Silence settled again for a moment before Cole let out a short, frustrated laugh. “I’ve got to admit, I’m getting more and more curious about Death Thorn. I’d love to see who this person really is.”
A grin tugged at the corner of Myles’s mouth. The entire underground scene in the Delta shared that same curiosity. Yet, no one had come close to uncovering the truth about Death Thorn’s identity.
Elliana was upstairs in the bedroom when a message from Adah popped up. “Elliana, good news! We won! I can just imagine Blaze Wildfire’s boss, Blaze Wraith, losing his mind right now, ha-ha…”
After reading Adah’s message, Elliana smiled faintly. A wave of satisfaction washed over her, like a long-awaited victory. She hated Blaze Wraith with every fiber of her being.
Five years ago, Elliana had taken Adah to the Delta. Together, they had secretly formed Thorn Rose. Their main goal was to build a strong underground network and search for their missing mothers. Elliana went by the codename Death Thorn, and Adah was Doomsday Rose. They created the group’s name by combining parts of their codenames.
They never meant to clash with any other group, but fate had other plans. Thorn Rose had locked horns with Blaze Wildfire not long after its foundation.
It was as if Blaze Wraith had made Thorn Rose his enemy, fighting for everything—resources, territory, business. Nothing was off-limits.
Still, Elliana had held her ground. Despite the constant attacks and pressure from Blaze Wraith, she had grown Thorn Rose into something powerful. It wasn’t easy. In fact, she barely kept it afloat more than once. She dreamed of catching Blaze Wraith alive, of destroying his group, draining the life from him, hanging him up like dried meat, and bottling him like a cursed artifact—just so she could pull it out and curse him whenever she felt like it.
But deep down, she knew it was only a dream, a bitter fantasy. Blaze Wraith was terrifying—too terrifying to feel human. To keep up, she had to use every ounce of her strength and cunning. The balance between them was delicate. One wrong move, and everything she built would fall apart.
Right now, both sides were holding back. Neither wanted an all-out war that could destroy them both.
But Elliana never relaxed. One slip, and Blaze Wraith would pounce. She couldn’t let that happen.
→ ν﹒
Snapping back to the present, Elliana chuckled softly and then typed her reply to Adah. “Slapping Blaze Wraith in the face feels good, but this deal’s just a small one—only tens of millions. Don’t get carried away. Tell our people to stay sharp and not push Blaze Wraith too far.”
Adah replied, “Got it. I’ll keep you posted. Ugh! Just thinking about how we’ve been hunted by Blaze Wraith all these years makes my blood boil. I wish we could just go all out and wipe Blaze Wraith off the map.”
Elliana responded, “I wish for that too. But that monster’s no joke. We have to be careful.”
“Realistic. For now, we protect what we have… and pray something awful takes Blaze Wraith out.”
Adah fired back, “Ha-ha! I feel inspired now. I’m going to hunt down a secret cult and have them curse Blaze Wraith every single day.”
.
.
.