2025-11-15 21:31:53The motorcycle tore through the sleeping city like a streak of black lightning.
Wind whipped against Kain’s face, stinging his eyes and stealing the breath from his lungs. He clung tightly to the rider, muscles trembling, his mind still trying to understand what he’d just seen what had chased him.
Behind them, the street was a blur of shadows and neon reflections, but the bike moved too fast for Kain to look back. He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to see those things gaining on them.
The rider said nothing.
Her grip was steady, confident, every movement precise. She rode like she knew the city’s backstreets better than she knew her own heartbeat.
They cut through an alley, splashed through a shallow puddle, and emerged into a wider road. The engine roared louder as she pushed the bike even harder.
Kain shouted over the wind, “Who ARE you?!”
The rider didn’t turn her head.
“Hold on!”
“That’s not an answer!”
Suddenly she leaned the bike into a sharp left turn. Kain’s stomach dropped as his knee nearly scraped the asphalt. They shot into another alleyway, then another, twisting through a maze of narrow, dark paths.
Kain risked a glance over his shoulder.
He wished he hadn’t.
The faceless woman was on the rooftops, sprinting across them like gravity didn’t apply. Her limbs bent at impossible angles as she leaped from building to building.
And the three dark figures they ran along the walls.
Sideways.
Like insects.
Their shadows trailed behind them like living things.
Kain’s breath hitched.
“Oh, come on how are they still”
“They’re not human,” the rider said, her voice muffled by the helmet.
“Stop expecting them to follow human rules!”
Kain swallowed hard.
“Then what are they?!”
“You don’t want to know yet.”
“Yes,” he snapped back, “I think I do!”
The rider said nothing.
But the silence was louder than the engine.
They burst out onto an abandoned highway. The road stretched like a dark river under the moonlight. Empty. Silent.
Too silent.
Kain’s grip tightened. “Why here?”
“So they can’t cut us off.”
The rider accelerated hard.
Kain clenched his teeth as the bike surged forward. “You’re driving like someone who’s done this before.”
She made a low sound something between a laugh and a scoff.
“I’ve done it more times than you’ve been alive.”
Kain blinked.
“What does that even mean?”
But before she could answer, the air behind them shifted.
A sound echoed.
Not quite a scream.
Not quite a howl.
Something in between.
It rippled through the air like a blade.
Kain felt it slice through his spine.
He spun around and his blood froze.
The faceless woman had dropped onto the highway, landing on all fours. Her body jerked as if electricity passed through her. Then her head snapped upward.
Her blank face tilted toward them.
And she sprinted.
Her limbs blurred.
Her shadow stretched across the asphalt like a smearing stain.
“Faster!” Kain yelled.
“I’m already at max speed!” the rider snapped.
The creature gained.
Closer.
Closer
“Kain!”
The rider leaned forward and yelled:
“Reach into your pocket! The card!”
Kain’s heart pounded. “Why?!”
“Just do it!”
He fumbled with shaking fingers and pulled out the metal card. The symbol engraved on it the circle split by three diagonal lines gleamed in the wind.
“It’s glowing!” he shouted.
“Good! Hold it up!”
Kain hesitated.
“What is it going to do?!”
“Save your life,” she replied simply.
The creature was nearly upon them.
Kain felt its cold breath on the back of his neck.
He raised the card.
It pulsed
And the world exploded.
A blast of white light erupted from the symbol, spreading like a shockwave. It hit the creature mid-sprint, launching it backward with bone-shattering force.
It slammed into the highway and skidded across the asphalt, limbs flailing wildly.
The three dark figures following behind were thrown off their feet, crashing into a barrier.
The light faded as quickly as it came.
The bike sped on.
Kain stared at the card, chest heaving.
“What… what was that?!”
The rider slowed slightly only slightly.
“That was the sigil activating.”
“Sigil?”
“It reacts to danger. To them. To Echo-born creatures.”
Kain swallowed hard. “So those thing's”
“They were tracking you by your awakening energy.”
“My… what?”
She sighed sharply.
“You’re Echo-marked, Kain. That makes you valuable. And dangerous.”
Kain’s pulse pounded in his ears.
