"Elara, look at this," Julian whispered, his voice nearly drowned out by the roar of the speeding car's engine. He held up his trembling hand, showing the fine crack on the Rolls-Royce window that had just formed a burning wing pattern. "This isn't just Richard Vance's bluff, right?"
Elara didn't answer immediately. Her sharp eyes stared at the crack intently, then shifted to the Sovereign’s Seal on Julian’s wrist, which was still pulsating with an unsettling red light. "No, sir. That is a calling card. They already know who you are, and they no longer care about confidentiality protocols."
"Who exactly are they? The Black Phoenix isn't just a rival corporation, right?" Julian clenched his fist. "This Seal... it reacted as if there was something alive underneath the university earlier. S
