Getting the complete, highly classified intelligence file on Magnus Adler did not make Erwin feel relieved or happy at all.

  Knowing the exact name and military background of the man who tortured his girlfriend did not bring him any peace. Instead, that dark information completely shattered the final mental barrier inside his head. It fully awakened a terrifying, cold-blooded side of him that nobody had ever seen before.

  It was a dark side that Erwin himself never even realized he possessed.

  The time was slowly approaching eleven o'clock at night. The hospital was completely quiet.

  Erwin walked back into Aoi's private intensive recovery room. He moved incredibly slowly and carefully, placing his feet softly on the linoleum floor so his shoes would not make a single sound.

  He looked over at the small, uncomfortable sofa near the corner of the room. Hiroshi and Emi were both fast asleep. The older couple was completely exhausted from the long, terrifying day of traveling and crying. Hiroshi had his arm wrapped protectively around his wife as they slept.

  Erwin walked past them like a silent ghost. He went straight back to the plastic chair sitting right next to Aoi's hospital bed.

  He sat down very quietly. He looked at Aoi.

  She was still sleeping soundly, completely lost in a deep, peaceful rest. With the quiet hum of the oxygen machine and the steady rhythm of the heart monitor, it almost looked like she was gently floating far away from the terrible, painful reality of her broken body.

  Erwin knew she needed to sleep, but he also knew he could not just leave without saying goodbye. He did not know what was going to happen tonight, and he needed to see her eyes one more time.

  He gently reached out and took her uninjured left hand. He held it softly between his warm palms, using his thumb to slowly and rhythmically stroke her knuckles.

  He kept rubbing her hand gently until he felt her fingers twitch.

  Aoi let out a very soft, quiet sigh. She slowly fluttered her good eye open. The dim yellow light of the bedside lamp illuminated Erwin's face sitting right beside her.

  "Hey," Aoi whispered softly, her voice still a little bit raspy from sleep. "What is wrong?"

  Erwin forced a small, totally fake smile onto his face. He hated lying to her, but he felt like he had absolutely no other choice right now.

  "Nothing is wrong, baby," Erwin whispered back, keeping his voice incredibly low so he wouldn't wake up her parents. "I just had to wake you up for a second because I have to leave. I am so sorry, but I cannot stay here and watch over you tonight."

  Aoi frowned slightly, looking totally confused.

  Erwin never acted like this. Ever since he found her in that warehouse, he had refused to leave her side. He literally fought with the nurses just to sit in this uncomfortable chair. Something was definitely not right.

  "Why do you have to leave?" Aoi asked, her sleepy brain trying to process his words. "What kind of business do you have at this hour?"

  Erwin looked down at her hand, avoiding direct eye contact.

  "I have a massive assignment from my corporate law professor," Erwin lied, trying to make his voice sound casual and stressed about school. "The deadline is tomorrow morning, and I have not even started writing it yet. I really have to go back to my dorm room and finish it tonight."

  Aoi just stared at him.

  She was a brilliant psychology student. She spent all her time studying human behavior, micro-expressions, and vocal tones. She did not even need her textbook to know that her boyfriend was lying straight to her face.

  She could hear the slight, unnatural stiffness in his voice. She could feel the nervous, tight tension in his hands. And the fact that he was actively refusing to look her in the eye was the biggest red flag of all.

  "Erwin," Aoi said softly. Her voice lost its sleepy edge and became very sharp and focused. "What are you actually talking about?"

  "I just told you, it is an assignment for Dr. Sommer," Erwin repeated his lie, still looking down at her blanket. "I really need to get a good grade on this paper."

  Aoi slowly pulled her hand out of his grip.

  "Do not lie to me," Aoi demanded in a gentle but incredibly firm whisper. "I know you, Erwin. I can clearly hear the lie in your voice. You do not care about some stupid law assignment right now. You haven't cared about your classes for days."

  Erwin froze. His fake excuse had completely fallen apart in less than a minute.

  "Tell me the truth," Aoi pleaded, looking directly at his face. "What is going on? Where are you actually going tonight?"

  Erwin realized he could not fool her. He could outsmart the best law professors in the country, but he could never hide his true intentions from the girl who held his heart.

  He slowly lowered his head. He dropped his face into his hands, leaning his elbows on his knees. He looked like a man carrying the absolute weight of the entire world on his shoulders. He felt so incredibly heavy and tired.

  Aoi looked at him. She saw the intense, dark struggle happening right in front of her.

  She slowly lifted her left hand. She reached out and gently ran her fingers through his messy dark hair, softly stroking his head to try and calm him down.

  "Erwin," Aoi whispered, her voice full of deep, understanding empathy. "You cannot let your anger control you. You cannot let the hatred drag you down into the dark."

  Erwin kept his face buried in his hands. He did not know what to say.

  "I know exactly what you are thinking about doing," Aoi continued gently, her fingers still playing with his hair. "I can see how much you have changed since that psychopath took me. You have this terrifying, cold look in your eyes now. You want to find him, and you want to use cruel, violent methods to get your revenge."

  Erwin slowly lifted his head. He looked at her with totally hollow, exhausted eyes.

  He did not deny anything. He just leaned forward and gently kissed the palm of her hand. He pressed his lips against her skin for a long time, totally unable to speak because she had completely exposed the ugly truth hiding in his soul.

  "Please listen to me," Aoi begged him. Her voice was incredibly soft, but the warning behind her words was very serious. "Do not step into that darkness, Erwin."

  She gently cupped the side of his face with her hand, forcing him to look right into her eye.

