Regression of the Tower's Final Survivor-Chapter 97: Hunt

Adrian’s forces scattered through Umbral like rats fleeing a sinking ship.

The news of the duel’s outcome spread faster than Dante expected, carried by House whispers and merchant gossip until every major player on Floor 15 knew that Adrian Cross had been exposed as an agent of something ancient and hungry. Within hours, the safe houses Adrian’s team had used were abandoned, their occupants melting into Umbral’s twilight streets.

"Six confirmed exits so far." Vex was perched on a rooftop overlooking the commercial district, his magitech eye tracking movement patterns across the city below. "They’re not coordinating, just running. Panic response."

"Adrian’s with the main group." Dante studied the map Ravenna was holding, marked with the positions his team had gathered over the past hour. "He’ll head for the gate, try to force early passage before the Houses can mobilize."

"Can he do that?"

"With enough power and desperation, anything’s possible." Dante traced a route through the eastern quarter. "Ren, you and Astrid take the market district approach. Choke point here and here. If they try to punch through with force, you stop them."

Ren nodded, already moving. "Shield wall. They won’t get past."

Astrid cracked her knuckles with a grin that showed too many teeth. "Finally, something to hit."

"Vex, rooftops. Call out movement, prioritize high-value targets. If Adrian separates from his group, I need to know immediately."

"Understood." The sniper was already repositioning, his forgettable form disappearing into the shadows.

"Leon, you’re with the secondary team. Watch the escape routes Adrian’s people identified during their time here. Anyone who runs, you intercept."

Leon hesitated. "Seira might be with them."

"She might." Dante’s voice was flat. "If you can’t handle that, tell me now."

The healer was quiet for a moment, something hard settling behind his eyes. "I can handle it."

"Good." Dante turned to Ravenna. "You’re with me. We’re going straight to Adrian."

"The direct approach?" She raised an eyebrow. "That’s not like you."

"He knows he’s lost. The only question now is whether he escapes or we end this tonight." Dante started moving, and she fell into step beside him. "Besides, I want to see his face when he realizes there’s nowhere left to run."

---

The chase cut through Umbral’s winding streets like a blade through silk.

Adrian’s main force tried to make a stand at the junction of three major thoroughfares, a defensible position that would have worked against a normal pursuit. Instead, they found Ren waiting.

The tank stood in the center of the intersection like a wall made flesh, Iron Will blazing around him in visible ripples of force. Adrian’s fighters crashed against him like waves against a cliff, their attacks bouncing off defensive barriers that didn’t crack or falter.

"Move!" someone shouted. "Find another route!"

Astrid appeared behind them.

She came out of a side alley with her eyes already glowing red and her berserker rage building in the air around her like heat off a forge. The first fighter who turned to face her caught an elbow to the solar plexus that folded him in half, and the second caught her knee to his face before he could even raise his weapon.

"Nowhere to go!" she roared, and her voice echoed through the junction. "Give up or get broken!"

Half of Adrian’s forces scattered into the side streets while the other half tried to fight, which they shouldn’t have.

Ren advanced methodically, his Iron Will expanding to push opponents together into clumps that Astrid could reach more efficiently. She moved through them like a storm, never killing but leaving broken bones and shattered confidence in her wake. Within three minutes, the junction was clear.

"Vex?" Ren touched the communication crystal at his throat. "Status?"

"Adrian broke northeast with four bodyguards,\" came the reply. "Moving fast. Dante’s intercepting."

---

Dante caught them at the edge of the residential quarter.

Adrian’s bodyguards spread out defensively as he approached, four trained killers who’d survived enough floors to know how dangerous direct confrontation could be. They were good, Dante could see it in how they positioned themselves, how their eyes tracked threats, how their hands stayed near weapons without quite drawing.

They weren’t good enough.

"Stand down," Adrian ordered, his voice steady despite everything. "This is between him and me."

"Sir—"

"I said stand down." Adrian’s golden mask was cracking, but he still had enough presence to command loyalty. "Go. Find the others. Get them out of the city. I’ll handle this."

The bodyguards exchanged uncertain glances.

"Now."

They went without another word, disappearing into Umbral’s perpetual twilight, and Dante watched them go before turning his attention to Adrian. The man who’d betrayed everyone in both timelines, who’d fed climbers to an ancient horror for reasons Dante had never fully understood.

"You’re not going to kill me," Adrian said. It wasn’t a question.

"No."

"Why not?" Genuine confusion flickered across his features. "You have every reason. Two timelines of betrayal, everything I took from you, everything I’m going to take if you let me walk away."

"Because killing you here accomplishes nothing." Dante stopped ten feet away, close enough to strike if needed, far enough to watch Adrian’s reactions. "You’re not the problem. You’re just a symptom. The Archon is still at the top of this Tower, and there are other agents, other plans, other moves I can’t predict."

"So you’re using me."

"I’m letting you run." Dante’s voice was cold. "Go back to your masters. Tell them what happened here. Tell them that I know about their plans, their agents, their careful manipulations of the Tower’s politics. And tell them that I’m coming."

