The Chase After the Fleeing Man – The Investigation Deepens
The creaking sound from the back of the warehouse was no accident.
Someone was there.
Someone who had seen everything.
Someone who knew who ordered the assassination of the head of the Dolermo family.
Andras and the Black Raven snapped their heads up at the same time.
The man was running.
The Escape Begins – The Warehouse's Back Exit
The slam of the back door echoed through the warehouse.
Vanessa was already moving.
"After him!" she shouted, launching forward so fast her cloak barely fluttered.
Andras reached for his ring and summoned a short sword.
The blade was black, light‑absorbing — perfect for night hunting.
The back exit opened into a narrow alley.
The man was already sprinting — a cloaked figure glancing back nervously.
The stat‑lens in Andras's left eye immediately displayed:
Name: Unknown
Age: 40–45
Race: Human
Class: Administrator
Element: None
Note: Imperial official — high rank
"Aha. So an imperial bureaucrat. The pieces of the puzzle are starting to fit."
The Harbor Chase – Two Hunters, One Prey
The man ran toward the docks, weaving between crates.
The quiet of the harbor night was broken by the echo of their footsteps.
Vanessa surged ahead.
Her movement was like that of a predator:
light, fast, precise.
"Stop!" she shouted.
The man looked back and threw a dagger at her.
Vanessa twisted sideways, the blade whistling past her.
"Is that all you've got?" she hissed.
Andras approached from the other side.
The future‑sight crystal began to vibrate.
A flash:
the man turns left,
jumps onto a crate,
leaps into the water,
a boat waits at the pier.
"Not happening."
Andras lunged forward and cut off the man's escape route with his short sword.
The man froze.
"Who… who the hell are you?!"
Vanessa approached slowly.
"The ones who are tired of you selling out our city for dirty money."
The man backed away.
"You don't know anything! I just… I just followed orders!"
Andras's eyes glinted.
"From whom?"
The man's lips trembled.
"I… I can't—"
And then the seal activated.
The Seal – The Cruelty of the Criminal Network
A red light flashed on the man's chest.
The same seal as the chameleon beast‑man.
Vanessa shouted:
"Watch out!"
Invisible force burst from the seal, gripping the man's throat.
He gurgled, clawing at his neck, panic flaring in his eyes.
"No! No! I don't want to die!"
Andras stepped forward.
"Who activated the seal?! Who is the employer?!"
The man's throat collapsed.
His body went limp.
The glow of the seal faded.
Vanessa clenched her fist.
"Again… the same method. The employer erases every trace."
Andras knelt beside the corpse.
"Not every trace."
The stat‑lens outlined a faint glow inside the man's pocket.
Andras pulled out a piece of parchment.
The seal hadn't reached it.
On the parchment was a single emblem:
The Imperial Chancellery's seal.
Vanessa paled.
"This… this is the seal of one of the Emperor's highest‑ranking officials."
Andras nodded.
"The employer isn't a guild. Not a criminal. Not an assassin."
He stood up.
Moonlight glinted on his mask.
"Behind the murder stands one of the Empire's top officials."
Vanessa slowly nodded.
"Then he declared war on the city. And on my family."
Her voice was cold as a blade.
Andras slipped the parchment under his cloak.
"Now we have evidence. But it's not enough."
Vanessa stepped closer.
"Then we continue. Together."
Andras nodded.
"Together."
The harbor wind swept across the pier.
Waves slapped gently against the wooden posts.
The city's dark secrets pulled them deeper and deeper.
And the investigation had just become truly dangerous.
The Criminal Organization's Center – Descending Into Darkness
The harbor wind cut cold across the pier, as if the city itself sensed something dark and dangerous stirring below. Waves slapped slowly against the dock, distant ship chains rattled softly, and moonlight drew silver lines across the water.
The corpse of the fleeing imperial official lay on the stones, throat crushed by the seal.
Andras and Vanessa stood over him — two masked figures, two different worlds, yet the same goal.
Dismantling the criminal organization.
Unmasking the employer.
Avenging the head of the Dolermo family.
The Clues Continue – The Secret Entrance Behind the Warehouse
Vanessa knelt beside the corpse and ran her hand along the man's cloak.
The gesture wasn't gentle — it was angry, tense, filled with restrained fury.
"This seal… the same as on the chameleon. The employer silences everyone who knows too much."
Andras nodded.
