Rain fell again in Shanghai, but this time it brought no coolness. The night air felt charged hissing, wild, and full of threats invisible to ordinary human eyes.
The fight left traces behind: cracks in the pavement, the scent of ozone, and black mist evaporating slowly like a fire running out of breath.
Mira sheathed Qingyu, her breathing steady, though her chest still hammered with adrenaline.
Kael approached while scanning the lingering energy with the cobalt device in his hand.
"That creature… wasn't a normal entity," he muttered. "They didn't come to scare us. They came to hunt."
Mira brushed wet hair away from her face. "Hunt what? Eden's energy?"
Kael stared at her. Too long.
"That's what I thought at first…"
He stepped closer, lowering his voice.
"but they were hunting you, Mira. Not the energy. You."
Mira tensed. "Why me?"
Kael opened a small holographic screen. A wave graph appeared normally a soft blue.
But Mira's?
Red-gold. Intense. Unstable. Like something trying to wake from a very long sleep.
"Because Eden's resonance… is responding to you."
Mira shook her head quickly. "No way. I'm not an Eden descendant. I'm just"
Kael cut her off.
"a Shaolin disciple taken by a cult when you were little."
His tone was gentle, not accusing.
"But that's not the whole truth."
Mira wanted to yell, punch something, maybe even hit Kael.
But something in her chest foreign, faint, warm told her Kael wasn't entirely wrong.
Before she could ask anything
The spiritual siren in the Eden lens shrieked.
Golden light burst from Mira's wrist.
Not just a detection.
A summon.
Kael stepped back. "The system's never reacted like this before. Something's very close"
A shadow flashed. Fast. Dropping from the rooftop.
Mira drew her sword.
Kael raised his cobalt pistol.
And the figure landed right in front of them.
Silver-white robes. Black shoes spotless despite the fall. A sharp gaze like an icy blade hidden behind a calm smile.
Tang Sect.
More precisely
"Tang Rhen," Kael whispered, his face turning cold.
Mira knew that name. Every Eastern fighter did.
The Tang heir. A prodigy rumored to sever someone's energy flow with a single touch.
Tang Rhen smiled faintly, as if he'd just found a treasure.
"So it's true…" he murmured.
"Eden's energy chose you, Mira."
Mira's breath hitched. "Who told you that?"
"Wudang," Rhen replied casually.
Kael nearly cursed. "I never said that! Don't twist"
Rhen raised his hand, silencing Kael the way an adult quiets fighting preschoolers.
"I'm not talking about rumors."
He looked at Mira, silver eyes gleaming.
"I'm talking about the truth Shaolin hid from you."
Mira's blood boiled. "Don't play guessing games."
Rhen stepped closer, calm.
Too calm for someone standing in a night freshly attacked by demonic entities.
"There's a reason the cult kidnapped you as a child."
His voice dipped low, almost like a spell.
Mira gripped her sword tighter.
Rhen continued
"Because part of Eden's resonance… has been inside you since the day you were born."
The world seemed to stop.
Kael froze. Mira lost her breath. The rain felt heavier.
"What… what did you just say?" she forced out.
Rhen gave a thin smile. Not arrogant.
More like someone pitying her for a truth too heavy to carry.
"Shaolin protected you. Wudang stabilized you. The cult wanted to consume you."
He examined Mira like a puzzle piece finally in place.
"Because you, Mira…
are a hybrid resonator.
A human…
born with Eden's imprint."
Kael lunged forward. "Enough! He's lying! He"
But before Kael could touch him
In a blur, almost too fast for human eyes
Rhen twisted Kael's wrist and dropped him to his knees in one smooth motion.
"Be silent, Wudang."
Rhen's tone was flat.
"Until the facts are finished."
Mira stepped back.
Her heart felt like it was being punched from the inside.
"I'm… not
I'm just a Shaolin girl
I'm just"
"No."
Rhen stared without blinking.
"You are not 'just' anything."
He stepped closer, eyes sharpening.
"You… are the key."
Silence.
Only the rain.
Then
from the distance, the black mist began gathering again.
Bigger.
Thicker.
Like something that had just found its dinner.
Tang Rhen looked toward it, then back at Mira.
"And the Cult has caught your scent."
He drew a thin, dark-red blade.
"Operation Nocturna has officially begun."
Mira lifted her sword, hands trembling whether from anger, fear, or the truth catching up to her, she didn't know.
Kael pushed himself to his feet.
And in the distance
the mist formed a face.
A human face.
But cracked.
Whispering:
"Find… her…"
Mira closed her eyes.
Then opened them burning.
"If they want me…"
She raised her blade.
"…then let them come."
The next battle began.