The morning in Renar erupted like a firecracker. Newspaper stands overflowed with freshly printed sheets, the headlines screaming with accusations:

  ILLEGAL ORPHAN CONTRACTS EXPOSED! BARON VEYNAR LINKED TO HUMAN TRAFFICKING!DARK SECRETS OF NOBILITY: CHILDREN SOLD IN CHARITY HOMES!DANTES' WARNING: A SHADOW OVER THE CAPITAL

  Editors yelled over the phones, reporters scribbled frantic notes, and street-goers crowded around the stands, clutching papers and murmuring in disbelief.

  Every major agency had received copies of the contracts, anonymous tips, and the ominous signature of Dantes.

  Inside the Baron's manor, panic had taken root like a disease.

  Baron Veynar himself paced the grand hall, his navy coat wrinkled, his usually fwless composure cracking. Servants scurried, whispering fearfully, and courtiers whispered behind closed doors.

  "Impossible... this is impossible!", he barked, smming a hand on the nearest table.

  The goblets rattled, portraits tilted, and a butler stumbled back in shock, "Who would dare... Dantes? Who—who is this Dantes?"

  He tore through the papers, his pale fingers trembling, eyes darting from cuse to cuse, evidence to evidence. Each contract, each signature, each stipution of illegal sales of children churned his stomach and ignited his panic. His mind raced, realizing the extent of the exposure and the public scrutiny now inescapably bearing down upon him.

  Meanwhile, across the city, in her modest house, Lea sat with her legs tucked beneath her, a steaming cup of tea banced between her palms.

  She inhaled the fragrant aroma, letting it soothe her tension while her eyes gleamed over the rim of the cup.

  The soft morning light streamed through the window, catching the faint metallic glint of Hastur leaning against the wall.

  A small, satisfied smile tugged at her lips as she watched the chaos unfold through news sheets she had purchased herself, discreetly of course.

  Her thoughts wandered over each step of her meticulous pnning: the talismans, the Mockery, the anonymous tip-offs.

  Each move had nded exactly as intended. The Baron's arrogance had made him predictable, his vanity an easy target.

  And now... he floundered under the pressure of exposure without ever understanding how Dantes had moved unseen.

  Lea lifted the cup, letting the warmth seep into her hands. She whispered softly to herself, a private acknowledgment of the work done:

  "It's working... just like I pnned."

  For once, the chaos in the capital felt like music to her ears. The world was shifting, the rot beneath the gilded silk being revealed, and she, the shadow behind it all, had stayed perfectly out of reach.

  She took a careful sip of tea, savoring the moment. This was only the beginning. The Baron's ruin was far from complete, and Dantes' work was only starting to leave its mark.

  =0=0=

  Night draped over Renar like a velvet curtain, the gas mps along the cobbled streets casting pools of amber light. Lea slipped between shadows, ready to enter.

  Her pn tonight was to infiltrate Baron Veynar's study, pce more psychological talismans, and feed paranoia until he begins unraveling.

  Her steps were deliberate. She had already mapped every entry and exit, every servant schedule, every weakly guarded corner of the Baron's estate. For harming others, Malediction helps her commit them to memory.

  Talismans were ready; sickness wards, insomnia glyphs, and psychological triggers, all activated silently with her Brands.

  Then she froze.

  Footsteps.

  Too precise for servants, too deliberate for guards. She crouched behind a hedge, focusing.

  Two figures emerged, cloaked in dark violet robes etched with the diamond sigils she immediately recognized: the Mystical Bureau of Renar - IS7. Likely here to investigate the Baron.

  She had seen some of them interacting with Dawn before, but never engaged in direct conversation with them. The very identity of Auger vouched for her, after all.

  But would she retreat and let them ruin her pn?

  No... she wouldn't, and her pride wouldn't allow it either.

  Using her mask, she changed her appearance to look taller, her parasol taking on a lighter color, and the Rorschach on her mask looking like a smiling face. Then Lea went on naturally, as if she didn't notice them.

