BLADE IN THE SHADOWS

The moon cast its pale light over the towering walls of the Vade Empire's Black Citadel. Inside, within the shadows of its labyrinthine corridors, Riven Vade stood motionless.

He was no longer the naive knight of Valcrest. The past was gone. But what remained was something far deadlier.

A lifetime of swordsmanship, battle instincts, and chivalric training had been cast into a new mold—one sharpened by the darkness of the Vade bloodline. The weight of his old self's failures still lingered, but there was no hesitation in his movements. He had spent the last six years in this new life, honing the deadly arts of assassination, espionage, and silent combat.

The world had always rewarded treachery over honor. He had learned that lesson in death.

Now, he would use the Vade Empire's forbidden techniques—and become the very monster the Valcrest Kingdom once feared.

---

The door to his chamber creaked open. A man clad in black stepped forward, his presence like a whisper in the wind.

"Your Highness," the assassin greeted with a bow. "His Majesty has sent for you. The First Prince is returning from the eastern campaign."

Riven's silver-gray eyes gleamed in the dim torchlight.

First Prince Zephyr Vade. His elder brother. His greatest obstacle.

Zephyr was a warrior of terrifying renown—a prodigy of the Abyssal Arts, the deadliest combat style of the Vade lineage. If Riven wanted to surpass him, he needed to take everything the Vade bloodline had to offer and twist it into something even deadlier.

He didn't just want power. He wanted to be the executioner of his past.

With a calm exhale, he stepped forward. The assassin bowed again before vanishing into the shadows.

Riven smiled coldly.

If the world played by the rules of betrayal, then he would become the greatest traitor of them all.