  "I have read hundreds of psychological case studies about people who let their dark sides take over," Aoi explained to him, using her academic knowledge to save his soul. "People who seek violent revenge always think it will make them feel better. But it never does. It completely destroys them from the inside out. Once you cross that line and do something unforgivable, you can never come back. It ruins you forever."

  A tear slowly rolled down Aoi's cheek, wetting her stitches.

  "I love you so much," Aoi cried quietly. "I just do not want you to end up like those tragic cases. I do not want you to become a monster."

  Hearing her say the word monster completely broke Erwin's heart.

  He realized she was absolutely right. In his desperate, blinding anger to protect her, he had totally lost his way. He had activated his shadow network. He had planned an illegal, bloody interrogation. He had basically turned into the exact same ruthless, immoral tyrant that his father was.

  He had become everything he used to hate.

  "I am so sorry, Aoi," Erwin whispered, his voice cracking with pure, crushing guilt. A single tear escaped his eye and rolled down his face. "I am so incredibly sorry. I was acting just like my father. I was being completely cruel and immoral. I just wanted to make that bastard pay for what he did to your beautiful face."

  Aoi wiped his tear away with her thumb, offering him a look of total forgiveness.

  "I know you just want to protect me," Aoi said softly. "But please, do not kill him. Do not throw your own humanity away for a piece of garbage like him."

  She looked deep into his dark eyes, reminding him of who he really was.

  "You are a brilliant law student, Erwin," Aoi reminded him gently. "You believe in rules. You believe in actual justice. Catch him. Expose him. Bring him to the federal police and let the legal system handle him exactly like you always believed it should. Be the good man I fell in love with."

  Erwin stared at her.

  Even though she was the victim who had suffered so much physical pain, she was the one trying to save the soul of the man she loved. Her incredible moral strength was absolutely blinding.

  "You are right," Erwin finally whispered, letting out a long, shaky breath. The heavy, murderous tension slowly drained out of his shoulders. "I will not kill him. I will do it the right way. I will bring him to justice. I promise you."

  Hearing him make that promise made Aoi feel a massive wave of relief.

  She smiled warmly at him. Even with the ugly black stitches pulling at her skin, her smile was still the most beautiful thing Erwin had ever seen.

  She gently stroked his cheek one last time.

  "Please be careful out there tonight," Aoi whispered, her eye heavy with sleep again. "I love you so much, Erwin."

  "I love you too, Aoi," Erwin replied, his heart completely full. "More than anything."

  He leaned forward and pressed a very soft, lingering kiss against her forehead.

  "I will be back before you know it," Erwin promised.

  He stood up from the chair, gave her one last loving look, and quietly walked out of the hospital room. He was walking out into the dark, rainy night to do something incredibly dangerous, but he was fully determined to let his moral compass guide him instead of his anger.

  But sometimes, the real world is a lot messier than simple promises.

  The time was exactly eleven thirty at night.

  The location was the deep, abandoned outskirts of Hohenwald. It was a sketchy, industrial area full of empty warehouses and dark, narrow alleyways. The rain had stopped, but the ground was still wet and covered in dirty puddles reflecting the faint, yellow streetlights.

  Deep inside a very narrow, hidden alleyway, a mysterious man was leaning casually against the back bumper of a heavy, dark SUV.

  The man was wearing a cheap raincoat. He was smoking a cigarette, the glowing red tip of the tobacco cutting through the dark, misty air. He looked totally relaxed, like he was just waiting for a friend to show up.

  A few moments later, a sleek black car drove slowly into the alleyway. The car's headlights were turned off. It rolled to a quiet stop right behind the parked SUV.

  The man leaning against the SUV did not panic. He just took another slow drag of his cigarette and watched as the driver's side door opened.

  Erwin stepped out of the car.

  He was wearing a thick black jacket with the collar pulled up, and a dark baseball cap pulled low over his eyes to hide his face. He looked completely different from the polite student who had just kissed his girlfriend in the hospital. He looked like a shadow.

  Erwin walked slowly toward the man with the cigarette, his hands tucked deep into his jacket pockets.

  "Who are you supposed to be?" the smoking man asked casually, not moving from his spot.

  "Poxwolf," Erwin answered smoothly, his voice totally flat and devoid of any emotion.

  The man nodded his head. Poxwolf was the correct, highly encrypted password provided by the Stahlberg shadow network. The man took the cigarette out of his mouth and flicked it into a nearby puddle.

  "Good to meet you, kid," the man said, turning around and grabbing the handle of his SUV's trunk. "I brought exactly what you ordered."

  The man popped the trunk open.

  Boom.

  The dim trunk light flickered on, revealing a massive, terrifyingly professional weapons cache.

  The entire back of the SUV was lined with custom black foam. Nestled perfectly inside the foam cutouts was an absolutely lethal collection of high-end handguns, extra magazines, and tactical attachments. It looked like a mobile military armory.

  Erwin stepped closer and looked down at the deadly tools. His face remained completely blank, but his heart started beating a little faster.

  "Let me introduce you to the inventory," the illegal arms dealer said smoothly, acting like a car salesman showing off his best models.

  The dealer reached into the foam and pulled out a sleek, modern-looking pistol.

  "This right here is the Rockson 12," the dealer explained, holding the gun up to the dim light. "It holds fifteen rounds of standard ammunition in a single magazine. It is built with special lightweight polymers, so it never jams on you. It is super reliable."

  The dealer handed the gun to Erwin, handle first.

