151 THE CORE OF TRACKING
Instinct screamed. He twisted aside just as a blade sliced through the air where his head had been.
It was one of the Rewind sisters who escaped from the rubble to assassinate him.
Damen's eyes narrowed. He had underestimated them. They'd managed to free themselves from the rubble.
Now all three—III, VII, and VIII—were coming for him again, their movements jagged, unpredictable, each one able to shift direction mid-attack by rewinding a few seconds.
But Damen was ready this time.
He slammed his palms into the ground. The impact rippled outward in concentric waves, vibrating through the air like a living pulse.
"Sonic Smash—With Echo!"
The building trembled as layers of sound exploded outward. The first wave hit hard, cracking glass and bending steel; the second and third waves followed milliseconds later, overlapping and amplifying the resonance.
The assassins cried out as their equilibrium shattered. Their movements faltered, knees buckling under the relentless concussive rhythm.
Damen didn't wait. He locked them into his favorite list. Then, without another word, he turned and vanished into the dust.
"Where did he go?" Seven asked shocked.
"He just left…he could have killed all three of us", Eight replied crossing her fingers.
"Hey, where is our tracker?" Three asked.
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[Later in GenSyn HQ]
Lander peered at the device with a mix of curiosity and unease. "What is this thing?" he asked.
"It belongs to Coracle—probably the leader of the Order of Cockerel," Damen replied.
"You've got a name now?" Dorin said, surprised.
"That's all I've got. And this device. Maybe it's enough to start." Damen set the device on the table.
Lander rubbed his chin. "I've regretted not finding the Order for a long time. How do you want to approach this?"
Damen recapped quickly. "Earlier I was ambushed by three of the Rewind sisters—assassins tied to the Order. After I left, I shadowed them back into the slums."
"Give me the coordinates. I'll track them for you, Big Brother," Kail said, already reaching for a console.
Damen handed over the data.
Holo-screens flickered to life and projected grainy footage of a courtyard in the slums. A cluster of women moved in practiced formations, blades flashing in choreographed arcs.
"Is this an assassin training camp?" Dorin asked, squinting at the images.
Damen's face tightened. "No. It's an orphanage."
The camera angle widened, revealing a scattered group of children weaving between the women, kicking a battered ball and shrieking with laughter.
The contrast was jarring—steel and play, blades and bare feet. The Rewind sisters trained among the kids…. They were once these kids.
Dorin's voice wavered. "They've turned orphans into killers." Tears glistened in his eyes. "How cruel."
Lander's tone hardened. "Cruel or not, those women have blood on their hands. We can't let sympathy blind us."
Damen, however, looked at the women with pity and understanding.
They had been born into misfortune, and the Order of Cockerel had offered them the only way out — to become their assassins.
It was a cruel choice disguised as salvation…. But to the desperate children here, it was salvation.
Damen couldn't bring himself to blame them. If he was in their position, he might have accepted the offer himself.
"No one is born into this world with blood on their hands," Damen said quietly. "Sometimes, the world forces its blood upon them."
Kail focused on the footage. "If Coracle never meets them face-to-face, how do we trace him?"
Damen tapped the Coracle device, which hummed faintly. "He does make contact—just not in person. He sends these trackers with a delivery. If we trace the courier who brought this device, we trace Coracle's trail."
Kail adjusted the holo controls, zooming in on shipping metadata and delivery timestamps.
"Then we follow the delivery," Lander said. "Carefully."
Damen nodded once, eyes fixed on the pulsing device. "Carefully," he echoed.
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Damen returned to his room and took out Coracle's device once more. He tagged it to identify its properties.
Name: Core of Location
Description: This device grants the ability to determine the location of people identified by it. The device only functions when the target is within range.
Damen didn't fully understand how the device worked, but he pressed "Assimilate" without hesitation. The object dissolved into pure essence before flowing into him.
A new message appeared before his eyes:
"Congratulations, your target tracking has reached Level 2."
"Your tracking range has increased."
"Your available tracking targets have increased to 2."
"Damn it," he muttered with a grin. "This is good stuff."
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Kail's voice crackled through the comms.
"Big Brother, the delivery guy is there. He just dropped a new package at the Rewind sisters' place… it could be from Coracle."
"Track the delivery guy," Damen ordered immediately.
In the back of his mind, he was already thinking of the third Core of Location — the one he would soon take from the sisters.
Kail dug into the data streams, but after a few minutes, he sighed.
"There are no anomalies. The delivery guy is legit. The shipment is handled by a common logistics platform. Anyone could've sent it anonymously. I need more data."
"Then I'll get you more data," Damen said coolly.
He left for the Rewind sisters' orphanage without another word.
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Outside the Rewind sisters' room, he saw a few other women slowly entering. These were the other Rewind sisters of their assassin cell.
Kail deployed a fly-sized drone to eavesdrop on the room. Through its feed, they watched the sisters gather around a small package, carefully unwrapping it.
"Now that all of us are here, let's open the package", Rewind I said.
Rewind VII opened the package.
"Seven, did Coracle send us another tracking device?" asked Three, peering into the box.
"Yes. He's giving us a new target," Seven replied, unfolding a note tucked beside the device.
Her eyes widened.
"Damen Dark."
"Damen Dark again?" Eight exclaimed. "Didn't we just lose a device trying to kill that student? How did Coracle find out so fast and send us a replacement device? We didn't even tell him about our failure."
Seven shook her head. "This isn't a replacement. It's a new order. We're leading other assassin cells on this one — This is not a solo mission. The mission has been upgraded. That's the reason we received the tracking device."
"Someone must've paid big money for Damen Dark this time," Two muttered.
The sisters exchanged weary looks.
"We've lost four sisters this month alone," Rewind I said quietly. "These missions keep getting deadlier. The last group mission we took… IV, V, and VI never came back."
"We don't have a choice," Rewind II replied grimly. "There's no job in this city that pays enough to keep the orphanage alive. Without the bounty rewards, the children will end up on the streets."
"We've trained for this," Rewind VII said, her tone hollow. "Killing is all we know."
Suddenly, the device in her hand began to beep.
"What does that mean?" Rewind VIII asked, alarmed.
Rewind VII's eyes darted toward the window.
"It means… Damen Dark is somewhere near us."
Before anyone could react, a sharp gust of wind burst through the room. Curtains whipped violently, scattering papers and dust into the air. Rewind VII gasped as the device slipped from her hand, disappearing.
Out of the swirl of air, a figure materialized — calm, unhurried, and impossibly close.
It was Damen Dark.
And on his hand was the device locator.
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