Return of the Fallen Nobleman With an SSS-Rank Talent-Chapter 83: A demon was being summoned

"Ha... Ha... Ha..."

The sound was faint, almost broken, drifting through the stillness of the night like a dying echo.

Alexandra breathed heavily, her gaze fixed on the moon.

The pale light reflected in her eyes, which were empty for a moment, as if she were trying to cling to something that was no longer there.

Her hair was stained with blood, as was her wounded body; her chest rose and fell violently. All around her, the bodies of the assassins littered the ground like dry leaves.

Some still wore expressions of surprise—others, of sheer terror. None had had a chance to escape.

The night breeze carried a metallic stench mingling with the smell of blood in the air.

It was thick. Sticky. You could almost taste it with every breath.

"Ha..."

Alexandra took a sharp breath and exhaled, controlling her ragged breathing as she endured the pain of her wounds. They burned as if they were a living fire searing her flesh.

Every movement reminded her that she was still alive... and how much it hurt to be so.

At that moment, Mira appeared. She was covered in blood and wounds; in her hand, the strange spear she used as a weapon dripped slowly.

The dripping was constant. Rhythmic. Like a clock marking the end of something.

"Forgive the delay, Princess."

Her voice was tense. She bowed immediately, apologizing for her incompetence, for having left her mistress in danger for so long.

There was guilt in her every movement. Stiffness. Fear that she had crossed an invisible line.

Alexandra wiped the blood from her face while controlling her breathing and completely ignored the apology.

It wasn’t even worth responding to.

"What’s the situation?"

Mira nodded respectfully.

"I don’t know, Princess; everything’s in chaos, but the city’s forces have the situation under control."

Alexandra frowned; everything was going too smoothly; she felt as if something was slipping through her fingers.

That feeling... she hated it.

...But what was it? Weren’t the assassins after her? Why were they so weak?

It didn’t add up. Nothing made sense.

Her frown deepened; that unpleasant feeling that something was wrong was gnawing at her, and the damn problem was that she didn’t know what it was.

It was like trying to remember a dream that fell apart the moment you touched it.

What am I missing?

Alexandra let out a long sigh and turned her head to the side when she sensed a fluctuation of mana in another part of the city.

It was subtle... but enough.

"I see... let’s keep moving before more assassins show up."

With that, they both began running through the city streets, leaving the corpses behind.

The night swallowed them up quickly, as if they had never been there.

...

"Enough with the warm-up... let’s get serious!"

Silas said with a smile, but his expression hardened at the same time. The daggers he had dropped earlier returned to his hands as if they were an extension of his body.

Adam did the same, drawing Repentance once more. He knew that Silas, finding himself outmatched in martial arts, had decided to resort to his daggers, the weapon he mastered best.

The aura surrounding their bodies intensified and grew so dense that it affected their surroundings.

The air grew thick.

In the blink of an eye, both vanished from sight, leaving only afterimages and shattering the ground, which cracked into a spiderweb-like network of fissures.

Clang! Clang!

The metallic sounds echoed violently as Adam and Silas moved at high speed across the city rooftops. Each clash of steel lit up the night with fleeting flashes.

Silas landed a direct blow to the ribs, fast and precise. But Adam, with a subtle movement, deflected the attack with his sword and immediately countered with a punch to the stomach.

"Puaj..."

Silas spat and was sent flying, losing consciousness for a moment before struggling to regain it.

But Adam was already behind him. He clenched his fists, took a deep breath, and then delivered a powerful blow that struck Silas squarely in the back.

"Kuh-hunk!"

Silas screamed, clenching his teeth as his body plummeted downward.

Silas’s body crashed to the ground with a deafening roar, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.

Adam descended calmly, his movements steady, as if none of it had been anything more than a simple exercise.

The cloud of dust began to disperse slowly, revealing Silas’s condition. When it cleared completely, he could be seen in the middle of a small crater, blood streaming down his body.

He struggled to his feet and climbed out of the crater. If it weren’t for the mana protecting his body, he would be dead.

