Chapter 53: Chapter 53: The Calm Before The Storm (part 1)

The next day, Aiden took on a more serious contract.

The target wasn’t just some street thug or merchant with enemies. He was an important figure in the western district, a tax collector with powerful backing and a cautious nature. Unlike the previous targets, this man was guarded at all times.

And not just by ordinary fighters.

One of his guards was a body-tempering practitioner.

Not high-level, but enough to be troublesome.

Aiden observed the residence from a distance for half the day. He watched the shift changes. The patrol routes. The habits of the servants. The body-tempering guard stayed close to the target almost constantly, rarely more than a few steps away.

It would have been difficult for anyone else.

But Aiden wasn’t anyone else.

He waited until dusk, when the sky turned orange and shadows grew long. When the guard escorted the target to a quieter courtyard for his usual evening walk, Aiden moved.

A distraction first.

A sound from the far corridor, one of his lesser undead knocking over a stack of crates. Just enough noise to pull two of the outer guards away.

Then darkness.

He used Undead Sight to track the body-tempering practitioner’s movements through the undead that’s station in a tree.

The bone spear formed silently in his hand.

The fight itself was short but not effortless.

The body-tempering practitioner reacted quickly. He sensed the killing intent at the last instant and twisted his body, raising his fist to block.

The spear missed the throat.

But it still punched clean through his shoulder.

He roared and charged.

Aiden summoned Bonefist to intercept. The clash cracked stone tiles beneath their feet. The practitioner was strong, stronger than the average cultivator at the first layer of body tempering, but he wasn’t prepared for an undead that didn’t feel pain.

Skullbreaker appeared behind him.

One heavy strike.

The sound of bone crushing echoed in the courtyard.

The practitioner collapsed.

The tax collector barely had time to shout for help.

A second bone spear ended him before he could scream.

By the time the household realized something was wrong, Aiden was already gone.

It had taken him the entire day to prepare and execute cleanly.

When he finally made his way back to the Bone Contract Hall, night had fallen completely.

The streets were quiet. Too quiet.

As he turned into the narrow alley that concealed their entrance, something immediately felt wrong.

He stopped, because the secret door it was open.

Aiden’s expression hardened instantly.

Without hesitation, he summoned Bonefist and Skullbreaker.

Then a third figure stepped out of the darkness.

The former head captain of the city guards.

The undead’s armor was still cracked from the night he died. The hole in his skull remained, dark and empty, but he stood upright, silent and obedient.

“Go,” Aiden said quietly.

The three undead moved ahead of him, entering first.

Aiden followed several steps behind, senses sharp, mana flowing through his veins.

The entrance hall was dim.

Nothing moved.

No ambush.

He stepped further inside.

Still nothing.

Then he crossed fully into the main chamber.

And stopped.

The place was destroyed.

The wooden table was split apart, one half leaning against the wall. Chairs were scattered across the floor. Shelves had been torn down, parchments trampled and stained with blood. A section of the wall was cracked, as if someone had been slammed into it with tremendous force.

Aiden’s jaw tightened.

But what truly made his heart skip, what froze him in place.

Were the bodies on the ground.

Harlan.

And his two younger brothers.

They lay several feet apart, as if they had been thrown during the fight. One was near the broken table, another by the storage door. The youngest still had a dagger in his hand.

As if he had tried to resist. Blood had dried beneath them.

For a long second, Aiden didn’t move.

The hall felt colder than the night outside.

He walked forward slowly and knelt beside Harlan first.

Cold.

Lifeless.

A clean, decisive wound across the chest.

This wasn’t random violence.

This was deliberate.

His face didn’t show much.

But his eyes darkened.

The air around him grew heavy as his mana stirred, responding to the emotion he kept tightly restrained.

Bonefist. Skullbreaker, and Vayne.

They stood silently behind him, waiting.

Aiden rose to his feet.

The hall that once felt secure… stable… was now nothing more than wreckage and blood.

Aiden had just risen to his feet when it happened.

A sharp killing intent pierced the air.

Four figures burst out from the shadows at the same time.

They moved fast, too fast for ordinary fighters.

Steel flashed.

Three of them lunged from different angles, blades and reinforced fists aimed straight for his vitals.

But they never reached him.

Bonefist stepped forward and caught a blade with his bare almost skeletal hand. The impact rang like metal striking iron. Skullbreaker intercepted another attacker mid-charge, their collision cracking the already damaged floor.

The third was met by the undead head captain.

Vayne.

The corpse moved swiftly and powerfully, blocking a downward strike with his armored forearm before countering with a brutal punch.

The last attacker came straight for Aiden.

Aiden didn’t move.

“Bone Shield.”

Fragments of bone erupted from the ground and air around him, snapping together in an instant. A curved shield formed just as a glowing fist smashed into it.

Boom.

The force pushed him back a step, but the shield held.

Dust filled the hall.

When it settled, the four attackers stood clearly in view.

All of them carried the presence of Body Tempering practitioners.

Their muscles were dense. Their breathing steady.

Among them stood a man Aiden recognized immediately.

Wip.

The City Lord’s strongest warrior.

Wip lowered his blade slightly, eyes sharp as they scanned Aiden from head to toe. His gaze lingered on the undead captain fighting beside him.

“Confirmed,” Wip said coldly. “This guy matches the description.”

One of the other practitioners stared at Vayne in disbelief. “I can’t believe it… Vayne really is one of these… things.”

The word came out strained.

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