"Seeing you safe pulls a weight off my chest. I've got a few things to take care of, so I'll head out." Sienna knew lingering would expose too much. She offered a casual excuse, turned halfway, and took a step. "Before I go..." She paused, glanced back over her shoulder, and added, "We're friends. Drop by sometime. You're welcome anytime." "I will." Aiden nodded lightly. He took it as basic courtesy. In his mind, hanging around someone's house ranked far below grinding mini-bosses for twice the experience. Sienna's smile unfolded like a blossom. She turned away quickly, leaving only her graceful silhouette behind. A soft breeze brushed past her, tugging at her hair and sending the hem of her dress fluttering. Her fingers, however, trembled faintly. Outwardly calm, inwardly rattled. She had never liked anyone before. Her heart thundered so loudly she felt it in her throat. Aiden paid no mind to the quiet moment and left the square himself. "Uh... what?" The crowd locked onto the two retreating figures as silence swept through the plaza. Every player stood frozen, stunned by what they had just witnessed. Aiden had executed a well-connected youth at the city's most heavily guarded respawn point, then walked away as if it were a casual stroll. No reprimand, no caution, not even a symbolic slap on the wrist. The whole thing felt surreal. People wiped their hands after crushing a mosquito, yet that drew less attention than it did. Any sense of fairness evaporated on the spot. "This is insane. When the enforcer popped out, I thought Nighthale was finally done for. Guess I'm still too green." "Yeah, I get it now. In this game, Legendary Nighthale does whatever he wants. If he decides you're dead, you're dead. I'm running the moment I spot him.""That rich kid went down sad. Didn't even know what hit him." "Man, why poke the tiger? You really chose the wrong guy to mess with." A beat later, the square erupted. Voices crashed into each other, overlapping into chaos. Everyone felt shaken by Aiden's sheer presence. He was a walking disaster; if you crossed him, you would disappear. "Yo, who was the NPC in the red dress? She looked unreal. Straight-up dream-girl tier." "I saw her. That energy was insane. She walked in like the sky answered to her, and the enforcer looked ready to faint. She's got to be important. Welp, there's my dream fuel." "Bro, hot and loaded? If I could marry a queen like that, I'd settle for a mansion and a sports car on the side." "You greedy clown, you want everything. Keep dreaming." Plenty of gazes locked onto Sienna long after she left. Her appearance, posture, and quiet elegance outshone any celebrity with almost no effort. No one could help but stare. The unfairness hit hard. They struggled through quests like hired labor, bowing to NPCs for scraps. Nighthale, on the other hand, had a red-dress goddess showing up solely to help him. How were they supposed to compete with that? They were all players, yet the difference felt cosmic. "Jealous" didn't even scratch the surface. Comparing themselves to him felt like a psychological beating. Being born ordinary felt like a tragedy. ... At the same time, the forums detonated. 'That damage is cracked. A single Fireball blasted past 3,000, while my whole Health bar doesn't even reach 200.' 'At that output, even the top Knight in the global rankings would fold. One hit, lights out.' 'Zero chance of living. Those stats aren't normal. He's got to be stacked with epics.''Forget his equipment—what the hell is that pet? Its basic attack deals 10,000 damage. Who survives that? Even a max-Defense tank gets erased. Honestly? That pet is a mini-boss.' 'For real. We're playing some hardcore souls-like where one misstep kills you. He's playing pay-to-win meme mode where every hit crits 999 damage.' 'Why call him Nighthale? Might as well call him 'Nightmare.' He's not human.' Clips of Aiden tearing through Leafport flooded every corner of the internet, dragging a tidal wave of comments behind them. His fireball shocked people. Gray terrified them. His power felt even more over-the-top than most bosses', and the pressure he exuded was overwhelming. Yet, the real explosion came from something else. He camped the respawn point and executed a well-connected youth five times. This might be the first time in history someone died in real life because another player killed them in-game.The shockwave was enormous. Opinions were divided into two camps. The first camp? The hot-blooded crowd cheered like it was the greatest thing they'd ever seen.