Dad didn't turn on the lights.Just sat there in his recliner, backlit by the kitchen nightlight, hands folded like he was waiting for a confession. Or maybe preparing to give one. Hard to tell in the dark.I stood in the doorway with my keys still in hand, trying to calculate how fucked I was. The Killing Intent stat—now at 6 instead of 1—kept painting threat assessments over my own father's silhouette, and I genuinely wanted to rip my skull open and claw the System out with my fingernails."Sit down, Marcus."Not angry. Worse than angry. That flat, exhausted tone that meant he'd been thinking about this for hours. Maybe days.I sat on the couch. Put maybe six feet between us, which was stupid because what was I going to do—dodge my dad? But Predator's Eye kept whispering that I needed exit routes, needed to track his hands, needed to assess whether—Christ. This was my father."You've been lying to us," Dad said. Still quiet. Still that terrible calm. "Your mother hasn't noticed yet

The applause felt like insects crawling under my skin.I couldn't make it stop. Couldn't turn around and scream at them to shut up because my legs had decided they were done. I dropped to one knee in the middle of all those spider corpses, surrounded by the smell of burnt chitin and blood, and tried to remember how breathing worked.The Killing Intent wouldn't shut off.Still humming. Still active. And it was hungry.[Warning: Killing Intent saturation detec—]The notification glitched. Text scrambling, pixels dancing.[—ted. Prolonged activation may cause neural adaptation and—]It cut off. Just vanished.What the fuck was neural adaptation?"Marcus!" Jake's voice, way too loud. Footsteps running. "Dude that was the most insane—are you okay?"Was I okay?I'd just made a Level 9 Elite Boss run away. Projected so much killing intent that an apex predator decided I was more dangerous. And I could still feel it inside me, that certainty, that

The alarm went off at 2 PM and I woke up feeling nothing.Not numb. Not even calm. Something worse—empty. Like someone had scooped out my insides and replaced them with static.I sat up. Checked my phone. Message from Han with final details—Wu would be in his office 11 PM to midnight, alone, enforcers on patrol rotation. Window of opportunity: twelve minutes.Twelve minutes to cross a line I could never uncross.I should've felt terrified. Should've felt sick.Instead I just felt tired.Downstairs, Mom was making dinner early. Some kind of casserole that smelled better than I deserved."You're up," she said when she saw me. "I was worried. You've been sleeping so much.""Just catching up from training."The lie came so easy now. I wondered when that had happened. When lying to my mother became as natural as breathing."Well, you need to eat properly. Growing boy, Awakened powers, you need fuel."I sat. Ate mechanically. The food had taste

Dawn came too fast.I'd managed maybe two more hours of sleep after Han left, but it wasn't restful. Just darkness interrupted by fragments of the Thug's face. His surprise. The way he'd looked at me like he couldn't believe—I shoved the thought away and checked my phone. 5:47 AM. Henderson Park was fifteen minutes from Dr. Kim's clinic.Raven was waiting in the main room with two coffee cups."You're really going," she said."Yeah.""Alone?""That's what V said.""V could be Wu's people. Government. Someone worse." She handed me coffee. "At least let me shadow you. Stay far back. Close enough if things go wrong.""And if V sees you?""They won't. Shadow Class, remember?" She pulled out a small device. "Take this. Panic button. Three times fast and I'll know you're in trouble."I pocketed it. "Thanks.""Don't thank me. Just don't die." She paused. "And Marcus? Whatever V offers—whatever they know—information always has a price."H

I made my choice at 3 AM, staring at the ceiling of Dr. Kim's back room while everyone else slept.Not Han's way. Not Sarah's.Fuck both of them.My own way.I was going after Marcus Kane. The Brawler. The man who'd seen my face and lived to tell Wu about it. The man currently tearing through the city trying to find me.If I could dominate him—force him to submit like I'd done with the Broodmother—maybe the System would count it as the third mercy kill. Maybe I'd complete the Phantom Judge evolution.Or maybe I'd die trying and prove Han right about everything.Either way, I was done waiting.I got up. Found Raven asleep in a chair in the main clinic, laptop still open on her lap. She'd been researching Kane's patterns all night.I didn't wake her. Just pulled out my phone and opened Han's contact.Stared at it.Typed: Thanks for the offer. But I'm finding my own way.Deleted it without sending.Instead I opened Sarah Voss's contac