
Didn't watch the panic.
Didn't bask in the chaos.
I was already walking the alleyways of the lower ring. My cloak pulled tight. My boots light.
They would scream.
They would mourn.
They would ask who could've done it.
But deep down?
They already knew.
The shadow had returned.
And it was only just beginning.
Continuation – After the Message
The city never slept easy after that night.
They locked the cathedral.
Draped it in white silk.
Pretended it didn't happen.
But the blood on the marble never came out.
And the words—those five words—kept echoing through the streets:
> "I remember what you did."
Rumors bloomed like rot.
They spread from alley to alley, tavern to noble court.
Some said a curse had awakened in the city.
Others claimed it was a long-dead assassin returned from hell itself.
One drunken knight swore he saw a man in black flames walking the sky.
They gave him names—none of them mine.
The Black Flame Reaper.
The Shadow Who Remembers.
Vengeance Incarnate.
I didn't care what they called me.
As long as they feared me.
As long as she stayed nailed to that gate.
---
That night, I returned to the forgotten chamber beneath the crumbled watchtower.
The shadows knew me now. Embraced me.
A low chime rang in my mind—clean, decisive.
> [Mission Complete.]
> [You have unlocked the Familiar Summoning Function.]
A summoning circle shimmered beneath my feet, drawn in lines of glowing red ink that pulsed like a heartbeat. The air turned heavy—thick with power.
> [Would you like to summon your first familiar?]
> "Do it."
The ground cracked.
Black fire spiraled upward, coiling like a serpent. Chains burst from the center, made of smoke and obsidian, laced with runes too old to name.
The circle burned brighter.
And from it… she rose.
A small figure, delicate but fierce.
First a silhouette—then detail: pale skin like fallen snow, short tousled hair darker than night, glowing crimson eyes, and little curved horns poking through her bangs. Wings, sharp and batlike, unfurled behind her.
She floated an inch off the ground, cloak billowing, tail curling like a question mark.
Her mouth curved into a mischievous smile.
She looked… barely older than a child.
But the aura around her was ancient.
The chains snapped. She landed gently.
Looked up at me.
And in a soft, sing-song voice, she said:
> "Daddy~?"