The tunnel still echoed.Not with engines — with ghosts.
The Resurrection Circuit was over, but the city hadn't stopped shaking. Neon lights flickered in fractured puddles, reflecting the smoke trails still hanging over Valdora's lower sectors. Somewhere deep underground, the last echoes of Omega's roar died out — but for Marcel, it was still alive inside his chest.
He didn't win the race.He didn't lose it either.
There was no finish line this time — only fire, chaos, and a message waiting at the edge of it all.
Marcel leaned against Omega, its hood still ticking with heat. The engine steamed, smelling of scorched metal and adrenaline. He could still feel the echo of the steering wheel vibrating through his bones. The Resurrection Circuit had been more than a race — it was a signal.
And someone had sent it.
From the far end of the pit, a figure approached through the haze — Rhea Kuro, her suit half-burned, her eyes sharp even through the exhaustion."You felt it too, didn't you?" she asked, voice low, steady.
Marcel didn't look up. "The tremor under the track?"
She nodded. "It wasn't an accident. Someone triggered it. The whole circuit was rigged."
Marcel finally turned to her, his reflection slicing through the smoke like a ghost in the glass."Who?"
Rhea tossed a data chip onto the hood of Omega. It landed with a metallic clink."Coordinates. Found it buried in the system before the explosion."
Marcel picked it up, turning it between his fingers."What's there?"
Rhea's smile was cold. "The next track. And maybe… your Architect."
The air went still. Even the hum of cooling engines seemed to fade.Marcel's grip tightened on the chip. The name — The Architect — had followed him like a shadow for years. The unseen hand behind the crashes, the betrayals, the chaos. Every move he'd made, every life lost on the asphalt, all roads seemed to lead to that one ghost.
Omega's dashboard flickered to life suddenly, screens glitching in rapid pulses. Lines of code raced across, then stabilized into one chilling message:
"THE CIRCUIT WAS JUST A TEST."
Marcel's eyes narrowed. He felt his pulse sync with the soft growl of Omega's idling engine.The city lights outside flickered as if responding.
Rhea stepped back, half-laughing, half-afraid. "You're going after him, aren't you?"
He slid into the driver's seat, eyes forward."I never stopped."
The engine ignited — a thunderclap in the silence.
As Omega rolled out of the tunnel, the smoke swallowed everything behind it. The world outside felt different — more electric, more dangerous. Streetlights blinked in sync with the hum of his machine, like the city itself was watching.
Marcel opened the throttle just enough to feel the tremor of power beneath his fingertips.Ahead, the coordinates from the chip mapped onto a single blinking point — somewhere far beyond Valdora's limits.The location read:"The Rift – Sector 0."
He exhaled, a thin, deliberate breath.The name alone felt wrong.Like it wasn't a place.It was a challenge.
As Omega sliced through the empty highway, the horizon began to pulse with violet stormlight.Whatever waited out there wasn't another race. It was something older, darker — something that could change everything.
And Marcel Voss, the Phantom Drifter, didn't know if he was chasing destiny…or if destiny had finally caught up to him.