Reincarnated as Duke’s Heir
Copyright© 2025 by TheSmartOne
Chapter 12: Shadows
The moon was high. The wind was still.
The night had settled over the Ignis estate like a gentle embrace. A false peace. A cruel illusion.
Then—
The silence broke.
Not with screams. Not with war horns.
But with shadows.
A ripple. A shift. A disturbance so subtle it barely seemed real.
And then—
Nothing.
The guards on the walls froze mid-step.
Their bodies stiffened.
Then, one by one—they crumpled.
No sound. No warning. Just life, snuffed out as if it had never existed.
In the halls, a maid turned a corner, a candle in her hands. The flame flickered—
And so did she.
Her body flickered out of existence.
The shadows had claimed her.
A child, no older than eight, ran toward his mother’s room. His little feet pounded against the wooden floor.
He never made it.
A dark hand reached from the walls. Pulled him in.
No scream. No struggle.
Just a breath.
And then ... nothing.
The massacre had begun
The Ignis Estate did not fall in a blaze of battle.
It drowned in silence.
Not a single scream was heard.
Only shadows.
They slipped through the cracks of the world, swallowing light, air, and life itself.
The Noctis had arrived.
And the massacre continue.
Once feared as the Abyssal Hunters, the Noctis family were assassins without equal.
Their blades did not gleam; they did not reflect light—for they were made of pure void.
And their victims?
Did not even know they had died.
A guard patrolling the front gates blinked.
Then—
His vision split.
A thin, clean line ran across his throat.
His body remained standing, his soul struggling to understand—
Then his head slid off.
The wind did not carry the scent of blood.
For the moment his body fell, the shadows consumed it.
No sound. No trace. No mercy.
Another guard raised his spear. “INTRU—”
A black hand tore through his chest.
The spear clattered.
His body collapsed.
By the time anyone sensed something was wrong—
Half of the estate was already dead.
The Ignis Household ... was being erased.
And leading this massacre—
A figure wrapped in the abyss itself.
His mere presence devoured the light around him.
His aura stretched into the night, twisting the stars in the sky.
He was Velran Noctis, Duke of the Abyss.
And tonight, he would personally bury the Ignis bloodline.
Velran stepped onto the Ignis courtyard, his black cloak fluttering.
The remaining knights of Ignis gathered before him, torches in hand, faces filled with defiance.
Veldran didn’t waste time.
He raised a single gloved hand.
And clenched his fist.
The night around them ... collapsed.
[Saint Domain: Abyssal Night – The Womb of Shadows]
The world changed.
The air cooled. The torches flickered ... then vanished.
No—the light had not been extinguished.
It had been devoured.
Velran’s Domain had descended.
And the laws of reality ... shifted.
Light cannot exist.
Flames cannot burn.
Sound cannot travel.
Only Shadows exist.
And most terrifying of all—
All shadows were his to command.
A knight screamed—
The darkness beneath his feet coiled up like a snake.
It dragged him down.
His body sank into the abyss, his hands clawing for air.
Then—
He was gone.
Another knight swung his sword—his shadow leaped up and wrapped around his throat.
He suffocated on his own darkness.
Velran Noctis walked forward, eyes cold.
“This is not war,” he murmured.
“This is execution.”
He raised his hand—a tidal wave of shadows rose with it.
But then—
A spark.
A single ember.
A faint glow in the abyss.
The darkness trembled.
Velran frowned.
Then—
The world caught fire.
The Ignis Estate, which had been swallowed in eternal night—
Exploded into purple fire.
The Abyss itself screamed.
Velran Noctis took a step back.
His domain still active.
Then a voice echoed through the flames—
Deep. Calm. Absolute.
“What do you think you are doing Veldran?”
The purple inferno parted.
And from within—
A man stepped forward.
His hair was a deep crimson, but his eyes burned like galaxies—a radiant purple, sparking with lightning.
He was Noah Ignis.
The Infernal Tyrant. The Duke Of Ashes.
And around him, the air cracked, twisted, and burned against time itself.
Because he too ... was a Saint.
And his Domain was no mere flame.
It was divine destruction.
And He also, didn’t waste time.
[Saint Domain: Temporal Hellfire – The Unforgiven Pyre]
The rules of reality ... shifted once more.
And Velran Noctis felt it.
All things that entered this fire...
Would not just burn.
They would be erased.