?Nightblade walked to an alleyway before creating tendrils of shadow falling from above him, from the ceiling of the building he stood next to. In the lack of light, the shadow tendrils were strong even without having to waste a lot of Essence, and they were much better than using Shadow Escape to appear up there.

Shadow Escape used much more Shadow Essence and he couldn’t spend something so precious just to get to the rooftop.

He grabbed onto the tendrils of shadow and pulled himself up to the rooftop, before gently standing on it. Shadows beneath his feet muffled all sounds he could make on the roof.

The house he had to get to was the 4th one from where he stood. The roofs of all these houses were slanted and tiled. If he wasn’t careful, he could slip on and make a mess of his mission.

‘Where the hell are those bloody fools?’ he wondered, getting angry at the lack of fire. It had been 10 minutes since everyone had entered the shop. He had expected to see fire after they entered. No, he was depending on seeing the fire. ꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛʀs, ᴘʟᴀs ᴠsᴛ N(o)vl(ꜰ)ire.nt

He was hoping to play around the panic the fire would cause and slit the man’s throat before he was aware of what was happening. And yet, there was no fire.

‘Screw it,’ he thought. He would have to do it himself it seemed. It was late at night, so he simply hoped the man was asleep. That would make it all so much easier.

He stepped into the room, laying low to balance himself, keeping all of his senses wide open to see the small movement and hear the smallest sound. To his surprise, he saw a flash of silvery white light from outside the shop.

‘Did those idiots finally do it?’ the man thought, but no. There was no fire. What had the white light been? What could make such a white light? Light essence didn’t make that color for certain. Moonlight Essence maybe?

He didn’t need to think about that right now. Right now, his job was to kill the man and get out as quickly as he—

The Nightblade froze in place. Not out of his own volition, but something had caught him. What was it? It was dark, he couldn’t see it. Shadows? How had he not noticed shadows moving?

A hand fell around his shoulders and a man leaned in. “Let’s go somewhere else, shall we?” the voice said. “We shouldn’t disturb the people that are sleeping.”

The Nightblade didn’t know what had happened, but in one instant, light filled the world around him. He was found.

Without thinking, the man activated Shadow Movement, falling into the shadow, drowning in the blackness around him. There was no sight, no scent, no sound. Only him and his fear.

He had been caught. Who had that been? Another assassin? It was a good thing they didn’t kill him immediately. That man would curse his mother for not teaching him to kill when he had the opportunity.

He could feel the shadows he could leave through and could see the outside world, as if through a layer of black haze, black fog.

He saw the silhouette of a figure.

A metallic dagger appeared on his hand and he moved.

Moving here wasn’t possible, except when leaving. That, he could do with a thought. With a thought, his body was propelled upward, flying out of one of the shadows. As he appeared, he stabbed the—

The man was gone. He had just been here and he was gone. Where had he gone? The Nightblade turned around looking for him. Where could the man hide in this bright light?

Everything around him was as clear as daylight. The stones, the grass, the sand, then trees the… ocean? What was going on? Why was there an ocean here? Where was he?’

He looked around and realized he was near the beach. Nothing made sense.

He looked up and things stopped making sense even more.

Bright noon sun hung in the sky, in the middle of the night. How was the sun in the sky when it was the middle of the night? How could that possibly happen?

“I’ll clear up the confusion,” a voice spoke from behind the Nightblade. Nightblade spun, the metal dagger already making its way toward the source of the voice.

Ning smiled as the dagger missed him by a large margin. “Do you want me to answer you?” he asked.

Nightblade frowned. What was going on? An illusion?

The young man was standing clearly to his left, but his sound… came from the right, the place where his dagger had just passed through.

“Confusing, isn’t it?” Ning asked. “An interesting usage of Sound Essence.”

Nightblade frowned. Sound Essence? Did such a thing even exist?

No, questions came later. First, he needed to kill. Another dagger appeared out of nowhere, and directly flew toward the young man. The metal flashed for a split second in the sunlight before hitting his opponent in the…

The young man caught his dagger between his two fingers.

“Interesting choice, metal daggers. Most people here only use weapons made out of Essence, so it is good to see,” Ning said. “Do you want it back?”

Before Nightblade could even possibly answer, he heard a swish by his side. No, he felt it. Then, something warm trickled the side of his face.

He raised his left hand to touch it and saw blood. His cheek had been cut and he had barely felt it. He looked back up, feeling dread.

“Do you know who I am?” the young man asked.

Nightblade shuddered. He slowly shook his head.

“I’m the man you came to kill,” the young man said. “The owner of the shop. I’m Ning Ruogong, and unfortunately for you, I’m going to have to kill you now.”

Nightblade did not hesitate. He used Shadow Movement and fell into the—

Nothing happened.

He tried again, and nothing happened yet again.

Thick black shadows came out from underneath Ning.

“Shadows are strong and versatile,” Ning said. “But they’re nothing when compared to Darkness itself.”