Some people were born to follow.Some were born to lead.And some… were born to kill.
Ash didn't fear killers. He understood them. Most thought with their hands—reaction first, purpose later. Rage-driven machines. But there were exceptions. Rare ones. Killers who thought with cold clarity. Killers with no past. No ego. No desire beyond perfection.
This one had no name.He was just called Zero.
Three days after Cipher was folded into the growing foundation of Ash's unseen empire, Nova sent the message:
"Target found. Highly unstable. No pattern. No identity. Multiple conflicting eyewitness reports. 0% predictability."
Ash read it in silence.
Perfect.
He didn't need predictability. He needed precision. And Zero was flawless at one thing: eliminating anything he was pointed at.
But here's the problem: Zero wasn't interested in money, cause, or even freedom. He followed no one. Took no jobs. Vanished after every kill. Authorities called him "a myth." Underground circles called him "the Devil's Ghost."
Ash just called him necessary.
So he prepared the trap.
Not to kill Zero.To make Zero choose him.
In a rain-drenched alley two districts west of New Avalon's corporate towers, a brutal sound echoed—like steel dragging on pavement. A man's body dropped, throat slit perfectly, no wasted motion.
Zero stood in the rain, face hidden under a hood, hands bare. Blood never touched his clothes.
Five armed men stepped out from the shadows.
"Thought you'd get away clean?" one sneered.
No answer.
"You're worth a lot, freak. Some rich bastard from the East put ten million on your head."
Still silence.
The leader raised his rifle. "End of the road."
Then it happened.
Zero vanished.
One second.
Two.
By the third second, every man was dead.
Their blood steamed in the puddles.
Zero stood in the middle of them, blinking once. Then he froze.
A new sound. A new voice.
"Beautiful work," it said.
Zero turned. Slowly. A man stood at the edge of the alley. Pale skin. Red eyes. White hair. Umbrella in one hand, not a single drop touching him.
"I didn't hear you," Zero said flatly.
"That's because you weren't meant to."
Ash stepped forward. "I've been following you. Watching. Studying."
Zero's stance changed. Subtle. Ready to attack.
Ash noticed.
"Before you try," he said, "just know you've already lost."
Zero didn't laugh—but something flickered behind his eyes.
"And what," he asked, "makes you think I'd ever follow someone like you?"
Ash tilted his head. "Because I'm not offering a job. I'm offering a puzzle."
Zero blinked.
Ash dropped a sealed envelope onto the blood-slick ground. "Inside that envelope is a coded location. You'll try to break it. You won't be able to. Not at first."
"And if I don't care?"
"You'll still try," Ash said calmly. "Because you're not just a killer. You're curious. And that's what no one else saw."
He turned to leave, then paused.
"Oh—and one more thing. If you solve the puzzle… don't come looking for me."
Zero raised a brow. "Why?"
"Because I'll already be where you're going," Ash said. "Waiting."
Hours later, in a different place, Cipher watched through surveillance footage as Zero picked up the envelope, turned it over once, and disappeared into the night.
"He'll kill you," Cipher muttered from his lab below the freight station. "He's not like the others."
Ash didn't look up. "He's exactly like them."
Cipher scoffed. "He has no loyalty. No memory. No trigger we can manipulate."
"That's what you think," Ash said softly. "But I already gave him what he wanted."
Cipher paused. "Which is?"
Ash turned. Red eyes glowing faintly.
"Purpose."
Three days passed.
Nova found nothing. Cipher had no new data.
Ash waited. Quietly. Calmly.
Then, on the fourth day, the door to the station opened. A hooded figure walked in, blood dripping from a blade that was too clean, too quiet to be seen.
Zero dropped a small device on the table. It played a single message in Ash's voice:
"You're not a weapon. You're a scalpel. Come sharpen yourself."
Ash looked up from the documents he was studying. "Welcome."
Zero didn't smile. Didn't speak.
But he didn't leave, either.
Ash nodded, as if it were just a move on a chessboard.
"Three down," he murmured.
Nova crossed her arms. "You knew he'd come."
"I always know," Ash replied. "Even when I don't."