  Erwin took the weapon. The cold metal felt completely foreign and heavy in his hand. He had learned how to shoot at exclusive country clubs, but holding a weapon intended for actual combat felt entirely different.

  Erwin raised the gun, keeping his finger safely off the trigger. He aimed it blindly down the dark, empty alleyway.

  He tested the weight. He shifted his stance.

  "I do not like it," Erwin said quietly, lowering the weapon.

  "What is the problem?" the dealer asked, taking the gun back.

  "It feels way too light," Erwin explained, his brilliant, analytical brain taking over. "If I have to fire multiple shots rapidly, the physical recoil is going to make the barrel jump too much. A lightweight frame makes the weapon more vulnerable and harder to control under pressure."

  The dealer actually smiled, looking pretty impressed by the young guy's accurate assessment.

  "You know your stuff," the dealer agreed, tossing the Rockson back into its foam slot. "You are completely right. Let me show you something a little more serious."

  The dealer reached into a different section of the trunk and pulled out a slightly larger, totally black, very aggressive-looking handgun.

  "Meet the Welgorth 9," the dealer introduced the weapon, his voice full of professional respect.

  The dealer quickly pulled the slide back with a loud, satisfying metallic click, checking the chamber before handing it over.

  "This bad boy holds seventeen rounds in a single magazine," the dealer explained confidently. "It is a bit heavier, which means it is incredibly stable when you fire it. It is not too heavy to carry, but it is not light enough to jump around on you."

  The dealer reached into the trunk again and pulled out a long, black metal cylinder.

  "And the best part is," the dealer added, holding the cylinder up. "This specific model comes with a custom-threaded silencer. The silencer alone costs half the price of the actual gun, but it turns a loud bang into a quiet little cough."

  Erwin took the Welgorth 9 in his right hand. He took the cold metal silencer from the dealer with his left hand.

  With smooth, precise movements, Erwin screwed the silencer onto the threaded barrel of the gun. The weapon suddenly looked twice as long and incredibly lethal.

  Erwin raised the silenced pistol. He aimed it blindly down the dark alley again.

  As he looked down the metal sights of the gun, his imagination suddenly took over. He pictured Magnus Adler standing at the end of the alley. He imagined the face of the monster who had cut Aoi.

  The dark, violent side of Erwin's brain screamed at him to pull the trigger.

  The gun felt so powerful in his hand. He realized with terrifying clarity that all he had to do was point this piece of metal at Magnus, pull his finger back one single inch, and the monster would be dead forever. It would be so incredibly easy.

  But then, the soft, beautiful voice of Aoi echoed in his head.

  I do not want you to become a monster. Bring him to justice.

  Erwin felt a massive, sickening wave of conflict tear through his chest. He was holding a highly illegal, silenced murder weapon while actively promising the girl he loved that he would let the police handle the situation. The hypocrisy was absolutely suffocating.

  Could he really do it? If he had Magnus in his sights, could he really just arrest him? Or would he break his promise to Aoi and pull the trigger?

  The dealer watched Erwin staring down the sights of the gun, totally lost in his own dark thoughts. The dealer just casually pulled another cigarette from his pocket and lit it up.

  "So?" the dealer asked, blowing a cloud of smoke into the damp air. "Do you like the beauty?"

  Erwin slowly lowered the gun. He let out a quiet breath.

  "Yes," Erwin answered coldly. "I really like this one."

  But before Erwin could hand the gun back, his dark eyes caught something else hiding in the corner of the trunk.

  It was tucked away in a tiny, custom-cut foam slot. It was much smaller than the other weapons.

  The dealer noticed where Erwin was looking. He chuckled softly and reached into the trunk, carefully pulling out the tiny weapon.

  "Ah, you have a very sharp eye," the dealer said, holding the incredibly small, compact pistol in the palm of his hand.

  "Let me introduce you to the Liknoght 2," the dealer explained, his voice dropping to a secretive whisper. "This is a specialized, ultra-compact firearm. It only holds six bullets in the magazine. The rounds are much smaller, but trust me, at close range, they are absolutely deadly."

  The dealer offered the tiny gun to Erwin.

  "It is designed for total concealment," the dealer continued. "You can easily hide this little thing tucked into the back of your pants, or even slip it right up the sleeve of your long jacket. If you get patted down, they might miss it. If you get into a tight spot, your enemy will never be able to guess that you are carrying a hidden little devil as your backup guardian."

  Erwin took the Liknoght 2 in his free hand.

  The dealer was completely right. The gun was so incredibly small that it perfectly disappeared inside the palm of Erwin's large hand. It was the perfect, invisible trump card.

  Erwin looked at the large, silenced Welgorth 9 in his right hand, and the tiny, hidden Liknoght 2 in his left hand.

  He was preparing for an absolute war. He was going to walk into a motel room with a former state intelligence officer. He needed every single advantage he could possibly buy.

  "I will take them both," Erwin decided, his voice hard and final.

  The dealer raised an eyebrow, clearly happy with the big sale.

  "I want the Welgorth 9, the custom silencer, and one spare magazine fully loaded," Erwin ordered efficiently. "And I want the Liknoght 2 fully loaded, but no extra ammo for it. Six shots will be enough."

  "You got a deal, kid," the dealer agreed, doing the mental math in his head. "For the two premium weapons, the attachments, and the untraceable ammunition, the total price is going to be one thousand and eight hundred derhom. Cash only."

  Erwin did not even blink at the massive price tag. He reached into the inner pocket of his black jacket and pulled out a thick, heavy envelope completely stuffed with crisp, untraceable hundred-derhom bills.

