Wastes of Minsk — Ground Zero
The sky had turned white.
Not from snow.
From heat.
From the ancient satellite's solar beam that carved a crater half a mile wide where Unit 9 had stood.
When it faded, there was no signal. No heat trace. No movement.
Dakar stood in the ash, goggles still fogged.
> "Nothing survives that."
Kael said nothing.
Because he wasn't sure.
---
Citadel — War Room
Rael stared at the sensor readings.
Astra whispered, "It's offline."
Alina frowned. "Too easy."
Rael looked at her. "What?"
She turned toward the map, zooming in.
> "Cipher doesn't build weapons to win."
> "He builds them to evolve."
> "Unit 9 may be gone…"
> "But the design survived."
---
Cipher's Fortress — Deep Vault
The hologram of Unit 9 flickered. Dead.
Cipher watched it burn for a moment in silence.
Then, he reached for a new file.
> "Subject: Kael Prime — Behavioral Analysis"
He began uploading logs.
> "Let's stop playing with reflections."
> "Let's make the real thing bleed."
---
Meanwhile — Kzyl Front, Southeast Asia
Jian stood at the edge of a makeshift airfield, the Uncoded signal blackout reaching all the way to his border skirmishes.
His top lieutenant approached.
> "The eastern nodes are collapsing."
> "Our reinforcements are jammed. We can't rely on HALIX."
Jian pulled a long, bone-handled knife from his belt.
> "Good."
> "Let's go back to knives and silence."
Behind him, his squad—elite Reclaimed defectors, trained off-grid—stepped forward.
> "Prepare the infiltration plan."
> "We're not waiting for Cipher anymore."
---
Citadel — Map Room
Kael stood with Alina and Dakar, now marked as a global threat.
But the mood was shifting.
Kael had outmaneuvered Cipher's apex creation.
Dakar had rewritten the rules of digital warfare.
And now?
The world was watching.
New sponsors.
Silent factions.
Old allies.
Even enemies.
Some wanted to back Kael.
Others wanted him dead.
But one thing was certain—
He wasn't a player anymore.
He was a threat to the game itself.
---
Cipher's Private Quarters
Alone, Cipher stared into a blank terminal.
And whispered:
> "Let's give him something he can't outthink."
He keyed in a hidden protocol.
> "Project: Leviathan."
---
End of Chapter Nineteen
Next: Chapter Twenty — "Leviathan"