The interior of The Hollow Rib tavern became deathly still. The smell of cheap ale and roasted meat was suddenly replaced by a sharp, metallic tang that made the tavern-goers' skin crawl. The five Pavilion Enforcers stood fanned out, their red-and-gold armor gleaming in the dim torchlight.
The leader, the man with the scarred eye, let out a low, mocking laugh. He was a Level 32 Spirit Core cultivator, a man who had spent years hunting down rogue geniuses and political dissidents. To him, Cain was just another paycheck wrapped in a violet-eyed mystery.
"You're remarkably calm for someone whose life is about to end," the Enforcer said, his heavy broadsword singing as it left its scabbard. "I'll give you credit, boy. You've got nerves. But nerves don't stop a Spirit Core blade."
Cain didn't respond. He didn't even put down his cup. He simply watched the magical compass in the leader's hand. The needle was vibrating so violently it looked like it might shatter the glass casing.
"The compass isn't pointing at me because I'm a target," Cain said, his voice dropping into a register that seemed to vibrate the floorboards. "It's pointing at me because it's terrified."
"Die, brat!" one of the younger enforcers roared, unable to handle the mounting pressure. He lunged forward, his spear wreathed in golden flame—a Rank B technique of the Heavenly Pavilion.
Cain moved.
He didn't use the Flash-Void Step. He didn't need to. He simply leaned to the side, the flaming spear-tip passing inches from his throat. In the same motion, his hand snapped out, catching the shaft of the spear.
[Skill Activated: Gluttony's Touch.]
The golden flames were instantly sucked into Cain's palm, turning from bright orange to a sickly violet before vanishing. The disciple let out a strangled cry as his mana was drained in a heartbeat, leaving him a gasping, shriveled husk. Cain didn't even finish him; he simply tossed the spear aside and stood up.
"Kill him! All of you, at once!" the leader screamed, finally sensing the sheer, bottomless depth of Cain's aura.
The four remaining enforcers moved in a coordinated strike. Their mana merged into a singular, blinding pillar of gold—the Pavilion Judgement. It was a Level 35-equivalent strike, designed to vaporize anything in its path.
"Elena, cover your eyes," Cain commanded.
He raised his right hand. The air around his palm began to distort, curving inward as if a hole were being torn in the fabric of the room. The shadows from the corners of the tavern were pulled toward his fingers, coalescing into a sphere of absolute, light-consuming blackness.
"Sovereign's Void-Crush."
Cain didn't thrust his hand forward. He simply closed his fist.
The effect was instantaneous and horrific. The golden pillar of the Pavilion Judgement didn't explode—it collapsed. The space occupied by the four enforcers was suddenly compressed into a singular, microscopic point. For a microsecond, the laws of physics ceased to exist in that five-meter radius.
There was no sound of breaking bone or tearing metal. There was only a low thrum, like a deep bass note played on a cosmic string.
When the violet light faded, the four enforcers were gone. Not dead, not shattered—gone. In their place sat a marble-sized orb of hyper-compressed matter that hovered in the air for a second before dropping to the floor and shattering into grey dust.
[Target(s) Erased.][Massive Essence Absorbed: +12,000 EXP!][Level Up!][Current Level: 26]
The leader with the scarred eye was the only one left. He had stayed back to coordinate the strike, a decision that had saved his life for exactly three extra seconds. He was shaking so hard his broadsword clattered against the stone floor. He looked at the spot where his men had been—men he had fought beside for a decade—and saw nothing but a fine layer of dust.
"What... what kind of monster are you?" he wheezed, his legs giving out.
Cain walked toward him, his boots clicking rhythmically on the floorboards. The tavern's other patrons had long since fled or were hiding under tables, praying they wouldn't be noticed.
"I am the one the gods warned you about," Cain said. He reached down and picked up the magical compass. It was dead, the needle melted into a shapeless lump of lead. "Go back to your Heavenly Pavilion. Tell them to send their Elders. Tell them to send their Sect Master."
Cain leaned in closer, his violet eyes swirling like a galaxy of death. "Tell them that for every hunter they send, I will grow a level. By the time they send someone who can actually fight me, I will be strong enough to eat their entire sect."
Cain kicked the leader through the tavern door. The man scrambled to his feet and ran, screaming into the dark streets of the City of Iron and Bone.
[Mission Complete: The First Encounter.][Reward: 500 Soul Fragments.][New Feature Unlocked: 'Monarch's Bounty' — You can now track the mana signatures of those who have a bounty on your head.]
Cain turned back to the table. Elena was staring at him, her face as white as a ghost's. She had seen him kill before, but the Void-Crush was different. It was the absolute erasure of existence.
"We need to move," Cain said, his voice returning to a calm, almost gentle tone. "The Bone-Guard will be here in minutes. The peace of this city is 'absolute,' and I just turned five Pavilion enforcers into dust."
"Where are we going?" Elena asked, her voice trembling as she stood up.
Cain looked toward the center of the city, at the massive spire that housed the Monarch's Library. "We're going to the heart of the city. If the world is going to hunt me, I might as well give them a reason to be afraid of the dark."
As they exited the tavern, the bells of the city began to toll. Not for a fire, but for a "Code Black"—the highest level of internal threat.
[Alert: The Bone-Guard Legion (Level 40-50) is mobilizing.][Current Objective: Escape the City or Seize the Spire.]
Cain looked at the approaching shadows of the elite city guards. He didn't look for an exit. He looked at the Spire, and for the first time, his Aura of the End flared out in its full, SSS-Rank glory, turning the nearby torches a deep, hellish violet.
"Elena," Cain said, a dark grin spreading across his face. "How would you like to own a city?"