Marcus woke up screaming.His hands clawed at the sheets, chest heaving, sweat soaking through his shirt. The memories were so vivid. Elena's blood on his hands, baby Lily's first cry, the purge serum burning through his veins like liquid fire.Sarah burst through the door, weapon drawn. "Marcus! What's wrong?""Elena. She died. I held her. The baby. Lily. She was born and Elena died and I used the serum and..." Marcus pressed his palms against his temples. "It felt so real. All of it."Mina appeared behind Sarah, her white eyes glowing with concern. "Another one? That's the third episode this week.""Third?" Marcus looked between them. "What are you talking about?"Sarah holstered her weapon, sat on the edge of the bed. "You've been having these... incidents. Vivid memories of things that didn't happen. We talked about this yesterday, remember? You, me, and Mina. For two hours."The conversation came back slowly. Marcus remembered now. Sitting in this same room, trying to explain the

EIGHTEEN HOURS LATER - MOSCOW, RUSSIAThe cold hit like a physical blow.Marcus stepped off the private jet onto the tarmac at Vnukovo Airport. Negative fifteen Celsius. Snow falling in thick sheets. His breath came out in white clouds.Sarah pulled her jacket tighter. "Remind me why we couldn't recruit the next Archon host from somewhere tropical?""Because Ivan Volkov is in Moscow. And Ivan Volkov has the Evolution System." Marcus pulled up the file on his phone. "73% corruption. Runs a criminal syndicate. Uses his powers for personal gain, not survival. He's dangerous."Mina's white eyes glowed faintly in the grey morning light. "My Judgment System senses extreme sin from this city. Volkov's presence spreads corruption like a disease. He's not managing it. He's embracing it."They'd left Kyoto twelve hours ago with Yuki's blessing and a warning: "Ivan Volkov is your opposite, Marcus Chen. You fight your corruption. He revels in it. You try to stay human. He's abandoning humanity de

SIX HOURS LATER - SAFE HOUSE, PRAGUESarah slammed her laptop closed. "Found her."Marcus was on his feet instantly. He hadn't slept. Couldn't. Every time he closed his eyes, the Archons showed him timelines where Elena died. Where he failed. Where his corruption spiked to 100% and he transformed mid-rescue.None of them ended well."Where?""Abandoned facility outside Vienna. Forty kilometers from here. Former Court black site. Decommissioned five years ago after Monroe's reforms." Sarah pulled up satellite images. "Heat signatures show thirty people inside. Armed. Organized. Professional.""Court remnants?""Worse. I ran facial recognition on the guards visible in traffic cameras. They're Crimson Court elite. The ones who survived your Manhattan purge. They've regrouped under new leadership."Marcus's danger sense flared. "New leadership? Who?""Unknown. But whoever it is knows about you. Knows about Elena. Set this trap specifically to draw you out." Sarah zoomed in on the facility

The safe house was a condemned apartment building in Vienna's outskirts. Three floors of crumbling concrete and shattered windows. Perfect for hiding from whatever remained of the Crimson Court's surveillance network.Marcus laid Elena on a makeshift bed. Two couch cushions and a moth-eaten blanket Daniel had scrounged from somewhere. Her breathing was steady but shallow. The golden glow of her Creation Archon pulsed beneath her skin like a second heartbeat.Ninety-seven percent corrupted. Three percent away from full transformation.Marcus checked his internal clock. Twenty-three hours and forty-two minutes until Sarah's deadline. After that, if he showed any signs of losing control, she'd use the purge serum. No arguments. No second chances.He could feel it already. The gaps in his awareness. Small moments where the Archons took over without asking permission. A blink, and suddenly he'd moved across the room. Another blink, and his hand was on Sarah's shoulder though he didn't reme

Marcus sat with his hands zip-tied behind his back, counting his breaths. Five minutes to decide his fate. And Elena's.The Archons had gone eerily quiet. Not because they'd given up, but because they were watching. Waiting to see what their host would choose. Curious, in the way predators are curious about wounded prey.Sarah stood three feet away, serum syringe in hand. Her finger rested on the plunger, ready to inject. Her face was carefully neutral, but Marcus could see the conflict in her eyes. She didn't want to do this. But she would. Because someone had to make the hard choices.Elena was beside him, her Creation Archon still blazing. Ninety-seven percent corrupted, offering to go to one hundred and two just to stabilize him. To buy him time he probably didn't deserve."Four minutes," Natasha said, checking her watch. She'd taken up position by the door, weapon ready in case Marcus's Archons broke free and turned violent.Marcus closed his eyes. Tried to think through the fog