Chapter 28: The Debt Collector's Path
The lead Hound was the only one left standing, his mask shattered, revealing a face covered in geometric silver tattoos. He was a Level 14 High-Sovereign, a veteran of a hundred planetary purges, but he was currently shaking as he looked at the young man standing in the white light.
"You... you aren't just a Sovereign," the Hound wheezed. "That light... that's the frequency of the Founding Masters. Who are you?"
"I'm the interest on the debt," Carson said.
He walked forward, his footsteps echoing in the now-silent bridge. He grabbed the Hound by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
"Tell the Emperor that his Hounds are dead. Tell him that every soul he 'processes' will cost him a moon. And tell him that Maya... if there is a single scratch on her soul that I didn't put there myself, I will turn Sol-Prime into a tomb."
"You... you would protect the traitor?" the Hound gasped, blood leaking from his eyes.
"I'm not protecting her," Carson said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I'm protecting the rule of law. My law."
Carson flexed his fingers. A pulse of white Qi traveled into the Hound's body, not killing him, but imprinting a "Message-Seed" into his nervous system. The Hound would live just long enough to return to the Emperor and deliver the ultimatum before his core dissolved.
He dropped the dying assassin and looked toward the Upper Sector. The "Null-Field" generator the Resistance had mentioned was glowing on top of the Zenith Spire, preparing to purge the Lower Sector.
"Aura," Carson said, his trench coat billowing in the returning rain. "Is the Resistance shield ready?"
"Shield at 92%, Sir. But the Zenith Spire is charging a 'Solar-Lance' strike. The shield won't hold against a direct hit from the Emperor's orbital satellites."
"Then I guess I'll have to take the elevator," Carson said.
He looked at the Star-Shedder on his back. The 31st strand was humming, eager for more. He wasn't just going to stop the purge; he was going to decapitate the Hegemony's presence in New Seattle tonight.
As Carson began his walk toward the Zenith Spire, the "Broken Gears" began to emerge from the alleys. They didn't speak. They just watched. They saw the white light of the bridge and they knew—for the first time in ten thousand years, the Hegemony was no longer the only power in the sky.