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Chapter 57: Ghost Contract
Ash still clung to the streets when Dante and the others entered the factory vault.
The air smelled of scorched steel, wires melted into ribbons, old oil turned to tar by fire. The city above still burned, Dominion fleets scouring the sky in retaliation, but here, deep underground, the firelight was dim and flickering, as if afraid to breathe too loudly.
They weren’t alone.
Figures lingered in the shadows of the vault, faces masked, weapons drawn. Old insignias had been scraped from their armor, Dominion crests scorched black, their loyalty abandoned in favor of survival. Their leader stepped forward—tall, gaunt, with eyes that gleamed like glass under the flicker of failing lights.
“You’re the ones who brought the Tower down,” he said. His voice was so
