Seven days had passed since the severed head incident.
Seven days of analyses, speculations, and growing fears. The media hadn't calmed down, and the investigators continued searching for any lead that could reveal the identity of the **Chaos Harbinger**, but **there was nothing.**
No fingerprints, no criminal record, no digital identity.
He was a ghost, an entity unrecorded in any known system.
Yet despite all the commotion, **Daniel hadn't moved again.**
The public began to wonder:
**"Is it over? Was it all just a short wave of chaos?"**
**"Did he disappear as suddenly as he appeared?"**
**"Are we safe now?"**
But others weren't so naive.
**"No, this man doesn't seem like the type to stop suddenly. There's something coming, something bigger."**
And somewhere, in his unknown hideout, Risa was sitting at the table, her legs stretched out on the desk, fiddling with a tablet, following the online chatter about the Chaos Harbinger.
"So?" she asked lazily, without lifting her eyes from the screen. "What's your next brilliant plan? Launch a nuclear missile?"
Daniel, who was seated in front of a set of giant screens, looked at her with a cold gaze.
"No, not yet."
She paused her typing for a moment, then raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Wait, yet?! You mean you're considering it in the future?!"
"Details, details."
She sighed deeply. "I'm stuck with a madman."
"Oh, did you just realize that?"
"I still don't understand why you're obsessed with that novice heroine." She pointed to one of the screens displaying clips of Ilara, Star Weaver. "You're much stronger than her, yet you keep testing her like you're her secret trainer or something."
Daniel didn't reply, just smiled a faint smile before pressing a button on the control panel.
"Anyway, it's time for the next phase."
The following night, when the new live broadcast began, Ilara was in the middle of an investigation in **Sistra City**, one of the major coastal cities in **Nezara**, where she was trying to track an unknown gang.
But the investigation wasn't completed, as one of her team members rushed to her, holding a tablet displaying a live broadcast.
"Look at this!"
She took the device and looked at the screen.
**Chaos Harbinger** had returned.
But this time, there was no hotel or explosion, but **an entirely new game.**
On the screen, there were **two different locations, each containing a group of hostages:**
**The first:** **A civilian family**, consisting of an elderly father and mother, their adult son, and the son's wife.
**The second:** **A criminal gang**, composed of five men tied together.
In each location, there was a **bomb tied to a timer**, and the countdown had begun.
Then Daniel appeared on the screen, wearing his usual black mask, his calm and sarcastic voice resonating in the air.
"Hello again, ladies and gentlemen."
The audience froze, journalists stopped breathing, and even the heroes watching the broadcast through their security systems felt a chill run down their spines.
"It's been a long time, hasn't it? Well, this time we have **a new game.**"
He gestured to the two screens behind him.
"Here we have two entirely different groups. An innocent family and a small criminal gang. **One of them will die.**"
His piercing eyes, behind the mask, were directed straight at the camera.
"But it's not me who will decide who lives and who dies."
Then her name appeared on the screen.
**"Star Weaver."**
"I heard you have a fast flying ability. So, here's the challenge: **You have only two minutes. You have to choose.**"
"The family? Or the gang?"
"The timer starts now."
Ilara froze in her place, her mind racing at a frantic pace.
"This can't be real..."
But the timer was **already ticking.**
There was no time to think.
Without a word, she unfurled her energy wings and launched into the sky at breakneck speed, heading towards the family's location.
Her heart was pounding wildly.
**"Am I choosing to sacrifice people? Is this against my ethics as a heroine?!"**
But she couldn't allow innocent lives to be lost.
Yet, the gang... even if they were criminals, **they were humans too, they had families too.**
"No..."
Blood began to boil in her veins, her mind refusing to accept this choice.
**"I won't let him win."**
**"I won't choose between two lives; I'll save them both."**
**"No matter what it costs me."**
Her body began to ache, muscles screaming, blood vessels bursting under the pressure, but she continued to fly.
She reached the family's location within **50 seconds,** broke the shackles, gathered them all at once, and tossed them away where other heroes were waiting to catch them.
Then without hesitation, she launched towards the other city.
**90 kilometers in less than a minute.**
She poured all her energy into enhancing her physical strength, skin tearing, blood oozing from every pore of her body, the pain unbearable.
"I can't stop now!"
The timer was at **3... 2... 1...**
And suddenly, as before, the timer added **5 extra seconds.**
Those seconds **saved her.**
She dashed forward, grabbed the bomb, and hurled it into the sky before it exploded at a distant height.
Then, as she soared through the air, suddenly **her body stopped.**
Fatigue, pain, stress...
**Everything collapsed in a moment.**
Her eyes widened, and then... **she began to fall.**
The audience was shocked.
**"Oh my God, she's falling!!"**
**"She's bleeding from all over her body!!"**
**"This girl is insane!! How did she push her body to this limit?!"**
Even the gang members she saved **looked at her in awe.**
They hadn't expected a hero to save them.
Even they, despite being criminals, felt something burning inside them as they watched her fall.
One of the cameras captured her face before she lost consciousness, **blood flowing from her mouth, her eyes half-closed, her body covered in wounds.**
Then she landed on the roof of a building.
In his hideout, Daniel was watching everything through the satellite, and on his virtual screen, he was reading **the comments pouring in from hundreds of thousands of viewers.**
- **"Impossible... Impossible!!"**
- **"Why didn't she stop? She could have chosen just one!"**
- **"Oh my God, is she okay?!"**
- **"Chaos Harbinger is insane!! But he gave her an extra 5 seconds again... why?!"**
Daniel took a deep breath, his eyes watching her fall.
Then, calmly, he closed the broadcast.
**"You succeeded, my star."**