  He handed the envelope to the dealer.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  The dealer quickly flipped through the stack of cash, his experienced fingers counting the money in seconds. He nodded in satisfaction and tucked the envelope into his raincoat.

  Erwin carefully placed the tiny Liknoght 2 into the hidden inner pocket of his jacket. He kept the large, silenced Welgorth 9 in his hand, keeping his finger completely off the trigger.

  He turned around without saying thank you or goodbye. He walked back to his car, opened the door, and slid into the driver's seat. He placed the heavy Welgorth 9 on the passenger seat right next to him.

  The dealer just watched him drive away, taking another drag of his cigarette before closing the trunk of his SUV.

  Erwin drove out of the narrow, dark alleyway and merged onto the empty main road. He was heading straight toward the southern city limits. He was heading directly to the rundown motel where Magnus Adler was sleeping.

  The inside of the car was completely silent. But inside Erwin's head, an absolute, deafening war was raging.

  He was driving closer and closer to the man who ruined Aoi's face.

  Erwin's breathing started to become incredibly heavy. He was pulling short, aggressive breaths of air into his lungs. His handsome face was completely twisted with pure, uncontrollable anger.

  He gripped the leather steering wheel of the car so incredibly hard that his knuckles turned entirely white. The leather actually creaked under the massive pressure of his hands.

  His dark eyes were completely wide and manic, staring at the empty road ahead. They were completely filled with a burning, toxic hatred. The dark side of his soul, the cruel, violent monster he had inherited from his father, was fighting desperately to take over his body.

  He remembered his promise to Aoi. He promised he would bring the man to justice.

  But he looked over at the silenced pistol sitting on the passenger seat. The weapon was practically begging him to use it. It was whispering to him that justice was too slow, and that Magnus deserved to die a bloody, painful death for what he did.

  The psychological conflict was literally tearing him apart from the inside out. He was a man split perfectly in half. Half of him wanted to be the good man Aoi loved. The other half wanted to be the ruthless, murdering monster his family bred him to be.

  The agonizing pressure in his chest finally became way too much for him to handle silently.

  Erwin threw his head back against the car seat. He opened his mouth and let out a massive, terrifying scream of pure, absolute frustration.

  "GRAAAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHH!"

  His loud, agonizing scream completely filled the small space of the car. It was a raw, animalistic roar of a young man fighting a desperate, losing battle against his own dark nature.

  He slammed his fist aggressively against the steering wheel once, trying to physically punch the dark thoughts out of his brain.

  He was speeding toward the motel. The weapons were loaded. The monster was awake. And Erwin honestly had absolutely no idea which side of his soul was going to win when he finally kicked that motel door open.

  The night felt incredibly long and exhausting for everyone who was dragged into this terrifying nightmare.

  The cold spring rain was still falling steadily over the dark city of Hohenwald, creating massive puddles on the empty streets that perfectly reflected the dim, yellow glow of the passing streetlights.

  Inside a car speeding through the quiet city, Marek was yawning widely for the fifth time in a row.

  His eyes were totally red and watering because he was fighting off a massive, heavy wave of pure exhaustion. It was already past midnight, and his college student sleep schedule was completely ruined by all the panic and stress of the day.

  "Why exactly do we have to deliver these clean clothes right this exact second, Sam?" Marek complained loudly, his voice sounding like a whining little kid.

  He leaned his heavy head against the cold glass of the passenger window, looking totally miserable.

  "It is already midnight," Marek continued complaining. "Tomorrow is Saturday. We literally have the entire weekend off. We could have just delivered this paper bag first thing tomorrow morning after a good night of sleep."

  Sam, who was driving the car with a very serious expression on his face, just let out a long, heavy sigh. He kept his eyes locked on the wet road ahead.

  "Erwin has been sitting in that incredibly uncomfortable hospital chair all day long while wearing a shirt completely covered in dried blood, Marek," Sam explained patiently but firmly.

  Sam gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.

  "He desperately needs clean, comfortable clothes," Sam added. "And you know exactly how incredibly stubborn that rich idiot is. He is absolutely not going to leave Aoi's side to go back to the dormitory to change. If we do not bring him clothes, he is just going to sit there and rot in his own guilt."

  Marek opened his mouth and let out another massive, obnoxious yawn. "Yeah, I know he is stubborn, but still..."

  Suddenly, Jonas, who was sitting quietly in the back seat of the car, leaned forward.

  Without any warning, Jonas raised his hand and slapped Marek right square in the middle of his back. It was a solid, loud smack that echoed inside the small car.

  Marek instantly jumped in his seat, completely startled. His eyes shot wide open, and all the heavy sleepiness vanished from his brain in a split second.

  He whipped his head around to look at the back seat, his face a mixture of total confusion and deep annoyance.

  "Hey!" Marek yelled, rubbing his stinging back. "What the hell was that for?"

  Jonas just sat there and offered a very small, highly amused smile. His eyes were calm but strict.

  "That was just to wake you up, buddy," Jonas answered smoothly, crossing his arms over his chest. "So stop whining like a little baby. We are doing this to help our best friend in the middle of a massive crisis."

  Marek opened his mouth to argue, but then he just closed it again. He rubbed his back one more time, completely defeated, and turned back to face the front windshield. He did not complain or whine for the rest of the short drive.

  A few minutes later, Sam parked the car in the visitor parking lot. The three friends got out and walked through the sliding glass doors into the main lobby of the Hohenwald city hospital.

  The atmosphere inside the massive lobby was incredibly quiet, almost like a ghost town.

