The drainage tunnel echoed with a sound that didn't belong in the natural world—the wet, tearing noise of a soul being pulled through a straw.
Krow, the legendary Shadow-Hunter of the White Hegemony, was panicking. The solidified mana chain that was supposed to suck Itachi dry had become a two-way conduit, and the Pawn was pulling with the gravitational force of a black hole.
"What are you?!" Krow shrieked, his charcoal armor cracking as the purple energy within him was violently siphoned into Itachi's chest. The [Shadow Syphon] skill wasn't just draining mana; it was devouring Krow's base code.
Itachi's eyes were blank, completely devoid of empathy. His internal UI was flashing violently in the corners of his vision.
[Warning: Foreign Mana Overload.]
[System Recommendation: Disconnect or risk Core Detonation.]
Ignore, Itachi thought, his battle IQ running the numbers. Krow had more raw stats, but his panic made him sloppy. A scared piece makes mistakes.
"Get off me!" Krow roared. With a desperate surge of his remaining energy, the Raven initiated his emergency escape protocol. [Skill: Murder of Crows].
Krow's physical body detonated into a flock of razor-winged shadow birds, shattering the chain and scattering in every direction to bypass Itachi and reform down the tunnel. It was the ultimate evasion technique—a piece moving two squares forward to completely skip the line of fire.
But Itachi knew chess. And he knew the rules of the Board better than the System itself.
"You moved past me," Itachi whispered, his voice dripping with deadpan malice. "But a Pawn controls the diagonal."
As Krow's shadow birds coalesced behind Itachi, thinking they had successfully bypassed him, Itachi pivoted on his heel. He didn't aim for the birds. He aimed for the empty air right beside him—the exact space Krow had occupied a fraction of a second ago.
[Skill Activated: En Passant]
Reality stuttered. The system registered the anomaly of a Pawn's unique capture mechanic. Even though Krow had already moved past him, Itachi's fist, wrapped in dense, void-black magic, slammed into the empty space.
CRUNCH.
Ten feet behind Itachi, Krow materialized with a wet, agonizing scream. Itachi's fist had physically manifested inside Krow's chest cavity.
"Check," Itachi said.
He closed his hand, gripped the Raven's Core, and violently ripped it out. A geyser of crimson blood and black ichor erupted from Krow's chest, splattering against the tunnel walls in a gruesome, abstract painting. The Hunter's body twitched, suspended for a moment by the sheer shock of the trauma, before collapsing into a pile of mangled armor and wet flesh.
Itachi stood there, drenched in the enemy's blood, holding a glowing purple Core that dripped with gore.
A hundred yards down the tunnel, Lyra and Bas stood frozen.
Lyra's jaw was practically on the floor, her sword drooping. "Did... did he just punch the air and rip a guy's heart out ten feet away?"
Bas rubbed his massive face with an iron-grey hand, letting out a heavy, exhausted sigh. "I'm retiring. I swear to the Old Gods, I'm finding a farm. I can't babysit a monster."
Itachi casually wiped a glob of black ichor off his cheek, grimacing as it smeared. He tossed the dripping Core into his mouth like a piece of hard candy and swallowed it whole.
[Target Captured. Piece Value: Irregular. Massive EXP gained.]
[Rank Upgrade Progress: 34%... 45%... 58%]
Itachi burped slightly. A tiny wisp of purple smoke escaped his lips. "Tastes like burnt copper and failure," he muttered, walking toward his stunned companions. "Let's go. The vent isn't going to breach itself."