Silas was still shaking.
The Raid Killer city faded behind them as the black, unmarked vehicle sped through the underground routes. The windows were sealed, the cabin soundproofed—none of the city's noise could reach inside.
Silas looked down at his hands.
They were… normal.
Sitting among people whose bodies glowed with power, who fought as if the laws of reality bent for them, he felt small. Ordinary.
Amina, one of the R.K members, glanced at him and nodded.
"He's alive," she said. "That alone is a miracle."
Silas hesitated before asking, his voice quiet.
"What… what are you?"
A short laugh came from Hamza, the largest man in the group.
"People who don't belong," he said. "People the world wants erased."
The vehicle stopped.
They arrived at a hidden underground facility, buried beneath the ruins of an old structure. When the doors opened, red light flowed across the walls, scanning every movement.
David stepped forward.
"Silas," he said calmly, "you've seen the city. You've seen the robots. You've seen how they kill without hesitation."
Silas nodded.
"This world is called a World Without Pain," David continued. "But the truth is—pain wasn't erased."
Silas looked up.
"It was stolen."
"How?" Silas asked.
David raised his hand. Beneath his skin, something moved. Red and black lines lit up, forming patterns that looked almost alive.
"Pain was converted into power."
A screen activated nearby, showing ordinary people—before and after. In the second images, their bodies glowed, their eyes changed, their expressions no longer human.
"Some survived," Amina said quietly. "Others burned from the inside."
Silas swallowed.
"I don't have any power."
David walked toward him and stopped directly in front of him.
"Not yet," he said.
He placed two fingers against the back of Silas's neck.
Cold.
Pain.
Then—
A faint light shimmered beneath Silas's skin.
The room went silent.
Hamza stepped forward sharply.
"That's not possible…"
Amina stared at the data scrolling across the screen.
"It was dormant," she said. "Hidden. But it's awakening now."
Silas struggled to breathe.
"What does this mean?"
David smiled—for the first time, genuinely.
"It means," he said,
"you were never ordinary."
Far away, deep within the Raid Killer network, a robotic unit detected a new anomaly.
TARGET UPDATED:
SILAS — PRIORITY OMEGA