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Chapter 140: The Hunt for Varxius
Chapter 140: The Hunt for Varxius
The air was thick with tension as Seraphis and Theia prepared for their next mission. The Obsidian Spire’s meeting had confirmed one thing—they were no longer just shadows in the night. The enemy had turned its gaze upon them, and now, it was a battle of survival.
This time, their target was Varxius, the Shadebinder—a master of illusions and shadow magic, a man who thrived in the darkness and bent reality to his will.
This was not going to be a simple assassination.
This was going to be a war in the dark.
A Fortress of Shadows
The Obsidian Spire was a monolith of pure darkness, a stronghold unlike any they had faced before. Towers of twisting black stone clawed at the sky, their surfaces absorbing all light. The structure seemed to shift and twist, making it impossible to track movement inside.
Seraphis stood at the edge of a ruined rooftop, her eyes scanning the unnatural fortress. "This won’t be easy."
Beside her, Theia smirked. "Good. I hate easy."
She drew her daggers, their edges humming with latent magic. "Varxius thinks he can play in the dark? Let’s remind him that some things hunt better in the shadows."
Seraphis nodded. "Let’s go."
The Descent into the Abyss
They moved like wraiths, leaping from rooftop to rooftop until they reached the outer walls of the Spire. No guards. No sentries.
That was the first sign that something was wrong.
Theia narrowed her eyes. "Why do I feel like we just stepped into a trap?"
Seraphis didn’t answer. She could feel it too.
Without hesitation, they slipped inside through a narrow crevice in the fortress wall, descending into pure darkness.
An Endless Labyrinth
Inside, the halls were a shifting maze of corridors and staircases, twisting upon themselves, leading to dead ends and looping back in impossible ways.
Seraphis frowned. "Illusions."
Theia exhaled sharply. "He’s already playing with us."
A whisper slithered through the air. "You have come far, little assassins."
They froze. The voice was everywhere, yet nowhere, curling around them like poisoned silk.
"But tell me… can you kill what you cannot see?"
The walls around them shifted, the ground beneath them vanished, and in an instant—
They were falling into the abyss.
The First Attack
They landed hard on a platform of black stone, surrounded by an endless void of swirling darkness.
Then came the first attack.
Blades of pure shadow erupted from the ground, slashing toward them at blinding speeds. Seraphis twisted, flipping backward, her metallic playing cards flashing as they deflected the incoming barrage. Theia dodged to the side, her daggers spinning as she cut through the incoming spikes.
From the darkness, Varxius appeared.
Or rather—a dozen versions of him did.
Each shadowy form moved differently, their glowing silver eyes locked onto Seraphis and Theia like hungry predators.
"Which one is real?" Theia muttered.
Seraphis didn’t answer. She had to think. Fast.
Breaking the Illusions
The clones attacked.
They moved like phantoms, flickering in and out of existence, striking from impossible angles.
Seraphis’s metal cards whirled around her, forming a spinning wall of steel, slicing through the illusions as they closed in. Theia darted between them, her daggers finding nothing but empty shadows.
Then—pain.
A thin blade of darkness sliced into Seraphis’s shoulder. Not an illusion.
The real Varxius.
She whirled, her cards lashing out in a deadly arc—
But he was already gone.
A Game of Shadows
Varxius laughed.
It echoed from everywhere, taunting them. "You are skilled… but skill means nothing in my domain."
The world shifted again, the battlefield warping into a mirror maze of endless reflections. Each surface showed hundreds of versions of themselves and Varxius.
Theia cursed. "Oh, come on."
Seraphis exhaled. She had no time for games.
Her fingers tightened. She closed her eyes.
She didn’t need sight—not when she had instinct.
The Killing Move
She felt the air shift. A ripple in the space behind her.
There.
Without hesitation, she spun and threw all of her cards at once—not at the reflections, not at the illusions—
At the empty space between them.
Varxius appeared mid-attack, eyes widening in shock as thirty blades of enchanted steel buried into him from every direction.
"No—!"
Theia lunged, her daggers flashing—
And with a final, brutal slash, Varxius’s throat was cut.
The End of the Shadebinder
The illusions shattered.
The fortress stabilized.
And Varxius, the Shadebinder, collapsed into the dark, lifeless.
Seraphis and Theia stood over his body, breathing hard.
Theia smirked. "He talked too much."
Seraphis simply wiped the blood from her blades. "Let’s go."
They took Varxius’s severed head and disappeared into the night.
A Warning to the Spire
By dawn, the Obsidian Spire awoke to horror.
Varxius’s head was impaled on a spear outside their gates.
The message was clear.
"You are next."