A day after the Feature Race – Catalis Circuit, Media Zone
Rai sat on the podium stage.
Bright lights. Dozens of cameras. Reporters shouting over each other.
But he wasn't smiling.
Not out of arrogance.
Not out of nerves.
He just wasn't interested.
Because even now — right now — the system window in the corner of his vision wouldn't close.
[SECURITY BREACH: LEVEL 2 – SHADOW PROTOCOL TRIGGERED]
Foreign Access Detected – FIA Intrusion Node: Division Grey
Encryption Key Match: "Tanaka – Obsidian"
Threat Level: CRITICAL
Someone was in the system.
Someone from inside the FIA.
—
"Rai Tanaka, how do you respond to accusations that your team is using banned assistive tech?"
"No comment."
"Do you believe your sudden rise is due to system tampering—"
"No comment."
"Is it true you're related to—"
"No comment."
The questions kept coming.
But Rai wasn't answering.
Not until Kiera stormed up and yanked him from the press bench.
"He's done."
"He can't just walk out—"
"He just did."
—
Inside the trailer, Luka, Imani, and Kiera huddled around the main display.
Kiera pointed at the system logs.
"Someone accessed our race data mid-lap. During Burn Sequence."
Imani blinked. "That's impossible. Burn data's encrypted with biometric firewalls."
"Exactly. So whoever got in either has Elias's key… or someone gave them a copy."
Rai paced. Slow. Controlled.
Then asked, "How long do we have before the FIA hits us directly?"
Kiera shrugged. "Could be hours. Could be days. But they've opened a 'legacy compliance audit.' That's code for 'we're digging into your past.'"
Imani raised an eyebrow. "And yours is… what exactly?"
He didn't answer.
Because he didn't know anymore.
—
Meanwhile…
Sierra Clarke – Seraph Aether HQ, Data Center Wing
Not in a garage.
Not on track.
Not today.
Sierra sat behind a desk of blinking displays, wind blowing through the open glass ceiling.
Yes — she was a driver.
A damn fast one.
But she was also Seraph Aether's secret weapon: a systems analyst trained in neuro-feedback telemetry.
Top-tier data interpreter. Fluent in three coding languages. Once scouted by Division Grey themselves.
She wasn't just beautiful.
She was dangerous.
And she'd just accessed the Ghost Line telemetry from the Feature Race — illegally.
"Rai… what are you really using?"
What she saw made her breath catch.
The system wasn't running with him.
It was reacting to him.
Like it had been waiting for him.
Sierra leaned back.
"You're not just a driver, are you."
She reached for a secure comm link.
"Connect me to Elara."
—
Meanwhile – Monaco, FIA Systems Vault
Victor Kross watched as the data leaked in.
No firewall. No trail.
Only the name: Elias Tanaka.
The dead brother.
The ghost in the system.
He tapped his fingers slowly across the desk.
"Then it begins again."
—
Back at the Ghost Line trailer, Rai finally looked at Kiera.
"You said there was a name on the encryption key. Obsidian."
She nodded.
"That was your brother's old tag before he went black. Used in FIA's black box systems."
Imani looked around the room.
"So, what, Elias hid something in the Ghost Line code?"
"Or someone else buried it in there after he died."
Luka crossed his arms. "And now it's waking up because Rai's driving is triggering it?"
Kiera's eyes flicked back to Rai.
"You're not unlocking the system. The system is unlocking you."
—
[SYSTEM ALERT – TRAIT MUTATION TRIGGERED]
Burn Feedback evolving ➝ Burn Sync Initiation Detected
New Potential Trait: Dark Vein (Locked)
Condition to Unlock: Survive Shadow Protocol Trial
Estimated Time Until Trial: 72 hours
Three days.
Three days until the system tested him again.
Three days until the next race.
Three days to survive the FIA.
Three Days Before Next Race – 2:44 AM
Rai woke to the sound of wind and static.
Not outside.
Inside his head.
His HUD was active.
But his car wasn't even moving.
He sat up in his cot, drenched in sweat, eyes glowing faintly with system interference.
[SHADOW PROTOCOL INITIATED]
Location: Digital Sandbox Environment
Mode: Cognitive Combat Simulation
Threat Level: Lethal if sustained
Objective: Resist system override. Do not surrender identity.
"Wait—what? I didn't agree to this."
No reply.
Only the world falling away around him.
He stood on an empty version of the Catalis Circuit — pitch-black, lines glowing blue and red, sky stitched with broken code.
Then—
A car appeared.
It wasn't his.
It was Elias's.
And it was waiting for him at Turn One.
—
Meanwhile – Ghost Line Garage
Kiera's screen flared with a burst of corrupted data.
She rubbed her eyes.
"Rai's vitals just jumped—he's… he's in the system."
Imani nearly dropped her coffee. "Wait, like plugged in? But we're not even running sim protocols."
"Exactly."
Luka stepped in. "Then how the hell is he—"
The lights in the trailer flickered.
And on the center screen, a message appeared.
Subject Rai Tanaka is undergoing Shadow Protocol. Do not interfere.
Imani looked around.
Then leaned close to Kiera.
"We're totally interfering, right?"
—
Inside the Shadow Protocol
The ghost car fired off the line.
So Rai chased it.
No seatbelts.
No cockpit.
No gloves.
Just his will.
The track glitched.
Turn Two blinked out of existence.
Rai downshifted—mentally—and drifted through a corner that wasn't real.
But the system was adapting.
Cognitive Load: 89%
System Error Risk: High
Surrender Identity: [Y/N]
"No."
Confirm Rejection?
"NO!"
The world pulsed.
A burst of light, like a nova, exploded across the track—
And he saw something.
A memory.
But it wasn't his.
It was Elias.
Standing in a rain-soaked garage. Saying something.
To a man wearing FIA credentials.
"If anything happens to me… lock it. The Ghost Line must continue."
—
Reality – Sierra Clarke's Apartment, Monaco
Sierra stared at the encrypted file on her screen.
Ghost Line Source Code.
Pulled from a backdoor she swore she'd never use.
But now?
She was in too deep.
And what she saw inside chilled her.
A hidden subroutine.
Labeled only:
[PROJECT: VEILFIRE]
Author Tag: E.T.
Elias Tanaka.
Sierra sat back.
Everything about Rai was real.
And none of it should be possible.
She dialed a secure number.
It rang.
Once.
Twice.
"Elara here."
"I need clearance for deepnet access."
"On who?"
"Not who. What."
Pause.
"…This about the boy?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"It's about the system that thinks it's alive."
—
Back in the Protocol
Rai was losing.
Vision flickering.
Vein data erratic.
The ghost car was everywhere.
And the system asked again:
Do you accept the truth?
You are not the driver. You are the fuse.
He fell to his knees in the sand-like edge of the broken track.
And whispered,
"Then I'll burn anyway."
The system paused.
Then it responded.
Shadow Protocol: Complete
New Trait Available: Veilfire Sync [Locked]
Condition: Discover System's Original Host Identity
Burn Sequence: 29.1% ➝ 35.6%
Rai collapsed.
—
Reality – 3:16 AM
He woke.
Breathing hard. Shaking.
Imani was beside him.
"Bro, don't do that. You scared the hell out of us."
Kiera looked up. "Whatever you saw — was it him?"
Rai sat up.
Wiped his face.
"No. It was me."