148 I KNOW WHO IS BLACK HALO?
"Big Brother, you've been watching long enough. Isn't it time you joined the fight?" Kail's voice came through the comms.
Damen stayed crouched in the dark, his gaze fixed on the chaos below. "Not yet," he muttered. "Both sides are my enemies. I'm not helping either of them."
Then he saw movement—three figures running desperately through the smoke.
Nymeris, Orya, and Thrynn were fleeing the center of Acyros's Anti-Meta Field.
Damen's eyes narrowed.
The field was crippling Project Hermes, but it was also suppressing the Atheris heroes' powers. They needed to escape its perimeter to reactivate their meta abilities.
"This is the perfect opportunity," Damen whispered.
He leapt from his perch, vanishing midair. His bladed bone extended as he struck Orya square in the chest. The blade pierced through her armor as he emerged from invisibility, his face inches from hers.
"Black Halo… you can turn invisible?" Orya gasped, her voice trembling.
"Thanks to your Core of Light, I can," Damen said coldly, driving the blade through her again, then twice more, until she fell limp, her life flickering out.
Thrynn's roar tore through the night. "I'll kill you!"
He lunged at Black Halo.
Even without meta power, his reflexes were still sharpened beyond human. Black Halo met him head-on, the two clashing in a brutal flurry of strikes and counters.
Sparks flew as blade met gauntlet.
"You're a good fighter," Thrynn growled between blows.
"You're not bad yourself," Black Halo replied, panting. "If my armor were any weaker, you might've won."
Suddenly, the air crackled.
A storm was forming overhead — lightning gathering into a single blinding mass. Damen looked up just in time to see a bolt large enough to shatter the sky come crashing down.
"Nymeris…" Thrynn whispered.
"Your friend's about to take you down together with me," Damen said grimly before emphasizing, "Again."
Nymeris was out of the Anti-Meta field's range, and she could use her powers. Her bolt struck before either of them could move.
The ground exploded beneath them, light devouring sound.
When it cleared, Thrynn lay smoking, his armor fused to his skin. Damen staggered upright, smoke rising from his scorched armor. His alien armor had absorbed most of the electricity—but barely.
He didn't hesitate. He drove his blade straight through Thrynn's heart.
"No second chances for you," he muttered.
When it was over, he searched the field. Nymeris was gone. She vanished into the chaos. After seeing him survive her strongest attack, she must have fled.
"Damn it, she escaped," Damen growled.
Static filled his ear. Kail's voice tried to break through, but the lightning had fried the comms.
Damen crouched beside the corpses, his fingers tracing the residual glow from their cores. He felt the pulse of their power—then toggled his Vision Connect system.
"Assimilate."
Core of Light successfully assimilated.
Core of Light Level 2 activated: 2 of 2.
Core of the Mind successfully assimilated.
Core of the Mind Level 2 activated: 3 of 2.
A faint glow ran across his eyes as new data flooded his view.
Name: Damen Dark
Strength Rank: B Meta Rank: C Blood Rank: B
Attributes: Strength: 608 | Charm: 262 | Meta: 433 | Command: 432 | Blood: 895 | Armor: 1018
He exhaled slowly, the night still humming with residual lightning.
"Two cores down," he said to himself. "Let's see how many more I can claim before this war is over."
-----
Damen returned to the battlefield, running through the chaos, his bone blade blazing like a white-hot crescent. Those unfortunate enough to cross his path were cut down—Zetheris or Veyran, it made no difference to him.
He was a shadow of death moving between gunfire and explosions.
Soon, he entered the facility, but without Kail's guidance in his comms, he was disoriented.
"Damn it," he muttered, scanning the endless corridors. "Where the hell do, I even start looking?"
Bullets rattled against his armor, sparking and bouncing off harmlessly. The soldiers who saw the futility of their fire broke ranks and fled in panic.
Then, a digital message flashed across his visor:
"A new software update is available. Proceed? [Y/N]"
Without hesitation, Damen pressed Y.
He crouched in a dark corner, cloaking himself in invisibility while the system reloaded. There was no point charging ahead blind.
Soon, new notifications streamed into his vision:
"Tracking Function Unlocked."
