Chapter 47 – City of Broken Lights
Part I – The Silent Streets
Night fell over New Elysium like a shroud of iron. The city lights sputtered and died one district at a time, as though the darkness itself swallowed them. In the ruins, only faint embers of golden energy glowed from broken street lamps — remnants of Silva's last clash with the fragment's influence.
Silva walked alone through the shattered lanes. Lian had returned to the safe zone to brace the next line of tech defenses, but Silva… Silva needed space. Needed to breathe. Needed to understand what was becoming of him.
The air vibrated. Not with sound — with pressure.
Like the city is watching me, he thought.
A broken traffic screen flickered to life beside him. Its static buzzed, then shifted into a red-lit pulse. Words formed in jagged lines across the surface:
WELCOME BACK, HOST.
Silva froze. His fists tightened. "Not now…"
The screen cracked down the middle, leaking a stream of crimson sparks.
YOU PUSHED ME BACK. BUT THIS CITY BELONGS TO ME. AND YOU—
YOU ARE JUST THE VESSEL.
The lights across the street blinked out simultaneously. The darkness thickened, swallowing the far end of the road.
Silva exhaled slowly. "Then come out and take what you want."
The shadows answered.
Part II – The Echo of the Fragment
The air behind him rippled like boiling water. Silva spun just as a mass of shifting red energy formed into a humanoid silhouette — tall, smooth, featureless, except for two burning crimson eyes.
The Fragment Echo.
Not the fragment itself, but a projection formed through the city's veins.
It moved without sound, sliding toward him, its limbs elongating unnaturally like liquid steel. Silva's fists burst into golden flame as he stepped back into a battle stance.
"You're not real," he said, though his heartbeat quickened. "You're a manifestation. A trick."
The Echo tilted its head, mimicking curiosity.
IF I CAN HURT YOU… DOES IT MATTER WHETHER I'M REAL?
It lunged.
Silva barely dodged the first strike — a razor-like arc of red energy that sliced a street pole clean in half. The metal shrieked as it crashed to the ground.
Silva countered with a golden burst, striking the Echo in the chest. The impact rippled across its form, distorting it, but it didn't fall.
Instead, it laughed — a low, glitching sound that vibrated inside Silva's skull.
YOU HAVE GROWN STRONGER. BUT SO HAVE I.
It blurred, splitting into two, then three echoes surrounding Silva. Each pulsed with red lightning.
Silva's breath hitched. It's feeding off the city's circuits… using the whole infrastructure as a weapon.
He braced himself.
Then they attacked all at once.
Part III – Clash in the Dark
Silva unleashed a wide shockwave, golden energy exploding outward. Two of the illusions shattered instantly — but the real one slipped through, striking Silva across the ribs with a spinning kick of red fire.
He crashed into a storefront, shattering glass and metal. Pain flared across his side, hot and sharp.
Silva rose slowly. "Alright… you want a fight? Then let's fight."
He blurred forward, fists blazing. Each punch left streaks of gold that lit the street, illuminating the clash like a storm of lightning.
The Echo moved like a serpent — fluid, precise, merciless. Each of Silva's golden strikes clashed with red arcs, producing violent bursts that shook the street.
A blow to Silva's shoulder numbed his arm. A slash grazed his cheek, drawing blood.
The Echo paused, head tilting again.
YOU BLEED. GOOD.
THE MORE YOU BREAK…
THE MORE CONTROL I GAIN.
Silva spat blood, eyes burning. "Then I'll break you first."
He slammed both palms into the ground — a technique he rarely used — sending a golden shockwave upward like an eruption. The ground cracked, asphalt folding like paper.
The Echo flew backward, its form flickering violently.
Silva didn't hesitate.
He leapt, golden aura flaring behind him like wings of fire, and delivered a crushing blow to the Echo's core.
The silhouette shattered like glass.
For a moment, silence.
Then Silva felt it.
A whisper inside his skull:
Wrong one.
Part IV – The Real Nightmare
The real Echo materialized behind him.
Silva spun too late.
A jagged crimson blade formed from its forearm slashed across Silva's back. Pain burst through him — deep, burning, corrupting.
Silva dropped to one knee, breath sharp and ragged.
The Echo crouched in front of him like a predator savoring the moment.
YOU CANNOT ESCAPE WHAT YOU ARE BECOMING.
THE VEINS OF THIS CITY… AND YOUR OWN VEINS…
ARE ALREADY MINE.
Silva trembled. He felt the fragment stirring again inside him, whispering to the wound, seeping through the crack like poison.
The Echo's hand reached toward Silva's heart.
LET ME IN.
LET US BECOME ONE.
For an instant, Silva's golden energy dimmed.
Then—
A voice cut through the dark.
"Get away from him!"
A blast of blue lightning slammed into the Echo. It staggered backward, form rippling violently.
Lian stood at the end of the street, her arm cannon charged to its limit, eyes blazing.
"Silva, on your feet!"
Silva gritted his teeth and stood. Pain lanced through him, but he forced golden energy back into his veins, igniting his aura again.
The Echo screeched — a glitching, distorted roar that rattled metal and glass across the street.
Lian raised her weapon. "Let's finish this thing."
Silva nodded.
Side by side, golden and electric blue, they rushed the Echo.
Part V – Breaking the Shadow
The Echo morphed into a towering figure, arms splitting into multiple bladed limbs. It slashed at them in a frenzy of red lightning.
Silva blocked two strikes with his forearms while Lian blasted apart another limb with a focused beam. The Echo recoiled, but its limbs grew back instantly.
"Damn it," Lian muttered. "It's regenerating faster than I can damage it!"
Silva clenched his fist. "Then we hit its core. Hard."
He focused, channeling energy until his entire arm glowed like molten gold.
Lian overloaded her cannon until sparks flew from its internal coils.
The Echo sensed danger — its form twisted, contorting violently.
NO.
NO.
NO!
Silva charged straight into the storm of blades, taking a cut across his shoulder but pushing through the pain. Lian fired a massive blast at the same time Silva's golden punch connected with the Echo's chest.
The impact tore the night apart.
A blinding explosion of gold and blue ripped through the street. The Echo convulsed, its shape breaking apart into shards of red energy that scattered like burning embers.
Finally—
It shattered.
The fragments faded into the night like smoke.
Silva collapsed to one knee, panting heavily.
Lian knelt beside him. "Silva! Stay with me."
He tried to speak, but the pain in his back flared again — and he felt it.
Red energy… creeping deeper.
Silva whispered, trembling, "It… touched the fragment inside me…"
Lian's face darkened. "Then we're running out of time."
He nodded weakly.
The lights across the city attempted to flicker back on — but instead, every bulb glowed a faint, sinister red.
Silva stared up at them, heart sinking.
"It's not just controlling drones anymore," he whispered.
"It's learning. Expanding."
Lian swallowed hard. "Silva… the fragment is evolving."
A cold wind swept through the broken street.
New Elysium breathed — and the city felt alive with menace.