Chapter 1: Blood in the Narrow AlleyDrizzle slicked up the cracked asphalt in a narrow, claustrophobic alley behind the industrial park. The place reeked of rotting garbage, mixed with the metallic tang of blood starting to trickle from Zolda's temple. His scrawny frame was slumped in a murky puddle, while three hulking dudes stood in a circle around him, wearing nasty, mocking grins."Yo, trash! You still breathing down there?"Juki, a street enforcer rocking a scorpion tattoo on his neck, spat squarely on Zolda's shivering back."I... I got no beef with you guys..." Zolda coughed, hacking up thick red liquid."No beef? Hah! My boss says you're a nuisance. You know what happens to roaches that ruin the view for rich folks?" Juki barked a harsh laugh that echoed off the damp concrete walls."Man, Juk, just finish him already. You talk too damn much," chimed in the second lackey, a bald guy named Gofur, flipping a pocket knife open and shut."Hold your horses, Fur. I wanna hear him be

Chapter 3: The Healer’s Wrath...his face turned violently purple in a split second, eyes bugging out like they were about to pop right out of their sockets! The old man’s body, which had been standing tall with all that arrogant billionaire energy just a second ago, suddenly collapsed, twitching hard on the wet asphalt. Mr. Wijaya clutched his chest, his mouth opening and closing like a goldfish completely out of water."Ugh... hack! What... what did you... do to me...?" Wijaya’s voice sputtered out syllable by syllable, hoarse and dripping with unbearable agony.Zolda just stood there looking totally unbothered, shoving his hands into his ratty jacket pockets with a cocky smirk on his face. "I didn't do shit to you, old man. Just saying 'hi' to that rusty heart valve of yours. How's it feel? Like a thousand rusty needles stabbing you all at once, right?""Mr. Wijaya! Hey, you freak! Let the boss go!" The two giant bodyguards yelled at the same time, but their legs were practically t

Chapter 5: Breath on the Needle’s Edge...let this darkness swallow whatever’s left of that cheap arrogance of yours!” Sakti, the executive of the Medical Shadow Sect in the golden robe, swung his dark purple needle with impossible speed. The wind on the ruined apartment balcony suddenly howled, as if nature itself was terrified of the deadly aura radiating from him.Zolda collapsed, his chest heaving wildly. Fresh blood trickled from the corner of his mouth; it felt like thousands of fire ants were gnawing at his blood vessels from the inside. This energy rebound was a total bitch. His Kunao Inner Eye seemed to be rebelling, refusing to be forced into overdrive within such a fragile body.Spit!“You… you think I’m scared of some granny’s sewing needle?” Zolda spat a mouthful of blood right onto Sakti’s golden boots.“Hahaha! You still got a mouth on you, huh? I admit, you got balls, monkey. But in front of my Spirit-Severing Needle, you’re just meat waiting to be butchered!” Sakti st

Chapter 7: A Fatal Landing on Forbidden Ground...sending their bodies flying straight out just as the helicopter’s fuel tank exploded into a gigantic fireball against the dark night sky! The wind whipped their skin raw, and gravity felt like it was trying to crush their bones as they free-fell toward the pitch-black ocean surface below.“ZOLDAAA! HEEEELP! I’M NOT READY TO DIE LIKE AN IDIOT YET!” Navi screamed hysterically, her voice raspy and swallowed by the deafening roar of the wind.“SHUT UP, NAV! GRAB ONTO ME! SISKA, GET OVER HERE!” Zolda shouted, forcing every ounce of his golden energy out of his pores, forming a sort of transparent energy parachute in mid-air.“I’M TRYING, YOU MORON! MY HANDS ARE SLIPPERY!” Siska yelled back, her face ghost-pale as she tried to grab the edge of Zolda’s jacket in the middle of their death dive.Zolda growled, his eyes flashing deep gold. He snatched Navi by the waist with his left hand and grabbed Siska’s collar with his right, mere seconds be

Chapter 9: The Rise of the Emperor...a thick, neon-green fog hissed out of the deadly canister, flooding every inch of the secret lab with a metallic stench that instantly scorched their lungs! Navi doubled over, hacking violently as her eyes burned like they’d been doused in pepper spray. Siska had already collapsed beside the silver coffin, her face turning a terrifying shade of blue."Drop dead, all of you! Nobody survives Project Omega, especially not a mouthy little brat like you!" The Shadowless Executioner let out a sinister laugh from behind his dark sunglasses."P-patheitc... you coward... using chemical gas!" Navi tried to stand, but her knees turned to jelly."The world doesn't need heroes, Miss Navi. It needs obedience. And Mr. Wijaya wants you all erased from history... Now, let me take what rightfully belongs to us!" The suited man stepped closer to the silver coffin, a pair of heavy-duty steel cutters already in his grip.Suddenly, a loud CRACK echoed from inside the s