  Most of the bright overhead fluorescent lights had been completely turned off for the night shift, leaving only a few dim, warm lights illuminating the reception area. The only sounds were the quiet hum of the massive air conditioning units and the squeak of their wet shoes against the polished tile floor.

  They walked directly toward the main front desk, where a tired-looking female nurse was sitting in front of a glowing computer screen, typing up some medical reports.

  "Excuse me, miss," Sam greeted her politely, keeping his deep voice low so he wouldn't disturb the absolute silence of the hospital.

  The nurse stopped typing and looked up at the three young men. She looked totally exhausted, probably working a double shift.

  "Good evening," the nurse replied automatically. "How can I help you boys? But I need to let you know right away that visiting hours for the intensive care unit and the inpatient wards ended several hours ago. You are going to have to come back tomorrow morning."

  Hearing those specific words made Marek's tired eyes light up with instant joy.

  He immediately turned his head to look at Sam and Jonas, a massive, relieved smile spreading across his face.

  "Well, you guys heard the nice lady, right?" Marek said happily, already taking a step backward. "Visiting hours are completely over. It is against the rules. Let's just go back to the dorm and sleep in our nice, warm beds."

  Marek literally turned around to walk straight back to the exit doors, but Jonas was way too fast for him.

  Jonas reached out and grabbed the back of Marek's jacket collar, holding him firmly in place. Jonas gave Marek a deadly, sharp look that clearly meant he needed to shut his mouth and stay put.

  Sam turned back to the nurse, offering her a charming, apologetic smile.

  "We totally understand the rules, and we are really sorry for showing up this late," Sam told the nurse politely. "We honestly have absolutely no intention of going upstairs to bother the patients. We just wanted to drop this bag off."

  Sam lifted the paper bag containing the clean black sweatpants and t-shirt, placing it gently on the high counter.

  "This is for our friend who is currently staying upstairs to watch over his girlfriend," Sam explained. "His name is Erwin von Stahlberg. Could you please just send one of the orderlies to hand this to him?"

  The nurse frowned deeply. A look of total, genuine confusion crossed her tired face.

  She looked at the paper bag sitting on her desk, and then she looked back up at Sam, tilting her head slightly.

  "Erwin von Stahlberg?" the nurse asked, trying to confirm the name. "The really tall, handsome kid with the blonde hair? The one whose girlfriend was brought into the trauma center earlier today?"

  "Yes, exactly," Jonas answered quickly, stepping up next to Sam. "That is him."

  The nurse slowly shook her head side to side.

  "You boys are a little bit too late," the nurse explained calmly. "That young man actually walked out of this hospital about an hour ago."

  That single, simple sentence instantly caused Sam, Marek, and Jonas to freeze completely solid.

  They all just stood there, staring at the nurse in absolute, stunned silence. They looked at each other, their faces dropping into expressions of pure, unadulterated confusion.

  "Wait a second, miss," Sam said. His voice was no longer polite and charming. It suddenly sounded incredibly serious and highly tense. "What exactly do you mean he walked out? Erwin would absolutely never leave Aoi alone. He fought with the doctors just to stay in her room."

  Jonas leaned his hands against the reception counter, his eyes wide.

  "Are you absolutely sure about this?" Jonas asked, his voice filled with desperate doubt. "I mean, maybe you saw someone else. Maybe it was a different guy who looked like him?"

  The nurse sighed, looking slightly offended that they were questioning her memory.

  "I am one hundred percent sure," the nurse stated firmly. "That boy has been visiting this hospital on and off for a while now. Almost every single nurse on the night shift knows his face and his name. Besides, he has a very specific, intense aura that you really do not forget easily."

  The nurse pointed a pen toward the main sliding glass doors.

  "He walked right through this lobby, completely alone, at exactly eleven o'clock tonight," the nurse confirmed with absolute certainty.

  A sudden, freezing cold wave of pure dread slowly started to creep up the back of Sam's neck. A really terrible, dark feeling settled deep inside his stomach.

  "This makes absolutely no sense," Marek muttered, his eyes wide open, all of his sleepiness completely gone. "Where the hell would he go at eleven o'clock at night? Maybe he actually did go back to the dormitory to take a shower and change his clothes?"

  "That is totally impossible," Jonas argued instantly, shaking his head. "If he went back to the dorm, he would have been there by now. It is a twenty-minute drive from the hospital to the campus, and we literally just came from his room. It was completely empty."

  Marek scratched his head nervously. "Maybe he got stuck in some really bad traffic on the highway?"

  Smack!

  Jonas hit the back of Marek's head again, and this time he hit him pretty hard.

  "Use your brain for one second, Marek!" Jonas hissed angrily. "What kind of massive traffic jam happens in the middle of a Friday night during a rainstorm? The streets outside are completely dead!"

  "Ow! Okay, stop hitting my head!" Marek complained, rubbing his skull.

  "Both of you, just shut up for a second," Sam commanded sharply, raising his hand to silence them. "Let me think."

  Sam closed his eyes, his brain working at lightning speed trying to put the pieces of this crazy puzzle together.

  "Maybe he just stepped out to get some fresh air or grab some food?" Sam suggested, though he did not sound convinced at all.

  He knew it was a terrible excuse. At this hour, every single restaurant and cafe around the hospital district was completely closed. And more importantly, who the hell decides to go on a midnight food run when the girl they love is lying in a hospital bed covered in stitches? Erwin was absolutely not the kind of guy to care about his own stomach during a crisis.

