Chapter 152 The smoke from the explosion still rose in thick, twisting columns above the crash site. Kael was gone. Nothing remained of him except a faint green shimmer in the air that slowly faded, and a single blood-stained shard of what had once been his rift energy. The boy who had opened controlled rifts to save them, who had taken whips and chains without breaking, who had burned himself out to give them one last chance — he had chosen to become nothing more than light and memory. Zarek stood in the scorched clearing, hammer hanging loosely from one hand. Both of his eyes now burned with steady golden light. The veins had spread across his entire face and down his neck, disappearing beneath the collar of his armor. His breathing was slow. Too steady. The mark was satisfied. For the first time since he had claimed it, the singing in his head was quiet. Not gone. Just… content. Like a predator that had finally tasted blood and was now simply waiting for the next meal. Mira

Chapter 154The thing rising from the earth was no ordinary war-beast.It towered over the ruined towers — a grotesque fusion of scavenged Vorathian armor, mutated flesh, and living Archive code. Massive tendrils of glowing data whipped from its back like living whips. Its eyes were fractured portals of blue code. Every step it took left burning golden footprints in the stone. The explosion that had taken Kael had torn open something deeper, and the mark had called this abomination forth.Zarek felt it the moment it fully emerged.The hunger in his head sharpened into something ravenous.This one is strong, the mark whispered. We could claim it. We could make it ours. All you have to do is stop holding back.Zarek raised his hammer as the beast roared — a sound that was half mechanical shriek and half digital static.Mira stepped up beside him, wrench in hand, blood still staining her clothes from the earlier fight. Lira stood just behind them, small golden hammer glowing faintly in h

Chapter 147The ghosts came in waves.Zarek met the first wave head-on, hammer blazing with mixed Overlord and Archive fire. Every swing shattered tendrils of living code. Every step he took left golden footprints that burned into the stone. The mark fed him power with every enemy he destroyed, and he took it without hesitation.But the three marked humans didn’t join the fight immediately.They simply watched.The woman with the golden latticework face stood at the front of the facility entrance, arms crossed, golden eyes calm. The two men beside her — one with golden veins crawling up his throat like living tattoos, the other with half his chest replaced by smooth code plating — observed Zarek like he was a fascinating experiment.Mira fought beside him, wrench smashing through ghosts with brutal efficiency. Lira stayed close to her mother, swinging her small golden hammer whenever anything got too near. Elara floated above them all, her light cutting through the swarm in precise, b

Chapter 148 They walked for hours through the broken graveyard. The ruins seemed endless — towers that had once touched the sky now reduced to jagged skeletons. Cracked roads and collapsed walkways stretched between them like veins in a dying body. The sky above remained fractured in places, thin lines of golden code still glowing faintly where the marked humans had opened the facility. Zarek led the way in silence. Both eyes stayed gold. The veins across his face and arms had stopped spreading for now, but they hadn’t faded. Every few minutes his left hand would twitch, golden light flickering between his fingers before he forced it down. Mira stayed close to his side, one hand resting on his arm. She hadn’t let go since they left the clearing. Lira walked between them, small golden hammer still clutched in her hands. Elara floated just behind Zarek, her light steady but dimmer than it had been before the fight. No one spoke about the marked humans. But the encounter hung over

Chapter 160 The bunker smelled of blood and ozone. Zarek sat against the wall while Mira pressed a torn strip of cloth against the wound in his side. Golden blood soaked through the fabric almost as fast as she could replace it. Elara floated beside them, small hands glowing as she tried to help seal the injury with her power. Lira sat a few feet away, hugging her knees, the tiny golden hammer still clutched in one hand. Her eyes kept darting to the bunker entrance like she expected the marked humans to return any second. Zarek’s breathing was steady, but his golden eyes were distant. The mark had gone quiet again after the fight. Too quiet. Mira finished tying the makeshift bandage and sat back on her heels. She studied Zarek’s face — the golden veins, the solid gold eyes, the exhaustion underneath it all. “You almost lost it,” she said quietly. Zarek didn’t deny it. “I saw it,” he admitted. “Joining them. Building with them. You and the girls… rewritten. Safe. Perfect. For