The Shadow Guild, one of the three major assassination organizations in the capital, never even had time to react.
Boom.
The first building exploded..
Boom.
The second was reduced to drifting ash.
Boom.
The third collapsed inward like a dying star, its stone melting into glossy black glass.
Duke Emanuel Williams did not run, in fear of them getting away, He simply walked, each step leaving faint marks on the ground.
Behind him followed four shadows, his feared Four Protectors.
Each one was an Arcane Mage equal to a battlefield unit alone.
Tonight, they painted the capital's underworld with Blood.
......................
After entering the main hall of shadow guild..
"Leave no survivors," Duke Emanuel said, his voice cold enough to bite bone.
Light began to twist at his command.
The Four Protectors moved instantly.
Iris flicked her fingers.
Shrrk…
Space itself split, slicing through the guild's defences with one slash of her sword. Bodies fell without even bleeding, wounds too clean to spill.
Ragnor roared and punched the ground.
BOOM!
A wave rippled outward, vaporizing assassins before their screams left their mouths.
Helvius raised a hand, Gravity condensed in the hall like a collapsing star, walls bent inward, metal folding like dough.
Mira scribbled glowing runes in the air.
"Chain Weave: Arcane Net."
A web of blue sigils spread outward, dragging hidden assassins out of shadows.
Within seconds, the Shadow Guild's outer defences were gone.
As the approached the core area of the guild, they suddenly stopped.
Bodies were everywhere.
Yet…
None were warm, they were not freshly killed, Every corpse had been dead for hours…
..................….
The Duke walked deeper, but the same scene of cold corpses were everywhere…
Even assassins who were supposed to be strong enough to kill nobles… were lying lifeless on the floor, but it wasn't poison, It wasn't blades…
The corpses showed signs of….
Extraction, as someone have pulled soul out of their bodies..
"What… is this?" one knight whispered, staring at a soul-burnt hole in a corpse's chest.
Mira knelt and touched the floor. "These scorch marks… aren't from magic."
"Not ours, at least," Iris muttered. "Something far more refined."
Duke Emanuel's eyes sharpened.
His expression darkened to something monstrous.
"Someone else killed them," he growled. "Someone who did not want them taken alive."
The aura around him deepened.
"Someone is cleaning their tracks." Light burst from his body like a tidal wave.
"If the Shadow Guild is hiding the culprit," Emanuel said, "then the others might be too."
"Lord Duke…please wait.."
Too late, Emanual was already gone…
One protector whispered" I think this will going to be a long hunt"
He shot into the sky as a speed of light.
"TO THE BLOOD CROWS GUILD."
The Four Protectors followed instantly, forming a formation around him.
The Blood Crows, another major assassination faction, did not even get to mount a defense.
Iris severed their headquarters in half before anyone realized the attack had begun.
Rognor punched straight through their command hall, reducing elite killers to dust.
Hilvius crushed their escape tunnels by increasing gravity tenfold.
Mira trapped their leaders in runes that detonated with azure explosions..
But once again…
Inside the deepest chamber, the Blood Crows were already dead, Bodies slumped over tables, Poison untouched, Weapons un-drawn, Killed before the Duke even arrived.
It was becoming clear.
Someone had predicted the Duke would purge the underworld, Someone had acted first, brilliant, Merciless and frighteningly fast.
Emanuel's fury spiraled.
"Fine," he snarled. "If the Blood Crows were dead already, then the Black Veil will answer."
He pointed west, the sky split.
BOOOOOM...
The Duke's light tore across the capital like a falling comet, The Protectors followed, streaks of silver, blue, and violet trailing behind.
The Black Veil quickly realized who was coming, They tried to flee, summoned beasts, opened teleport gates, they pleaded to nobles for refuge, But spell fell before they could even beg, Emanuel cut them down like weeds.
Wherever he walked, light slice everything with precision.
The entire capital trembled under the rampage of one enraged Duke and his five living weapons.
Whispers filled every alley:
"Who did he lose?"
" who did someone attempt to kill?"
"A child named Kelvin… Everlong…?"
Fear suffocated the entire underground world.
.....................
On the fourth night of this rampage , a golden banner unfurled above the Willaim's dukedom Army...
A voice like calm thunder echoed across the burning districts:
"Emanual, this is Enough."
The duke halted mid-strike. A man in golden royal armor descended, the King himself.
The air stilled.
"Your Majesty," Emanual said, bowing stiffly, though lightning still leaked from his fists. "Someone attempted to murder Edward Everlong's son. Kelvin. My Godson."
"I know," the King replied, voice soft but unyielding. "But half the capital have already destroyed under your fury. If you do this with every guild, the kingdom may not recover."
"They tried to kill a child!" Emanuel snapped. "Under my protection!"
"And I share your rage," the King said. "But justice requires reason… not annihilation."
The duke's fists clenched in hatred.
"If you continue," the King said gently, "I will be forced to strip your household from duke's title."
The entire army froze, even the Protectors lowered their gazes..
Emanuel was shocked first, then he took a deep breath to calm his emotions.
"…As you command, Your Majesty." He bowed..
But behind the bow…his eyes still burned, The mastermind was still out there, and Duke Emanuel vowed silently,
Whoever touched Kelvin…
would not live long enough.