Chapter 21: The One Who Chooses to Stay

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In neon-soaked Murniarta, acid rain falls and blood spills just as easily. Karel Sastrowinoto has no faith in heroes. His philosophy is simple: set enough houses on fire and the snakes slither out by themselves. Born with Arcane Blindness, without a flicker of magical aura, Karel is dismissed as broken and harmless, invisible to the supernatural world. Yet through his Waskitha Glasses, the only thing left by his murdered father, an heirloom master killed in secret, Karel sees everything. Undercover as a Cleaner who disposes of bodies and tends heirlooms, he works inside three mafia factions that enslave beings from the nameless Hollow Realm for power and the occult drug Tirakat Opium. He turns the factions against each other one at a time and watches the Backlash unfold as enslaved Khodam snap their chains and devour their masters. He relishes the chaos because somewhere inside it hides the name of his father's killer. He isn't alone for long. Inspector Laras, who trusts only logic and evidence, keeps seeing the same face at every bizarre death scene, unaware it leads into a world she never believed in. Nila, a young dukun who rejects her family's legacy, sees in Karel neither tyrant nor savior, but someone offering abandoned Khodam a rare gift: freedom. Law, tradition and vengeance collide in one city under the same Three Heirlooms, each as old as the lies surrounding the heirloom master's murder. When the factions' war erupts at the ancient fortress of Kertajaya, Karel finally faces the one pulling all the strings, the person who knew his father best. Alone, Karel must choose whether to become the serpent that swallows the nest or the Backlash itself. In this world, freedom belongs only to those who break their own chains.

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