Killmark did not operate in anger. He moved with intention, every step calibrated to test a soul's structure, not just break it.
Sykaion had passed his first trial.
Now came the second.
At midnight, the brass feather dislodged itself from the shop's door.
It didn't fall.
It flew, spiraling through the air like a wounded bird before embedding in the cobblestone with a soundless weight no metal should carry.
Zeraphine was the first to see it.
Her scan showed no signature.
No heat. No mass. Just... a presence.
"It's a marker," she said. "He's claimed this place."
Arlyss drew her blade. "Then let's make it cost him."
Inside, Sykaion didn't react.
He stood at the ledger, pen unmoving.
But his hand trembled.
Because the System had just whispered something it had never said before:
> DEATH UNLOCKED: LEDGER ENTRY INCOMPLETE
DO YOU WISH TO FINALIZE LAST THOUGHT?
He stared at the prompt.
Then wrote:
> You cannot assassinate belief.
The System didn't respond.
Because Killmark already had.
A client burst through the door.
Bleeding. Eyes wide.
"I—I didn't make the trade. I lied about the debt. And now—now my daughter's voice is gone. She can't speak. Not even in dreams."
Zeraphine caught him.
He collapsed.
And Arlyss whispered, "He's turned your system against itself."
Outside, whispers bloomed like rot.
"Belief is debt."
"Belief makes you vulnerable."
"Belief is the currency of cowards."
Sykaion turned to the wall.
The Articles pulsed dimly.
He whispered, "Then it's time we risked more than words."
He walked outside.
No guards.
No shield.
Just himself.
He stood by the embedded feather.
Spoke not to the shadows, but to the watchers—those huddled in alley cracks and rooftops, those who feared what they were starting to believe.
"I'm still here," he said. "If belief is the debt you hate, then take your payment."
A silence followed.
So deep it hummed.
Then a voice—Killmark's—cut through it. Not loud. Just... final.
"You've inverted your worth. Now you owe me."
A shape descended.
Fast.
Precise.
And the chapter ended in the moment before the blade touched skin.