He felt like he was drowning in a world he didn’t ask for.
“My father was one of you,” he whispered. “The man earlier said that.”
The rider stiffened.
For the first time, she seemed genuinely surprised.
“You met someone already?”
Kain nodded. “Tall guy. Black coat. Opened my door without touching it.”
The rider cursed under her breath.
“Kaius got to you first.”
“Kaius,” Kain repeated. “So you know him?”
“Unfortunately.”
“What is he to you?”
The rider hesitated.
Her voice softened.
“He was your father’s partner.”
Kain’s breath caught.
“My father’s… partner? That mean's”
“It means your father wasn’t an ordinary man, Kain.”
She turned sharply, eyes on the road ahead.
“And whatever you think happened to him it’s not the truth.”
Kain felt a sharp ache in his chest.
“He died,” he whispered. “I saw the casket. I was eight.”
“You saw what they wanted you to see,” the rider said quietly.
“He disappeared during a mission twenty years ago. His death was faked to protect you.”
Kain felt the air leave his lungs.
“My mother never told me.”
“She couldn’t. Knowing the truth would’ve put you in danger long before now.”
Kain looked down at the card, heart pounding with a mix of anger, fear, and grief.
“So my entire life was a lie.”
“Not a lie,” the rider said softly.
“A shield.”
“Why are you helping me?” he asked suddenly.
“What are you to me?”
There was a long pause.
Finally, she slowed the bike and turned into an underground parking garage. Her voice dropped into something gentler something almost painful.
“I owe your father a debt,” she said.
“And protecting you is the only way I can repay it.”
The bike rolled to a stop.
Silence settled between them.
Kain’s throat tightened. “So… he was important?”
The rider removed her helmet.
Her hair spilled out dark and long.
Her face came into view.
Sharp.
Beautiful.
Deadly.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
“Your father was important to all of us.”
Kain stared at her, heart racing for reasons he didn’t understand.
She met his eyes.
“My name is Aria Vale.”
Kain whispered it back to himself. “Aria…”
Aria stepped off the bike, walked to him, and placed a firm hand on his shoulder.
“Kain Obasi,” she said, “your life is about to change. And you need to be ready.”
“Ready for what?” he asked.
Aria’s expression darkened.
“For the truth.”
But before she could say more
A loud, echoing bang shook the underground garage.
Aria jerked her head toward the entrance.
“They found us.”
Kain’s heart dropped.
Already?
Aria grabbed his wrist.
“Kain,” she said, voice steady and urgent.
“When I tell you to run… you run. Do you understand?”
He swallowed.
“Run where?”
Aria looked him straight in the eyes.
“Anywhere that keeps you alive.”
The footsteps outside grew louder.
Closer.
The hunters were back.
And this time, they weren’t alone.
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Latest Chapter
Chapter 76 : Orin Joins Kain
The underground hideout trembled faintly, dust drifting from the overhead pipes as distant explosions rippled through the city. Shadows flickered from lanterns suspended on nylon strings, painting warped silhouettes across the cracked concrete walls.Kain paced the length of the room, hands shaking slightly both from exhaustion and from the Echo that still clawed at the edges of his vision.Talia sat on a rusted metal crate, patching a wound on her arm with trembling fingers. She tried to hide the pain, but Kain could hear it in her breathing.The rebellion was regrouping.The city was collapsing.The Dominion had begun Black-Door Phase 2.Nothing felt stable anymore.A slam echoed at the far entrance.Kain jolted.Talia’s hand flew to her gun.Eli, who had been guarding the entrance, stumbled backward into the room.“Kain, Talia someone’s coming down the service tunnel!”Kain’s heart dropped. “Dominion?”Eli shook his head breathlessly. “I don’t… I don’t know. But he’s alone. And he’
Chapter 75 : Orin’s Change
The Dominion Tower rose above the burning city like a mechanical god, its obsidian exterior reflecting the chaos below.Inside, the corridors carried a cold hum the sound of servers, anti-telepathy fields, containment chambers, and hidden machinery deeper than the public ever saw.Orin marched through the hallways, boots echoing sharply, fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles bled from the pressure. Every Dominion operative he passed quickly stepped aside. Even the elite Enforcers avoided his gaze.There was something different about him tonight.Something dangerous.Something… broken.The fight with Kain had shaken him in a way he didn’t understand.Not physically the wounds didn’t bother him.But mentally.Seeing Kain evolve.Seeing him control shadows that defied Dominion science.Seeing the boy he once hunted now standing equal or beyond him.Kain had spared him.That was the part Orin couldn’t let go of.Dominion taught that mercy was weakness.So why had Kain shown him wha
