The estate was cloaked in smoke and blood.
Gunshots cracked like thunder through the marble corridors, echoing against the antique walls that had once been silent witnesses to opulence—now to war.
I crouched behind a toppled statue, the cold steel of a gun pressing against my thigh. My hands shook, but I refused to let fear win. Raiden's voice rang in my head:
"Don't think. Breathe. Shoot."
---
Raiden – Blood and Bone
I moved through the chaos like a phantom, taking down intruders one by one.
Every bullet I fired had purpose. Every movement was calculated.
But when I heard her scream, the world narrowed into a single point.
Aria.
---
Aria – Face to Face with Death
One of the masked men lunged toward me, his blade flashing. I aimed, fired, missed.
He knocked the gun from my hand, sending it skidding across the floor. Panic clawed at my chest.
But then—I remembered the blade in my boot.
I kicked hard, twisted, and stabbed upward.
The man gurgled, collapsed.
Blood soaked into my hands.
My first kill.
---
Raiden – Shattered Calm
I found her crouched, trembling, covered in red. Her eyes met mine—wild, terrified, strong.
I knelt beside her, wiping blood from her cheek.
"You survived."
She whispered, voice hollow: "I killed him."
"He would've killed you." I pulled her into my arms.
For a moment, the war disappeared.
---
The Lieutenant Escapes
By the time we secured the estate, the lieutenant was gone—vanished into the Milan streets like a wraith.
Raiden slammed his fist into the wall.
"This was a message. He wanted us to know he could reach us."
---
Aria – Baptism by Fire
That night, I stared at my reflection. I didn't recognize the girl in the mirror—bloodied, bruised, alive.
"I'm changing," I whispered.
Raiden appeared behind me, his voice low. "You're becoming who you were always meant to be."
---
End of Chapter 33