The attack began like a thunder a clear sky. Valeris City, known as the bustling jewel of Kynara, filled with the hum of erd the chatter of its diverse popuce, was suddenly plunged into chaos. Explosions rippled through the streets, settiire districts abze. Civilians screamed as they ran for cover, their cries mingling with the ominous hum of Syndicate drones and the erratients of attackers whose faces bore the empty gaze of mind-trolled pawns.

  Ethan was aboard his ship, docked securely in the hangar, when the first tremors reached him. The vibrations rattled his workbend sent a half-empty mug skittering to the floor.

  "Iris, report!" he barked, already strapping on his armor.

  "Explosioed in multiple districts across Valeris," Iris replied. Her voice, calm and clipped, belied the gravity of the situation. "Attackers identified as mind-trolled civilians. Refugees and kidnapped individuals previously unated for. Reports suggest coordinated sabotage efforts targeting key infrastructure, including the Merary Guild headquarters."

  Ethan ched his jaw, holstering his psma dagger and ser pistol. His eyes flicked to the case holding the molecur dagger, but he hesitated. The on was too dangerous to use casually, and this wasn't the moment for it. "Prepare the hatch for departure. We're moving now."

  The streets of Valeris were unreizable. Once orderly avenues were now clogged with overturned vehicles, debris, and panicked civilians. Fires raged unchecked, casting a hellish glow against the pre-dawn sky. Ethan's helmet dispyed a tactical overy, highlighting clusters of hostiles in vivid red. As he navigated the chaos, he noticed the attackers moved with a disturbing ck of hesitation, their jerky movements and lifeless eyes sending a chill down his spine.

  His crackled to life. "Ethan, it's Kael. The guild's under siege. We need you here, now!"

  "I'm en route," Ethan replied, weaving his hover bike through the wreckage-strewn streets. "But I'll make a detour first. Nara's is utack."

  "Damn it," Kael muttered. "Be quick. Things are esg fast."

  The tina was a beloved fixture in Valeris, its warm lights a bea for weary meraries and locals alike. But now, those lights were extinguished, repced by the flicker of fmes lig at its wooden fa?ade. Ethan parked his bike and sprioward the building, his pistol drawn.

  A barricade of overturables and debris blocked the mairance. Behind it stood a group of attackers, their crude ons clutched tightly in unnaturally rigid hands. Ethan's HUD marked their vital signs, they were alive, but barely.

  "Damn it," Ethan muttered under his breath. These weren't soldiers; they were victims.

  He aimed carefully, firing precise shots that disarmed the attackers without lethality. His psma dagger hummed as he vaulted over the barricade, dispatg the st few with swift, incapacitating strikes.

  Ihe se was worse. The once-lively tina was in ruins. Smoke filled the air, and overturned chairs and shattered gss littered the floor. Ethan's helmet filtered out the worst of the smoke as his thermal sensors picked up heat signatures clustered behind the bar.

  "Nara!" he called, his voice carrying over the crackle of fmes.

  "Here!" came the reply, muffled but steady.

  Ethan found Nara crouched behind the bar, a small group of patrons huddled with her. Her usually posed face was smudged with soot, but her eyes were sharp.

  "We o move," Ethan said, sing the room for threats.

  "There's a through the kit," Nara replied, already guiding the patrons.

  Ethan covered their retreat, his psma dagger ready. As they reached the alley behind the tina, another wave of attackers appeared. These were armed with improvised explosives, their bnk faces torted in unnatural aggression.

  "Stay dowhan shouted, stepping forward. His ser pistol barked out precise shots, detonating the explosives before they could be thrown. In the chaos, he dispatched the remaining attackers with quick, fluid movements.

  Ohe area was secure, Ethan turo Nara. "Stay with the Federation guards. They'll keep you safe."

  "What about you?" she asked.

  Ethan's face was hidden behind his helmet, but his voice was resolute. "I've got to get to the guild."

  The guild's headquarters, a fortress of steel and reinforced gss, stood as a symbol of stability in Valeris. Now, it was under siege. Smoke poured from its upper levels, and the sound of gunfire echoed through its halls.

  Ethan arrived to find the perimeter in disarray. Guild meraries fought valiantly, but the attackers' uability was taking a toll. Federation guards held the main roads leading to the guild but struggled to tain the chaos.

  "Kael, status?" Ethan called into his .

  "They're targeting the server room!" Kael's voice crackled back. "We 't let them destroy our data!"

  Ethan pushed his way inside, dodging falling debris as he navigated the corridors. The server room was a critiode for the guild, housiive information on missions, bounties, and personnel.

  When he reached it, he found a group of saboteurs pnting explosives on the mainframe. Their gzed eyes barely registered his presence as he took cover and opened fire. His shots disarmed two of them, and he closed the distah his psma dagger, ralizing the rest.

  One of the attackers activated a detonator, but Ethan lunged forward, deactivating it with seds to spare.

  "Server room secure," he reported, his voice steady despite the adrenaline c through him.

  "Good work," Kael replied. "But it's not over yet."

  By dawn, the battle was over. Valeris bore the scars of the night's chaos. Sm buildings, shattered streets, and the anguished cries of those who had lost loved ones. Federation guards patrolled the tral districts, their faces grim as they surveyed the damage.

  Ethauro his ship, exhaustion weighing heavily on him. He pced his ons on the workbend slumped into his chair, his mind repying the night's events.

  "Iris," he said quietly, "casualty report."

  "Preliminary numbers indicate signifit losses," Iris replied. "Valeris suffered heavy infrastructure damage. The Federation guards stabilized the tral districts, but the outskirts sustained severe casualties."

  Ethan's gaze fell on the molecur dagger, its faint glow a reminder of the power he had yet to fully uand. But tonight, it had stayed in its case.

  "This isn't just an attack," Ethan said quietly. "This was a message. They want us scared. They want us to lose hope." He straightened, his voice hardening. "But they'll learn something tonight, Kynara isn't breaking."