Deus Necros

Kael stood in the training room for a few seconds after the call ended.

The bracelet dimmed on his wrist, leaving only the quiet of the penthouse around him. Morning light came through the reinforced glass in broad, clean bands, stretching across the polished floor and the equipment he had been using. Below, the city moved with its usual impatience, unaware that one of the most dangerous men in the country had just asked to meet him.

Asher Vylan was at the Association.

That meant he had heard something.

Maybe from CIU. Maybe from someone inside the police chain. Maybe one of the reports about the murder had brushed too close to Kael’s name before it was buried. Vylan could have come because he knew Kael had been there that night. He could have come to check whether the loose end had a face. He could have come to threaten him, quietly and politely, with that shining public smile of his.

But that did not fully fit.

If Vylan wanted to threaten him, he could have come here.

He could have appeared at the building, bypassed the security, smiled at the guards, and made it look like a friendly visit from America’s Shield. He could have found Kael’s mother. He could have made the threat personal before Kael even understood what was happening.

Instead, he had gone to the Association.

That made Kael uneasy.

Maybe the Association was right. Maybe they had some leverage. Maybe even Asher Vylan had to respect certain walls, certain optics, certain boundaries when other climbers and officials were watching. Maybe the Association branch was one of the few places where a meeting could happen without an immediate murder being the simplest option.

Maybe.

It still did not sit well with him.

Celestine remained in the doorway, watching his face.

Kael forced his expression to loosen.

”Mom,” he said, ”I’m off for some work at the Association. I’ll come back soon.”

”Oh,” she said, worry not leaving her eyes. ”Sure thing, honey. Stay safe.”

”I’ll try.”

He smiled.

He really was going to try.

That was the worst part.

Kael knew he was not a match for Asher Vylan. Not now. Not in the open. Not without preparation, not without more floors, more runes, more growth, and maybe a few more lessons beaten into his bones by the Fist King. He was not going to challenge him. He was not going to throw the first punch. He was not going to let anger decide the timing of a fight he could not win.

But he was also not going to be meek about it.

There was a line between patience and crawling.

Kael had not survived the Tower to crawl.

He left the penthouse after checking the security one last time. The building’s guards nodded as he passed through the lobby, and the sight eased him slightly, though not enough. He went down to the parking level and walked toward the old Mustang.

The 1969 Ford Mustang sat there among newer, smoother, more expensive cars like a stubborn memory with wheels. Its restored body caught the garage light in dull reflections, the shape old but proud. Kael ran one hand lightly over the roof before getting in.

The engine turned over with a growl that felt more honest than most things in his life.

He drove through the city.

Traffic moved in broken waves. Horns sounded. Screens flashed. Pedestrians crossed with the confidence of people who believed crosswalks were magic barriers. Kael barely noticed most of it. His mind kept moving in circles around the same possibilities.

If Vylan knew, why the Association?

If he did not know, why ask for him?

Had someone leaked the CIU suspicion? Had the record made him visible? Was this about the ring? The money? The sudden property purchase? The man had resources enough to know almost anything if he cared to ask.

Kael’s grip tightened slightly on the steering wheel.

The Mustang rolled forward through another light.

By the time he realized how far he had gone, the Association building was already ahead of him.

He parked nearby and stepped out.

Before he even reached the main entrance, Lloyd appeared from inside the building almost at a run.

His face was pale.

”Why did you come?” Lloyd hissed the moment he got close. ”That was meant for you to make an excuse and not show up.”

Kael looked at him.

Despite everything, he almost smiled.

”Don’t worry, man. Also, thanks.”

”This is not a don’t worry situation.”

”I know. But this had to happen.”

”No, it very much did not.”

Kael glanced toward the building entrance. ”Did you guys tell him anything about me?”

Lloyd blinked. ”Like what?”

”Where I lived. Where I worked. Anything personal.”

”No,” Lloyd said immediately. ”He is not a person who is interested in that.”

Kael frowned. ”Then why did he call for me?”

Lloyd hesitated.

Then said, ”You broke his record.”

The answer struck Kael in a way no threat could have.

For a moment, the noise of the street thinned.

Of course.

Asher did not care who Kael was.

He did not care about the construction site, not unless someone forced the matter into his hand. He was not interested in the man he had thrown into the Hudson. He was not interested in the worker who had nearly died because he happened to be present when Annie Bers was murdered.

He only cared now because Kael had become something visible.

A number.

A broken record.

A rookie physical output that had surpassed his own.

That was what had brought Asher Vylan here.

Not guilt.

Not caution.

Pride.

Kael’s expression settled into something calm.

”Right,” he said.

Lloyd looked past him and stiffened.

Kael did not need to turn to know.

The man himself walked out of the Association building.

Golden hair. Blue eyes. A beige suit tailored so perfectly it looked less worn than presented. Asher Vylan moved with an effortless confidence that made the lobby behind him feel like a stage. People noticed him immediately. Staff straightened. Climbers looked over. Even those who disliked him, or feared him, gave him the attention powerful people attracted simply by existing.

He smiled when he saw Kael.

”You must be the man named Kael,” Asher said.

He extended a hand.

Kael stared at him for a fraction of a second too long.

Wait.

This motherfucker doesn’t even recognize me?

That realization was almost funny.

Almost.

”Yes,” Kael said, taking the offered hand. ”Asher. I’ve heard many things about you.”

”Hopefully all good things,” Asher said with a bright smile.

”Yeah,” Kael replied. ”All good things.”

They shook hands.

For one short moment, Kael imagined it.

Crushing the hand.

Summoning his gauntlet.

Driving the full force of his body, runes, internal energy, and every ugly lesson from the Fist King straight into Asher Vylan’s smiling face.

