Smoke curled above the battlefield, choking the sky and darkening the ground beneath. The smell of gunpowder, blood, and fire mixed in the air. Mike's soldiers and the HUNTERS stood in formation, watching the North gate of Spiral Island tremble.
Then – a thunderous crack. The gates shattered.
Ten thousand soldiers in obsidian-black armor, faces hidden behind full masks, surged through the breach. Each bore two swords – one in each hand – with pistols holstered at the waist and a rifle on their backs. They marched in silence. No war cry. No sound but the heavy thud of their boots.
Mike blinked. "Who the hell are they?"
Nafisa felt it first – the cold aura of death. "They're not soldiers," she whispered. "They're shadows."
Siddik rose from the blood-stained ground. Pain pulsed in his black where Mike's blade had found flesh earlier. But as the ghost army advanced, Siddik grinned beneath his breath.
Tayeb stepped forward, shocked. "Are they…"
Siddik gave him and Musa a nod. Then he turned to face Mike and the stunned HUNTERS.
Mike scoffed. "Is that all you've got? A bunch of tin men?"
Siddik (coldly):
"You killed what you saw. But you never saw what I kept hidden. You stand before the ones they buried in history. They buried their names. They buried the truth.
But today I brought them back again. Meet the ghosts who just hear my orders, not anything else."
Siddik puts his mask on his face and lifts his sword. His voice roars:
"Let the ground tremble. Let the world burn."
"THE REVENANTS ADVANCE!"
With that, Spiral's elite charged, and the battlefield turned into hell.
From the castle tower, Fakhrul, Rafiq, Zara, and Hridoy watched in awe.
Fakhrul: "Who are they?"
Rafiq (almost whispering): "The force that kept Spiral safe… the ones even the governments feared. The ones who don't obey anybody else, but only Siddik. Siddik's trained ghosts."
Hridoy: "Why didn't he call them before?"
Rafiq: "Because you don't call ghosts until it's time to bury the world."
Zara: "We need to move the civilians now. We split up."
Rafiq nodded. "Fakhrul Brother, Zara – south path. Hridoy Brother, you're with me. Let's go."
Meanwhile, in Italy…
Rafi crouched behind a broken arch, eyes wide.
Mike's forces had reached Spiral's foreign mansion. But they were being torn apart – not by Siddik's army, but by two figures.
A girl in black, spinning with a curved blade, slicing through enemies like silk. Heads rolled. Limbs fell.
And above – a sniper, unseen, picked off soldiers one by one.
Rafi (into comms): "Siddik… something insane is happening here. There's a girl. And maybe a sniper. I don't know them. But they're protecting your family."
Silence.
Then–
Hasan's voice:
"I'm cleaning up the traitors from the old files. You protect the mansion."
Rafi: "Where were you? I have called you several times."
Hasan: "Finishing those who deserved the bullet long ago."
Rafi: "Then help us. Your brother's bleeding–"
Hasan: "He chose that. He chose me to kill the rebels and sent you to protect our family. Maybe that was his plan."
The line cut.
Back in Spiral, the battle turned brutal. Bodies dropped like flies. Musa charged like a silent beast, leading the Spiral elite with Tayeb beside him.
But then, Mike confronted Siddik in the chaos. Amid burning ruins, blood, and fire, the two locked eyes.
Mike: "You killed Grok. My father. And yet… You became what he feared most."
Siddik: "Your father knew who I was. That's why he feared me. He didn't want war. He wanted control. He knew my idea would awaken the people."
Mike: "He wasn't scared of your idea. He was scared you'd succeed."
They clashed.
Steel screamed.
The fight was savage — fists, blades, fire. Siddik finally knocked Mike down. Mike kneeled, coughing blood, broken.
Mike (spitting blood): "You win, Siddik. But remember—kings don't live long in this world."
Siddik (cold): "I don't take surrender. Your father was a good man, and you're a good son. You knew about me, but you came to fight me and to take revenge for your father's death. But you know what, Mike? I don't like good men. So…"
With one clean swing, Siddik sliced off Mike's head.
Silence.
Even the wind paused.
Mike's body fell to the ground. His head rolled to the dust.
Every soldier froze. HUNTERS. Rebels. Spiral. All.
Then, click.
Nafisa stepped forward.
A gun in her hand. Her eyes are burning.
Siddik turned.
He raised his own gun.
They stood facing each other. Head-to-head. Gun to gun.
Siddik: "Let's see whose heart breaks first."
Their fingers hovered over the triggers.
The storm howled above them.
TO BE CONTINUED…