### ** Eclipse Gambit**
The Jakarta night was a tapestry of neon and shadow, the air thick with the static hum of illegal augmentations. Seun stood in the ruins of an abandoned transit hub, his hands buried in the pockets of a tailored shadowweave coat. The Eclipse Core pulsed faintly in his grip, its energy a cold, familiar whisper against his palm—a secret only he could feel.
Behind him, Lyssandra materialized like smoke coalescing into flesh. Her adaptive camouflage shimmered faintly, mimicking the graffiti-strewn walls. **"Kaito's hosting the auction at the Syndicate Spire. Half the city's elites will be there. Hunters. Warlords. Black Lab defectors."**
Seun's gaze didn't waver from the distant skyscraper. **"And the Core?"**
**"Rumors say it's already been sold,"** she said. **"But the buyer's still onsite. Kaito's using it as bait."**
A flicker of anticipation tightened Seun's jaw. The Eclipse Monarch's remains were more than a trophy—they were a key. To what, he didn't know yet. But the pull in his veins, the instinctive drive to claim it, was undeniable.
---
**The Syndicate Spire**
The gala was a masquerade of violence and opulence. Augmented dancers twirled beneath holographic chandeliers, their movements synced to the thrum of subsonic bass. Syndicate enforcers lingered at the edges, their ocular implants scanning for threats.
Seun entered without fanfare, his presence a void in the room's sensory overload. At his side, Mirae wore a gown of liquid obsidian, her smile sharp enough to draw blood.
**"Remember,"** she murmured, **"Kaito's pride is his armor. Chip it, and he'll bleed."**
They didn't get far.
Kaito descended from a floating platform, the Voidspike Naginata glowing faintly in his grip. His gaze locked onto Seun, predatory and amused.
**"Shadowmancer,"** he called, voice amplified to silence the crowd. **"Here to beg for scraps?"**
Seun stopped at the base of the dais. **"Here to take what's mine."**
Kaito laughed. **"Your soldiers are ash. Your villa's a crater. What *power* do you have left?"**
The room's holograms flickered to life, showing real-time footage of Seun's villa under siege. Shadow soldiers—Lyssandra, Vorath—fought back-to-back against waves of Syndicate drones.
Seun's fingers twitched. Not at the threat, but at the *itch* beneath his skin—the quiet, insistent pull of the Eclipse Core in his pocket.
Mirae stepped forward, her laugh melodic. **"Kaito-sama, must we be so grim? The Monarch came to *negotiate*."**
Her pheromones laced the air, subtle and sweet. Syndicate guards swayed, their pupils dilating. Kaito's smirk faltered for a heartbeat.
Seun moved.
His dagger shattered the dais's control panel. The holograms died. The Voidspike's glow sputtered.
Chaos erupted.
---
**The Dance**
Kaito struck first, the Naginata carving a jagged tear in reality. Seun sidestepped, his body moving on instinct—*left, pivot, strike*—the rhythm burned into his nerves through countless battles. His blade met voidsteel, the clash scattering sparks like dying stars.
Mirae wove through the crowd, her gown's hem dripping neurotoxin. Hunters collapsed mid-stride, choking on their own hubris.
**"You think this changes anything?"** Kaito snarled, his weapon fracturing into shards of antimatter. **"The Core's already gone!"**
Seun's free hand closed around the Eclipse Core. Energy surged through him, raw and volatile, and the room's gravity *shifted*. Hunters and enforcers slammed into the ceiling. Kaito's Naginata shuddered, its power leaching into the Core.
**"You're a thief,"** Seun said, cold and final. **"Nothing more."**
He drove the Naginata's blade through Kaito's chest.
The Syndicate heir gasped, void energy crackling across his skin. **"You… don't know… what you've taken."**
Seun leaned close. **"I know enough."**
---
**Aftermath**
The Spire burned behind them, its upper floors collapsing into the harbor. Mirae lit a cigarette, the flame reflecting in her smudged eyeliner. **"The Core?"**
Seun tossed her a shard of voidsteel. **"Decoy. The real one's already moving."**
She laughed, breathless. **"Clever bastard."**
In the distance, thunder rumbled—not from the storm, but from footfalls. Heavy. Relentless.
Seun didn't need warnings flickering in his vision to know who approached. The air itself bent under the weight of **Worldbreaker Kang**, the Hunter Association's living siege engine.
**"Time to go,"** he said.
Mirae vanished into the shadows.
Seun lingered a moment longer, the Eclipse Core's pulse syncing with his heartbeat.
*Let him come.*
---