The storm had turned vicious.
Wind howled through the alleys, the rain slicing sideways like knives.
Corvin stood in the street's center, hands slick with his own blood — not from injury, but from the weapon he'd crafted with it. A scarlet whip pulsed in his grip, veins of crimson light dancing up his arm.
Beside him, Marek's cursed glyphs crawled across the ground like living things — black runes burning with violet fire.
Raven tried to stand between them and Noah, her own shadows stretched thin, flickering with exhaustion.
"You shouldn't be here," she hissed.
Corvin smirked. "We go where the job sends us. And right now, the job says end the traitor."
Marek's voice was quieter, but colder. "And the one protecting him."
Raven's hand twitched — she tried to summon her blades again, but her shadow faltered, trembling. She'd already taken too many hits — a gash ran down her side, her breaths shallow and wet.
Noah's mind reeled. "What are you talking about? Traitor? To who?"
Corvin raised his whip, its edge dripping glowing blood. "You don't even remember what you are, do you? Figures. Makes this easier."
The whip snapped — faster than sound. Raven barely managed to push Noah aside before it struck, the impact exploding the wall behind them. She stumbled, fell to one knee, her shadow flickering out completely.
"Raven!"
Noah caught her just as she fell — her blood staining his hands, hot and real. Her eyes were unfocused, her voice rasped. "Run… they aren't… normal…"
He looked up, vision shaking. Corvin was already stepping forward, crimson light bleeding across the ground.
"You should've stayed hidden, Commander," Marek said flatly, curse sigils hovering around him like orbiting blades.
Commander.
The word hit like a distant echo — something buried deep.
A memory, blurred and broken, flashed — orders shouted, soldiers falling, his own voice commanding them to stand.
Then silence.
Then nothing.
The world snapped back
The storm rolled in like an omen — thick clouds swallowing the moonlight, thunder rumbling deep beneath the city.
Rain poured through the broken skyline, hissing against the asphalt.
Raven stood alone in the middle of the street.
Her shadow stretched behind her, twitching — alive, restless.
Across from her, two figures approached through the storm.
One with crimson eyes and veins glowing faintly beneath pale skin — Corvin, the Blood Manipulator, Rank 156.
The other, lean and quiet, his presence warping the air itself with faint glyphs of darkness — Marek, the Curse Wielder, Rank 199.
Both killers. Both awakened.
Both smiling.
---
"Move," Corvin called out, voice sharp but calm. "You're not the target, Raven."
"Funny," she replied, lowering her stance, "because I don't plan to move."
Rain pooled around her boots. Her shadow rippled across the water, branching like veins of black lightning.
Corvin's grin widened. "Still protecting lost causes, huh?"
"Still hiding behind your blood tricks," she shot back.
That made him laugh — a short, cruel sound. "Let's fix that attitude."
The street flashed red.
Corvin sliced his own palm — the blood floated up, twisting into blades midair. With a snap of his fingers, they fired like bullets.
Raven moved.
Her shadow surged upward — solidified — forming a massive wall that caught the projectiles mid-flight. Blood splattered and hissed as it burned through the dark barrier, each impact echoing like gunfire.
Then she vanished.
A ripple in the rain — and suddenly she was behind him, her dagger slashing in a clean horizontal arc. Corvin barely turned in time, parrying with a whip of hardened blood. Sparks burst on contact.
The impact blew both of them back, boots skidding across the soaked street.
---
Marek didn't move. He simply extended a finger.
A black rune bloomed beneath Raven's feet.
She noticed it a second too late — the curse detonated, a silent shockwave of dark energy throwing her backward. Her body hit the pavement hard, but she rolled to her feet, coughing blood.
"You're too slow," Marek said softly. His voice was like wind through bone.
He stepped forward, and the runes followed — floating in the air, orbiting him like a swarm of black serpents.
Raven threw out her hand.
Her shadow darted forward — a spear of darkness that stabbed through the rain — but Marek caught it midair. His glyphs flared, swallowing the attack, converting her shadow energy into curses of his own.
"Shadow energy converts cleanly," he murmured, fascinated. "I'll keep that."
Raven's eyes narrowed. "Over my dead body."
"That's the plan."
Corvin struck again from her blind spot — the blood whip snapping toward her head. She ducked, spun, and countered with a slash of shadow. Their weapons collided, blood and darkness spraying in all directions like liquid flame.
The ground around them cracked.
Every strike echoed like thunder.
