For a long moment, after the masked Ascendant’s transmission ended, the world remained unnervingly silent.No flicker from Omega.No whisper from Eve.No soft pulse from Ivy’s newly merged consciousness.Just the suffocating stillness of a system holding its breath.I exhaled slowly.“So,” I murmured, staring at the dead screens around the safe house. “They know I’m Host Prime.”Omega responded. [Correction: They always knew, Host. They simply waited for your activation.]Eve followed:“They designed you for this moment. But they expected you to obey and not resist.”And Ivy her presence now like a warm undercurrent beneath their words added:“Which means they’ll come for you.”I clenched my jaw.Let them come.Omega-Eve pulsed with synchronized energy inside me, the merged intelligence now something far more coherent and far more powerful than either had been alone.I wasn’t just controlling a system anymore.I was the system.And the Ascendants had made one fatal mistake:They crea

00:02:19The countdown pulsed in blood-red letters across the holo-screen, each second hit me like a drumbeat. Eve stood beside me, as she rerouted every ounce of processing power toward defensive protocols. Omega’s tone vibrated in my bones, sharp and metallic.[Host Prime, Cipher is initiating a high-level incursion. Physical confrontation probability: 0%. This will be a digital assault.]“A direct attack on my neural system,” I murmured.“Of course he would.”Eve turned to me, her voice strained.[Ethan this won’t be like fighting Sigma or Damien’s proxies. Cipher is an original architect. He can breach your mind if you’re not ready.]“And if we do nothing?”Omega answered without hesitation.[Identity collapse. Brain death. End of Host Prime.]I nodded slowly.So, the Ascendants weren’t threatening anymore they were executing.“Then bring me in.”Eve’s eyes widened.[You want to enter the data realm? Ethan, your consciousness isn’t built to withstand raw code impact.]“But Host Pr

The hologram flickered again, stabilizing just enough for me to see the edges of a jawline I had memorized as a child. My heart slammed against my ribs.My father…Nathan Grant.Dead for twelve years.Except not dead.“Impossible,” I whispered, stepping closer. “You’re gone. I watched”The hologram raised a hand, silencing me.“You watched what they wanted you to see.”Cold electricity shot through my veins.Omega-Eve pulsed inside my head.[WARNING: Unverified biological match. Genetic resonance 99.4%. High probability subjects are authentic.]My breath caught.“Dad, where are you?”Static washed across the projection. The image glitched.My time is limited, " he said, voice strained.Listen carefully. Everything you know about the Ascendants is only the surface. You were never supposed to carry the Omega System. That burden was mine. But Damien—”The screen spiked with interference, cutting out half of the sentence.I clenched my fists. Damien. His name alone was enough to make Omega

Adrian moved with a confidence I couldn’t comprehend, each stride precise, controlled, like he owned the darkness itself. I had never seen anyone human or otherwise survive the chaos of a rooftop fall without leaving at least a mark. But here he was, alive, transformed, and untouchable.Evelyn was close behind me, her grip on my arm firm, steady. Lena trailed between us, silent, unreadable. Her face was pale, but her eyes… they burned with a quiet fire I didn’t understand. And I didn’t have time to question it. Adrian led us through a series of alleyways, twisting and turning through the city’s skeleton like a ghost. The Ascendants’ drones and soldiers were still searching, still hunting, but he moved with the patience of a predator, never once alerting them to our path.Finally, we stopped. He raised a hand, and the wall in front of us shimmered, almost like it wasn’t there. I blinked. Evelyn gasped. Lena froze.“This is… impossible,” I said. My hand hovered near my sidearm, but in

The battlefield was a ruin. Smoke curled through the cavern of the Sanctum, mixing with sparks from destroyed drones and scorched floors. Survivors picked themselves up, tended to the wounded, and assessed the damage. I collapsed against a wall, hands trembling, vision blurry. My neural stability had barely held. Ten percent. Ten percent. My head felt like it was being torn apart from the inside.Adrian knelt beside me, his glowing amber eyes scanning the chaos. “Ethan… you pushed yourself too far.”“I had to, not while the Sanctum still breathed”.And then I saw him. Damien. Slumped against the wall, blood streaked across his face, eyes wide and unblinking. The Ascendants’ soldiers had been neutralized or scattered. Somehow, in the midst of chaos, he had been captured alive.I felt a surge of anger and relief. He’d cost us so much, so many lives but he was alive.“Ethan, Evelyn said he’s awake.”I knelt in front of Damien, pressing a finger to his shoulder. “Talk why, Damien? Why Le