Chapter 141: [141]: Silent Execution, The Phantom Menace

Sebastian fell silently through the air. The polymer of his black suit absorbed

the wind resistance, making him little more than a falling shadow.

He landed directly behind Inquisitor Vance’s plush velvet chair. His heavy boots

touched the polished obsidian floor with the absolute terrifying silence of a

ghost.

Vance didn’t notice. The Level 70 psychic was too busy swirling his pink wine

and watching the aristocratic couples dancing on the floor below. The loud noise

of the swelling orchestra and the clinking of crystal glasses filled the VIP

booth.

Sebastian needed to keep it that way. He couldn’t let Vance scream! He couldn’t

let the death trigger an audio alert on the Vanguard network. He needed a

silencer.

He didn’t reach for a high-tier spell. He opened his green Admin UI and dug into

the pathetic low-level utility skills he had hoarded. He found a basic

sound-muffling hex used by low-level rogues to quiet their footsteps.

He crushed the concept in his mind and forcefully injected it with his 10,000x

Nexus Glitch.

[Action Registered: Compile Basic Muffle.] [Nexus Glitch Activated: Proficiency

x10,000.] [Basic Muffle leveled up to 10/10!] [Evolution Requirement Met.

Evolves to Tier 3: Acoustic Void!] [WARNING: Concept Threshold Breached. Sound

Wave Law Unlocked.] [Acoustic Void evolves to Conceptual Law: Spatial

Distortion.]

A wave of freezing mathematical clarity washed over his brain. He didn’t just

understand how to make things quiet. He understood how to grab the physical

concept of sound waves and crush them into absolute nothingness!

He didn’t cast it over the whole room. That would immediately spike his [Admin

Suspicion] meter. He kept it agonizingly tight, wrapping the invisible

hyper-compressed hex strictly around the immediate three-foot radius of the

Inquisitor’s chair.

Vance suddenly frowned. The psychic raised a hand to his ear. The orchestral

music hadn’t stopped, but to Vance, the world had just instantly plunged into

the terrifying dead silence of a vacuum.

"What the" Vance started to say.

But the sound never left his throat! The words died in the air, instantly

deleted by the localized Spatial Distortion.

Sebastian moved.

He didn’t draw the heavy Earth Sword. He didn’t want to break the chair. He

reached out with his left hand, grabbing Vance entirely by the jaw from behind.

His black leather glove clamped over the Inquisitor’s mouth with the unbreakable

unyielding force of an industrial vice.

Vance’s eyes snapped wide open in absolute horror. He tried to thrash. He tried

to channel a psychic blast to fry the intruder’s brain.

But Sebastian was too fast, and his physical synchronization was too dense.

With his right hand, Sebastian drove a sleek six-inch ceramic combat blade

directly upward.

SHLUCK.

The blade was entirely mundane, but backed by the terrifying physical strength

of a Demigod, it didn’t matter. The ceramic knife pierced the soft flesh under

Vance’s chin, punched cleanly through the roof of his mouth, and buried itself

hilt-deep directly into the psychic’s frontal lobe.

Vance’s body instantly went rigid. His hands clawed weakly at Sebastian’s

unmoving arm for a fraction of a second before falling limp. The health bar

hovering above his head violently deleted itself.

There was no scream. There was no gurgle of blood. The [Spatial Distortion]

swallowed every single horrible sound of the execution.

Sebastian didn’t let the body slump forward. He held the dead weight with

effortless ease. He smoothly withdrew the ceramic blade, a thick stream of dark

blood following the knife.

He grabbed Vance by the shoulders and carefully pulled the corpse backward until

it was resting comfortably against the back of the velvet chair. He tilted

Vance’s head slightly downward, making it look as though the Inquisitor had

simply dozed off.

Sebastian reached over and grabbed the stem of the crystal wine glass before it

could slip from Vance’s dead fingers. He placed it squarely on the small table

next to the chair.

He wiped the ceramic blade on the inside of Vance’s purple leather coat,

sheathed it, and took a step back.

He looked at his work. From the ballroom floor below, it just looked like a

tired executive taking a nap in the VIP section.

