A cold, cruel plan took shape in his mind, one that nonetheless seemed to be the only effective option.
He would use his unrivaled stealth to become the true "Night Haunter," slipping into the nobles' palaces and assassinating them one by one. He would use the most horrifying, brutal methods imaginable, hanging their heads from the spires of the hive city and dangling their intestines from its highest windows, until Nostramo's entire noble class lived in utter terror of being flayed and torn apart by him.
He believed that, if the fear ran deep enough, those bloated parasites would stop committing their crimes simply because they were afraid.
He would use "fear" to establish an entirely new order in this city.
When he told Warren this plan, steeped in slaughter and bloodshed, he had expected his father's approval. This time, after all, the people he intended to kill were indisputably genuine "sinners."
Instead, Warren rebuked him more harshly than ever.
"You damned fool!"
Warren hurled the wooden carving in his hand to the floor. It was the first time he had ever been so furious with Konrad.
"You think that now you've grown up and can stand on your own, you can go back to that old path of slaughter?!" The old man's voice trembled with anger. "I fought so hard to pull you off that road to ruin, not so you could find a more 'distinguished' class of people to kill!"
"But they're criminals! They're the root of it all!" Konrad argued defiantly. "Their crimes outweigh those of all the gangs in the Underhive combined! Unless we kill them, Nostramo will never get better!"
"So you intend to rule them through fear?" Warren sneered. His sightless eyes seemed to blaze with a piercing light that could lay a man's