The Lower Districts were a labyrinth of rusted pipes and flickering neon. Rain began to fall—not pure water, but a grey, acidic mist that hissed against the metal streets.
Ray stumbled, his hand pressed against a damp brick wall. The blue glow of his tattoos was fading, flickering like a dying candle. "Elara... go. Find the Resistance. I'll... I'll catch up."
"I'm not leaving you, Ray!" Elara cried, trying to support his weight. "You just took down three orbital satellites! Your cells are literally overheating!"
Schwing—
A sound thinner than a whisper sliced through the rain. Before Ray could react, a black, obsidian blade buried itself in the wall exactly where his head had been a second ago.
"Target status: Weakened. Extraction unnecessary. Termination authorized," a cold, feminine voice spoke from the shadows.
From the darkness of an alleyway, a figure emerged. She was clad in a 'Phase-Suit' that blurred her outline, making her look like a glitch in reality. She wasn't an android; she was a 'Hyper-Augmented Human'—the Council's ultimate assassin.
"The Shadow-Blade," Ray spat, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. "I remember your ancestors. They were cowards who hid in the dark then, and they're cowards now."
The assassin didn't speak. She moved with a speed that magic couldn't easily track. In a blink, she was in front of Ray, her twin obsidian blades humming with a 'High-Frequency' vibration that could cut through mana itself.
CLANG!
Ray blocked the first strike with a condensed shield of violet energy, but the vibration shattered it instantly. He fell back, his chest heaving.
"Your mana is impressive, Arkanos," the Shadow-Blade whispered, her voice amplified by her mask. "But your body is a prison. And I am the key that will set you free... in pieces."
She lunged again, a blur of black steel. Ray didn't have the strength to create another shield. He did the only thing he could—he 'detonated' the mana in his own blood.
"Mana Pulse: Internal Overdrive!"
A shockwave of purple energy erupted from Ray's skin. It didn't hit the assassin; it 'jammed' her Phase-Suit. For a split second, she became solid, her cloaking device sparking and failing.
Ray seized the moment. He grabbed her wrist, his fingers glowing with the heat of a dying star. "You're fast, Shadow. But I'm the light that reveals you."
He didn't kill her. He 'burned' the neural-link that connected her brain to her blades. With a scream of agony, the assassin collapsed, her obsidian swords shattering on the pavement.
But the effort was too much. Ray's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed into the cold, acidic puddles of the Lower District.
"Ray! RAY!" Elara's scream was the last thing he heard before the world went black.