The Last Hunter's Rise

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📍 Unknown Location – Blackroom Facility, Guild of Crimson Mantle

The room was surgical.

Steel walls. No windows. No scent.

Three figures stood around a containment field pulsing in dark crimson light.

Inside it, bound by runes and neuro-seals, Project MIREN stirred.

Formerly human. Barely alive. Augmented by dark rituals and forbidden tech. Skin pale as death, eyes glowing like dying embers.

Elrik watched from behind a reinforced barrier.

"You're sure it'll work?"

Lady Virellen didn't flinch.

"He was once a hunter. The first and only survivor of a shadow core collapse. His body adapted. His hatred… remained."

Elrik narrowed his gaze.

"Let him loose."

A cold hiss echoed.

Chains fell.

Miren stood.

> [Objective Installed – Target: Virek Kael]

[Direct Command: Terminate]

[Override: All Protocols]

Status: Hunter-Killer Activated

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📍 Shadow Flame Stronghold – Training Annex

Kael stood barefoot in the open-air training yard, shadow servants around him.

His newest addition, the Phantom Lancer, blinked from position to position on his silent command.

> [Servants: 13/15]

[Shadow Core Integrity: Stable – Sync Rate 72%]

[Projected Evolution Path: ???]

Myrla approached with a hard expression.

"Bad news."

Kael didn't turn.

"Go on."

"We intercepted a guild transmission. Coded, buried in noise. But Syl decrypted it."

She handed him the crystal.

He activated it.

> "Initiate Asset MIREN. Suppress shadow anomalies. Clean execution. No witnesses. No failures."

Kael's expression darkened.

"They're not just reacting anymore."

"No," Myrla replied. "They're hunting you."

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📍 Nightfall – Border of Sector 11

A patrol of Shadow Flame rebels moved through the streets. Light rain fell. Fog crept in unnaturally thick.

Nara stood with them, covering a wounded medic. Her pulse quickened.

Something was wrong.

Then…

The fog sliced open.

Too fast.

Too clean.

The first rebel fell, neck broken, body vanishing into shadow mist.

A whisper in her mind:

> "Shadow blood. I smell it."

Nara screamed.

Kael felt it.

From half a district away, the shadow link lit up.

> [Servant Connection Severed – Entity Terminated]

[Emergency Ping: Nara Aevris – Vital Spike Detected]

He moved.

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📍 Alleyway – Seconds Later

Kael appeared in a burst of shadow, eyes blazing.

The street was littered with bodies.

Only Nara remained, cornered by a tall, faceless figure in cracked armor—emanating mana that rejected all shadows.

Kael summoned Phantom Lancer.

> [Skill: Phase Step]

The lancer blinked behind the assassin.

He swung.

Miren didn't dodge.

He absorbed the blow. The shadow servant disintegrated on contact.

> [Shadow Feedback Detected – Servant Destroyed]

[Warning: Core Harmful Resonance Engaged]

Enemy Identified: Shadow Inversion Class – Soulbane Hunter

Kael's heart pounded.

This was different.

This was designed… for him.

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📍 The Battle

Kael launched a flurry of shadow strikes—blades from the ground, tendrils from above.

Miren moved like liquid death, ignoring damage, crushing everything in his path.

Kael dodged narrowly, grabbing Nara as the building behind them collapsed.

"Get out of here," he hissed.

"I'm not leaving—!"

"GO!"

He shoved her through a shadow gate, just before Miren's fist crashed where her head had been.

Kael turned back.

Alone.

His shadows couldn't hold the enemy. The core pulsed—wounded from feedback.

And still, Miren advanced.

Whispers of forgotten language drifted from his mouth.

> "You are not the first.

You will not be the last.

The darkness you claim… belongs to something else."

Kael's eyes narrowed.

"Then I'll show you what mine really is."

> [System Override – Manual Command Activated]

[Shadow Forge: Overload Mode – Experimental Use]

[Warning: Core Instability Rising]

Kael pressed his hands together. Shadow crystallized between them.

A weapon formed.

A spear—black as the void.

He launched it.

Straight through Miren's chest.

The assassin staggered.

Roared.

And vanished in a burst of static.

> [Enemy Disengaged – Teleport Signal Detected]

[Status: Incomplete Termination]

[Threat Level: S+ Confirmed]

Kael fell to one knee, breathing hard.

Nara returned moments later.

"He… he disappeared?"

Kael shook his head.

"No."

He looked toward the city skyline.

"He's hunting."

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📍 Final Scene – Unknown Blacksite

Miren reappeared, hunched, twitching.

Technicians rushed to stabilize him.

One whispered:

"He pierced the Soulbane Core…"

The lead handler stepped back, eyes wide.

"This… changes everything."

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📌 Next: Chapter 16 – Interlude: Smoke and Schemes

(Political aftermath, public chaos, growing factions, Nara and Myrla point of view)

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