Adrian laughed, a broken sound. "You’re insane. The Archon has existed since before the Tower was built. It’s survived everything the Tower has thrown at it for millennia. You think your second chance at life is going to be enough to stop something like that?"

"I think it’s going to try." Dante smiled, and there was nothing warm in it. "And when it does, I’m going to be ready."

For a long moment, Adrian just stared at him.

Then he turned and started walking, his posture betraying exhaustion that his face refused to show.

"I’ll see you on the upper floors," he said without looking back. "The Archon doesn’t forget, and it doesn’t forgive. Whatever you think you know about what’s coming, you’re wrong."

"Maybe." Dante watched him disappear into the shadows. "But I’ve been wrong before and survived. Let’s see if the same can be said for your masters."

---

The capture came almost as an afterthought.

Seira Valen was found hiding in a merchant’s basement, her Seer abilities apparently not enough to predict which escape routes Dante’s team would cover. Leon was the one who found her, standing in the doorway with his healing staff in hand and something hollow in his expression.

"Leon." Her voice was small, scared, nothing like the confident woman who’d left him for a stronger climber. "Please. I can explain—"

"There’s nothing to explain." He didn’t step toward her or away. "You made your choices. Now you live with them."

"I didn’t know what Adrian was doing. I swear, I just wanted—"

"To survive. To climb. To be with someone who could protect you." Leon’s voice was flat. "I know. I’ve heard it before."

Seira flinched.

"Dante’s here," Leon continued. "He wants to talk to you. After that, you’re free to go."

"Free to—" Hope flickered in her eyes. "Really?"

"With conditions." Leon finally moved, stepping aside to let her leave the basement. "But that’s between you and him."

Dante was waiting in the street above, Ravenna at his side, the rest of the team scattered across nearby rooftops and intersections.

"Seira." His voice was neutral. "You look tired."

"I’ve been running for hours." She tried to straighten, to regain some of the composure she’d worn when she first approached them with Adrian’s relay location. "You won. Congratulations. What happens now?"

"Now you leave." Dante’s expression gave nothing away. "Umbral, Floor 15, everything you’ve built here, you walk away from all of it and don’t come back."

"That’s..." She hesitated. "That’s it? You’re not going to punish me? Extract information? Hold me as leverage?"

"You’re not worth the effort." The words landed like a slap. "Adrian was the threat. You were just someone who happened to be standing nearby when the explosion went off."

"I gave you information. I helped you—"

"You helped yourself and hoped we’d see it as loyalty." Dante took a step closer, and Seira flinched backward. "Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to leave this floor. You’re going to find somewhere below Floor 15 to rebuild whatever life you can scrape together. And if I ever see you above Floor 20, I’ll kill you."

"That’s not fair—"

"Neither is betraying people who trusted you." Dante’s voice went cold. "Ask Leon how fair that felt."

Seira’s eyes darted to Leon, who stood motionless nearby, his expression giving nothing away.

"I..." She swallowed. "I’m sorry. I’m sorry for all of it."

"I know." Leon’s voice was quiet. "Goodbye, Seira."

She turned and left without another word, disappearing into Umbral’s shadows like so many of Dante’s former allies, and he watched her go with something that might have been relief.

"Adrian escaped through the emergency gate. He’ll be running straight to his masters, which means everything gets harder from here." He looked at each of them in turn: Ren’s steady determination, Astrid’s barely contained energy, Vex’s analytical detachment, Leon’s quiet resolution. "We’ve won Floor 15. Tomorrow we climb. Everyone rest while you can."

The team dispersed, exhaustion and victory mixing in their movements.

Leon stayed behind.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Dante raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"For letting me be the one to find her. For giving me the chance to..." He trailed off. "I don’t know. Say goodbye, I guess. Actually say it instead of just watching her leave."

"You earned that." Dante started walking, and Leon fell into step beside him. "Two years of carrying that weight around. It was time to put it down."

"Is it supposed to feel this empty?"

"For a while." Dante’s voice softened slightly. "Then it starts feeling like relief. Then like freedom. You’ll get there."

Leon nodded slowly. "What about you? Adrian knows about the regression now. That’s going to spread."

"Let it spread." Dante’s expression was unreadable. "I’ve been hiding since I came back to this timeline, playing careful, trying not to draw attention. That approach has limits. Eventually, the Archon was going to notice me anyway."

"So now you’re what, leaning into it?"

"Now I’m making them afraid." Dante stopped at an intersection. "Let them wonder how I know what I know. Let them imagine worst-case scenarios about my capabilities. Fear is a weapon too, and I’ve spent eight years learning how to wield it."

"That’s..." Leon hesitated. "Kind of terrifying, honestly."

"Good." Dante smiled, and for once it reached his eyes. "That means it’s working."

He walked alone into Umbral’s shadows, leaving Leon to process everything that had changed in a single night.

Tomorrow, Floor 16 waited.

And beyond that, the climb continued.