CHAPTER 52: UNEXPECTED TURN OF EVENTS

Edward lingered behind the corner, shadows pressed against him like a cloak.

The street was still, too still, and for what felt like an eternity, nothing happened. His jaw tightened, as thr soldier who had promised him a distraction was nowhere in sight.

Every tick of silence crawled down his spine until, at last, a figure emerged from the far end of the street.

Edward leaned out just enough to see. A second man soon joined him, face hidden beneath his hood. The closer he drew, the clearer the lines became, and Edward recognized him at once.

"There he is..." he whispered under his breath, though his brows furrowed. "But what’s his plan?"

The two men met halfway down the road.

From the safety of the corner, Edward watched their exchange. The familiar soldier spoke quickly, arms moving with sharp motions. His voice carried no further than a murmur to Edward’s ears, but his posture betrayed urgency, even panic. The other man remained still, listening.

Or so it seemed—until his fist snapped forward and cracked across the soldier’s jaw.

Edward’s eyes widened as the familiar soldier stumbled and fell hard onto the cobblestone.

"What—"

He didn’t even have time to finish the thought. Steel hissed free of a sheath, and in the blink of an eye, the hooded man raised his sword high, poised to carve it down into the helpless soldier.

"Damn it!"

Edward’s hand clenched, and darkness stirred. From the ground itself, a blade of shadow tore upward. Shadow Assassin answered his call without delay, its black shortsword thrusting through the attacker’s ribs before the swing could fall. The man let out a sharp gasp, his body jolted, then collapsed face-first onto the stones.

The familiar soldier scrambled to sit upright, blood smeared across his lip. "W-What—"

"What the hell happened?!" Edward snapped, storming toward him.

"I-I don’t know!" the man stammered, clutching his jaw. "He—he said they knew I was a rat. I swear, I don’t know what happened after that—he just drew his blade."

Edward ground his teeth. He had hunted liars long enough to recognize the fear in the man’s tone, the ragged edge of truth. Yet that only twisted the knife deeper.

"That’s going to be a problem," Edward muttered.

He was a detective, a man who pieced puzzles together—yet now he stood above a corpse he himself had ordered slain. For the first time, he was cleaning up a crime scene instead of cataloging one.

With a thought, he summoned two more shadow soldiers. Their forms rose silently, grasping the dead man’s body.

"We need to get him out of town."

The soldier blinked at him. "I-I know a way. The south gate—it’s undermanned, half the wall’s crumbled. You can slip through easily."

Edward nodded once. "Let’s go."

The assassin melted back into the dark, scouting ahead, while the others hefted the lifeless weight between them.

The journey through the streets stretched into a suffocating nightmare. Each corner brought the threat of discovery. Edward had to pause often, dragging the soldier into narrow alleys, pressing himself flat against damp stone walls as patrols passed. Their boots rang against the cobbles, their lanterns cutting swathes of light through the dark.

Edward’s pulse hammered each time those lights swayed too near. He found himself cataloging their routes, the rhythm of their movements—habits he once used to shadow suspects. Tonight, they became his only shield.

An hour bled away before the ruined stretch of wall finally loomed ahead. The air grew sharper, cooler, touched with the scent of pine drifting in from the forest beyond. Slipping through the breach, Edward felt a weight ease from his chest, though not for long.

The soldier he’d saved clutched his side, a deep gash leaking through a cloth Edward had wrapped around him earlier. The trail behind them was too stark, too damning.

Edward summoned another shadow, smaller, leaner. "Cover it. Mud, leaves, whatever you can find. Erase the trail."

The entity wordlessly obeyed, blending the blood into the dirt with careful, methodical smears. Edward watched a moment, lips pressed thin, before pushing on.

Two miles into the trees, the world hushed save for their own ragged breaths. Here, at last, they stopped.

Edward knelt and pressed his palm to the earth. "No shovels. No time. We make do."

The soldier hesitated. "We’re... we’re burying him?"

"You want to leave him to be found?"

Edward’s glare silenced him. Together they dug with bare hands, the dirt cold and unyielding. Minutes dragged, and when the shallow pit gaped enough to conceal the body, they lowered the corpse inside.

But then, before he could cover it with dirt, Edward’s eyes caught something.

A smear of black smudged across the man’s lower neck.

He leaned forward tearing open the man’s tunic.

"Is-is that—"

"Pact Mark" Edward said cutting the soldier off.

Things started to click together, the sudden increase in soldier recruitments, the constant patrols, the sudden change of power from Chief Warren to Auren... this wasn’t just some random attack from the Crimson Oath, this was a deliberate play to take over the whole town.

Dark expression settled over Edward’s features.

Then, after a few moments of silence, he spoke.

"Go find a tavern. Get drunk and make sure to be loud. Cause a commotion, do whatever it takes to make sure you’re seen... You swapped shifts at midnight, then you went drinking, then home. You never saw me. You never spoke to me. Understand?"

The soldier gulped. "Y-Yeah. Got it."

Edward rose, fixing him with a stare. "If anything feels off—if they so much as glance at you for too long—you take your family and leave. Do not come near me, not until I say otherwise."

The weight of his voice left no room for protest. The soldier nodded, pale as ash, before stumbling off toward the distant lights of town.

Edward lingered for a moment before his gaze returned to the still unburied body.

He extended his arm, hesitating for a heartbeat, then whispered in a low and steady voice:

"Extract."

Shadows stirred around the corpse, and a moment later, a Shadow Soldier materialized.

Edward turned his back on the scene, his thoughts already on the town ahead.

With a mental command, he ordered the summon to bury his body, as he began walking back toward the town.