Chapter 115: No Safe Place in Zenith [ Bonus - ]

Jet had never imagined that the streets of Zenith City could feel so unfamiliar.

He had spent eighteen years living in this city, memorizing its neighborhoods, shortcuts, shopping districts, and residential streets.

Yet tonight, every intersection seemed to conceal another enemy, every passing vehicle made him tense, and every distant footstep threatened to send him running again.

The city that had been his home for as long as he could remember had become an enormous hunting ground, and somewhere within it, people he had never met were determined to kill everyone he cared about.

His breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. The injuries accumulated during his escape had left his entire body aching, and the backlash from Asura Mask continued tormenting him long after the ability had disappeared.

Even with Asura Physique Stage II strengthening his body, he could feel the consequences of pushing himself beyond his current limits.

His ribs protested whenever he inhaled deeply, his left shoulder throbbed, and the wound across his upper arm had soaked his sleeve with blood.

Nevertheless, Jet continued moving with Inez in his arms while Nadia followed closely behind, struggling to keep pace on her injured ankle.

“Jet, we need to stop somewhere,” Nadia whispered, glancing anxiously over her shoulder as they entered another deserted street. “You’re barely standing, and Inez is exhausted. We can’t keep running forever.”

Jet glanced down at his sister. Inez had stopped crying, but that only worried him more. Her small face was pale, and her fingers remained tightly curled around his shirt. Every few seconds, she glanced behind them as though expecting another masked figure to emerge from the darkness.

“I know,” Jet replied, adjusting his grip beneath Inez’s knees. “But stopping in the open is practically begging those bastards to find us. We need somewhere they can’t approach without us noticing.”

Nadia looked toward the illuminated buildings farther down the road. “What about a hotel? There should still be people working at this hour. We could call the police, or maybe O.R.D.O. could send someone.”

Jet considered the suggestion before shaking his head. “A hotel would give them another building to surround, and we don’t know whether anyone answering an emergency call can reach us before the assassins do. Besides, you’ve seen what these people are capable of. Ordinary security won’t stop them.”

He didn’t mention the possibility that their enemies possessed connections within Zenith City’s security institutions. There was no evidence of that yet, and frightening Nadia with another suspicion wouldn’t accomplish anything.

They continued until Jet spotted a narrow pedestrian passage between two commercial buildings. A damaged security camera hung above its entrance, while several overflowing rubbish containers provided enough cover to conceal them from the main road.

After checking the passage for movement, Jet led Nadia inside and carefully lowered Inez onto a wooden crate.

“Stay here for a minute,” Jet instructed, crouching before his sister. “I need to make a few calls, and I want both of you where I can see you.”

Inez immediately reached for his hand. “Are those bad people still coming, Jet?” she asked, her voice barely audible.

Jet gently brushed the hair away from her forehead. “They might be, sweetheart, but I’m watching for them. You don’t need to worry about anything except staying beside Nadia.”

Nadia sat beside Inez and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Although the older girl’s expression remained strained, she managed a reassuring smile. “Your brother has been doing a pretty good job of keeping us alive, hasn’t he?” Nadia asked, attempting to distract her.

Inez nodded reluctantly, then leaned against Nadia without releasing Jet’s hand.

Jet remained beside them for another moment before retrieving his cracked phone. The screen had suffered further damage during the fighting, and a dark stain had spread across one corner of the display. Fortunately, it still responded when he unlocked it.

He immediately selected Frey’s number.

The call rang several times before disconnecting.

Jet tried again, pressing the phone against his ear while keeping his attention on the entrance to the passage. The second attempt lasted longer, but nobody answered. He waited until the connection ended, then stared at the screen with growing unease.

“Still nothing?” Nadia asked, noticing his expression.

Jet shook his head. “He isn’t answering. I warned him before we escaped the apartment, but I heard an explosion on his end before the call disconnected. I don’t know whether he managed to get his family somewhere safe.”

Nadia’s face tightened. “Frey has that enormous estate, doesn’t he? His father must have some kind of protection arranged.”

“He does,” Jet replied, remembering the D’Aubigné family’s resources. “And Frey isn’t helpless. But neither of those things guarantees anything against the people hunting us.”

He refused to consider the worst possibility. Frey had survived dangerous situations beside him before, and his Divine Rune possessed formidable defensive capabilities. If anyone could protect an ordinary family against a coordinated attack, it was probably Frey.

But Jet knew better than most that even extraordinary abilities had limits.

He opened his contacts again and selected Captain Adesewa Afolayan.

The call failed almost immediately.

Jet frowned and attempted it a second time, only to receive the same result. He couldn’t determine whether Adesewa’s phone was switched off, damaged, or simply unable to receive calls. After everything that had happened, none of those possibilities reassured him.

“Who are you calling now?” Nadia asked, gently rubbing Inez’s back.

“Captain Adesewa,” Jet answered, lowering the phone. “She’s an Awakener I know. If I can reach her, she might be able to help us.”

Nadia studied his face before looking toward the entrance. “Jet, I don’t understand any of this. Those people attacked my apartment, they destroyed yours, and now they’re chasing us all over the city. What did you do to make them come after you?”

Jet remained silent for a moment. It was a reasonable question, and one he had been asking himself since the first explosion.

Nadia had every right to be frightened and confused. As far as she knew, Jet was an ordinary young Awakener who had suddenly become the target of an organized group of killers.