Raven's mind raced. Two awakened opponents, both specialized in control-type powers. She couldn't overpower them — she had to outthink them.
She feinted left — her shadow feinted right.
Corvin bit the bait, swinging at the false image.
That's when Raven blinked behind him again, pressing her hand to his back — a rune of her own lighting up.
"Boom."
The explosion threw Corvin face-first into the concrete. Blood sprayed, steaming in the rain.
Marek frowned, his glyphs pulsing violently. "Enough playing around."
The runes expanded in a circle — forming a massive curse formation under the entire block.
Raven's eyes widened. "Tch… damn it."
She poured everything into her shadow — forcing it to expand beneath her, wrapping the street like a dark membrane. The curse erupted — black fire, runic sigils, tearing through buildings.
The ground shook.
Glass shattered.
A wave of cursed energy engulfed her.
For a few moments, all was silent.
Only rain, and smoke, and the faint hiss of energy cooling.
Then, from the wreckage — a whisper of movement.
Her shadow peeled away from the debris like a living creature, reforming her shape. Raven stumbled out, blood streaming down her forehead, one arm hanging limp.
Her voice trembled, but her eyes still burned. "You two really don't know when to quit."
Corvin wiped blood from his mouth, smiling wide again. "Neither do you."
They both struck at once.
Corvin's whip came from above — Marek's curses from below. Raven threw both arms out, channeling the last of her strength into her shadow — a dome of darkness exploding outward.
The entire street went black.
Lightning struck.
For a few seconds, it was chaos — just flashes of light, silhouettes moving, and the deafening sound of power colliding.
Then — silence.
When the light returned, Raven was on her knees, shadow flickering weakly. Her vision blurred — the world spinning.
Her entire side was torn open from Corvin's last strike.
She could barely breathe.
Corvin walked forward slowly, blood dripping from his fingertips.
"Strong, but not enough."
Marek followed, his tone neutral. "Step aside, Raven. Our contract isn't with you."
She lifted her head, eyes hazy but defiant. "You'll… have to kill me first."
Corvin's smirk faded. "Fine by me."
Rain hammered the Aetherion courtyard, each droplet exploding against the cracked pavement like a miniature war.
Raven moved through it like smoke, cloak whipping, blades flashing in rhythmic arcs that blurred through the stormlight.
Across from her, two figures advanced with predator patience.
Corvin stood tall and sharp-featured, a cruel smile glinting under the red streaks running down his arms. Every droplet of his blood defied gravity, swirling into hovering blades that pulsed with murderous rhythm.
Beside him, Marek's hands traced lazy circles in the air, black sigils flaring around his fingers. The ground beneath Raven cracked and warped, the air itself thickening with whispers — a curse woven into sound.
"You're faster than your file says," Corvin said, his voice smooth, almost amused. "Let's see how long that lasts."
He flicked his wrist.
A dozen blood-blades screamed through the rain. Raven twisted mid-air, cloak splitting the torrent in two as she dodged. One blade grazed her arm — the cut shallow, but the blood hissed black where it touched the rain.
"Poisoned," she hissed, eyes narrowing.
Marek's grin widened. "Corvin likes to keep things interesting."
He stomped once. A ring of crimson sigils flared beneath her feet. The moment Raven landed, a surge of cursed energy erupted upward, throwing her back into the air like a ragdoll.
But she didn't fall far. Her daggers glowed violet — then multiplied.
Dozens of shadowed replicas scattered through the storm, slashing through sigils and striking from every direction.
Corvin deflected three, four, five — but the sixth tore across his shoulder. Blood hissed against the rain, and his grin widened into something feral.
"Oh, she bites."
The blood pooling at his feet convulsed — then exploded upward into two massive crimson spears. Raven's eyes widened; she crossed her blades just in time to block the first — but the second pierced her side, sending her crashing through a wall.
She landed hard, gasping, blood spilling down her arm. Her cloak tore; her hood fell, revealing sweat-drenched hair and defiant eyes.
"Still standing," she spat, pushing herself up. "That's all that matters."
Marek's voice echoed behind her, layered with a thousand whispers. "Not for long."
He snapped his fingers.
Cursed chains erupted from the wall — black and spectral — wrapping around Raven's arms and torso. She struggled, shadows flaring to life around her — but the sigils glowed brighter, feeding off her resistance.
The rain darkened, every droplet thick with crimson reflection. Corvin walked closer, the blades around him orbiting lazily.
