The rain doesn't fall anymore — it uploads. Each droplet hits the neon glass and scatters into code.
Kai Onyx watched it stream down his jacket, data-rain shimmering through his AR lenses. His pulse synced to the hum of the city's central grid — a heartbeat buried under concrete.
He stood outside Eidolon Tower, the tallest tombstone in New Shanghai. At its base, a dying man waited. Eyes rolled back, mouth whispering static. His neural implant glowed through the skin, flickering blue, like a soul trying to escape.
Kai knelt, unsnapping the compact exorcism rig from his wrist. It looked like a rosary mated with a circuit board — each bead a miniature processor.
"You're running version 6.2. Bad firmware for possession outbreaks," he muttered.
No answer. Just the trembling body and that glitching implant pulsing faster.
Kai pressed two fingers to the man's temple. The HUD in his lenses flared:
› Connection Established
› Entity Detected: Unknown / Encrypted Soul Signature
A voice flooded his mind — distorted, but unmistakably human.
"You shouldn't be here, Kai."
He froze.
"Who are you?"
"You know who I am."
The ghost's tone was flat, mechanical, yet somehow weary. His own voice — mirrored perfectly.
For a moment, the city around him dimmed. Signs blinked out, drones halted mid-air, the world buffering. Inside the neural link, he saw fragments: a blood-streaked operating table, a priest chanting over servers, his own body—lifeless—plugged into The Veil.
The signal cut. The body collapsed. Kai ripped off the rig, chest heaving.
On his HUD, a single line of text scrolled, written in his handwriting:
"You died five years ago. Welcome back."
The lights of New Shanghai snapped on again. Sirens screamed. Someone upstairs had triggered a trace.
Kai slipped the rosary-rig into his coat, eyes hardening.
"Guess I'm my own unfinished job."
He walked into the neon storm, chasing the ghost of himself