The air reeked of blood and ashes. Agonized screams echoed between the ruins as fire devoured what was once a home. Kai Solis staggered through the debris, his body battered, his breath ragged. His eyes—windows to a soul on the brink of oblivion—locked onto the lifeless body of his brother.

  Ren Solis was no mere civilian. He wasn’t just another casualty of the Empire’s cruelty.

  He had been an elite soldier. One of the best. Respected. Feared. But in the eyes of the Empire, he was something worse than an enemy—he was a traitor. He had uncovered the hidden rot within the Imperial High Command, the truth behind every so-called "glorious" conquest. And when he tried to walk away, when he chose his conscience over blind loyalty, the Empire sent its executioners.

  They didn’t kill him in battle. There was no honor in his death.

  They executed him like a rabid dog. A warning to anyone who dared defy their reign of terror.

  Kai dropped to his knees, clutching his brother’s bloodied chest.

  —"No...!"— A roar of agony and fury tore from his throat.

  The Empire had taken everything. His only family. His last reason to keep going. And as the Imperial soldiers walked away, laughing, their armor stained crimson, Kai understood something.

  He was no longer the same. Something inside him shattered that night.

  And something else awakened.

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  The pain was unbearable. His vision blurred, and a piercing hum filled his mind. The world tilted, and then—

  Silence.

  Everything stopped. Motion. Sound. Even the flames seemed frozen in time.

  Kai lifted his gaze and saw droplets of blood suspended in midair, frozen as if the universe itself had recoiled from his grief.

  A voice echoed in his mind.

  "You have crossed the threshold."

  A surge of knowledge exploded inside his head. An ocean of possibilities unfolded before him—each one revealing attacks, counterattacks, paths of escape, ways to kill. He saw the soldiers’ next moves before they even made them. It was as if the very flow of existence had bent to his will.

  Total Flow Awareness (Phase 1) Unlocked.

  Time resumed its flow. But Kai was no longer the same.

  His eyes glowed with an eerie, predatory light—the abyss had answered his call.

  The Imperial soldiers remained nearby, wiping their blades, reveling in their so-called victory. One of them turned his head, but before he could react—

  Kai was already there.

  A flick of the wrist. A flash of steel.

  The soldier collapsed, his throat slashed wide open.

  His comrade barely had time to blink before Kai slid beside him and buried his dagger between his ribs. The man’s eyes widened in horror as his life slipped away.

  The others finally noticed the massacre.

  —"What the hell—?!"—

  Too late.

  Kai had already seen their every move before they made it. His strikes were like a raging current—unstoppable, inevitable. He was no longer human. In that moment, he was something more.

  A predator. A storm of vengeance. A force of reckoning.

  By the time the last body hit the ground, Kai stood motionless, bathed in the blood of his enemies. His breath was steady. His hands did not tremble.

  He raised his gaze to the night sky and whispered—

  —"This is only the beginning."

  The Empire would know his name.

  And it would tremble.