The golden flame of the magic lantern died instantly, plunging the cavern into an abyssal, suffocating darkness.
The roaring sound of the waterfall outside vanished, perfectly cut off by a high-tier [Silent Ward] scroll. The temperature plummeted, and the air smelled faintly of ozone and a sweet, sickeningly sharp venom.
To an ordinary mage, even an Expert-Rank one, this sudden, absolute sensory deprivation would induce a moment of panic. That fraction of a second of hesitation was all a master assassin needed to sever a carotid artery.
But Victor Nightshade was not an ordinary mage.
He possessed the S-Rank Shadow Sovereign core. To him, the darkness was not a blindfold; it was an extension of his own body. The shadows whispered to him, painting a perfect, three-dimensional sonar map in his mind.
Directly above him, dropping from the jagged stone ceiling like a venomous spider, was a slender figure cloaked entirely in pitch-black leather.
There was no wind resistance. No sound of breathing. No heartbeat. The assassin had completely erased her presence, suppressing her killing intent until the very last millisecond.
Swish!
Two matte-black, jagged daggers, coated in a lethal, paralyzing Wyvern Toxin that could melt through steel armor, thrust downwards in a flawless, synchronized strike. Their target: the precise pulse points on both sides of Victor's neck.
It was a beautiful, textbook execution.
Victor, however, did not stand up. He didn't drop his crystal goblet. He didn't even blink.
He remained seated comfortably in his velvet armchair, crossing his long legs. With his right hand, he brought the goblet of vintage red wine to his lips and took a slow, appreciative sip.
Simultaneously, he casually raised his left hand.
CLANG!
A deafening, sharp screech of metal tearing against an immovable object echoed through the silent cavern. A shower of brilliant orange sparks erupted in the pitch-black darkness, briefly illuminating the shocked, wide eyes of the assassin hidden beneath her hood.
The twin daggers hadn't pierced flesh. They had stopped dead, exactly one inch away from Victor's pale neck.
Victor's index and middle fingers, coated in a terrifyingly dense, vibrating layer of violet-black shadow mana, were casually pinching the flat sides of both blades.
The assassin's pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks. She pushed down with every ounce of her physical strength, her muscles straining, channeling her own high-tier aura into the daggers. But it was useless.
The blades felt as if they were clamped between two tectonic plates. They didn't budge a single millimeter. The terrifying physical strength Victor had just gained from the Starbloom Herb and the Dragon Blood was on full display.
"A flawless ambush," Victor finally spoke.
His voice was smooth, elegant, and completely devoid of fear. It vibrated with a dark, magnetic amusement that sent a chill straight down the assassin's spine.
"Perfect breath control," Victor continued, his glowing violet eyes locking onto the darkness where her face was. "Excellent choice of Wyvern Toxin. You even managed to bypass the Academy's outer wards without triggering the alarm bells. A true professional."
Victor lowered his wine glass, the liquid inside completely undisturbed.
"However," his tone suddenly dropped, turning incredibly cold and oppressive. "Trying to use the shadows against the Sovereign of Shadows? That is simply... adorable."
Before the assassin could let go of her weapons and retreat into the darkness, Victor moved.
He didn't just move; he vanished.
Shadowstep.
The S-Rank movement skill activated instantly. The assassin felt the resistance on her daggers disappear. But before she could even process that Victor was no longer sitting in the chair, a massive, overwhelming pressure materialized directly behind her.
A large, ice-cold hand shot out of the darkness like a striking viper, clamping shut around her slender throat with unbreakable force.
"Ugh!" a choked gasp escaped her lips.
With a brutal, effortless display of raw physical dominance, Victor yanked the assassin out of mid-air. He spun on his heel and slammed her violently into the solid granite wall of the cavern.
BOOM!
The impact was so forceful that the cavern shook. A spiderweb of cracks spread across the stone behind her back. The impact knocked the breath completely out of her lungs, and her twin daggers clattered uselessly to the floor.
