"There is movement in the northern sector, Mr. Thorne. Three unidentified tactical vehicles just breached the outer perimeter of the pine forest."Dr. Hans Gruber's voice broke the silence in the main command room of the Black Castle. The mad doctor typed quickly on the keyboard, his eyes staring sharply at the red-blinking radar screen.Caleb Thorne stepped into the room with a breath that sounded wet and heavy. He had just left the castle hallway after receiving a direct threat from the Centurion General. The pain in his right chest continued to throb constantly due to his dead lung. His left hand held the edge of the iron table to support his exhausted body. A black eyepatch covered the blind left half of his face."How many of them are there, Doctor?" asked Isabella Vane. The woman stood beside the monitor screen, her hand already on the ready at the grip of her modified pistol."About twenty men armed with long rifles, Miss Bella. They are us

"It seems this British man has watched too many secret agent movies."Caleb Thorne snorted softly. His voice sounded hoarse and wet. He stepped through the darkness of the ancient tunnel beneath the Colosseum, ignoring the remaining blood still staining his shirt collar.Isabella aimed both her pistols at the silent stone corridor stretching out before them. "He knows exactly we are coming, Caleb. This corridor must be filled with high-level mechanical traps. Arthur Pendelton never leaves his front door open without a reason.""Woof! Mechanical traps can only be destroyed by hot steel bullets, Queen," Viktor laughed hoarsely from behind his carbon steel mask. The barrel of the Gatling Gun in his hands began to spin slowly, producing a threatening humming sound. "Let me clear this path."Caleb raised a hand, signaling the Russian giant to hold his fire."Save your bullets, Viktor. I won't waste energy fighting outdated physical traps. We'l

"Air, Dominus. We are suffocating. This light is burning us alive."The Centurion General's voice echoed desperately right inside Caleb Thorne's cerebral cortex. The screams of tens of thousands of ghosts trapped in that boundless whirlpool of mirrors now mixed with the physical terror experienced by their master. Caleb opened his mouth wide, trying to greedily draw in oxygen.Nothing. Not a single molecule of air entered his throat.The massive-capacity industrial pump machines installed by Arthur Pendelton had sucked out the entire volume of air inside the giant vault. The room was now purely a vacuum chamber. An absolute void.Caleb's right lung, which had been shattered and rotting since the incident in Frankfurt, immediately reacted very brutally. The extreme pressure difference tore at the remaining flesh tissue inside his chest cavity. Caleb fell onto his hands and knees. The mirrored floor beneath him reflected his deathly pale face, cover

"Take a breath, Dominus! The air has returned!"The Centurion General's voice echoed loudly and urgently inside Caleb Thorne's head. Fresh wind from the gallery corridor roared fiercely into the newly shattered vault room. Caleb fell to his left knee. He opened his mouth wide, sucking in oxygen very greedily. His still-healthy left lung worked extra hard, pumping life back into his nearly dead bloodstream."Cough. Khhrrk," Caleb coughed very hard. A clump of pitch-black blood spurted from his mouth, wetting the scattered titanium-lined glass shards beneath his knee. "I am still breathing, General. Stop shouting in my head.""The optical illusion is broken. Our shadow is stable again," reported the ancient ghost commander.The bronze-helmeted skull figure manifested completely in front of Caleb. The mirrors reflecting infinite distortion were now smashed to pieces. Dark spots naturally re-formed in the corners of the room. The ghost's red eyes then

"Scalpel size four. Please hold your breath, Mr. Thorne. This piece of titanium glass is embedded very deeply, scraping right against your radius bone."Dr. Hans Gruber's voice sounded incredibly tense, breaking the silence of the Black Castle's underground operating room. Blinding surgical lights shone directly onto Caleb Thorne's shattered right arm. Silvery-black blood continued to flow, wetting the green medical sheets. The emergency journey from Rome to Switzerland had drained a lot of the Shadow Emperor's blood.Caleb sat leaning back on the iron bed. He did not look at his arm being operated on at all. His left hand held a tablet computer. His one remaining brown eye was busy reading rows of classified digital documents successfully downloaded from the remnants of Panopticon's servers."Just pull the glass out, Hans," ordered Caleb with a very flat baritone voice. He coughed softly. His breathing sounded wet and gurgling due to his completely dead r