"And we still don't know who activated it."
Then the stat‑lens highlighted something on the ground.
A tiny, barely noticeable metal plate glinted in the moonlight.
Andras picked it up.
"This… is a key."
Vanessa leaned closer.
"Not just any key. This belongs to one of the sealed sections of the sewer system beneath the harbor. Old smugglers used it."
Andras smiled behind the mask.
"Then the criminal organization's center is in the sewers."
Vanessa stood, her cloak fluttering in the wind.
"Exactly. And if they're there… then the employer will be there too."
The Entrance to the Sewers – In the Belly of the City
The key led them to a rusty, forgotten grate at the edge of the pier.
Behind it stretched a dark tunnel, cold, musty air drifting up from the depths.
Vanessa stepped forward.
"This is it. The old smuggler route. It runs beneath the city. The perfect hideout for a criminal organization."
Andras inserted the key into the lock.
The mechanism clicked, and the grate slowly opened.
The gaping mouth of darkness awaited them.
Vanessa drew her dueling sword.
The blade glinted with a reddish hue.
"Ready, Wolfwood?"
Andras summoned a short sword and his magic staff.
A faint blue light vibrated at the tip — the sign of lightning magic.
"Always."
The two masked figures stepped into the sewers.
Deep in the Sewers – Traces of the Criminal Organization
The sewer walls were wet, water trickling slowly below.
The air stank of rot, but fresh torches burned along the walls.
Vanessa paused.
"If there are torches… they were here recently."
Andras activated his future‑sight eye.
A flash:
a large chamber,
crates, weapons,
a table covered in maps,
a man activating seals,
and a hooded figure giving orders.
The vision faded.
"There's a larger chamber ahead. They'll be there."
Vanessa nodded.
"Then carefully."
The sewer curved, then widened.
Crates, weapons, chains lined the walls — the full equipment of the criminal network.
And in the center of the chamber stood ten armed men.
Among them, a tall hooded figure.
The hooded man turned.
"I've been expecting you."
Vanessa tensed.
"You… you're the one who had my father killed."
The man slowly removed his hood.
The stat‑lens displayed instantly:
Name: Lord Arcturus Veldran
Rank: Imperial High Councillor
Class: Mage
Element: Shadow
Note: Employer of the assassination
Andras's heart thumped.
"An Imperial High Councillor… This is bigger than I thought."
Veldran smiled.
"The Dolermo family knew too much. Peace… would have cost them too much. And me as well."
Vanessa stepped forward, her sword trembling in her hand.
"I'll kill you."
Veldran gestured to the mercenaries.
"Try surviving first."
The mercenaries charged.
The Battle – Andras and Vanessa's First True Clash With the Criminal Network
The sewer filled with the clash of metal, shouts, and the crackle of magic.
Vanessa moved like a shadow:
fast, graceful, deadly.
With every motion of her dueling sword, another opponent fell.
Andras wielded lightning magic:
a lightning strike to the chest,
an electric touch to the arm,
a slash with the short sword,
a staff blow that sent lightning through a mercenary's body.
The two fighters moved in perfect harmony.
Vanessa was the master of fast, precise, needle‑like attacks.
Andras was the tactical, future‑sighted, lightning‑swift mage.
The mercenaries fell one after another.
Veldran backed away.
"This… this is impossible!"
Andras stepped forward.
"Oh, it's very possible."
Vanessa leapt in front of the man, pressing her blade to his throat.
"This is the judgment of the Dolermo family."
Veldran began to tremble.
"The Emperor… the Emperor will not—"
Andras pulled out the parchment.
"I've already sent the evidence to the Emperor."
Veldran turned pale.
Vanessa struck him with a single motion.
The man collapsed to the ground.
The End – And a New Beginning
The sewer fell silent.
The leader of the criminal organization lay unconscious on the ground.
All the mercenaries were incapacitated.
Vanessa slowly released her grip on her sword.
She took a deep breath behind the mask.
"It's over. My father… can finally rest."
Andras nodded.
"And so can the city."
Vanessa looked up at him.
"Thank you. Wolfwood."
Andras smiled.
"We did it together. Raven."
The woman stepped closer.
"So… does this mean we're… partners now?"
Andras nodded.
"From now on, yes."
In the darkness of the sewer, two masked figures stood side by side.
The city's two secret vigilantes.
The Black Raven and Young Wolf.
And this was only the beginning.