Chapter 111The broadcast Adrian ordered hit the digital billboards of Aethelgard like a localized nuclear strike.One second, the massive screens dominating the city skyline were displaying mandatory curfew warnings from the Mayor’s office. The next, they flickered, glitched, and filled with the irrefutable text of the annulment decree. Lady Victoria Sterling, the Queen of the Upper City, had formally dissolved her marriage to Julian Sterling.But Cora Vance didn't stop there. Beneath the legal jargon, she plastered the DNA sequencing from Lazarus Labs. She broke down the genetic markers, highlighting the synthetic splicing with helpful, bright red arrows.The message was clear, undeniable, and devastating. It was enough prove to any literate person that the Mayor was a test-tube clone.In the penthouse of the Spire, one hundred and twenty floors above the chaos, Julian Sterling stared at the massive wall-screen in his office. His violet eyes were wide, twitching with a manic rage.

Chapter 113Adrian frowned. "He's running Silas's dampeners. He's created a dead zone in the penthouse. My gravity manipulation is going to be severely restricted once those doors open.""So, no throwing him out a window with your mind?" Joe asked, gripping his rifle tighter."It means we do this the old-fashioned way," Adrian said, cracking his neck.DING!Floor 120.The silver doors of the elevator slid apart.Adrian and Joe didn't step out immediately and waited.The penthouse was a massive, open-plan space of black marble, glass, and minimalist luxury. The wall-screen was still displaying the annulment decree.Standing in the center of the room, waiting for them, was Julian.He was fully encased in the Apex Mk II armor. The suit was blindingly white, pulsing with pale blue energy lines along the seams. In his hands, he held the twin Null-Blades, their dark, anti-kinetic edges humming with a sound that made Adrian’s teeth ache."You took your time, brother," Julian’s voice echoed

Chapter 115The elevator ride down from the one-hundred-and-twentieth floor of the Spire was accompanied by a soft, generic jazz tune. It was the kind of music you’d expect to hear while waiting for a dental appointment, not while carrying your unconscious best friend away from a paralyzed, power-drained clone.Adrian Black leaned against the mirrored wall of the elevator, panting softly. Joe was slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.Adrian looked at his reflection. His leather jacket was torn, his knuckles were bruised, and his jaw was swelling to the size of a baseball. But his eyes... his eyes were the problem.The golden light of the System usually faded when he wasn't actively using a skill. Now, it was bleeding out of his irises, pulsing with streaks of unstable red energy.Okay, he wasn't used to walking around with creepy eyes and it was a little worrisome. "System," Adrian muttered, his voice hoarse. "Power down. We won. You can now go to sleep."[ ERROR. ][ UNA

Chapter 117 Adrian let out a harsh, bitter laugh. "Are you kidding me? I just spent a week fighting cyborgs, corrupt lawyers, and my own evil clone. I just conquered the city. And now my reward is a plumbing job?""It's not just a plumbing job, Boss," Joe said, walking over to the hologram and pointing at the locations of the three red dots. "Look where these things are."Adrian looked.The first dot was located in the Sunken District—a section of the city that had collapsed into the underground aquifers fifty years ago. It was entirely underwater, a pitch-black maze of flooded skyscrapers.The second dot was beneath the Asylum of the Damned, a maximum-security mental hospital that had been abandoned and sealed shut after a violent riot a decade ago.The third dot was directly beneath the Dead Wastes, the irradiated zone outside the city walls where the mutated scavengers lived."Silas didn't build these nodes in nice neighborhoods," Cora said, crossing her arms. "He buried them wher

Chapter 119 Adrian looked at his hands. The jagged red streaks were still there, but they were dimmer, less frantic. The suffocating pressure in his chest had eased just enough for him to think clearly."One down," Adrian panted, forcing himself to his feet. "Two to go.""Adrian, get out of there!" Joe's voice suddenly hijacked the comms, panicked. "The energy transfer just destabilized the cavern roof! The water displacement you're holding up is collapsing!"Adrian looked up. The ceiling of the massive cavern was groaning. Giant chunks of concrete and stalactites were crashing down into the ruined city. The black water he had parted to enter the district was violently rushing back in to fill the void."Time to leave," Adrian noted.He didn't run for the tunnel. There was no time.[ GRAVITY WELL: UPWARD BURST. ][ POWER OUTPUT: 200%. ]Adrian crouched, the red and gold light mixing fiercely in his eyes, and launched himself straight up.He shot through the air like a ballistic missil