Chapter 308: My Alibi is Gravity

The room felt smaller with the Sanctions Division in it. Not physically, but in the way that mattered. The air itself seemed to compress around Agent Karras and his two silent shadows, as if reality recognized these people as apex predators and adjusted accordingly.

I’d met men like him in my previous life. The kind who could smile while signing execution orders. The kind who believed, truly believed, that the ends justified any means necessary.

Dangerous people. My favorite kind to outmaneuver.

"Mr. and Mrs. Kuzmina." Karras gestured toward the door with the casual authority of someone who never expected to be refused. "We appreciate your concern for your son, but this is a classified debriefing. National security protocols require—"

"He’s seventeen." Luka’s voice could have stripped paint. "And he’s been unconscious for two days. Whatever protocols you’re hiding behind can wait until—"

"Luka."

My voice was quiet, but it cut through his protective tirade. He turned to look at me, confusion and worry warring on his weathered face.

I gave him a small nod. "It’s okay. I can handle this."

The words tasted strange in my mouth. Not because they were a lie, but because they weren’t. In my old life, I’d talked my way out of situations far worse than a bureaucratic interrogation. I’d negotiated with warlords. Played mind games with psychopaths. Convinced a World-Ranked Hunter that I was worth more alive than dead.

Three government agents in a hospital room? Child’s play.

Kimiko touched Luka’s arm. Her hazel eyes found mine, and I saw something there. Not just worry. Recognition. Like she was seeing a glimpse of someone she’d known a long time ago.

"Come on," she said softly. "Satori knows what he’s doing."

They left. Luka cast one last look over his shoulder, the promise of violence clear in his eyes if anything happened to me. The door clicked shut behind them.

Karras turned to Natalia.

She hadn’t moved from her position by the window. Arms crossed. Jaw set. Purple eyes burning with the kind of intensity that made lesser men reconsider their life choices. The afternoon sunlight caught the white streaks in her hair, remnants of whatever transformation she’d undergone in that cathedral chamber.

My girl. My covenant. My walking nuclear deterrent.

"Family only," Karras said. His tone suggested this was non-negotiable.

Natalia’s smile could have frozen the sun. "I

am

family. And I was there. You want a witness statement? I’m staying."

One of the other agents, a woman with close-cropped black hair and the dead eyes of a professional killer, reached for something at her hip. Natalia’s hand twitched. The air around her shimmered with barely contained telekinetic force.

I felt a headache coming on. Not from my injuries. From the realization that my girlfriend and these government spooks were about to turn my hospital room into a war zone.

"Agent Karras." I kept my voice light, bored even. "She stays. She’s my healer’s backup in case this conversation gets stressful enough to pop my stitches. Unless you want to explain to President Vance why the guy who saved her sister dropped dead during your interrogation?"

Karras studied me for a long moment. Then he waved his hand. The woman relaxed. Natalia didn’t.

"Fine." He pulled a chair closer to my bed and sat down, crossing his legs with the casual elegance of a man who had all the time in the world. "Let’s begin."

A holographic display flickered to life from his tablet, projecting images I recognized. The cathedral chamber. The Angler’s corpse. The aftermath of our desperate fight for survival.

"Walk me through it," he said. "From the moment you breached the barrier between the wings."

I did. Sort of.

The truth was a weapon, and I was a sniper. I gave him the trajectory, the basic facts, but I left out the caliber. No mention of SEVER. No mention of Thermal Incision. No mention of the way my Kingmaker’s Aura had turned my ragtag team into a synchronized killing machine, transforming mediocre students into a cohesive unit of death.

Instead, I painted a picture of desperate improvisation. Lucky shots. Environmental advantages. A tale of survival rather than victory.

"So you’re telling me," Karras said after I finished, "that a C-Rank student managed to defeat an A-Rank biological weapon through..." He checked his notes. "Structural collapse and group tactics?"

"I didn’t defeat it." The laugh that escaped me sent pain rippling through my ribs. Worth it for the look on his face. "We dropped a cathedral on it. Gravity did the work. I just lit the fuse."

Karras didn’t believe me. I could see it in the slight tightening around his eyes, the way his jaw shifted. But he couldn’t prove I was lying, and that was all that mattered in our little dance of deception.

"The Anomaly’s capabilities suggest—"

"You’re asking the wrong questions."

I leaned forward, ignoring the protest from my healing ribs. The movement brought me closer to Karras, close enough to see the faint scar running along his jawline, the tiny burst blood vessel in his left eye.

"You’re asking

how

I killed it. You should be asking

why

it was there."

Silence. Behind Karras, the other two agents exchanged a glance that spoke volumes in their silent language of suspicion.

"That thing didn’t spawn in a C-Rank Gate." I kept my voice low, conversational. Like we were just two guys discussing the weather. "The energy signature was wrong. The hunting patterns were wrong. Everything about it screamed ’planted.’ It was an assassin, not a random encounter."

Karras’s expression didn’t change. Professional mask firmly in place. But his fingers, resting on his knee, twitched slightly.

Got you.

"And it wasn’t hunting my team. We were in the East Wing. The Anomaly spawned in the West." I tilted my head, watching him the way a cat watches a mouse that thinks it’s hidden. "It went straight for the Sentinels. Straight for their highest-value target."

I let the pause hang in the air between us. Let him fill in the blanks himself.

"Straight for Celeste Vance."