  "Stop there.", one of them called out. A middle-aged man wielding a gun.

  Lea stopped and faced them, tilting her head.

  "Are you stopping justice?", she asked, gripping her parasol tighter, getting ready to unleash a spell.

  "You must be Dantes, then.", the other one commented, "Viginte justice is a crime, so why don't you come with us for questioning?"

  Being caught is not an option... Lea thought.

  She was about to unsheath her sword, but they acted faster.

  "Command: Stay still!!"

  Her body froze. She immediately recognized the power of Order, and from the strength of the Command... they must be Second Step, just like hers.

  The gunner pulled his handgun out, pointing it at Lea.

  It was not a good thing to fight Peacekeepers in their own domain, quite impossible, in fact. Especially when there are two of them...

  She quickly activated a distortion talisman, sending a shockwave that messed with the two's focus, making them lose their grip for a moment—

  Bang!!

  The older investigator fired his gun, but with darkness as her blessing, she tilted her parasol and deflected the bullet.

  The fire inside her bred up as she closed the parasol and swung it at the ground—

  A path of ice erupted in front of her, making the two unbanced and slip on their butts.

  Taking a step back, she took out a talisman with her Brand on it. Crushing it in her hand, she threw it at the investigators—

  "Judgement.", she chanted.

  A golden astral sword appeared and hurled itself at the paper, right in front of the two of them.

  Boom!!

  The golden bde exploded in their face, knocking them out but not killing them. Lea let out a sigh of relief; they were just doing their duties, after all.

  Turning back, she returned to her course... infiltrating the residence of the Baron.

  Lea stepped silently through the heavy front doors of the Baron's manor.

  The grand hallways, once alive with servants and the hum of aristocratic bustle, were eerily empty.

  Floorboards creaked under her boots, but her shadowy presence went unnoticed, blending with the corners and darkened archways.

  She moved cautiously, parasol tight in her grip, Hastur humming faintly against her side.

  The talismans she had pnted earlier had done their work; the servants had abandoned their posts, leaving the household vulnerable and the Baron isoted.

  The further she went, the quieter it became.

  She reached the Baron's private chambers. The door, usually guarded or bolted with orders from his aides, was slightly ajar.

  She could hear a low, trembling voice from within.

  Lea peeked through the crack.

  There he was, Baron Veynar in the center of the room, his usually immacute navy coat rumpled, hair disheveled.

  His eyes darted around the room, wild and fearful, sweat glistening on his forehead.

  The golden glow from a few wards she hadn't disabled flickered against the walls, casting jagged shadows that made the room feel even smaller.

  He crouched near the edge of his desk, hands shaking, muttering to himself, "It's... it's everywhere... I can't... they're watching... I'm cursed..."

  Lea's mask shifted, the Rorschach inkblots swirling like smoke around her eyes.

  She stepped forward, letting the shadows elongate and dance along the floor as she approached the trembling man.

  "Baron Veynar...", she said, voice low, carrying the faintest echo of Malediction's Mockery, "Your house is quite empty. Your servants fled. Your friends are too afraid to stay. And yet... You hide as if the walls themselves might strike you down."

  Well... that might be true... Lea thought as she gazed upon the shadow that had once been a man.

  The Baron's eyes widened. He scrambled to stand, knocking a chair over in panic, "Who—who are you?!"

  Lea tilted her head, the mask shifting to a ghostly grin. She didn't answer directly, letting the illusion of shadows stretch and writhe around him, making him see shapes that weren't there.

  "You... you can't—", he stammered, backing into a corner, his gaze flicking to every shadow and crack in the walls.

  "You will soon be detained, exposed for your crimes against the people.", she pressed further, "A sham of a sve ring disguised as a charity, have you made peace with everything?"

  Lea smiled under her mask, feeling satisfaction from his fear.

  "Yet... you should be happy."

  He stare at her, eyes widens, "W—What do you mean?!"

  "I won't let you get caught, your sins will follow you, you will live your life running away forever, and... I'll follow your every step, reminding you constantly that you are worthless..."

