Chapter 411: A Woman From the Past

A Woman From the Past

The woman looked at him.

Something had changed.

Not in her appearance.

Not even in her expression.

It was her voice.

The moment she spoke, the warrior felt an unfamiliar chill crawl down his spine.

"Now look what you’ve made me do."

She tilted her head slightly.

There was a faint smile on her lips.

It wasn’t the smile of someone who had just won.

It was almost regretful.

"You actually pushed my current self to this point."

The warrior’s expression hardened.

He didn’t understand.

What was she talking about?

Her gaze remained fixed on him.

"It’s too early for me to wake up," she continued softly. "But you forced my hand."

The warrior’s pupils contracted.

"What are you—"

A burst of wind swept past him.

He froze.

For a moment, nothing happened.

The alley became completely silent.

Then his expression changed.

Slowly, his eyes dropped.

Something felt wrong.

Why was everything tilted?

Why was the ground suddenly so close?

His mind struggled to understand what he was seeing.

Why is she sideways?

His eyes widened.

Then he saw it.

A body was standing several steps away.

His body.

The realization came too late.

That’s my own body...

His vision began to spin.

The world blurred around him.

He didn’t even have time to scream.

His head struck the ground.

Thud.

Lane silently watched as the man’s head came to rest against the cold ground.

For several seconds, she simply stared.

That was easier than expected.

Her gaze lowered slightly.

A faint trace of sadness appeared in her eyes.

"How sad..."

She wasn’t talking about him.

She was talking about herself.

"My current self is so weak."

Her voice was quiet.

Almost lonely.

For a brief moment, something deeper stirred inside her.

An older presence.

A consciousness that had remained buried beneath the surface for far too long.

Lane slowly closed her eyes.

Well...

I was the one who decided to put my actual consciousness to sleep.

She remembered the choice clearly.

She had deliberately allowed her current incarnation to inherit another personality drawn from her own existence.

It had been a strange decision.

A dangerous one.

But it had been necessary.

Her eyes opened again.

The sadness in them slowly faded.

Still, this is all worth it.

Because she had been given something she had once thought impossible.

She had been able to remain by his side.

Not as his enemy.

Not as someone destined to stand against him.

But as someone who could walk beside him.

Someone who could stay close to him.

Someone who could love him.

Once again...

She was his woman.

A warm memory suddenly surfaced in her mind.

Victor’s arms around her.

His warmth.

The quiet feeling of being held by him.

For a moment, everything else disappeared.

The dead man.

The alley.

The blood.

Even the awakening consciousness buried within her.

None of it mattered.

Only that memory remained.

Lane’s lips curved into a soft smile.

She looked toward the darkness ahead.

"Surely..."

Her voice became almost a whisper.

"This time, I will be able to save you..."

She paused.

Her eyes softened.

"...Adam."

Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

Then her eyes slowly closed.

"For now, I need to go back to sleep. It’s not yet time."

The hidden consciousness slowly withdrew.

The violent aura surrounding her disappeared with it.

The oppressive feeling vanished.

The alley fell silent once more.

For a few moments, nothing moved.

Then Lane blinked.

Her vision was blurry.

A sharp pain suddenly pulsed through her head.

"Ugh..."

She winced and pressed a hand against her forehead.

Her breathing became uneven.

"What happened?"

She slowly looked around.

The alley was still exactly as she remembered it.

Almost.

Bodies were scattered across the ground.

Blood stained the stones.

Broken pieces of the surroundings lay everywhere.

Then her gaze stopped.

She saw him.

The powerful warrior’s severed head rested on the ground a short distance away.

Lane froze.

She stared at it.

One second passed.

Then another.

She couldn’t move.

Her eyes widened slightly.

Was I the one who killed him?

The thought sent a chill through her.

Lane slowly lowered her gaze.

Her hands were trembling.

She stared at her palms as if they belonged to someone else.

Nothing about them looked different.

But she couldn’t shake the feeling that something had happened.

Something important.

Her memory was fractured.

She remembered getting angry.

She remembered the warrior’s words.

She remembered the rage rising inside her chest.

She remembered preparing herself for one final, desperate charge.

And then...

Nothing.

Everything after that was simply gone.

"I can’t really remember..."

Her voice came out quietly.

Lane crouched beside one of the bodies.

Her eyes moved across the scene.

"What did I do?"

She swallowed.

Her gaze returned to the warrior.

"I got angry at one of his comments."

She frowned as she tried to force her memories back into place.

"I was about to make a suicide charge."

Her fingers tightened slightly.

"But before I could do anything..."

She stopped.

A headache stabbed through her temple.

Lane closed her eyes for a moment.

"When I opened them again, I was here."

She slowly looked at the bodies around her.

A strange possibility entered her mind.

Did someone save me?

The thought refused to leave.

Lane immediately stood up.

She began searching the alley.

She checked the bodies first.

Nothing.

No unfamiliar wounds.

No strange weapons.

No obvious signs of another fighter.

She moved toward the walls.

Her fingers brushed over the damaged stone as she examined every crack and mark.

Nothing.

She lowered herself and inspected the ground.

Footprints.

Blood.

Scattered debris.

She followed every mark carefully.

Still nothing.

Lane’s expression became more serious.

She checked the footprints one by one.

There was no second set of tracks.

No blood trail leading away.

No discarded weapon.

No sign that another person had entered the alley.

Her brows slowly drew together.

"That’s impossible..."

She looked back toward the warrior’s body.

Someone had killed him.

That much was obvious.

But if it wasn’t her...

Then who?

Lane turned in a slow circle.

Her eyes searched every corner of the alley.

The rooftops.

The windows.

The narrow gaps between the buildings.

Nothing moved.

No one was there.

She remained silent for several seconds.

Then another possibility occurred to her.

"Unless..."

Lane’s eyes lifted.

She stared at the rooftops above.

The buildings surrounding the alley were tall enough to provide a perfect vantage point.

If someone had been watching from above...

They wouldn’t have needed to enter the alley at all.

Her expression hardened.

"...they were able to kill that man from a long distance."

The idea was absurd.

But considering the strength of the warrior she had just seen, it was also the only explanation she could find.

Lane eventually sighed.

"Whatever."

She stood.

"I’ll worry about it later."

She returned her weapon to its place and walked away from the bodies.

The city remained quiet.

Fantom City’s lanterns glowed in the distance as she headed back toward the city and the others.

She had no idea what had happened inside her consciousness.

And she had no idea that something ancient had awakened for only a few moments.

All she knew was that she needed to report what had happened.

She headed back to the city and reported what transpired to Eon and the others.