The scream came from the street.
It was followed by the sound of shattering glass.
Ethan rushed toward the balcony, but Kai caught his shoulder.
"Don't."
Ethan turned sharply. "People are getting hurt!"
"And you are barely able to control your own ability."
"Then I'll have to be careful."
Kai's expression hardened.
"Careful isn't enough when you're dealing with someone whose power is collapsing."
Below them, the man stood in the middle of the road.
He looked to be in his late twenties. His clothes were torn, his face covered in sweat, and his hands trembled violently. strange red light pulsed beneath his skin.
Every few seconds, the energy around him expanded.
Streetlights flickered.
Car alarms screamed.
People ran in every direction.
"Help me!" the man shouted.
His voice cracked.
"Please! Somebody help me!"
A woman stumbled near the pavement. Before she could stand, a wave of energy swept toward her.
Ethan's eyes widened.
"Lena!"
"I see her!"
Lena grabbed the balcony railing.
The wave struck the ground.
A parked car was pushed sideways, missing the woman by inches.Ethan's body moved before his mind could catch up.
He rushed toward the apartment door.
Kai stepped in front of him.
"Listen to me. That man isn't simply losing control. His entire resonance is breaking apart."
"Then we stop it!"
"How?"
Ethan had no answer.
Kai stared at him.
"Your fracture hasn't healed. If you force your ability into that energy, it could tear through your remaining control."
Ethan clenched his fists.
"Then tell me what to do."
For a moment, Kai said nothing.
Then he looked toward the street.
"We get close enough to understand what's happening. Nothing more."Lena moved toward the door.
"I'm coming."
"No," Kai replied.
She frowned. "You can't be serious."
"This isn't a normal situation."
"And neither is Ethan's condition. I'm not leaving him to face it alone."
Ethan looked at her.
He wanted to tell her to stay behind.
But he remembered Adrian's words.
Attachment sharpened his ability.
It also destabilized it.
He didn't want Lena to become another weakness someone could exploit.
Yet he knew forcing her away wouldn't protect either of them.
"Stay behind Kai," he said quietly.
Lena nodded."Only if you promise not to do anything stupid."
Ethan managed a faint smile.
"I'll try."
"That's not a promise."
Before he could respond, another explosion shook the street.
They ran downstairs.
The street had become a disaster.
Broken glass covered the pavement. Several vehicles had crashed into one another, and smoke drifted from the hood of a damaged car.
People watched from behind buildings and shop entrances.
Nobody dared approach the man.
He was now kneeling in the middle of the road.His fingers dug into the asphalt.
"Make it stop," he whispered.
The red energy around his body pulsed again.
Ethan felt something.
Not an emotion.
Not fear.
Something deeper.
It was as if several different signals were fighting inside one body, each trying to become dominant.
His stomach tightened.
"He's not attacking them," Ethan muttered.
Kai glanced at him.
"What?"He's trying to hold something together."
The man suddenly lifted his head.
His eyes were bloodshot.
"Don't come closer!"
Kai raised both hands.
"We're not here to hurt you."
The man laughed bitterly.
"That's what they said."
Ethan took one step forward.
"Who said that?"
The man's expression changed.
"They told me it would make me stronger."
His breathing became uneven.
"They said I was special. That I could handle it."
Kai's face darkened.Kai's face darkened.
"Who gave you the treatment?"
The man shook his head.
"I don't know. They wore masks. They took me somewhere."
He grabbed his chest.
"Something is inside me!"
The energy around him exploded.
Ethan was thrown backward.
His shoulder struck the side of a parked vehicle.
Pain shot through his body.
"Ethan!" Lena shouted.
He struggled to stand.
His vision blurred for a moment.The fracture inside his control structure reacted violently. A sharp sensation travelled through his chest, followed by a tremor in his left hand.
Kai stepped forward.
"Stay back!"
He extended one hand.
The air around the man seemed to tighten.
For a brief moment, the red energy slowed.
Then it shattered through Kai's restraint.
Kai stumbled.
"What the hell?"
The man screamed.
A second wave spread across the street.
This time, Ethan noticed something.
The energy wasn't expanding randomly.
It was following a rhythm.A broken rhythm.
Every burst came after three rapid pulses beneath the man's skin.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then the explosion.
Ethan stared.
"He's repeating a pattern."
Kai turned toward him.
"Don't even think about it."
"I can see the gaps."
"You can barely stand."
"I don't need to control him. I just need to interrupt the pattern."Kai grabbed his arm.
"Ethan, listen—"
But Ethan had already begun moving.
He approached slowly.
The man's eyes followed him.
"Stay away!"
Ethan raised both hands.
"I'm not going to hurt you."
"You're lying!"
"I'm not."
The man shook violently.
"They put something inside me. I can hear it. I can feel it moving."
Ethan stopped several feet away.
"What do you hear?"The man's lips trembled.
"Voices."
A strange silence settled over the street.
"What voices?" Ethan asked.
The man pressed both hands against his ears.
"They keep telling me to open the door."
Kai's expression changed.
"What door?"
The man looked up.
His eyes were filled with terror.
"The one inside me."
Then the red energy shifted.
For the first time, Ethan sensed something beneath the chaos.
A second presence.Cold.
Quiet.
Almost perfectly still.
It didn't belong to the man.
It was buried inside his unstable resonance, hidden beneath the violent pulses.
Ethan's heart skipped.
This wasn't simply a man losing control.
Something had been placed inside him.
Something that was responding to his emotions.
