District 9. The Black Market Exchange. This place was known as the "City That Never Sleeps" of the Outlands. Massive holographic neon signs flickered in the rain, dyeing the flooded streets in psychedelic purple and red. Usually, this place was bustling with contraband dealers, ripperdocs, and fences.
But tonight, it was as quiet as a grave.
Only the sound of rain remained. Behind every window lining the street, greedy and murderous eyes watched. Heavy machine guns were hidden behind billboards. Poisoned crossbows waited in the shadows. Hundreds of desperadoes held their breath, waiting for the walking five million credits.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Footsteps echoed. At the end of the street, a figure walked slowly. Cade didn't wear a disguise. He didn't sneak. He wore that same black shirt, carrying the black sword [Silence], walking right down the center of the road. Like he was taking a stroll in his own backyard.
"He's asking for it..." A gang leader hiding on the second floor grinned, his finger squeezing the trigger. "FIRE!!"
BOOM! With that command, the street instantly boiled over! Hundreds of guns spat tongues of fire simultaneously. Three shoulder-mounted anti-tank rockets trailed long tails of smoke, screaming toward the lone figure!
The density of firepower in that second was enough to turn an armored rhino into paste.
Cade stopped. He looked at the sky filled with bullets and fire. His eyes remained as calm as a dead lake. As if he wasn't facing death, but a boring fireworks show.
"Too slow."
He raised his left hand, fingers spread, and gently clenched at the empty air.
[The 0th Law: Vector Tampering] [Target: All Kinetic Projectiles.] [Command: I refuse... contact.]
A bizarre scene unfolded. The three rockets, capable of leveling a building, suddenly hit an invisible wall three meters from Cade. Then. They abruptly reversed direction in mid-air!
"W-What?!" The gang leader's eyes nearly popped out of his skull.
"Return to sender." Cade flicked his finger outward.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! The rockets flew back faster than they came, smashing precisely into the buildings where the heavy firepower was hidden!
BOOM—!!! Massive fireballs rose. Debris flew. The entire floor collapsed instantly. Screams, explosions, and shouts of terror filled the sky.
"Sniper! Take him out!" Someone screamed in despair.
"BANG!" The answer was a deeper, more domineering roar from a heavy cannon atop a tower a kilometer away.
Jinx lay on the high ground, chewing a new flavor of gum she stole from the market. "Trying to ambush the Boss? Did you ask me?" Her red mechanical eye flashed. Every shot she took claimed the life of a sniper trying to aim at Cade.
On the street. Cade moved. Since guns were useless, the remaining thugs drew their melee weapons and swarmed him like a tide. "Kill him! He's alone! He'll tire out!"
Cade drew his sword. The black blade sliced through the rain curtain.
In this moment, he was the Conductor of Death. "The 1st Law: The weak obey the strong." "But here, there is only one law."
"Stand in my way, die."
Shing! A black crescent moon of sword energy swept out. The five thugs at the front were sliced in half—weapons, bodies, and armor. Blood sprayed, dyeing the puddles at Cade's feet red.
He didn't stop. He moved like a ghost through the crowd. Every swing, a man fell. Every dodge, he grazed past a fatal blow by millimeters.
It was a massacre. Cade was a precision killing machine. Tireless. Merciless. He carved a bloody path through the crowd, straight to the grandest building at the end of the street—the Black Market Exchange.
"Monster... He's a devil!!" "Run! Forget the money!"
In just five minutes. The hundreds of aggressive thugs broke. Bodies littered the ground. The survivors threw down their weapons, crying and fleeing in all directions. In the face of absolute power, greed was worthless.
Cade flicked the blood off his blade. He stood before the tightly shut alloy blast doors of the Exchange.
These doors claimed to withstand a tactical nuke. The last line of defense. Behind them, the Black Market Manager watched the monitors, shaking in terror, trying to call the Cyan Tower for backup.
"He... He can't get in! This is special alloy..." The Manager comforted himself.
Cade looked at the meter-thick door. He didn't look for a switch. He didn't use explosives. He simply held his sword with both hands and took a deep breath.
[The 0th Law: Concept Erasure] [Target: Obstacle Ahead.] [Attribute: Integrity.]
"Open."
Cade slashed.
No earth-shattering boom. Only a crisp click.
The Manager watched in horror as a thin black line appeared on the indestructible door. Then. Rumble. The entire gate slid apart neatly to both sides. The cut was mirror-smooth!
Cade stepped over the wreckage and walked into the lobby. The traders and bodyguards inside froze like chickens caught by the neck.
The arrogant Manager collapsed in his chair, looking at the approaching Cade like he was the Grim Reaper. "W-What do you want? We are protected by the Cyan Tower..."
Shing! The black blade rested on his neck. The cold metal forced his words back down his throat.
Cade looked down at him coldly. "I ask. You answer."
"Who issued the bounty?"
The Manager trembled violently. "It... It was the 'Arbiter' of the Cyan Tower High Council! He's a peak Blue Tier powerhouse! He's right there at the top of the District 9 Center! It wasn't me!"
Cade nodded. "Revoke the bounty." "Now."
"O-Okay! I'll do it!" The Manager scrambled to type on his keyboard. Seconds later. The red S-Class Kill Order vanished from the city network.
Cade withdrew his sword. But he didn't leave. He turned to the massive holographic screen in the lobby—currently connected to the entire Outer Sector's public network.
"Start a broadcast," Cade said flatly.
"Huh?" "Do it."
The Manager dared not disobey. Shaking, he turned on the city-wide stream. In that moment, countless Outland residents, hiding killers, and even nobles in the high towers saw the blood-soaked man on their screens.
Cade faced the camera. No hysterical screaming. No grand speech. He simply raised [Silence], pointing it at the screen, as if pointing at the sky of New Terra itself.
"I am Cade." "The Sequence 0 'Error' you defined."
"I know you are watching. You gods in the Tower." "You want me, the Key?"
Cade's lips curled into an extremely dangerous smile. "Stop looking." "I will come up there personally and smash your door down."
"Until then." "Whoever dares to reach their hand into District 9 again..." "Will end up like this door."
BOOM! With a backhanded slash, he split the solid gold desk behind him—and the floor beneath it—in half!
Signal cut. Screen black.
The entire Outer Sector fell into dead silence. Then, a roar of cheers erupted! It was the carnival of the oppressed witnessing the collapse of power.