The countdown hit zero.
All across the city, lights blinked once… then died.
Power vanished.
Comms went silent.
Alarms screamed, then choked.
And then came the stillness.
A stillness so loud it felt alive.
Sector Four – Resistance Safehouse
Kael slammed his fist against the generator switch. Nothing. He ripped open the circuits, searching for any sign of life.
Elen clutched the comms device. "It's dead. All of it. No frequencies, no pulses, not even static."
Kael didn't reply. He didn't need to.
Outside, the sky glowed red.
Buildings burned.
Sirens wailed.
But no one was coming.
"He did it," Elen whispered. "He really pulled the plug."
Kael stared out the cracked window at the flames clawing the skyline.
"This isn't revolution," he muttered.
"It's a slaughterhouse."
Elsewhere – Central Square
Looters broke glass. Civilians ran wild. The air was thick with fear and fire.
A man shouted that the government had fallen. Another screamed that Ghost had betrayed them.
No one knew what was real.
And above it all, projected across a thousand hijacked screens, came his voice.
"Citizens of Dareth," Darex announced, his mask shimmering crimson in static.
"Your cages have been broken. Your chains dissolved. Now comes the purge."
Behind him flickered footage — regime soldiers executed, officials dragged from cars, buildings collapsing.
"This city belongs to no one," he said.
"Let it burn. Let it begin."
The screens went black.
Underground Transit – Kael & Elen on the Move
"Where would he go now?" Elen asked, breath ragged. "What's left?"
Kael holstered his blade. His eyes were colder than ever.
"The Chamber ruins," he said. "Where it started."
Elen's blood ran cold. "That place was buried."
"He's unburying it."
Kael paused at a door, pressing a hidden latch. A hidden tunnel groaned open.
"If we don't stop him now," he said quietly, "there'll be nothing left to save."
And together, they disappeared into the dark — toward the final battleground.
What was once the most feared training facility in Dareth was now a husk — its walls shattered by time and silence. The corridors were cracked bones. The air reeked of rust and ghosts.
Kael moved like a shadow through the wreckage.
Elen followed close behind, her flashlight cutting thin beams through dust-choked air. "You really think he's here?"
Kael didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
The deeper they went, the louder the past became — screams embedded in steel, bloodstains still dark in the stone. His fingers brushed a section of wall where he once carved a single word as a child:
"REMEMBER."
Then came the sound — faint footsteps.
They weren't alone.
Inner Chamber – Sub-Level 3
Darex stood inside what used to be the Testing Arena, surrounded by flickering holo-projections. Memories played around him — Kael's first kill, their last sparring match, the moment Kael fled.
He smiled as Kael stepped from the dark.
"Home sweet hell," Darex said, arms open.
"You never truly left it, you know."
Kael's blade gleamed. "This ends tonight."
"No," Darex replied. "Tonight, you choose."
He snapped his fingers.
A panel slid open.
Two prisoners.
Both gagged. Bound.
One was a captured rebel tech.
The other… a child. No older than ten. Wide, terrified eyes.
"One trained in cyberwarfare," Darex explained. "The other's just a message courier. Useless. Weak. Slowed us down."
"Pick one to live. The other dies. That's the game, remember?"
Kael's jaw clenched. "You think this makes you strong?"
"No," Darex said, stepping close.
"It makes me honest."
"This city wants a savior, Kael. But it only respects a killer."
Kael raised his weapon — but Darex didn't flinch.
"You want to stop me?" he hissed. "Pull the trigger. But just know… if you don't choose, I kill both."
Kael's hand trembled. Elen whispered behind him, "Don't do it. There's always another way."
But was there?
Darex had forced him into the same nightmare they were trained to survive.
And in that moment — the Ghost hesitated.
Black Chamber Ruins – Testing Arena – 03:33 A.M.
The silence was suffocating.
Two prisoners. One gun.
One second from death.
Darex leaned forward, eyes alive with madness. "Tick-tock, brother."
Kael stared at the two bound lives before him. The regime would have demanded one die. The Chamber would have forced his hand.
But Kael wasn't that child anymore.
"I'm not playing your game," he said.
"You don't get to not choose," Darex hissed. "That's the test."
Kael holstered his weapon.
"I already passed it."
He stepped back — then pressed a hidden button beneath his wrist guard.
A low-frequency hum surged through the floor.
"What did you—" Darex began.
The lights cut. The walls groaned.
Kael looked Darex in the eyes.
"You weren't the only one who left traps in this place."
The explosives Kael had planted earlier — small charges, not to destroy, but to collapse escape routes — triggered all at once. The outer corridors caved in.
Smoke filled the chamber.
In the chaos, Kael lunged.
He moved like a ghost — striking Darex hard, knocking him to the floor. Elen dashed forward, cutting the prisoners loose, dragging them toward cover.
Darex tried to rise — but Kael was already on him, blade at his throat.
"You kill because it's easy," Kael said coldly.
"I fight because it's hard."
He didn't strike the killing blow.
Instead, he slammed Darex's head into the stone — hard enough to knock him out, but leave him breathing.
"This isn't mercy," Kael muttered.
"It's war."
Minutes Later – Tunnel Exit
Elen hauled the prisoners out through the emergency shaft. Kael followed, dragging Darex's unconscious body.
They emerged into the early gray of morning — smoke curling in the skyline, sirens echoing in the far distance.
Elen turned to Kael, stunned. "You didn't kill him."
"Not yet," he said. "He started something bigger than just us."
He looked down at Darex's still form.
"And to end it… I need him alive."
The silence was suffocating.
Two prisoners. One gun.
One second from death.
Darex leaned forward, eyes alive with madness. "Tick-tock, brother."
Kael stared at the two bound lives before him. The regime would have demanded one die. The Chamber would have forced his hand.
But Kael wasn't that child anymore.
"I'm not playing your game," he said.
"You don't get to not choose," Darex hissed. "That's the test."
Kael holstered his weapon.
"I already passed it."
He stepped back — then pressed a hidden button beneath his wrist guard.
A low-frequency hum surged through the floor.
"What did you—" Darex began.
The lights cut. The walls groaned.
Kael looked Darex in the eyes.
"You weren't the only one who left traps in this place."