Location: World Trade Union Headquarters – Intermundis City, Neutral State of AreganThe skies above Intermundis were overcast, as if anticipating the diplomatic storm about to erupt within the world’s largest glass structure. The World Trade Union Headquarters stood tall like a transparent crown. Inside, delegates from thirty nations sat in a semicircle in the Grand Accord Chamber.President Aldren sat at the center table, illuminated by warm spotlights from the ceiling. His face looked weary, the lines on his forehead etched deeper than before. Beside him, two senior officials whispered quietly, though their hands trembled.The main screen ahead of them displayed live footage: Viridian military aircraft hovering over the Eastern border, drone strikes targeting foreign-owned corporate facilities suspected of ties to the Trade Minister’s underground network.“This is unacceptable,” the Prime Minister of Erovia declared sharply. “You attacked our corporate territories, destroyed intern

Location: Anderson Estate – Private Study RoomRain tapped against the wide glass windows of the Anderson Estate. Inside the private study, Thomas Anderson sat with a decanter of bourbon in one hand, his other trembling slightly as he scrolled through a list of news alerts on his tablet.Missing.Vanished.Presumed dead.Three powerful names were already gone.Kieran Voss, weapons contractor from the Ironring District.Helena Frein, former executive at Helix Mining.Jareth Kren, crypto magnate of the Southern Delta.Each had vanished in the last 72 hours. No messages. No trails. No bodies.Only silence. And red.Thomas tossed the tablet onto the desk as the door creaked open. Henry stepped in, trench coat soaked, tie half loosened. His face held concern, but no fear—not yet."You summoned me, Mr. Anderson?"Thomas poured another glass, offered it without looking up. "I did. Sit. We need to talk."Henry took the glass. "About the disappearances?"Thomas nodded slowly. "You remember tha

Blood pooled beneath a shattered console. The air tasted of ozone, burning metal, and dust. Dann Riddect moved like smoke—silent, lethal—blending with the shadows. His black gloves were stained with others’ sins.Two guards attempted to flank him via the hallway. They didn’t get a second breath. A silenced shot. A blade to the throat. Silence reclaimed the room. No alarms. No screams.Only the storm raging outside and the soft hum of power in the walls.Dann approached a steel-reinforced vault with a retinal lock. Security-grade scanners beeped. He didn’t need codes.“Vault cam’s live,” Maximus reported through the comm link. “Security grid’s in a loop. Ninety seconds.”Dann extracted a small sphere from his tactical belt, pressed it to the scanner. There was a flash.Click.The vault door swung open.Inside: drives, documents, ledgers—and the Phoenix Accord’s offshore routing map. Every account. Every shipment. Every name.Dann found the black folder marked TIER OMEGA: Strategic Part

“Yes.”She closed her eyes. “Then I should hate you.”“I know.”A long silence.Dann stepped closer. “He sold children for capital, Eva. Sold soldiers. He sold me.”“You could’ve exposed him,” she said. “But you chose to erase him.”Dann’s voice was gravel. “Some men aren’t meant to be judged. Just… ended.”She finally looked at him. “Then what are you, Dann? Still a soldier? Or just another executioner?”He didn’t answer.She stepped forward, pressed a hand against his chest.“I loved the man who came home covered in mud, not blood. If you bury that man… I don’t know who’s left to save.”Dann gently took her hand, but his grip was cold. Distant.“I buried him the day your father signed the order.”Location: War Mansion – Private QuartersDelora and Maximus stood in the corridor outside Dann’s chamber, voices hushed.“We pull the override?” Delora asked.Maximus hesitated.“He’s planning to take Site Omega alone. No backup. No evac.”“That’s suicide.”“No. That’s a man who’s ready to

Location: War Mansion – Observation Deck – 2:15 P.M.Dann stood alone under the roaring sky. Lightning crackled over distant hills.Maximus joined him. “You feel it?”Dann nodded once. “It’s here. And it thinks it’s me.”Delora’s voice came through the earpiece. “Dann, the AI has reached full mimicry. If you engage it physically, it will predict you. Every move. Every dodge. Every attack.”Dann’s jaw clenched.“Then I do something I’ve never done before.”He turned, eyes dark as the storm.“I improvise.”The skies split open.From the clouds descended the Requiem Host—an autonomous assault drone bearing a humanoid form. It looked eerily familiar.It moved like Dann.Watched like him.It even spoke in his voice.“You are obsolete. Your purpose ends now.”Dann approached the clearing. Unarmed. Unmasked.“You’re just an echo,” he said. “And echoes fade.”He raised his hand.A hidden signal pulsed from his gauntlet.In the hills, war machines stirred. Loyalists to the fallen battalion eme