The city without eyes
Koreth had been abandoned a decade earlier. Its factories closed, its trade routes collapsed, and its homes were swallowed by rust and dust. No one wanted to return to Koreth. No one… except those who didn't fear the stench of decay.
And now, after the return of The Ebony Shadow, Koreth was alive again… in the worst possible way.
Armed patrols patrolled the deserted streets, dressed in unmarked uniforms. The bodies of former residents hung from rusty poles, all with their eyes gouged out .
On the walls, painted in blood, a single message:
"He who sees… dies."
Akihiko enters without permission
Dressed in black clothing without symbols, Akihiko crossed the outer borders of Koreth at dawn. His steps were silent, his sword covered, his face hidden beneath an unmarked hood.
The air was thick with recent death.
I wasn't here to investigate.
I was here to confirm what I already knew: one of the Deadly Seven was there… and he wasn't going to hide much longer.
At the intersection of the main avenues, Akihiko stopped in front of a worn mural of forgotten propaganda.
Above it, an eye crossed out in black paint.
Three bodies hung beside him.
One of them was still moving.
—"I'm alive…" whispered the bloody, eyeless man.
Akihiko came closer. "Who did this?"
The man didn't respond with words. He just trembled. And then, a voice emerged from the fog of the alley.
—"Are you going to pick up trash, Akihiko? I thought you'd come for me."
III. The Lethal Appears – Kraven the Red Surgeon
Kraven emerged from the smoke. Tall, thin, his face covered by a surgical mask stained with dried blood.
He wore latex gloves and a white lab coat with insignia torn off.
—"Do you remember me? Oh, wait… you were in that temple. Full of roots and hope."
Akihiko didn't respond. Kraven held up a metal needle filled with a thick, gray liquid.
—"Did you know that human eyes vibrate at different frequencies depending on fear? That's why I cut them out. To find out who's lying."
Akihiko slowly unsheathed his katana.
Kraven smiled. "Perfect. Let's open you up like the others."
Combat – Precision versus Rage
Kraven didn't fight like an assassin.
He fought like a surgeon.
Every movement was clinical. Precise.
His surgical scalpels protruded from his sleeves like razor blades.
Akihiko blocked the first attack with his katana.
But Kraven moved with pinpoint precision.
He didn't go for the chest.
He didn't go for the neck.
I was going to be nervous.
A wound on the wrist. Another on the thigh. One closer to the collarbone.
Akihiko gasped.
Not because of pain…
but because he couldn't remember what it was like to fight someone who didn't believe in anything.
The reversal
Kraven leaped towards Akihiko with both arms crossed, throwing two blades at the same time.
But Akihiko spun around, cutting at an oblique angle. One of his arms fell off.
Kraven screamed… not in pain.
In clinical rage.
—"Now I won't be able to finish my collection of complete nerves!"
Akihiko launched himself forward, smashing Kraven's torso against a wall.
He grabbed him by the neck and said,
—"Tell me how many more are on the way."
Kraven smiled beneath his bloody mask.
—"This… is just the prologue.
Varosk will fall. Halveth will be torn apart from within. And your old world… will be sold in pieces."
Akihiko squeezed harder. But Kraven, before dying, injected himself with a dose of his own mixture.
His body burst into thick foam.
Unrecoverable.
The rescued archive
Among the remains of Kraven's lair, Akihiko found a labeled box.
Inside were documents, photographs, and a list of names.
Among them… one marked with fire:
"Operation: Ebony Scar"
And a prominent city: Syria.
Akihiko closed the box, covered in blood.
—"This wasn't a comeback.
It was an announcement."
END OF CHAPTER 142