Maybe we can build something beyond this. Maybe.The thought lingered in Ares’s chest as the dawn widened its reach, spilling pale gold across Lin City’s battered skyline. He stood at the river’s edge, mud clinging to his boots, the stench of gunpowder still sharp in the morning air. Behind him, the bodies of Victor’s men lay in silence, a grim reminder that even victories bled.Hawk approached first, limping slightly, a fresh bandage strapped across his ribs. He clapped a rough hand on Ares’s shoulder. “You’ve still got a bad habit of making impossible things look easy.”Ares didn’t smile. His eyes stayed fixed on the horizon. “It wasn’t easy. We lost too many.”Reyes joined them, his expression drawn. “But the city breathes today because of it. That’s not nothing.”The words were meant as comfort, but Ares heard only the undertone – today. Tomorrow remained unwritten....By the time Ares returned to the safehouse, Mira was waiting. Elijah was curled against her side, still asleep,

The storm did not wait for dawn.By the time Ares left Elijah’s room, Lin City’s night had already thickened into something dangerous. The streets outside the Resistance Hall shifted with shadows that didn’t belong to beggars or drunks. Watchful eyes followed him from alleys where the air stank of rust and sour liquor. Somewhere close, a knife caught the light of a broken streetlamp before vanishing again.He had expected them. Victor Wu’s allies had not survived this long by sleeping through danger. Word of his return had spread faster than he could have guessed, and predators always circled quickest when they smelled the possibility of losing ground.Ares walked with his head high, refusing to shrink. If they wanted to test his name, let them....Reyes appeared at his side as if conjured from the dark. The older man’s coat hung heavy around him, but his eyes were sharp, alive with an old fire Ares hadn’t seen in years.“They’re watching you,” Reyes muttered without moving his lips.

Dawn was coming. So were they.The first light broke pale over Lin City’s jagged skyline, painting broken roofs and cracked windows in sickly gold. The Resistance Hall stood silent, its old bricks holding their breath. Inside, no one slept.Ares stood at the window of Elijah’s room, watching the horizon as though it might reveal the shape of his enemies. His reflection stared back at him in the glass - lined, weary, but carved with something unbreakable. Behind him, Elijah stirred in his sleep, murmuring nonsense words of a child not yet old enough to understand the war closing around him.Mira was already awake. She had not left Elijah’s side all night. Her eyes found Ares’s back, and she whispered, “How many?”“Enough,” he said without turning. “Too many, if we wait. Not enough, if we’re ready.”Her voice cracked. “That isn’t an answer.”“It’s the only one I have.”...Downstairs, Hawk slammed a crate onto the table, spilling rifles, battered magazines, and grenades that looked olde

Chapter 200 – The Bounty of BloodAres stood where the wall had broken. Night clung to him, thick and heavy, the smell of ash still rising from the charred barricades. He hadn’t moved since dusk, hadn’t spoken since Hawk delivered the news. His shadow stretched long across the rubble, a sentinel carved from blood and silence.Behind him, the Hall slept in uneasy quiet. Mira lay curled beside Elijah, her arm thrown over their son as though her body alone could shield him from the world. Every time Elijah shifted, Mira stirred. Her eyes never fully closed.Ares heard it all - the boy’s shallow breaths, Mira’s restless murmurs, the groan of the wounded in the next room. Every sound pressed into him like weight. He could carry steel. He could carry war. But this weight - the fragile weight of those who trusted him—was different.The poster Hawk had dropped earlier still crumpled in his pocket. Ares drew it out now, unfolding it with hands that trembled not from fear but from rage. His nam

And with that, Ares Kane turned and walked back into the storm - unbroken, unafraid, reborn.The wind clawed at his coat as he descended the tower stairwell, boots hammering against the metal steps. The air was thick with smoke, sirens wailing from below. Somewhere deep inside the building, fire had taken hold—licking through the lower floors like a living thing.Hawk’s voice crackled faintly through the comm. “Boss! You alive?”“Alive enough,” Ares said, his breath rough.“Good. Because the whole building’s coming down. You might wanna move.”Ares pushed through the stairwell door and entered the burning lobby. Flames licked the marble walls, casting everything in blood-orange light. Hawk crouched behind an overturned table, rifle smoking, his grin wild. Reyes leaned against a pillar, his arm bleeding through the fresh bandage.Ares strode toward them, his silhouette hard in the firelight. “Wu’s done.”Hawk whistled. “You mean - ”“Dead,” Ares said flatly. “It’s over.”Reyes let out