The attack didn’t come with guns or bombs. It came quietly, like a virus in the dark. One moment, the world’s financial systems were ticking along, people making transactions, governments paying salaries, families sending money across continents. The next moment, the screens went blank. Banks froze. Stock markets collapsed in real time. Panic spread faster than wildfire.Benjamin stood in the command center, eyes fixed on the endless streams of data pouring in. Numbers didn’t lie. Trillions of dollars were vanishing from circulation, re-routed, erased, or locked behind invisible walls of code. People couldn’t access their savings. Companies couldn’t pay workers. Governments couldn’t stabilize currencies.Emily was right beside him, her presence steady. She leaned close and whispered, “This is them. The shadow council. They couldn’t win with violence, so they’re trying to break trust.”Benjamin nodded. “They want people to believe I can’t protect them. If the world loses faith in me, e

The storm after Elias Korrin’s fall had not fully calmed when Benjamin realized the game had changed.The shadow council wasn’t just sitting in the dark, twiddling their fingers. They were adapting, moving silently, redirecting money, twisting narratives, and pulling strings in places most people didn’t even realize existed.They weren’t soldiers to fight with weapons. They were chess masters, and if Benjamin wanted to win, he had to sit at the same board.Emily walked into his office one late evening, finding him staring at maps and reports pinned across the wall.“Still working?” she asked softly.Benjamin didn’t even look up. “Always.”Emily stepped closer, her hand brushing against his shoulder. “What’s the plan this time?”He exhaled deeply. “No battles. No armies. This time… It’s chess. If I hit them head-on, they’ll hide behind the illusions they’ve built. I need to corner them where they can’t run.”Emily tilted her head. “And how do you plan to do that?”Benjamin finally turn

The city of New Vienna was still healing.Broken glass littered the streets. Burnt-out cars lined the avenues like forgotten relics of chaos. Families swept debris from the steps of their homes, children clung to parents, and small shops reopened with shaky hands and hopeful hearts. The scars of the shadow council’s madness were everywhere, but so too was the proof of survival.And in the middle of that healing stood Benjamin and Emily Moore. They weren’t just leaders anymore. They weren’t just public figures. To the people, they were a symbol. Two people, standing hand in hand, facing everything together.Benjamin never thought his personal life would become part of the world’s story. For so long, he had kept it locked away. Love was a distraction, he used to tell himself. Attachments were weaknesses, things enemies could exploit. But now, after everything, he realized that love wasn’t a weakness. It was a weapon.Not the kind that destroyed, but the kind that endured.Everywhere th

The world looked peaceful on the surface. Cities were rebuilding, trade was flowing again, and families were starting fresh in places that had once been battlegrounds. Benjamin would sometimes walk through the streets of New Vienna, listening to the laughter of children, the chatter of shopkeepers, the music spilling from open windows, and think: We’ve made it.But peace, he was learning, was not just about what you could see.It was about what you could not see.And that was where the problem began.The shadow council was gone. Their schemes had collapsed, their names exposed, their power dismantled. But in the weeks that followed, something strange began to stir. Benjamin’s advisors brought him reports from all over the world, small but disturbing patterns.A mayor in South America suddenly declared that democracy was “too slow” and needed to be replaced with “strong rule.” A respected scientist in Europe is twisting research to say humans were “naturally violent and selfish,” and

Benjamin had faced armies before.He had stood against machines that towered over cities. He had held relics of power in his hands and felt their strength burn through his veins.But now, none of it mattered.The shadow wasn’t something he could blast apart. It wasn’t something he could push back with fire or lightning. Weapons had no effect. Walls had no meaning.Because this was not a war of bodies. It was a war of minds.Benjamin sat at his desk, staring at the reports. Each one told the same story. People whispering strange ideas, neighbors turning on each other, communities breaking apart not because of hunger or violence, but because of words.It was like a sickness of thought. And the shadow fed it, spreading faster than any plague.Emily entered quietly, carrying a folder. She placed it on the table, but didn’t speak. She simply stood there, waiting.Benjamin sighed and rubbed his temples. “It’s everywhere now. Not just Daniel. Others are rising. Each one convinced chaos is