WHOOSH!Without wasting a single second, Gideon Vancroft charged forward like a beast unleashed. His heavy, powerful footsteps made the entire suspended steel catwalk tremble violently, rapid metallic booms echoing through the factory. The one-eyed giant gave no opening whatsoever. He immediately swung his twin serrated machetes in a horrifying rotational technique. Beneath the flickering neon lights, the black steel blades created a deadly web of slashes that seemed to seal off every possible angle of movement.Elias, now fully embedded within the central nervous system of the Executioner’s corpse, did not stay still and instantly retaliated against the deadly assault. He no longer needed the sledgehammer that had been thrown into the corner of the room earlier. Relying solely on the hydraulic force of his host’s massive dead muscles, the Executioner’s corpse launched a straight punch toward Gideon’s chest. The blow carried enough force to punch through a thick concrete wall in a sin

Above the Steel Factory Catwalk.Heat, the stench of burned flesh, and the metallic reek of blood choked the air. Kael Thorne leaned his back against an iron pillar, breathing hard. His right shoulder, grazed earlier by a sniper round, throbbed violently as fresh blood seeped through his black shirt. Beside him, Sloane sat slumped against the wall, her face pale as a corpse. The former paramedic’s left arm hung at an unnatural angle, the bone shattered from the Executioner’s hammer strike.The two of them stared down into the smelting furnace abyss through the broken catwalk railing. On the concrete ledge fifteen meters below, two massive figures lay motionless. The Executioner’s corpse rested atop Gideon Vancroft’s body, his throat crushed beyond recognition. Both of them were nothing more than dead flesh now. Elias’s necrotic connection had vanished completely.Sloane glanced at the communication radio lying on the floor, then picked it up with her trembling right hand. She pressed

One Day Later. Abandoned Steel Factory, Sector Four.Police tape hung crooked across the front gate, yet not a single law enforcement officer dared stand guard there. The lingering stench of phosphorus fire, dried blood, and rotting flesh still seeped heavily from the factory grounds.Three gleaming black SUVs rolled slowly into the inner yard and stopped beneath the shattered glass canopy. The doors opened.Eight men in thick black raincoats stepped out in synchronized motion, latex medical gloves covering their hands. They were not thugs or militia carrying machine guns. They were cleaners, the elite Vancroft division responsible for erasing evidence. They carried metal cases filled with DNA-neutralizing chemicals, airtight body bags, and portable forensic scanners.From the center SUV, Camilla Vancroft stepped out.She held a large black umbrella and wore knee-high leather boots over tailored black slacks. Camilla paid no attention to the rainwater mixed with blood beneath her feet

“UHHK!”Kael Thorne’s eyes flew wide open. A strange cold sensation, not pain, but absolute numbness, spread instantly from his stomach through every nerve in his spine. The neurotoxin-coated stiletto blade was yanked out quickly by the assassin, leaving behind a small hole that leaked thick, dark blood.Kael’s sturdy body immediately lost all support. His knees buckled. He collapsed onto the concrete floor with a dull thud, unable to move even his fingers. The neurotoxin worked with horrifying speed, severing the motor signals between brain and muscle.The former detective was paralyzed instantly, but his consciousness remained intact. The hallucinogenic gas filling the room only made his vision spiral further out of control.Through Kael’s hallucination-clouded eyes, the black-suited assassin standing before him no longer looked like a Vancroft agent. The figure slowly transformed. The gas mask melted away, replaced by the scarred face of a giant man with half his jaw burned black.

Tut. Tut. Tut.The disconnected tone from the phone lying in the pool of blood sounded like a death sentence.Near the basement doorway, the puddles of Fluoroantimonic Acid sprayed by the Vancroft agents had not only melted the steel hinges, they were now eating through the concrete floor and surrounding walls as well. Thick yellow-green corrosive smoke billowed upward, blending with the remnants of the hallucinogenic gas. The stench of burning metal and liquefying concrete stabbed brutally into their noses.Their secret headquarters, the only sanctuary where Elias could remove the mask of his monstrosity, was collapsing beneath acid and poison."Elias! We have to move, now!" Sloane shouted. Her voice was hoarse and frantic. She clutched her left shoulder, wrapped in a blood-soaked sling, while staggering to her feet. "The acid's eating through the stair foundation! If the ceiling caves in, we're getting buried alive!"Elias stared in horror at the yellow smoke creeping closer to the