  Without wasting another second of arguing, Sam shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his smartphone. He quickly scrolled through his contacts, found Erwin's name, and hit the green call button. He pressed the phone hard against his ear, listening to the long, slow ringing tone.

  Meanwhile, miles away from the bright, sterile lobby of the hospital.

  Erwin was sitting alone in the absolute darkness of his sleek black car. He had just arrived at the deep southern edge of the city. He was parked silently on the side of a deserted road, directly across from a highly sketchy, run-down building.

  The neon sign above the building flickered with a broken red light, spelling out the words Ultchcan Motel.

  Inside the quiet, tense cabin of Erwin's car, the large screen of his smartphone suddenly lit up perfectly bright. The aggressive vibrating sound of an incoming call buzzed loudly against the plastic cup holder in the center console.

  Erwin slowly turned his head. His cold, dead eyes looked down at the glowing screen.

  The caller ID clearly displayed Sam's name.

  For a brief, agonizing second, Erwin's right hand twitched. He lifted his hand, his thumb hovering right above the green button to accept the call.

  He really wanted to talk to his best friend. But he knew exactly what was going to happen if he picked up that phone. Sam was not stupid. Sam would instantly realize what he was doing. Sam would yell at him, give him a long lecture about morality, and try everything in his power to stop him from crossing the line into absolute darkness.

  "I am so sorry, man," Erwin whispered into the empty air of his car. His voice was incredibly raspy and full of heavy sorrow. "I know you will not agree with this. But I have to do this myself."

  Erwin slowly pulled his hand away from the screen.

  He did not reject the call, because he knew that would make Sam even more suspicious. He just let it ring. He sat there in the dark, staring out the rain-streaked window at the cheap motel, listening to his phone vibrate until it eventually stopped.

  Back in the hospital lobby, Sam slowly lowered his phone from his ear. The automated voicemail message was playing, telling him the call could not be completed.

  Sam ran his hand aggressively over his face, feeling an intense, suffocating wave of pure frustration and worry.

  "What the hell, Erwin?" Sam muttered under his breath, staring blankly at his phone screen. "What exactly are you thinking right now?"

  Sam immediately pressed the call button again. He listened to it ring endlessly until it went straight to voicemail for the second time. Erwin was actively ignoring him.

  Suddenly, Marek's eyes went incredibly wide. It looked like a massive, terrifying lightning bolt had just struck his brain.

  "Oh my god. Guys, do you remember?" Marek asked, his voice shaking with sudden, pure panic. He looked frantically back and forth between Sam and Jonas.

  "Remember what, Marek? Just spit it out," Sam demanded, his patience completely gone.

  "Do you remember earlier today, when we were all standing in the hallway outside the emergency room?" Marek explained rapidly, his words tumbling over each other. "When Aoi was first brought in covered in blood?"

  Sam frowned. "Yeah, I remember. What about it?"

  "Erwin's phone was dead," Marek reminded them, his eyes wide with horror. "So he borrowed your phone, Sam! He borrowed your phone and he called the director of his family's shadow security division! He literally ordered an underground army to hunt down that psychopath in the black van!"

  Hearing those specific details, Sam completely froze.

  He slowly lifted his head. His eyes went completely wide as the terrifying pieces of the puzzle finally snapped together perfectly in his mind. It created an absolutely horrifying picture.

  Sam understood. He understood everything.

  Erwin did not go out to get a burger. Erwin did not go back to the dorm to sleep. Erwin left the hospital at eleven o'clock because his shadow network had finally called him back. They had successfully identified the psychopath, and infinitely worse, they had found his exact location.

  Jonas swallowed hard, his face turning incredibly pale. His legs felt like they were going to collapse under him.

  "Oh my god," Jonas whispered, absolute terror leaking into his voice. "That means... if Erwin disappeared right after getting that phone call, he might be driving to the guy's location right now. And he wants to..."

  Jonas could not even bring himself to finish that horrible sentence.

  Sam closed his eyes tightly. He curled his hands into massive, tight fists at his sides. He desperately tried to convince himself that his best friend was still a good person. Erwin was a brilliant law student. He believed in the justice system. He would never actually kill another human being, right?

  But then Sam remembered the terrifying, dead look in Erwin's eyes in the hallway. He remembered the literal blood staining Erwin's shirt, and the cold, demonic promise Erwin had made about making the guy beg for mercy.

  Sam slowly opened his eyes.

  He let out a short, completely hollow laugh. It was a dry, dark sound of total realization. He slowly shook his head side to side, looking at Marek and Jonas with an expression of absolute certainty.

  "No, Jonas. You are completely wrong," Sam stated. His voice was incredibly flat, cold, and totally devoid of any hope. "Erwin is not going to just talk to him. Erwin is absolutely going to murder that psychopath tonight."

  That horrifying statement made the blood completely freeze inside Marek and Jonas's veins.

  Without needing to discuss it any further, a massive, explosive wave of pure panic hit the three friends.

  They all turned around at the exact same time and completely sprinted out of the hospital lobby. They ignored the confused nurse shouting behind them. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them through the freezing rain, heading straight for Sam's parked car.

  They jumped inside, slamming the doors shut. Sam instantly jammed his key into the ignition and started the engine with a loud roar.

  "How the hell are we supposed to stop him if we do not even know where he is going?" Jonas yelled from the back seat, panic lacing his voice.

  Marek instantly shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. His fingers were shaking terribly.

  "I know exactly how!" Marek shouted over the sound of the engine. "I have a friend in the technology and computer science faculty!"

  "A tech friend? What for?" Sam asked, throwing the car into reverse and aggressively backing out of the parking spot.

