OLD-WORLD EXTRA-Chapter 525: Fall... Blind Prince

"Nothing can go smoothly."

This content is taken from freёnovelkiss.com.

Emir cursed under his breath and glanced around.

The market was pure chaos, a mess of noise, light, and barely contained mayhem.

Merchants hollered like it was a damn sport, each one trying to drown out the next, like their lungs would bust if they didn't.

"Come get ya fresh cuts, barely dead this morning!"

Some butcher was the loudest, his bloodstained apron probably not washed in days.

Emir looked at him for much longer than any mortal would've liked, though it didn't end in disaster as he eventually looked away before the man could notice.

Just across from him, was another butcher, though he was the more fake kind.

"Fresh-grown meat! Printed this morning! Better than any real meat, come and try some!"

His synth arm creaked as he gestured toward trays of meat that looked a little too glossy to be natural.

Beside him, a hunched woman with cybernetic eyes was hawking "memory enhancers" that were just knock-off skill implants in cheap plastic casing.

Customers? They were just as bad.

Old timers and brats alike were pushing, shoving, snarling like a pack of starved dogs over scraps.

A guy with patchy stubble was haggling over some "premium" dried meat, as if he couldn't smell that it was just a few steps from rotting.

Every argument seemed just a heartbeat away from a brawl, voices rising to curses and threats over the difference of a few UCS.

The worst of them were the low-rent scrappers who stood shoulder to shoulder with high- rollers slumming it for kicks, hacking, and spitting over terminals about who could get a better deal.

And the shops... sketchy as hell didn't even cover it.

Some Ripper, running a stand just outside a back alley, offered "discount mods" in cloudy vials, labels worn and scratched off, that were a 50/50 chance of working-or frying something important, most probably the brain.

Near him, some woman in a shredded, oily jumpsuit was selling chipped energy blades straight out of the junkyard, barely sparking when she tapped them against her boot. Further down, a cramped little booth reeked of stale incense and was lined with charms and talismans promising luck, love, and curses-a grab bag of scams waiting for a sucker.

Footsteps clanged and scuffed along metal-plated floors slick with oil, grime, a mix of rust and Aether knows what else.

The whole place reeked of burnt circuits, stale caffeine, weirdly delicious food, and that underlying scent of synthetic flesh just starting to rot.

A haze of industrial smoke and coolant mist hung over everything, the neon lights reflecting in pools of oily water as sketchy-looking drones buzzed overhead, scanning for pickpockets and potential NetWeavers.

And, well... Emir had to search through all of that.

Find the killer.

It might seem to be an impossible task, but it had quite a simple solution.

He looked up at the highest building nearby and then disappeared, reappearing just above it.

Emir landed on it softly, and his eyes immediately went to work, scanning the crowd, searching for anything out of place.

From here, the black market sprawled out like a living organism, its lifeblood the constant flow of people.

'There.'

Almost immediately, he caught sight of a woman who moved unnaturally perfect, like a trained assassin.

Though she attempted to blend in with the crowd, her pace was too steady, too precise.

While there were other candidates for the killer, as she wasn't the only one who moved in such a way, he was still sure that it was her.

She wore a bright red dress, one that showed off her curves, allowing her to seduce most men with ease.

With that noted, the story could write itself from there, as it was pretty obvious what had happened to Bijeli.

Emir descended, but kept to the roof of shorter buildings, tailing the woman as she weaved through the crowd.

And it wasn't long before she turned into a semi-secluded alley, the noise of the market dimming behind them.

At that moment, he repeated what he was familiar with, extending his right arm and

whispering:

"Flash Step."

Before the woman could know what even hit her, they were already out of sight, his hand locking around her throat.

They reappeared high above the slums, just outside its walls, perched on the edge of a leaning building.

She struggled, her eyes wide with fear, but he tightened his grip, cutting off her attempts to

speak.

"Not yet."

Emir ignored her spasms and glanced at the time in his HUD, noting it, then looking back at

the woman.

"...Get ready."

Just as those words echoed, a flash of white blinded them.

With it came the arrival of a familiar figure.

Judas.

He stood a few feet away, his hair a stark white, indicating that he had already activated that overpowered ability of his.

"...Man."

A dry chuckle escaped Emir as he harshly threw the woman to the ground, breaking much of

her body in the process.

"You really couldn't resist, could you?"

Ignoring his words, Judas stepped forward, and then...

"Fall... Blind prince."

Before Emir could even react, at least mentally, he saw the front of Judas's foot just before his

face.

Instinctively, his arms moved to protect his head, and his Aetheric Shield activated at full force, his core pumping it with all the Aether it could handle.

His instincts didn't stop there.

Tens of slab-shaped Aetheric Constructs formed in front of the extremely short distance between Judal's foot and his face, intent on stopping the attack at all costs.

However...

BANG!

His kick hit like a thousand freight trains, piercing through the slabs and shattering his

Aetheric Shield.

But, already expecting that outcome, Emir used the force behind the kick to his advantage,

absorbing it.

Crack...

His arms crumbled in the first instance of contact, but he gave that none of his attention.

They did their job, deflecting Judal's foot to a less critical area, his shoulders, more

specifically, his right one.

The force dented his bones, but before they broke, he was sent flying, as momentum finally

kicked in.

Whoosh!

The world spun around him as he crashed into the side of another building, destroying an

entire side in a blink and causing the floor above to rumble.

"Ughh..."

In the next moment, as the building caught up to his speed, all floors above him collapsed,

fractions from falling on top of him.

Those fractions were more than enough for Emir to escape but...

He had more than rubble to worry about.

Judas had his hand pointed at him, light emanating from it.

There was no questioning it, he was about to attack Emir with Sun's Sword.

That ability would undoubtedly turn him into nothing but ash.

He had nowhere to run.

Death was about to claim him for good.

But, surprisingly, Emir didn't show any particular reaction to that.

Rather, he was unnaturally calm, his eyes glancing at the time once again.

'Sometimes... fate is beautiful.'

He smiled brightly at that thought, and a flash of light swallowed him whole.

The light faded immediately after and there was nothing...

Absolutely nothing of him remained.