Chapter 15: Palms that Lift

  The border between the ruins of Ven City and the suffocating haze of the Outlands was a graveyard of silence. Standing in the center of the wreckage was the man in the Silver Mask, his silhouette sharp against the rising dust. His eyes burned with a steady, lethal purple glow, scanning the horizon for the next shadow to move.

  At his feet lay a humanoid demon, its body a twisted mass of Aion-warped flesh. With a cold, mechanical efficiency, the Silver Mask pulled his katana from the creature’s chest. He had struck the heart—the only blow that mattered.

  As the blade slid free, the demon didn't bleed; it simply dissolved, its physical form crumbling into gray ash that scattered in the wind.

  "It’s growing," he murmured.

  He didn't look down at the remains. Instead, he looked up into the swirling thicket of smoke above. There, floating like twin embers in the haze, two pupils stared back at him—a specter draped in a blur of bronze metal, watching him with an ancient, heavy gaze.

  "I have memories here in Ven city," the Silver Mask said, his voice echoing off the jagged concrete. "Even with the crater... the air still feels like home."

  The bronze eyes in the smoke did not blink. They simply watched, waiting for the command.

  "My brother," the man continued, his grip tightening slightly on his hilt. "I am heading to the Outlands to face the Witch. Keep an eye on the Elites. Watch the Resistance. Keep a vigil over Zeal."

  He flicked his blade, the movement sharp and practiced. As he did, the cross necklace dangling from his wrist caught the light; it was scratched and worn, a relic of a faith tested by too many wars. With a rhythmic click, he sheathed the katana.

  The purple light in his eyes began to fade, returning him to the shadows.

  "...especially Paragon."

  At the mention of the name, the bronze pupils in the smoke finally flickered and vanished, the specter retreating into the deep currents of the atmosphere.

  The Silver Mask turned toward the dark expanse of the Outlands, his footsteps heavy on the cracked earth.

  "I hope the Elites know what they're doing," he whispered to the wind, "even now that their leaders are gone."

  ***

  The headquarters of Zeal was a labyrinth of chrome and cold glass. As the military-industrial complex behind the ANTI movement, Zeal didn’t just have soldiers; they had budgets.

  "Left flank, clear!" Rin shouted, her bo-staff a blur of motion as she swept the legs out from under a trio of tactical guards.

  Beside her, Leeseo moved with a newfound lethality. She wielded twin tonfas, the reinforced polymer cracking against Zeal helmets with rhythmic precision. She was a storm of focus, but her movements were rigid—every strike was calculated, leaving no room for the fluid instinct of a veteran.

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  A small surveillance drone hovered near her head, Seonho’s voice crackling through the integrated comms. "Leeseo, you’re too stiff. Your shoulders are up to your ears. Please be careful... you almost got clipped there like Jango Fett. If you want, I can blink in and—"

  "If you blink here," Leeseo grunted, parrying a knife strike and delivering a punishing blow to a guard’s ribs, "I will levitate your ass right out the window!"

  "She’ll be fine. She’s with me," Rin added, spinning her staff to deflect a hail of bullets.

  "And me!" A new voice joined the fray. Eunchae tumbled into the hallway, dragging an unconscious Zeal officer by his collar. She stood up, dusting off her tactical vest. "I managed to clear the lobby group, Officer. Am I a frontliner yet?"

  Rin sighed, not even looking back. "No."

  Leeseo approached Eunchae, stepping over a pile of debris. "You’re really obsessed with climbing the ranks, aren't you?"

  "I can't last another month with the word 'Trainee' slammed on my wrist!" Eunchae complained, gesturing wildly. "I was trained by Flux for six months, kidnapped by those ANTI creeps, saved by the handsome San, and I’m still a trainee? Come on!"

  "Discussion over! Mecha!" Rin yelled.

  The far wall buckled as a Zeal Combat Strider—a bipedal tank with rotating gatling arms—thundered into the hall. It let out a high-pitched, mechanical whirring sound as its sensors locked on.

  Eunchae, unfazed, tilted her head and mimicked the sound perfectly. "Wirliwirliwir," she chuckled, before drawing her twin sai.

  "Leeseo, move!" Rin shouted, but the Mecha’s shoulder-mounted pneumatic ram fired. The shockwave caught Rin mid-vault, sending her crashing through a reinforced glass partition. She slumped to the ground, unconscious.

