FAZER LOGIN“Every prophecy begins with a choice. Every war begins with a lie.”⸻The first bell echoed across the mountains.Its sound was unlike anything Seraphina had ever heard.It wasn’t loud.It wasn’t violent.Yet every note carried an ancient weight that seemed to vibrate through the cathedral itself.The candles flickered.Dust drifted from the vaulted ceiling.Even the Raven lowered his head.No one spoke while the bell continued to ring.When the final echo disappeared into the darkness…Leonardo slowly exhaled.“It has begun.”⸻Seraphina stared at him.“You still haven’t answered my question.”Leonardo looked at her with tired eyes.“I know.”“If you aren’t my enemy…”“Why did you let them kidnap me?”His expression darkened.“Because if I hadn’t…”“…they would have killed you before sunrise.”Silence.The Raven remained motionless beside one of the stone pillars.His unreadable mask hid every emotion.Yet…He didn’t interrupt.Almost as though this conversation had been waiting twen
“A king can survive without a throne. But the moment his queen is taken… every rule of war changes.”⸻The room fell into a silence so profound that even the distant thunder seemed to fade.Alessio stood motionless beside the empty hospital bed.The white sheets were still warm.The IV line swayed gently, as though Seraphina had been taken only seconds earlier.On the pillow…The black chess queen remained untouched.A mocking gift.A declaration of war.Matteo carefully picked it up.His jaw tightened.“They’re taunting us.”“No.”Alessio answered quietly.“They’re inviting us.”⸻Lorenzo examined the handwritten note beneath the chess piece.Only seven words.“The game truly begins when the Queen leaves the board.”He frowned.“This isn’t ordinary ink.”“What?”“It contains microscopic gold particles.”Matteo looked confused.“Why would that matter?”Lorenzo carefully placed the note beneath a forensic scanner.Hidden symbols slowly appeared across the paper.Not letters.Coordinate
“The strongest walls never fall from the outside… they crumble because someone unlocks the door from within.”⸻The television screen faded into black.Its reflection lingered across the polished walls of Vittorio De Luca’s war room like a ghost refusing to disappear.No one moved.No one breathed.The Raven hadn’t merely threatened them.He had proven something infinitely more dangerous.Someone inside the De Luca Estate was watching every conversation.Every decision.Every heartbeat.⸻Matteo was the first to break the silence.“Seal the mansion.”His voice carried the authority of a battlefield commander.“No one enters.”“No one leaves.”Every guard immediately rushed into action.Steel security shutters slammed over every entrance.Biometric locks activated throughout the estate.Within seconds…The De Luca Mansion became the most heavily fortified building in Italy.Yet…No one inside felt safe anymore.Because the enemy wasn’t outside.The enemy was already home.⸻Alessio slo
“Sometimes the only way to save the person you love… is to walk willingly into the hands of the devil.”⸻The silence left behind by the Black Council felt heavier than the battle itself.Smoke drifted through the shattered courtyard.Rain slowly washed blood from the cracked marble steps of the De Luca Estate.Medics rushed between wounded soldiers.Stretchers lined the entrance hall.Broken statues lay scattered across the gardens where generations of the De Luca family had once celebrated victories.Tonight…There was no victory.Only survival.⸻Inside the private medical wing…The atmosphere was suffocating.Doctors surrounded Seraphina’s bed.Machines beeped in uneven rhythms.Clear medication dripped through IV lines into her veins.Yet nothing seemed to slow the poison spreading through her body.The chief physician examined another blood report before quietly removing his glasses.His expression alone was enough to terrify everyone.Alessio stood beside the bed.He hadn’t spo
“Every empire has a king.Every king has an executioner.”⸻The eastern wall collapsed in a deafening roar.Ancient stone shattered across the courtyard as smoke billowed into the rain-soaked night. The force of the explosion sent stained-glass fragments spinning through the air like deadly confetti.The De Luca Estate—untouched by war for nearly three decades—had finally been breached.Sirens screamed.Emergency floodlights flickered before dying again.For one terrifying moment…The entire estate was swallowed by darkness.Then the headlights of nearly a hundred armored vehicles illuminated the battlefield.Hundreds of masked soldiers poured through the broken wall with frightening discipline.No shouting.No panic.Only perfect formation.They moved like an army that had rehearsed this invasion a thousand times.⸻Matteo reacted first.“Delta Formation!”His voice thundered across the courtyard.Instantly, De Luca soldiers formed three defensive rings.The outer circle engaged the
“A king is measured not by the empire he builds… but by the lives he is willing to sacrifice to protect it.”⸻The valley fell into an unnatural silence.Only the relentless rhythm of helicopter blades disturbed the night.Twelve military helicopters hovered above the De Luca Estate, their searchlights carving pale beams through the storm.Far beyond the iron gates…Hundreds of terrified hostages knelt in the mud.Estate employees.Kitchen staff.Gardeners.Mechanics.Women who had worked for the De Luca family for decades.Children who had grown up inside these walls.They weren’t soldiers.They had never carried a weapon.Yet tonight…They had become bargaining chips.The mechanical voice echoed once more.“One hour.”“After that…””…we begin the executions.”The transmission ended.A deathly silence settled over the estate.⸻No one spoke.Even Matteo—who had stared death in the face more times than he could remember—felt his stomach tighten.Lucien looked toward the hostages.“The







