New Cascadia – Sector 12, Apartment 18B
The screen flickered across Mira's face as she lay on the couch beneath her thin blanket. Her tablet played a NeuraStream compilation—footage stitched together with voiceovers, music, and exaggerated overlays.
> "Clip #6—The Hollow Collapse. Look at this movement. Frame one, flick-step. Frame two—blink-dash. You do not get angles like this unless you're running post-dev architecture. Nobody's this clean."
The video cut between slowed combat replays and reaction clips. Screaming streamers. Fan edits. A PvP analyst diagrammed his sword arc with a glowing pen.
> "He's either an old dev, a TianXia AI, or a ghost. That's the Phantom Breaker."
Mira stared at the masked figure frozen mid-slash.
"You move like him," she murmured.
Cassian looked up from the small cooktop, stirring the synth tea. "Like who?"
She didn't turn away. "The guy in the mask. The way he dodges. Like he already knows where the hits will land."
He approached and handed her the mug.
"Maybe he does," he said quietly.
---
Vitality – Seraph Vale: Western Uplink Ridge
Thick fog rolled through the trees, dulling the neon veins in Cassian's cloak. He crouched beside a broken summoning stone, its runes flickering faintly as he rerouted his trace signature through the Veil.
> Ping detected – six markers – stealth-class movement
No guild affiliation. Hunting pattern confirmed.
He waited. A cold wind passed through the canopy.
Then came the flash.
> [NeuraStream World Broadcast – Trending Now]
"BREAKING: Phantom Breaker spotted in Seraph Vale. 100,000 credits for the kill, verified by Radiant Chain. Stream bounty is live."
Cassian didn't move. Didn't draw his sword.
He just sighed beneath his mask.
> "You don't want the truth. You want a story."
---
The Mistjaw Hollow
Laughter echoed across a broken courtyard where players dueled and mimicked famous techniques.
A cloaked rogue attempted Cassian's flick-dash feint. He overstepped, fell out of rhythm, and was flattened by a basic counterstrike.
A crowd jeered playfully.
Behind them, banners hung from fractured stone:
> "JOIN THE BREAKER HUNT"
"PHANTOM REPLICA TOURNAMENT NEXT WEEK"
A vendor sold cloaks modeled after Cassian's armor—wrong texture, but close enough for marketing.
---
New Cascadia – Synapse Café Broadcast Hub
In a sleek, glass-walled lounge, NeuraStream pundits argued across a projection table. Cassian's image hovered in the center—a blurred still of him walking away from the Hollow collapse.
"Those reaction times aren't natural," one host barked. "No lag. No missed inputs. He's got to be augmented."
"Or pre-coded," another countered. "Residual dev data from before the firewall split."
A third leaned in. "What if he's not trying to win? What if he's trying to erase something?"
They all paused.
The screen pulsed with views: 4.2 million concurrent.
---
Vitality – Deadlight Grove
Cassian stood under the glow of ancient fungi, watching red and green movement pings fan out across the distant fog.
Hunting parties.
He didn't engage.
Instead, he pulled up a private Veil layer—one that showed footage only he could see.
The Hollow.
The Everdreamers.
The flickering smile of the girl who almost woke up.
He let the clip play in silence.
When it ended, he disabled it and whispered, "You're worshipping something that doesn't exist."
---
Tavern at the Ruined Crossroads
StarViper leaned against a worn support beam, watching a nearby holoscreen play a dramatic edit of Cassian's fights. The music swelled beneath flashes of combat.
> "In a broken world, some ghosts don't fade. They fight."
#TheArchitectLives
#PhantomBreaker
She tossed a coin to the barkeep. "You're going to need a new drinks menu," she muttered. "Everyone's ordering myth now."
---
New Cascadia – Sector 12, Apartment 18B
Night had fallen. Cassian stood by the window, city lights blinking like slow heartbeats beyond the haze.
Mira was asleep on the couch. Her tablet, still glowing softly, looped muted footage of him—slowed down, deified, dissected.
He turned it off.
Silence fell across the room.
He watched her chest rise and fall with shallow breath. Still stable. For now.
He leaned against the wall and stared into the dark.
> "I never asked to be seen."
But deep down, he knew—
> —They were all watching now.
---
End of Chapter Eleven