While the three waited in the tense silence of the room a new sound came from the heavy outer doors.
Three short distinct taps. The sound was not loud but in the oppressive quiet of the chamber it felt like a hammer blow. Lily flinched almost imperceptibly.
She knew who it was. The thought made the shame burning in her gut feel even hotter.
The middle-aged Clan Leader spoke without looking up from his desk. His voice was flat a stark contrast to the anger he had shown just moments ago. "You may enter."
The doors opened and a boy stepped inside.
He was about fifteen years old but his short stature made him appear closer to twelve. He had black hair brown eyes and the round youthful face of a child.
He looked harmless. A bright smile was on his face as he looked at the two men and the kneeling figure of Lily. The oppressive atmosphere in the room did not seem to affect him at all. He walked in with a light bounce in his step.
"Clan Leader, Clan Elder—did you call for me?" he asked his voice cheerful and full of energy. It was a sound that did not belong in this grim room. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novęlfire.net
The Clan Leader nodded once his expression unchanged. "Your next mission has arrived."
Excitement lit up the boy’s face. His eyes sparkled with genuine eagerness. "A new mission—excellent! What is it Clan Leader? You’ve kept me on training assignments for ages. I’m eager to get back into the field. The trainees are getting boring. They break too easily."
The Clan Leader’s cold gaze met the boy’s. The room temperature seemed to drop a few degrees. "Your task is to locate the leader of the Union and bring him back alive."
The boy’s smile vanished instantly. His entire demeanor shifted. The cheerful child was gone. In his place was a focused professional his eyes hard and calculating.
He met the leader’s gaze without flinching. The sudden change was unnerving. He looked older now much older than his fifteen years.
"That’s a tough job." A moment later the grin returned wide and confident. The shift back to the cheerful boy was just as sudden. "But the harder the mission the stronger I’ll become. This sounds like fun."
With that he turned and walked out of the room. He did not wait for a dismissal. He simply decided the conversation was over. The heavy doors closed behind him leaving a profound silence in his wake.
Throughout the entire exchange Lily had kept her eyes fixed on the floor. She had not dared to raise her head. Every cheerful word from the boy felt like a needle piercing her pride.
Kaido—the boy who had just left—was her older brother. He was a prodigy the clan’s golden child.
Ever since awakening his power he insisted on presenting himself as a sixteen-year-old a fact that only added to her humiliation. He was better stronger and more favored. And everyone in the clan made sure she knew it.
The Clan Leader finally looked down at her. His gaze felt heavy like a physical weight pressing on her shoulders.
"You will continue your training until another mission is assigned to you. Do not fail again Lily. My patience has its limits."
Beads of sweat formed on Lily’s forehead. Still staring at the floor she nodded mutely. She could not find her voice. She scrambled to her feet her movements clumsy and hurried.
She almost tripped as she turned and hurried out of the room. She did not want to spend another second in that suffocating atmosphere.
The scene shifted. Kaido now stood atop the tallest skyscraper in the city. It was the same city that had recently been shaken by a vampire riot.
The wind whipped at his clothes and hair. He surveyed the sprawling streets below.
The lights of the metropolis twinkled like a sea of stars. He looked down at the world with the casual confidence of someone who owned it. The city was a board and he was ready to play.
He reached into his pocket and drew out a small folded slip of paper. It was the note handed to him by one of the clan members before he departed. He unfolded it.
The message was written in neat precise script. It was the Clan Elder’s handwriting.
Location of my little sister’s stolen toys.
Kaido folded the paper again a slight smirk on his face. He chuckled softly to himself. "Stolen toys. He always did have a way with words." He looked out at the city again his smirk widening.
He then vanished from the rooftop without a sound. There was no flash of light no ripple in the air. One moment he was there and the next he was gone.
He reappeared in a dark narrow alleyway. It was the exact location where some time earlier the false Sona and Tayo had confronted Adam. The air was still damp and smelled of rain and garbage.
He took a slow look around his eyes scanning everything. The damp brick walls the discarded trash and the faint scorch mark on the ground. His senses were sharp.
He could still feel the faint lingering energy signature of the battle. It was chaotic a mix of different powers.
His gaze then moved upward. It moved past the graffiti on the walls and the rusted fire escape. It caught on a small dark object mounted on the corner of an adjacent building. A security camera. Its single glass eye was pointed directly at the spot where the fight had happened.
A faint knowing smile crossed his lips. "There you are." He knew these public cameras were often linked. He did not need to hack it. He just needed it to see him.
Unseen in a dimension composed of pure data and information a digital consciousness known as Pratham observed the scene in the alley.
Its perception flowed through every connected device every network stream in the city. It had been monitoring the location since the initial incident with the clones.
Kaido’s sudden inexplicable appearance immediately set off its internal alarms.
[Alert: Unscheduled materialization event at monitored coordinates.]
[Energy signature: Unidentified. Translocation method: Unknown. Biological signature: Human male, approximate age 15.]
Pratham processed the new data in a nanosecond. This was not a random occurrence. The location was too specific. The timing was too coincidental.
[Cross-referencing global databases. Subject has zero digital footprint. No records of birth finance education or social media presence exist. Subject is a ghost.]
The AI analyzed the data stream from the camera. The boy was looking directly at the lens. He was smiling.
Pratham’s digital voice a construct of pure logic spoke into its own private network.
"Master needs to hear about this."