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Rise Of The Phoenix: Dylan’s Rebirth 153
Chapter 153: The Final GambleDylan’s heart pounded in his chest as he fought to stay conscious. His body was on the brink of collapse, every muscle crying out in agony, but his mind screamed at him to keep going. Titan was down—momentarily. The giant staggered, gasping for air as his massive form swayed, trying to gather his balance. But Dylan knew better than to believe this fight was over. The giant was only biding his time.Titan’s eyes locked onto him with a burning fury, as if every ounce of rage in the world had been funneled into that gaze. Dylan barely had time to react before the earth-shaking roar of Titan’s wrath shook the very air around them.Titan lunged forward, his massive arm swinging with enough force to level a mountain. Dylan saw it coming, but his body was slow to react. His legs wobbled beneath him as he tried to get out of the way, but it was no use. The blow was too fast, too powerful. Titan’s fist smashed into his side like a hammer striking steel.Dylan’s bo
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154“Fine,” Titan muttered, his voice low and begrudging. “But it’s not over yet, Dylan.” His eyes flickered back to the battered warrior with a malicious glint in them. “I’m going to enjoy watching you struggle.”Dylan’s breath came in shallow gasps, each one harder than the last. His body was a battlefield of bruises, cuts, and exhaustion, but he wasn’t about to let Titan’s words get to him. They were nothing more than distractions, empty threats from a man who thought his strength made him invincible. And Dylan was not about to be taken down by words.The brief hesitation had given him a sliver of time, a sliver of hope, and he wasn’t going to waste it.Titan took a step back, clearly recalibrating, but Dylan wasn’t waiting for the giant to finish his thoughts. His mind raced, the sounds of the fight echoing in his ears, his every breath sharp and ragged. He had to move, had to act now, or everything he’d fought for would be for nothing.Think, Dylan. Think.He could barely stand.
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155Titan’s chest heaved as he lunged forward, throwing another crushing punch. Dylan barely dodged, feeling the air move around him as Titan’s fist passed just inches from his face. His heart pounded in his ears, but he didn’t let it throw him off balance.He had to stay calm. He had to—A low growl escaped Titan’s lips, and his massive arm swung again, but this time, Dylan was ready.Move fast. Move smart.Dylan darted to the left, his body twisting in a fluid motion. His feet barely touched the ground as he darted closer to the giant, moving like a shadow, calculating every step. Titan’s next punch landed with a deafening crash, and for a moment, Dylan thought it might be the end.But it wasn’t.He ducked beneath Titan’s next blow, his hands shaking as they gripped the ground to keep him steady. There, just beneath Titan’s ribs, was the opening he’d been waiting for. The weak spot. The one place Titan couldn’t cover with his sheer force.With a burst of energy, Dylan surged forward
Rise Of The Phoenix: Dylan’s Rebirth 156
156: The Breaking PointDylan’s world was fading, the edges of his vision blurring as he lay on the cold, unforgiving ground. His body was broken, each breath a painful struggle, his chest heaving with every shallow inhale. Every inch of him screamed in agony, and despite all the years of training, the countless battles he’d fought, this time, it felt like he was truly at the end.He had nothing left. No strength, no will to keep going. The room spun around him in dizzying circles, and the faint echo of Titan’s mocking voice rang in his ears.“I told you it was over,” Titan’s voice rumbled above him. “You can’t fight me, Dylan. You never could.”The giant stood over him like a towering beast, his fists clenched and ready to deliver the final, crushing blow. Dylan could barely lift his head, his hands trembling as they brushed the floor in a desperate attempt to steady himself.Titan loomed like the embodiment of death, his form a dark silhouette against the flickering lights. Dylan co
Rise Of The Phoenix: Dylan’s Rebirth 157
157: The Prisoner’s FateDylan’s body lay stiff, trapped in the metal confines of the pit that had swallowed him whole. His bones ached, and his vision wavered, but even in his near-unconscious state, he could feel the heavy weight of Seraphina’s gaze above him. The air felt suffocating, the silence pressing down on him like a physical force.Then, her voice sliced through the stillness, low and filled with raw, unrestrained fury.“You’re my prisoner now, Dylan,” Seraphina said, her words laced with venom. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this moment.”Dylan, too weak to move or defend himself, barely lifted his head. His body trembled, each breath a fight against the crushing pain. He could hear the tremor in her voice, the crack of emotion in her words that twisted the knife deeper into his heart. What happened to her?Her shadow loomed large over him, a looming specter of rage and betrayal. Seraphina’s eyes burned with an intensity he had never seen before, her expression
Rise Of The Phoenix: Dylan’s Rebirth 158
158 “I didn’t know how to tell you,” he whispered, his voice full of sorrow. “I didn’t know how to face you with the truth. I was scared. I was weak. I thought I could fix it on my own, but I couldn’t. I failed you.” Her eyes locked with his, filled with a deep, aching sadness. “You think you could’ve fixed it?” she scoffed, shaking her head. “You destroyed everything. And now you want to say ‘sorry’?” She took a step back, her face hardening with resolve. “You should’ve thought of that before you made your choices, Dylan.” Dylan’s chest tightened with the weight of her words. He had no defense, no explanation. Everything she said was true. His decisions had cost him the woman he loved, and the guilt of that realization was suffocating. “I’m sorry, Sera,” he whispered again, this time barely able to speak the words. “I never meant for any of this to happen.” Seraphina turned away from him, the anger still burning in her eyes. Her fingers clenched into fists as she walked toward
