By nightfall, the alley had already been cleared. Bodies removed, blood washed down into the gutters. But the story of what had happened spread faster than any messenger could run.
The city's underworld was buzzing like a nest of hornets disturbed.
In a tavern deep beneath the streets, a dozen gang leaders sat around a scarred oak table, maps spread before them, daggers in hand.
"They're here," one said, voice trembling despite the bravado. "I heard a hundred men… gone. Just like that. No one survived."
Another slammed a fist against the table. "That's impossible. Nobody is that fast… that strong."
A third muttered, low, eyes darting to the shadows. "It's not strength. It's… control. They see you before you move. They make you stumble. They make you fight their fight."
Fear and awe mingled in the air, heavier than smoke or sweat.
Whispers of the Hollow Strings
Every gang in the city now had rumors:
"The Hollow-eyed one—he's the boy from the gutter. They say he fights like a storm and smiles while you die." "And the silver-haired one… they move together, like the same mind." "You can't run. You can't hide. They know where your soul trembles before you do."
Even seasoned killers, veterans of turf wars and knife fights, whispered about "the Web" as if it were a living predator stretching its threads across the streets.
The massacre wasn't just fear—it was opportunity.
Smaller gangs began bending to Rayon's rumored will, offering allegiance without meeting him, hoping to survive. The mid-tier enforcers began testing their limits, trying to map where this Hollow Strings boy operated.
Even the city's spies and informants felt the shift. The old hierarchy, the old rules—they no longer applied. Something new had arrived, and it was rewriting everything.
Rayon and Cairos Watch from the Shadows
From a rooftop overlooking the docks, Rayon leaned on the stone parapet. Cairos stood beside him, arms crossed, eyes scanning the city.
"They fear us," Rayon said softly, a faint grin curling his lips. "And they should."
Cairos nodded. "Fear is the beginning. But respect… respect lasts. If they see us as untouchable, they'll work for us without knowing it. That's the Web we weave."
Rayon's hollow eyes glinted in the lantern light. "Good. Let them scurry in the dark. Let them whisper. By the time they realize who I really am… it'll be too late."
The two of them melted back into the shadows, unseen and untouchable, the city's pulse beating beneath them like a drum, unaware that its streets were already being rewritten in blood and silk.