Belmont slammed his silver-handled cane against the stage floor. The loud crack of metal meeting wood cut off the uneasy whispers rising from the circular glass tables."Execute him," Belmont commanded, pointing a trembling index finger toward Silas's throat. "He is interrupting corporate business."The muscular test subject and another guard standing in the shadows stepped off the platform in perfect unison.Both men stripped off their tactical shirts, revealing thick silver veins pulsing aggressively down their torsos. Their irises whirred mechanically, reflecting the harsh glare of the surgical spotlights."Master, let me handle the trash," Freya stepped forward, her hand shifting toward the hilt hidden in her gown."Stand down," Silas said, not looking back. "Their anatomy no longer belongs to nature."The second guard pulled a heavy sub-mechanical blade from his belt and lunged forward. The weapon targeted Silas’s left carotid artery with military speed.Freya didn't move, her ey

Silas dragged Aria by her collar across the shattered marble floor. He pushed open the reinforced titanium door of the casino's private VIP vault, stepping inside the windowless room lined with chrome safety deposit boxes.Freya and Isabella followed immediately, locking the heavy threshold behind them with a solid metallic click."Belmont fled through the subterranean elevator," Freya reported, her hand resting flat against the hilt of her hidden blade. "Should I pursue him down the shaft?""Let him run," Silas dropped Aria onto a wide leather examination table in the center of the vault. "A proxy is useless without his data network."Aria writhed against the smooth leather surface, her teeth grinding as the liquid perak beneath her translucent skin began to boil from the residual bio-electricity."You cannot read the encrypted sectors," Aria wheezed, her short dark hair plastered heavily against her sweating forehead. "The hardware in my neural mesh will incinerate my brain before t

Silas flicked his wrist. The two silver needles pierced the primary quantum server's central cooling line.​Golden bio-electricity surged through the titanium casing. The massive mainframes sparked violently and went completely dark.​"Clear," Rex announced. He kicked the headless body of the lead enforcer away from the shattered glass.​Freya wiped her twin daggers on her thigh holster. She kept her eyes on the heavy access door at the end of the lounge.​"The firewall is permanently disabled," Silas walked past the smoking servers. "Move to the next sector."​He slammed his palm against the heavy access panel. The thick steel doors slid apart with a heavy pneumatic hiss.​The luxurious carpeting vanished immediately. Cold steel grating and the harsh, vibrating hum of industrial machinery replaced the quiet elegance of the executive lounge.​Rows of cylindrical glass tubes lined the entire length of the elongated train car.​Inside each tube, a naked civilian floated in a viscous, pa

The floor plates of the World Engine groaned as the massive train tilted thirty degrees to the side. Sparks rained outside the reinforced ports as the primary magnetic brakes scraped against the outer rails of the sector."The girl is the primary biometric key," Freya said, her boots sliding across the metal floor. She slammed her palm against a wall brace to keep her balance."The automated uplink is still online," Ghost shouted over the screeching machinery. He pointed his finger toward a triple-layered glass monitor flickering at the front of the carriage. "The payload is transferring to the orbital satellite network."Silas ignored the heavy shaking of the carriage. He walked past the suspended girl, his leather shoes gripping the angled floor tiles as he approached the central console.The main terminal screen flashed with a bright red countdown. Sixty seconds remained before the Nano-Plague broadcast reached the global transmitters."The security node is completely isolated from

Silas stepped off the Valkyrie's cargo ramp. The tactical clock on the tarmac read 08:00 AM.​The sprawling courtyard of the Aegis Sanctum, usually buzzing with heavily armed Vanguard patrols, was entirely deadlocked. The massive titanium perimeter gates groaned under the immense, crushing weight of human bodies.​"The entire city is infected," Rex stood beside the landing gear, staring down through the reinforced glass of the observation deck. "They are not rioting. They are swarming."​Silas walked to the edge of the platform. Hundreds of thousands of civilians pressed tightly against the Sanctum’s barricades. They did not shout or scream. They moved with absolute, silent synchronicity.​Men in business suits, mothers holding groceries, and teenagers in school uniforms clawed at the titanium gates with their bare hands. Their eyes were a uniform, milky white. Their fingernails tore against the metal, leaving long streaks of blood, yet none of them registered a single ounce of pain.