Journey to Become the Zenith

The First Move in the Dark

Victor had already erased the obvious traces.

The bodies were burned.The alley scrubbed clean with a simple flow of water-element mana.Even the faint residue of blood had been scattered into the night air and dispersed.

But Victor knew better than to believe that one sweep was enough.

Slave traders didn’t operate like reckless street thugs. They were layered. Compartmentalized. Signals and fail-safes. If three men vanished, someone would notice. If they failed to report in, someone would investigate.

And investigation meant retaliation.

”We move,” Victor said quietly.

His voice carried no panic—just decision.

Videl nodded immediately, Aria standing close to her side. Lane adjusted her grip on her bow without a word. The four of them began to step away from the alley, merging into the dimmer streets that stretched toward the quieter district of Fantom City.

They had barely taken five steps.

Then—

Heavy footsteps.

Not one pair.

Many.

The rhythm wasn’t hurried.

It was deliberate.

Victor’s stride slowed, then stopped.

Videl felt it first—the shift in him. The way his shoulders relaxed instead of tightening. The way his head tilted slightly as if listening to something beneath the surface noise.

Aria instinctively stepped closer to Videl.

Lane’s gaze sharpened.

All three girls looked at Victor.

He didn’t look at them.

He looked ahead.

From the darkness of the street corner, a rough voice echoed.

”Leader... we lost signal from Team Four.”

Another voice answered.

”Then they’ve either run off or been taken care of.”

Boots scraped stone.

Metal shifted.

Victor exhaled slowly.

”So they had a signal system,” he murmured. ”Good to know.”

The figures emerged into lantern light.

Over twenty men.

Leather armor. Hidden blades. Crossbows. Faces marked by scars and casual cruelty.

They saw Aria.

They saw Victor’s group.

They slowed.

When the slave traders saw Victor’s group alongside the girl, they exchanged glances before spreading outward, forming a circle that boxed them in.

The leader stepped forward.

He was broad-shouldered but soft around the middle, leather armor stretched tight over his stomach. His beard was patchy, his eyes small and sharp.

”You kids,” he said lazily, ”that child over there is my property. I suggest you give her back. If you do so, we will kill you as painlessly as possible. If you do not comply... well, we will kill you slowly and violate that girl in front of your eyes. Either way, she will become a slave, so it doesn’t really matter.”

Aria’s fingers dug into Videl’s sleeve.

Her breathing became uneven.

Videl’s sapphire eyes darkened.

Victor’s golden gaze grew colder.

Lane’s expression didn’t change—but the air around her felt heavier.

The leader smirked, clearly pleased with himself.

Behind him, men chuckled.

Videl was already stepping forward.

Victor extended one hand slightly to stop her.

His jaw tightened for only a second before smoothing again.

He wanted to kill this man.

Immediately.

Slowly.

But not yet.

”You can kill everyone else,” Victor said calmly. He raised one finger and pointed at the leader. ”Except that guy.”

Lane and Videl both nodded without hesitation.

The leader frowned.

”What the hell are you talking about?”

Videl leaned slightly toward Aria.

”Don’t worry,” she said gently. ”Stay here. It’ll be over soon.”

Aria looked up at her.

There was something unwavering in Videl’s voice.

Something that made her believe it.

”Okay,” she whispered.

The leader barked a laugh.

”Do you idiots think you can handle twenty men?”

He never finished the sentence.

Lane and Videl moved first.

A sweeping gesture from Lane’s hand—

A wall of roaring flame erupted forward.

Men screamed as fire forced them to scatter.

Those who leapt backward to avoid the inferno were met with arrows—each one humming with mana.

Videl’s blade flashed silver under lantern light, precise and merciless.

There was no hesitation.

No dramatic flourish.

Just execution.

Within seconds, the circle shattered.

Ten seconds.

That was all it took.

Bodies fell.

Smoke curled into the night.

Silence returned.

The leader stood frozen.

Aria stood frozen too.

She had seen violence.

But not like this.

Not so fast.

Not so effortless.

She glanced at Videl.

At Lane.

Then at Victor.

He hadn’t moved.

He was walking toward the leader slowly.

Step by step.

The leader’s bravado evaporated.

His legs trembled.

Victor stopped in front of him.

”So,” Victor said gently, ”what were you saying? Who is going to die? What are you going to do to my woman?”

His tone was soft.

That made it worse.

The leader’s lips quivered.

”N-no... I’m sorry! I must have gone crazy! Of course I wouldn’t be able to do anything! I’m nothing more than a pig in human skin! Please have mercy! I was just following orders! I’ll give you anything—money, women, information—just don’t kill me!”

Videl looked disgusted.

Lane’s fingers tightened around her bowstring.

Victor smiled faintly.

”Don’t worry,” he said. ”I won’t kill you.”

Relief flooded the leader’s face.

”As long as you tell me everything about your slave-trading operation. Oh—and remove that girl’s collar.”

”Yes! Yes! Of course!”

He scrambled toward Aria.

She flinched instinctively.

Videl immediately grasped her hand.

That simple touch steadied her.

For reasons she didn’t fully understand, whenever Videl held her hand, her fear receded.

The leader pulled out a key from inside his armor.

With shaking fingers, he inserted it into the collar’s hidden slot.

A faint click.

The runes dimmed.

The collar fell away.

Aria inhaled sharply.

Her neck felt lighter.

She touched the skin there, disbelieving.

Victor watched carefully.

Satisfied.

”Good,” he said. ”Now tell me about your organization.”

The leader spilled everything.

Names.

Safe houses.

Trade routes.

Buyers in noble districts.

Corrupt guards.

Hidden auctions beneath Fantom City.

The deeper he spoke, the colder Victor’s expression became.

The underworld here wasn’t shallow.

It was structured.

Layered.

Profitable.

Videl’s anger grew with each revelation.

”They burned villages for inventory?” she asked, voice trembling.

The leader nodded rapidly.

Lane’s silence deepened.

Aria stared at Victor.

He wasn’t enraged.

He wasn’t shouting.

He was thinking.

That frightened her more than anything.

”There,” the leader finally gasped. ”I told you everything. Please let me go.”

Victor looked at him for a long moment.

”I’m a man of my word,” he said calmly. ”I won’t kill you.”

Relief.

Brief.

”Lane,” Victor said softly, without looking away, ”finish him.”

The arrow pierced the leader’s skull before he could react.

He collapsed instantly.

Aria gasped.

The suddenness startled her.

Videl tightened her grip on her hand again.

”It’s okay,” Videl whispered.

Victor turned toward Aria.

”You’re free now.”

Her eyes met his.

She couldn’t explain the feeling inside her chest.

Relief.

Gratitude.

Something warmer.

”You saved me,” she said quietly.

Victor shook his head.

”No. She did.” He nodded toward Videl.

Aria looked at Videl again.

Then back at Victor.

But her heartbeat still quickened when she met his gaze.

He noticed.

Of course he noticed.

Lane noticed too.

And something inside her burned quietly.

Victor stepped forward, looking over the fallen bodies, the empty street.

His mind was already moving beyond rescue.

Beyond reaction.

The underworld was exposed.

And exposed networks could be seized.

He glanced at Videl.

At Lane.

At Aria.

A faint smile curved his lips.

”So,” he said lightly, as if discussing the weather, ”how about we take over Fantom City’s underworld?”