All Chapters of Zero Logic: The Hunter Gambits: Chapter 21
- Chapter 30
63 chapters
Chapter 21. The Greatest Heist
“You’re insane. You’re actually insane. We’re going to die as roasted meat up here.” Claire kept ranting as she dragged the heavy rifle case up the emergency stairs of the half-collapsed parking structure. She was out of breath, her face smeared with ash from the sudden volcanic fallout drifting down over Vegas. “Shut up and climb,” Oliver ordered from above. He was already on the rooftop, lying prone along the edge of concrete so hot it could fry an egg. The sight below was the definition of a localized apocalypse. A thick purple magical fog blanketed the city square, hiding the massive battle from ordinary human eyes. But for Oliver and Claire, who possessed “Sight,” the fog was transparent. At the center of the square, Wrath, the Fourth Sin, was rampaging. He was no longer the two-meter-tall man Oliver had seen in the warehouse earlier. He had entered Phase Two. His body had expanded into a four-meter fire giant, skin of molten magma forming natural armor. The obsidian
Chapter 22. Probability Escape
“GAS! FLOOR IT, CLAIRE!” Oliver’s scream was swallowed by the roar of the stolen V8 Mustang, the engine howling like a wounded beast. The rear tires spun in place, burning rubber and flooding the crumbling parking structure with thick white smoke before the car finally shot forward. BRAAAK! Behind them, the last concrete pillar collapsed. From the cloud of debris, a massive figure of fire leapt out. Wrath. He did not run. He glided. Every time his feet struck the ground, the asphalt fractured in a ten-meter radius. He was a missile with a personal vendetta. “He’s chasing us! He’s right behind us!” Claire shrieked, glancing at the rearview mirror with wide, horrified eyes. Her hands trembled on the steering wheel, sending the muscle car swerving left and right along the deserted Vegas stretch of I-15. “Focus on the road!” Oliver snapped from the passenger seat, his face drained of color, sweat beading on his forehead. His left shoulder was still dislocated from firing t
Chapter 23. The Man Without Fear
The old church was silent. An unnatural silence. Outside, separated only by brick walls and a rusted iron fence, a four-meter fire monster waited patiently to burn them to ash. But in here, the atmosphere felt like a library abandoned for a hundred years. Thick dust floated in the air, illuminated by moonlight filtering through shattered stained glass. Claire collapsed onto the front pew, her breathing still ragged. Her chest rose and fell violently, her eyes darting to every dark corner, afraid Wrath might suddenly break through. Her right hand still gripped Oliver’s Glock, but her trembling made the gun clatter softly against the wood. “We’re… we’re safe?” Claire’s voice cracked. “He can’t get in, right? Ver? Answer me!” No reply. Claire turned around. Oliver stood in the center aisle beneath a massive wooden cross that leaned at a crooked angle. He was busy. Not searching for an escape route. Not checking his wounds. He was busy… straightening his clothes. He brushed
Chapter 24. The Blind Master
The church basement smelled like history left to rot. Stale, damp, thick with dust that scratched at the back of the throat. There were no electric lights down here, only tallow candles burning dimly, revealing ancient bookshelves whose wood had been half-devoured by termites. Oliver sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor. Across from him, Father O’Neil rested in a creaking rocking chair, his completely white eyes fixed in Oliver’s direction, as if he could see the sins clinging to the young man’s skin. “So,” Oliver began, breaking the silence that rang in his ears, “you said the System in my eye is a parasite. Tell me something I don’t know, old man. I’ve already felt it feeding on my life every second.” “You think it feeds only on your lifespan?” O’Neil chuckled, the sound dry as sandpaper. “Naive. Lifespan is just fuel, child. Its true nourishment is Identity.” O’Neil leaned forward. His wooden cane tapped the stone floor. Tok. “Fifty years ago, I saw another man with e
Chapter 25. The Sin Trap
The invitation was heavy. Not just metaphorically, but literally. The card from The Seven Sinners was forged from a solid slab of gold, engraved with laser-etched magic, its edges sharp enough to slit a throat. Oliver sat on the dented hood of the stolen Mustang, parked on a sand ridge overlooking the Strip. Desert wind lashed his face, tugging at the bow tie he had carefully retied. Below, in the middle of the neon ocean of Vegas lights, stood something unreal. The Glass Pyramid. It was not the ordinary Luxor Hotel. This was its dark mode counterpart. Twice as tall, built from pitch-black obsidian glass that swallowed moonlight whole. No searchlights shot into the sky from its peak. Only a deep violet aura pulsed from within, like the heartbeat of something colossal. “Council headquarters,” Claire muttered. She tightened the laces of her tactica