  "Who knows, maybe he can hack the cellular towers and track the GPS signal on Erwin's phone!" Marek answered quickly, scrolling frantically through his long contact list.

  "Is your friend even going to be awake at this hour?" Jonas asked doubtfully. "It is almost midnight!"

  Marek snorted, keeping his eyes glued to his screen. "Trust me, the guy is a massive, stereotypical computer nerd. Whenever it is a Friday night, he locks himself in his dorm room and plays competitive online video games until four in the morning. Let me call him—hello? Peter?!"

  The call connected almost instantly.

  On the other end of the line, inside a dark dorm room completely illuminated by bright, colorful LED computer lights, sat a guy with thick glasses named Peter Hassell. He was wearing a massive gaming headset and staring intensely at two large monitors.

  The loud sounds of digital gunfire and explosions were playing in the background, mixed with the very loud, annoying sound of Peter aggressively chewing potato chips.

  "What do you want, Marek?" Peter answered. His voice sounded incredibly lazy and highly annoyed. "Why are you calling me in the middle of the night? You are totally ruining my concentration. I am getting flanked by the enemy team right now."

  Marek spoke incredibly fast, his voice filled with desperate panic.

  "Peter, you have to listen to me right now! This is literally a matter of life and death!" Marek pleaded loudly. "I desperately need your crazy IT skills. I need you to track the exact GPS location of our friend's cell phone number. Please help me, Peter!"

  A long, heavy sigh echoed through the phone speakers, followed by the rapid clicking of a computer mouse.

  "Track a cell phone number?" Peter complained lazily. "Do you think I work for the federal intelligence agency? Besides, I am right in the middle of a highly ranked competitive match. If I pause my game to hack a phone signal, I am going to get a penalty and lose my rank, Marek. I worked really hard for this rank. Go find someone else."

  Marek groaned loudly, wanting to smash his phone against the dashboard. "Peter, please! This is a massive emergency!"

  Seeing that Marek was failing to convince the nerd, Sam took matters into his own hands.

  Sam reached over, violently snatched the phone right out of Marek's hand, and pressed it hard against his own ear while keeping his other hand firmly on the steering wheel.

  "Listen to me, Peter. This is Samuel," Sam said. His voice was incredibly deep, highly authoritative, and extremely serious. It was the voice of a man who did not take no for an answer.

  "If you drop your stupid video game right this exact second and track our friend's number for me," Sam offered, perfectly using his knowledge of what a nerd would want. "I will personally buy you a VIP front-row ticket to your absolute favorite rock band's concert next month. I will pay for the whole thing."

  Hearing that incredibly expensive, totally irresistible offer, the rapid clicking of the computer mouse on the other end of the line stopped instantly.

  "VIP ticket? Front row?" Peter's voice completely transformed from lazy to highly enthusiastic in a split second. "Alright, you have a deal! Screw the ranked match! Give me your friend's phone number right now."

  Sam quickly and clearly recited Erwin's cell phone number from memory.

  "Alright, just give me one minute," Peter said.

  The sound of potato chips was completely replaced by the incredibly fast, highly aggressive sound of typing on a mechanical keyboard. Peter sounded like a professional hacker in a spy movie.

  Inside the car, the tension was absolutely suffocating. Marek and Jonas held their breath, praying to god that Peter was actually smart enough to find the location in time.

  It took exactly sixty seconds. Peter's reputation as an IT genius was completely justified.

  "Bingo!" Peter shouted triumphantly over the phone. "I bypassed the encryption and locked onto his cellular signal."

  "Tell me exactly where he is right now, Peter!" Sam demanded, his foot pressing harder against the gas pedal.

  "The phone signal is completely stationary right now," Peter explained, reading the data off his second monitor. "He is located way down in the southern district of Hohenwald. It is a really sketchy, abandoned area. More specifically, the GPS pin is sitting on the side of the main road, directly across the street from a cheap place called the Ultchcan Motel."

  Sam's eyes narrowed dangerously. He knew exactly where that terrible part of town was.

  "You did a great job, Peter. You literally just saved a life tonight," Sam thanked him sincerely. "I will bring you that VIP concert ticket on Monday."

  Without waiting for Peter to say goodbye, Sam hung up the phone and threw it back into Marek's lap.

  "We have to get down there before he does something stupid," Sam announced, his jaw locking into a tight, determined line. "We have to stop him before he kills someone."

  Without any hesitation, Sam shifted the gears and stomped his foot down on the gas pedal, pressing it completely to the floor of the car.

  The engine let out a massive, terrifying roar. The car shot forward like a bullet fired from a gun. The tires screeched loudly against the wet asphalt as the vehicle accelerated to a highly dangerous speed in mere seconds.

  Marek and Jonas were violently thrown back against their seats by the massive G-force. Their eyes went completely wide with absolute terror as they realized Sam had just turned into a crazy, reckless street racer.

  "Hey, hey! Slow down, Sam!" Marek screamed in pure panic, looking at the speedometer needle climbing rapidly. "If you drive like a complete maniac, we are all going to get arrested by the police!"

  Sam completely ignored Marek's screaming. He kept his eyes totally locked on the dark, wet road ahead.

  "Relax, Marek!" Sam yelled back over the loud engine. "We are only going to get arrested if there are actually cops around! And this highway is completely empty!"

  "That is totally not the point, man!" Marek shrieked, his voice cracking with fear.

  Marek reached up with both hands and grabbed the handle above the passenger door window, holding on for dear life. His knuckles turned totally white.

  Suddenly, a really sharp curve appeared on the dark road ahead.

