NOVEL NEXT Chapter 377: Silent Figure
A figure stood there, cloaked in black, entirely motionless.
They stood just beyond the threshold, half-shrouded in shadow, as if the flickering lamplight refused to touch them.
The cloak they wore was heavy, the hood deep, and their face was completely hidden. But what struck Ren wasn't just the figure's lack of motion.
It was the pressure.
The very air seemed to bow around them, like sound and light were being siphoned into a void.
"Lilith." Ren said quietly, voice low.
She followed his gaze, her body tensing in an instant. Her hand slipped toward her belt, fingers brushing the hilt of a blade, though she didn't draw it yet.
The figure didn't move. Didn't speak.
Ren took a single step forward, standing slightly in front of Lilith.
"I didn't hear you come in." He said, keeping his tone casual, though every instinct in his body was ringing warning bells.
The figure tilted their head slowly to one side. Still silent.
Ren's jaw tightened.
That… was never a good sign.
The two parties stared at each other for a few seconds, neither moving from where they stood, until...
The tension snapped like a wire.
The cloaked figure blurred.
One moment they were standing still, and the next, they shot forward with inhuman speed, a blur of shadow cutting through the muted air.
Ren barely managed to push Lilith aside before the figure struck.
A blade whistled through the silence, curved and silver. It slashed through the space Ren had occupied a heartbeat before.
Ren spun, already throwing out a Push to create distance. The force knocked the figure back a step, but only a step.
They landed without a sound.
No grunt. No breath. Just silence.
Lilith surged up beside him, knives flashing. She hurled one, then another, but the figure danced between them, the blades disappearing into the shadows behind them.
They didn't dodge with speed. It was as if they moved with the space itself, bending around the attacks.
The fight exploded into motion.
Ren moved forward with his Vine Armor snapping across his arms, sprouting into shields and spears. Lilith ducked and twisted beside him, using her Pull resonance to recall her thrown knives in mid-air, launching them in unpredictable arcs.
But the figure was fast. Faster than anyone they'd fought in Carthage so far.
As Ren's arm collided with the enemy's blade, the sound of the impact was dulled, like hearing a clap from underwater. It echoed softly, strangely, before fading to nothing. No matter how loud they struck, the sounds didn't carry.
And something worse began to happen.
Ren's Push resonance flickered.
He staggered as his next strike failed to fully land. The force he'd summoned didn't respond with the same explosive momentum. It was like trying to breathe through wet cloth, there, but smothered.
Lilith cursed under her breath. Her knives didn't fly as fast as they should. Her Pull resonance felt sluggish.
"Our powers." She hissed. "They're—"
"Weakened," Ren said grimly, ducking another strike. "This silence, it's not just for sound."
The figure lunged again, and they barely managed to split apart, dodging opposite directions. The silent assassin followed Lilith, perhaps seeing her as the easier prey. But Lilith wasn't so easily caught.
She twisted in mid-air, caught a branch of vine Ren had thrown toward her, and used it to pivot, slamming her boot into the enemy's shoulder.
The figure stumbled. Their first misstep.
Ren followed up with a pair of Push-enhanced punches, breaking through whatever barrier the silence had woven. The second strike cracked their mask, revealing a sliver of pale skin and a corner of a lip.
Still, no sound.
The fight continued, the two against one.
They fought harder now, until the walls of the vault could no longer hold them. Blades slashed through crates and gold. Lilith's knives bounced off the walls, leaving thin lines of destruction.
The vault door buckled under a blast of vines and pressure. Ren and the figure burst through, crashing into the stronghold beyond.
Guards shouted, or at least, they tried to. Their mouths moved, but their voices were trapped in the same stifling hush. The silence clung to everything.
A sword arced through the air. One of the guards attempted to intervene, only to be cut down in a single flicker of silver from the attacker.
Two more followed. Dead before they could blink.
Lilith caught up, launching a knife into the figure's back. It struck true, sending the assassin sprawling forward. Ren closed the distance, aiming to end it.
He roared as his Push flared again, stronger this time. It seemed the further they got from the vault, the more their powers returned.
The figure rolled to the side, trailing blood now. They stumbled to their feet, wounded and cornered.
Ren charged.
But just as he swung his fist toward the assassin's head, the air shimmered.
Space twisted.
With one final flick of their cloak, the figure vanished into a fold of air, the tear of reality snapping shut behind them like it had never existed.
Ren slammed into the stone wall, vines stabbing into the floor to stop him from toppling.
Lilith landed beside him a moment later, panting.
The silence had lifted.
Sound came rushing back in like a crashing wave, bringing with it the groans of the dying, the crackle of broken lights, and the shriek of twisted metal.
They stood there in the ruins of the stronghold, catching their breath, scanning for signs of another ambush.
But the enemy was gone.
For now.
Ren turned to Lilith. "Let's take what we can and get out of here."
They both moved fast, rushing back into the vault.
Chests lay scattered where they'd left them, some cracked open, their contents glittering with coins and gems.
Ren crouched by one and shoved it into his spatial pouch without ceremony. "We need to take as much as we can before something else shows up."
Lilith nodded and swept through the vault with efficiency, dragging entire shelves of sealed ledgers and crates to his side. Her cloak billowed behind her, her expression unreadable but tense.
"Do you think it'll come back?" She asked.
Ren didn't answer at first. Another crate disappeared into his pouch. "I'm not sure," he finally said, voice low. "But I hope that silence was tied to the figure's ability."
Lilith frowned, her hands pausing over a sealed bag. "Why?"
Ren met her eyes. "Because if it wasn't… then we've got a bigger problem."
She straightened slowly, sensing the shift in his tone. "How big?"
Ren exhaled through his nose, pushing a hand through his hair. "If it wasn't the figure's ability… then we just witnessed the early signs of a Calamity."
Lilith froze.
Ren's gaze was fixed on the far wall, as if staring through it. "There's only one Calamity that silences sound and drains power like that."
He looked back at her. "The sixth Minor Calamity. The Silent Choir."