"Ethan!" Kai shouted. "Move!"
The man suddenly lunged.
His body shot forward with impossible speed.
Ethan barely avoided the first strike.
The man's fist smashed into the car behind him, crushing the metal door.Ethan stumbled sideways.
He tried to activate his resonance.
Pain tore through his chest.
His fractured control resisted.
For a moment, everything became disorganized.
The street blurred.
The man's movements seemed to multiply.
Ethan dropped to one knee.
Not again.
He remembered Kai's training.
Breathing.
Awareness.
Positioning.Timing.
He stopped trying to force his ability outward.
Instead, he focused inward.
One breath.
Then another.
He watched the man's shoulders.
His right foot shifted before every attack.
His fingers tightened before each energy burst.
There.
A pattern.
Ethan moved just as the man attacked again.
He stepped inside the man's reach and pushed his shoulder.The man lost balance.
Ethan struck his wrist, redirecting the next burst toward the empty road.
The explosion tore through the asphalt.
But Ethan remained standing.
For the first time since his fracture, he had used his instincts without relying on the full strength of his ability.
Then the man grabbed his jacket.
"HELP ME!"
The words came out like a desperate prayer.
Ethan froze.
The man's eyes were no longer filled with anger.
They were filled with fear.
"Please," he whispered. "I don't want to become one of them."Ethan stared at him.
"One of who?"
The man's mouth opened.
Before he could answer, his entire body stiffened.
The cold presence inside him awakened.
A dark symbol appeared briefly beneath the skin of his neck.
Kai's eyes widened.
"Everyone, get away from him!"
Lena grabbed Ethan's arm.
"What is that?"
Kai didn't answer.
He was staring at the symbol.
Then, very quietly, he spoke.
"An implanted core."The man's body lifted several inches above the ground.
The red energy disappeared.
For one terrifying second, the street became completely silent.
Even the flickering lights stopped.
Ethan felt the change immediately.
The presence inside the man wasn't chaotic anymore.
It was observing.
Measuring.
Studying everything around it.
Then the man's head turned toward Ethan.
His eyes were now completely black.
A voice emerged from his mouth.
But it wasn't his voice.
"Resonance signature confirmed.""Resonance signature confirmed."
Ethan's blood ran cold.
The voice continued.
"Fractured structure detected."
Kai stepped forward.
"Get away from him!"
The thing inside the man ignored him.
"Unexpected development. The subject has encountered another compatible anomaly."
Ethan stared at the possessed man.
"Who are you?"
The black eyes shifted slightly.
"Identification unnecessary."
A pause.
Then the voice spoke again.
"However, you may address the source."
The symbol on the man's neck began glowing.
And suddenly, Ethan heard a whisper inside his own mind.
Not from the man.Not from Kai.
From somewhere much deeper.
We have found you.
Ethan staggered.
Lena caught him before he fell.
"Ethan! What's happening?"
He couldn't answer.
The presence inside the man had reached toward him.
And something inside Ethan had responded.
A faint red line appeared across his chest, directly over the place where his fracture had formed.
Kai saw it.
His face drained of colour.
"No..."Ethan looked at him.
"What?"
Kai slowly stepped backward.
"This isn't an ordinary implanted core."
The possessed man smiled.
For the first time, it looked almost human.
"Beginning retrieval protocol."
The symbol flashed.
The man's body collapsed.
But before he hit the ground, every window along the street shattered at once.
People screamed.
Kai grabbed Ethan and Lena, pulling them behind the damaged vehicle.
A powerful wave swept across the road.Not from Kai.
From somewhere much deeper.
We have found you.
Ethan staggered.
Lena caught him before he fell.
"Ethan! What's happening?"
He couldn't answer.
The presence inside the man had reached toward him.
And something inside Ethan had responded.
A faint red line appeared across his chest, directly over the place where his fracture had formed.
Kai saw it.
His face drained of colour.
"No..."Ethan looked at him.
"What?"
Kai slowly stepped backward.
"This isn't an ordinary implanted core."
The possessed man smiled.
For the first time, it looked almost human.
"Beginning retrieval protocol."
The symbol flashed.
The man's body collapsed.
But before he hit the ground, every window along the street shattered at once.
People screamed.
Kai grabbed Ethan and Lena, pulling them behind the damaged vehicle.
A powerful wave swept across the road.When the dust settled, the man lay motionless.
The blackness had vanished from his eyes.
The red symbol was gone.
Ethan struggled to breathe.
"Is he dead?"
Kai checked the man's pulse.
"No."
"Then what happened?"
Kai looked at the man's neck.
A tiny circular mark remained beneath his skin.
"They've been experimenting on people."
Ethan stared at him.
"Who?"
Kai slowly stood.The organization isn't the only one looking for you."
Before Ethan could respond, Kai's phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
He read it once.
Then again.
His expression became unreadable.
Lena noticed.
"What is it?"
Kai turned the phone toward them.
There was only one sentence.
THE EXECUTOR HAS FAILED TO CONTAIN THE SITUATION.Below it was another message.
INITIATE PHASE ZERO.
Ethan looked at the unconscious man.
Then at the faint red line still glowing beneath his shirt.
"What is Phase Zero?"
Kai didn't answer immediately.
He looked toward the distant rooftops.
Someone was watching them.
And this time, Ethan could feel it.
Kai finally spoke.
"Phase Zero is what they use when they stop trying to control an anomaly..."
He paused.
"...and start preparing to erase everything connected to it."