Chapter 74 : Cipher VS Kain ( Round 2)
The sky over the Dominion’s ruined district swirled with dark clouds, as though the heavens themselves were bracing for the collision of two forces that should never coexist.Broken drones sparked on the ground. Shattered holo-screens flickered weakly. The entire block felt like the world was holding its breath.Kain stepped forward, boots cracking over fractured pavement.His shadow… no longer behaved like a normal one.It rippled behind him with a mind of its own stretching, tightening, shrinking like it was tasting the air. Since awakening the Eclipse Form, his connection to the Shadow Vein had transformed into something deeper, sharper, borderline alive.He could feel its hunger.And tonight… it would feast.A slow clapping echoed across the deserted street.Cipher emerged from the fog like a ghost, his white mask cracked from their first encounter, one eye-lens flickering red. His coat fluttered behind him, metallic threads glinting like blades.“Well, well…” Cipher’s voice glide
Chapter 73 : The Siege Of Tower Zero
The night over Valleria City was too quiet the kind of silence that never meant peace. It was the kind that came before something violent, something history-making, something no one could take back.And at the center of that silence stood Tower Zero the tallest structure in the city, its glass walls glowing with the cold blue pulse of the Core Reactor hidden in its heart.Inside the tower, Aria could feel her pulse matching the rhythm of that reactor. A slow, deep thrum.Boom… boom… boom…She stood on the 89th floor, staring out the window as shadows gathered far below. What looked at first like drifting smoke began to tighten, forming shapes armored rebels, anti-regime fighters, mercenaries, and rogue factions. Hundreds. Maybe thousands.The siege had begun.Calder walked to her side silently. He didn’t ask if she was scared. He could see it in her eyes. But he could also see something else the fire she’d grown, the one she didn’t have months ago.“They’ll try to break the lower fl
Chapter 72 : Allies Gather
.The container felt smaller the moment Kain announced what he had seen in his final Echo.The air turned heavy, dense with the future burning in his mind.Talia stood frozen, staring at him as if she could somehow pull the fire out of his memory.Miro remained silent, hands folded, head bowed.It wasn’t disbelief that filled the room.It was fear a quiet, choking fear.Because if Kain’s Echo was real… the city had little time left.But Kain didn’t look afraid anymore.He stood tall, shoulders set, eyes hardened with a resolve that hadn’t been present before the Echo. His shadow steady, obedient cast a calm outline behind him.“We can’t do this alone,” he said.“We need everyone left. Every Awakened in hiding. Every rebel group. Anyone who still believes the city is worth saving.”Talia nodded slowly.“Then we gather them.”Miro opened his eyes. “I know where to start.”The first group was the Remnants survivors from the Subterranean Halls, those who had fought beside Kain during the
Chapter 71 : Karin’s Echo Of The Apocalypse
The night was far too quiet.After the revelation about the case, after Miro’s warning, after the Echo that nearly tore Kain’s mind apart, the three of them Kain, Talia, and Miro sat in uneasy silence inside the cold, rusted container.Only the low hum of distant Dominion drones disturbed the stillness.Kain’s hands trembled.His shadow twitched on its own.His breath wouldn’t steady no matter how hard he tried.He kept seeing that corridor.That case.His name.His father’s partner, bleeding and terrified.Talia sat beside him, close enough that their shoulders touched.“You don’t have to go through this alone,” she murmured.Kain swallowed hard.“I don’t have a choice.”Miro watched him with a solemn, unblinking calm.“Your Echo is unstable,” he said. “And something is coming. I felt it the moment you touched that vision.”Kain lifted his head. “What do you mean?”“The air changed,” Miro whispered. “Like a storm’s edge. Your Echo resonated with something bigger than anything I’ve ev
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