The lights of the city glimmered and danced far below.
Lavender City stretched outward in every direction, a restless ocean of neon and noise. Towers glowed. Traffic pulsed. The air buzzed with power lines and rain waiting to fall.
Above the rooftop, holographic koi swam through the night. Orange and blue. Slow and graceful. Their bodies passed through one another endlessly, indifferent to the blood drying at their feet.
Carmen Alethius stood near the edge, breathing hard.
A body lay behind him. Broken. Twisted wrong. Whatever resistance it had offered was already over. Carmen wiped his blade clean on the dead man's coat and laughed to himself, adrenaline still buzzing through his hands.
"Another waste of time," he muttered. "Unfortunately, my man. I was using you to kill the time and I've been let down again."
He turned just as someone else stepped onto the rooftop.
Lucian didn't announce himself. He never did.
Carmen straightened. "And you are?"
Lucian glanced once at the corpse, then back to Carmen. "Not here for you."
Carmen frowned. "Then why are you on my roof?"
Lucian nodded toward the dead body at Carmen's feet. A small black drive was embedded at the base of the corpse's skull, its blue indicator light still blinking beneath a smear of blood.
"Your roof?" Lucian chuckled mildly.
"I just need the drive in that guy's head," Lucian said calmly. "Job's already paid. Soon as I have it, I'm gone."
Carmen laughed, sharp and offended. "You serious?"
Lucian waited.
"I killed him," Carmen said, spreading his arms slightly. "That means everything he had belongs to me. I reap the benefits."
Lucian sighed. "Come on, man. It's just a drive. Let me get it and I'll be outta here. Don't be one of those guys."
Carmen's smile faded.
"If you want it," he said, voice hardening, "then an honorable duel should suffice. Don't you think?"
Lucian raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
Carmen's gaze dropped to Lucian's hip.
The sword rested there quietly, sheathed in dark metal etched with delicate filigree. The hilt was ornate silvered, symmetrical, almost ceremonial. Its crossguard curved like sculpted wings, elegant and excessive in a city built of steel and glass. The weapon looked old. Purposeful. Nothing about it suggested desperation.
"You don't carry something like that for nothing," Carmen said. "You defeat me, the drive is yours."
Lucian shook his head immediately. "Bro, are you deaf? I'm not trying to fight you, man. Just let me—"
"Speak no more," Carmen snapped, already raising his blade. "Raise your weapon or die defenseless."
Lucian stared at him for a second. Really looked at him. At the posture. The ego. The certainty.
"…Fine," he said.
Lucian drew his sword.
The blade caught the koi light as it cleared the sheath—silver patterned with intricate engravings that ran the length of the steel like a forgotten language. It didn't hum. It didn't glow. It simply was.
Carmen lunged.
Fast. Reckless. All momentum and pride.
Lucian stepped aside at the last second, the strike cutting nothing but air. He pivoted smoothly and drove his blade forward.
The sword punched clean through Carmen's chest, piercing his heart.
Carmen gasped. His eyes went wide, disbelief replacing arrogance in an instant. His mouth opened, trying to speak. No words came out. Only blood.
Lucian tore the blade free.
"I told you," he said quietly. "I didn't want to fight."
Blood poured down Carmen's coat. He staggered back, barely upright.
Lucian turned.
One smooth motion. A full rotation.
The blade arced through the air.
Carmen's head left his shoulders before his body understood what had happened.
The body collapsed a second later.
The koi swam on.
Lucian stood still, chest rising and falling, then looked down at the corpse. He knelt, removed the drive, and slipped it into his coat.
"ORPHEUS," he said.
A soft chime answered. "What may I assist you with, Lucian?"
"Identify the man I just killed."
A brief pause.
"Facial recognition complete," ORPHEUS said. "Target identified as Carmen Alethius."
Lucian froze.
"Confirm."
"Confirmed," ORPHEUS replied. "Carmen Alethius. Son of Aurelius Alethius. Patriarch of the Alethius Crime Family."
Lucian closed his eyes.
The city kept glowing. Traffic kept moving. The koi continued their endless loop.
Lucian exhaled slowly.
"…Oh. Fuck."