  Instead of hitting the brakes, Sam aggressively yanked the steering wheel to the side. The back tires of the car lost traction on the wet pavement, sliding slightly as they drifted through the dangerous corner.

  "SHIT!! DUDE!" Marek screamed spontaneously, squeezing his eyes shut because he thought they were going to crash right into the concrete barrier.

  Even Jonas yelled out in fear from the back seat.

  But Sam's reflexes were perfect. He corrected the steering wheel, regaining total control of the vehicle and shooting straight out of the corner. The car continued to speed through the dark, rainy night, racing desperately against the clock to save their best friend from completely destroying his own life.

  While the three friends were racing across the city, the situation at the southern district was reaching a terrifying boiling point.

  Erwin was still sitting silently inside his dark car, parked across the street from the Ultchcan Motel.

  His right hand was tightly gripping the heavy, cold metal of the Welgorth 9 pistol. The long, thick silencer attached to the barrel made the weapon look incredibly professional and highly lethal.

  He stared through the rain-streaked windshield at the cheap motel doors. His dark eyes were completely filled with an absolute, burning hatred. He was acting like a predator waiting patiently for his prey to show its face.

  Suddenly, movement caught his eye.

  Walking out from a narrow alleyway behind the motel building was a tall, muscular man.

  The man was walking with a very specific, highly suspicious gait. He moved silently, his head constantly swiveling back and forth, checking the dark corners and shadows. It was the distinct, paranoid walk of a highly trained intelligence operative who knew how to avoid detection.

  Erwin's eyes narrowed sharply. His heart started beating a little faster.

  He slowly reached into his jacket pocket with his left hand and pulled out the printed photograph provided by his shadow security team. He held the photo up near the dashboard and compared the face in the picture to the man walking toward the motel rooms.

  He analyzed the sharp jawline, the broad shoulders, and the cold, dead look in the man's eyes.

  It was a completely authentic, perfect match. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind. The man walking in the rain was Magnus Adler. He was the monster who had sliced Aoi's beautiful face open.

  Seeing the target right in front of him triggered a massive adrenaline rush.

  With a smooth, practiced motion, Erwin pulled the top slide of the pistol back. A sharp, quiet metallic click echoed inside the car as a bullet was chambered. The deadly weapon was now fully armed and ready to end a human life.

  Erwin reached for the door handle to get out of the car.

  But suddenly, his entire body froze completely solid. His muscles locked up. His hand holding the gun started to tremble slightly. A massive, suffocating wave of intense anxiety suddenly crashed over his chest, making it hard to breathe.

  In the total silence of the car, Erwin suddenly heard a voice.

  It was Aoi's voice. It sounded so incredibly real, echoing loudly inside his chaotic brain.

  Please, do not kill him. Bring him to justice.

  The memory of her pleading face hit him like a physical punch to the stomach. Aoi did not want him to become a murderer. She wanted her boyfriend to hold onto his moral principles. She believed in a pure morality that could never be bought with billionaire money or destroyed by dark revenge.

  Erwin squeezed his eyes tightly shut.

  He leaned forward, pressing his forehead hard against the leather steering wheel of the car. He let out a shaky, desperate breath.

  He was completely trapped in an agonizing mental war. Was he actually going to pull the trigger? Was he really willing to completely break his promise to Aoi, just to satisfy the burning anger inside his chest?

  He stayed frozen like that for a few seconds, genuinely struggling to put the gun down and just call the police.

  But then, he slowly lifted his head.

  His dark eyes accidentally fell upon the printed dossier file lying on the passenger seat. The paper listed all the highly classified information about Magnus Adler's past operations.

  Erwin stared at the section that detailed Magnus's previous assassination targets.

  He read the list of victims. They were not evil criminals. They were honest, idealistic lawyers who had tried to defend the truth. They were completely innocent civilians who had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Magnus Adler had systematically hunted down and murdered good, innocent people simply because a rich client paid him a massive pile of money to do it.

  Reading that horrific reality completely destroyed the last tiny shred of moral hesitation inside Erwin's soul.

  The brilliant, empathetic law student totally vanished. The burning, toxic hatred completely consumed him.

  Erwin reached over, grabbed the printed dossier file, and violently crushed the paper in his fist until it was just a tight, useless ball of trash.

  He looked back out the window. He watched with pure, unadulterated hatred as Magnus Adler unlocked the door to room number four and stepped inside, completely unaware of the grim reaper waiting across the street.

  "You murdered completely innocent people who deserved actual justice, and you did it all just for money," Erwin whispered to the empty car.

  His voice was no longer human. It sounded like an incredibly dark, terrifying demon rising from the deepest parts of hell.

  "So do not expect any mercy from me tonight."

  The internal war was officially over. The dark side had won the battle.

  Erwin shoved the car door open and stepped out into the freezing rain. He did not rush. He walked with a very slow, terrifyingly calm, and casual stride across the wet asphalt.

  He smoothly slipped the heavy, silenced pistol deep into the right pocket of his dark jacket, completely hiding the weapon from sight.

  Driven entirely by the darkest, most violent side of his genetic legacy, Erwin walked straight toward the door of room number four.

  He was going to kick that door open. He was either going to drag Magnus Adler out by his throat and force him into the hands of the legal system, or he was going to pull the trigger and execute him right there on the dirty motel floor.

  But looking at Erwin's face right now, one thing was absolutely clear. The cold, dead, empty stare in his dark eyes was definitely not the look of a human being anymore. It was the look of a monster coming to collect a bloody debt.