thief of fate-Chapter 47: The beginning of destruction

The dark clouds were slowly crawling over the academy’s sky, threatening rain that hadn’t come yet, as if reflecting a hidden sense of anxiety running through the place’s walls. In the deserted backyard of the academy, where students rarely went, stood Raphael, expressionless.

Beside him, Selena walked cautiously, her eyes scanning the ground, the rubble, and the cracked walls, as if searching for something from the past. She wore her long gray cloak, her hair falling over her shoulders like a silent waterfall.

She said in a low voice:

"Tell me... what made you think there’s something here related to Ethan?"

He answered without turning:

"The old maps, the erased records, even the student notebooks from ten years ago... all of them point to a place here, right behind this wall."

He approached the stone wall, raised his hand slowly, and then pressed on an oddly shaped tile. A moment of silence, then a faint humming sound, and the ground trembled slightly as part of the wall split open to reveal a narrow dark passage.

Selena and Raphael exchanged looks.

"I’ll go in first," he said in a low voice, placing his hand on the hilt of his long sword.

"And I wasn’t going to let you go in alone," Selena replied, smiling faintly despite the tension, then followed him.

The passage was narrow, reeking of mold and old memories. Dim torches along the walls lit up slowly as they approached, as if the place itself was breathing again.

They entered a small room, its walls covered with maps and notes. On the table, there was a closed metal box, covered in dust.

Raphael approached, looked at it for a moment, then cautiously lifted the lid.

Inside, there was a single piece of paper, upon which was written a short sentence:

"Congratulations on reaching here. I have a word: He is not dead."

Neither of them said a word. Only silence... oppressive silence that lasted until

Explosion.

The academy shook.

Raphael turned quickly, his voice stern:

"The southern side...!"

Selena placed her hand on her chest, as if trying to stop her heart from trembling.

"That sound... it’s not normal... this isn’t a drill."

They ran through the passage, exiting the secret wall quickly, and upon reaching the courtyard, the scene was nightmarish.

Flames rising from the southern towers, screams, corpses, black smoke wrapping the sky. And among it... dozens of strangers had entered, masked, wearing black robes. They didn’t look like sorcerers or fighters, but like beings born solely to kill.

The first thing they saw was a student getting stabbed in the chest with a scythe-like weapon, then falling silently, while the killer moved with inhuman grace toward another.

"Selena, protect the students. I’ll head to the towers."

"No, I won’t leave you."

Raphael didn’t reply, just ran, his sword drawing from its sheath.

Selena followed, her eyes filled with both fear and rage. This academy... her home, their home, was under attack.

In the inner corridors, students were scrambling. Some fought, others screamed, and some fled. The killers were unlike any enemy they’d faced before. They didn’t speak, didn’t hesitate, didn’t show any human features.

One of the assassins lunged at Raphael with a curved sword glowing red, but Raphael blocked it with one hand, then tore his chest with a single slash. Yet something strange happened... the killer didn’t fall.

"Impossible..." Raphael whispered, watching the wound close as if nothing had happened.

Selena extended her hand and shouted, "Decay!" The assassin’s body began to rot, and he screamed in a non-human shriek before disintegrating.

"They’re not human," she muttered, and Raphael nodded, "...They’re something else."

In a distant corner, some teachers were fighting. Among them was Professor Marn, shouting:

"Protect the corridor leading to the library! Don’t let them reach the archives!"

Selena quickly rushed to him, "Who are they?"

Marn, pushing one of the killers back with a double sword:

"We don’t know! They came from beneath the ground! They destroyed the dungeons, and now they’re heading for the library! It’s like they’re looking for something..."

Raphael raised an eyebrow:

"Or someone..."

Then suddenly realized:

"Ethan...!"

Selena’s eyes widened:

"They don’t just want to destroy the academy... but erase every trace left of him."

They ran together toward the library.

On the way, they were attacked by three assassins. Raphael drew his sword and fought them with deadly precision, his movements cold as ice, but lethal. Still, every time one fell... another rose.

Selena used her skill.

"We have to reach the central room!" Raphael shouted.

When they entered the library, the door was shattered, flames devouring the walls, shelves collapsing. They saw a man standing there, his back to them, holding a black book. His hair was long and black, his body covered in tattoos.

"Stop!" Raphael shouted, but the man didn’t move.

"That name... Ethan... it kept chasing me," the man said in a hollow voice. "But they forgot who created Ethan."

He turned around, and his face was disfigured—not by burns, but as if time itself had torn him.

Selena gasped:

"You... you’re not real."

The man laughed:

"Nor are those around me. We are from behind the wall. We are the ones who fell from the record. Do you remember the Black Moon? It has returned... and you are the ones who opened its door."