“I haven’t done anything to them,” Jet finally answered, his expression grim. “At least, not knowingly. I’ve never even seen these people before tonight.”

“Then why are they trying to kill us?” Nadia demanded, her voice rising before she noticed Inez flinch. She immediately lowered her tone and pulled the little girl closer. “I’m sorry, Inez. I’m just scared. Jet, there has to be some reason.”

“I know,” Jet replied quietly. “And I’m trying to figure it out.”

He slipped the phone into his pocket and leaned against the wall, carefully considering everything that had happened.

Captain Adesewa had warned him immediately before his apartment was destroyed, and Frey’s family had been attacked around the same time. Nadia had also been targeted, despite having no involvement in any dangerous activities. The assassins knew where Jet lived, who his sister was, and which people he associated with.

That wasn’t information someone could gather through a casual investigation.

Someone had been watching them. And the more Jet considered the timing, the more his thoughts returned to the expedition into Beyond.

The Palladium Tree.

The fifty-seven Grade Three Palladium Fruits.

The twenty-nine expedition members who had sworn the Red Seal oath.

Jet’s expression darkened. If someone had discovered what the expedition had obtained, the consequences could be catastrophic.

Palladium Fruits were valuable enough to tempt powerful Awakeners, and the quantity they had harvested was enough to attract the attention of organizations far beyond an ordinary Raid Team.

But how could anyone have learned about them?

Every participant had sworn an oath of secrecy.

Jet remembered the faces of the expedition members, the excitement surrounding their discovery, and the careful division of the fruits before everyone went their separate ways. Had someone broken the oath? Had information somehow escaped through another source?

He had no answers.

“Jet?” Nadia called softly, noticing that he had gone silent. “What are you thinking?”

Jet looked toward the passage entrance before answering. “I’m thinking these attacks aren’t random. Whoever sent those people knew exactly where to find us, and they knew which people mattered to me.”

Nadia lowered her gaze toward Inez. “So they’re using us to get to you?”

“That’s what it looks like,” Jet admitted, feeling a familiar anger stirring beneath his exhaustion. “And that’s what makes them dangerous. They don’t care who gets hurt as long as they get what they want.”

He pushed himself away from the wall, wincing as pain spread across his ribs. Remaining hidden here might buy them several minutes, but he couldn’t afford to mistake temporary concealment for safety.

There was another problem he hadn’t solved.

The assassins kept finding him.

During their escape, Jet had deliberately avoided major roads and changed directions whenever possible.

He had crossed several neighborhoods, broken through buildings, and even used his weapons to create routes that nobody pursuing him could reasonably have anticipated. Yet the masked Awakeners had continued appearing ahead of him.

They weren’t merely following his footprints.

Somehow, they knew where he was going.

Jet examined his bloodstained clothing, wondering whether an enemy had placed a tracking mark on him during one of the earlier confrontations.

He considered the possibility that the same thing had happened to Nadia or Inez. Unfortunately, without knowing the nature of the ability involved, searching blindly for a mark would waste precious time.

“Nadia, did any of those attackers touch you before I found you?” Jet asked, turning toward her.

Nadia frowned as she considered the question. “No. I ran when they attacked my apartment, and I hid behind those containers until you arrived. Why?”

“Because they keep finding us,” Jet replied, his expression darkening. “Either someone is following us without being noticed, or one of them has an ability that lets them track people.”

Nadia instinctively pulled Inez closer. “Then hiding here won’t help, will it?”

“Not for long,” Jet answered.

He approached the passage entrance and cautiously looked outside. The street remained empty, but that meant very little after everything he had experienced tonight.

His first instinct was to leave Zenith City entirely. Unfortunately, reaching the outskirts would require crossing several heavily monitored roads, and the assassins had already demonstrated that they could coordinate their movements across considerable distances.

Attempting to escape through the main highways would likely lead them straight into another ambush.

The alternative was to keep moving until he could contact someone powerful enough to intervene.

Jet turned back toward the girls. “We’re leaving,” he announced, extending his hand toward Nadia. “There’s an old maintenance route beneath the next district. If we can reach it, we might be able to move without exposing ourselves on every street.”

Nadia helped Inez stand before accepting his hand. “And if they’re waiting there too?” she asked quietly.

Jet glanced toward the darkness beyond the passage. “Then we’ll find another way. I’m not giving them the chance to corner us again.”

He lifted Inez into his arms and supported Nadia as they hurried toward the opposite end of the passage. Every movement aggravated his injuries, but he forced himself to maintain a steady pace. He couldn’t use Asura Mask again without risking an even worse backlash, and his remaining Mana was too precious to waste on unnecessary abilities.

They emerged onto another deserted street.

Jet had barely taken three steps when he heard footsteps approaching from the intersection ahead.

He immediately stopped.

Four masked Awakeners appeared beneath the streetlights, while several more emerged behind them.

The assassins had found them again.

Jet tightened his grip around Inez and began retreating, searching desperately for an opening. He could already feel the pressure of the approaching Awakeners, and he knew another prolonged confrontation would be disastrous.

Then something changed.

An overwhelming presence suddenly descended upon the entire street, so powerful that Jet felt his breath catch in his throat. The approaching assassins stopped almost simultaneously, their confident movements replaced by visible hesitation.

One of them slowly raised his head toward the surrounding rooftops.

“What… what is that?” the masked man whispered, his voice trembling.

Jet didn’t know.

But as the terrifying Awakener presence continued spreading across the street, he realized that someone far more powerful than the assassins had arrived.