"One down," Sebastian whispered, his voice completely muted by his own spell.

"Three to go."

He dissolved the Spatial Distortion and immediately melted back into the shadows

of the balcony. He moved like a terrifying frictionless wraith, bypassing the

oblivious Vanguard guards stationed at the stairwells.

His next target was General Kael. The man who ran the Harvest Dens.

Sebastian found him two balconies over. Kael was a massive heavily armored man,

laughing loudly as he leaned against the railing, pointing down at the dancers.

He was flanked by two elite bodyguards.

Taking out three men silently required a different kind of geometry.

Sebastian crept along the ornate ceiling beams, positioning himself perfectly

above the group. He activated his [Spatial Distortion], dropping the invisible

cone of silence over all three men simultaneously.

The laughter abruptly died. The guards looked around in sudden confusion,

tapping their helmets.

Sebastian dropped.

He landed directly between the two guards. Before they could even raise their

rifles, Sebastian shot his arms out to the sides. He grabbed both of their

armored heads and violently slammed them together.

CRACK!

The sound of the heavy helmets caving inward was completely erased by the hex.

The guards dropped like stones, their brains instantly pulverized by the sheer

kinetic force of Sebastian’s physical stats.

General Kael spun around, his eyes wide with sheer panic as his bodyguards

collapsed silently to the floor. He opened his mouth to scream for help. He

reached for the heavy plasma sword at his hip.

Sebastian didn’t give him the chance!

He stepped directly into Kael’s personal space. He didn’t use a knife. He just

grabbed the General by the thick armored collar of his uniform. He twisted his

hips and hurled the massive man backward.

Kael flew through the air in absolute silence. He slammed into the heavy stone

wall of the balcony alcove.

Sebastian was there before Kael could even slide to the floor. He drove his

heavy black boot directly into the center of the General’s chest plate.

CRUNCH.

The [God-Slayer’s Edge] passive applied to his boot. The kick bypassed the armor

entirely, shattering Kael’s sternum and driving the jagged bone fragments

directly into his heart!

The General’s eyes rolled back, a silent gasp of agony escaping his lips as his

health bar zeroed out.

Sebastian grabbed the dead General by the collar, dragging his heavy body over

to a velvet couch. He propped Kael up, crossing the dead man’s legs and resting

his chin on his fist to mimic a state of deep drunken contemplation. He dragged

the two dead guards into the deep shadows behind the couch, entirely out of

sight.

"Sleep tight, General," Sebastian muttered.

He moved on.

The third target was Commander Sterling. The arrogant noble was standing alone

near a private bar, admiring his own reflection in a crystal mirror.

Sebastian didn’t even bother dropping from the ceiling. He used his [Heavenly

Steps] to fold space, instantly teleporting directly behind the Commander. He

popped the [Spatial Distortion] hex over them.

Sterling didn’t even have time to turn around!

Sebastian wrapped his arm around Sterling’s neck, locked in a brutal sleeper

hold, and simply flexed his Demigod-tier bicep.

SNAP.

The cervical spine severed instantly. Sterling’s body went totally limp, his

arrogant face frozen in a look of mild surprise. Sebastian lowered the body to

the floor, propping it up against the bar counter with a half-empty bottle of

wine resting loosely in his hand.

It had taken him less than four minutes. The top military command of the

Vanguard Syndicate had been systematically butchered, and the party below hadn’t

missed a single beat of the waltz.

Sebastian stood in the shadows of the balcony, looking down at the massive

ballroom floor.

His silver-tinged eyes locked onto the final target. Guild Master Regis.

The head of the Syndicate was standing near the center fountain, still wearing

his ridiculous Diamond Golem mask. He was surrounded by dozens of guards,

completely exposed and completely arrogant.

Sebastian cracked his knuckles, the sound finally returning to his ears as he

dropped the silencing hex. The loud obnoxious orchestral music washed over him

again.

"Alright, Regis," Sebastian whispered, his featureless black helmet reflecting

the chaotic sparkling lights of the gala. "The VIP section is closed. Let’s

finish the party."