"How many guards?" Spiro asked quietly.
I narrowed my eyes and let my vision sink into the structure across from us…the two-story building that leaned as it had long since given up resisting time. From the second floor of the abandoned storehouse where we hid, the angle was perfect.
"Ten guards on the first floor. Ten on the second," I replied. "All weak."
I raised my finger slightly, pointing through the cracked window.
"There's a room… guarded by five large ones. Big bodies. Their mana is denser…but still nowhere near Wrock's brother."
That name lingered for a moment.
Wrock's brother had become our benchmark. The line between survivable and death.
Theo let out a quiet snort. "Big bodies again, huh? The underworld really loves hiring walking meat walls."
Margaretha smirked. "Cheap intimidation. No brain required. Just stand there and look scary."
Agni added, "And die first."
Even Spiro's lips twitched faintly.
"Muscles are cheaper than loyalty," he said. "And easier to replace."
I kept scanning.
Then something felt… wrong.
"Wait," I said.
They all turned to me.
"There's a basement."
Spiro's expression sharpened.
"I can't see inside clearly… but there's a room. Covered completely in mana. Dense. Sealed." I frowned slightly. "Something is blocking my sight."
"A barrier room," Spiro concluded almost immediately. "A safe."
Agni crossed his arms. "So we burn the place and collect after?"
"No." Spiro shook his head. "If the barrier reacts to external mana fluctuation, flames could trigger a defensive collapse… or destroy the contents."
Theo exhaled. "So no fire at the start."
"That means we enter without Agni and Pritha's flames?" Theo asked again, more carefully.
Spiro nodded. "We do it clean."
He paused, then laid out the sequence like he always did. Precise and emotionless.
"Kill first. Secure the building. Force the leader to open the barrier. Take everything. Burn the building on exit."
"Gotcha," Margaretha said lightly, like we were discussing a routine errand.
We spent the rest of the day observing patterns such as guard rotations, idle habits, and blind spots. By the time night fell, every movement was already decided.
***
The night came without wind.
Dark, quiet, suffocating.
The gambler's den was busy as usual.
We split into two groups.
Spiro, Agni, and Pritha would take the first floor.
Robert, Margaretha, and I would handle the second.
Theo was stationed outside the leader's room. Not to fight yet, but to ensure the target didn't escape.
We needed him alive.
At least for now.
This time, there was no explosion to signal the beginning.
No flames.
No warning.
Only silence breaking apart.
***
By the time I climbed onto the second floor through the rear window, the first floor had already erupted.
Screams.
Footsteps.
Metal clashing.
I scanned quickly.
The five large guards.
Two were already heading downstairs, drawn by the chaos.
One was moving with three smaller guards across the corridor.
Two remained in the room.
I moved.
Slow. Controlled. Invisible.
The nearest guard ran past me, panic in his steps.
"Are we getting attacked too?! Damn it, this is above my pay—"
My blade entered his back before he could finish.
Clean.
Precise.
He gasped once.
Collapsed.
No struggle.
No noise.
I didn't stop.
Another group turned the corner, three men, not guards.
Gamblers.
Civilians of this place.
One of them saw me first.
"P-please…!"
They dropped to their knees almost instantly.
"We're not fighters! We don't know anything! We'll leave…just let us go…!"
Their voices overlapped. Desperate. Broken.
For a moment…
My chest tightened.
A flicker.
A memory I didn't want.
A room.
Smaller than this.
People kneeling.
Begging.
Blood is already on the floor.
My brother is standing in front of me.
"Don't look."
But I had looked.
And now…
I don't look away anymore.
My hand moved before the thought finished forming.
One step.
Three cuts.
They fell almost together.
The sound of their bodies hitting the wood was… dull.
Unimportant.
I stood there for a second longer than necessary.
Not because I hesitated.
Because I felt… nothing.
That was the strange part.
Not guilt.
Not relief.
Just… absence.
I moved again.
Two guards ahead.
They saw me this time.
"Enemy…!"
The first lunged.
I sidestepped and drove the blade into his throat.
The second tried to swing wide…
I cut his leg.
Then his arm.
Then his chest.
He screamed.
Stopped.
Silence returned to the corridor.
I scanned again.
The second floor was almost clear.
Only the leader's room remained.
And…Robert.
He was surrounded.
The large guard stood in front of him, a massive figure clad in heavy armor, locking him in place.
Three smaller guards circled him, attacking in sequence.
Blades striking.
Again.
Again.
Robert didn't dodge.
Didn't retreat.
He just… endured.
His body absorbed the blows like they meant nothing.
I moved instantly.
Three knives left my hand.
One struck straight into a guard's skull. He dropped.
The other two dodged, but not fully.
One blade tore into an arm.
Another into a leg.
They screamed.
That was enough.
Margaretha appeared beside me like a shadow already in motion.
She didn't hesitate.
Two precise thrusts.
Both guards fell before their screams finished.
Now only the large one remained.
He turned.
Heavy.
Slow.
Confident.
I activated my vision.
The gaps revealed themselves immediately.
Torso joint.
Lower armor seam.
I stepped in.
Fast.
My greatsword drove into his waist through the opening.
Then I rolled back before he could react.
Margaretha was already moving.
She pivoted behind me and delivered a full-force kick straight into the sword's hilt.
The blade tore through.
The man's body split open.
He didn't even scream.
Blood followed a second later.
Warm.
Heavy.
We were bathed in it.
***
Footsteps approached.
Spiro's group.
I looked at Pritha and Agni.
Something was off.
Their faces.
Not fear.
Not exhaustion.
Something… quieter.
I didn't understand it.
But there was no time to ask.
We regrouped and moved toward the leader's room.
Thump!
The door burst open.
The leader tried to run.
Theo was already there.
He pinned him down effortlessly.
Two guards inside dropped their weapons immediately.
"Please…! We surrender!"
"Spare us…!"
Spiro didn't even look at them.
"Rick," he said.
"Your sword."
I handed it to him without thinking.
Two steps forward.
Two swings.
Both heads fell.
Clean and efficient.
I saw it then.
The tension in everyone's faces.
The discomfort.
He wasn't just killing them.
He was teaching us.
No hesitation.
No exceptions.
The leader trembled violently.
At first, he refused.
Even when Spiro mentioned the barrier room.
Even when he realized we knew.
But pain changes conviction.
Quickly.
He broke.
He took a token from his desk and opened the room.
We follow him to the first floor, and he opens the hidden basement with his mysterious token.
The mana barrier quickly faded, and inside was full of treasure.
Fourteen bags of gold and some documents. Everything we came for.
We took it all.
"Burn the building," Spiro ordered.
Agni and Pritha start moving.
This time…
They didn't hesitate.
Flames rose violently, burning the building.
We start going outside carrying the gold bags as the fire starts spreading.
We walked away as the fire consumed the building behind us.
Soon, the night will be filled with screams.
Panic spread.
People ran.
Chaos swallowed everything.
I didn't look back.
Not at the fire.
Not at the bodies.
Not at the place.
Because I already knew…
It would not be the last.