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159 “I didn’t want to leave you, Sera,” he said, his voice barely audible now, strained with the weight of his own pain. “I didn’t know how to stay. I was scared. I thought I had to fix things on my own, but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I didn’t know how to come back to you.”The silence between them stretched on for what felt like an eternity. Seraphina didn’t turn around, didn’t acknowledge him. He could feel her standing there, her back to him, but the distance between them had never felt greater.“I thought you were dead, Dylan,” she whispered again, this time more to herself than to him. “And then you come back with her, and everything is… it’s just a lie. You lied to me. You lied about everything.”Dylan’s chest tightened, and for a moment, he couldn’t breathe. He had lied. He had hidden the truth from her, kept secrets that had cost them everything. And now, even if he apologized a thousand times, it wouldn’t be enough to undo the damage.He tried to speak again, but the words stuck
Rise Of The Phoenix: Dylan’s Rebirth 160
160“No…” Dylan’s voice cracked, his body trembling with a mix of horror and sorrow. “You’ve lost yourself, Sera. You’ve let all this hate consume you.” He staggered toward her, but his movements were slow, weak. “This… this isn’t you. You’ve changed. You’ve become… a person I don’t even recognize anymore.”Seraphina’s expression hardened, her face transforming into an unreadable mask of indifference. “I don’t care what you think,” she spat, her tone dripping with contempt. “I don’t give a damn about your opinions anymore. You made your choice, Dylan. Now live with it.”The words hit him like a slap to the face. Live with it. What choice had he made? He had never wanted any of this. He had never asked for any of it. And yet here they were—he, broken and defeated, and she, consumed by a twisted version of vengeance. There was no room for understanding, no space for forgiveness. Just anger, regret, and a shattered future.Dylan swallowed hard, his eyes never leaving hers. “I never wante
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221: The Future in Flame “I wouldn’t have told you if I wasn’t.” Dylan nodded. “Then let’s burn the world down.” He typed the command. A loading bar began to climb. Lilith stepped up beside him and pulled a drive from her coat—sleek, unlabeled, humming softly. “My code’s on here,” she said. “It’ll mimic the framework of Ignis Core perfectly. I’ve even embedded some of your old code from before you joined Ash. They’ll think it’s legit. Familiar. But once it activates… recursive detonation.” She handed it to him. He plugged it in. The system blinked. Code spilled across the screen—lines upon lines of luminous, perfect deception. Lilith crossed her arms as she watched. “We’ve got one shot at this.” Dylan didn’t look away from the screen. “Then we make it count.” The lights dimmed for a moment as the system initiated a shadow crawl—spreading the false Ignis Core like a virus in slow motion. Unseen. Waiting. When it was done, Dylan stood back, eyes cold. “Now we wait for them
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220 Another pause. Then the faint sound of typing. “You want a paper trail?” “I want everything. Timeline?” “Standard turnaround is three days—” “Yesterday,” she cut in coldly. “I want to know everything.” The line stayed quiet for another beat, then the voice softened just a little. “Got it. I’ll be in touch.” Jane hung up before he could say anything else. She stood still for a moment, the city buzzing around her, oblivious. The ache in her cheek was fading now. But something else was forming beneath it. A plan. This wasn’t over. Not by a long shot. She might not have been the mother Molly needed—but she was still the sharpest weapon in the room. And it was time to cut through the lies. **** “God, that hurt,” Jane muttered under her breath, wincing as she touched her cheek again. Jane exhaled slowly, tucking the phone into her coat. Her fingers were trembling slightly, but not from fear. Anticipation. She turned to herself, muttering quietly, “Let them play the her
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219 Jane was a good actress.Always had been.The tears never came when they were supposed to, and yet she could conjure them on command. A trembling voice, a haunted look, a furious, grieving mother storming into the middle of someone else’s crisis like she owned it—she wore the mask well. She always had.She could remember the first time she learned how useful a lie could be. She was ten, maybe eleven. Her father had forgotten to pick her up from piano class. Again. When she walked home alone, cold and soaked from the rain, her mother demanded to know why she hadn’t called.“I dropped the phone,” Jane had said. “It broke.”Not true. Not even close.But her mother had sighed, pulled her into a towel, and mumbled something about how her father never remembered the important things. That day, Jane realized that people didn’t want the truth. They wanted a version of it they could live with.Molly’s disappearance? Tragic, yes. Maddening, of course. But gut-wrenching?Not exactly.She fe
