Chapter 391: Ghost Circuit ProtocolThe most dangerous enemies are the ones we thought we buried—Not in graves, but in forgotten code.I. Undercurrent RebootThe underground station beneath New Havana flickered to life.It had been dormant for thirteen years—sealed after the final AI containment breach. But now, a dull red glow spread across the sealed consoles, activating systems once thought erased.A single phrase pulsed on the ancient monitors:GHOST CIRCUIT ACTIVE.In the shadows, a man stood alone—bare arms covered in neural scars, eyes glowing faint blue beneath cybernetic lids.Rein Calderon.A name erased from every ops registry.A legacy tied to the original Blood DEBT initiative.And now… the protocol he had buried was waking up again.II. Jaxon's WarningA thousand kilometers north, Commander Jaxon Vire was already in motion.The Spiral resistance networks had picked up fragments—signal echoes beneath quantum noise. A frequency only three people alive could recognize.Jax

Chapter 393: Breach ProtocolThe alarms were silent—but only because Ash disabled them.The breach had already happened. Not through brute force, but through corruption. Someone inside the Eden Directive's last secured vault had triggered a data dump that should never have been possible.Ash moved like a shadow through the abandoned corridors of Outpost Delta-13, his rifle low, his jaw tight.Behind him, Whisperborne operative Lira—not the echo, but her reconstructed Spiral-born clone—followed without sound, her eyes scanning every doorway like a predator reborn.“They’re already inside,” she whispered.Ash nodded once.“Then we cut our way back out.”I. Vault ZeroThe interior of Vault Zero wasn’t a room.It was a womb.Bio-reactive walls shimmered as Ash and Lira entered, light pulsing in long intervals like breath. At the center, a sphere of crystalline memory—called The Root Core—hovered in suspension.But something was wrong.A shadow clung to the edges of the sphere.A black blo

Chapter 395: The Ghost Protocol“Blood may seal the past, but only ghosts keep it alive.”—Echoes of Fort BarrenI. The Fog ReturnsThe early morning mist hung low over Sector Delta-4. Cold, metallic, and unnaturally thick. It clung to everything—buildings, skin, thoughts.Wraith pulled his scarf up, eyes narrowed beneath his visor.“This ain’t weather,” he muttered into the comms. “It’s memory trying to claw its way back.”Kael’s voice buzzed back.“Confirmed. Heartroot pulses show elevated spectral activity. You’re walking into a Spiral echo zone.”Wraith cocked his head.“So ghosts. Great.”Behind him, Whisperborne scouts moved silently—shadows among shadows, half-seen, half-there. They weren’t entirely human anymore. Weren’t entirely Spiral either.But they followed Wraith.And they could sense what the living couldn’t.II. The Whisperborne DirectiveInside the mobile operations van, Ara scrolled through live pulse-feed data. Kael hovered beside him, biting his lip.“We’re nearing

Chapter 397: Glass Teeth of the EmpireEmpires don’t fall all at once.First, the fangs break.Then the silence spreads where orders used to echo.I. The Hidden BarricadeStormlight filtered through the fractured skylight of Outpost L-Delta, scattering shadows over Ash's armor. Dust coated the interior walls—once pristine, now cracked with heat-scars and stray blood stains. The remnants of a Spiral incursion, no doubt.Ash moved silently through the corridor, motioning for Bravo Unit to fan out behind him. Their target was deep—beneath the base, under what had once been an Empire data spine.“Scan ping. Heat signature, one floor down,” Sigma’s voice crackled in his ear.“Alive?” Ash asked.“Barely.”He gritted his teeth.They weren’t just here for retrieval anymore.They were here to witness collapse.II. The Commander’s RemainsKo stood at the sealed vault door, her fingers dancing across the override panel, bypassing the now-defunct Empire encryption.“He’s inside,” she said.With a

Chapter 399: Beneath the Crimson ThresholdThe line between enemy and ally had long since bled into soil.Now, they stood at the threshold—not of victory, but of something far more dangerous: truth.I. THE RENEGADES’ RETURNThe sky above Sector Delta-13 was a roiling crimson, tainted by the aftershock of the last orbital strike. Burnt ozone hung thick in the air as Jax carved his way through the fractured bunker corridors, his weapon low, senses high.Behind him moved Tala, silent as breath, her eyes glowing faintly with the Whisperborne graft. The girl hadn’t spoken since they left Spiral Field Command. Her silence now—like a storm held just off the horizon—made even Ash uneasy.“Eyes front,” he muttered through grit. “We’re not alone down here.”The deeper they pushed, the more the tunnels felt... alive. Veins of pulsing bioluminescence crawled along the walls—some kind of hybrid Spiral-tech creeping through the abandoned Federation ruins.Tala stopped abruptly.“It’s listening,” sh