The words refused to register.She’s in a coma.For several seconds…Ethan simply stared at the doctor.“…A coma?”The doctor gave a slow nod.“Yes.”Linda spoke first.“…How severe?”The doctor glanced at the medical chart in his hands.“The impact caused significant traumatic brain injury. We relieved the pressure and controlled the bleeding, but her brain suffered considerable shock.”He paused before continuing.“Right now, her body is stable.”“But…”“We don’t know when she’ll wake up.”Ethan’s jaw tightened.“…Days?”The doctor sighed.“I can’t promise that.”“Weeks?”“I can’t promise that either.”“Months?”The doctor’s silence was answer enough.Linda lowered her eyes.“…Is there permanent damage?”“We won’t know until she regains consciousness.”“If she regains consciousness.”Those words struck harder than anything before.Ethan’s eyes darkened.“What do you mean ‘if’?”The doctor met his gaze calmly.“Some patients recover.”“Some don’t.”“It depends on how her brain respon

The static became deafening.A violent screech tore through the speaker.Then—Silence.“…Harry?”Ethan pressed the phone closer to his ear.Nothing.He immediately replayed the recording.Again.Static.Harry’s voice.Then—“…Don’t trust the Watson family…”Another burst of interference.Ethan frowned.“No…”He rewound the recording.This time…he listened differently.Not to the words.To the silence.His expression slowly changed.“…Damien.”“I’m here.”“Listen carefully.”He held the phone toward the microphone.The recording played once more.When it reached the interference—“Stop.”Damien remained quiet for several seconds.Then…“…Boss.”“You heard it too.”“Yes.”“That wasn’t interference.”Ethan nodded slowly.“It was covered.”Someone had intentionally buried part of Harry’s message beneath artificial noise.Not to destroy it.To hide it.Damien spoke again.“I can isolate the frequencies.”“How long?”“An hour.”“You have thirty minutes.”“…Understood.”The call ended.Eth

The intensive care unit was silent.Only the rhythmic beeping of the cardiac monitor disturbed the stillness.Beep…Beep…Beep…Ethan stood beside Elsa’s bed one last time.She hadn’t moved.The bandage around her forehead remained spotless, and the ventilator breathed with calm, mechanical precision.A nurse quietly adjusted one of the IV bags before leaving the room again.Ethan looked at Elsa for several long seconds.“…Don’t die.”His voice was almost too soft to hear.“You still owe me a hundred arguments.”A faint smile crossed his face.“And at least fifty apologies.”Nothing.Only the machines answered.He gently pulled the blanket higher over her shoulders.Then turned toward the door.Before leaving, he stopped without looking back.“…I’ll find whoever did this.”The door clicked shut behind him.⸻Outside the hospital…The rain had finally stopped.Clouds drifted slowly across the moon.Ethan walked toward the parking lot.His phone was already in his hand.One encrypted co

By the time Ethan returned to the hospital, dawn had already begun to brighten the eastern horizon. The city was slowly waking, but the corridors of the intensive care unit remained unnaturally quiet. Linda had dozed off in one of the waiting room chairs, her head resting against the wall, while Damien sat across from her, still studying surveillance footage on a tablet.Ethan had barely stepped inside when his secure phone vibrated.The caller ID displayed only one name.Nadia.He answered immediately.“Report.”Nadia didn’t waste time with greetings.“I found something.”Ethan stopped walking.“What?”“There was no mention of it in Storm family records.”She sounded unusually tense.“It wasn’t listed under any inheritance documents, military archives, tax reports, or property registries.”Ethan frowned.“Then where did you find it?”“It wasn’t in a government database.”A brief pause followed.“It was buried inside an abandoned insurance company’s offline archive.”Ethan remained si

“You chose your words carefully.”“I always do.”“You didn’t say you joined us.”Malikar’s expression remained unreadable.“I said…”“…you have your alliance.”Nothing more.Nothing less.Adrian laughed quietly.“So you still intend to play your own game.”“I intend to survive.”“And revenge?”For the first time, something dangerous flickered behind Malikar’s eyes.“That has never changed.”⸻Three days later…News spread through the hidden world with astonishing speed.Not through newspapers.Not through television.But through whispered conversations held beneath abandoned subway stations, inside forgotten churches, and within underground markets where humans unknowingly walked past creatures that had lived among them for generations.Only four words were repeated everywhere.“The Blackwater Alchemist returned.”Some dismissed it as another rumor.Others became frightened.Many simply refused to believe it.Inside an underground gambling hall disguised as a jazz club, several demons