The great hall was deathly silent.
Marcus suddenly leapt to his feet, fury distorting his proud features.
"Rhine Oberon! Are you toying with us?! Do you even realize who you are speaking to?!"
At once, Rhett Oberon's brows furrowed deeply, and an invisible pressure radiated outward from him.
He could tolerate the Church's oppression of House Oberon—after all, their failures gave them little ground to resist. For that, he would bow his head and accept punishment.
But laying hands on his son?
That was another matter entirely. Even if his son was utterly disappointing, that was still his child.
Seeing Rhett's posture, Father Solas narrowed his eyes, lifting his hand to restrain the two knights who were about to move. His expression was like a predator sizing up its prey.
"Young man," Solas intoned coldly, "greed is unwise. You should be grateful for the mercy of the Church."
"Today, let me give you a little enlightenment, so you may learn what it means to oppose an unbreakable will."
A crushing aura swept down upon Rhine.
The Church Knights behind Solas erupted with golden mana, releasing the unmistakable pressure of City-Buster rank power.
Rhett Oberon narrowed his eyes. He too was a City-Buster rank. If it came down to a fight—one against three—the advantage was his.
[Power hierarchy of this world: Awakening rank, Hundred-Man rank, Thousand-Man rank, Ten-Thousand-Man rank, City-Buster rank, Nation-Destroyer rank, Calamity rank, World-Annihilator rank, Eternal rank, Divinity rank.]
The family elders trembled in fear.
But beside them, Rhine laughed.
"A frog at the bottom of the well? Perhaps. But at least I know one thing—that when you steal, you should not drape your theft in the cloak of justice. And as for enlightenment…"
His golden eyes sharpened.
"…I prefer to enlighten others."
He connected his consciousness to the system.
"System, is there anything I can purchase that can defeat the threat before me?"
[Recommendation: Shadow Assassin. (City-Buster rank, level 9)]
[Origin: the Shadow Plane. Immune to low-level detection. Specialization: assassination. Price: 25,000 gold coins.]
"Buy it!"
Rhine did not hesitate. After all, money only had value once it was spent!
[Ding! Purchase successful! Gold coins -25,000. Shadow Assassin deployed.]
At once, a silent chill spread across the hall.
Behind Father Solas, the knight whose mana blazed most brightly suddenly stiffened.
Pfft!
A blade forged of pure darkness pierced out through his right eye socket from within.
A spray of red and white splattered across the floor. The towering knight collapsed like a felled tree.
The composure on Solas's face shattered instantly, replaced by naked disbelief.
What was that? Who could have done this?
He swept the hall in a frenzy, his spiritual sense flooding outward. Yet he could detect nothing—no trace of presence, no ripple in space, not even the faintest disturbance.
It was as if the attacker did not exist.
The second knight, eyes wide with terror, drew his sword as mana flared desperately.
But the shadows writhed once again. A blade of pure night pierced upward through his jaw and out the crown of his skull.
Another corpse fell heavily to the ground.
Solas's complexion turned deathly pale. He conjured a shield of holy light to envelop himself, Marcus, and the trembling Elisa.
The unknown—this was the deepest root of fear.
Marcus's arrogance had vanished. Elisa's once-proud composure had dissolved into trembling terror.
Rhine, however, stood calm and unruffled.
"It seems," he said softly, shattering the silence, "that the Church's enlightenment is not nearly as profound as mine."
Solas's lips trembled. His eyes met Rhine's bottomless gaze, and a horrifying thought surfaced: could it be that this man was not the wastrel the rumors painted him to be?
"Count Oberon," Solas stammered, "do you understand what it means to raise your hand against the Church? Stop this slaughter, and I will petition for leniency—"
Shhk!
A blade swept across his throat.
Solas clutched his fat neck as he collapsed, choking on his own blood.
"May the heavens forgive you, Father Solas," Rhine whispered in mock prayer for a single second.
"You're insane… completely insane!"
Marcus could bear it no longer. Terror devoured him. Without hesitation, he activated the teleportation scroll his father had given him as a last-resort lifesaving measure.
Monster.
That kind of attack—no human could achieve it.
"No, no, no! The transfer agreement—it was Solas's idea, nothing to do with me! I am the son of an archbishop, a great noble! I cannot die! I mustn't die—"
Words tumbled from his lips in incoherent panic. Dragging the limp Elisa with him, Marcus vanished in a flash of blue light.
