CHAPTER 426: CHAPTER 426: CAPITAL CHAOS

The central plaza erupted in violence as two armies collided under the breaking dawn.

Sun faction soldiers in golden armor advanced in perfect phalanx formation, their shields locked and spears bristling like a wall of death. From the opposite end, Moon faction troops in silver and blue moved with disciplined precision, crossbows ready and cavalry flanking.

The spark came without warning, a Sun faction messenger carrying urgent dispatches took a crossbow bolt through the throat. His body hit the cobblestones with a wet thud, blood pooling beneath the morning light as his sealed orders scattered in the wind.

"For the Sun Throne!" The golden phalanx charged.

"For the rightful heir!" Moon cavalry thundered forward.

The clash of steel on steel echoed through the plaza as hundreds of soldiers collided in brutal melee. No quarter given, no mercy shown. Spears punched through armor, swords found gaps in defense, and the morning air filled with screams.

A baker’s apprentice, caught in the crossfire while setting up his morning stall, screamed as a stray spear pierced his shoulder. An elderly woman fell, trampled by retreating soldiers who couldn’t stop to help.

The violence spread like wildfire through the capital:

Golden Bridge: Sun faction cavalry trying to control the main river crossing, their war horses’ hooves thundering against stone as Moon faction pike squares awaited them.

Merchant Quarter: Moon faction forces turning market stalls into improvised barricades while Sun faction archers set the quarter ablaze with fire arrows.

Noble District: Both sides fighting for the high ground, noble families barricading themselves behind mansion walls as armies clashed in their gardens.

The dream of a peaceful morning had become a nightmare of civil war.

****

Shay moved like liquid shadow across the rooftops of the Merchant Quarter, her rapier gleaming at her side as she approached Lord Aldwin’s estate. Below, the narrow streets had become a battlefield, Moon faction soldiers using cramped spaces to their advantage while Sun faction forces struggled with their larger shields in the confined quarters.

A Moon faction sergeant took a mace to the skull, his helmet crumpling like paper as blood splattered across an abandoned fruit cart. Bodies littered the marketplace, soldiers and civilians alike.

Focus on the mission, Shay told herself, dropping silently into the courtyard of Lord Aldwin’s manor. Save the moderate. Stop the escalation.

Moon faction soldiers had surrounded the estate, ostensibly to "protect" the Sun faction councilor known for his peaceful policies. But Shay’s trained eyes caught the wrongness immediately, their positioning was too perfect, too coordinated.

And standing among them, disguised as a captain, was something that definitely wasn’t human.

The creature’s hulking frame was pitch-black, needle-like fangs glowing gold in its oversized maw. When it moved, reality seemed to bend around it, shadows flowing like liquid across surfaces that should have been solid.

"What the hell is that thing?" Shay whispered, her rapier trembling in her grip.

She’d faced human-like threats, but nothing like this abomination. The creature’s very presence made her skin crawl with wrongness.

No choice. Aldwin’s life depends on this.

Shay lunged from the shadows, her rapier flashing like dark purple lightning as she aimed for the wraith’s vital points. The creature didn’t block, it bent, spine contorting unnaturally before lashing out with clawed arms in a blur of motion.

Each strike Shay landed was shallow, her precision meeting the wraith’s unnatural regeneration. For every wound she opened, the creature’s flesh writhed back together like living shadow.

The wraith roared, a sound more demonic than bestial, as black tendrils sprouted from its back and slammed into the ground, creating shockwaves that forced Shay into a desperate defensive dance. Her footwork was crisp, perfect, but the space between them was closing fast.

Feinting left, Shay spun and drove her rapier toward the demon’s throat, the blade glowing faintly with magical energy. The wraith caught the blade between two clawed fingers, metal screeching as it bent, its other arm whipping toward her with lethal intent.

She barely sidestepped, her cheek grazed and blood trickling down her face.

Time for everything Angelica taught me.

Shay stood poised in the courtyard, rapier tip angled down, her chestnut hair rippling in the wind. Dark-purple aura coiled around her blade, flaring like smoke catching fire. Her brown eyes burned with fatal resolve.

The wraith launched forward in a vortex of claws and teeth.

Shay stepped once, only once, and whispered the name of her ultimate technique: "Noctis Ruptura."

The purple aura condensed to a razor-thin halo around her blade, sparking with unstable energy. Her rapier pierced forward faster than sight, striking twelve consecutive points along the wraith’s core in less than a heartbeat. Each thrust sent shockwaves of purple light through its body, cracks of pure void crawling over its form like shattered glass.

With a final, downward flourish, she dragged the rapier in a single arcing slash, a crescent of violet darkness exploded outward, tearing the air itself. The wraith froze mid-scream, the demonic mass unravelling into black mist before vanishing entirely.

Shay exhaled softly, lowering her blade. The aura dissipated, leaving only drifting purple motes in the morning light.

But when she reached Lord Aldwin’s study, she found only a body, the real assassin had struck while she fought the decoy.

"Damn it," she breathed, staring at the corpse. "It was a distraction."

****

Lady Miriam’s elegant townhouse was already under siege when Katrina arrived, water and lightning crackling around her fingers as she surveyed the battlefield. Moon faction soldiers prepared to storm the building while smoke rose from nearby structures.

At least I’m not too late, she thought, unleashing a barrage of lightning bolts that arced between the soldiers’ metal armor. Four dropped immediately, their bodies twitching as electrical energy overloaded their nervous systems.

Katrina burst through the townhouse’s front door, expecting to find Lady Miriam cowering upstairs. Instead, a demon wraith erupted from the shadows of the main hall, this one moving with predatory intelligence, using the enclosed space to its advantage.

Same creatures Shay described. Different tactics.

She responded with torrents of pressurized water, the magical liquid slamming into the wraith with crushing force. The creature’s pitch-black skin seemed to absorb some of the impact, but it still recoiled from direct hits.

Lightning crashed through the townhouse as Katrina engaged the wraith in deadly combat. Her water spells were powerful, but the creature’s supernatural agility kept it just ahead of her targeting.

Combine them. Water conducts electricity.

Katrina merged her elements into a devastating electrified torrent, the magical current conducting through the wraith’s wet form and vaporizing the creature entirely. Only scorch marks on the marble floor remained.

Racing upstairs to Lady Miriam’s chambers, Katrina found the door ajar. Inside, the Moon faction noblewoman sat peacefully in her chair, but closer inspection revealed the poison needle in her neck.

She’d died while Katrina fought the distraction below.

"They’re using the wraiths as decoys," Katrina muttered into her communication crystal. "We’re fighting shadows while the real killers work."