The Rust Sprawl was on fire.
Halo District 9 roared under Authority lockdown—sirens screamed, drones buzzed like hornets, and propaganda screens flashed crimson warnings: CURFEW ENACTED. SHELTER OR FACE TERMINATION. The smell of ozone and burning trash clung to every alley, every shattered window.
Jack moved through it like a predator. His coat was streaked with blood, rain, and ash, and his HUD glitched every few seconds, red static crawling at the edges of his vision. Victor flanked him with his rifle raised, jaw tight as they stalked through streets littered with broken tech and scavenger barricades.
"Two patrols, one block north," Victor murmured, peering through his scope. "They're sweeping every building."
Jack smirked. "Then we'll save them the trouble."
Two Black Ops Agents dropped from a hovering drone carrier, exosuits gleaming, rifles humming with electric charge.
Jack lunged first. His blade carved through the first agent's neck joint before the man could raise his weapon. Sparks and blood sprayed the wall. The second fired, rounds ricocheting off steel, but Jack slid low, hooked his leg, and drove a knife up through his visor.
The System chimed, words dripping through distortion:
⸻
[Kill Confirmed: Authority Black Ops]
[+500 XP | Infamy +10]
[Blood Oath Surge: +2%]
⸻
Jack rose smoothly, wiping his blade on his coat. "That'll send a message."
Victor scanned rooftops. "You realize Marcus will see this, right?"
Jack's grin was razor-sharp. "That's the point."
As if summoned, every billboard, every holo-ad, every drone screen in the Sprawl cut to static. Then Marcus's face appeared.
Glowing red eyes blazed across the district. His grin was too wide, too human to be human. His voice boomed, layered and glitching: "People of Halo. You've seen this man—Jack King. A killer. A tyrant. He promises you freedom while he drowns you in blood."
Screens replayed grainy footage of Jack's rooftop moments with Helena and Carla, cut to look like he was laughing over broken women. Civilians hiding in doorways whispered, pale with fear.
Victor hissed, "He's turning the city against you."
Jack tilted his head at a screen, eyes cold. "Good. Fear is leverage."
The System flickered violently. Glyphs replaced text. Marcus's chuckle crawled into Jack's skull:
⸻
<
[Override Detected]
[Status Update: JACK KING — DECEASED]
⸻
Jack froze, jaw tight. Marcus whispered in his head like static:
<>
Jack ripped his visor off, hurled it into the street. "Get out of my head."
A sniper round cracked the pavement by Victor's boot. Drones swarmed overhead, spotlights cutting through acid rain.
"Move!" Jack barked, dragging Victor into an alley as bullets chewed through corrugated steel.
His HUD rebooted mid-panic, bleeding crimson across his vision:
⸻
[WARNING: BLOOD OATH OVERLOAD]
[Trigger Condition Met: Host Rage 95%]
[Initiate? Y/N]
⸻
Jack's lips curled. "Yes."
Crimson veins flared under his skin, pulsing with mechanical hum. His vision sharpened; rain slowed.
Victor's eyes widened. "What the hell—"
Authority mechs dropped into the street. Jack blurred forward, climbed one like a beast, and stabbed through its cockpit. Sparks shrieked as the machine collapsed. The second fired a missile; Jack twisted mid-air, landed on its back, and drove his blade into its engine until it howled and died.
The System purred in his head:
⸻
[BLOOD OATH: LEVEL 2 UNLOCKED]
[Perk: Predator Reflexes — Reaction Time Doubled]
[Infamy: +25]
⸻
Jack dropped into the smoking street, eyes faintly glowing. "Come on, Marcus," he muttered. "Show me something real."
Across the district, Marcus watched from his suite. Carla knelt by his side, blank-eyed.
Marcus slammed a fist on the table, cracking it. "He's evolving. He's not supposed to evolve this fast."
System warnings screamed across his HUD:
⸻
[Stability: 50% → 45%]
[Psychological Erosion: CRITICAL]
⸻
Marcus gripped Carla's chin, forcing her gaze. "Tell me I own him."
"You… own him," she whispered.
"Again."
"You own him."
Marcus kissed her forehead, trembling. "Good girl. Watch me burn him alive."
Back in the Sprawl, civilians whispered Jack's name as he strode past burning mechs, Victor at his back. Scavenger gangs lowered their guns—or raised them. Jack didn't break stride. His aura filled the streets.
Far above, Helena's contact arrived. A sleek black transport skidded to a halt outside the tower. A man in a long white coat stepped out, glasses catching neon. Operatives in blank masks surrounded him. He glanced up with a smirk.
"Time to meet your king," he murmured.
The Rust Sprawl flickered. Billboards died mid-scream. Drones crashed in sparks. Streetlights blinked out one by one until the entire district drowned in darkness.
Jack's HUD sputtered with a system-wide override:
⸻
[ALERT: HALO DISTRICT 9 — BLACKOUT INITIATED]
[Authority Control: NULL]
[Survivability Projection: 18%]
[Override Signal Source: MARCUS]
⸻
Every screen blazed to life again. Marcus's face filled the void, glitching, his grin too sharp, his red eyes burning like coals.
"Run, Halo. Your king is here…" His image stuttered, overlapping Jack's for a flicker of static. "…and I'm hunting him."
The city trembled.