Chapter 26. The Execution Floor
Ting. The golden elevator doors slid open with a polite chime, a sound absurdly refined compared to the hellscape waiting beyond. Oliver stepped out. His leather shoes rang sharply as they struck the floor. Or rather, glass. The entire floor was completely transparent. Reinforced glass, ten centimeters thick. Beneath it was not a concrete foundation, but a deep artificial seawater tank. In the dark water below, massive shadows circled endlessly. [Void Mutant Shark] [Status: Hungry, Last fed: 3 days ago] [Teeth: Capable of crushing steel] Oliver looked down. A shark with three rows of teeth and glowing red eyes stared up at the soles of his shoes, as if waiting for the glass to shatter. “Beautiful view, isn’t it?” The voice was heavy, wet, and slick with indulgence. Oliver lifted his head. The room was vast, designed like an ultra-luxury penthouse with atrocious taste. The walls were gold. The furniture was upholstered in finely tanned human leather. At the center sto
Chapter 27. Breaking the Rules
Splash. The freezing saltwater stabbed into Oliver’s skin like a thousand icy needles. Dark. Thick. He had just fallen ten meters into the shark tank beneath the shattered glass floor. Above, the muffled echoes of explosions and Greed’s furious roars bled through the water. But down here, another sound dominated. The slicing of water by sharp fins. Swish… swish… Oliver held his breath. His weakened lungs protested, but he forced his diaphragm to lock in the remaining oxygen. He opened his eyes in the stinging saltwater. Probability Sight automatically shifted into Sonar Vision mode. The black ocean transformed into a glowing green topographic map. Three red shapes shot toward him. [Mutant Void Shark] [Speed: 60 km/h] [Target: Oliver’s Left Leg] The first shark opened its jaws. Its teeth churned like rotating chainsaws. Oliver did not panic. His emotio
Chapter 28. The Sacrifice of the Ring Finger
“DON’T LOOK BACK! JUST RUN!” Oliver’s shout was swallowed by the roaring wind that lashed against their faces. They were on the Skybridge, a transparent glass bridge connecting the Main Pyramid to the adjacent Evacuation Tower. It hung three hundred meters above the ground. At this height, the Vegas night wind was no gentle breeze. It was a storm strong enough to send someone as thin as Oliver flying if he was not careful. Claire ran ahead, carrying Alice over her shoulder. Her breathing rasped like someone in the middle of a severe asthma attack. Her legs felt heavy, but the adrenaline of an older sister protecting her sibling kept her moving. Oliver ran behind her, limping badly. His knee had already given out, but his nervous system was being forced to work overtime by the Hunter X System. Behind them came a hissing sound that made the hair on the back of their necks stand on end. SSSSHHH... GLUK... GLUK... It was not the sound of footsteps. It was the sound
Chapter 29. Behind the Mirror
The Kennel was quiet again. But this time, the silence felt different. Not peaceful. It was the kind of silence that hangs in a hospital waiting room after a doctor steps out with a grim expression. Alice lay on a makeshift operating table, an old metal dining table covered with sterile blankets. Multicolored magical IV lines were inserted into her thin arms. Her chest rose and fell slowly, steady, but her eyes remained closed. Coma. A side effect of the execution chair’s poison and the trauma of falling into a shark tank. Claire sat beside her, gripping her sister’s hand tightly. She was no longer crying. She had run out of tears at the Glass Pyramid. Now she was just a tired guardian statue. In the dark corner of the room, Oliver sat alone in O’Neil’s rocking chair. He studied his left hand. The bandage Claire had wrapped earlier had been replaced with a proper medical dressing. It was neater now, but the shape was still wrong. There was empty space where his ring finger shoul
Chapter 30. The Unseen Hand
“What do you want us to do? Babysit monsters?” Claire crossed her arms over her chest, watching Oliver as he sketched a strategy map across the chalkboard in the Kennel. The map was chaotic, crisscrossed with red lines connecting Council logistics warehouses, Vampire patrol routes, and the filthy sewer systems. “Not babysit,” Oliver corrected without looking back. He circled one section of the map: District 9, The Dregs. “We’re recruiting. I need muscle that’s cheap but loyal. And nothing is more loyal than a dog that’s been kicked by its master.” “District 9 is a dump, Ver,” Claire said with disgust. “It’s full of junkie Goblins, discarded Orcs, and Imps with skin disease. They’re not soldiers. They’re homeless.” “Exactly.” Oliver turned to face her. His diamond shaped eyes gleamed with calculation. “They’re desperate. And desperation is the easiest commodity to buy. I don’t need knights in shining armor. I need rats willing to chew through power lines.” He picked up his ne