The Shadow Sovereign: Level Up from the Dirt

The Price of a Secret Base

The blue metal arm moved faster than a bullet.

Before I could pull the trigger of my silver pistol, the scarred man lunged forward. His metal fist slammed into the chest of my front shadow soldier. The black smoke body of the guard tore apart into tiny pieces, disappearing into the air instantly.

Ding.

Warning: Shadow Soldier 1 has been destroyed.

Mana Level: 58 / 150.

A sharp ache hit my forehead as the connection to that shadow broke. My mana was getting dangerously low. The scarred man did not stop. He swung his heavy metal arm again, knocking two more of my armored shadows into the stone wall. They did not disappear, but their blue eyes flickered weakly.

"You have neat tricks, boy," the man said, his single human eye tracking my movements. The blue metal of his arm began to glow brightly, making a high clicking sound. "But rank-F summons cannot block a rank-C bounty hunter. I am Tariq. I built these underground tunnels before you were even born."

I pointed my gun straight at his face, keeping my body between him and Kemi. My legs felt heavy. "Stay back. I will shoot."

Tariq let out a dry laugh. "Go ahead. The bullet will bounce right off my cybernetic shield. Now, move away from the girl. Ten million credits is enough money for me to buy a ticket out of this dump and live on the Island forever."

"He is lying, Zane," Kemi said from behind me. She did not sound scared at all. She stood up from the stone bench, her red eyes locked onto Tariq's glowing arm. "He cannot buy an Island ticket. The Vanguard Guild uses bounty hunters like toilet paper. The moment he hands me over, Chairman Femi will execute him to keep this project a secret."

Tariq froze. His metal arm stopped clicking. His face grew very dark. "What did you say, kid?"

"You heard me," Kemi said, taking a step forward. The red lines on her skin flared, casting long shapes against the walls. "Femi wants to turn the Mainland into a dead zone next week. He is wiping out the entire grid. If you take me to the Island, you will enter their security gate just in time to get caught in the lockdown. They will kill you so they do not have to pay your ten million credits."

"How do you know about the grid project?" Tariq demanded, his voice suddenly losing its calm edge. He gripped a heavy iron pipe with his metal hand, crushing the solid iron like a piece of paper. "That is classified top-tier data."

"Because I stole the data from their own hospital machine," Kemi said. She held up the glowing red drive. "I have the full schedule. I know which sectors will lose power first. I know where the security squads will drop the bombs to destroy the emergency generators. You want to escape the Mainland? You will not survive without me."

I watched Tariq's face carefully. His human eye was wide, looking between Kemi and the drive. He was calculating the risks. In this world, the rich people broke their promises every day. A hunter like Tariq knew that better than anyone.

"Prove it," Tariq said, lowering his arm slightly. "Show me the first sector on the list."

"Sector Four," Kemi said immediately. "The iron market above our heads. The Vanguard Guild is going to cut the cables tonight at midnight to test the backup system. That is exactly four hours from now. When the lights go out, the automated drones will sweep the streets to clear out the street vendors."

Tariq took a slow breath. He looked at his metal arm, then back at us. "If you are wrong, I will tear your brother's head off and take you to Femi myself."

"I am never wrong about data," Kemi said.

Tariq stood still for a long moment. Then, the blue light on his arm slowly faded away. "Fine. We wait until midnight. If the market goes dark, we talk about a partnership. If it does not, you die."

He walked over to the far corner of the room, sitting down on a broken wooden crate. He kept his single eye fixed on us, his metal hand resting on a massive shotgun attached to his back.

I let out a breath I did not know I was holding. My hands were wet with sweat. I turned to my four remaining shadow soldiers and ordered them to stand guard near the tunnel entrance.

Mana Level: 42 / 150.

I sat down next to Kemi on the cold stone bench. I reached out and touched her arm. Her skin felt like it was baking under a fever. "Kemi, you need to rest. You cannot keep using the core's power like this."

I do not have time to rest, Zane, she said. Her voice dropped, becoming very quiet so Tariq could not hear us. Her small fingers gripped my hand tightly. "The red energy is rewriting my nervous system. If we do not destroy Femi's main laboratory on the Island within two weeks, my body will burn itself out completely.

My chest went tight. A sudden wave of panic hit me. "What? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you would have stopped to find a doctor," Kemi said, looking into my eyes. The red light in her pupils was terrifying, but her expression was filled with absolute resolve. "There is no doctor for this. The only way I live is if we take the main stabilizer from Femi's private vault. We have to play their game, Zane. We have to be faster, smarter, and meaner than them."

I looked at my little sister, realizing she was carrying a weight far heavier than mine. She was using her own dying life to map out our revenge.

"I will get that stabilizer," I said. "Whatever it takes."

Hours passed in absolute silence. The darkness of the tunnel felt longer and longer. I kept checking the system screen, watching my mana slowly recover as the minutes ticked by.

Mana Level: 110 / 150.

Suddenly, a deep vibration shook the ground beneath our feet.

The faint buzzing sound of the market's electricity above us completely stopped. The small yellow light bulb hanging from the tunnel ceiling died instantly, plunging the room into pure blackness, except for the bright red lines on Kemi's skin.

Tariq stood up from his crate, his metal arm instantly glowing blue again. "The girl was right. The grid just died."

Before I could speak, a loud explosion blasted the iron hatch at the top of the stairs. Heavy footsteps came rushing down the stone steps.

"Thermal signatures detected below!" a mechanical voice boomed through the dark. "Target zero-two located. Eliminate all witnesses."

Three large, silver spider-drones dropped into the room, their red scanning lights cutting through the darkness. Behind them stood Ifunanya, wearing a sleek white hunter suit, a glowing energy blade shining in her right hand.