Ex rank talent Awakening: 100\% Dodge rate-Chapter 307: TRAITOROUS DANIEL

"I'm getting the task done, sir," Daniel said quietly, head still lowered in practiced submission.

"I just need a little more time to end Greg Austin's life."

A long, deliberate pause followed. The silhouette tilted its head, the motion unnaturally smooth.

"Hmm. Daniel." The voice rolled out low and dangerous, like distant thunder trapped inside the speakers.

"Do I need to remind you what will happen if you fail to take Greg's life? Do I need to remind you exactly what you stand to lose if that man continues breathing?"

Daniel's fingers twitched at his sides.

He clenched them into tight fists until the knuckles bleached white.

"No, sir," he answered, voice steady despite the tremor he felt deep in his chest.

"I know all too well."

"Good." The silhouette leaned forward slightly, as though the projection itself could close the distance between them.

"Then see to it that you deliver Greg Austin to me, dead or alive. You will be greatly rewarded if you succeed. And one last thing, Daniel…" The voice dropped to a silken whisper.

"Take care of the rat hiding in the shadows. Do not mess this up."

The feed cut abruptly. Silence swallowed the room.

Daniel's expression twisted, annoyance, irritation, and something darker flashing across his features.

Without a word, he exhaled sharply. A violent pulse of aura exploded outward from his body, thick and oppressive, sweeping through every corner of the chamber like black water flooding a sinking ship.

Furniture rattled. Dust swirled.

Shadows writhed as though trying to flee.

In the far corner, where darkness had pooled unnaturally deep, the aura struck something solid.

A figure stumbled forward, forced into the open.

Sabbath, cloak torn at the shoulder, eyes wide with the shock of being discovered.

"Sabbath." Daniel's voice was ice.

"Of course it's you, snitching around."

Sabbath straightened slowly, disbelief still carved deep into his face.

"So all along… you've been the traitor."

Daniel tilted his head, genuinely amused.

"Traitor? What traitor? Who exactly have I betrayed?"

Sabbath's jaw tightened.

"She gave you power. She gave you purpose. And you turned it into chains, chains tied to an unborn child who took forever to even draw breath. She gave you strength with a limit, and now you resent it. You want more. You always want more. That's why you're doing this."

Daniel's smile thinned into something cruel. "A disgrace, am I? Funny. For years the rest of you looked up to me. Admired me. Feared me, even. And now you stand there with disappointment written all over your face."

"Keep your disappointment to yourself," Daniel snapped.

He moved.

One moment he stood still, the next he was a blur, hand outstretched, fingers splayed like talons aimed straight for Sabbath's throat. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Sabbath twisted at the last instant, heels skidding across the polished floor, narrowly escaping the grab.

But something changed.

Behind Daniel, a massive, translucent scale materialized, its surface shimmering with faint golden cracks, like a cracked hourglass frozen mid-fall.

The Scale of Providence. One side dipped sharply.

Reality itself tilted.

Sabbath's perfectly timed dodge suddenly became impossible.

His momentum betrayed him. His foot caught. His balance failed.

Daniel's fingers closed around empty air, then corrected instantly, seizing Sabbath by the collar.

With a savage grunt, he hurled the man sideways.

Sabbath's body slammed into the wall with bone-jarring force.

Plaster cracked in a spiderweb pattern behind him.

Even as he flew, Sabbath refused to go quietly. Both hands flashed upward.

Two razor-thin blades of pure darkness, gleaming obsidian edges shot toward Daniel's chest.

At the same time, a swirling hole of shadow yawned open directly behind Sabbath, swallowing the wall.

Instead of smashing into solid stone, he passed through, tumbling out the other side into open air.

"Arthur…" Sabbath muttered, eyes widening in shock.

Through the tall villa window, framed by moonlight, Arthur stood watching, sword already drawn, expression unreadable.

"Got you now!" Daniel roared.

He lunged, faster than before. His hand plunged forward like a spear.

Sabbath barely had time to react.

Daniel's fist drove straight through his chest, fingers punching through flesh, scraping against ribs, seeking the frantic heartbeat beneath.

"Urgh!" Sabbath's body jerked violently. Blood sprayed across the floor in dark, glistening arcs.

Daniel's fingers curled, aiming to crush the heart in one final, merciless squeeze.

Reflexively, desperately, Sabbath summoned a thin, trembling wall of shadow directly around his heart.

The black membrane shimmered, absorbing the killing blow. Daniel's hand stopped inches short of the vital organ.

In the same heartbeat, jagged spikes of darkness erupted from Sabbath's back, spearing toward Daniel's torso.

"Have you forgotten who gave you power?" Sabbath roared through bloodied teeth.

"Have you forgotten the very purpose of that power?!"

"Tch." Daniel clicked his tongue in irritation and leapt back, the spikes grazing his coat but finding no purchase.

"Sabbath! You bastard, how dare you show your face here!" Tunde's voice thundered from the doorway.

The commotion had finally drawn the others.

Daniel sidestepped lazily.

One of Sabbath's earlier dark blades hissed past his ear, he didn't even blink.

Behind him, the illusory scale tilted again, bending luck, bending fate, bending everything in Daniel's favor.

Sabbath, still bleeding, tried to melt back into the shadows.

He never got the chance.

The moment he stepped into the darkness, the Scale forced him out again, exactly where Daniel wanted him to appear.

"Right here," Daniel said softly, smiling.

His boot crashed into Sabbath's face with devastating force.

Sabbath's head snapped back.

He flew through the shattered window, tumbling across the villa's manicured lawn in a spray of broken glass and blood.

Daniel vaulted through after him, landing lightly in front of the fallen man.

Moonlight painted cruel shadows across his face.

"I won't let you get away with this, Daniel," Sabbath rasped, pushing himself up on trembling arms.

"I'll make sure the others know exactly who you are."

Daniel's smile widened.

"They won't listen to an accomplice of the monster who slaughtered our own kind."

He blurred forward again.

Sabbath threw up a desperate wall of writhing shadow, wide enough to swallow a man whole.

But before it could fully form, a brilliant arc of steel flashed from the side.

Tunde's sword cleaved the darkness apart in a single, brutal stroke.

"You're done," Tunde snarled.

He charged.

A fist wrapped in roiling black destruction smashed into Sabbath's already wounded chest.

The impact echoed like a cannon shot.

Sabbath's body folded around the blow and launched backward.

He hit the ground hard, rolling twice before coming to a limp stop, cloak torn, blood pooling beneath him.

One by one, the rest of the Absolutes appeared, silhouettes stepping out of the villa's broken windows and shattered doorway.

They stared down at the broken man lying in the grass.

No one spoke.

The night was suddenly very quiet.