Adrian plummeted into the heart of the inferno, flames roaring around him like a living, vengeful creature. Sparks danced along the edges of twisted steel, molten debris rained down in deadly torrents, and the pulse device above pulsed with a sinister rhythm, bending the collapsing city to Mara’s will.Pain wracked his body burns licked at his skin, ribs screamed, muscles screamed, and lungs burned but instinct overrode agony. Every second was a battle against the fire, the collapsing structure, and Mara’s unrelenting influence.Below him, the inferno churned like a molten ocean, ready to consume everything. Adrian twisted mid-fall, seeking purchase on a jagged steel beam jutting from the burning wreckage. His fingers burned as he gripped it, pulling himself into a precarious crouch.The beam groaned under his weight, threatening to snap at any second. Sparks erupted as molten metal shifted beneath him. Smoke filled his lungs, turning every breath into a razor sharp agony.Above, Mara

Adrian tumbled through the heart of the inferno, the searing heat shredding at his skin and lungs, flames roaring like a living, malevolent beast.Sparks and molten debris twisted around him, each shard capable of ending his life in an instant. His ribs screamed, muscles trembled, and every breath felt like swallowing fire, yet he refused to surrender.The pulse device above him pulsed violently, sending energy waves that bent the very city around Mara’s will. Steel twisted, flames surged, and debris rained down like molten knives.Survival demanded focus, precision, and raw instinct and Adrian had learned both in the past months.In the chaos, a jagged steel girder jutted out like a hand reaching from the fire. Adrian twisted mid-fall, catching it with his bloodied hands.Pain exploded up his arms and through his ribs, but he forced himself upward into a precarious crouch. Sparks showered around him as molten metal cracked and twisted below.Emily’s voice echoed faintly through the s

Adrian plummeted through the molten chaos, fire licking at his skin, molten metal raining around him like lethal shards. Every breath shredded his lungs, every movement tore at his ribs, and yet he refused to surrender. Instinct overrode pain. Survival demanded focus.Below, the city burned in Mara’s wrath. Twisted steel jutted from the ruins, molten rivers churned violently, and debris fell in a relentless torrentThe pulse device pulsed like a heart of fire, warping the city to her will, every surge of energy a strike meant to end him. Adrian gritted his teeth. He had survived worse. He would survive this. Somehow.Amid the chaos, a jagged steel beam projected from the molten debris, offering a perilous foothold. Adrian twisted mid fall, fingers scraping across its molten hot surface, and pulled himself into a crouch. Sparks erupted as molten metal cracked and twisted beneath him.Emily’s voice echoed through the smoke. “Adrian! Grab the cable!”Grayson’s massive hands had secured a

Adrian plummeted through fire and smoke, arms flailing, ribs screaming. The air itself was molten every inhale seared his lungs, every heartbeat felt like glass shattering inside his chest.His eyes stung against the smoke, but his instincts locked onto a blur of steel flashing below. A dangling crane arm jutted from the ruin like a crooked finger.He twisted mid air, chest muscles tearing as he extended his grip. The impact nearly dislocated his shoulder, but his fingers caught the rusted steel.Sparks tore past him, fragments of burning building cascading into the molten river below. The crane groaned, metal screaming as though protesting his weight, but it held.Above, Mara’s pulse device continued its relentless beat, lighting the skyline in pulses of blue-white fury. Each pulse cracked the earth, each surge bent skyscrapers into warped silhouettes. The city wasn’t dying, it was being rewritten.Adrian dragged himself onto the crane arm, body shaking from the effort. The assassins

The chamber quaked. Adrian’s scream tore through the crystalline void as Emily’s form crumpled before him, her chest pierced by the mirrored blade.He lunged forward, dropping his weapon, arms outstretched but she dissolved into shards of light before he could touch her.His reflection the avatar watched in silence, expressionless, blade dripping liquid fire that wasn’t blood, but memory itself.“No…” Adrian whispered. His voice cracked, shaking. “That wasn’t real. It wasn’t real.”The avatar tilted its head, every movement a warped echo of his own. “Perception is reality. If you believe you killed her, then you did.”Adrian’s fists clenched. His knuckles bled where crystal had cut him earlier. “You’re not me.”“I am everything you deny.” The reflection’s voice deepened, layered with Mara’s tones beneath his own. “Your rage. Your envy. Your fear. I am the shadow you hide. And the core knows shadows must rule the light.”The chamber pulsed violently, cracks racing across the crystallin