Novels by Chiko ilwa

The warehouse descended into total chaos. Gunshots still echoed through the air, mingling with showers of sparks. The black cracks hanging in space continued to spread, like wounds being forced open. But Darin's attention was fixed on one thing. A pale hand emerged from within the crack. The hand looked far too human, far too normal. That was exactly what made it so horrifying.The giant creature with empty eyes still stood in the center of the warehouse. Yet now, the armed soldiers glanced toward the crack more often than they fired at the monster. They knew which threat was truly more dangerous."Commander!" one of the men shouted. "The stabilization signal failed! The zone will collapse in ninety seconds!"The man in the coat didn't respond. His gaze remained locked on the crack. For the first time since Darin had met him, genuine tension appeared on his face.Not fear. Something worse. He had anticipated this possibility, and he still didn't like it. The pale hand moved slowly, as

The scream shattered the warehouse's silence. It was sharp, shrill, and impossibly prolonged, unlike the cry of any living creature. The sound was more like metal grinding inside a skull.Rian immediately covered both ears.“What is that?!”The black-eyed creatures that had been lurking in the shadows began moving all at once. Dozens of gaunt figures burst from between the containers at speeds difficult for ordinary eyes to follow. The man in the coat standing at the warehouse entrance showed no sign of panic. He raised one hand and gave an order.“Twenty-meter perimeter. Don't let them get close.”The four people behind him immediately opened fire.BANG! BANG! BANG!Gunshots echoed throughout the warehouse. Two creatures were thrown backward. One of them lost half its head. Yet Darin noticed something strange. The creature with its skull blown apart continued twitching before slowly rising back to its feet. One of the soldiers cursed.“Their regeneration is faster than the reports sa

Darin's consciousness returned slowly.The first thing he felt was cold, followed by intense pain. His body felt as if it had just been struck from every direction. His spine felt heavy, his breaths came short, and a faint ringing echoed inside his head. He opened his eyes. The surroundings were dark, but this was no longer that strange space. This was the old warehouse in the industrial district.He was back.Darin immediately pushed himself up into a half-seated position."Rian?"A small cough sounded nearby.Darin turned quickly. Rian was behind a tilted shipping container a few meters away. The boy was curled up, clutching his head, his face deathly pale. But he was alive.The breath Darin had been unconsciously holding finally escaped. He staggered to his feet and approached the boy."What's wrong with you?"Rian slowly lifted his face, his eyes watery."I... I heard voices.""Voices?"Rian nodded quickly."Like a lot of people whispering... then the darkness shattered."Darin fe

The darkness that swallowed him this time felt absolute.There was no floor beneath his feet, no sky overhead, not even the existence of direction itself. It was as though reality had been violently cut away from existence and discarded into some ancient void.Darin stood frozen for several seconds. The sound of his own breathing felt unnaturally loud, echoing and rebounding like noise inside a silent cavern.He immediately turned around, staring into the emptiness. “Rian?”Nothing.His heartbeat quickened as tension surged sharply through him. “Rian!”The silence remained unmoved.Even the System, which normally operated at the edge of his vision, showed no signs of activity now. No blue interface. No countdown indicators. Only a suffocating silence that felt deeply wrong.Darin slowly rotated his body, narrowing his eyes.This place was not merely an illusionary projection. It was a dimension that felt terrifyingly real. The cold crawling across his skin carried a dense, living prese

Darin’s footsteps no longer made a sound, yet the impact of his presence became increasingly tangible. In a single breath, the distance between them vanished. The first punch shot forward without warning, fast and precise.The man managed to block it, but this time the impact felt different. The strike carried far more weight, driving deep as though the force behind it came from something beyond muscle alone.Darin gave him no opening. A second attack followed instantly, a sharp elbow aimed at the jaw. Though it was deflected, the man’s position shifted half a step. A small movement, but enough to prove that his absolute defense was beginning to falter.The man’s eyes narrowed. He was finally taking the fight seriously.Darin continued pressing forward. His movements were no longer wild or reckless, but refined and efficient. Every strike served a purpose: pushing, forcing, guiding his opponent toward a narrower corner, trapping him between the containers.The man retaliated with incr

Upon arriving at the industrial district, rows of abandoned warehouses stood in silence like the skeletal remains of giants forgotten by civilization. Rusted steel, collapsed fences, and narrow pathways branching without pattern formed a deadly labyrinth. A place like this existed for only two purposes, to hide, or to die without witnesses.Darin chose to go in. His steps slowed, not from hesitation, but from precise calculation. He glanced quickly to the left, spotted a narrow alley between two buildings, and slipped into it. He kept turning, cutting corners, emerging briefly into a small open yard before disappearing again into another passage.He did not move in a straight line. Instead, he maneuvered in loops, making his trail nearly impossible to follow. Even so, one thing remained constant. The pressure behind him never faded. It was too close.Rian stirred faintly in his arms, a soft groan escaping as consciousness slowly returned. Darin lowered his gaze for a moment.“Wake up,

