Silas Kapito stood on the dark balcony. He looked up at the five pitch-black dropships hovering in the night sky. The Black-Guard had found them. Down in the garden, tall soldiers in dark armor were already moving through the grass. "We cannot fight an army in the open," Silas said. His voice was calm, but his 30-beats-per-minute heart pounded with a heavy, serious rhythm. "Back inside!" Silas commanded. Ren, Mara, Kael, Jax, Leo, and Anya did not argue. They turned around and ran back through the broken glass door. They ran out of Vako’s office and into the wide, luxurious marble corridor of the mansion. The corridor was long and beautiful. It had soft red carpets and bright crystal lights on the ceiling. "We need to find the basement stairs," Anya whispered. She held her glowing energy-sword tight. "If the Black-Guard is outside, we have to escape underground."Silas walked at the front of the pack. His solid black eyes scanned the empty hallway. Everything looked perfectly pea

The thick, white fire-retardant foam filled the luxurious corridor from floor to ceiling. It was blinding. It was freezing cold. The world was completely silent. Silas Kapito knelt on the marble floor. He had sent the Vibration Tap to his pack. Ren, Mara, Jax, and Leo were standing perfectly still. They were barely breathing. Kael lay bleeding near the wall. Silas closed his eyes. He pressed his heavy, Iron-Grey palms against the floor. He used his "Deep Focus" to feel the tiny vibrations of the three elite Silencers moving toward him. Silas counted the three invisible assassins. They were moving in a pincer formation, trying to surround him. Suddenly, the vibration in the floor spiked. “Target One is lunging,” Silas’s machine mind calculated. Silas did not stand up. He stayed on one knee. A monomolecular blade—a knife so sharp it could cut through solid steel like butter—sliced through the thick white foam. It passed exactly two inches away from Silas’s face. The blade moved

The thick white foam was stained with blue hydraulic fluid and red blood. The first invisible assassin lay dead on the marble floor. Silas Kapito did not stop moving. The fight was not over. There were two elite Silencers left. They were trapped in the freezing white blizzard. They could not see the Grey Ghost. They knew their optical camouflage was ruined by the foam. They were terrified. "Kill him!" Target Two screamed into his radio. His voice was muffled by the thick white bubbles. The two remaining assassins made a desperate choice. They reached to their belts and pressed a glowing red button. They activated their "Overdrive" modes. A loud, high-pitched whining sound filled the corridor. The heavy back-mounted "Fusion-Packs" on their armor surged with massive amounts of raw power. The mechanical joints in their legs and arms began to pump twice as fast. They were pushing their machines past the safe limit. They wanted to move faster than Silas. They wanted to chop him into

Chapter 208 The dark, cold tunnel at the bottom of the elevator shaft was completely quiet. There was no way out. The giant, three-ton door made of pure, reinforced tungsten-alloy blocked the path to Vako’s secret research lab. Ren tapped the cold metal with his tether-spike. Tink. The sound died instantly. "It’s deep-anchored into the bedrock, Silas," Ren whispered. His voice was full of fear. "Even a military thermal-charge won't dent this. It’s meant to survive a nuclear strike."Silas Kapito did not look worried. He stepped up to the giant metal door. He did not look for a keypad. He did not look for a handle. He gently ran his metallic fingers over the cold, dark grey surface. "Nothing is unbreakable," Silas said softly. He turned to look at his pack. Kael was sitting on the floor, bleeding badly. Anya held her glowing energy-sword, looking nervously back at the elevator doors. "Ren," Silas commanded. "Form a perimeter. Watch the elevator. The High Architect’s guards will co

The ten Seraphim executioners charged into the secret laboratory. Their white crystal armor glowed brightly in the dark. They held their long spears out, the red energy crackling at the tips. "Defensive circle!" Silas roared. Ren, Anya, Mara, Jax, and Leo quickly formed a tight circle around Kael, who lay bleeding on the floor. Ren raised his tether-spike. Anya ignited her glowing energy-sword. They were terrified, but they were ready to die for their King. Silas stepped in front of his pack. He only had one working arm, but his solid black eyes were completely calm. The leader of the Seraphim thrust his red spear directly at Silas’s chest. Silas did not dodge. He raised his good right hand. He did not punch the spear. He chopped his hand down, striking the wooden shaft of the weapon. CRACK. The thick wood snapped in half. Silas spun, driving his tungsten-dense elbow directly into the leader’s white crystal helmet. The crystal exploded like glass. The leader fell backward, kno