Novels by Chiko ilwa

The ruins of Villa Valdieri still bled black smoke that coiled beneath the pale moonlight. The stench of shattered concrete and lingering ozone stung the air, but to Leo Valdieri, it was the scent of a costly victory. He stood at the edge of the missile crater, staring out toward the dark stretch of the Mediterranean. His dust-stained black suit hung on him like the robe of an emperor who had just passed through purifying fire.“Don, the ten remaining delegates have been secured at the underground base in the Southern Sector,” Silas Vane reported, stepping over fallen marble pillars. “They’re terrified. Some of them are already offering more assets just to avoid being sent back home.”Leo did not turn. His fingers traced the rough surface of his silver-headed cane. “Fear is a strong foundation, Silas, but it is not enough to win a war against the Hegemony. What is the status of our armored units?”“Combat ready. Pico has already moved the command center to the Kilo-class submarine we

The sky above Rome was no longer pitch black. It had turned into a palette of death in orange and red. The droning of thousands of Hegemony bomber drones sounded like a swarm of giant bees descending to sting the earth. In the courtyard of Villa Valdieri, manual air raid sirens wailed, shattering the silence of the hill that had just witnessed the birth of the Crimson Syndicate.“Don! They’ve crossed the coastline! Speed Mach 0.8!” Silas’s voice thundered through the chaos of the hall. “Our anti-air team needs thirty seconds to synchronize the analog radar!”“Thirty seconds is too long to die, Silas!” Leo Valdieri shot back with terrifying calm. He stood rigid before the massive window, watching the growing points of light on the horizon. “Get all the delegates to Bunker Alpha. If even one of them gets scratched, our war capital is gone.”“Bastard! You trapped us here to be bombed!” Baron Von Hess shouted, trying to sprint toward the locked main door.Leo spun with lightning speed, gr

A month had passed since the skies over Rome were split by the pillar of light from The Circle’s cleansing satellite. The massive crater on Quirinal Hill had hardened into a monument of concrete and soot, an open wound in the heart of the Eternal City that reminded everyone their digital gods could bleed and die. Rome was no longer filled with the hum of surveillance drones, but with the pounding of hammers and the shouts of workers rebuilding civilization from analog ruins.On the outskirts of the city, atop a hill overlooking the devastation, stood an ancient villa that had been fully restored. It was now surrounded by high walls of bulletproof composite and guarded by men in black suits without insignia, their gazes sharper than any Lidar sensor.Inside the spacious master chamber, Leo Valdieri stood before a floor-to-ceiling mirror. He no longer looked like the gaunt addict who had crawled out of a body bag. A brutal physical training regimen and a tightly controlled nutritional p

The sky over Rome burned red, not with the promise of dawn, but with the reflection of flames devouring The Circle’s office towers in the distance. Absolute darkness, born from the Cenere virus, had turned the Eternal City into a primitive hunting ground. No traffic lights, no phone signals, no watchful eyes of drones. The only law left was the law of iron and nerve.Leo Valdieri charged through rainwater now mixed with dust and debris. Behind him, Silas and Elena followed, their breaths ragged. They reached the base of Quirinal Hill just as the main gate of the research complex exploded, shattered by a mob that had turned a fire truck into a battering ram.“Look at that, Don,” Silas said, pointing at the line of Seraphim Inquisitors attempting to form a manual barricade at the entrance. “Without synaptic connection to the central data core, they’re slow. Confused.”“They’re no longer machine angels, Silas. Just men inside heavy steel shells,” Leo replied, checking the remaining tungs

The stone walls of the underground tunnel trembled as the echo of the ammonia explosion from Pietro’s shop rippled through the ancient foundations of Trastevere. The air in the narrow passage felt thick, heavy with the scent of damp earth and decaying history. Leo Valdieri led the way, his steps now in rhythm with the steady heartbeat of Leo Ravelli’s body, as if the two entities sharing it had reached a truce for a single purpose, the destruction of their enemies."How much farther, Pietro?" Leo asked without turning. His hand remained wrapped around The Black Mamba, fingers ready on the trigger."Just ahead, Don," Pietro panted, clutching his chest as his breathing grew labored. "There is a spiral staircase leading behind the altar of Santa Maria Church. This passage has not been used since the German occupation.""Leo, I have access to Quirinal’s cameras!" Elena exclaimed, staring at her tablet glowing sharply blue in the darkness. "Sofia is in the sterilization chamber. She handed

The low rumble of the old barge’s diesel engine blended with the sluggish current of the murky Tiber River. In the distance, the silhouette of St. Peter’s Basilica rose proudly against the night sky of Rome, no longer adorned with stars, but instead woven with a web of surveillance lights from The Circle’s patrol drones. Rome, the Eternal City, now looked like a patient on an operating table, its heart controlled by optic cables.Vittorio Valdieri stood at the bow, letting the cold wind cut through Leo Ravelli’s body. He wore a new black suit sent by Vincenzo from Sicily, tailored with bulletproof aramid fibers while still maintaining a classic Italian cut."Fifty years, Silas," Leo murmured without turning. "I left this city when people still believed in prayers and bullets. Now they worship satellite signals."Silas Vane stepped closer, checking the locking mechanism on a sniper rifle hidden beneath sacks of grain. "The world has gone mad, Don. But the ground beneath our feet is sti