"Tch…"
Rhine's lips curved in a cold sneer.
Pity. That magic scroll had somehow shielded Marcus from the Shadow Assassin's strike.
As expected of a favored child of the Church—his means of survival were exceptional.
But the Church?
Rhine's gaze turned distant and glacial.
Obsidian City—things would change here.
As for Marcus and Elisa?
You can flee, but you can't hide forever.
The first profit of this new life, his "first bucket of gold," would be reclaimed—with interest—from the so-called generous Lady Green.
The oppressive silence spread through the council chamber.
The mingled stench of blood and death was suffocating, leaving the members of House Oberon struggling to breathe.
Their eyes darted between Rhine and the corpses of the two fallen knights, filled with terror, confusion, and disbelief.
And then—the most shocking scene of all unfolded.
The assassin who had just felled two City-Buster rank knights with impossible speed revealed himself. His form was blurred, as though woven from living shadow.
Before the entire assembly, he turned toward Rhine.
Then—he sank to one knee.
His head bowed low, and one shadow-forged hand pressed reverently to his chest, above where his heart would be.
It was the solemn gesture of a knight swearing allegiance to his king.
Not a word was spoken, yet the act was brimming with reverence and unquestionable loyalty.
This silent submission had more impact than any oath.
The family elders gasped, the sound of sharp inhalations echoing across the hall.
A being capable of slaying two City-Buster rank knights in the blink of an eye—kneeling to Rhine?!
They had suspected, from the earlier events, that the mysterious killer might be connected to Rhine.
But this scene was beyond comprehension.
The young master they had always regarded as a useless fool—what in the world had happened to him?
Where had this terrifying power come from?
Fear and bewilderment warred in their hearts.
But soon, an even greater dread gripped them—the inevitable retaliation of the Church!
"R–Rhine!" one elder stammered, voice quaking. "You… you killed men of the Church, even a priest! This… this is a catastrophe of the highest order! The Church will never let this pass! House Oberon is finished!"
"Yes, yes! Reckless! Utterly reckless!" another elder cried, pounding his chest in despair. "A moment's defiance, and you have doomed a thousand years of our family's heritage!"
"The Church's power is beyond imagination! Perhaps we could withstand the branch here in Obsidian City, but once the headquarters learns of this…"
They all knew. In the Serestan Empire, the Church was a colossus whose strength defied reckoning.
Panic spread among the elders like a plague.
Moments ago they had been consumed with humiliation and resentment; now, they were drowning in an even deeper terror—the fear of annihilation.
Even Patriarch Rhett Oberon felt his heart quake.
But when his eyes settled on his son, he saw something else.
Those golden eyes—so familiar, yet now as deep as an icy lake—radiated steadiness, calm, and an authority that brought him unexpected reassurance.
Even he, a City-Buster rank himself, had felt a shiver of dread at the aura emanating from that shadow assassin.
What had happened to his son?
Just days ago, Rhine had told him he wished to travel alone for a while.
What had he encountered in that short time?
What had transformed him so utterly?
"Rhine…"
Before the patriarch could voice his questions, his son spoke.
He ignored the wails of the elders and turned his gaze upon Rhett Oberon—his father, the Earl of Obsidian City.
More than that—the one man who had always supported him unconditionally, even when he had been a disgrace.
"Father," Rhine said, his voice calm, steady, as though he had not just faced death.
"Please stabilize the family's situation for now. I will return shortly."
Rhett's lips parted, countless questions rising in his throat. But when he looked into his son's eyes, saw the unyielding determination there, the words died.
He drew a deep breath and gave a heavy nod.
"Be careful," he said gravely.
Though he did not know what his son intended, in this moment he chose to believe in him.
The means Rhine had shown today proved beyond doubt—this was no longer the useless wastrel they had once despised.
Rhine inclined his head slightly.
Without sparing another glance for the panicked elders, he turned and strode from the chamber, the shadow assassin melting into the darkness at his side.
He knew very well how immense the Church's power was.
But to him, one thing mattered most now: time.
The Church would need time to react, to marshal stronger forces. And he must use this window wisely.
He did not regret striking against them. From the instant he had chosen to retaliate, his path and theirs were destined to be one of life or death.
His only fear was that the Church would deny him the time he needed to grow strong.