Five Years Later
The world had changed.
Umbrella was no longer a corporation hiding in the shadows—it was fractured, split into private armies and biotech syndicates, all chasing the same dream: control of the Genesis strain.
And Lia Wong was the key.
Now 18, Lia had grown into a force of her own. Trained by two legends. A blend of brilliance, instinct, and something not quite human. The violet light in her eyes had stabilized, but it still burned brightest when she was pushed to the edge.
She stood now on the roof of a skyscraper in New Berlin, wind tugging at her coat, violet sparks trailing faintly from her fingertips.
Beside her stood someone new.
His name was Kairo Valen. Seventeen. Smart mouth. Sharpshooter. Born in the chaos of the post-Umbrella collapse. He'd grown up in the ruins of bio-terrorism, his parents killed in a failed resistance raid when he was a child.
Ada had found him bleeding out in a blacksite at 14.
Lia had saved his life.
Since then, they'd been inseparable.
"I don't like this," Kairo muttered, adjusting the rifle on his back. "Intel's too clean. Feels like bait."
Lia smirked. "It is bait."
He looked at her sideways. "You're smiling. That's never good."
Below them, a convoy carrying stolen Genesis samples rumbled through the city's underbelly. It was escorted by soldiers bearing the insignia of a new threat—The Revenant Division, a splinter faction led by a man even Ada feared.
Caine Mercer.
A former Umbrella enforcer turned warlord. Cunning, brutal, and worst of all—once Ada's partner, long before you ever met her. He'd disappeared years ago. Until now.
"Mercer's here," Lia said, eyes narrowing.
Kairo sighed. "Great. Evil ex-uncle type. Can't wait."
Lia stepped off the ledge. The air shimmered around her as her body bent into light, reappearing on the street below in a flicker of violet.
Kairo followed, less flashy, more bullets.
They moved as one—she, a dancing flame of power and precision; he, her anchor, deadly calm behind the trigger. The convoy never stood a chance.
But as the last truck exploded, a single slow clap echoed behind them.
From the smoke emerged Caine Mercer—tall, silver-haired, a scar running down his jaw. And those eyes—cold, calculating, trained not on Lia... but on Kairo.
"So," Caine said, voice like frost. "The girl with the Genesis spark... and the boy with her heart."
Lia stepped forward, glowing. "You want the spark? Come take it."
Caine's smile widened. "No, little Ember. I'm not here to take it. I'm here to awaken it."
The ground trembled.
And Lia knew: the next war wasn't just for survival—it was personal.