The Path of Power (The Emperor Trials)

Chapter 74: Echoes of Silence

When Tolu, Tope, and Tayo—the Triad—hadn't heard from the five Sage-level assassins they dispatched to Philip's residence, an unease began to settle in their bones. First, they waited. Then they called in favors. Then they traced the mana residue.

Nothing.

The five had simply vanished.

No distress flare. No spiritual backlash. No trace of battle. No return.

The three brothers sat around a long obsidian table in their underground meeting chamber—deep beneath a warehouse in Apapa Port, shielded by runes older than Nigeria itself. The air buzzed with low mana hums, the scent of aged incense lacing the stillness.

"This is bad," Tope the eldest and most cautious, muttered, tapping his fingers against a floating screen. "Five Sages gone. No signal. No feedback. Either we walked into a trap, or... we underestimated him."

They ran Philip Egboluche's name through the awakened networks. Again. Nothing before his company's sudden meteoric rise three years ago. No clan affiliations. No background. Just a face and a name that appeared out of nowhere.

"He's either someone's hidden piece," Tayo said, his voice low, "or… something else entirely."

The unknown frightened them more than strength.

Still, the biotech company they were after—the one producing cutting-edge mana-infused medicines—was too valuable to abandon. Philip's 30% stake was a key to control. If they backed off now, it would make them look weak.

So they made a bold move.

They sent ten Sage-ranked assassins this time. All loyal. All brutal. Each one skilled in different schools of mana combat—poison, stealth, flame, spirit-breakers. They didn't expect all of them to return.

But they needed answers.

And just in case... they reached out to one of their silent backers.

A Grandmaster-rank observer—Codename: Lantern—was stationed nearby. Hidden in spirit-form, cloaked by a Nameless Veil technique, he would watch, analyze, and report back. As the assassins departed under the cover of night, the Triad watched the operation from their surveillance chamber.

A map shimmered before them—tracking lines trailing toward Philip's mansion in Ikeja

"Let's see who you really are, Mr. Egboluche," Tolu muttered.

Tope nodded grimly. "If he falls, we take it all. If not... we call in the Coil."

As the screen zoomed in on the SUV approaching Philip's residence, the air in the room tensed.

Because this time, someone would come back.

Or everything would burn.