Chapter 11 · The 'system' is a joke

She surged upward, her knee aiming for my groin. I shifted my weight, catching her leg and pinning it with my own. The proximity was suffocating. I could feel the heat radiating off her suit, the rapid thrum of her pulse where my wrist pressed against her neck.

"The 'system' is a joke," I whispered, leaning closer until our foreheads almost touched. I let a tiny fraction of the Current leak out—not enough to kill, but enough to make the air vibrate. "I've seen empires burn that make your corporate towers look like sandcastles."

Mira stiffened. Her eyes widened, her pupils dilating as she felt the resonance. It wasn't a 'gift' from the corporation. It was something ancient. Something that felt like a graveyard and a storm all at once.

"What... what are you?" she whispered, her voice trembling.

"Someone who doesn't like being hunted," I replied.

I didn't let go. I watched her expression shift from defiance to genuine uncertainty. She was a predator who had just realized she was in the cage with something much bigger.

"Let me go," she said, though it sounded more like a request than an order.