Then, as if the walls exploded with an inner sound, waves of other killers surged in, and the battle began.

Raphael fought with inhuman steadiness, every strike cut, every move calculated. His mind worked with icy clarity, despite the smoke, despite the corpses. But inside him... something was changing.

"Was I wrong? Was I protecting this place from an imaginary threat, while the real danger grew beneath it?"

Selena was beside him, guarding his back, her eyes tearing up as she saw one of her companions killed before her, but she didn’t stop.

"Not now... I won’t cry now..."

After minutes of battle, reinforcements arrived. Teachers, guards, even some servants all fought. Some of the assassins began retreating, others ignited as if their end was programmed.

But the man with the book... disappeared.

He left behind one sentence, written on the burnt wall:

"When the Blood Sun rises, the door that never closes shall open."

When everything calmed down, Selena and Raphael stood in the ruined library.

They were covered in ash and blood, breathing slowly, their eyes scanning the destruction.

Selena said in a broken voice:

"We failed to protect them."

Raphael answered, without looking at her:

"But we didn’t fail to uncover the truth."

Then he pulled out the paper they had found earlier that day, looked at it, and clenched his fist.

"He’s not dead..."

She looked at him, and there was nothing to say.

Because the worst... hadn’t started yet.

In the Northern Section

Amid the rubble and thick smoke, with screams echoing through the academy walls, Zenith moved with steady steps among the debris.

His cloak fluttered with the winds left behind by the explosions.

His eyes, half-closed as usual, calmly observed the scene of destruction.

Three of the assassins rushed toward him from the corner, their strange weapons glowing with an unnatural violet hue.

He didn’t move until they got close.

Then...

Simply.

He raised his sword.

One strike.

Three bodies fell without making a sound.

No excessive blood. No screams. Just silent death.

He whispered to himself as he walked:

"This isn’t a battle... this is an organized massacre."

He saw a small body being dragged by one of the assassins toward the depths of the lower area.

He recognized the features despite the darkness.

Black hair, a slim body.

Ethan.

His body stiffened. He shouted:

"Eeeethaaaan!!"

And he charged.

The path was filled with strangers, and everyone who faced him fell in the same way.

Every strike, every movement... carved from a killer’s perfection.

But despite his speed, despite his toughness... he only reached a closed door.

He knocked hard with his hand.

"Open it! You cowards!"

But he was too late.

The door had disappeared... as if it had never existed.

He cursed quietly, his eyes trembling for a moment.

Then he stepped back and looked at the wall.

"If you think you’ve won... then you don’t know who I am."

On the other side of the academy,

Where the sky rained hell and the flames roared from the balconies,

Valerian crawled between the wreckage, his body covered in ash,

His dagger in hand, and his eyes narrowing from pain.

In front of him, five assassins.

One of them was tall and thin, with glassy blood-red eyes,

And moved like a living shadow.

Valerian took a breath, then focused all his strength into one strike.

Phantom Stab.

He dashed forward, his body moving like a ghost,

And pierced three of the assassins at once.

But the remaining two... were more dangerous.

One of them grabbed his shoulder, and the other nearly stabbed him in the chest.

Valerian dodged it, but stumbled and fell to his knees.

"Damn it..." he muttered, blood dripping from his mouth.

"Is this how it ends?" crossed his mind. "Am I... going to die here?"

But at that moment, his eyes opened wide.

His golden eye.

"No... not now."

[Activating Fate Theft Ability]

Time around him slowed for a moment.

He saw the assassin in front of him, moving with a steady rhythm,

Swinging his sword with confidence.

Choice: Steal Talent

[Talent: Intermediate Grade]

Penalty: Loss of sensation for a week

"Acceptable."

He absorbed the assassin’s energy, felt it enter his body,

Etching itself into his cells.

Then...

Choice: Steal Chance of Successful Hit

Target: Assassin

Result: Guaranteed lethal strike within 5 seconds

His eye glowed gold.

He stood up, as if his body had never been defeated,

Then surged forward like a raging wind.

The sword pierced the enemy’s neck with precision,

Then recoiled, and struck the other in the heart.

They both fell.

Silence.

Then... a voice in his mind.

[Message from the System]

"Welcome back, Valerian. You’ve been silent for too long...

But it was only a matter of time before you returned to your truth.

What you’ve stolen now... is nothing compared to what you’ll steal later."

His face stiffened, he gripped his sword, his breath quickening.

"I was trying to be something other than what you wanted me to be..." he whispered inside.

"But you don’t leave me a choice."

Then he looked at the assassins’ corpses around him, and the blood staining his hand, and sighed.

"I won’t use this ability again... unless someone tries to hurt me... or hurt those I love."

At that moment...

His golden eye glowed again, a burning light reflecting his new vow.

And finally, he lost consciousness.