The rain had thinned to a whisper, but Harborview District still throbbed with the aftershock of Kai Gibson’s ascent. Neon lights bled across the slick pavement, turning puddles into swirling pools of blue, red, and violet. The entire city felt suspended in a breathless hush, as if trying to understand the shift that had happened at its core.Kai stepped out of Harborview Tower with the weight of victory heavy on his shoulders. His muscles ached, his clothes were torn, and faint bruises were already darkening across his skin. But none of that mattered. He had done the impossible. He had climbed all five levels, shattered the network’s strongest pillars, and taken his place as Harborview’s rising storm.Yet something in the air felt wrong.Tactical Insight flickered to life in his vision, glitching for the first time in hours.System Alert: Threat Signature DetectedClassification: UnknownDistance: 10 metersKai froze mid-step. His instincts sharpened. Who else could possibly be waitin

Harborview had always been a city of noise—sirens, engines, crowds. A city that breathed chaos.But tonight… it held its breath.Kai felt it before he heard it.A pressure, like the air had thickened and was waiting to collapse.He stood on the rooftop of an old parking complex overlooking South Harbor District, the wind cold against his skin. The earlier ambush at Eastline had left him bruised, exhausted, and more alert than ever. The Sovereign Order’s first strike had been brutal—calculated, merciless. But they had pulled back too quickly.Too quietly.Kai’s instincts screamed at him now.Tactical Insight: Threat Surge Detected.Red lines threaded across his vision, forming an expanding map of Harborview—streets, bridges, rooftops.Every line vibrated.Then, one by one, they turned crimson.His pulse spiked. “They’re moving.”Before he could process the full pattern, the city erupted.BOOM!A shockwave ripped through Briarfield.Then another blast from the Marina.Then the eastern br

Blackreach was burning.Sirens wailed in distant districts, their metallic cries weaving through the fog like dying ghosts. Fires flickered behind collapsed buildings, casting jittering shadows along the cracked asphalt. Neon signs sputtered and blinked weakly as if trying to cling to life. The Sovereign Order’s city-wide strike had lasted only twenty minutes, but the damage looked like the aftermath of a war.Kai Gibson stood in the middle of the ruined boulevard, chest heaving, muscles still buzzing from adrenaline. The last of the Order’s drones lay skewered into the pavement, their metal carcasses hissing smoke.But nothing—nothing—felt real.Not after what he was seeing now.Amara.His older sister.Alive.Draped in sleek black armor marked with the insignia of the Sovereign Order’s Elite Commanders.His heart punched against his ribs, the air catching in his throat like glass.Amara didn’t walk toward him so much as glide, her steps deliberate, precise, almost royal. The soldiers

Harborview was wounded.Smoke drifted across the skyline like torn ghosts clinging to the tops of shattered buildings. The neon glow that once made the city feel alive now flickered in broken pulses, like a dying heartbeat. Kai stood alone on the roof of an unfinished high-rise, staring out at the ruins left behind by the Sovereign Order’s first assault.Everything felt… wrong.Too quiet.Too still.Like the city was gathering breath before screaming again.Kai’s breath misted in the cold night air, the last echoes of battle still buzzing through his bones. He had survived attacks, ambushes, and assassins. He had survived betrayals that sliced deeper than any blade. And now, after the truth about his father shattered everything he believed, he felt the world shifting beneath his feet.Elias Veridan.Scientist.Traitor.Creator of the System.Creator of him.Kai clenched his fists, knuckles whitening. His father’s secret laboratory still burned in his memory — the files, the recordings,

The warehouse smelled of rust and old rain.Kai stepped through the broken steel doorway, boots crunching over shattered glass. The place had once been a shipping hub, bustling with noise and life, but now it felt like a mausoleum—cold, breathless, forgotten. What little light slipped through the cracked skylights stretched down like pale fingers, illuminating dust that floated aimlessly, as if suspended in time.He tightened his grip on the blade at his hip.Every instinct screamed danger.Every shadow seemed to watch him.Yet still… he continued deeper.Because someone had left a message for him here.A message signed with a name Kai never thought he’d see again.His chest tightened as he reached the center of the warehouse. The silence felt too heavy, like it was waiting for something to break it. Then..A faint shift.A silhouette unstuck itself from the darkness.Kai’s breath caught.The world narrowed to a single point.“…No…” he whispered. “Lysander?”The figure stopped several