Selene's blade shifted, angling toward Eddy. "You're lying. Whitmore wants the Xore intact. He'd never risk damaging it by extracting it from a corpse.""True." Eddy tilted his head, conceding the point. "But he'd risk it if the alternative was letting the heir grow strong enough to challenge him. Better a damaged Xore than a living enemy."Ethan's hands clenched into fists. Silver light flickered around them, the Xore responding to his rage. "I'm not surrendering. Tell me where my mother is.""You're not in a position to make demands." Eddy's smile never faltered. "But I like your spirit. It reminds me of your father.""You knew my father?""Marcus Cross? Of course. Good man. Weak, but good. He actually believed love could protect you from people like me." Eddy laughed, the sound echoing off ancient stone. "We had such interesting conversations before he died. Did you know his heart attack wasn't natural?"The world tilted."What?""Whitmore couldn't risk him telling you the truth ab

   The first hunter died before he realized they were coming. Selene's blade took his head in one fluid motion, her body moving with deadly precision. Through the mental link, Ethan felt her combat instincts and matched them, his body responding to threats he hadn't consciously seen. A gunshot. Ethan ducked, no, Selene had felt the shooter's intent through the link and warned him. The bullet whined past where his head had been a heartbeat earlier. "Left side!" Selene's voice rang in his mind and aloud simultaneously. Ethan spun, his fist crashing into a hunter's jaw. Bone shattered. The man dropped. They moved through the ruins like a single organism, each covering the other's weaknesses. When Selene's wounded side slowed her, Ethan was there. When Ethan's inexperience left him open, Selene's blade filled the gap. But th

Councilor Wei left with a warning, "The Academy will not support a rescue attempt. You're on your own."Ethan didn't care. The moment the door closed, he threw off the blankets and tried to stand. His legs buckled immediately. He crashed to the floor, the impact sending agony through his damaged meridians."Stop." Selene grabbed his arm. "You can't even walk.""Then I'll crawl." Ethan pulled free, tried to channel energy to his legs. The Core responded barely. A trickle of power that died the moment it hit his shredded meridians. "My mother is in a cage. Vincent and Claire are walking around free. And I'm lying here like…""Like someone who nearly killed himself forcing a synchronization." Selene hauled him upright and deposited him back on the bed. "You're in no condition to rescue anyone.""Then fix me! You're Third Seat of, wait, former Third Seat." Bitterness crept into his voice. "You gave that up for me. And for what? So I could be useless?"Selene's expression hardened. "Carefu

The abandoned cultivation site looked like the world had forgotten it existed.Ethan stood at the edge of a crater three miles wide, carved into the earth like a wound that had never healed. Jagged crystals jutted from the ground, some clear as diamond, others black as obsidian, many pulsing with colors that hurt to look at directly. The air itself shimmered with wild astral energy, untamed and dangerous."What is this place?" he asked."A failure." Selene's voice was quiet. "Sixty years ago, the Academy tried to create an artificial cultivation nexus, a place where energy would naturally concentrate to accelerate training. The experiment went wrong. Instead of controlled energy flow, they created chaos. Fifteen researchers died in the initial explosion. The survivors sealed it off.""And you're bringing me here because...?""Because desperate times require desperate measures." She started down the crater's slope. "The wild energy here will either force your damaged meridians to adapt