The night pressed down like a weight.The clearing still smoked, trees bent and splintered, the earth itself scarred by chains of light burned into the soil. But none of them moved for a long, suspended heartbeat.Wren knelt in the center, cradling Ethan against her chest. His skin was fever-hot, veins glowing faintly as though fire still coursed beneath. His breath rasped shallow, each exhale a shudder.“Stay with me,” she whispered, pressing her forehead to his. Her voice cracked. “Please don’t make me drag you back from death again.”He didn’t answer.---Helena leaned heavily on Fang, eyes half-lidded, lips curled in something between awe and unease. “Well. That was impressive. Self-destructive, suicidal, but impressive.” She spat blood into the dirt. “Boy burns brighter than a star, but stars collapse eventually.”Camille crouched by them, her hands fluttering over her pad before she shoved it aside, useless. “He’s overheating—his body can’t sustain this. If the Cipher keeps rewr

The trees split open like ribs around a heart. Bronze masks glimmered in the gloom, the Enforcers moving in with eerie precision. Each step landed in unison, boots cracking branches as if the forest bent beneath their rhythm.Twenty of them. At least. Their gauntlets shimmered with etched circles, their halberds vibrating faintly, humming like the deep breath of an engine.Camille’s eyes darted frantically across their armor. “Oh gods—Tier-IV bindings, double-layer lattice…they came prepared for him.”Ethan coughed, his chest burning as the Cipher pulsed. “For me?”Wren’s grip on his shoulder tightened, fierce and protective. “They’re not taking you.”Helena’s grin cut the darkness like a knife. “And here I thought tonight couldn’t get any more entertaining.”---The Enforcers formed a ring, halberds braced. Their leader stepped forward, mask etched with a deeper bronze. His voice was flat, mechanical, carried by the lattice.“Subject Ethan Vale. By order of the Council of Nine, you a

Rome was a city of masks. Golden statues, marble facades, and glittering heirs who strutted across gala halls pretending their family names could still buy empires.Ethan Vale walked through it like a ghost with a blade.Three nights had passed since the forest. Three nights since he had bent the Cipher and broken Ouroboros’ cage. The glow beneath his skin was gone now, buried, but the power wasn’t. It thrummed in his bones like a second heartbeat, quiet, patient, his to command.And for the first time, he wasn’t afraid.---Isadora Marchese’s estate sprawled across the Aventine Hill like a fortress of white stone. She was one of the Council’s old money dynasties—generational wealth married to organized crime and Council ties. A woman who had once called Ethan nothing but a “delivery boy with delusions.”Now her house was his first target.---Camille adjusted the cuff on her disguised wrist terminal as they walked the torchlit driveway. “You’re sure about this?”Ethan’s smile was raz

The Bosphorus shimmered like liquid silver beneath the moonlight, every ripple catching the glow of the city that straddled two continents. Istanbul’s skyline stretched across the horizon in jagged silhouette—domes and minarets piercing the night sky, their lights like watchful eyes. The call of distant gulls mingled with the soft hum of the sea, a haunting chorus against the laughter and clamor drifting from the city’s endless life.Ethan stood alone at the edge of Cain’s yacht, the polished rail cold beneath his grip, the sharp salt air burning in his lungs. The water below whispered promises of escape, yet ahead of him lay only war. He could feel it, coiling in the shadows, waiting to strike.Behind him, Cain’s voice cut through the night like a blade.“Rome was a performance, Ethan,” he said, words rolling over the waves with deliberate calm. “Beautiful, yes—but shallow. You humiliated the Marchese, left their empire bleeding, yet you let them live.”Ethan’s jaw tightened, his ref

Snow fell soft over Zurich, white dust settling on rooftops gilded with old money. The city was quiet, reverent—an empire of banks, vaults, and dynasties built on secrecy.Ethan hated it instantly.He stepped off the jet in a black coat, wind whipping across the runway. Camille hurried beside him, tablet in hand, tracing data streams through trembling fingers. Cain followed at a leisurely pace, a king returning to his throne.Helena was already there. She leaned against the sleek convoy waiting for them, crimson hair tied back, Fang strapped across her back like a promise.“Zurich,” she said, smirking. “The city that worships numbers like gods. You sure you’re ready to flip their temple upside down, Vale?”Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “They took Wren. That’s all I need.”---The warehouse was easy to find once Camille cracked the final cipher. It sat at the edge of the industrial district, its walls stamped with an Ouroboros glyph hidden in plain sight.Inside—rows of cages, steel beams, ma