"Ha..."

Silas calmly looked at Kael and stood up fully, then said:

"How can you be so strong?"

"You still have the strength to speak."

Adam continued, approaching slowly, his footsteps echoing down the street.

When he was close enough, he looked him in the eye:

"Is that all? All that talk just for this?"

The contempt in his voice was palpable. Adam wanted to finish him off quickly, but he was waiting to play his hidden cards, so he had to make him lose his temper.

Silas clenched his teeth and lunged forward at full speed, unleashing a flurry of slashes.

Adam raised his sword; it moved with deceptive slowness, deflecting the attack to the side, and immediately delivered a knee strike that landed squarely.

Bam!

"Puaj...!"

Silas spat out blood mixed with saliva, clutching his stomach as he staggered backward. He shook his head violently, struggling to regain his composure, until he decided to unleash all his strength.

In an instant, he vanished, causing the ground beneath his feet to tremble. The air shimmered, and he reappeared behind Adam, his face contorted with rage.

"Die, you bastard!"

The dagger sliced through the air, creating a crackling friction, but Adam leaned forward, showing not the slightest surprise.

The weapon whizzed past him, missing its mark. In that same motion, Adam slid with the fluidity of a snake and unleashed a flurry of punches that landed with brutal precision.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The fists struck rapidly. Ribs, chin, temple, lungs, heart... it all happened in barely five seconds before the body could react, even with the slightest movement.

Adam spun around and launched a roundhouse kick into the air, striking with force and leaving him completely disoriented.

"..."

Silas fell to his knees on the ground. Blood began to gush from every orifice, staining his face and hands.

Seeing him in that state, Adam couldn’t help but sigh. He raised his sword, its blade gleaming brightly in the moonlight, and with a decisive movement, he prepared to deliver the final blow, to end this game once and for all.

Just then...

"Don’t kill him!"

A woman’s voice echoed behind him; it sounded somewhat weary, but he wasn’t sure.

Adam spun around quickly toward the source of the sound.

His eyes fell on two figures emerging from the darkness. One was a woman dressed as a maid, with a large, strange spear strapped to her back that glinted menacingly.

The other, elegantly dressed, wore a shiny black gown with several slits that revealed her pale skin.

Adam recognized them... if he wasn’t mistaken, it was the princess he had asked to escort him, and who, of course, had refused.

She was the reason he’d been dragged into this.

"Don’t kill him; I need to get information out of him. You can kill him later if you want."

Alaxandra’s voice sounded firm, even though her wounds were still visible. She approached with elegant steps, retaining the grace befitting a princess, even in a scene tinged with blood and danger.

"Hmm... go ahead."

Adam stepped aside. His boots scraped against the damp ground, sending a faint echo through the dark street.

Then he saw it.

The smell hit him first.

Iron. Thick. Hot.

Silas, bathed in his own blood, had traced an irregular star on the stone floor. The lines were crooked, shaky... but complete. The blood was still slowly seeping through the cracks, as if the figure were still "alive."

In the center...

His eyes.

They were moving.

Empty... but aware.

His tongue hung limply from his mouth, swaying slightly with each final spasm of his body.

Adam’s eyes flew open.

For a second—just one—he let his guard down...

And that bastard had done it.

A summoning circle.

And the sacrifice...

Was his own life.

The air shifted.

A dense, oppressive energy flooded his senses, like an invisible pressure crushing his chest. It wasn’t just power... it was something dirty. Unnatural. Something that shouldn’t be here.

Adam took several steps back, the ground creaking beneath his boots. His breathing grew heavy and ragged, as if the air had lost its usual weight.

Shit!

He tried to retreat...

But it was already too late.

The circle began to glow.

Not with light...

But with something deeper. Darker.

The blood glowed from within, pulsing with a slow, almost... living rhythm. The shadows writhed, stretching against the walls as if trying to flee.

Something... was responding.

Something was staring back.

The air vibrated.

And then, the world seemed to hold its breath.

A demon was being summoned.