Chapter 101: No More Shadows
—The Eastern Silence—
It began with a hum.
Just a low vibration felt beneath the soles of guards stationed at the Soulborne Eastern Outpost, where sentry towers lined the cliffs and tech-augmented Soul Monitors scanned the skies.
There was no warning.
No trumpet.
No siege formations.
Just—
absence.
The sky fractured like glass.
The horizon folded.
And in the blink between breath and reaction, the eastern region of Soul Island vanished.
Not burned.
Not shattered.
Erased.
Entire sectors of the outer rim—seven monitoring towers, two Soul Wards, a minor sanctuary village, and an armory research wing under Mmuotech support—were gone.
No debris.
No survivors.
No echo.
The field officers didn't even have time to send distress.
Only one word made it through—transmitted through a dying relay, filtered by static, whispered like a curse.
"Mirex…"
---
Back in Lafrosa, the Soul Alert Tower flared red for the first time in a century.
Across the capital, Spirit Sanctum wards flared to life—barriers shimmering into place. Emergency corridors locked. Command lines lit up with soul-pulse messaging.
Within the central Grand Council chamber, a junior aide burst through the threshold without clearance—face pale, aura flickering with dread.
"Eastern watch is… gone. Completely. No energy remains."
Sylvia Ivanova rose.
Raizen clenched his fists.
Even Daizo opened both eyes.
The room froze as Marcus Ikemba, voice low and grim, gave the only conclusion possible:
"This... Mirex has made his move."
---
Elsewhere, in the outer rings of the Academy, alarms blared.
Students were pulled from their classes.
Evacuation and triage teams mobilized.
Karen Lockwood stood with Jim, Cassandra, Leslie and Marie—staring at the empty sky to the east where a faint red line now glowed like an open wound.
"He's showing his hands." Cassandra said, her voice hollow.
Joshua approached from behind, his jaw tense.
"...."
---
And deep beneath it all, in the tunnels of the Soulstream Core—Kamharida opened her eyes.
She didn't need a report.
She didn't need confirmation.
She felt it.
Mirex had moved.
And for the first time since returning, she whispered aloud—only to herself, voice calm and deliberate:
"So this is how it begins."
---