The Shadow Sovereign: Level Up from the Dirt

The Face of Betrayal

The glowing white blade in Ifunanya’s hand pointed straight at my chest.

She looked immaculate, her high-grade hunter armor completely spotless compared to the dirty rags I wore. There was no pity in her eyes, only the cold calculation of an Island elite looking down at an ant.

"I knew you would crawl into a hole down here, Zane," Ifunanya said, her voice smooth and entirely detached. "You always were predictable. Hand over the girl and the drive, and I might ask the Chairman to let you live as a mining slave."

My hands shook, but not because I was afraid. The memory of her smiling at me, pretending to care while helping Femi tear the core out of my sister, burned inside my throat. I raised the silver pistol, aiming it directly at her forehead.

"You will have to kill me first," I said.

"That can be arranged," she replied.

With a quick flick of her wrist, the three large silver spider-drones leaped forward. Their metal legs clattered against the stone floor, their red scanning eyes locking onto us.

"Tariq, take the left drone!" Kemi called out, her voice sharp and authoritative. She did not panic. Even with her skin hot to the touch, she was already moving, dragging a heavy copper wire from a broken terminal on the wall. "Zane, order your shadows to block the right one! Use their armor as a shield!"

I did not hesitate. "Shadows, protect Kemi! Stop the drones!"

My four remaining armored shadow soldiers rushed forward. They moved like black mist, throwing their smoky bodies directly into the path of the middle and right spider-drones. The drones fired bright yellow plasma bolts, tearing holes through the smoke bodies of my soldiers.

Ding.

Warning: Shadow Soldier 2 has been destroyed.

Mana Level: 95 / 150.

A sharp jolt of pain hit my head as the summon broke, but the remaining shadows successfully pinned the right drone to the ground.

On the other side of the room, Tariq let out a rough grunt. His blue metal arm glowed with blinding light as he lunged forward, grabbing the left spider-drone by its main camera lens. With a powerful twist of his mechanical fist, he ripped the drone's head completely off, sending blue sparks shooting across the floor.

"Not bad for an old man," Ifunanya said, her eyes narrowing. She stepped past the mechanical wreckage, her white armor hissed as she activated her speed boost. She blurred, appearing right in front of Tariq in a fraction of a second. Her energy blade swung downward in a vicious arc.

Tariq raised his blue metal arm to block the strike. The white blade hit his mechanical forearm with a loud, high-pitched screech. The force of the blow pushed Tariq back three steps, his boots leaving deep tracks in the dirt.

"Zane, don't fire at her armor!" Kemi shouted, her hands working furiously at the broken console. She was stripped of all fear, her focus entirely on the wires. "She is wearing a Vanguard-5 deflection vest. Bullets will bounce off. Aim for the yellow power nodule on the back of the remaining spider-drone!"

I tracked the right drone. It was currently struggling against my last two shadow soldiers. I ran around the side of the machine, ignoring the stray plasma sparks that burned my clothes. I saw the small, glowing yellow circle near the drone's back engine.

I took three rapid shots.

The third bullet hit the nodule perfectly. The spider-drone stiffened, its red eyes blinking out before it exploded into a shower of black smoke and metal fragments. The explosion threw me backward onto the hard ground, my breath escaping my lungs.

"Zane!" Kemi called out.

I scrambled to my feet, my chest aching. I looked over at Ifunanya. She had forced Tariq into a corner, her fast sword strikes keeping him completely on the defensive. His blue metal arm was covered in deep, white burn marks from her blade.

"Your time is up, Tariq," Ifunanya said, her expression entirely relaxed. "You chose the wrong side."

Suddenly, a loud crackle of red electricity echoed through the room.

Kemi had finally jammed the raw copper wire into the main terminal. The red lines on her skin flared with extreme brightness, sending a massive pulse of stolen energy straight through the old military base's electrical grid.

"Ifunanya!" Kemi shouted. "Look down!"

The metal floor plates beneath Ifunanya’s boots suddenly came alive with bright red current. The high voltage did not pierce her armor, but it instantly overloaded the digital sensors inside her speed vest. A loud popping sound came from her shoulders, and the white energy blade in her hand flickered and died.

Ifunanya stumbled, her face losing its calm look for the very first time. "What did you do?"

"I introduced your Island technology to Mainland garbage," Kemi said, coughing slightly as she leaned against the terminal. "Your suit runs on a unified frequency. A simple raw power surge can short-circuit the regulator for ten seconds."

Tariq did not miss the opening. He swung his heavy mechanical fist, hitting Ifunanya squarely in the chest. The impact broke her internal shield, throwing her across the room. She crashed heavily against the stone bench, her white helmet cracking open to reveal her pale, bleeding face.

I walked over to her, the silver pistol aimed right between her eyes. My finger rested on the trigger.

Ifunanya looked up at me, spitting out a small amount of blood. She did not look arrogant anymore. Instead, a terrifying, fake smile appeared on her lips.

"Go ahead, Zane," she said, her voice dropping to a low, chilling tone. "Pull the trigger. Kill me. But if I die, you will never find out where the Chairman took your mother."

My whole body went completely frozen. The gun felt incredibly heavy in my hand.

"What?" I whispered, my heart freezing. "My mother died in the Mainland hospital five years ago."

"That is what the hospital records said," Ifunanya laughed softly, her eyes full of malicious delight. "But Chairman Femi doesn't throw away valuable bloodlines. She is still alive, Zane. And right now, she is locked inside the lowest level of the Island."