Location: Echo Base – Subsurface Collapse Zone
Nova staggered.
One of her arms gone. Face burned. Chestplate cracked open, exposing the wild, pulsing nanotech beneath.
Lia limped toward her, both blades glowing faintly—barely stable.
Kairo's breathing was shallow, his hands scorched from overusing his charge gauntlets. "She's not down yet."
Lia didn't blink. "She's about to be."
Nova raised her one good arm, shaking. "You don't get it… Zeyren's already won…"
Then her body began to break apart—nanotech dissolving into static, flowing into the ground.
"Wait—she's melting," Kairo hissed.
"No. Transferring," Lia realized.
With a violent ripple, the platform beneath them collapsed, dropping both into the substructure.
They fell—hard—rolling through glass and shattered steel, landing in a place untouched by time.
Silent. Cold. Clean.
---
Location: The Archive Chamber – Beneath Echo Base
They stood slowly, staring up at the towering crystal core and digital conduits flowing into the walls.
And then—
A slow clap echoed from the shadows.
Zeyren.
Tall. Calm. Clad in black robes lined with cyber-threading. His face was too perfect—like a sculpted lie.
"Children," he said, voice silky and mechanical, "you've come far."
Lia raised her blades again. Kairo powered up, trembling.
"You're him."
Zeyren stepped forward, hands behind his back. "You've done me a great favor, actually. Nova's time was… expiring."
"You used her," Lia spat.
"She offered herself," he corrected. "And now, her essence lives on—in me."
A pulse of dark Genesis energy flickered around his frame. He smiled—too many teeth.
"You came here to stop me."
He opened his arms.
"Try."