Jie shook his head violently, tears carving through the dirt on his face.
"Master—no—!"
Master K did not look at him. If he looked at the boy, his resolve would completely shatter.
"The remaining four elixirs," Master K said slowly, every single word feeling like peeling skin from bone,
"were taken by a young man in a heavy tactical coat. He wore a blank, white porcelain mask. With him was a shadow-like cat entity. It called itself Nexus."
The Man in Gold remained perfectly still, processing the data.
"Nexus is powerful," Master K continued, lowering his forehead until it touched the blood-soaked floorboards.
"And the masked man… does not speak. He observes. I have told you everything you want to know. Release my disciples."
A heavy pause lingered in the air. It lasted just long enough for hope to exist.
"No." The word was gentle, but entirely final.
"We were ordered to eliminate your clan if you failed your task. You have failed."
Regret completely crushed Master K's lungs.
"But I brought you one elixir," he whispered, his voice trembling for the first time. "Atleast, Spare the youngest. Spare Jie."
The Man in Gold looked down, considering the ragged, terrified breathing of the boy.
"Very well. He lives... if you can scratch me."
Before Master K could even draw breath to accept the terms, the Man in Gold casually flicked his wrist.
Steel flashed in the dark with synchronized, terrifying perfection. Every single remaining disciple—except Jie—fell in the exact same microsecond.
Throats were opened.
Hearts were pierced. The dojo instantly turned into a silent lake of red.
Jie screamed.
Master K did not. He just stared at the bodies. He had memorized every single one of their footwork patterns.
He knew who leaned too far to the left, who blinked before striking, who secretly hid snacks beneath the tatami mats during fasting days.
All gone. Because of him.
The air around the old master thickened into something physically heavy. He shifted his pivot foot, and a dense, blinding mist violently exploded outward.
[ SKILL ACTIVATED: MIST STEP ]
Bypassing physics entirely, he appeared directly behind the Man in Gold in 0.8 seconds.
His blade descended with a lifetime of mastery behind it.
It was blocked effortlessly.
The Blue Lotus resting in the man's hand absorbed the mist itself, devouring the skill's energy as Master K was thrown backward across the dojo.
He hit the reinforced wall with a sickening crack of bone, sliding down to the floor.
I will lose in seconds, he thought calmly, watching Jie sob against his bindings. I have exactly one chance.
[ SKILL ACTIVATED: WHISPERINGWRAITH ]
Master K vanished. A freezing cold draft brushed the Man in Gold's cheek, leaving behind a thin, barely visible line of red.
The man touched his cheek, looking at the singular drop of blood on his pristine fingers. He looked genuinely surprised.
Master K reappeared a few feet away, leaning heavily on his sword, barely able to stand.
"I have won the bet," he gasped, his lungs burning.
The Man in Gold nodded slowly. "Yes. You have. The boy lives."
Relief washed through Master K—warm, absolute, and incredibly brief.
Suddenly, a geyser of blood erupted from his mouth. Searing, agonizing pain exploded inside his chest as something began to aggressively bloom beneath his skin.
A spectral, digital lotus was tearing his internal organs apart from the inside out.
"You die instead," the Man in Gold said calmly.
Jie screamed until his voice physically broke as Master K collapsed to his knees. The glowing lotus taking root inside his chest began shifting from a pure, serene blue to a corrupted, weeping crimson.
The Man in Gold looked down at the sobbing boy. "Be proud. You had a great master."
In a blur of silent motion, the assassins vanished into the night.
Silence returned to the slaughterhouse. Jie crawled frantically across the blood-slicked floor, his bound hands useless.
"Master… Master…"
Master K's breathing was impossibly shallow. He looked past the weeping boy, staring up through the shattered roof at the moon hanging overhead.
It was red.
He remembered another night under that exact same moon, decades ago, kneeling before his own teacher.
"I am afraid," the young Master K had confessed.
His master had laughed gently. "Good. Fear means you still have something to protect."
Master K forced his eyes to focus on Jie. Pure, unadulterated fear filled the boy completely. Good.
"You fool," Master K coughed, dark blood bubbling past his lips.
"What did I teach you? Never show your weak side… not even to me. Live… peacefully."
Jie wiped his tears violently against his shoulder, his eyes hardening into absolute steel.
"I will carry the dojo. I will show the world how great my master was."
Warm tears slipped from Master K's fading eyes. When did you grow up? "I am blessed," the old man whispered.
"Even without a Dantian… you grew so strong."
The lotus inside his chest finally ruptured. Crimson petals burst from his mouth—beautiful, violent, and entirely final.
The pain vanished, leaving only a single, comforting thought in the dark: He is alive.
Darkness took him.
Jie gently reached out and closed his master's eyes.
The red lotus bloomed fully from the corpse, transforming the brutal slaughter into a place of tragic, horrifying beauty.
When the boy finally stood up amidst the bodies of his family, something inside him had gone permanently quiet.
The moon above was no longer white. It was crimson. And looking at the sky, it did not look like it would ever fade again.