At this time, Aris was heading toward another gang's headquarters, the one that had faced the same disaster that had befallen the Chameleon Gang. Aris had already begun exterminating and wiping out all the gangs he deemed useless.
In just two nights, Aris spread fear as if he were a ghost wandering in the darkness, appearing from anywhere without warning. He was using the Shadow Pendant that prolonged his merging with the darkness until he became part of the shadows themselves.
But these movements made Heart City, which was supposed to be silent at night, boil with terror. Two sleepless nights passed for the residents, as the sounds of screams and pleas tore through the silence of the streets, and the pungent smell of blood mixed with the scent of iron until it filled the air, awakening everyone in the city.
Because of this, everyone gave Aris a new title:
"King of the Night."
A title that quickly turned into a nightmare; even mentioning it became forbidden among the people.
The city lord sent his soldiers to capture Aris, but when they arrived, they found nothing but scattered corpses and dismembered limbs. They had no choice but to start cleaning up, while terror twisted their faces and weighed down their breathing.
In the city lord's palace, a fat and short man sat, sweat dripping from his forehead despite the cold wineglass in his fingers. Rage and fear alternated in his eyes.
He shouted, slamming the glass on the table until the drink splashed everywhere:
"Damn you! What's the point of feeding you if you can't find a single man?!"
Then he grabbed the glass and hurled it violently at one of the soldiers' heads. Blood burst from the soldier's forehead, dripping down his face. Yet, the soldier remained standing like a statue, not daring to move. For although he was far stronger than the city lord, he knew that a single word from this man—sent by the Solar Empire—could mean sending his entire family to the guillotine.
This was the same with Arthur, but he remained strangely calm, watching in deep silence, as if he were sinking into a dark thought.
He muttered in a low voice, almost like talking to himself:
"Why does he wipe out some gangs completely, but only kill the leaders and main members of others?"
A heavy question no one could answer.
As for Aris, he had entered the Black Serpent Gang's headquarters. It was not a building above ground, but rather a network of tunnels and underground rooms that reeked of mold and dampness, filled with heavy breaths of fear. The gang members were on full alert, veins bulging on their necks, their weapons trembling in their hands, and their wide eyes scanning the shadows that could swallow them at any moment.
But this time, Aris did not intend to wipe them out. After roaming through the gang's records and recalling his flowing memories, he discovered that the Black Serpent leader was one of the participants in a terrorist attack on Heart City. He had escaped after the failed attack and joined a terrorist organization, vanishing for four full years before suddenly reappearing as a fifth-rank knight.
That alone was proof he possessed a special talent, especially since he had not yet reached the age of twenty-six during that period, and he was just an ordinary human without abilities.
Aris had no intention of killing him… he wanted to subdue him. But before that, he had to shatter his pride, break his arrogance, and turn him into a loyal dog that knew nothing but kneeling before him.
Aris stood in the shadows, watching the Black Serpent members pacing nervously, their sweat dripping, and the stench of their fear-filled bodies saturating the corridors. They lifted their heads now and then in panic, unaware that his eyes were tracking them from the darkness.
With steps as quiet as the whisper of the wind, Aris moved among them with deadly speed, heading straight toward the Black Serpent leader.
When Aris appeared in shadow fusion inside the leader's room, the man looked like a youth in his prime: tall, broad-shouldered, with a thick golden chain shaped like a serpent hanging from his neck, and dark eyes hiding the remnants of arrogant confidence, yet flashing with both caution and fear.
Aris calmly snapped his fingers, and a sharp crack echoed in the air. Suddenly, all sounds were cut off in an instant; the place sank into a suffocating silence, as though the walls had swallowed every sound. When the Black Serpent leader heard the snap, he raised his spear and took a defensive stance, but he saw nothing in the room, nor did his caution waver. A short while passed, and all he could hear were his pounding heartbeats and ragged breaths, as if the air had grown heavier.
This was the zero-rank Silence Spell Aris had learned from the Chameleon Gang leader's spellbook; it severed all connection between the room and the outside world.
Suddenly, before the leader could catch his breath, thin shining threads burst from the surrounding shadows, as if woven from cold, razor-sharp magic. They wrapped around his arms, legs, and neck in an instant, cutting into his skin and pinning him down like a rat trapped in a snare. His muscles trembled against the bindings, each movement tightening them further, while the air filled with the faint scent of metal and burning sweat.
Aris stepped out of the shadows and approached with slow, deliberate steps, his eyes glowing with violet light in the darkness. "Looks like you were expecting me, especially with all those men outside," Aris said, gesturing toward the door behind him.
The Black Serpent leader struggled and tried to shout, but no sound came out. The magic threads tightened further, sending waves of pain through his body.
"Well then, what should I call you? Serpent? Or Robin?" Aris asked coldly with a mocking tone.
Only eerie silence and frozen fear shone in Robin's eyes.
Aris smirked and extended his hand, pulling out a small glass vial he had prepared earlier, inside which dark drops glistened. He pressed it to the trembling lips of the leader and forced him to swallow. A bitter, acrid taste spread across Robin's tongue, burning as it slid into his stomach, while Aris's cold gaze pierced his soul like a thousand needles.
Aris spoke in a low voice, cold as death:
"Don't worry… this won't kill you now. But exactly three months from today, your body will become your grave, and I'll be the only one holding the key to your survival. From this moment on, your life belongs to me."
With every word, Robin felt the air grow heavier, treachery seep into his bones, and fear gnaw at his chest like an icy hand pressing against his lungs.
"So, in three months, you'll complete the task I give you to earn your cure. Of course, you can try to find another way on your own, but I advise you—while you search—to complete my mission, because you won't like the consequences of failure."
The task Aris assigned him was to gather ten thousand gold coins. It might sound simple, but such an immense sum was held only by nobles and the wealthy, not a mere thug. This would force Robin to seize control of gangs in Heart City to gather funds quickly, dragging him into the dangerous black market.
After completing this difficult task, Aris would reward him. This was Aris's method of training a dog: make him obey, then reward him; if he failed, beat him. Simply put, the poison would serve as the collar that bound him until he became obedient. After all, Aris would not always be there to monitor and control him, for tomorrow he would leave for Heart Academy, and he could only return once every three months.
That was why Aris had crafted this poison so carefully; for on the day Robin drank it, no symptoms would appear, but after exactly three months, certain signs would begin to show, and three days after that, death would claim him.
---
Here ends the first arc, which was merely a prologue and explanation.
The second arc will take place in Heart Academy.
I hope you enjoyed the first arc.