Fated reborn - Chapter 276: Chapter 276

Luciano's Pov.
I leaned against the desk, arms crossed, waiting. Elias watched me for a moment, like he was weighing something, then set the file down and exhaled.
“You ever hear of the old fighters? The ones that disappeared?” he asked.
I didn’t say anything. Just gave him a look.
He took that as his answer.
“Most people think they retired. Got out while they could, before their bodies gave up on ‘em. But that’s not what happened.”
I kept my face still. “Then what did?”
Elias tapped the file with two fingers. “They vanished. No warning, no trace. Just gone. And not because they wanted to be.”
I shifted slightly, tension crawling up my spine. I’d heard the stories—old names whispered like legends, fighters who should’ve been at the top of their game one night and ghosts the next.
Most guys figured they got in too deep with the wrong people. That the underground had swallowed them whole.
But I wasn’t most guys.
And now, looking at Elias, I got the feeling I hadn’t even scratched the surface.
“You’re saying they didn’t retire. They were taken.”
Elias nodded. “Or recruited. Depends on how you look at it.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Recruited for what?”
He leaned forward, his voice lower. “For this. The real fight. The one that’s been going on a hell of a lot longer than you or me.”
Something cold settled in my chest.
“I don’t do conspiracies,” I said.
Elias smirked. “Yeah? Then how do you explain last night?”
I didn’t answer.
Because I couldn’t.
He nodded, like he already knew. “You felt it, didn’t you? That moment where your body wasn’t just reacting —it was leading. Like it knew something you didn’t.”
I swallowed hard.
Because he was right.
Last night wasn’t the first time, but it was the strongest. That rush, that fire in my blood—it wasn’t just instinct. It was something else. Something more.
I just never had a word for it.
Until now.
Elias leaned back. “You’ve always been different, Luciano. Faster. Stronger. You see things before they happen. That’s not just talent. That’s design.”
I frowned. “Design?”
His smirk faded. “You weren’t born like this. You were made like this.”
The words hit harder than I expected. I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to kee breathing, to keep my hands from shaking.
Elias saw it. He let the silence stretch before speaking again.
“You’re not the first. And you sure as hell won’t be the last.”
I ran a hand through my hair, exhaling slow. “What the hell does that even mean?”
“It means there’s more of you. More like you. Fighters built for something bigger than throwing punches in a ring. And the people who made you? They’re not done.”
A weight settled in my chest.
I’d always known something was off about me. The way I moved, the way I *felt* in a fight—like I was stepping into something bigger than myself. Like I was meant for something else.
But I never thought someone had *done* this to me.
I swallowed, voice low. “Who?”
Elias hesitated. Then he shook his head. “Not yet.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What the hell do you mean ‘not yet’?”
“You’re not ready,” he said simply.
My hands balled into fists. “You dragged me here, told me I’m part of some fight I don’t even understand, and now you’re saying I’m not ready?”
Elias didn’t flinch. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
I stepped forward. “Then make me ready.”
A slow smile spread across his face. Not a friendly one.
“You sure about that?”
I didn’t hesitate. “Yeah.”
He studied me for a second longer, then nodded.
“Alright,” he said. “Then let’s begin.”
The next few days were hell.
Elias didn’t train me like a fighter. He trained me like a weapon.
It wasn’t just about throwing punches or dodging blows—it was about instinct, about learning to trust the thing in me I’d been ignoring for years. The thing that *moved* before I did.
He pushed me past exhaustion, past limits I didn’t even know I had. And every time I thought I’d reached my breaking point, he shoved me past that too.
“You’re fighting yourself,” he told me after I hit the mat for the third time that night. “You keep trying to control it instead of letting it guide you.”
I wiped the blood from my mouth and pushed myself back up. “I don’t like not being in control.”
Elias smirked. “Then you’re gonna hate what comes next.”
He was right.
The first time I let go—*really* let go—something changed. The world slowed. My body moved before my mind could catch up. Every strike, every dodge, every counter—it wasn’t thinking. It wasn’t even reacting. It was knowing.
And for the first time in my life, I understood what he meant.
I wasn’t just a fighter.
I was something else.
Something built for a war I hadn’t even seen yet.
And I was finally waking up.
A week later, I stood in front of Elias, breathing hard, sweat dripping down my face.
He nodded. “Good.”
I rolled my shoulders. “So now what?”
His face darkened.
“Now?” he said. “Now we find the others.”
I stilled.
“How?”
Elias pulled out another file. Tossed it onto the table.
I picked it up.
Inside were names. Faces. People I’d never seen before—but something in me recognized them. Like a thread connecting us, just beneath the surface.
I flipped through, my pulse picking up.
Then I stopped.
One name. One face.
Someone I did know.
My stomach dropped.
Elias watched me carefully. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “I thought that might get your attention.”
I clenched my jaw.
Because I did know him.
And if he was in this file…
Then that meant he wasn’t just some underground fighter.
He was like me.
And he was already in this war.
Whether he knew it or not.