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218Her cheek was on fire.The skin throbbed beneath her fingertips, every heartbeat pumping more heat into the wound Lilith had left. Jane could feel the swelling already—tight and raw, as if a thousand needles were pricking her at once. Her ears rang from the sound of the slap, but louder still was the pounding of her own pride, screaming at her that she couldn’t—wouldn’t—let this end with her standing there, humiliated.No.Not like this.Not with Dylan between them, not with Lilith standing there looking like some righteous, self-important goddess. Not when her cheek was burning like it was trying to peel off her damn face.Jane’s eyes locked on Lilith—and without a second thought, without hesitation or grace, she struck.Her hand shot out fast and furious, an explosion of motion that cracked across Lilith’s face with a sickening sound. Her palm connected hard, and the impact shuddered down her arm like a jolt.Lilith’s head snapped to the side. Her hair, half-loose from the earli
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217Jane’s chest heaved, her breath coming fast and shallow. Her eyes burned—wild, furious, and unrelenting. She pointed a shaking finger at Dylan, voice trembling but loud enough to draw the attention of a passing couple across the street.“I left you, Dylan. You. Not Molly.”Her voice dropped, turning venomous and precise, like she was lashing each syllable across his face. “Both of you were the chains wrapped around my neck. You—some pathetic, broke, useless excuse of a man. A man with no future, no plan, no spine. Every day I spent in that house was like dying slowly. I did the right thing leaving. And guess what? I’m better for it. Stronger. Smarter. And soon, I’ll be a very rich woman. Not just locally. Not just nationally. Internationally. Bobby’s making it happen.”Dylan blinked, once, then twice. For a second he said nothing, just looked at her—really looked at her. At the expensive earrings, the glossy lipstick, the clothes tailored to perfection. All the glitter piled on to
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216 “I left Molly,” she whispered. “I left her behind. I thought she’d be better off without the mess I was making. I thought Dylan—God—he was supposed to protect her.” “I think he’s been trying,” Lisa said softly. “But he’s hiding something. Maybe a lot of things.” “And he brought Lilith into this,” Jane muttered. “Of course he did. Of course.” There was venom in her voice when she said Lilith’s name. Jane had met the woman twice—both times by accident, and both times left her with the distinct impression that Lilith was a wolf smiling in a fur coat. Jane’s breathing became shallow. She looked around her kitchen like she was searching for something to punch. The cabinets were too sturdy. The walls were too silent. “She’s just a little girl,” Jane said, her voice cracking. “She still calls bees ‘buzzies’ and thinks thunder means God’s bowling. How the hell could he keep this from me?” Lisa didn’t speak. “I’m going to find him,” Jane said suddenly, moving. Her voice was low and
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215Her hand slowly dropped from her cheek. “You’re talking about her like she’s a monster.”“She’s not,” Dylan said. “She’s human. But that doesn’t make her a mother.”A long silence stretched between them.Lilith said nothing, letting the space breathe, letting the weight of truth settle.Lisa looked at her, and for once, there was no bite in her voice. Just a raw kind of confusion. “Why didn’t you tell me?”Lilith looked back evenly. “Because you were too busy setting the stage.”Lisa’s lip trembled. “I didn’t know…”“No,” Dylan said, softer now. “You didn’t want to know.”He stepped past her then, toward the street, toward whatever came next. He was done with the confrontation. Done with the theater. There were more important things to do.Molly needed him.Lilith followed without a word, falling into step beside him.Lisa stood in the middle of the sidewalk, surrounded by the remnants of her own performance—watchers gone, the spotlight faded.She was alone now.And the weight of
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214 Infact it was her shady car buyers and Dylan mistook them as people there to try to kill him. “Who are they?” Lilith asked. Lisa didn’t answer. She turned back to Dylan instead. “Don’t play dumb. Don’t pretend you’re in danger. You’re not the victim here. You never have been.” “Then what’s the show for?” Lilith asked. “I told you,” Lisa snapped. “People deserve to know what kind of man he is.” “People already think they know,” Lilith said. “You’re just hammering it in. Why now? Why here? What’s happening that you don’t want anyone to see?” Lisa’s jaw clenched. She took another step back. But Dylan had already started mentally mapping the exit points. The alley to their right. The cafe entrance. The fire escape four buildings down. He wasn’t just seeing Lisa anymore—he was reading the whole board. This wasn’t random. And the moment he’d seen her, standing there with her coat too perfect, voice too loud, eyes too bright, he’d known. It was all wrong. It wasn’t grief or
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213“She finally divorced you,” Lisa said, the words slicing the air like glass. Her voice was calmer now, but only because she knew she’d drawn blood. “Finally. And thank God she did. Jane is building a life now—a future. Something you would have ruined if she’d stayed. You dragged her down long enough.”The words settled over the sidewalk like ash. A few onlookers had stopped, heads turning, phones subtly raised. The city had its own rhythm—cars hissing by on wet asphalt, neon lights flickering in windows—but all of it dimmed under Lisa’s voice.Dylan stood frozen for a beat too long. His hands curled into fists, not out of anger, but restraint. His heart pounded like a war drum behind his ribs. He wanted to yell, to peel back her lies in front of everyone, to lay out the complexities of what had really happened—what Jane had chosen to ignore, what she had run from long before any betrayal.But he knew how this would look.Lisa always knew how to hold a stage. How to paint herself i