He selected a target—Acyros—and confirmed.
Instantly, a holographic mini-map projected across his view, revealing the entire facility layout. A blinking red dot pulsed deep within the structure.
"This could be useful," he murmured. "That's her position…"
He followed the map, cutting through corridors, passing soldiers and metahumans alike, until he reached a dead end. The blinking dot hovered just beyond the wall.
"Don't tell me…" he muttered. "She's hiding behind this?"
Without hesitation, he punched forward.
His Rank-B strength shattered the reinforced wall in a single blow. Dust and concrete shards fell away, revealing Acyros… and beside her, Eryn, bound to a chair.
"Black Halo! How did you find me?" Acyros shouted in shock.
Damen's hand clamped around her throat before she could react. He didn't bother to answer. With one twist, her neck snapped.
The Anti-Meta Field collapsed instantly.
He tore the Core of Anti-Meta from her corpse and assimilated it. The notification flickered briefly across his view vanishing.
"Core of Anti-Meta successfully assimilated."
Then he turned to Eryn.
Her eyes widened in relief. He ripped the gag from her mouth, then the ropes.
"Damen—you came for me again," she gasped, clinging to him.
"Yeah," he said, lifting her into his arms. "Let's get the hell out of here."
He didn't look back. He had what he came for.
As they left the facility, they witnessed Project Hermes rise again.
This battle was over in favor of the Veyran.
-----
[Veyran family's new residence]
"Is Eryn alright?" Valtor asked.
The nanny bowed slightly. "Our missus is asleep, sir. She's exhausted from her ordeal."
"How did she make it home?"
"A figure in black brought her back safely. I couldn't see his face. He was masked," she said.
Valtor dismissed her with a wave just as Belgore entered the room.
"Brother," Belgore began, almost laughing, "I still can't believe we actually won this time—against four Rank Bs!"
"Have you collected their bodies?" Valtor asked.
"Yes, but only three of them. The fourth one is missing," Belgore replied.
Valtor leaned back in his chair, deep in thought. "While we were trapped under that Anti-Meta field, someone killed three of the Rank Bs. Who do you think could've done it?"
"We have footage," Belgore said, his grin fading. "It's the new hero everyone's been talking about—Black Halo. He even sent Eryn home. I thought he was your secret trump card." He laughed nervously.
"Black Halo is not our ally," Valtor said, his tone dark. "He's been slaughtering both our men and the Zetheris soldiers alike."
Belgore frowned. "Why would he help us and attack us at the same time?"
Valtor didn't answer.
His silence filled the room like a shadow.
After a pause, Belgore asked, "Why do you need the Rank Bs' bodies, anyway?"
"We're sending them, quietly, to the main family in Silver City," Valtor said. "Their bodies might contain the secrets of the Atheris' artificial meta."
Belgore's eyes widened. "Really? If that's true, the main family will reward us. Do you think they'll let us return to Silver City?"
"Perhaps." Valtor's lips curved into a faint smile. "If fortune favors us… perhaps."
-----
[Zetheris family graveyard]
After the last battle, the governor's hand was forced.
The city's army was mobilized, and martial law was declared. No faction was allowed to engage in further combat.
Under military supervision, a temporary truce was brokered between the Veyran and Zetheris families and to a lesser extent the other families.
Days later, Garius Zetheris was finally laid to rest.
His son, Shawn, stood by the tomb, tears streaming down his face as the cold wind swept across the cemetery.
Exoren arrived with Dr. Revive and Nymeris, their faces grim beneath their masks and veils.
"Don't grieve too long, son," Exoren said quietly, placing a hand on Shawn's shoulder. "With your father gone, you must stand firm. The family needs your strength now more than ever."
Shawn wiped his eyes, forcing his trembling voice to steady. "I will… I'll do my best."
Exoren nodded, turning to leave when Shawn suddenly spoke again.
"I think I know who Black Halo is."
The words froze everyone where they stood. Even Exoren stopped mid-step, his expression darkening.
"Are you certain?" he asked. "The whole city is asking that question—who is Black Halo?"
Shawn nodded slowly. "Yes. I believe I've found the answer."