The asphalt of Via del Corso beneath Leo Valdieri's feet felt too smooth, too flawless for a street that should have been decades old. Above them, the ceiling of Sector Zero's massive dome flickered, displaying a simulation of the constellations from 1974 that was beginning to distort under electrical interference. Gunfire and explosions from the café still echoed through the artificial city, bouncing off the facades of fake Roman buildings that were now cracking open to reveal the steel framework beneath."Two more blocks to the Trevi Fountain, Don!" Silas Vane shouted as he unleashed a burst of suppressive fire toward an apartment balcony on the left."Leo, the sensors ahead are detecting an abnormal temperature spike!" Elena Ravelli ran beside her brother, her fingers moving swiftly across the scanning device mounted on her forearm. "The water in that fountain isn't decorative. It's the primary coolant for the steam reactor beneath us!"Leo Valdieri ducked as a heated spike round s

The sky above Pripyat was never truly black. It hung overhead in a dense gray haze that resembled funeral ash. The rain that fell across this region brought no freshness, only traces of heavy metals that clung to the armored windows of the Crimson Syndicate APC. In the distance, the silhouette of the giant rusted Ferris wheel stood like the skeleton of a prehistoric monster, a silent witness to a world whose heartbeat had stopped decades ago. This was Sector Zero. An exclusion zone in Ukraine that had officially been erased from international navigation systems by the remnants of the Hegemony. Here, beneath layers of concrete and radiation, The Sovereign's Shadow had built his final sanctuary.Leo Valdieri sat in the rear seat of the APC, watching the monitor that displayed radiation levels outside the vehicle. His black suit remained immaculate, a stark contrast to the desolation beyond the glass. Leo Ravelli's body now felt so perfectly synchronized with his soul that he could sens

The sky over the Madonie Mountains of Sicily glowed a copper-red, as if the clouds had absorbed the blood of thousands of battles fought across this land over the centuries. A hot wind blew in from Africa, carrying dry dust that clung to the surface of Leo Valdieri's black suit. Ahead of them stood an ancient stone villa, abandoned since 1974. It remained solid and imposing, yet looked like a colossal skull gazing over the valley through its dark, hollow windows.This was L'Origine, the original Valdieri Villa. The place where Vittorio Valdieri had first learned how to hold a knife. And the place where he should have buried every sin of his past."This place smells like stale death, Don," Silas Vane murmured.He stood beside the door of the black armored vehicle, a revolver rifle slung at his hip while an ultrasonic scanner rested in his hand."The sensors show thermal activity beneath the main foundation. Not a nuclear reactor, but coal combustion or steam power. Very primitive, but

The wind sweeping across the Bosphorus Strait howled with a chill edge, carrying the scent of spices mixed with ship fuel and thick night fog. Istanbul stood proudly on the horizon, a city that had silently witnessed the rise and fall of countless empires. The city lights reflected on the rippling water, creating an almost magical scene. Yet to Leo Valdieri, every flicker of light was a sensor that might already be locking onto his position.On the deck of the yacht The Crimson Queen, Leo stood gazing at the Bosphorus Bridge that connected Europe and Asia. His black wool coat billowed behind him, concealing a body that now felt far stronger and more solid than when he had first risen from the grave."Marseille is calm, but Istanbul is restless," Leo said without turning toward Silas, who had just emerged from the main cabin.Silas Vane adjusted the holster hidden beneath his suit jacket."Istanbul is dangerous neutral territory, Don. Since the collapse of the digital world, this city

The sea off the coast of Corsica that night looked like a deadly expanse of liquid obsidian. Beneath its tranquil surface stood a colossal structure known as The Silver Reef. The base was the crowning achievement of the Gilded Hand faction, a masterpiece of underwater architecture built from high-pressure steel and crystalline glass capable of withstanding depths of five hundred meters.Inside the Crimson-Tail mini-submarine, Leo Valdieri sat calmly while inspecting the functionality of his wrist mechanisms. Beside him, Silas Vane was calibrating a rifle loaded with air-burst explosive rounds."Pico, give me a visual of Sector A," Leo ordered flatly.Pico's voice came through the underwater acoustic channel."Visual incoming, Boss. The facility is protected by a Lidar-Net grid. If any object larger than a dolphin approaches, the automated torpedo towers will activate. But I've already infiltrated their navigation protocols through the steam supply network. You have a sixty-second wind

Hot steam seeping from the ceiling of the underground Monte Carlo dock began to form a suffocating blanket of dense fog. The roar of seawater crashing against the concrete structure mingled with the hiss of the Revenant unit's energy weapons. Leo Valdieri stood with his feet planted wide, his gaze locked on Sofia, who now looked like a ghost demanding sacrifice."You look more alive with that scar, Sofia," Leo's voice echoed, calm yet deadly. "But it seems the explosion in Rome wasn't big enough to teach you the meaning of humility."Sofia Valdieri laughed, a dry laugh dripping with venom. She gestured with her index finger, and ten Revenant soldiers immediately formed a semicircle, trapping Leo at the edge of the dock."Humility belongs to the defeated, Uncle," Sofia replied. She raised a high-tech short-barreled rifle. "I didn't come back to apologize. I came back to claim what should belong to pure Valdieri blood. Not to some trash clone possessed by the spirit of old men like you.