Victor didn't let go. He held her pinned against the wall, her feet dangling a few inches off the ground.
With a snap of his right fingers, the golden flame inside the magic lantern reignited, flooding the cavern with warm light once more.
The sudden illumination revealed the assassin's face, as her dark hood had been thrown back by the impact.
Victor raised an aristocratic eyebrow, a genuinely surprised and deeply amused smile forming on his lips.
Pinned against the wall, struggling for air, was a stunningly beautiful young woman. She looked no older than eighteen. Her skin was as pale and flawless as porcelain, contrasting sharply with her blood-red, vertically slitted eyes. Silver-white hair, the eerie, enchanting color of a graveyard moon, cascaded down her shoulders in a messy, beautiful tangle.
Two small, razor-sharp fangs peeked out from her slightly parted, bleeding lips, and her ears had a subtle, elegant point.
A Half-Vampire.
More importantly, Victor recognized her instantly. The flawless memory of Epoch of Dawn's lore provided him with her identity.
Lilith.
Known in the underworld as the 'Blood Moon Phantom'. She was a legendary assassin who had never failed a contract. In the original game's mid-to-late stages, she was destined to be "saved" by the protagonist, Leon, eventually becoming the most fiercely loyal, unhinged, and fiercely protective member of his harem. A true Yandere.
"Lilith," Victor said her name softly, rolling the syllables off his tongue as if tasting a fine wine. His handsome smile deepened into something truly devilish. "To think my dear uncle would spend a fortune to hire the Blood Moon Phantom just to kill a 'spoiled, brainless brat' like me. I'm almost flattered."
Lilith coughed, a thin trail of blood trickling down her chin. Despite being completely immobilized, her ruby-red eyes glared at Victor with stubborn, feral defiance.
She didn't scream. She didn't panic. She didn't beg for mercy like the commoner students had. She was a creature of the underworld, and she knew the rules perfectly well. The weak die; the strong consume.
"You... you are a monster..." Lilith hissed, her voice raspy and pained from the immense pressure on her windpipe. "The intel was a lie... You're not an A-Rank pampered noble... You are an Abyss..."
"I am many things, little bat," Victor chuckled, slightly loosening his grip just enough to let her breathe, but maintaining absolute, terrifying control over her life.
Lilith closed her eyes. The adrenaline faded, replaced by the cold, hollow acceptance of a failed contract. She slowly tilted her delicate neck backward, fully exposing her pale throat to him.
It was the ultimate, universally understood gesture of submission in the assassin world.
"I failed," Lilith whispered, her voice surprisingly calm. "The contract is void. Kill me."
Victor stared at her exposed neck, the pale skin contrasting with the dark cavern walls. He let out a deep, magnetic laugh that echoed through the quiet space.
"Kill you?" Victor asked, his tone dripping with mock incredulity. "Why on earth would I destroy such a beautiful, exquisitely lethal weapon?"
Lilith's red eyes snapped open in confusion. "What...?"
Victor reached into the inner breast pocket of his bespoke coat with his free hand. He pulled out a folded piece of ancient, weathered parchment.
The moment the parchment was exposed to the air, the cavern seemed to hold its breath. Writhing, glowing crimson runes appeared on the surface of the human-skin-like paper, radiating a demonic, archaic energy that made even the half-vampire tremble instinctively.
The Mythic-Tier Item: [Absolute Obedience Soul Contract].
"My foolish uncle bought your blades with a few chests of gold," Victor whispered. He leaned in incredibly close, his face mere inches from hers, his glowing violet eyes locking onto her terrified ruby ones.
"But I, Lilith..." Victor's voice was a dark, inescapable promise. "...I am going to buy your soul."
Victor reached out with his right thumb. He gently, almost affectionately, wiped the drop of fresh blood from the corner of Lilith's parted lips.
Before her mind could even begin to process his terrifying words, Victor pressed his blood-stained thumb directly onto the center of the glowing crimson parchment.