Chapter 149: Dead

*** Beijing – Time Unknown

“W-What’s going on?”

Everything was dark. My ears rang like I’d been blasted point-blank by a wall of speakers. The dizziness, the nausea, the sheer force of it all managed to cut straight through my training.

“S-Sir!”

T-1’s voice came from right in front of me.

I tried to move toward her—and couldn’t. That was when I realized my hands and legs were strapped to a chair. We’d been captured. Exhaustion had made us sloppy, and the terrorists took advantage.

“T-1? Report.”

“I-I’m blindfolded and tied up, sir!”

So she was in the same situation. But before I could think of a way out, someone tore off my blindfold.

“So you’re the legendary N-1? I’ve only ever heard your name in stories…”

A masked man knelt in front of me, leaning in until our eyes met. Only his mouth was visible. His accent was clearly Chinese, and the way he carried himself screamed high-ranking officer in the organization we’d been sent to eliminate.

“You don’t look special.”

He snickered, glancing back at his men. They stood at ease, each one armed with weapons built for close-range combat.

Even if I broke free, I’d be riddled with bullets before I took a single step.

“S-Sir, what’s happening?” T-1’s voice trembled.

“Stay calm.”

“O-Okay…”

The masked man tilted his head, looking past me to steal a quick glance at T-1. Then he grinned.

My instincts screamed. I already knew what he was about to try and take from me.

“How many years has he worked with her?” he asked.

“Five years, according to reports, sir,” one of his lackeys answered.

The masked man snapped his fingers. His men moved immediately, covering T-1’s ears.

His smile widened.

“Tell me… does the legendary assassin of the Crows have emotions?”

RIP!

I tore through my restraints the instant those words left his mouth. My hand clamped around his throat as I slammed him to the ground.

“Y-You bastard!”

I moved in to finish him—but froze.

The sound of guns being raised cut through the room.

They were all aimed directly at the back of T-1’s head.

*** Present

Where am I this time?

By now, I was already familiar with the feeling of blacking out and waking up in a situation completely different from what I remembered.

But what bothered me most was the new memory that surfaced with each blackout.

Even if my mind tried to deny it…

It was already obvious.

This was—

What I was experiencing was a repressed memory.

I…

[ERROR]

[ERROR]

Shut up…

I forced the system to silence itself.

I wasn’t dumb enough to keep pretending I didn’t know what was going on. This… this was obviously not an illusion or a fake memory.

“C-Cael…?”

I heard Fiona’s voice in front of me—raw and strained, as if her throat had been torn from screaming—but I couldn’t see her.

The room I’d appeared in was completely dark, like a prison cell. Even the floor felt reinforced beneath my feet. And now… the eye had completely disappeared from my possession.

I was cornered.

CLACK!

A single light from above snapped on, a harsh white beam that cut through the darkness and revealed Fiona.

She was tied to a chair, her body covered in bruises and wounds.

But… she was alive.

“T-1…!”

H-Huh?

“T-1, w-what do you mean?”

Fiona’s eyes were covered by a blindfold, but I could tell she was relieved to hear my voice. A weak smile tugged at her lips despite her battered state.

But there was no visible exit anywhere.

[Surprised, Arden?]

[Did you really think we’d just let you go, after all the damage you’ve done—and everything you’ve already learned about us?]

[You’d be vastly underestimating us if you did.]

Cruel laughter echoed from the walls. Wherever the sound was coming from, it was clearly just outside this cube. The problem was… could I even break through these walls without my eye?

Could I construct a formula strong enough on my own, without its assistance—while also avoiding detection from whoever was watching us?

“This wasn’t part of the deal.”

I answered, but I knew even as I spoke that it was pointless. I knew it was a trick. Still, there was no reasoning with the choices I made while I was unconscious.

There was no reasoning with my body’s automatic response to this repressed memory…

[…Seriously? I didn’t expect the D’Arclights’ newest pawn to be such a naive brat.]

“D-Deal? Cael, what are they talking about?” Fiona asked, struggling against her restraints.

[No need to bother with the specifics, Whitestrake. The two of you won’t live long enough to remember it anyway.]

Mechanical turrets slid out from the walls in an instant.

—Profaned Guardian—

I tried to cast… but nothing happened. Nothing at all.

Right… I no longer had my divine or light attunement. And Fiona seemed to sense that loss. She was still wrapped in the faint glow of the divine energy I’d given her—a power that somehow remained, even though I’d already lost the profaned eye.

She knew what she had to do. Blindfolded as she was, she could still hear the turrets whirring to life, and she understood exactly what that meant.

“Take cover!”

“Wait, you can’t handle—!”

I tried to stop her, but—

VRRRR!

The turrets had already made up its mind.

[Divine Guardian]

TAK-TAK-TAK!

I hit the floor and curled in on myself as the turrets opened fire, the room filling with gunpowder and smoke. I did everything I could to make myself a smaller target.

It was hell. Every part of my mind screamed at me to move, to reach Fiona, to shield her.

But I couldn’t. My body knew that stepping out would be suicide.

VRRRR!

And when the gunfire finally stopped…

I opened my eyes again, clearing the smoke that covered my sight.

“F-Fiona?”

But…

She was…

S-She…

[ERROR]

She…

[ERROR]

[ERROR]

CRACK!

[Breakthrough!]

[Adept: Lvl 1]

[Second Attunement: Fire]

[Special Condition Achieved…]

[Special Attunement: Black Flames]

Was…

Dead.

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