CHAPTER 156: STALKER (2)

Lucen nodded.

Sirens wailed. Smoke drifted into the street. Bystanders stilled. Behind them, the shard glowed once and dimmed.

System blipped quietly:

New Threat Flag: S‑Rank Entity — Observer confirmed. Location: unknown. Always moving. Always watching.

Lucen swallowed once.

Varik reached out. "Find cover. Now."

Lucen didn’t argue.

Together they melted into the crowd.

—

At the edge of the chaos, Lucen leaned against a quiet retail kiosk. The smell of popcorn barely filtered through ambulance fumes. A crowd gathered behind barriers, murmuring. Few recognized him. Fewer still saw the sword strapped under his jacket.

Varik stood next to him, arms crossed, eyes scanning the glassy ruins.

Lucen checked his system again:

Fatigue resistance active • Threat radius: perimeter clear

He clenched the shard in his pocket, its glow faint but certain.

If the man returned, not to kill, but to watch again,Lucen would be waiting.

And this time, he wouldn’t ignore the eyes in the crowd.

—

The crowd didn’t thin.

If anything, more had shown up.

Drones buzzed overhead. Cleanup bots swerved between first responders. A woman yelled into her phone about insurance while a kid climbed halfway onto a streetlight for a better view.

Lucen didn’t move.

His back stayed pressed to the kiosk’s glass. The metal ridge behind his heel scraped as he shifted weight.

Varik hadn’t said anything for two whole minutes.

Which was rare.

Lucen shot him a glance. "Still scanning?"

Varik’s eyes didn’t move. "I didn’t like that he smiled."

Lucen let out a breath. "Same."

"No flare, no cast, no signature left behind," Varik murmured. "Not even a step trace."

Lucen looked at the shard again. Just to feel it in his palm.

Still warm. Still reacting.

"You think he’s tagging me?" he asked quietly.

"I think he already did," Varik said. "And if he did—he can track you now."

Lucen didn’t speak.

People around them kept walking. Watching. Rubbernecking. But none of them had a clue. Not about the S-rank, not about Lucen, not about the way the air had bent during the breach.

Just smoke and gossip.

Varik stepped forward slightly, shielding Lucen with one shoulder like a wall. He scanned every face within fifty meters. "We can’t go home."

Lucen nodded once. "Figured."

"We can’t go to the guild."

Lucen glanced toward a patrol unit talking to Gabe on the far side of the street. "She’s gonna be pissed."

"She can be pissed when you’re alive."

A kid selling fried dumplings passed by, his cart squeaking. Lucen caught a whiff, soy, oil, starch, and his stomach tightened.

"Should’ve eaten more."

Varik handed him a crumpled protein bar from his pocket. "Suck it up."

Lucen took it, peeled it, bit once, grimaced. "This expired?"

"Three years ago. You’re welcome."

He chewed anyway.

The drone overhead pivoted, scanned the shard impact zone again, and beeped once.

Lucen muttered, "You think that thing saw him?"

"No. But it’ll record the exact heat bloom from when he stood there."

Lucen paused. "So he did stand there."

Varik didn’t answer.

He just started walking.

Lucen followed.

They cut down a narrow alley, moved through a delivery lot, then ducked into a side entrance of an old arcade two blocks away. Neon flickered low across the tiles. The machines were off. The air smelled like old soda and melted plastic.

Varik closed the door behind them.

Lucen leaned against the nearest machine. "So. Strategy?"

Varik pulled his hood down. "If we’re lucky, he won’t come again for a while. If we’re unlucky, he’s already in this building."

Lucen looked around. "I don’t see any pale guys hiding behind the pinball table."

"Doesn’t mean he’s not watching."

Lucen’s system pulsed softly.

[Threat Level: Passive Surveillance Detected]

[Recommendation: Evade. Or prepare.]

Lucen sighed.

"I’m tired of preparing."

Varik sat on a bench near the claw machine. He didn’t lean back. Just sat. Rigid.

Lucen dropped onto a stool across from him. "So who is he?"

Varik shook his head once. "I know his name. Not his purpose."

Lucen raised an eyebrow. "You’ve fought him?"

"Once. Eight years ago."

Lucen stared.

"He wasn’t trying to win. Just test something. Then he left."

Lucen thought about the smile again. That grin. Casual. Calculated.

’He wasn’t there to kill me. Just to make sure I saw him.’

"Does he always blow up apartments for fun?" Lucen asked dryly.

Varik’s mouth twitched. "You got lucky. He usually breaks people instead."

Lucen scratched his neck. "So I was worth half a murder."

Varik didn’t laugh. He stood up.

"You need to disappear for a bit. No phone. No guild log-ins. No magic signals."

Lucen sighed. "So I’m grounded."

"No. You’re alive."

They both paused.

Something outside shifted. A faint vibration—too rhythmic to be footsteps. Not strong enough to be explosive.

Lucen’s hand went to his pocket.

[Mana Veil: Holding steady]

[Interference detected: Atmospheric fluctuation, minor]

He met Varik’s eyes. "He’s not done."

Varik opened the arcade cabinet beside him. Inside wasn’t coins or tools, it was a staircase. Narrow. Steel. Unmarked.

Lucen blinked. "You have a bunker in a Pac-Man machine?"

"I have six."

He followed Varik down.

Lights didn’t flicker. They didn’t need to. The place ran on internal mana nodes. Quiet. Cold. Clean.

By the time they reached the bottom, Lucen’s system stopped pinging.

[Surveillance lost]

[Threat: Out of range]

Lucen exhaled. For real this time.

Varik keyed in a code at the wall and dropped a chair in front of one of the monitors. Black-and-white footage scrolled overhead. Crowd views. Side alleys. One camera caught the white-haired man walking calmly across a rooftop three blocks away.

Lucen stared at the screen.

"He looks bored."

"He usually does."

Lucen pulled the sword off his back, rested it against the table.

Then sat.

The silence stretched.

Lucen finally muttered, "So what now?"

Varik crossed his arms again. "Now? You wait."

"I hate waiting."

"I know."

Lucen leaned back in the chair. The metal creaked.

But the system still buzzed faint behind his vision. A pressure. Like the attention hadn’t really left—just shifted. Adapted.

He whispered, "He’s not gonna let this go, is he?"

Varik answered, "No. He marked you."

Lucen closed his eyes.

Then opened them again.

"All right. Let’s see how he likes being watched back."

And this time, he smiled.