Deathstalker

I am the knife which will slaughter heaven. Heaven is full of blood. Soon it will snow.

Heiner Müller, Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome (1984)

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Decades ago, the Noumenon, the fever that swept through the world like a wildfire, birthed the Noumena, humans developed extraordinary abilities. After the sickness broke, life resumed, and humanity underwent significant change. Power and paranoia divided families, communities, nations. The sudden genesis of noumena not only set the world on edge, but revolutionised a new era. In its wake, the Post-Noumenon Panel was elected to bring about a new world order.

          The rich took to the skies and built palaces in the clouds. They christened their sky citadel Elysium, and there, nothing could touch them. The rest were left to suffocate in the dirt and fight for space in their shadow, instituting new borders and writing new regimes. What was once England is now divided into ten new territories: Vigil, Merit, Creed, Fortune, Trinity, Prestige, Justice, Valour, Grace, and Legacy.

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WATCH YOUR STEP . . .

          It began with a covert syndicate program in Fortune City. It ended in the smouldering rubble and ruin of a destroyed secret facility.

          Ten years ago, Sloane was one of four Noumena—people imbued with superhuman abilities—indentured to the enigmatic and powerful Warner Castello, CEO of security technology conglomerate Vigilare. Cut into the shape of a weapon and raised in the glow of violence, Sloane and her team of covert assassins were once christened the furious hand of God, Warner Castello's Horsemen.

          With the Horsemen at his side, Warner Castello could've ruled both Elysium and all twelve territories of Grounded England—heaven and earth. Until Warner wanted to go higher. To become one of them—noumena—and make himself invincible.

          Years later, Sloane is still seething, trying to carve out some kind of existence in Legacy City. Having broken out of the facility that the Horsemen were operating out of, Sloane pieces her life back together, bit by bit, name by name. Sloane isn't looking for salvation. Salvation is not interested in girls like Sloane, who can rip through steel doors like paper and bring down an entire building at the raise of a hand. There are names on her list, and enough blood in each body to fill an ocean.

          Only the dead have seen the end of war, and war does not care for its casualties. She was always meant for greater things. Killing gods was one of them. And she is coming for everyone who has ever laid their hands on her. Aided by reluctant mentor and mercenary Erik Matthieson, and a rescued hellhound of a Doberman as her loyal companion, Sloane intends to tear down Elysium and make Warner Castello bleed.

          But even divine vengeance has to be met with resistance.

          If Sloane Liu is the knife which will slaughter heaven, Cain Castello will be the teeth locked around her jugular.

          Cain has lived in the sky his whole life, and yet, has always known cruelty like the back of his hand. Has grown up with it, has seen it in the mirror, and called it names like brother. Cain once thought he would rule the world alongside Warner, but even he hasn't managed to escape Warner's brutal endeavour to crack the genetic code of every noumena at his disposal. He should've known that, as Warner's bastard half-brother, he was just as disposable as the rest.