  "Ah... I got gossip about your dating history... how many dates had you went through? Even with your wealth, you couldn't even keep a single woman by your side."

  "Tell me, while being living garbage, you are also terrible in bed? Or have you never touched a single woman properly? Is that why you take your anger out on those poor children...?"

  Her Mockery went full force, causing whipshes to his very soul. His eyes became blurry as he began to cough up blood.

  Seeing that, Lea stopped, not wanting to kill him.

  From her emotion radar, she had caused enough emotional turmoil for a Pathstrider to become a Horror.

  Lea took out one of her hidden knives, sliding it over to him.

  Oops...

  Staring at the knife, Baron Veynar gnced at it and then Lea, again and again...

  He scrambled for the knife, pointing it at Lea.

  "D-Don't come any closer!!", he screamed, trembling at the sight of Lea approaching slowly.

  Using her mask, the Rorschach morphed into a gleeful grin, making so as if tendrils of darkness came out of her back. Becoming a monster of eldritch nature.

  All to make herself more terrifying, dissociate more from her true self...

  No... to be more true to herself.

  "Try it, then.", she mocked him, knowing that she could cut him down in a single strike or Hex him to death.

  "Uhh... ugh...", he looked at the knife again.

  The shadows moved with intent; every flicker of light was a signal; every quiet tick of the clock a hammer pounding on the coffin of his sanity.

  He backed into a corner, pressing himself against the cold wall, his heart hammering.

  "I... I can't... they're all against me... everything...", his voice shook, splitting into whispers and mutters as he imagined invisible eyes staring, servants ready to betray, allies plotting in silence.

  Lea's voice, calm but edged with Malediction, floated across the room.

  "Do you see it now? The truth you've buried beneath lies, the sins you've chained yourself to... They will not forgive. They will not forget. You are alone."

  The Baron's hand tightened around the knife. He had no crity left.

  The world had warped into an endless spiral of threats and accusations, and the guilt pointed toward him had turned into specters cwing at him from every shadow.

  "No... no, it can't be... they're coming for me... I can't trust... anyone...", his fingers shook violently as he tried to keep a grip on reality, but reality had left him.

  The illusions of his mind became indistinguishable from the actual threat. Every corner, every crevice seemed to contain the gaze of enemies and ghosts alike.

  Lea's eyes narrowed behind her mask, observing the inevitable culmination of her Third Step.

  The Baron's knees buckled. He looked at the knife again, and this time, it no longer felt like a weapon; it felt like his only escape from the relentless terror gnawing at his mind.

  His hand shook so violently that he could barely hold it.

  "If... if I end this... maybe... maybe it stops..."

  He pressed the bde to his own chest, above the heart, trembling so hard that the metal slipped slightly across his pale skin.

  His vision swam, filled with shadowy faces of children, whispers accusing him, the echo of Lea's voice threading through the chaos in his mind.

  "No one... no one will ever... forgive me...", he muttered, the knife finally piercing his flesh.

  Warmth blossomed across his chest, and his knees hit the floor. Blood seeped into the expensive carpet, but the terror in his eyes did not fade; it only widened as his life bled away.

  Lea remained in the doorway, perfectly still, letting the final act unfold.

  The Rorschach on her mask twisted into a satisfied grin, but her eyes never left him, watching the culmination of months of careful orchestration.

  The Baron gasped, the knife slipping from his fingers as his strength faltered.

  He fell forward, face pressed into the rich carpet of his chamber, body shivering in the st convulsions of panic and despair. His breath hitched and stilled, leaving the room cold and silent, save for the faint echo of shadows twisting in the corners.

  Lea took a slow, deep breath, letting the tension drain from her shoulders. The talismans pulsed faintly, as if acknowledging the work done and burned away as their usage ended.

  No one else had to know.

  No one else had to see.

  The Baron's ruin had been absolute, and Dantes had remained unseen, untouchable, a shadow that left nothing but consequences behind.