The Rust Sprawl wasn't just burning now.
It was kneeling.
Neon lights flickered over streets littered with mech husks and Authority corpses. Gangs huddled in alley shadows, rifles lowering as Jack strode past, his coat heavy with blood and rain. Some whispered his name like a curse. Others murmured it like a prayer.
Jack didn't slow. He let them watch.
Something twisted in his chest, coiling tight. The Blood Oath's pulse throbbed in his veins, red glyphs flickering at the edges of his HUD.
Stability: 35% → 32%
Neural Signature Sync: 79% → 82%
Warning: HOST INTEGRITY DEGRADING
Victor walked behind him, tense, scanning every shadow. "They're scared of you."
"They should be," Jack said. His voice was calm, but it didn't sound fully human anymore.
Victor frowned. "Jack, you're bleeding power faster than—"
Jack turned, eyes glowing faintly in the rain-dark alley. "Then we'll bleed forward."
Victor didn't argue.
The Harbinger came out of nowhere.
It dropped from a shattered billboard, a Revenant Construct the size of a truck, armor plated with scavenged Authority tech. Its chestplate split with a wet crack, revealing five human faces fused beneath glassy armor, mouths frozen in silent screams.
Victor swore. "What the—"
The Harbinger roared, a sound like static and bone grinding together, and lunged.
Jack blurred forward, the Blood Oath humming through his body. He ducked under a claw swipe, blade sparking against its armor. The thing moved like a hive—limbs jerking out of sync, multiple voices screaming at once.
The System spat warnings in his vision:
Threat Level: MAXIMUM
Survival Projection: 12%
Override Detected: MARCUS ONLINE
"Marcus," Jack hissed.
A distorted chuckle whispered through his HUD. <
Jack drove his blade through the Harbinger's arm joint, twisting until circuitry screamed. Blood sprayed—not oil, blood. The Construct recoiled, one of its faces crying soundlessly through glass.
Jack ripped the arm off and leapt onto its back, stabbing down again and again, red glyphs flaring in his vision until everything blurred.
Victor fired at its knees, shouting, "Jack! You're losing it!"
Jack didn't hear him. He was laughing—low, guttural, like Marcus.
Stability: 32% → 28%
Identity Fracture Detected
JACK KING = MARCUS REVENANT?
He jammed his blade into the Harbinger's core. Sparks erupted as the Construct screamed, collapsing in a heap of metal and flesh.
Jack stood over it, panting, blood dripping from his hands. Civilians peeking from windows recoiled when his glowing eyes swept the street.
Victor grabbed his shoulder. "Jack. Hey. Look at me."
Jack blinked, focus snapping back. For a moment, he didn't recognize Victor.
Then the fear in Victor's eyes registered, and Jack smiled faintly. "Relax. I'm still me."
Victor wasn't convinced.
Across the city, Marcus watched from a wall of monitors, his grin twitching at the edges. His reflection flickered in the cracked glass: one moment Marcus, the next Jack.
"Beautiful," Marcus murmured, fingers twitching. "He's killing me one piece at a time… and becoming me while he does it."
The System screamed in his HUD:
Stability: 45% → 38%
Psychological Erosion: CRITICAL
Host Identity: COMPROMISED
Marcus ignored it, dragging his nails down the glass until blood smeared across his reflection. Carla knelt at his feet, silent, her expression unreadable.
Marcus leaned close to the screen, voice low. "Keep going, Jack. Wear the crown. It already fits."
Helena sat in the back of a sleek black transport, rain streaking down tinted windows. The man in the white coat sat across from her, hands folded neatly, his glasses reflecting her pale face.
"You don't want to save him," he said calmly. "You want to stop him."
Helena shook her head. "You don't know him."
The man smirked. "I know what Marcus is. And Jack won't kill Marcus. He'll replace him."
Helena's breath caught.
"You called us because you were afraid of Marcus," the man continued, his voice almost soothing. "But deep down, you're more afraid of what Jack is becoming."
Helena turned away, clutching her hands in her lap. Rain hammered the roof like gunfire.
Back in the Sprawl, gangs began to gather, whispers turning into chants. "Jack King… Jack King…"
Victor glanced at Jack as they passed a burning mech husk. "You hear that?"
Jack's smile was sharp. "Good. Let them chant."
The System glitched violently, Marcus's voice bleeding through.
<
Jack tilted his head, staring at his reflection in a cracked store window. For a moment, Marcus's face stared back.
He smiled at it.
"I don't run from crowns," Jack murmured. His voice wasn't entirely his own. Half Jack. Half Marcus. "I take them."
The Sprawl roared his name.
And the war for Halo began.