Rain lashed the glass as the black car pulled up to a shadowed mansion—no lights, no guards, no invitation list.
The note had arrived in Yirenda's encrypted dropbox:
"Come dressed in nothing but truth. Or don't come at all."
– The One Who Built the Cipher
No name. No signature. But the message was clear:
Come alone. Or die.
Inside the mansion:
Music without melody.
Walls lined with antique masks.
People in obsidian robes.
And power thicker than the air.
Here, even Delva's father wouldn't be admitted. This was older. This was where the world's unseen hands met.
Yirenda walked in bare-shouldered, unmasked, undefeated.
Heads turned. Some backed away. Others licked their lips.
[Cipher Whisper: Risk Level — 96%]
But also... Opportunity: Unknown.
"You came," said a voice near the altar.
She turned.
Not the sniper.
But his twin.
No… his clone.
Or something worse.
Eyes identical. Voice too smooth.
"He's missing," the twin said, offering a glass. "But he left you this."
He handed her a box. Slick, sealed with a digital lock coded to her bloodprint.
"Why would he trust you?" she asked.
"Because he knows I'm what he was becoming."
Before she could speak, a siren sounded.
Everyone turned toward the center of the hall as the stage opened—
And a golden coffin rose slowly from the ground.
Inside it:
A woman.
Frozen in cryo-glass.
Wearing the exact Cryo-Code necklace Yirenda had fought for.
Cipher glowed in Yirenda's eye:
[Identity Match: Subject Zero – Alina Wren. Genetic link confirmed. Status: MOTHER.]
She staggered.
Not from pain.
From rage.
"She's not dead," Yirenda whispered.
"She was stolen," the twin replied.
And suddenly…
The Cipher interface warped—glitching, pulsing red.
A new message bled across her vision:
"He who gave you Cipher… never wanted you to survive it."
She turned slowly toward the shadow in the upper box.
A figure in a white mask.
Watching her.
Smiling.
The Puppet Master.
The one even Cipher couldn't track.
Yirenda smiled back.
Deadly.
Knowing.
Because now, she wasn't just at war with Delva.
She was at war with the creator of Cipher himself.