Chapter 55: The Whisper of Darkness

Neo-Prague never slept, but on that particular night, the silence was stifling. Akihiko, Isabella, and Kael walked through the corridors of the underground warehouse, each footstep echoing in the empty space. They knew they couldn't stay long. If the killer had been here, chances were he wasn't alone.

"The coordinates point to three possible locations within the city," Kael said, examining his device. "Two of them are abandoned buildings. The third... is a nightclub in the center of Neo-Prague."

Isabella raised an eyebrow. "A nightclub. Sounds too flashy for someone who moves in the shadows."

Akihiko looked at the remains of burned documents on the floor. "Perhaps that's where we least suspect he's hiding. If that's the only place with real activity, we'll start there."

The Lights of the Night

The Obsidian Club was one of the most exclusive venues in Neo-Prague, frequented by high-profile criminals and information traffickers. From the outside, it looked like a simple luxury building, with music vibrating through the walls and a constant parade of people dressed in the finest clothes dirty money could buy.

The team split up upon entering. Isabella headed to the bar, Kael blended into the crowd with a tracking device, and Akihiko stayed near the VIP area, watching.

"We have to do this slowly," Kael murmured through the communicator. "If this assassin or his allies are here, we can't draw attention to ourselves."

But the problem was that the attention was already on them.

From the back of the club, eyes as black as nothingness settled on Akihiko. A presence that shouldn't be there. A shadow among the neon lights.

The Shadow Responds

The air changed. He felt it on his skin, in the weight of the atmosphere. Akihiko turned his head slightly and saw a man in a black suit walking toward him with a disturbing calm.

It was Ezra.

His appearance was imposing. He wore a perfectly tailored suit, not a single crease out of place. His long coat seemed to move with a life of its own, and his pale skin contrasted with the darkness around him. But the most disturbing thing were his eyes: completely black, without pupils or irises, as if the void itself inhabited them.

The man stopped a few steps from Akihiko, a slight smile curving his lips. "I didn't expect to see you so soon," he said in a soft, almost polite voice.

Akihiko didn't move. "I don't usually disappoint."

Ezra tilted his head, as if analyzing him. "You're not like the others. Viktor was a brute, predictable. But you... you understand that this isn't just a proxy war. It's something much bigger."

Akihiko held the man's gaze. "Who are you?"

The figure folded his hands elegantly. "Call me Ezra. And if you want answers, you'll have to earn them."

Before Akihiko could react, the air around the club changed. The music stopped. The lights flickered, and in an instant, the crowd seemed to vanish.

The Judgment of the Abyss

Akihiko blinked, and suddenly he wasn't in the club anymore. The ground beneath his feet had disappeared. All around him was endless darkness.

A chill ran down his spine.

"Welcome to my domain," Ezra's voice said, echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once. "Here, time and space are irrelevant."

Akihiko quickly drew his katana, but when he tried to move, his footsteps were soundless. There was no echo. As if reality itself were being devoured.

Ezra appeared a few feet away from him, walking as if nothing had happened. "My power isn't brute strength or speed. It's something much more absolute."

He raised a hand and reality began to crumble.

The shadows around him twisted, and distorted figures emerged from them. Blurry faces, voices whispering into the void. They were the echoes of those Ezra had erased. People who no longer existed.

"This is the 'Judgment of the Abyss.' I don't just erase my enemies... I erase their very existence."

Akihiko felt a crushing weight on his mind. Shadows were coming closer, whispering names he didn't recognize but that, somehow, he felt he'd once known.

"Tell me, Akihiko," Ezra continued, his voice calm. "Are you ready to disappear?"

But Akihiko wouldn't let himself be consumed.

He closed his eyes and let his power flow. The Void within him responded.

A violet glow enveloped her katana, momentarily dispelling the shadows. When she opened her eyes, Ezra was still there, grinning contentedly.

"Interesting..." the dark-eyed man murmured. "Perhaps you can walk in the dark."

And with a snap of his fingers, the world returned to normal.

The Final Warning

Akihiko was back at the club. The music was still playing, people were dancing and talking, as if nothing had happened. But something in the air felt different.

Ezra was gone.

"What the hell was that?" Isabella muttered, quickly approaching.

Akihiko took a deep breath, still feeling the weight of the abyss hanging over him. "That man... he's no ordinary person."

Kael approached, his face pale. "I just checked the records. Ezra has no record. He doesn't exist in any database. It's as if... he never existed."

Akihiko looked at his companions seriously. For the first time in a long time, he felt like he was facing something he couldn't fully understand.

And I knew this was just the beginning