Darin didn’t waste time. The moment he spotted the man’s silhouette waiting at the end of the street, he veered off. Not out of cowardice, but calculation. He slipped into a narrow alley barely wide enough for two people, where the stench of garbage hung thick in the air, a detail lost to the urgency pressing in on him.He lowered his stance, keeping Rian’s body steady in his arms. The boy was still unconscious, fragile, light as cotton.“Wake up…” Darin whispered, barely audible.No response. The System remained silent, even as the pressure in his head grew more insistent. He knew the weight he carried did not come from physical injury, but from the fact that something abnormal was hunting him. There were no footsteps behind him, and that silence only sharpened every alarm in his nerves.Darin quickened his pace, cutting sharply through the alley and leaping over puddles to save time. When he emerged into a wider passage, he was forced to stop short.A dead end. A tall concrete wall

Darin did not attack. The step he had just taken stopped halfway between him and the man. Not a retreat, not a full advance, but enough to show he would not act recklessly.The man watched him, a slight change flickering in his eyes. “Your first decision that wasn’t impulsive,” he said quietly.Darin ignored the comment. His gaze returned to the capsule. Rian still did not move. His breathing was steady, but too calm for a ten-year-old who had just been taken.“He’s sedated,” Darin said. It was not a question.The man gave a small nod. “Stabilized.”Darin shifted his position slightly, maintaining a safe distance between himself and the man, while staying within reach of the capsule.“If this is protection,” he said flatly, “explain it now.”The man fell silent for a few seconds, as if weighing something. Then he stepped forward until he stood beside Darin. Not threatening, simply there.“That child,” he said quietly, “should not have survived this long.”Darin did not fully understan

Darin did not speak. He had no intention of wasting time. The moment the man finished his sentence, Darin moved. His target was clear, the capsule. Not the man before him, not the room. Only Rian.His body shot across the metal floor. The distance between them was only a few meters, yet it felt like a barrier that had to be broken before everything became too late.The man did not block him directly. He simply shifted one step to the side, and in that instant, the world around Darin changed. Not physically, but the space suddenly felt heavy.Darin’s movement slowed for a fraction of a second, just enough to disrupt his rhythm and make the remaining distance no longer easy to cross. But he did not stop. He forced his body forward, ignoring the pressure bearing down on him. His eyes remained locked on the capsule.Three steps left. Two—Suddenly, something appeared between them.Not a person, not a solid object. It resembled compressed air, forced into a dense distortion.Darin slammed

Darin did not break into a run.He chose to walk instead, his steps measured and steady. But the calm was only a mask. Behind his expressionless face, he was exerting every ounce of control to keep himself from exploding.The thin line still glowed at the edge of his vision. At times it faded when his focus wavered, only to sharpen again each time he steadied his breathing and slowed his heartbeat. The thread of energy felt alive, pulsing as if urging him to follow.Darin continued the pursuit. He moved through narrow, suffocating alleyways, cut across silent side streets, then turned again. The landscape of the night city began to mutate. The farther he left the city center behind, the fewer streetlights remained. Old buildings stood packed together like sleeping giants, some hollowed out with shattered windows, others occupied only by dark, lingering shadows.There were no people, no voices. Only the sound of Darin’s footsteps striking cold asphalt, and the unwavering compass fixed

Silence descended in an instant.Only seconds after everything vanished, Darin remained frozen. He did not rise right away. His body was still locked in an awkward fallen position. One knee pressed against the hard asphalt, while one trembling hand braced his weight to keep him from collapsing completely.The world suddenly felt too real again.The faint electrical hum of the streetlights rang painfully in his ears. A thin gust of wind brushed the back of his neck, carrying the scent of dust and cold asphalt. Somewhere in the distance, at the edge of the city, the faint sound of car horns reminded him that normal life continued, a stark contrast to the madness he had just endured.Darin drew a long breath, trying to fill his constricted lungs. The pain in his chest had not faded. The impact from earlier still pulsed deep within him, a fractured sensation spreading along his ribs. But it was not the physical pain that truly disturbed him.There was a hollow space suddenly yawning open.

Darin looked ahead, the road in front of him appeared normal. Cracked asphalt, a flickering streetlight, but the space in the middle felt wrong. Like an image slightly out of alignment.The system pulsed faintly.[Anomaly increasing.]Darin took one step forward, then another. With each step, the pressure in his chest grew heavier, as if he were walking through something invisible. His eyes narrowed. He raised his hand, touching the empty air in front of him. There was resistance. Thin. Like touching the surface of perfectly still water.Darin did not hesitate. He pushed, the layer rippled and in an instant, reality cracked.CRACK!The sound was not heard by the ears, but felt inside the mind, the scene in front of him shifted.The empty street vanished, replaced by the same space but different. Dimmer. Colder. As if the color had been drained from the world.Darin stood still not surprised. Only observing.Three figures and one small body. Rian.The boy hung limp over a man’s should