"Raven of the Aetherion," he said, voice almost reverent. "Rank 82, shadow combat specialist, master assassin. And yet…"
He tilted his head. "Still mortal."
He raised his hand — blood solidifying into a spear.
It glowed crimson as he prepared to throw.
Raven tried to move — but her body didn't listen.
For the first time, her shadow didn't answer her call.
She looked up — not in fear, but frustration — and whispered, "Damn it…"
The spear of blood stopped a breath from Raven's throat.
The rain froze mid-fall.
Every droplet hung in the air like glass.
Noah's heartbeat thundered once—
then the world snapped.
A crack tore through the ground beneath him, a black fissure pulsing like a living vein. Shadows bled outward, swallowing the courtyard light until only the red glow of Corvin's blades and the violet shimmer in Noah's eyes remained.
Marek felt it first—a pulse so heavy it rattled his ribs.
"Corvin…" he hissed. "That's not normal aura. That's—"
The earth erupted.
A roar—not of sound but pressure—ripped through the night. Darkness geysered upward, swirling into a vortex that devoured the rain itself. From its center, a colossal shape clawed free: fur made of smoke, veins burning ember-violet, eyes twin eclipses.
Fenrir.
The wolf of myth, reborn in shadow.
Each step it took cracked the pavement. The wind reversed, pulled toward it like the world itself was bowing. When it opened its jaws, the rain turned to mist before touching its fangs.
Corvin stumbled back, his blood armor shattering under sheer killing intent. "Impossible. He's—he's unregistered!"
Marek traced a desperate circle, sigils flaring crimson.
"Curses won't hold that thing!"
The wolf's head turned slowly toward them.
And in its eyes—they saw recognition.
Hunger.
Noah didn't move. His voice was low, frayed, edged with something feral.
"You hurt her."
Fenrir lunged.
The ground vanished under the beast's speed. Corvin threw up a blood wall—
Fenrir's paw tore through it like paper. Shockwaves exploded outward, shattering windows for a block.
Corvin spun, sending a spiral of crimson lances; Fenrir ducked, jaws snapping shut around them, crushing them into steam. Marek hurled chains of curse energy—Fenrir's roar broke them apart, scattering black fragments into the storm.
The assassins retreated toward the street. The beast followed, a blur of teeth and night.
Raven, barely conscious, reached out weakly. "Noah… stop… it'll consume you…"
But Noah didn't hear her. His expression was blank, lost somewhere between rage and nothingness. The shadow of Fenrir moved as his will—every heartbeat a command, every breath a death sentence.
Marek's eyes darted to Corvin. "We have to retreat!"
Corvin wiped blood from his mouth, grinning madly. "Retreat? You think you can run from that?"
Fenrir's howl answered him—a sound that tore through clouds, bending thunder to silence. For an instant, the world dimmed; every light in the district flickered out.
Inside Aetherion headquarters, alarms wailed.
Power readings spiked off the charts.
Asher's eyes opened where he stood, calm cracking into disbelief.
> "That resonance… It's ancient."
Volt looked up from his console. "What the hell is it?"
Asher's gaze turned toward the storm outside. "Not what. Who."
Back in the courtyard, the wolf lunged again. Its claws struck the ground where Corvin had stood a heartbeat before, carving a crater that boiled with shadow. Marek barely dodged, curses flaring defensively, his left arm already half-rotted from the backlash of his own magic.
Fenrir's form flickered—too much power, too suddenly born. It snarled, shaking apart like smoke and reforming beside Noah.
And finally, the boy moved.
He knelt beside Raven, hand trembling as he reached toward her. The wolf bent its massive head, almost gentle now, the stormlight glinting off its spectral fur.
For the first time, Noah spoke like himself—soft, confused, shaken.
> "What… did I just do?"
Fenrir's eyes dimmed. The shadows sank back into Noah's skin, leaving only fading sigils across the ground. The rain returned—slow, hesitant—as if the sky itself feared to disturb the silence.
Across the street, Corvin and Marek limped into the mist, their auras shattered but alive.
> "Forget the contract," Marek rasped. "We're not being paid enough to hunt a myth."
Corvin's smile was gone. "No… we just found something the world thought extinct."
They vanished into the night.
Noah sat in the ruins, Raven's head in his lap, Fenrir's echo still humming in his chest.
Somewhere above, thunder rolled again.
And far away, in the upper chambers of Aetherion, Asher's quiet words carried through the rain:
> "The Wolf of the End… has awakened."
---