At that moment, the man standing before the Circle bowed his head once again, deeper this time. His right fist pressed lightly against his chest in a respectful gesture a sign of absolute loyalty.“There is no problem,” he said, voice filled with sincerity and quiet fire burning within. “I am deeply honored.”He lifted his head slowly, eyes filled with something more than ambition conviction.“I will do my best,” he continued, “to uphold the name of the Circle. To protect its reputation. To make sure it continues to rise far beyond where it is now.”He stood firm, grounded.“Even with the little I know… I will give everything. And I will make sure the Circle grows stronger more feared, more respected than it has ever been.”At that moment silence followed, not of doubt but of satisfaction.The heads at the table exchanged brief glances. Without a word, the leader of the Circle lifted his hand and gently swiped it through the air.At once, two messengers who had been standing at the ed

At that moment, the three heads of the Circle stared at one another in silence. Their expressions were tense, unreadable each of them knowing what giving this last vial meant. There was no debate. No long discussion. Just the silent weight of a decision that none of them wanted to make but knew they had to.Finally, the head of the Circle let out a slow breath. His hand moved toward the thick, reinforced drawer built into the table in front of him. The room held still as he unlocked it with a flick of his wrist. A faint click echoed into the air.From the drawer, he slowly pulled out a small box smaller than the first and placed it gently on the surface.He opened it carefully, revealing the final vial.It was darker than the others.The liquid inside didn’t glow like the rest. It pulsed like a heartbeat trapped in a bottle. A living force. Black with shifting shades of red and deep violet, it looked like liquid shadow itself.The head of the Circle looked up, his eyes hard, face grav

At that moment, as Elvis stood before the elders of the Circle, a flicker of another name passed through his mind—Serenity.Her face, her voice, the way she used to speak to him like he was beneath her. Like he was just another nameless, powerless man in the world. The way she laughed behind his back, thinking he would never become anything of value.She will see.At that moment Elvis’s eyes narrowed slightly, the corner of his lips curving into a slow, calculating smirk.After I’ve dealt with Damien... after I’ve ended him completely... Serenity will see me again. And she will know. She will know she made the worst mistake of her life by ever looking down on me. By ever choosing to mock what she didn’t understand.She would watch him rise now.She would see him as the force she never imagined.The man even death couldn’t break.Still staring at the Circle’s leaders, Elvis took a breath and spoke with confidence.“I will never disappoint you,” he said clearly, his voice echoing throug

In a flash of instinct, the assassin executed a high-level fast step, blurring out of the punch’s direct path. His body shifted with near-perfect timing, a move refined from years of battle-hardened experience. But even with all his speed and discipline—he wasn’t fast enough.Damien’s fist barely missed its target, but the force behind it was so sharp, so precise, that the edge of the blow scraped across the assassin’s cheek, splitting the skin clean open.A thin line of blood trailed down the side of his face.He froze.His hand slowly moved up to touch the wound. When his fingers came back stained with red, his jaw clenched tightly.It wasn’t just the pain it was the message.Someone laid a hand on him.In all his time serving under the most brutal units in the military, in all the secret missions, in all the ranked challenges he fought through to rise—no one had ever touched him.Not once, and now this?A man he’d been told was nothing but an easy target?His eyes narrowed, the onc

The cool air drifting through the open windows of Serenity’s grandfather’s estate carried the scent of tea and parchment blending the quiet elegance of old tradition with the tension weighing heavily in the room.Inside one of the sitting chambers, Serenity stood near the long glass pane, her arms crossed tightly against her chest. Her jaw was clenched, her eyes distant, but troubled. Across from her sat Master George, her grandfather’s most trusted advisor—an old man with sharp eyes and a calm presence that often said more than his words.Serenity’s voice finally broke the silence.“I don’t know what’s happening anymore,” she said quietly, frustration buried beneath her tone. “Grandfather… he just keeps pushing. Every time we talk, it’s like he’s doing everything possible to make sure I go get Damien.”She turned around slowly, her back now to the window, and looked at Master George with tired eyes.“But it’s not that simple,” she said, her voice rising slightly. “He doesn’t understa