Red alarms wailed without end throughout the hangar as floating warning text counted down with no mercy. Red light from emergency screens reflected across the faces of the remaining Wraith soldiers. Some still fought off security drones and clones that had lost control. Others stood near the portal with tight faces waiting for a miracle that might never come.At the top of the control tower Rena stared at the main console as it kept spitting out layer after layer of Order security encryption. Her fingers flew across the virtual keyboard but the system refused every access she carved through. Every path she managed to open slammed shut seconds later by backup protocols that rose up to block her way."Level nine biometric lock..." she muttered under her breath while her eyes swept the endless stream of code. "You people are truly paranoid."The console answered with a shrill repeating warning tone. Access denied. Access denied. Access denied. Rena gritted her teeth knowing their time wa

Henderson’s cybernetic claw swept through the air with a screech that made every eardrum throb and Axel dodged a fraction of a second too late. Flames of heat washed over his chest and the last plate of armor still clinging to him split like paper. That steel edge tore through flesh leaving a long burn that stretched from his shoulder to his stomach. Fresh blood sprayed across the hangar floor already crisscrossed with cracks from the battle and Axel stumbled back several steps gasping for air that felt like swallowing broken glass. He had been wounded even before this duel began. The burn from A-01’s energy blade still smoldered deep inside his chest and now every breath felt like dragging himself over shards.Across from him Henderson stood tall in a form that barely looked human anymore. Golden armor fused into the black living tissue beneath it and three Archon core crystals on his back pulsed in rhythm like extra hearts spilling golden light that made the very air tremble."You a

Consciousness slammed back into Axel not with the burning bite of Void energy or the brutal pull of a dimension rift tearing at his body, but with cold — damp cold that crept up from the concrete floor and sank all the way into his bones. He blinked slowly, his vision blurry and the dull white ceiling above him spinning before it finally settled into focus. His breath came in short gasps as a familiar scent filled his nose and his heart began to race. Eucalyptus oil. Not blood. Not burning metal. Not the sulfur stench of the Void. Just eucalyptus oil. Impossible.He forced himself up, bracing his weight on both hands, but the simple movement felt wrong. His arms were too short. His shoulders felt too light. Even his center of gravity was different. The voice that came out of his mouth froze him where he sat. A child’s voice. He stared down at his palms. Small. Thin. Smooth and unmarked skin. No scars from incisions. No burn marks. No black veins of the Void that had run up his arms for

Searing burn pain spread across Axel’s palms as he forced spiritual energy into the handle of his Void spear. His forearms corded with tension and his jaw tightened but the weapon remained dead. No hum. No familiar dark gray glow wrapping around its crystal-bone blade. Only the sharp smell of burning skin slowly filling the empty room where they hid."Damn it..." He let go instantly. His palms were already red and blistering. The spear had rejected him. The weapon that had been part of his life for years now felt like a foreign thing in his hands.Rena who sat beside him reached for it at once. "Let me try."Axel shifted aside without arguing and made space. They were hiding on the upper floor of an unfinished abandoned building surrounded by rough unpainted concrete. Night wind drifted through the gaps in the walls carrying fine dust and the distant wail of sirens.Rena placed both hands flat against the blade and closed her eyes. Several seconds passed and nothing happened. Usually

Fine silver vapor drifted from Axel's fingertips once more. At first it was faint like breath in cold air but this time the silvery mist lingered longer before dissolving and leaving a sharp ozone scent hanging in the air. He had taken only one step toward the door of the ramshackle building where they had hidden when his own body gave warning."Axel." Rena's voice came tight behind him.He turned and found her staring straight at his hands."Look at your fingers."Something in her tone made his chest grow heavy. He glanced down. The skin at his fingertips was thinning out, not gone entirely yet but turning translucent enough that faint lines of vein and bone showed beneath the surface. Rena reached for his wrist at once."It is getting worse isn't it.""I am fine.""That is not an answer.""I can still move.""Axel." She spoke his name with firmer emphasis. "You are fading away."He could not argue. He saw it himself and what truly frightened him was the feeling — not pain not exhaus