Chapter 22 The smoke still lingered in the air as dawn broke. Rain had turned to mist. The compound was a skeleton of what it had been—burned vehicles, broken walls, shattered weapons scattered like memories of war. Jaxon Lin stood at the edge of it all, silent, shirtless, his wounds freshly stitched. The Dragon did not bleed in vain. He bled because the war was just beginning. Behind him, the others gathered in the makeshift transport van. Mira was rebandaging her arm, wincing but alive. Lillian sat close to her sister Ava, who was now wrapped in an oversized coat, her eyes vacant and glowing faintly gold every few minutes. "She’s stabilizing," Mira said. "For now. But whatever they did to her… isn’t normal." "She's a weapon," Jaxon replied.

Chapter 25 Fifteen Years Ago – Outside the Sovereign Facility It was never officially called “Sovereign.” Not on any file. Not on any map. But to the handful of assassins trained inside, it was hell—wrapped in silence and steel. The boy who would become Rael stood barefoot in the snow, blood streaked down one side of his face. His breathing was ragged. His right hand was broken. There were six bodies around him. Four still twitching. Two very still. A tall man in a black coat approached from the platform above. “You disobeyed orders,” the man said. Rael didn’t blink. “They were wrong.” “They were stronger than you.” “They hesitated.” The man nodded slowly. Then motioned to the soldier beside him. “Get him inside. Patch him up.” “I

CHAPTER 26 [JAXON] Obelisk Perimeter – 2:17 A.M. Wind screamed through the skeletal ironwork of the decommissioned crane where Jaxon crouched. Every breath he drew burned with rust and ocean salt. From this height, the harbor looked like a choked throat of shadows—water black, fog rolling thick between the docked ships and Syndicate patrol drones. The Obelisk stood at the center, docked like a predator at rest. Monolithic, obsidian-black, covered in ripple armor and gleaming power nodes. It didn’t just tower. It waited. “This is madness,” Mira said behind him. Her voice was low, gruff. “You realize that, right?” Jaxon adjusted the strap of the tactical bag across his back. “That’s not new.” She huffed and checked the magazine of her rifle, her fingers moving faster than her expression did. She wasn’t really angry. She was scared. Jaxon didn’t blame

CHAPTER 28 OBELISK CORE – 00:56 The red digits of the countdown pulsed like a heartbeat over the chamber wall. The walls around them shivered with each second lost. Somewhere deep in the structure, a bass-toned groan echoed—metal under pressure. Jaxon clutched Ava tightly to his chest as Mira pulled the access panel open. “This leads to the lift shaft,” she said. “It’s vertical. Sealed off on grid level three, but if we climb fast—” “We don’t have a choice,” Jaxon said, stepping past her. Ava was still unconscious, but breathing. Her skin was warmer now. The glow that had once consumed her was gone. Whatever had snapped Rael’s hold—it left her drained. Mira slung her rifle over her shoulder. Her fingers trembled as she reloaded with one hand. “You good?” Jaxon asked as he crouched to lower Ava gently into Mira’s arms while he rigged a climbing line

Chapter 30 Jaxon Lin didn’t blink as the elevator doors closed behind him. He stood at the edge of something deeper than any battlefield he’d ever walked into — and this time, it was personal. The Obelisk’s lower level wasn’t a floor. It was a tomb. The air turned metallic the moment he stepped out of the shaft. Fluorescent lights flickered above, casting a sickly white glow across concrete walls laced with biohazard markings. Sirens wailed somewhere above, muffled by layers of reinforced steel. But down here… the silence felt alive. Behind him, Mira adjusted her grip on the rifle. Her hands were steady, but her breathing wasn’t. “You sure your wife’s sister is down here?” Jaxon didn’t answer. He stared at the row of containment pods lining the chamber wall — human-shaped silhouettes frozen inside them. He moved forward. Not fast. Not slow. Just enough that his b