The rain was heavier up here.
A thousand feet above the Capital’s streets, the wind howled between the skyscrapers, driving cold sheets of water sideways through the empty air. The city lights below were nothing more than blurred halos of orange and white, their glow smeared by the storm.
Most of the buildings were dark. The riots had knocked out power across half the commercial district, leaving only the emergency wards on government buildings and the red and blue lights of military vehicles patrolling the streets.
Holden crouched on the edge of a tower roof, completely invisible.
The Void Mantle erased him from the world.
Even the rain passed around him without touching his body, leaving a strange man-shaped gap in the storm.
The Abyssal-Bone Wings were folded tightly against his back while the gold mask covered his face.
Below, the convoy approached.
Maeve’s voice crackled softly through his earpiece.
"Convoy’s entering the lower commercial district. Two escort vehicles and one transport truck, moving at about thirty miles per hour. You’ve got a four-block window before they reach the bunker entrance."
Holden didn’t respond.
Asura didn’t talk.
He watched the convoy through the rain.
The escort vehicles were sleek black armored cars with reinforced grilles and tinted windows. Between them was the transport truck, a massive box of black steel with six wheels and no windows.
It looked less like a truck and more like a bank vault someone had decided to put on wheels.
It was built to survive bombs, ramming attacks, and sustained gunfire.
It wasn’t built to survive what was coming.
"Three blocks."
Holden rose to his feet on the rooftop edge.
"Two blocks."
He leaned forward.
The Abyssal-Bone Wings snapped open.
WHOOSH!
The black bone structures caught the wind, and the spatial distortion around them launched Holden from the rooftop like a catapult.
He dropped from the tower in a controlled fall, angling the wings to manage his descent as he moved toward the convoy.
Wind roared around him. Buildings blurred past on either side, and the transport truck grew larger with every second.
"Thirty seconds to the bunker turn."
Holden pulled his wings back slightly, slowing his descent.
He was directly above the truck now, falling into perfect alignment with its roof.
The Void Mantle kept him invisible, but it couldn’t hide the fact that rain was still parting around his body. If someone happened to look up, they might notice the dry patch moving through the storm.
Fortunately, nobody did.
The guards were watching the streets, scanning for threats at ground level.
Holden landed on the roof.
The transport roof was covered in ridged armor plating designed to deflect explosives and withstand ramming attacks.
It was tough but not Solar-Forged Sword tough.
Holden summoned the blade.
Its crimson edge glowed faintly in the darkness, but the Void Mantle suppressed most of its light. He pressed the tip against a seam between two armor plates and pushed.
The sword sank into the steel like a hot knife through wax.
Holden slowly dragged it around in a clean circle, cutting a three-foot section of the roof away from the frame. The panel remained in place, held there by his free hand.
He dismissed the sword and lifted the piece away.
Below him, the interior of the transport vault was illuminated by blue security lights. Metal shelves lined the walls, stacked with wooden crates, canvas bags, and locked cases.
It looked like an expensive storage unit.
Two Shadow Guards stood in the center of the vault with their backs to him.
They wore the same armor as the escort detail, though theirs was sleeker and more form-fitting, designed for close-quarters combat rather than battlefield protection. Short swords hung from their hips.
Both men looked alert.
They also looked bored.
Two elite assassins stuck babysitting a truck.
They hadn’t heard a thing.
Holden dropped through the opening and landed silently on the edge of a metal shelf near the ceiling.
The Void Mantle kept him hidden as the guards continued scanning the room.
He dropped again.
This time, he landed directly behind the guard on the left.
The man’s head began to turn.
Some instinct. Some assassin’s sixth sense.
Holden moved before it could become anything more.
His hand closed around the back of the guard’s neck. His 9-Star strength found the pressure point at the base of the skull, and he squeezed.
Not hard enough to kill but to make him unconscious.
The guard’s body went limp.
The second guard spun around.
His hand was already on his sword, and the blade cleared its sheath in a blur of dark steel.
His eyes widened as he searched the room.
There was nothing there.
Holden was already inside his guard.
The man was a Rank 3, 1-Star. Fast, strong, and trained to kill in the dark.
But Holden was a 9-Star with a 10,000x processor.
And the guard was fighting an enemy he couldn’t see, hear, or sense.
The sword came up in a defensive arc.
Holden knocked it aside with his forearm, stepped inside the man’s reach, and drove his palm into his chest.
The Iron-Body enhanced strike hit like a battering ram.
His armor crumpled inward.
The guard’s breath left him in a silent gasp, and his eyes rolled back before he collapsed beside his partner.
[Ding!]
[Royal Shadow Guard (Rank 3, 1-Star) Defeated!]
[+7,000 KP]
[2x KP Booster Applied!]
[+14,000 KP!]
[Ding!]
[Royal Shadow Guard (Rank 3, 1-Star) Defeated!]
[+14,000 KP!]
Holden didn’t waste time.
He moved toward the back of the vault, heading straight for the high-value cargo.
Vault C.
Case 7.
Exactly where Maeve had told him to look.
The case was a reinforced glass box sitting on its own shelf. A ring of red laser beams surrounded it, crisscrossing the space in a complex grid.
Anything that broke one of the beams would trigger the alarm.
Inside the case was the Divine-Spark Gem.
About the size of a large marble, it was golden in color, with an inner light that pulsed steadily.
Even through the glass and laser grid, Holden could feel the energy radiating from it.
The laser grid was the only problem.
Holden summoned the Solar-Forged Sword again, but he didn’t activate its flames. He only needed its sharpness.
Using the blade, he carefully inserted the tip into the seam of the glass case and traced a perfect rectangle.
The glass separated cleanly without disturbing the laser grid.
Holden caught the cut panel and lowered it inward.
No alarm.
He reached through the opening, carefully avoiding the beams, and touched the gem.
[Item Detected: Divine-Spark Gem]
[Add to System Inventory?]
[Yes]
The golden marble vanished from his hand and appeared inside his inventory.
The pulsing light disappeared from the vault, leaving the laser grid hanging over an empty velvet cushion.
Holden’s eyes moved toward the surrounding shelves.
Bags of Royal gold sat among the other cargo, each stamped with the Crown seal. They were probably worth millions.
Holden touched three bags.
They vanished into his inventory.
[Ding!]
[Heist Objective Complete!]
[Bonus KP: +10,000!]
[Balance: 205,890 KP]
"Not bad."
Holden turned and headed back toward the opening in the roof.
The convoy was still moving.
Holden grabbed the edge of the cut roof panel and pulled it back into place as best he could.
It wouldn’t fool anyone on close inspection, but that wasn’t his problem.
He summoned the Abyssal-Bone Wings.
WHOOSH!
The wings snapped open and launched him straight through the rain.
Holden shot upward, clearing the convoy in a single burst before banking hard to the right and disappearing into the dark space between two skyscrapers.
The convoy continued toward the bunker.
Nobody inside knew what had happened.
"Package secured," Maeve said through his earpiece.
Holden said nothing.
He glided through the rain toward the hotel, the golden gem safely stored in his inventory.
Behind him, the Royal Family’s most valuable treasure was already gone.
And they hadn’t even realized they’d been robbed yet.
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