Inside the high-altitude command center of the Virgo Agency, twelve holographic screens flickered to life. A woman with eyes like cold glass—the High Inquisitor—spoke into the void. "The Leo Captain failed. The 'Glitch' has accessed the 13th Sanctuary. Activate the Hounds."
Across the city, three figures detached themselves from the darkness
The Hunt Begins
Xylo stood in the center of the castle's training court, the Obsidian Fang whip-sword humming against his arm. The silence was broken not by a footstep, but by the smell of ozone and burning copper.
Suddenly, the shadows of the castle pillars didn't behave. They stretched toward him like grasping fingers. Viper-Aries had arrived. The red mist began to bleed through the floorboards, smelling of iron and old graves.
"Successor," the voice of Obsidian Fang hissed in his mind. "The 'Hounds' are here. They don't want to capture you. They want to tear the fragments out of your chest while you're still screaming."
Xylo tightened his grip. His Serpent Eyes flared, cutting through the red mist. He could see the thermal signature of the assassin clinging to the ceiling like a spider.
"They think I'm still that boy from the testing center," Xylo whispered, his voice turning cold as the obsidian he held. "Let them come. I need more 'Zodiac fragments' to fuel my sword any
way.".
The city felt different now. To everyone else, the neon lights were just advertisements, but to Xylo's Serpent Eyes, they were jagged pulses of artificial mana. He kept his hood pulled low, the Obsidian Fang wrapped tightly around his forearm beneath his sleeve, dormant and cold.
He stopped at a small, flickering ramen shop on the edge of the slums. The old man behind the counter reminded him of the peace he had lost. But just as the steam from the bowl hit his face, the air turned to ice.
BOOM.
A fist glowing with the crushing weight of the Taurus Sect slammed into Xylo's ribs before he could even drop his chopsticks. The force sent him flying through the thin wooden walls of the shop, tumbling across the wet asphalt of the alleyway.
Xylo coughed up blood, his Enhanced Physique being the only reason his lungs hadn't collapsed. Standing in the ruins of the shop was a man with metallic skin and eyes that glowed a dull, heavy gray.
"The 13th King... eating cheap noodles?" the Taurus Assassin rumbled, his every step cracking the pavement. "What a pathetic end for a legend."
Xylo scrambled to his feet, his heart hammering. He didn't want to use his power here—not in the middle of the city—but he had no choice. He unfurled the Obsidian Fang, the whip-sword hissing as it tasted the rain.
He fought bravely. Every time the Assassin swung a heavy, gravity-weighted fist, Xylo used his Serpent Bond to pivot and strike. He managed to slice through the Assassin's metallic shoulder, the Ophiuchus poison sizzling against the divine Taurus mana.
But just as Xylo gained an opening, the shadows around him began to distort.
Two more figures flickered into existence. One, the Viper-Aries, released a suffocating red mist that turned Xylo's breath into fire. The other, the Gemini Stalker, began to mirror Xylo's own stance, predicting his every move before he could make it.
Xylo backed away, his back hitting a cold brick wall. He was surrounded. His Fragment Integrity was flickering. For the first time since his awakening, the weight of the 12 Agencies felt truly absolute. He was helpless, trapped in an alleyway, while the "Hounds" closed in for
the kill.