  "Rin!" Leeseo charged the machine, but the Strider swiveled, its heavy metal arm slamming into her chest and sending her reeling.

  "Leeseo, come on! Get up!" Seonho’s voice was frantic in her ear.

  "Don't you dare blink!" she screamed back, tasting copper in her mouth.

  Eunchae’s eyes ignited with a brilliant blue light. "I gotchu, sis!" She slammed her sai together, and the air around her fractured. Pop. Pop. Pop. Three identical clones of Eunchae materialized.

  "You look pretty!" one clone chirped.

  "You look cute!" another replied.

  "I am you," the third said.

  "Aye!" They high-fived and charged.

  The Eunchae-squad swarmed the Mecha, stabs of their sai puncturing the hydraulic lines. But the Strider let out an exhaust vent of flame, the heat causing the clones to evaporate into blue mist. The real Eunchae was thrown back.

  "My sisters!" Eunchae wailed dramatically.

  Leeseo’s eyes went dark, sapphire fire erupting from her pupils. She didn't just push the robot; she seized it. Her hands curled into claws as she lifted the multi-ton machine off the ground. With a primal scream, she crushed her fists together. The Strider buckled inward, metal screaming as its frame collapsed like a tin can. She hurled the wreckage through the executive offices, clearing the path.

  Eunchae scrambled over to Rin. "Is she gonna be okay?"

  Leeseo didn't answer. She had spotted the Zeal Director fleeing toward the roof. "I've got the lead!"

  She chased him up the stairwell, her speed enhanced by the Flux in her veins. She reached for him with her telekinesis, but as she closed her hand, nothing happened. The Director held up a glowing, humming cube—an Anti-Bound.

  "His cube is a nullifier, Leeseo! It’s jamming your grip!" Seonho warned.

  Leeseo didn't need powers to be dangerous. She pounced like a tiger, her tonfa shattering the glass of the cube and catching the Director across the jaw in one fluid motion. The technology sparked and died.

  She lifted him by the throat, his feet dangling over the edge of the rooftop. "Where is Wonjung?"

  The Director smiled through a mouthful of blood and clicked a remote in his pocket. "This building will explode in sixty seconds. Enjoy the view."

  Leeseo slammed him into the concrete, knocking him cold. "Now what?"

  "Leeseo, get back to Rin and Eunchae NOW!" Seonho barked.

  "I can just jump off," she said, looking at the long drop.

  "You can't fly, remember? The power Wonjung gave you is fractured. You can’t use it on yourself, only on external mass!"

  "No pop culture reference this time?" Leeseo smirked, and then she sprinted and leaped off the roof.

  "LEESEO, NO!"

  As she plummeted, Leeseo focused. She didn't look at herself; she looked at the street. She seized four parked cars, levitating them into the air at different heights. She used them as floating platforms, hopping from one roof to the next to break her fall until she landed softly on the pavement.

  Nearby, Rin groaned as she woke up. "Leeseo said... building... boom..." Eunchae mumbled.

  Rin’s eyes snapped open. She grabbed Eunchae, pulling her toward the nearest window just as the first floor detonated. As they fell, Rin pulled a small metallic cube from her belt.

  "You're fine with Holographic Safe Pods, right?"

  "I can't promise I won't puke, Rin-unnie."

  The cube expanded into a shimmering, translucent sphere. They bounced off the asphalt like a rubber ball, safe inside the cushion of energy.

  BOOM. The Zeal headquarters collapsed into a mountain of fire and rubble.

  "Great," Rin grumbled, stepping out of the dissipating pod. "I only had one of those."

  Eunchae was rolling on the ground, laughing hysterically. "Again! Do it again!"

  Leeseo ran up to them, breathless. "Everyone okay?"

  Rin nodded. "Good job today, Leeseo. Let's go home."

  ***

  Miles away, in the silent wasteland, Wonjung stood before the demonic pillar. The red glow had faded. The stone was cold.

  "Come on, Xin. Don't waste my time. Dammit..." Wonjung hissed, turning around.

  She stopped. Standing twenty paces away was the Silver Mask. He didn't have a drone, and he didn't have a team. He only had his katana, unsheathed and gleaming in the moonlight.

  "Finally," he said, his voice a low, vibrating rasp. "Time to sever your head, witch."

  Wonjung tilted her head, a cold, predatory smile spreading across her face. "Not exactly the mad-man I am looking for."

  Fox.