Chapter 2 THE SHADOW OF THE DEATH KING

Silence wrapped around the selection hall after the last candidate's body dropped under Vixen's bullet. The stench of gunpowder, blood, and metal hung in the air like a dense fog. The surviving candidates stood amid shattered glass and lifeless bodies breathing hard, some trembling, others still locked in survival mode. Aurora Vale remained standing straight.

The blood on her cheek had dried, but her dark eyes stayed sharp and focused as if the chaos moments ago had been nothing more than a warm up drill. Then, a door on the second floor slowly opened. Every head turned.

A figure emerged from the shadows of the upper corridor, his steps slow, heavy, and commanding. Vixen straightened instinctively, like a soldier who had just seen his general arrive.

The man descended the spiral staircase, surrounded by a dark aura that crowned him like an invisible halo. Valerio Blackthorn. A mafia boss whose name was never spoken lightly. The ruler of the black market. The one who controlled the flow of weapons, information, and power currents stronger than government money itself. Aurora froze, her entire body tensing.

Valerio was not what she had imagined from the rumors. He was younger than expected, perhaps in his early thirties. His hair was pitch black, slightly disheveled. His face carried a lethal calm. The black suit he wore was immaculate, untouched by the bloodbath below.

His gaze swept across the hall... then stopped on Aurora. Only for a fraction of a second. Yet that second felt like the cold edge of a blade pressed against skin intense, deep, assessing whether she deserved to live or die.

Then he looked away and continued walking toward the mansion exit without a single word.

Vixen immediately gave a signal, tapping two fingers in the air.

"Follow."

The nine surviving recruits moved out in trained formation, though their bodies still trembled from adrenaline that hadn't yet faded. Aurora took position in the middle of the line, her steps steady. Outside, a convoy of glossy black vehicles waited in perfect alignment like an army of shadows.

Valerio entered the lead limousine without looking back. Vixen followed into the second car. For the first time since the selection began, Aurora felt a strange chill crawl up the back of her neck. It wasn't fear. It was instinct. An instinct telling her that everything they had just endured was only the beginning.

"Move. We don't want to keep the boss waiting," one of the male recruits hissed, his voice shaking.

Aurora glanced at him briefly, then entered the guard vehicle with four other recruits. The convoy rolled forward. That day, Aurora began her first assignment one that would test whether she was worthy of standing beneath Valerio Blackthorn's shadow... or destined to die for breaking her oath.

The drive lasted fifteen minutes toward an abandoned industrial zone on the city's outskirts. The place had once been a steel factory. Now it was nothing but stained walls, dead lights, and the hollow echo of cold wind.

Aurora studied the route and their formation. The boss's car led the convoy, followed by Vixen's, then the guard vehicle carrying her and the other recruits. Two additional cars flanked them from behind.

Perfect formation. But the meeting location was wrong. Too empty. Too quiet. Too... clean. Aurora could smell a trap before the cars came to a full stop.

As the doors opened, the guards spilled out immediately, forming a perimeter. Aurora kept her pistol concealed inside her jacket, her thumb already resting on the safety.

Valerio stepped out of his car. He looked relaxed not like a man entering hostile territory. Even the way he adjusted his suit sleeve suggested he had already claimed the space before setting foot in it. From a distance, a man in a brown suit approached with several subordinates. Leonhardt Vega.

A business rival who had clashed with Valerio for years over illegal fuel trade and cross-border money laundering. Aurora had studied his face in stolen intelligence files. She knew he was dangerous, cunning, and power-hungry. And she knew one critical fact, Leonhardt never intended to submit.

This meeting was theater. Valerio stopped five meters away. Leonhardt smiled. The smile was fake. Too wide. Too sweet.

"Valerio Blackthorn," Leonhardt said lightly. "At last, we can make peace."

Valerio didn't respond. He simply looked at Leonhardt as if weighing whether the man was better off dead today or tomorrow morning. Vixen stood one meter behind Valerio, ready to shoot at the slightest suspicious move. Aurora analyzed the enemy formation. Too many. Too close. And their eyes weren't on the agreement documents they were on weapons. Bad sign.

Leonhardt opened the brown folder in his hand. "Before we sign this peace agreement, allow me to-"

Fifteen men on rooftop two. Eleven on the warehouse floor. Three behind the containers. One sniper trained on Valerio's heart. Aurora counted in her mind. Her instincts screamed. She moved a fraction of a second faster than everyone else. Her eyes caught a brief metallic glint above. And then Valerio spoke quiet, flat, yet loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Vega." Leonhardt's smile vanished.

Valerio lifted his chin slightly, emotionless. "Don't bore me."

The next second-

BOOM!

A gunshot thundered from the warehouse rooftop. Chaos exploded instantly. Leonhardt had betrayed the deal. His men drew their weapons in unison. Hundreds of bullets tore through the air. Valerio's convoy took cover behind shipping containers. Muzzle flashes lit the space like a meteor shower.

Aurora moved immediately, yanking her pistol free and kicking the leg of a recruit who had frozen in place.

"MOVE!"

She fired at an enemy hidden between containers. The man's head slammed into steel before his body collapsed.

Vixen barked orders. "ALPHA FORMATION! PROTECT THE BOSS!"

The newly recruited guards ran, falling into tactical patterns they barely remembered from that morning's drills. They had been thrown into real war without time to breathe.

Aurora slid behind a massive truck tire, firing from a low angle. Her bullet struck the wrist of a man aiming at Valerio from the side.

BANG!

The weapon dropped. She fired again this time into his chest.

BANG!

He fell. Valerio stood amid the chaos like a demon king, utterly fearless. He didn't take cover. Didn't run. Didn't duck. He simply stood there, as if the attack itself were part of his plan. Two senior guards shielded his left side, three secured the right. Their fire was precise, forming a wall of bullets that held the enemy back. But the enemy numbers kept growing.

Aurora spotted two new snipers taking position on the roof of the opposite factory. If they got a clean angle on Valerio, No.

Aurora wouldn't allow it. She sprinted forward at full speed, leaping onto a stack of crates and making one recruit shout, "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Aurora didn't answer. She climbed the metal pile and ran across it like a black shadow. Bullets screamed past her ears, tearing through the air. She jumped onto the roof of a logistics truck, ignoring the burning heat on her shoulder from a grazing round. Aurora had only one objective, kill the snipers.