The image came cleanly.

Tempting.

Then reality settled over it.

It would not work.

Asher was smiling, but he was not relaxed. Not truly. His eyes were warm in the way cameras liked, but beneath that warmth was an alertness Kael recognized with depressing clarity. Asher watched every twitch of Kael’s body. His shoulders, his stance, the angle of his wrist, the tension in his fingers. He was not seeing a person first. He was seeing muscles, balance, leverage, threat.

The Fist King did that.

During sparring, the old monster saw the body before the man. Every shift became a confession. Every breath became a warning. Every wrong tension became punishment.

Asher Vylan was not the Fist King.

But the habit was close enough to make Kael sober.

Kael released the handshake.

”Any reason for calling me?” he asked.

Asher’s smile did not falter. ”I saw you broke my rookie record and got interested. So I am here personally to invite you to our guild, America’s Shield.”

A few nearby staff pretended not to listen.

Lloyd looked like he wanted to be anywhere else.

”I’m quite honored,” Kael lied. ”But I’m not at the level of joining. Also, I’m not thinking of continuing to climb more.”

Asher tilted his head slightly. ”Why not? You cannot be telling me that just that spare change was enough to change your life around.” His smile sharpened with encouragement that did not reach his eyes. ”You’re a climber. You have it in you.”

Kael shrugged. ”It’s just that. I was a nobody, got lucky in the Tower, found something worth selling, and now I have enough money. I don’t need to risk my life anymore.”

”Ah.”

The sound was soft.

The change in Asher’s eyes was not.

Expectation drained out of them first. Interest followed. What remained was cold and ruthless, the same gaze Kael remembered from that night. The eyes that had looked at him as if he were nothing more than a gnat on the wall. Not an enemy. Not a witness. Not even a victim.

A lesser thing occupying space.

Good.

That was good.

Disappointment meant Asher had already begun lowering the value of him.

The less he mattered, the longer he lived.

Asher’s smile returned a moment later, polished and empty. ”Then if you change your mind, speak with any member of the Association. They will inform us, and we will take you in. We have excellent conditions. The best in the country, if not the world.”

”I’ll look positively into that,” Kael said. ”If the time comes when I need to climb, I’ll inform you.”

”Good.”

Asher glanced once at Lloyd, then back at Kael.

”I have some matters to tend to, so have a good day. Kael. Lloyd.”

He walked past them.

Just like that.

No threat. No hidden whisper. No hand on the shoulder. No smiling promise of death.

He moved outside the building as if the entire trip had been a waste of his time.

Kael watched him go.

Only when Asher had crossed the street and entered a waiting car did Kael let his shoulders ease by a fraction.

Then he looked at Lloyd.

”You have a way to expunge someone’s past?”

Lloyd frowned. ”What do you mean?”

”I worked in the building where the murder happened, remember?”

”Yes.”

”If he does research, he’ll definitely find out who I was.”

Lloyd shook his head. ”We already did that. With the full power of the Association. All we got was that a Kael worked in that building. No Kael Ardent.”

Kael stared at him. ”What does that mean?”

”You were working illegally, were you not?”

Kael said nothing.

Lloyd’s expression softened slightly, but he did not push.

”The only place that allowed me to work without needing formal papers was that place,” Kael said after a moment. ”But how did the police know to look for me?”

”You were camera-tracked after coming out of the river,” Lloyd said. ”They followed footage until you went back home.”

”He can do the same, then.”

”No.”

Kael’s eyes narrowed.

Lloyd lowered his voice. ”Once it was identified that Asher was involved, all footage of that night was destroyed.”

Kael became very still.

”He won’t know unless someone tells him,” Lloyd continued. ”And if someone tells him, that means someone knows he killed that reporter. Which means the person who said it will also die.”

Kael looked toward the road where Asher’s car had disappeared.

”Damn,” he muttered. ”This feels hella loose.”

”It is,” Lloyd said. ”It will not hold forever. Especially if you start making large waves. For now, grow stronger, and grow quietly. If more people start looking into your past, it will only get more cumbersome for you.”

Kael rubbed a hand over his jaw.

Back in the Tower of the Dead, he had climbed as Anonymous.

No name. No face. No records. The system had hidden him by default, or perhaps the Tower simply did not care for ordinary identities. There, his growth belonged to him alone.

Here, one punch had exposed him.

A physical output record. A leaderboard. A number attached to his real name. He had not thought enough about how visibility worked outside the Tower. On Earth, strength did not just protect. It advertised.

”Any way to scrub my name from that punching bag?” Kael asked.

”We can hide it,” Lloyd said. ”But a lot of people already know.”

”Yeah,” Kael said. ”It’ll look even more suspicious if it suddenly disappears. More people will look.”

”That is likely.”

Kael exhaled slowly.

Fine.

There was no going backward.

He had money now. A home. His mother awake and protected. Three Torches of Vanitas. A month of training behind him and less than forty-eight hours before the Tower took him back. Asher had seen him and dismissed him. That dismissal was useful, but temporary.

All he could do was make use of the time.

”Fine,” Kael said. ”All I can do is grow then.”

Lloyd looked at him for a long moment.

There was no corporate smile now. No polite Association mask. Just a man standing beside someone who had accidentally stepped into the shadow of a national hero and found a monster there.

”I wish you the best of luck with that, Kael,” Lloyd said. ”I really do.”

Kael nodded.

”Thanks.”

He looked once more at the Association doors, then at the street where Asher Vylan had vanished.

His brow twitched.

All is good.

All is well.

He turned away before the anger could become visible.

For now, he had to be small.

Quiet.

Forgettable.

For now.